After 'Racist Pig' Comment, Gwinnett Board Headed To Civil Rights Museum

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — Weeks after one of its members called a civil rights icon a "racist pig," the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners is headed to the National Center For Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.

The board plans to visit the civil rights museum on Tuesday, according to a notice posted on its website. No other official business is planned for that day.

In January, Republican board member Tommy Hunter took to his Facebook page to comment on a dispute between then President-elect Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat from Atlanta.

In his posts, Hunter called Lewis "a racist pig" and called Democrats "idiots" and by the derisive term "Demonrats."

Lewis, who represents Georgia's Fifth Congressional District based in Atlanta, is a civil rights icon and was one of the Rev. Martin Luther King's key lieutenants who was beaten and jailed repeatedly for the cause before entering elected politics.

He had angered Trump with comments questioning the legitimacy of his election, in part due to the possibility of Russian tampering.

Hunter has since apologized "for the choice of words" he made in the posts.

Other members of the Board of Commissioners — which is all Republican and all white — have condemned Hunter's posts.

In a letter to Lewis, board Chairwoman Charlotte Nash apologized and emphasized that one member's comments do not reflect the view of the board as a whole.

""Most of us honor you as a leader in the civil-rights movement and as a longtime public servant, even those who may hold political stances," Nash wrote.

Speaking to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nash declined to connect the civil rights museum directly to Hunter's comments, merely saying the museum had reached out and invited the board to visit.

Located in downtown Atlanta, the National Center For Civil and Human Rights opened in June 2014. It is dedicated to achievements of both the U.S. civil rights movement and the broader world human rights movement.

Lewis was among the figured who helped conceive and create the museum.

Photo courtesy Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners