#Michigan mayor says he’d be ‘crucified’ for voting against black official

A white Michigan mayor is under fire for saying she’d be “crucified” for not backing the reappointment of a black city official, prompting calls for her to resign.

Ypsilanti Mayor Beth Bashert made the controversial comment Tuesday during a Zoom meeting as city councilmembers were voting on the reappointment of city human relations commissioner Ka’Ron Gaines, the Detroit Free Press reports.

“Since I will be crucified if I vote against any black person on any commission, I’m going to vote yes,” Bashert said during the meeting, according to the newspaper.

Bashert ultimately voted to reappoint Gaines, but the rest of the panel was taken aback by the mayor’s words and voted against the move, the Free Press reports.

“I couldn’t believe she actually said that,” Councilman Steve Wilcoxen told WJBK. “I couldn’t imagine her thinking those thoughts.”

Bashert later apologized for her “biased” remark in a statement issued Wednesday.

“Then I compounded the whole thing by digging in and getting defensive when questioned,” Bashert said. “All of those actions were racist. I am deeply ashamed and saddened that I did this.”

Bashert said she hopes to “repair” her relationship with councilmembers, while acknowledging that she’s a “racist person” because she was raised in a biased culture and is admittedly imperfect.

“I care deeply about confronting racism, yet that does not mean that I am not racist,” her lengthy statement continued. “I am trying to confront racism in myself.”

But that mea culpa apparently isn’t enough to satisfy some critics from a nonprofit group in Ypsilanti, Survivors Speak, that wants Bashert to leave office over her statement, the Free Press reports.

A protest by the group will be held Monday calling for Bashert’s resignation. If the Democrat doesn’t step down, organizers plan to start a recall process, the newspaper reports.