A Tennessee GOP member is raising eyebrows over a comment she made on her Facebook. Rep. Sheila Butt of Maury County made many jaws dropped over her response to an open letter from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) imploring Republican leaders to have their future presidential candidate reach out and “engage Muslim voters” and “reject Islamphobia.” WKNR is reporting Butt replied:
It is time for a Council on Christian Relations and an NAAWP in this Country.
The NAAWP acronym was once used by former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke as the National Association for the Advancement of White People, a play on the NAACP’s name. Naturally, Butt’s comments drew outrage from CAIR and many others and was accused of being racist and pointed out the term has been used by many white supremacist groups Butt has insisted she was referring to “Western People,” and claims to created the term on the spot (girl stop!). Butt stated:
I made up that acronym at that moment. And you would see in the next post that I posted that it concerned Western Peoples and Western Culture. So for David Duke to have made that acronym or used that acronym years ago, certainly I was totally unaware of that.
On Thursday morning, Butt took to the House floor and addressed her fellow lawmakers about the incident and gave a quasi apology about the entire ordeal. Butt stated:
I would like to address something today regarding something that I had put on Facebook about a month ago. An acronym that I had made up. I must tell you that my words were never intended to offend anyone. To the contrary, I was discussing a post where we should all be included, everyone should have a seat at the table. The post was meant to be inclusive of every gender, culture, and religion. And I have to tell you today that I am so thankful to live in a country that we have a 1st amendment to speak our minds. I’ll stand for that amendment for myself, for my constituents, and for every one of you every single day. I am disappointed that some in this body misunderstood. I strongly believe that this nation is better off when we all adhere to our Christian values and beliefs, when we all work together to solve the problems that beset every single one of us. And this being divisive, and this trying to make something intentionally that was inclusive to be divisive, is something that should not happen in this body, and I am disappointed if it was misunderstood by many of you or some of you, but I stand today for every one of us, our First Amendment, our religious beliefs, our religious liberty in this body, in this state, and in this country. Thank you for your indulgence this morning.
If it was so “inclusive” why you made that madness up!?
Tennessee GOP Member Wants To Found NAAWP was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
