Huntsville councilwoman Jennie Robinson faces backlash for comments on race, police
The words from a city leader crashed into the tension of the city, leaving a community claiming to be misunderstood as Huntsville wrestles with the aftermath of protests and police action and, most of all, uncertainty.
Longtime Huntsville city councilwoman Jennie Robinson, whose district is in south Huntsville, said she wanted her comments at last week's council meeting to bring "balance" to a narrative that had been largely critical of law enforcement that deployed tear gas and rubber bullets to break up protests on the downtown square both June 1 and June 3.
Instead, a community marching and demanding change following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minnesota heard a message from Robinson that was, in the words of one speaker at the meeting, "extremely condescending" while another said it was "extremely disrespectful." The Alabama NAACP even demanded an apology from Robinson in a Facebook post.
"It was just what I felt needed to be said to represent, to balance," Robinson told AL.com Wednesday. "It was really to balance the conversation."
Read more: https://www.al.com/news/2020/06/huntsville-councilwoman-jennie-robinson-faces-backlash-for-comments-on-race-police.html