Schools
'I Will Not Be Intimidated Or Distracted,' Eggert Tells Critics
A Bartow County School Board member who called for "real ammo" to be used against Black Lives Matter protesters said he wouldn't resign.
CARTERSVILLE, GA — A school board member whose social media comments led to calls for his resignation pushed back Monday, saying, “I will not be intimidated or distracted from the work I have set out to do.”
In a statement released Monday morning to WBHF Community Radio, Bartow County school board member Terry Lee Eggert acknowledged that “a few … believe my comments to be insensitive” but that it “was certainly not my intent and does not reflect who I am as a person.”
In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests in June, Eggert posted on social media that “real ammo” should be used to stop “this nonsense of looting, attacks on citizens and destruction of property."
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In his statement Monday, Eggert wrote that he made his comments to defend “law enforcement who have been under constant attack in the media.”
Eggert said that “although my statement was similar to the President’s, I understand that words can have unintentional consequences.”
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President Donald Trump tweeted in May that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” in response to protests over police brutality against Blacks. Trump’s comment drew widespread condemnation and a rare rebuke from Twitter, which hid his tweet and flagged it as “glorifying violence.”
Eggert’s social media comment drew similar fire. In a packed meeting of the Bartow County School Board on June 29, Black leaders called for Eggert’s resignation
WAGA-TV reported that one Bartow County pastor likened Eggert’s comments to cyberbullying that would normally get any student punished. "I think adults in the school system should be held to the same standard," said the Rev. John Lampley of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church.
Dexter Benning of the Bartow County NAACP specifically called for Eggert to step down, saying that “this person does not need to be making decisions for our children.”
In his statement Monday, Eggert disagreed.
“I will always fight for fairness, for my constituents, students, our teachers and staff,” Eggert said. “I will work harder to make sure that my words do not distract from my mission.”
He added that he hoped the school board would “not politicize this matter any further.”
The entire text of Eggert’s statement is posted on WBHF’s website.
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