Virginia Republican official resigns following controversy over racist post attacking Lloyd Austin

In Hampton, Virginia, the Hampton Republican Party recently called for the resignation of Hampton Electoral Board Chair David Dietrich because of a racist attack on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that was posted in February 2021. Dietrich, Mediaite’s Michael Luciano reported on April 9, initially refused to resign. But WAVY-TV 10 News in Virginia reports that Dietrich has stepped down after Gov. Glenn Youngkin demanded his resignation.

That post, according to Luciano, only recently surfaced and is was being “attributed to” Dietrich. And the post angrily railed against Austin because of his campaign to combat white supremacy and racism within the U.S. military.

The racist post specifically mentioned Austin and claimed he was trying to “remove conservative, freedom-loving Americans from the roles.”

The post read, “These so-called ‘leaders’ are so vile and racist, there’s no way to describe them other than in terms their own people understand. They are nothing more than dirty, stinking n*****s…. We are being forced into a corner by these enemies of the People. If it is a civil war they want, they will get it in spades. Perhaps the best way to pull us back from the brink is a good public lynching.”

On April 9, Republican Virginia Gov. called for Dietrich’s resignation, tweeting, “As governor, I serve all Virginians. I won’t accept racism in our Commonwealth or our party. The abhorrent words of a Hampton Roads official are beyond unacceptable and have no place in Virginia. It’s time to resign.”

According to WAVY-TV, “A spokesperson from the governor’s office later confirmed that Dietrich had agreed to resign following the demand from Youngkin.”