BURLINGTON — Two politicians from the New North End landed in hot water this week for social media posts that were widely viewed as racist and anti-immigrant.
Mike McGarghan, a candidate for state representative, called for President Barack Obama to be hung in Tweets, and School Board member David Kirk shared memes on Facebook that disparaged immigrants and people of color.
Kirk issued an apology late Wednesday after a number of parents took to social media calling on the Ward 7 school board member to resign.
“At this time I would like to most sincerely apologize to the citizens of Burlington for a number of inappropriate social media posts. In the age of social media where we move at lightning speed, it is all too easy to simply repost and share items, sometimes carelessly, with a click of a button that may be hurtful to others. These posts are not a reflection of me, my family, my constituents, and the decades of community service I have provided in Burlington,” Kirk said in the emailed statement.
Kirk initially told the Burlington Free Press that he is not racist and would repost the content on his Facebook page because he thought his friends and family would enjoy it.
“You can read into this what you want,” Kirk told the Free Press. “Some I find funny, some I find stupid.”
Kirk has since deleted the items he reposted, but a number of parents took screenshots that they shared with VTDigger.
Even after Kirk issued the apology, parents continued to call for his ouster on social media.
Dave Hartnett, I-North District, said the views expressed by those New North End politicians aren’t representative of the community, which he described as diverse and welcoming.
“Certainly two people don’t represent the New North End,” Hartnett said in an interview Wednesday.
However, the latest rash of ugly social media posts is a repeat of an episode in 2014 where former School Board Member and New North End resident Scot Shumski was connected to a Twitter account @slappywhyte that shared right wing rhetoric under the pseudonym.
Harnett insists that there is no undercurrent of bigotry in his community. He described most New North End residents as “hard working families that live on a very tight budget, who are concerned about property taxes.”
People like Kirk and Shumski gained traction with voters because they ran as “watchdogs for property taxes,” Hartnett said. Their personal views haven’t crept into their campaigns, he said.
Shay Totten is among the parents calling for Kirk to resign, saying the content of his Facebook reposts are unacceptable for an elected official.
Totten, a longtime Burlington resident and former Seven Days columnist who exposed Schumski’s Twitter activity on his personal blog, said he agrees with Hartnett that Kirk and Shumski propelled themselves into office with conservative positions on taxation and budget issues.
Ward 7 in the New North End has long been recognized as more conservative, and its residents often view the rest of the city as too willing to hike taxes and increase budgets, he said.
Totten doesn’t buy that there are geographic contours to intolerance in Burlington.
“I wouldn’t say it’s just the New North End,” Totten said. “As much as we like to think Burlington is protected and above it all — it ain’t. I don’t think those sentiments have ever not been present here.”
What’s new is social media, he said, which makes it easy to share private views publicly with the click of a mouse. People may be less inhibited sitting behind their computer than they would be in other social settings, Totten said.
When office holders or candidates express racist, xenophobic or otherwise intolerant views, it has real consequences for an increasingly diverse and multicultural community, Totten said.
One just needs to look at the businesses lining North Avenue, the main artery through the New North End, to see its increasing diversity, spurred by immigration and refugee resettlement. That increasing diversity is a cultural and economic asset for the neighborhood, the city and especially the school district, Totten said.
“It’s fine that Donald Trump is flushing out the bigots in our community so we can confront them,” Totten added.
Totten said he hopes those confrontations will go beyond finger pointing so that the community can discuss the economic anxiety or ignorance underlying those views.
