OSHKOSH, Wis. –– Hundreds of people flooded the comments section of a post on the Winnebago County Republican Party Facebook page Monday after a post that angered many.
Party leaders said chair Ed Hudak shared a post with Facebook followers that spurred controversy almost instantaneously. Hudak first shared the post on his personal page Sunday night. Monday morning, the same post was shared on the county Republicans page.
The post included the image of an unidentified white man and shared the “signs of white supremacy.” Underneath was a list of attributes including literacy, full time employment, no criminal record, good credit and more.
“To see white supremacy associated with having a job and a degree and even like going to church, like, there’s a lot of words I can’t say on TV, man, with how that made my blood boil,” said Mark Becker, former chair of the Republican Party of Brown County and a former Republican. “It’s just sick.”
Party leaders clarified the post itself was intended to mock “critical race theory” — a theory whose proponents say is meant to re-examine America’s history with racial justice. “Critical race theory” has been widely rejected and criticized by conservatives and some moderate liberals.
Much of the criticism aimed at Hudak and the party come from its own members. Nate Gustafson is on the party board. On Monday he condemned the post saying it was inappropriate.
“This doesn’t represent us. This doesn’t represent many of the people that are part of this party,” Gustafson said. “We need to do better.”
He said he hoped the post would be removed form the party page. It was removed Monday afternoon.
Gustafson said the post didn’t include any context to the greater point about “critical race theory” which resulted in outrage instead of the legitimate discussion he feels the topic deserves. He said the move was a poor one and proves that people should think before they post or share.
“There is freedom of speech. I fully understand, fully endorse freedom of speech. Say whatever you want; it can be the nastiest stuff you want,” Gustafson said, “At the end of the day, someone’s going to try to hold you accountable for what you say.”
Hudak did not reply to Spectrum News 1’s attempts to contact him for comment.
The chair of the Winnebago County Democrats did not wish to comment.