Georgia Lawmaker Tells Black Attorney She May 'Go Missing' For Protesting Confederate Statues

Source: Jason Spencer and LaDawn Jones' respective website

The Facebook conversation between LaDawn Jones and Jason Spencer was centered around the ongoing issue of removing Confederate statues across the United States.

The exchange began when Georgia's Republican state Rep. Jason Spencer posted a picture of the Jefferson Davis Memorial and Attorney and former state Democratic Rep. LaDawn Jones commented on the post.

READ: Protester Pulled Down A Confederate Statue In Durham, North Carolina

"Yes get it in...before it is torn down. Are state tax dollars going to this? If so I need to take a closer look at the state budget," Jones said. "I'll deal with it but don't want to pay for it."

The conversation continued on but took a turn when Spencer said the following:

Continue your quixotic journey into South Georgia and it will not be pleasant. The truth. Not a warning. Those folks won't put up with it like they do in Atlanta. It best you move on...I can guarantee you won't be met with torches but something a lot more definitive. People in South Georgia are people of action, not drama.

Then, responding to someone else that commented on the thread in favor of Spencer's remark on Atlanta, the state representative said:

You got that right. They will go missing in the Okefenokee. Too many necks they are red around here. Don't say I didn't warn you about 'em.

In a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Spencer elaborated on his statements.

"She is from Atlanta – and the rest of Georgia sees this issue very differently," Spencer said. "Just trying to keep her safe if she decided to come down and raise hell about the memorial in the back yards of folks who will see this as an unwelcome aggression from the left."

Jones also spoke about the exchange, saying that she was concerned by Spencer's comments but didn't fear for her life.

"If it were anybody other than Jason Spencer, then I would be alarmed. But we had a unique relationship in the Georgia legislature," Jones said. "If that had come from anybody else, I'd take it as a serious threat."

"Because if that's representative of what people in south Georgia think, then yikes," she added.

The post has since been deleted, with Spencer issuing an apology about the comments.

"I regret that my choice of words in warning LaDawn about the possibility of violence has been misinterpreted as a threat against her, or anyone else who would like to see historic monuments to the Confederacy removed. I was trying to warn her that there really are people who would harm others over the issue," Spencer said.

"I condemn racism, 'white supremacy' and any group from the yesterday's Klan to today's neo-Nazis, who espouses such vile beliefs. They should not be tolerated. Provoking such hateful people is to deliberately invite violence with them, and that should not happen in America in the 21st century," he added.

Source: ajc.com