Over a month ago, I posted about Davion Williams, the Champaign City (IL) Council Member who engaged in an antisemitic word salad at a council meeting. He subsequently met with Jewish leaders and released a public apology:
“Please accept this statement as a heartfelt apology for my comments during the December 17th Champaign Council meeting. It was never my intention for my comments to be offensive, hurtful or antisemitic. However, my intention does not negate the impact of my words. I am in favor of a ceasefire but understand that was lost when I did not accurately or carefully explain my position. As an elected official it is my responsibility to uphold values that ensure fairness, civility and understanding for all citizens. I know all too well as a black man, the pain of being stereotyped, discriminated against, threatened and mistreated. I do not want anyone to feel this way especially from words I have spoken. As in the words I sang earlier that evening ‘let there be peace and let it begin with me.”
I am beginning to think he wasn’t being sincere.
City council member Davion Williams said he has no intention of resigning despite calls for his removal after he defended the use of the swastika as a symbol in a Facebook post on Friday.
Williams told The News-Gazette that his intent was to start a conversation about the symbol’s history in religious and cultural traditions such as Buddhism, and how its meaning has changed.
“People see something and they immediately think negative, when in fact, that is a positive symbol that has been around for thousands of years,” Williams said. “What has happened is we’ve been taught that it’s a bad symbol, when in actuality, the truth of it is, it is not.”
He compared the Nazis’ use of the swastika to the use of the cross in hate crimes committed by the Ku Klux Klan, saying that people still hold to the “true” meaning of the cross.
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Mayor Deb Feinen responded to the post from her own Facebook page a short time later.
“I strongly denounce this hate,” she wrote. “I will be issuing a full statement today on this, but I did not want to let this hate happen without taking an immediate stand.”
Feinen followed up with a statement later Friday afternoon that was also signed by all city council members other than Williams and describes his post as “reckless” and against the city’s values.
“We understand the fear that rips through a community when a local elected official makes residents feel unsafe with their rhetoric,” the statement said. “We are determined to strongly lead and do what we do best for our community by speaking up for our residents who feel they have no voice amid the loud hateful speech and acts that surround us.”
In the statement, the mayor and council members say they are committed to denouncing hate and that the city values its diverse residents.
“We are a welcoming community, and hate has no home here,” the statement says.
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On Friday, Williams said his post about the swastika probably had “bad timing” considering those events.
“I’m not a hateful person, I’m not whatsoever, I’m not trying to be,” he said. “I just want people to think critically and understand that there’s other opinions out there, outside of what we have been taught.
“I thought it’d be thought-provoking, which it did become very thought-provoking and people got triggered by it. But how many things that have come across the media have triggered people?”
I think Williams needs to be removed from the council not just over his antisemitism, but also for being really stupid.
