An Alabama lawmaker has come under fire after being filmed using the N-word during a city council meeting on Monday night.
Video of the meeting, which was broadcast on Facebook Live, shows Tarrant City Council member John “Tommy” Bryant pointing in the direction of councilwoman Veronica Freeman, who is black, and asking: “Do we have a house n***er in here? Do we? Do we? Would she please stand up?”
According to CBS Birmingham, Bryant’s remarks came after a person in the audience accused his wife of also using the N-word on Facebook.
In an interview Tuesday with WVTM-TV, Bryant claimed he was only repeating what Tarrant Mayor Wayman Newton, the city’s first Black mayor, had allegedly called Freeman in a previous meeting. “I did what needed to be done. It needed to be brought to light what kind of a person the mayor is,” 76-year-old Republican lawmaker told the local news station.
“I thought that the city ought to know what sort of terminology the mayor uses and I didn’t want him to get away with it so that’s the reason I used that comment,” Bryant added. “We need to stop the racial slurs that the mayor makes. He’s always picking on Veronica Freeman...the mayor bullies her. The city needs to know what kind of mayor and what kind of vocabulary he has.”
In a statement following the meeting, Alabama Democrats called for Bryant to resign.
“He is racist and unfit to serve,” the statement said. “Alabama still has a long way to go when it comes to race, but cozying up to the KKK and using the N-word should make you unfit to serve,” the statement continued. “These racists belong in the history books with Bull Connor and George Wallace, not on the taxpayer’s payroll.”
