[Leelanau County Road Commissioner Tom Eckerle]
CAIR: “Dropping the n-word, along with falsely claiming that police accountability activists who are American citizens are taking the country away, is discourse that must be repudiated by all public officials.”
Photo: Twitter
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) Thursday called for the resignation of a Leelanau County road commissioner who used the “N-word” in an angry outburst before the opening of a public meeting.
Leelanau County Road Commissioner Tom Eckerle recently made that racist outburst after being asked as to why he refused to wear a mask for safety precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eckerle, who is a Republican, reportedly said, “Well, this whole thing is because of them niggas in Detroit. . .I can say anything that I want. Black Lives Matter has everything to do with taking the country away from us.”
“We call for the immediate resignation of Mr. Eckerle from his position in Leelanau County because of his racist comments,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid. “Dropping the n-word, along with falsely claiming that police accountability activists who are American citizens are taking the country away, is discourse that must be repudiated by all public officials.”
Walid also called on Michigan Republican Party Chairperson Laura Cox to denounce Eckerle’s racist statements given he is an elected official in the party which she leads.
Washington-based CAIR and the American Muslim community are standing in solidarity with all those challenging anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and white supremacy.
