(ATLANTA, GA – 7/22/18) The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations today called on Rep. Jason Spencer to immediately resign his position as a state representative after footage of Spencer shouting “sand n*gger,” “n*gger,” and other racial slurs aired on Showtime’s “Who Is America?”
CAIR Georgia also called on Democratic and Republican leaders in Georgia–including Stacey Abrams, Casey Cagle, and Brian Kemp–to insist on Spencer’s immediate resignation.
Spencer lost his bid for reelection during the GOP primary in May 2018, but he would continue to serve in-office until the new class of legislators are sworn-in.
“When Jason Spencer tried to ban Muslim women from wearing clothing of their choice, we tried to dialogue with him,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, executive director of CAIR Georgia. “When he ominously warned a black woman she could be murdered for opposing Confederate monuments, we called for him to apologize. Enough is enough. Jason Spencer must resign.”
During the segment, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen pretended to be an Israeli anti-terrorism expert and convinced Spencer to act out various scenarios. In one segment, Spencer shouted racial epithets.
He also chased Cohen around with his buttocks bared because Cohen claimed that “terrorists are so afraid of gay people that they think they will become homosexual if you touch them with your bare behind.”
“The ignorance and malice behind Islamophobia has led Mr. Spencer to not only pursue bad policy, but engage in humiliating and hateful behavior unbecoming of anyone, especially a state legislator,” Mitchell said.
In November 2016, Rep. Spencer submitted a bill that would have made it a crime for Muslim women to wear face veils. He withdrew the bill after CAIR Georgia and other civil rights organizations spoke out against the proposal.
In August 2017, Rep. Spencer engaged in a Facebook debate with former Rep. LaDawn Jones about the status of Confederate monuments. During the discussion, Rep. Spencer warned Ms. Jones that if she traveled to south Georgia to call for the removal of Confederate monuments, local residents might kill her and dispose of her body in a local swamp.
CONTACT: Edward Ahmed Mitchell; 404-285-9530; [email protected]