Community members in Tarrant, AL, are rallying together and calling for the resignation of Councilman John “Tommy” Bryant after he blurted out a racial slur during a city council meeting.
On Monday night, Bryant, who is White, stood up and loudly asked the crowd, “Do we have a house n***er in here?” Bama Politics reported
“The n-word. The n-word. Let’s get to the n-word. Hey. Do we have a house n***** in here? Do we? Hey. Would she please stand up?” Bryant said.
Bryant claimed that he was only repeating the same language used by Tarrant mayor Waymon Newton during a p
ast meeting. But, now many in Tarrant are urging Bryant to resign, CBS42 reported. They say that even if the mayor did use that term, Bryant should not have repeated it.“We were astonished. No one left, because we were actually very, very in shock as to what he had said,” Tarrant resident Waynette Bonham said.
“I was like this was the person that is supposed to be serving our communities? Like, this is supposed to be our representation, he has his own district in Tarrant? No,” Bonham added.
But Bryant isn’t
backing down and said he only repeated what the town’s Black mayor had said during a private meeting, WSFA reported. Not only does Bryant have no plans of resigning, he even is considering a run for mayor.“Absolutely not. I may even consider running for mayor next time,” Bryant said.
Bryant continued to defend his word choice.
“It is ok for me to repeat it because as I said before, I wanted everybody to know what the mayor had said. He said it in a derogatory manner, I said it so that people would know what the mayor said,” Bryant declared.