Alabama mayor resigns after controversial Black Lives Matter Facebook posts

An Alabama mayor resigned after controversial Facebook posts about the University of Alabama’s football team and its posts backing the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Carbon Hill, Ala., Mayor Mark Chambers reportedly turned in his resignation letter on Saturday, though the town has yet to approve it, according to several local news reports. An emergency meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.

The resignation letter came on the same day that Chambers posted on Facebook that he was selling “several” pictures, saying that the Alabama football team and head coach Nick Saban are “done in my opinion,” according to AL.com.

In response to a person’s comment about the team’s performance, Chambers said, “I’m not getting rid of them because of how they have performed. Their sorry ass political views is why their [sic] getting out of my house.”

To another comment, he responded, “When you put Black lives before all lives they can kiss my ass.” 

Chambers’s Facebook post came two days after Alabama Football tweeted out a two-minute video that included players and Saban reading an essay by offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood. The essay included the sentence, “All lives can’t matter until black lives matter.”

“In this moment in history, we can’t be silent.” pic.twitter.com/YF4ndJSpa0

— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) June 25, 2020

The mayor of the city with about 2,000 people had been involved in controversy last year after he defended a public Facebook post where he suggested “killing out” gay and transgender people, socialists and “baby killers.” 

Chambers, who had first become mayor in 2014, later apologized for the statements. Two Carbon Hill council members decided to resign over his comments.