Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill is drawing criticism after reposting what critics are calling insensitive content on his personal Twitter page. More than 20 groups and individuals wrote him a letter expressing their disapproval, stating his tweets were racially insensitive and promoted violence.
Merrill recently retweeted one item that criticized “Black Lives Matter’s war on whites.” A second post said, “when patriots decide it’s time to fight back it’s gonna be ugly.”
The groups who have criticized him asked him to appear at a Tuesday news conference in Montgomery to answer for his actions.
Camille Bennett, Project Say Something Founder, told WHNT-TV the posts were racially insensitive and irresponsible. “We understood how we were going to be affected by tweets like that, so we found it necessary to come together quickly and come up with a statement and work together to make sure we push it out to the public,” Bennett commented. “It was not only one-sided, but it was really irresponsible. If you’re going to post something like that, talking about a war on whites, you really need to show the entire picture,” Bennett added.
Merrill defended his actions, stating, “The people that have a concern about my social media engagement or activity should not follow me on social media if they have a concern about that. If they want to follow the Office of the Secretary of State, they’re certainly welcome to do that.”
Today, Merrill posted the following on his Twitter page, “Today I expressed to @MikeCasonAL of @aldotcom my profound appreciation for the personal freedoms granted to us as American citizens. We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world. We should always respect others opinions and concerns!”
Today I expressed to @MikeCasonAL of @aldotcom my profound appreciation for the personal freedoms granted to us as American citizens. We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world. We should always respect others opinions and concerns!#NotOnMySocialMediaPlatforms pic.twitter.com/URcdI5CkJ8
— John Merrill (@JohnHMerrill) November 24, 2020
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
