Charlotte City Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield posted a strong message on Twitter Thursday for people who have been criticizing her for recent tweets regarding Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers. Her response follows public comments by wives of CMPD officers denouncing Mayfield.
“To all of you talking nonsense about my posts, forget you,” Mayfield posted around 9 a.m.
She continued the message by commenting on relations between police and black men.
“A black man can’t drink in his own garage, can’t drive down the street, car can’t break down, can’t walk in a store without being killed by someone in a police uniform,” Mayfield said. “So who is going to remove the bad cops? #IWILL.”
A group of wives of CMPD officers confronted Mayfield in a City Council public forum Wednesday evening.
Wearing a t-shirt that read, “My husband is not a terrorist,” Anne Steppe spoke on behalf of the wives.
Steppe responded to a tweet Mayfield posted in March likening police officers to “homegrown terrorists wearing blue uniforms.” Mayfield’s comment was made in response to the deadly shooting of Stephon Clark, a black man in California, by two police officers from the Sacramento Police Department.
“My husband is not a terrorist,” Steppe said and pointed to the women standing behind her, “Our spouses of these fine people standing here are not terrorists.”
Steppe said Mayfield’s tweets are divisive and “not appropriate for a city councilperson.”
“Know that we, the citizens of Charlotte –especially those in law enforcement – we will not turn a blind eye when members of our city council speak out so egregiously against officers who risk their lives to serve those who live and work in the Queen City,” Steppe said.
In her most recent tweet, Mayfield also linked to a New York Times article about the death of a black man in Florida four years ago.
To ALL OF YOU talking nonsense about my posts, Forget YOU. A Black man can't drink in his own garage, can't drive down the street, car can't break down, can't walk in a store without being killed by someone in a police uniform. So who is going work to remove the BAD cops?#IWILL https://t.co/KsmXoYdczL
— LaWana Mayfield (@lawanamayfield) May 31, 2018
Gregory Vaughn Hill Jr. was fatally shot by a white sheriff’s deputy. Two deputies had responded to a noise complaint about music coming from Hill’s garage. After the encounter with the deputies, Hill was found dead inside his garage with a gun in his back pocket. The deputies said Hill had been holding the gun during the fatal incident, but the claim is disputed.
A federal jury awarded $4 in a wrongful-death lawsuit to Hill’s family last week – $1 to Hill’s mother and $1 to his three children.
Mayfield has continued to stand by her tweets. In previous responses to critics, Mayfield has said that she continues to be "one of the strongest supporters of law enforcement but will not turn a blind eye to corruption."
