The following apologies were accepted by Council today and complaints against me dismissed. The dashes are where the HRM Privacy Office has redacted the apology to protect the identity of the complainant.
Apology 1 –
While I admit I have at times let my strong feelings about this issue influence the way I have expressed my disagreement, my sincere intention is not to speak against Councillor Whitman as a person or a colleague but to stand in absolute defiance of racism in all of its forms.
It is my opinion that some of Councillor Whitman’s statements and positions could easily be interpreted as racist, and could represent the ideas that I am seeking to root out and oppose. In a democratic society we are free to challenge and even decry each others ideas and actions without it categorically being an attack on the individual themselves.
Apology 2 –
I apologize for any lack of clarity in my tweet that made it come across as an attack on —————– . My intention was not to attack ———– but to appeal to ————- clear convictions in challenging him to stop insulting people.
While I stand by the core message of my response I admit that the tone was unnecessarily harsh. I apologize for that and restate my sincere willingness to meet with ———— to discuss these issues further.