The headlines screamed, “North Alabama councilman called to resign for saying Black protesters should be run over.”
But that is not what the social media posts said.
To imply otherwise is to lie, for clicks, so Bama Politics, The Decatur Daily and al.com jumped in with both feet.
While sharing an al.com story entitled, “’We will shut down Hoover if we have to,’ Alabama mall shooting protest organizer says,” now-Decatur City Councilman Hunter Pepper posted, “See I have to go shopping there next week and we gone play a game called red rover red rover you fools gone get ran over!”
Offensive? Meh.
Is it racist? No.
The grammar is embarrassing, and people shouldn’t post this stuff online because dishonest people and media outlets will attempt to weaponize them. Councilman Pepper is learning that lesson.
Pepper, like many people of all races, is tired of mobs taking to the street and attempting to cause chaos for sport. That’s what this is. Attempts to make this a racial incident don’t really seem to make sense, especially considering the argument is regularly made that these protest groups are multi-racial and multi-generational movements for justice, not black-only monoliths.
Were the comments stupid? Were they crass? Were they beneath a city councilman?
They didn’t reference running over black people, so why did that become the narrative?
Because the media needs this narrative to divide people. That’s why they not only took the story of a little-read blog’s lying narrative and amplified their lie.
Councilman Pepper apologized for his stupid posts during an appearance on WVNN in Huntsville and noted, “I’m not a racist individual.”
This was not a half-hearted apology.
Pepper said on “the Dale Jackson Show,” “I’m extremely sorry that I did make a post that was aggressive and stated something inflammatory, and I am extremely sorry that it turned the way that it did, and I shouldn’t have made the post in general. And I want folks to know that, like I said, I didn’t mean for it to go that way.”
He also asked that people that might be bothered by his post come to speak to him, something fellow Billy Jackson, his fellow councilman, still has not done before or after calling for his resignation.
“I want the public to know I will continue to be here for them,” Pepper stated. “I don’t care what color you are — if you’re black, you’re white, you’re Hispanic, you’re red, you’re yellow, you’re green, you’re purple. I don’t care. Come to me and talk to me if you have a problem. I’m here to help you fix it.”
My takeaway:
Whether he gets that chance remains to be seen. I am guessing the Alabama media is not done with this Decatur City councilman yet.
The media, and it was more than one outlet, has deceptively attacked a 19-year-old councilman for something he tweeted when he was 16-years-old.
The fact that they were willing to stretch the truth to try, and fail, to get the attack going shows you how willing they are to lie to advance their agenda.
That’s the lesson here.
Listen:
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN and on Talk 99.5 from 10AM to noon.
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