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Arkansas Fireman Dismissed, Despite His Attempt to Blame His Wife for Comment Calling for ‘Hangings’ to Punish Black People 

Posted byBy Kiersten Willis | Published on: | Updated on November 30, 2019 CommentsComments (0)

A volunteer firefighter has been given the boot after his racist comment about the arrest of two men led to massive criticism.

The Jacksonville, Arkansas fireman — or his wife — fired off in a Facebook comment after news broke that North Little Rock Police Department arrested two Black men in connection to the shooting death of a Little Rock Air Force Base airman. Drequan Robinson and Keith Harris Jr. were apprehended for their alleged role in the killing of Senior Airman Shawn McKeough Jr. during a robbery at a North Little Rock, Arkansas gas station on March 15.

“That’s good I’m glad he’s getting locked up that means less blacks in the community,” the comment made on KARK 4’s Facebook early on March 19 read in part. “It’s very common and very typical when these types act like this. They think black lives matter however their lives apparently doesn’t matter because they want to take other lives as well. My opinion I think the old school laws need to take place where hangings are made and there would be a lot less crap going on in the city instead of putting people behind bars that want to act this way and the prison system would not be overpopulated…

“African American society is nothing but a joke,” the comment from Garran N Marie Lewellen concluded.

North Pulaski Fire Department

It now appears the account has been deactivated, as a search on Facebook for the account’s name did not yield results.

North Pulaski Fire Chief Randy Blakey told KARK Tuesday the post came from an account belonging to the fireman and his wife. The fireman told the chief his wife is the one who wrote the comment.

The volunteer worker also told the chief he takes full responsibility and he did not think it would get out of control, according to Blakey. The chief also said the former fireman apologized.

However, the post was shared hundreds of times. Things got so tense that the North Pulaski Fire Department was forced to shutter its Facebook page for a time after comments condemning the fireman consumed the page. It has since been re-activated.

“We are here for everybody, it makes no difference about what they look like everybody is the same to us,” Chief Blakey said to KARK.

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