Mississippi sheriff calls Hispanic politician ‘worse than a black person’ in text message to white lawmaker
TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI: A Mississippi sheriff described a local legislator as “worse than a black person” in a text message to a white elected official, a public records request has revealed.
The text was retrieved from Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson's messages that he sent to County Supervisor Phil Morgan in August 2017, as obtained by The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
According to the journal, both men were complaining about state Rep. Shane Aguirre, who is of Hispanic descent, over building a new jail.
"He's worse than a black person, your not going to please him," Johnson wrote of Aguirre.
When approached by the newspaper, Johnson explained to them he was "aggravated" but that he shouldn't have mentioned race.
Aguirre told the Daily Mail he hadn't "thought about what I want to say, if anything," when asked to comment on the racist texts.
According to him, his paternal grandfather's parents are Mexican, but his mother and himself are natives of Tupelo, Mississippi. He said his father is from Wichita, Kansas.
Both Johnson and Morgan were complaining about Aguirre's involvement in debates over Lee County's jail. Johnson can be seen as not approving Aguirre's stance on jail legislation.
The first-term Republican representative had opposed a bill that would have allowed the construction of a county jail just outside Tupelo.
"I was aggravated at him," Johnson said of Aguirre.
While the sheriff did not take back his remarks, he did express some regret over the same.
"There was probably no call for mentioning anything of race," Johnson said.
When the Journal asked Johnson if he believed black people are difficult to please, he responded saying, "I think when you play the race card, yes, it's difficult to please some people."
Johnson was also confronted over another text message in which he linked the county's only black majority supervisor district with crime
The sheriff described himself as a “racist” in what may have been meant as a sarcastic joke on Tommy Lee Ivy, who represents that district.
“We had a fatal shooting last night with a Black Motorcycle group in Tommie Lee District," Johnson texted Morgan in September 2018. "Looks like his district is promoting another group and you can bet there will be trouble. I’m the racist one. This s- – is ridiculous.”
Acknowledging Johnson's texts, Morgan responded in a written statement saying: “The sheriff sent me these messages unprompted, I presume, in an attempt to sway my view on these issues," he wrote. "Though we come from different parties, Tommie Lee Ivy and I have worked on numerous issues over the years and I consider him a close friend. The entire county has benefited from his dedication to public service and I would never condone derogatory remarks directed at him.”
Having said that, Johnson emphasized to the Journal that he did not hold racist or prejudiced beliefs.
“God made us all the same,” he said. “I don’t treat anybody any different.”