Legislators were in session Monday for the first time since Republican Rep. Karl Oliver of Winona posted the remark to Facebook on May 20. Photo by Imani Khayyam.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A white Mississippi lawmaker has been privately apologizing to many of his black colleagues, more than two weeks after saying people should be lynched for removing Confederate monuments.
Legislators were in session Monday for the first time since Republican Rep. Karl Oliver of Winona posted the remark to Facebook on May 20.
Oliver posted a general apology on Facebook May 22. He says Monday he stands by that apology and is offering one-on-one apologies to black colleagues who will listen.
Democratic Rep. Bryant Clark of Pickens, who is black, says Oliver told him the lynching remark "did not come from his heart." Clark says Oliver should stand before the House and apologize. Oliver says he doesn't plan to do that.
A Senate committee rejected a resolution urging Oliver to resign.
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