Virginia mayor who said Joe Biden picked Aunt Jemima as VP faces calls to resign

[Demovictory9]

https://news.yahoo.com/virginia-mayor-said-joe-biden-142303883.html

Virginia mayor who said Joe Biden picked Aunt Jemima as VP faces calls to resign
Simone Jasper
August 5, 2020, 7:23 AM
A mayor in Virginia who said presidential hopeful Joe Biden will pick “Aunt Jemima” as his running mate is facing calls to resign.

Barry Presgraves, mayor of the town of Luray, drew backlash after a post on his Facebook page read: “Joe Biden has just announced Aunt Jemima as his VP pick,” WTOP and other news outlets reported this week.

In June, the makers of Aunt Jemima said the line of syrups and pancake mixes was “based on a racial stereotype” and announced it would be revamped. The brand “features a Black woman named Aunt Jemima, who was originally dressed as a minstrel character,” NBC News reported at the time.

After screenshots of his Facebook post from Sunday were shared online, Presgraves told the Page Valley News “people have gone overboard” and said he won’t step down as mayor.

“This was about a prominent woman who made pancake batter and the company was forced to take it off, which was wrong,” Presgraves said, according to the news outlet. “This was no more racist than the names I’ve been called. I don’t have a racist bone in my body.”

But several people said they saw his Facebook post in a different light.

“I am writing to strongly urge you to resign over a racist comment you made on Facebook,” Leah Pence, a Luray council member who is running again in 2020, wrote on social media. “The comment you posted has a type of humor that not been appropriate or funny in my lifetime or yours.”

Audre King, owner of the West Luray Recreation Center, said he spoke to community members and thinks it’s best for the mayor to leave his position, the Daily News-Record reported.

[SheltieLover]

1. They are terrified of Black women!

[SMC22307]

4. No they're not. He probably made a similar "joke"...

about Elizabeth Warren as Pocahantas. And I'm sure he's got a real zinger for Tammy Duckworth.

[SheltieLover]

5. Well

There seems to be an extra layer of anxiety for Black women in power.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. He doesn't have a racist bone in his body

His brain, mouth, and whatever connects them beg to differ.

[pandr32]

3. He should resign

...and apologize.

[Nikki28]

6. He is just

saying what this country is thinking out loud. Looks like my hope of Cuomo being VP is not a bad idea because this is all it will take to get white people to not want to be under another black person,much less a woman because this stuff sticks and Trump and his party will run the raciest crap in the ground. I even fear for any woman or worst-black woman's life. I do not think now is the time. We have to win and not have a problem like this. This is what I was speaking about. I know it will get worst and we have not seen anything yet. We need a pit bull and I can see the crap coming a mile.No woman in USA will stand a chance from 4 yrs ago when Hillary won. There is noway in hell would white folks now accept a black woman or any woman.I honestly think deep down Joe knows this too. He has been in this a long time and has raciest friends in congress and family I am sure. I don't think Joe would put a woman/AA woman through this hell. It is depressing the heck out of me that they have boxed Joe up like this. If it was a winning ticket;the other side would have been done this after Mccain.This raciest/sexiest world is not ready for this.JMHO.

[madaboutharry]

7. Have you every noticed

how all these people who post racist shit on Facebook all claim the same thing: “I don’t have a racist bone in my body.”

I don’t get how that works.

[Maru Kitteh]

8. My racist MIL very proudly told me a story about a black family who

came through her checkout line in white bread 'merica and she was SO VERY impressed - because you would never believe it but the FATHER was actually with the family and there were two children and they were ALL SO CLEAN. She was truly proud of herself, honestly thought this story would finally serve to prove to me that she really isn't a racist after all, because she noticed how clean and pretty the children were and there were two parents and they were clean too.

I shook my head and walked outside to cool off.