A local Republican organization in Alabama has erased its Facebook page after saying it posted racist content by accident on Tuesday. The post infuriated both local constituents and state officials.
The Lawrence County Republican Party published the graphic, which represented the Republican National Committee elephant emblem and three hooded Klansmen between its legs, in a press release announcing Shanon Terry as the new county chairman.
The illustration by Woody Harrington first appeared in a Mother Jones piece headlined “The Republican Party is Racist and Soulless. Just Ask This Veteran GOP Strategist. Harrington posted the image on Instagram on Wednesday with the following caption: “Two years ago, I produced this graphic for an article in Mother Jones about the hatred, bigotry, and racism concealed within Trump’s Republican Party. It has recently come to my knowledge that the Hate Elephant has been resurrected (obviously without permission or credit).”
Terry expressed regret over the group’s Facebook post.
“A Google image search of a GOP elephant was used, and it was later discovered that the image had concealed images that do not represent the ideas or beliefs of the Lawrence County Republican Party,” he said. I accept full responsibility for the error as chairman.
Terry, according to the CBS News station WHNT, is a member of the Lawrence County School Board and has stated that he would not quit.
State Representative Anthony Daniels, a Democrat who represents Alabama’s 53rd district and is the youngest and first African American Minority Leader of the Alabama House, tweeted, “Shame on the Lawrence County Republican Party for this vile image.”
Thursday at 6 p.m. EDT, the group’s Facebook page, which had been active since 2009, was erased.