Tennessee Lawmaker Denies Controversial Comments Were Racially Charged

A Tennessee House Republican is defending herself from charges of racism after making controversial comments on Facebook.

“It is time for a Council of Christian Relations and a NAAWP in this Country,” Rep. Sheila Butt (R), the state’s House majority floor leader, wrote on Facebook last month, in a comment first flagged by alternative weekly newspaper Nashville Scene.

Her comment came in response to an open letter from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil liberties organization in the U.S., that urged 2016 GOP candidates to engage Muslim voters and reject Islamophobia.

Glen Casada, chairman of the state House Republican Caucus, also came to Butt’s defense. He released a statement Thursday saying CAIR should focus its attention elsewhere.

“Instead of using their energy attacking conservatives in Tennessee, CAIR should instead refocus their efforts on stopping the spread of radical extremists in their own religion in the United States and across the world,” he said. “I call on my colleagues in the General Assembly to join me in defending western values and culture against radical Islam.”

The Huffington Post