A Virginia mayor is facing calls for his resignation over a Facebook post in which he said that Joe Biden "just announced Aunt Jemima" as his running mate.
Luray Mayor Barry Presgraves posted the comment last weekend on his Facebook page. The comment was condemned by members of the Luray Town Council and other residents before he took it down that same weekend.
Luray is a town of less than 5,000 people, the majority of them white, according to the most recent census data. Four percent of the population is Black. The town is about 90 miles west of Washington, D.C.
Biden named California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate on Tuesday.
A number of Black women were on Biden’s running mate short list, including Florida Rep. Val Demings; California Rep. Karen Bass, who leads the Congressional Black Caucus; Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms; and Susan Rice, the former national security adviser to President Barack Obama.
"I want to make this very clear to everyone with absolutely no qualifications," Presgraves said. "I understand what I posted on social media was wrong, offensive and unbecoming."
Presgraves, 77, added that it does not reflect what is in his heart.
"I also want to make a direct apology to all people of color and women. Passing off demeaning and worn out racial stereotypes as humor isn't funny," he said, reading from a prepared statement. "I now fully understand how hurtful it is and I can and will do better and we can all do better. We must."
