We may not always agree, but disagreement should never turn into disrespect,” Councilor Byron Hickey of District 1 told the Ledger-Enquirer.

They’re in-house Negroes,” the Rev. Johnny Flakes III said, referring to the two Black councilors who supported this move. “They carry the buckets of the water, and they have sold their souls.”

You’ve got a majority of people in this community that didn’t vote for an individual,” Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson said, “and now this council is going to appoint them?”