PINE BLUFF -- The Pine Bluff City Council unanimously passed a no confidence vote against absent Alderman Bill Brumett on Monday night and asked that he resign over what council members believe was the intentional use of a racial slur during a recent online debate.
A protest Monday afternoon outside Pine Bluff City Hall drew dozens of people who called for Brumett's resignation. The protesters said that if Brumett doesn't resign, they plan to organize a recall effort against him.
The protest -- which continued during the City Council meeting -- marked the second in less than a week over the issue, which has become a much-talked about topic around the city.
Brumett, who is white, and Pine Bluff native J.C. Cunningham, who is black, were arguing about city issues recently on a public-access Facebook forum when Brumett said he became agitated that Cunningham kept misspelling his name. Brumett said he decided to intentionally misspell Cunningham's name out of frustration and typed "Cooninham," when he meant to type "Cuuningham."
In a written statement, the alderman said typing "coon" -- which has a long history as a racial epithet -- was unintentional.
Brumett said he was out of town on a family trip and informed Pine Bluff Mayor Debe Hollingsworth that he could not attend Monday's meeting. Brumett has said previously that he has no plans to resign.
Alderman George Stepps, who proposed the no confidence measure Monday night that ended in a 7-0 vote, said he can "no longer, in clear conscience, work with Brumett."
"I cannot trust anything that he brings to the council. I cannot, in clear conscience, believe that Brumett has any love or compassion toward African-Americans. I can no longer, in clear conscience, listen to his lies, deception or his feeble attempts to speak to the issues of fairness."
In a previous statement, Brumett said, "After I became aware that Mr. Cunningham is an African-American, and after consideration of the implications of what I wrote, despite the fact that I never intended to make any racial statement, I decided that it would be in the best interests of all concerned for me to make a public apology to Mr. Cunningham, in writing, in the same venue as the original comment.
"I have made that apology to Mr. Cunningham on Facebook and electronically to Mr. Cunningham."
Pine Bluff's population of about 50,000 is more than 70 percent black, and Brumett is the only white alderman on the eight-member City Council. He took office in 1996 and is the body's longest-serving member.
Former Pine Bluff Alderman Jack Foster, one of the organizers of Monday's protest, said he served with Brumett during his time on the City Council and called Brumett's online remark "appalling."
"Yes, he apologized to Mr. Cunningham, but that doesn't take care of all of the problems. He needs to take his lumps, and the time has come for him to step down."
Foster went on to call Brumett a "bigot who wants to see white supremacy continue in Pine Bluff."
Cunningham has not spoken publicly about the issue, though his mother, Donna Cunningham, read a statement last week from her son at an NAACP rally. She said he does not accept Brumett's apology and feels his use of the racial slur was intentional.
The Pine Bluff branch of the NAACP is also asking for Brumett's resignation.
Wanda Neal, president of the Pine Bluff NAACP branch, said Brumett betrayed the trust of those who elected him, adding, "Our community cannot racially heal when leadership takes this kind of behavior."
State Desk on 04/07/2015