Lawrence County Republican Party chair Shanon Terry advised that he would not resign from elected office after admitting to posting an altered image of a GOP elephant by “mistake” on the party’s Facebook page.
Terry is a sitting member of the Lawrence County School Board, representing District Four.
Earlier this week, the county GOP chair posted an image he found, which was commissioned by the far-left Mother Jones magazine, that depicts a GOP elephant with Ku Klux Klan imagery at the bottom.
The image was attached to a post that thanked former Lawrence County GOP chair Daniel Stover for his service. Terry later apologized and removed the post. He said that his selection of the image on Google was an oversight, not realizing that it contained imagery portraying the White supremacist group.
The apology didn’t stop some from criticizing him over the post, including House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville), who lamented the “disturbing image” on Twitter.
Shame on the Lawrence County Republican Party for this disgusting image. @TheDaleJackson pic.twitter.com/sf5j4QvneY
— Anthony Daniels (@AnthonyDaniels) August 17, 2022
The post, which garnered national media attention, was suggested by some on Twitter to have been intentionally posted as a subliminal message to racists.
On Friday, the Lawrence County NAACP officially called for Terry’s resignation in a public letter posted to Facebook.
“[W]hile many would want to let this incident slide, we believe that ignoring an issue of this magnitude should never exist,” the organization’s statement read. “Racial issues like these, are when we must come together, speak out, and do not ignore or turn a blind eye to this terrible situation. This post gave the impression that the Lawrence County Republican Party has Ku Klux Klan embedded within their grass roots. In these times of hostile rhetoric and demeaning attitudes, we do not know what to believe.”
The statement concluded, “We feel that Mr. Shanon Terry’s credibility as a School Board Representative has been tainted and we can no longer trust his decision making to benefit our children in the Lawrence County School System. For that exact reason, the Lawrence County Branch of the NAACP, calls for the resignation of Mr. Shanon Terry from the Lawrence County School Board.”
After the NAACP signaled its intentions of issuing a public call for him to step down earlier this week, Terry responded to the organization’s outcry in a statement on Thursday, once again apologizing for the mistake.
Defiant in the face of immense scrutiny, Terry asserted that he would not resign from his duly elected position.
“I will not be resigning from my elected office on the Lawrence County School Board,” he said in the statement. “The voters of District Four elected me to represent them and I am proud of the accomplishments of this administration over the past six years. I look forward to continuing to strive to give every student in Lawrence County the best opportunity to be successful.”
The Lawrence County Republican official reiterated that he had no intention of posting such an offensive image.
“I regret the mistake that was made, and it was just that — an unintended mistake,” continued Terry. “The image posted by me on a political Facebook page was not done with any malicious or harmful intent. Once made aware of the negative portion of the picture I immediately replaced it and followed up with an apology/explanation the next day. My error was rushing to post a thank you note to the outgoing chairperson, in doing so I did not properly review a cut and paste image used in that post from an internet search for a “GOP elephant”. I do not support or agree with any hate group agenda and certainly would not try to further their cause.”
Terry also emphasized that he was being mischaracterized by critics over what he maintained was an error to recognize the racist imagery.
“I strive to be an open and honest person who works to be a positive influence in my community,” he explained. “I feel I am being incorrectly portrayed by some over this unfortunate issue. I have apologized, taken responsibility for the post, corrected the image, and posted an explanation. I know that these actions to address this regretful error may not satisfy everyone, but I believe they demonstrate the sincerity of my feelings on this matter.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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