DETROIT – Lamar Lemmons is under fire for his comments on Facebook about the Chaldean community.
He has served as a state representative and as a member of the Detroit School Board. He currently serves as the chief of staff to State Sen. Betty Jean Alexander.
Lemmons started off his latest Facebook post, mentioning the Chaldean community in Metro Detroit.
Martin Manna, with the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce, said that’s the reason why Lemmons should step down from his position.
“These are hurtful, insensitive (comments). Frankly someone who works for our state government that is being paid by the taxpayers shouldn’t have the liberty of disparaging an entire community,” Manna said.
Lemmons said he’s not going anywhere.
“I think it’s horrendous for them to ask an elected official, a freshman elected official at that, to violate someone’s first amendment rights,” Lemmons said.
Manna said these claims are not true and the Chaldean business leaders work with everyone. They said Lemmons is causing division.
Lemmons said his post originally started with him addressing the fact that more African Americans should own their own businesses. Lemmons said from there that his comments were taken out of context.
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