{"id":33990,"date":"2021-06-10T10:10:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T09:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=33990"},"modified":"2021-06-10T10:10:44","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T09:10:44","slug":"for-racist-remarks-against-nigerians-democratic-party-chair-resigns-from-office-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=33990","title":{"rendered":"For racist remarks against Nigerians, Democratic Party chair resigns from office in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harris County Dem precinct chair resigns over email condemning members for Nigerian descent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

By Jasper Scherer<\/strong>,\u00a0Staff writer

A Harris County Democratic Party precinct chair has resigned after sending an email to party members in which he condemned two party chair candidates over their Nigerian descent.

In the email, former precinct chair John Behrman referred to Odus Evbagharu and Charles Onwuche, both of whom are running to succeed outgoing chair Lillie Schechter, as \u201cLillie\u2019s Nigerians\u201d and suggested Onwuche \u201cmay be a GOP plant.\u201d

\u201cHaving gained solid majorities in municipal and county government. (sic) I am surprised that Democrats in Harris County are toying with extinction of their own party, turning it over to Lillie Schecter\u2019s (sic) Nigerians,\u201d Behrman wrote, adding that he found it \u201cdisturbing but not that surprising that Lillie Schechter is delivering two Nigerian immigrants as her successors.\u201d

Schechter, who has served as party chair since March 2017, is stepping down next week. Precinct chairs will pick between Evbagharu, Onwuche and Ted Weisgal when they elect Schechter\u2019s successor at a June 27 meeting.

In\u00a0a statement\u00a0announcing Behrman\u2019s resignation, the party said it \u201cproudly stands united against racism and xenophobia.\u201d

We want to foster conversation and highlight the intersection of race, identity and culture in one of America’s most diverse cities.\u00a0

\u201cWe would like to thank those involved in exposing the racist remarks made by someone within our organization which ultimately led to his resignation,\u201d the party wrote. \u201cIt is because of your vigilance and commitment to our values that we are making great progress in our fight for inclusion and social justice.\u201d

Evbagharu said in a statement he was glad party leadership \u201ctook swift action.\u201d

\u201cIt\u2019s 2021, diversity strengthens \u2014 not weakens \u2014 the impact of organizations, including political parties,\u201d Evbagharu said. \u201cI look forward to building equitable and diverse coalitions, if elected chair of the Harris County Democratic Party.\u201d

Onwuche could not be immediately reached for comment.

James Burnett, president of the Harris County Young Democrats, said in\u00a0a statement\u00a0that he supports Evbagharu\u2019s bid for party chair, and called on all Democratic clubs and organizations in Harris County to exile Behrman. He also defended the party\u2019s executive director, Delilah Agho-Otoghile, calling her \u201cone of the most experienced and skilled professionals in Democratic politics today.\u201d

\u201cThe notion that because of a person\u2019s Nigerian descent they are not fully competent nor qualified to hold high office within the Harris County Democratic Party, the notion that certain elected officials (mostly African-Amerian) need to be tolerated, and the notion that people of Nigerian descent are possible GOP plants into (the) Democratic Party whose loyalty needs to be vetted, is outright racist,\u201d Burnett said.

Earlier this week, Evbagharu \u2014 who serves as chief of staff to state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, and vice president of the Harris County Young Democrats \u2014\u00a0rolled out a list\u00a0of more than 100 precinct chairs who have endorsed his campaign.

Behrman could not be immediately reached for comment. He represented Precinct 39, located in Montrose.

\u25aa\ufe0eBy Houston Chronicle<\/strong>




<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harris County Dem precinct chair resigns over email condemning members for Nigerian descent By Jasper Scherer,\u00a0Staff writer A Harris County Democratic Party precinct chair has resigned after sending an email to party members in which he condemned two party chair candidates over their Nigerian descent. In the email, former precinct chair John Behrman referred to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3517,3518,3519],"class_list":["post-33990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-chair","tag-democratic-party","tag-racist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}