Sheila Butt Won't Apologize for NAAWP Comment

by Alex J. Quinones

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By Sabrina Hall

COLUMBIA, Tenn. - Rep. Sheila Butt (R-District 64) says she will not apologize for her comments on Facebook. She finally talked to FOX 17. Many have been outraged at a post she made recently calling for an NAAWP.

Butt said she didn't want to give an on-camera interview about this topic because she said last week she was done giving on-camera interviews but she did talk to us by phone.

"There was no racial connotation in the post at all," said Butt, the state representative for district 64.

While some of her constituents in Columbia, Tenn. want an apology, she's says that's not going to happen, "We can't apologize for our First Amendment freedom of speech and especially when it's about something somebody thinks I might've meant."

Many have been upset and even called for her to step down as house majority floor leader after her Facebook post calling for a counsel on Christian relations and an NAAWP. She says she wasn't talking about white people but western people, "When this country was founded, we were supposed to be a melting pot and we were supposed to see each other as Americans and work together to build this country."

"I don't buy it. I don't buy," said Scott Shepard it no ma'am I don't buy it off she meant exactly what she said

Scott Shepherd was the national organizer for the actual NAAWP. He still has his business card from when he was a white supremacist. He's now a reformed racist and he is even calling for the representative to apologize, "Of course I've made mistakes in my life and you know that but I've apologize for them. I don't see the big deal in apologizing."

"I would if it was really a misunderstanding," said Kialer Williams, a Columbia resident. "I would apologize for the misunderstanding that everyone got from what I said."

"I just think she was misunderstood," said Sandra Kepler, a Columbia resident. "I don't think she meant how it came out."

That's exactly what Butt says: It's all a misunderstanding.

"I guess what I am disappointed about is that people have taken something and have insinuated that I might have meant this or maybe I thought that and but in the context, it was nothing that the post was about," said Butt.

Some of been calling for Butt to step down but she says there's no way she will be doing that. She says she's going to continue to work to make Tennessee one of the best places to live in the country.

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