Lawmaker Forwarded Racist E-Mail

22 Aug 2001

Is this the same Rep. Davis that was trying to promote scientology in Europe?

c The Associated Press, Aug. 22, 2001

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A state representative forwarded an e-mail to fellow lawmakers this week that claimed, "Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity."

Rep. Don Davis, a white Republican, said he received the letter Friday and forwarded it to every member of the state House and Senate. He said he didn't consider the letter racist.

"I just put it out for information. People can read into it whatever they want to," Davis said.

"There's a lot of it that's truth, the way I see it," Davis said. "Who came to this country first - the white man, didn't he? That's who made this country great."

The letter angered other lawmakers who considered it offensive and racist.

"It absolutely destroys the racial harmony that we are trying to foster in this state and in this nation," said Rep. William Wainwright, vice chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus.

Rep. Ron Sutton, the only American Indian in the General Assembly, said he had no use for such sentiments in the Statehouse. "It just shows his white-supremacist, Gestapo mentality," Sutton said.

The address says the e-mail was sent to Davis from an Internet site called God's Order Affirmed in Love.

"Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity," the letter says. "Every problem that has arrisen (sic) can be directly traced back to our departure from God's Law and the disenfranchisement of White men."

The author says the country was founded on the Christian Bible and state laws based on the Ten Commandments, which contributed to the nation's early success. But now the nation is in decline, it says.

Davis, who sponsored legislation to post the Ten Commandments in public schools, said he agrees with at least some of it.

"Listen, there's nothing racist about it. And don't give me that mess," Davis said.

AP-NY-08-22-01 0640EDT