Republican says officials who took down Confederate monuments should be 'lynched'

A Mississippi politician has said that public officials responsible for taking down Confederate monuments in Louisiana should be “lynched.”

Mississippi State Representative Karl Oliver expressed his outrage over the removal of four Confederate symbols in New Orleans on Facebook over the weekend, saying that the efforts are an affront to southern history.

“The destruction of these monuments, erected in the loving memory of our family and fellow Southern Americans, is both heinous and horrific,” Mr Oliver wrote. “If the, and I use the term extremely loosely, 'leadership' of Louisiana wishes to, in a Nazi-ish fashion, burn books or destroy historical monuments of OUR HISTORY, they should be LYNCHED! Let it be known, I will do all in my power to prevent this from happening in our State.”

The statement was quickly criticised by Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, who said that it was unacceptable and that there isn’t a place for that kind of talk in civil conversations. Mr Oliver, within days, had removed the message from his Facebook account and offered an apology.

“I, first and foremost, wish to extend this apology for any embarrassment I have caused to both my colleagues and fellow Mississippians,“ Oliver said in a written response to the Clarion-Ledger. ”In an effort to express my passion for preserving all historical monuments, I acknowledge the word 'lynched' was wrong. I am very sorry. It is in no way, ever, an appropriate term. I deeply regret that I chose this word, and I do not condone the actions I referenced, nor do I believe them in my heart. I freely admit my choice of words was horribly wrong, and I humbly ask your forgiveness.”

New Orleans removed the fourth of four Confederate monuments last week after years of protests and efforts by activists who charge that keeping the statues and other symbols is an offensive celebration of the country’s racist history.

A broader effort to remove Confederate symbols in the South was sparked after the 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in which a white man who had previously posed for pictures with the Confederate battle flag entered a predominantly black church and killed nine African Americans.