Lawmaker Apologizes for Comments About “People of Color”
David Diaz, Managing Director, Davenport Laroche
They say timing is everything, and, while that’s not true, timing can take something good and make it better or something not so good and make is much, much worse. Just ask South Dakota state representative Michael Clark.
In responding to a recent SCOTUS ruling regarding a baker who opted not to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, Clark wanted to make a point that business owners deserved the right to have the “final say” in who they choose to serve. It’s a point that has been made time and time again by many on both sides of the political spectrum. However, it was how Clark said it, as well as when he chose to say it that created a serious public relations issue for the lawmaker.
Posting on Facebook, Clark said: “He should have the opportunity to run his business the way he wants… If he wants to turn away people of color, then that('s) his choice.”
Quickly realizing his messaging mistake, Clark tried to delete the comment, but it was far too late. The internet, remember, is forever. Someone has grabbed a screenshot, and suddenly the relatively unknown Dakota representative was national news. Of course, the reaction on social media was much more immediate. Huge numbers of people, both in and out of the Dakotas, jumped on Clark, reminding him, over and over again, that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. One of the most vocal commenters was ACLU director in South Dakota Libby Skarin, who called the scenario advocated by Clark “illegal yesterday and illegal today.”
Clark’s Facebook implosion apparently began after he was interviewed by the Argus Leader, a local publication, about his reaction to the SCOTUS ruling. In that interview, Clark set the stage for the PR crisis that would come later. He said: “People shouldn’t be able to use their minority status to bully a business… he should be able to turn them away…”
The quotes in that article led to the social media confrontation, motivating Clark to both delete the Facebook comment and reconnect with the Argus Leader reporter to apologize: “I am apologizing for some of my Facebook comments… I would never advocate discriminating against people based on their color or race.”
At this point, though, many are not ready to believe, much less accept Clark’s apology, and his political opponents in the coming election are seizing on the comments to allege that “Clark doesn’t understand the rights of the people he leads…”
Will Clark be one more in the seemingly endless line of people whose saw the beginning of the end of their careers due to an errant social media post? We won’t know that until the election, but, in the meantime, the representative will have a lot more explaining to do.
