Texas group sorry for member’s gesture during MLK parade

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Tarrant County Young Republicans apologized after a member made a hand gesture associated with white supremacy in a photo at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Fort Worth.

The Tarrant County Republican Party, which originally posted the photo, removed it from their Facebook page.

The photo showed a group of about 20 people posing with a Tarrant County Republican Party banner at Monday’s parade. In the background, a man is making the OK symbol, which the Anti-Defamation League recognizes as a hate symbol.

The man in the photo was identified as Robert Coe. He is the chairman for precinct 1111 in Fort Worth, and Tarrant County Young Republicans named him “Young Republican of the Year” in December. Precinct chairs oversee voter registration and are elected every two years.

When asked about the photo, Coe told the StarTelegram “that situation has already been taken care of.”

Coe hung up the phone and did not respond to further questions.

In response to a tweet about the photo, the Tarrant County Young Republicans tweeted, “It’s not a real white power symbol, he does that b/c he thinks it’s funny how crazy leftists get over a fake symbol. Nonetheless it was inappropriate/dumb, and we’ll be talking w/ him. Rest assured though, he is no white supremacist. Bit of a troll perhaps ... but a good kid.”

The group removed posts from their Twitter and Facebook pages where they named Coe as the “Young Republican of the Year.”

Derrick Wilson, the Young Republicans chairman, said over the phone that he could not comment further on the situation.

Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Rick Barnes said he spoke with Coe after seeing the photo, and the 20-year-old told him he did the symbol “as a spoof.”

“He denies any misgivings, but our position is that we were down here to support the parade and support the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and anything that did not fall in line with that, we consider to be absolutely wrong,” Barnes said.

Barnes said he does not think the symbol means anything, but said it was inappropriate for Coe to make it at the parade. He said the group had a conversation with Coe about “being mature and acting responsibly.”