SC NAACP joins calls for Pawleys Island mayor to resign following BLM comments
Pawleys Island’s mayor is facing additional pressure to resign by the NAACP South Carolina State Conference for racist comments he made about the Black Lives Matter movement in a social media post in late August.
The move came after weeks of demands by the Georgetown NAACP chapter that Mayor Brian Henry should step down after he called Black Lives Matter a “terror organization” in a Facebook post.
State NAACP conference president Brenda Murphy spoke at a press conference at Pawleys Island’s town hall Thursday in a show of support for their efforts.
Murphy pushed attendees at the press conference to double down on their calls for Henry to resign, including getting as much support as possible for a rally in Pawleys Island in about two weeks.
“I want to see more of the community here,” she said. “I want to see more of the young people here because they need to understand exactly what has happened in this town.”
Several speakers, including Murphy, also took issue with Henry claiming the hotel he owns on the island, the un-air conditioned Sea View Inn, as his residence in order to run for mayor in 2019. Questioning whether Henry even had a true interest in serving the community if he possibly doesn’t even live in it.
“We need to look very carefully at who we elect to place in positions,” Murphy said. “We know we need to know their history. We need to know where they’re from. I’m understanding here today that this man lives in a hotel, and he is the mayor of this town? That’s almost unbelievable.”
Messages seeking comment by The Sun News were left with Henry.
Henry has not only faced calls to resign but also threats of a boycott of Palmetto Cheese, the popular pimento cheese brand he owns. After initially deleting the Facebook post and sharing a short two-sentence apology, he has since held press conferences of his own and met with the Georgetown NAACP chapter to apologize. However, he has made clear on multiple occasions that he does not plan to resign.
But Georgetown NAACP president Marvin Neal said an apology isn’t enough.
“I think it was fair to Mayor Henry to have that meeting, but we have yet to hear him talk about the ‘piece of s---’ that he called a young black man — that no one child should be called — on his Facebook page,” Neal said. “That he admitted to, a ‘piece of s---.’ We don’t need to be tap dancing around it. That’s exactly what he said.”
Henry’s comments were sparked by the killings of two people following a car accident in Georgetown in August.
“2 innocent people murdered,” Henry wrote in his Facebook post. “Not 2 thugs or people wanted on multiple warrants. 2 white people defenselessly gunned down by a black man. Tell me, where is the outrage?”
If Henry doesn’t resign, Georgetown NAACP’s communication chairman Steve Williams said at Thursday’s press conference, then someone else might feel comfortable making similar comments in the future.
“Henry, if you just say, I’m sorry, there’s no accountability,” Williams said. “And if we just say I’m sorry, that means next week and next month, somebody else is going to come back and say something, just as racist, just as egregious.”
In response to outrage over his comments, Henry announced plans to rebrand Palmetto Cheese, which currently features the image of a black woman who popularized, but did not create, the recipe for it. He also took several steps to become more involved in the local community.
The next step for the Georgetown NAACP is a rally at the Pawleys Island town hall, where they held Thursday’s press conference, on Oct. 10 at 2 p.m. They said they are hoping to get thousands of people to attend.
Asked how the rally could take place safely with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, Neal said they would be taking all necessary precautions to keep attendees safe, such as social distancing, but did not elaborate on whether they planned to get a permit or other official approval for the event.
“You can’t cancel hate,” Neal said. “We will do it safely. We will do it under the COVID-19 clause of the CDC. We are going to march. We are coming back because hate don’t go nowhere, until you push.”
