In a recent Facebook post, Republican state Representative Karl Oliver of Winona, Mississippi, harshly criticized Louisiana’s removal of three Confederate monuments and a monument to white supremacy in New Orleans.
Calling the removals “horrific,” Oliver claimed that Louisiana’s government was behaving like Nazis. He stated that the state’s officials should be “lynched” for destroying Southern history.
On Saturday night, Oliver posted that “the destruction of these monuments, erected in the loving memory of our family and fellow Southern Americans, is both heinous and horrific.”
“If the, and I use this term extremely loosely, ‘leadership’ of Louisiana wishes to, in a Nazi-ish fashion, burn books or destroy historical monuments of OUR HISTORY, they should be LYNCHED!” Oliver continued. “Let it be known, I will do all in my power to prevent this from happening in our State.”
The post was removed from Oliver’s page on Monday.
Oliver also released a statement on Monday, apologizing for his remarks. “I, first and foremost, wish to extend this apology for any embarrassment I have caused to both my colleagues and fellow Mississippians,” Oliver stated. “In an effort to express my passion for preserving all historical monuments, I acknowledge the word ‘lynched’ was wrong.”
“I am very sorry. It is no way, ever, an appropriate term,” he continued. “I deeply regret that I chose this word, and I do not condone the actions I referenced, nor do I believe them in my heart. I freely admit my choice of words was horribly wrong, and I humbly ask for your forgiveness.”
Oliver’s comments particularly sparked controversy because he represents a district that includes the town of Money, where African-American 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in 1955. Till, a native of Chicago, was visiting his family in Mississippi when he was kidnapped, beaten, and murdered for allegedly whistling at Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, at a grocery store.
Searchers found Till’s horribly disfigured body in the Tallahatchie River. Wanting the public to see what the murderers had done to her only son, Till’s mother held an open-casket funeral in Chicago. Jet, an African-American magazine, soon published a photo of Emmett’s body, and news of Emmett’s lynching entered the mainstream media.
Shortly after his funeral, Emmett Till’s killers, Carolyn’s husband and brother-in-law, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were put on trial. The all-white jury did not charge the two men with murder or kidnapping, claiming that the state did not adequately prove the identity of the body.
Till’s murder, as well as the proceeding trial, ultimately showed the terrible reality of Jim Crow segregation. Through intimidation and lynching, Southern whites consistently kept African-Americans from receiving equal treatment under the law.
Americans around the country were outraged by the Till’s lynching, leading to the early stages of the civil rights movement.
With this history in mind, several politicians have openly condemned Oliver for his hateful comments.
According to New Orleans City Councilman James A. Gray II, “calling for a lynching, calling for everyone involved to be hanged, is inciting the murder of American citizens, and that’s a crime that ought to be prosecuted.”
“We are nation of laws,” Gray continued. “We need to enforce our laws.”
In Mississippi specifically, Governor Phil Bryant and House Speaker Philip Gunn criticized Oliver’s post.
“Rep. Oliver’s language is unacceptable and has no place in civil discourse,” said Bryant.
Gunn called Oliver early Monday morning, telling him to apologize. “I was just shocked. I was dismayed. I was disappointed,” Gunn said to reporters Monday at the capital.
“The first two words out of my mouth and my statements are ‘I condemn’ his statements. That’s the strongest word I could come up with is condemnation,” Gunn added. Oliver’s comments “do not reflect the views of the Republican party, the leadership of the House of Representatives, or the House as a whole.”
Gunn also removed Oliver as vice chairman of the House Forestry Committee.
Senator Bill Stone and Representative David Baria, chairmen of the Mississippi House and Senate Democratic caucus, released a joint statement condemning Oliver as well.
“In 2017, no elected officials in the State of Mississippi should be speaking in this manner,” said Stone and Baria. “Regardless of any strongly held opinions concerning Confederate statues.”
