Saturday, November 9, 2024

Brunswick NAACP, Dem party, and 1,200 petitioners call for Commissioner’s resignation

On June 10, Brunswick County Commissioner Mike Forte posted on Facebook, prompting local organizations and more than 1,200 people to call for his resignation. (Port City Daily screenshot/BrunswickNAACP.org)
On June 10, Brunswick County Commissioner Mike Forte posted on Facebook, prompting local organizations and more than 1,200 people to call for his resignation. (Port City Daily screenshot/BrunswickNAACP.org)

BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Brunswick County Commissioner Mike Forte has found himself in hot water for provocative posts that many see as offensive in the past.

But the public’s response to the Commissioner’s June 10 Facebook post reflecting his thoughts on race in America is stronger, with more than 1,200 people calling for his resignation through an online petition as of Friday.

The Brunswick County chapter of the NAACP and the Brunswick County Democratic Party are both calling for Forte’s resignation. They believe the post violates both the Commissioners’ Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct.

In the post, Forte summarizes recent events and movements, some based in fact but includes exaggerations or false rumors. For instance, the NFL does not plan on flying the Black Lives Matter flag at games, though this was widely spun as an online rumor. Striking God’s name from the oath and pledge of allegiance is a decades-old movement that has not since gained any substantive traction.

He also wrote “ALL whites are racist” and “All whites should give their homes and wealth to a black family,” both inaccurate characterizations of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Carl Parker, Brunswick NAACP president, said Forte’s post revealed a “disgusting level of ignorance.”

“It absolutely defies imagination that generations of Black people, having come to America as people and put into slavery, who later built lives and raised families right here in Brunswick County, who were part of the Civil Rights Movement, must now witness, in Commissioner Forte’s writings, his disdain for the Black Americans he was elected to serve. We can never know what goes on in a man’s mind, but thanks to Mr. Forte’s Facebook post we now have a window into his soul,” Parker wrote in a statement.

Parker described Forte’s remarks as racist and urges the community to sign the petition calling for his resignation. “It is patently obvious that Mike Forte lacks the maturity, wisdom, knowledge and common decency to further represent the citizens of Brunswick County,” he said in his statement.

Brunswick County Democratic Party Chair Tom Sapp said the post was “tone deaf” and false in many points. If Forte was not an elected official and was instead a county employee, Sapp speculates he would have already been fired. “Another sad point is that no other commissioner or Republican elected official has spoken out about this absolutely racist posting that only can do one thing, and that is to keep this nation apart,” Sapp wrote in a statement.

Brunswick County GOP Chair and Commissioner Forte have not yet responded to a request to comment.


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