Official rejects calls to resign over post
Incoming GOP chair under fire for banana next to MLK quote
The incoming chairman of the Harris County Republican Party on Friday rejected calls from highprofile members of his party to resign over his social media post displaying a Martin Luther King Jr. quote next to a banana, a juxtaposition that recalls the racist trope associating black people with monkeys.
Keith Nielsen, who defeated incumbent chairman Paul Simpson in March, apologized for the post Friday and said he had “zero malicious intent.” He issued a statement calling peaceful protests after George Floyd’s death “an inspiration and testament to the good in humanity” and explained why he included a banana in the photo.
“I wanted to speak out against the ensuing violence, burning and looting of small businesses across the nation, I simply wanted to say that it’s bananas to act this way and that peaceful protesters have shown us a better way forward,” Nielsen said. “I grew up in a home where saying ‘bananas’ instead of curse words kept us from being punished, but I am not afraid to confront and challenge long-held manners of belief and speech.”
Nielsen, who is set to take office Aug. 3, is one of five Texas Republican Party chairs or chair-elects facing heavy criticism and calls to resign this week for sharing racist posts related to the death of Floyd, a black former Houston resident who died after a Minne
apolis police officer knelt on his neck.
Nielsen’s since-deleted Facebook photo included King’s quote that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” next to a banana.
It differs from the posts shared by chairs of the Bexar, Comal, Nueces and Harrison County Republican parties, each of whom spread conspiracy theories that Floyd’s death could be a “staged event.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who lives in neighboring Montgomery County, said Nielsen “should withdraw immediately from any further consideration as county chair,” calling the post “offensive” and “outrageous.”
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who lives in Houston, also called on Nielsen to resign his pending chairmanship.
“Dammit, stop it. Stop saying stupid, racist things. Our country is grieving,” tweeted Cruz, R-Texas. “Let’s come together for equal justice under law. Let’s unite behind Dr. King’s powerful dream, where all of us are judged, not by race, but by the content of our
“My intentions are good, and I’m a fighter — that’s why the people of Harris County elected me and I will take office as planned.”
Keith Nielsen, Harris County Republican Party chair-elect
character.”
Nielsen made clear he still plans to assume office, despite the “pain” he acknowledged his post had created.
“I hear you and I am not afraid to confront my shortcomings,” Nielsen said. “My intentions are good, and I’m a fighter — that’s why the people of Harris County elected me and I will take office as planned.”
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, RAustin, joined the calls for Nielsen to resign Friday afternoon, labeling his post “racist and unacceptable.” U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, RHouston, said in a statement that Nielsen “has no place in our party. Not now. Not ever.”
“It is a sad reminder that such blatant ignorance and bigotry still exist,” Crenshaw said. “When we see it, it’s our duty to unequivocally condemn it and make sure that people like him have no place in our politics.”
Nielsen did resign Friday from his position as a member of the Pasadena planning commission at the request of Mayor Jeff Wagner, city spokeswoman Laura Mireles said. A spokeswoman for Nielsen said he already had planned to resign.
Meanwhile, Republican Reps. Will Hurd of San Antonio and Chip Roy of Austin called for the resignation of Bexar County GOP Chairwoman Cynthia Brehm, who wrote that “there is at the very least the ‘possibility,’ that this was a filmed public execution of a black man by a white cop, with the purpose of creating racial tensions and driving a wedge in the growing group of anti deep state sentiment.”
The Nueces County Republican chairman, Jim Kaelin, shared the same debunked conspiracy theory, which he said was sent to him from a “state police investigator.” Kaelin’s Facebook post said: “You can draw your own conclusions, but this appears to have all the earmarks of George Soros. Please open your eyes !!!! ” Numerous people commented on the post in agreement.
Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, a Republican, tweeted Thursday that the chairs should resign.
“I have said it before and I will say it again now: the GOP must not tolerate racism. Of any kind. At any time,” Bush said. “The appalling behavior by the four GOP County leaders must not stand. I urge them to do the honorable thing and step aside now.”
Texas Democratic Party spokesman Abhi Rahman said Republicans “must decide whether they want to be the party of racism and tinfoil hat conspiracy theories.”
“The onus falls on Gov. Greg Abbott and other Texas Republican leaders to put an immediate halt on racially hostile actions from within their own ranks,” Rahman said in a statement. “Failure to do so makes them complicit in the spread of bigoted conspiracies we are seeing promulgated amongst Texas Republicans.”