A Virginia mayor has opposed calls for his resignation over a Facebook post in which he said Joe Biden had “just announced Aunt Jemima” as his vice-presidential running mate.
Luray Mayor Barry Presgraves posted the comment last weekend on his Facebook page. The comment was condemned by a councilor, city officials and other residents before he took down that same weekend.
Luray is located about 90 miles west of Washington, DC
Biden appointed California Sen. Tuesday. Kamala Harris as his running mate.
A number of Black women were on Biden’s running mate’s shortlist, including Florida Rep. Val Demings; Reporter from California in California, who leads the Congressional Black Caucus; Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms; and Susan Rice, the former national security adviser to President Barack Obama.
Presgraves apologized at a city council meeting Monday night.
“I want to make this very clear to anyone with absolutely no qualifications,” Presgraves said. “I understand what I posted on social media was wrong, insulting and incomprehensible.”
Presgraves, 77, added that it does not reflect what is in his heart.
“I also want to make a direct apology to all people of color and woman. To continue and destroy racist stereotypes as humor is not funny,” he said, reading from a prepared statement. “I now fully understand how hurtful it is and I can and will do better and we can all do better. We have to.”
He concludes his statement by saying, “From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry and humbly ask for your forgiveness and your mercy.”
Barbara Veney, 69, a Luray resident, addressed Pregraves directly at the meeting.
“I’ve been here my whole life. For almost 70 years. And today I’m hurt,” she said.
Veney told Presgraves that she was not about to tremble or speak ill of him, but that she had to stand up for what is good. Veney said her father was black and white, her mother was Indian and black, and that she did not learn to be racist. She was taught “what comes out of the mouth can hurt and you have to be careful what you say because words hurt,” she said.
“We need someone with positive thinking that will shape this community. No more divisions,” she said. “To pass us by … I ask you today, Mr. Mayor, to step down in love – because I love you – and do the right thing.”
Quaker Foods North America dropped its Aunt Jemima image and name in mid-June, saying it acknowledges that the character’s origins are based on “a racist stereotype” of a black “mommy” that the white children of raised her master.
Councilman Leah Pence sent an email to Presgraves last Monday morning urging him to act.
Pence told Presgraves that the comment he posted “has a kind of humor that has not been appropriate or funny in any of her life”, according to a copy of the email she posted on her Facebook page placed.
“While dismissal alone does not resolve the systemic subliminal racism that plagues our community, your dismissal is necessary because we are working to end racism in our community,” Pence wrote, adding that Presgraves is responsible for his words and decisions.
She also told Presgraves that his recent actions have caused many residents in the small town to “lose confidence and trust” in his ability to serve “effectively and fairly” as mayor.
In a statement posted on the Facebook page last Monday, the city of Luray said they “reject racism” and are committed to working together with the community through understanding, compassion and opportunity. The statement did not name Presgraves, but said the city council would discuss the incident over the statement at its meeting Monday night.
Presgraves did not immediately return a request for an interview on Thursday. He told Page Valley News last Monday that he would not step down.
“Hell no, I’m not resigning,” he told the newspaper. “People chose me and I have a few more months to serve.”
Presgraves, who is not running for re-election, told the newspaper he did not respond that his comment would be met with delay.
“I thought it was humorous,” he said. “I had no idea people would react the way they did. I think people went overboard … It’s an election year.”
