Alabama Newspaper That Called for K k k To â€ëœride Again Has a New Editor a Black Woman
Goodloe Sutton, shown here at an awards anniversary in 1998, has turned over command of The Democrat-Reporter to Elecia Dexter. Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
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Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
Goodloe Sutton, shown here at an awards ceremony in 1998, has turned over command of The Democrat-Reporter to Elecia Dexter.
Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
The publisher of a small local newspaper in Alabama penned an editorial calling for the Ku Klux Klan to "ride again." Later massive outcry, he's stepped downward, and a black woman has taken the job.
The new publisher and editor of The Democrat-Reporter, Elecia R. Dexter, took the reins on Thursday, after Goodloe Sutton doubled down on his incendiary comments.
"If we could get the Klan to go upward there and clean out D.C., we'd all been better off," Sutton told the Montgomery Advertiser. "We'll get the hemp ropes out, loop them over a alpine limb and hang all of them."
The original editorial, published without an author named, claimed that Democrats and Republicans were "plotting to enhance taxes in Alabama." It stated: "Seems like the Klan would be welcome to raid the gated communities up there." Sutton confirmed to the Advertiser that he wrote the piece.
In a statement, the newspaper said it "has provided the customs of West Alabama with quality news for over 140 years and y'all may take full confidence that Ms. Dexter will continue in this tradition too as moving the paper into a new management." Information technology noted that Dexter's family "has strong roots and a rich history in Marengo County."
"Everything has been a piffling surreal, and at that place's a lot going on," Dexter said in an interview with The Washington Mail service. "I'm grateful for this opportunity."
She told the Post that she had been working at the paper for nigh six weeks every bit a front part clerk when the editorial was published. She said she felt disappointed and talked to Sutton virtually information technology.
"[He] took a grouping that has a lot of negativity associated to it, especially for people like me, of color," Dexter said, according to the Mail service. "There are different ways to communicate you lot wanted Washington to exist cleaned up without using that detail reference."
According to the Democrat-Reporter, Dexter holds a available's degree in speech advice from Eastern Illinois University and two masters degrees: one in human services from Spertus Plant of Jewish Studies and some other in Counseling from Argosy University. "Over the past 10 years, she has been a strategic leader with expertise in human resources, operations and change management," the paper said.
Dexter told NPR in an email that Sutton remains the owner of the paper. Alabama lawmakers celebrated the change in editorial leadership.
"His dangerous views exercise not represent Alabama or the small-town papers in Alabama that do keen piece of work every day," Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, said in a tweet. "The proficient people of Linden deserve so much meliorate than these racist rants and I am confident they will get it with new editor, Elecia Dexter."
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., chosen Sutton'south stepping downwards "the right matter to practise." She chosen for Sutton to apologize.
Every bit NPR'southward Sasha Ingber has noted, the editorial did not appear on the paper'south website. But photos of the impress story were tweeted by Auburn University students, leading to national attention on the Democrat-Reporter.
Sutton has received accolades for his paper's investigative work, as Ingber reported: "In the 1990s, "Ole Goodloe" exposed corruption in the Marengo County sheriff's section, receiving numerous awards for his investigative reporting, including a Hugh M. Hefner Showtime Amendment Award and the Lodge of Professional person Journalists' Sunshine Honor."
At the same fourth dimension, as The Associated Press noted, "Sutton has a history of publishing racially and ethnically insensitive editorials."
Several organizations take stripped Sutton of awards. Auburn University had awarded him and his deceased wife Jean Sutton its Distinguished Alabama Community Journalist Honor in 2009 – now, an Auburn official said that information technology has withdrawn Sutton's honour and only recognizes Jean Sutton.
And equally Kyle Gassiott of Troy University Public Radio reported, "The University of Southern Mississippi removed Sutton from its hall of fame, and the Alabama Press Association formally censured him."
Source: https://www.npr.org/2019/02/25/697694443/alabama-publisher-who-called-for-kkk-to-ride-again-is-replaced-by-black-woman
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