A Republican official in Virginia referred to top Black military officials as “stinking” n-words and called for the lynching of the first Black Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin in a February 2021 Facebook post.
“The situation with the United States military is getting more disgusting and dangerous by the day,” Hampton Electoral Board Chairman David Dietrich wrote.
In the post, Dietrich attacked Austin and retired Gen. Russel Honoré who was tapped by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to lead a review of Capitol security after the Jan. 6 attack.
Dietrich wrote that Austin’s efforts to root out white nationalists in the military was actually a ploy “to remove conservative, freedom-loving Americans from the roles.”
“These so-called ‘leaders’ are so vile and racist, there’s no way to describe them other than in terms their own people understand. They are nothing more than dirty, stinking n***ers.”
“If it is a civil war they want, they will get it in spades,” he wrote. “Perhaps the best way to pull us back from the brink is a good public lynching.”
On Thursday, the Hampton GOP called on Dietrich to resign and shared a screenshot of the post on their Facebook page.
The Hampton GOP said Dietrich had used “abhorrent and unacceptable racist language that has no place in our Party or our Commonwealth.” The party said he refused to resign and now they are asking the court to step in.
“In light of Mr. Dietrich’s refusal to resign, the Hampton City Republican Party has asked the chief judge of the Hampton Circuit Court, the appointing authority for all electoral board members, to remove Mr. Dietrich from his position,” the party said.
“The Hampton City Republican Party unequivocally condemns all forms of racism and bigotry, and specifically condemns the language employed by Mr. Dietrich.”
Hampton GOP Chairman Philip Siff reiterated the party’s call for Dietrich to resign in an interview with WAVY News 10 on Friday.
“He’s responsible for what he wrote; I am responsible for who I recommend to the court. I can’t speak for what he thinks or what he believes but I can rectify the wrong that I made in having him appointed there,” Siff said.
