A former elected official in Griffin was caught on video using a racial slur during a Confederate History Month address.
Former City Commissioner Larry Johnson was speaking during the public comment portion of last week’s Griffin commission meeting when he was heard using the slur to describe his hometown, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Video of the incident was shared on YouTube and has sparked outrage online, the news station reported.
“I told you at that time that there were white folks and black folks when I was growing up,” Johnson said in the video. “There was white trash, my family and there was ‘(racial slur)-town.’”
Johnson said he is not a racist and was upset over commissioner Robert McCord’s objection to a Confederate History Month proclamation, Channel 2 reported.
Johnson released a statement Tuesday apologizing for offending anyone and explaining what he meant.
“I was trying to make a point about a time in my life when I was 5 years old playing with other kids about that age; black and white kids not yet touched by cruelties in the world,” Johnson said in the statement. “In doing so, I used words familiar back then, but I did not get a chance to say we no longer use those words today, and the world is a better place.”
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