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Robert Foster on Civil Rights |
A: I actually feel discriminated against a lot as a conservative. I feel discriminated against a lot as a Christian in our society today, and attacked a lot for my beliefs. But I think people have the right to free speech. I don't want to quell somebody's free speech because I don't believe in what I believe. We have groups of people out there trying to not even allow the other side to have a say.
[Race-based discrimination is] not what I was talking about in that tweet. If you discriminate against somebody because of their skin color or something of that nature, that is wrong, and everybody would agree that that is wrong.
A: They could have simply called and just been upfront with them about (being a gay couple). Just call when you know it's something out of the ordinary and be upfront with the person, and then go do business with the people you want to do business with.
Q: Would you say that to an interracial couple?
A: I think that's completely different situation. I just do, to me. It is not an issue, I think. I think race is completely different than getting somebody involved in a religious ceremony that goes against their core beliefs.
Q: Historically, Christians in the South believed God "made the races separate."
A: Honestly, I just don't see that in my views as a Christian. I haven't gotten that from the Bible.
Foster defended his support for the bill at the time, writing in April 2016 that "dealing with discrimination is part of the price you pay to live in a free society." Later that month, Gov. Phil Bryant signed it into law.
Blaming Dylann Roof's massacre of worshipers for disdain for the Confederate battle emblem in the state flag is a common talking point today among the flag's supporters. But many Mississippians expressed discomfort with the state flag's canton well before 2015. In 2001, flag critics led an effort to change the flag with a referendum, with a focus on improving the state's business climate and reputation to outsiders rather than what it represents, that ultimately failed among race lines.
Today, many white Mississippians who previously supported the state flag are changing their minds based on the racist legacies of slavery & the Civil War.
