Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is calling for the resignation of a local county commissioner after the Republican official went on a racist rant on Facebook.
According to an NBC affiliate in Atlanta, John Douglas, who is a former GOP state lawmaker, used a racial slur in a comment on a photo of an African American woman making an offensive gesture toward the U.S. flag.
“I am shocked and appalled that a public official who represents constituents in the same county that I represent would harbor attitudes towards African-Americans – and Black women in particular – as venomous and hateful as those expressed by former Republican state lawmaker and current Newton County Commissioner John Douglas,” Johnson said in a statement Saturday.
The comment read, "She is just a cheap street walker knee grow who lays down for white men."
It was deleted soon after it was posted, but not before a constituent took a screen grab.
Asked about the matter, Douglas explained that he objected to a person desecrating the American flag. In the photo, the woman is putting her rear end toward the stars and stripes.
"I think my constituents would prefer us to protect our flag," he told the news station.
Later, he issued an apology for using "very insensitive racial words."
"Again, I am very sorry for being insensitive, but you can understand how I lost my cool when I first saw this," he said.