As Commissioner Tommy Hunter read an innocuous announcement about an upcoming event at a local library Tuesday night, about half of the crowd gathered in the auditorium of the Gwinnett County Justice and Administration Center stood up.
They held signs — “resign now” and “no county for vile men” among the messages — and chanted.
“Hunter must go!” they cried. “Hunter must go!”
The Board of Commissioners would spend more than two hours addressing rezoning issues and other routine matters before the protesters got their formal say during a public comment period.
But they got it.
A few dozen people lined up to speak out against Hunter, who has become the target of backlash since The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published screenshots of a Facebook post in which he referred to civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis as a "racist pig."
Even as the clock inched past 10 p.m. — and 10:30 p.m., and 11 p.m. — their anger was palpable.
Said one protester, Art Smith: “No apology that you could give us will be acceptable. We cannot, we will not and we shall not accept that apology. You should resign.”
Said another, Susan Clymer: “I implore you Mr. Hunter, to step aside. So this great county can regain its status as a welcoming, progressive community, whose diversity is viewed as its strength and whose government is representative of all of us.”
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Tuesday was the second meeting of Gwinnett’s Board of Commissioners since Hunter’s Facebook posts were published, and the second with a large contingent of protesters.
Anti-Hunter speakers took up about 2 ½ hours of the board's meeting on Jan. 17, a day after The AJC published the images of Hunter's Facebook posts. In the same Jan. 14 post in which he called Lewis a "racist pig," Hunter referred to Democrats as "Demonrats."
The post was written amid a well-publicized feud between Lewis and then-president-elect Donald Trump.
Hunter has conceded that the “racist pig” comment was “probably an overreaction out of aggravation” and later apologized for his “choice of words.”
“John Lewis is a leader in the Civil Rights movement and is to be commended and emulated,” Hunter read in a statement during last week’s meeting. “That doesn’t mean I’ll always agree with him politically. I will not allow baseless accusations of racism against me or anyone to keep people from speaking up when something is wrong. I’ve learned a lot from this and will continue to work hard to serve all of District 3 and the people of Gwinnett County.”
Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash has personally apologized to Lewis for Hunter's actions. Hunter's other employer, United Consulting, has also done so. Fellow commissioners Jace Brooks, John Heard and Lynette Howard eventually denounced Hunter's comments as well.
The Gwinnett County Democratic Party, which has called for Hunter to resign, and a group called United Together 2017 organized Tuesday night’s protest, sending mass emails urging supporters to show up.
The Democratic Party has said it will continue such efforts until Hunter resigns from his seat over District 3, which covers a diverse swath of southern and eastern Gwinnett, including parts of Snellville, Grayson, Dacula and Braselton.
Hunter has said he won’t step down and did not address Tuesday night’s protesters.
Protesters that included 11-year-old Laney McKenna.
“In my middle school, there are people from all walks of life,” the girl said while addressing Hunter and the board. “And I was taught to love them all.”
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