School board candidate apologizes over Facebook post; NAACP issues statement

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Jackson-Madison County NAACP branch held a news conference Wednesday, speaking out against school board candidate O’Neal Henley in response to a Facebook post he shared on his personal page.

This Facebook post has caused outrage from some residents and prompted the local NAACP chapter to make a statement.

“When we talk about wanting good citizens and practicing good citizenship, we’ve got to model it through our examples,” said Jackson NAACP Branch President Harrell Carter.

The post claimed that the founding fathers would have hung former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News spoke to Henley over the phone on Wednesday morning. He apologized for sharing the post and said he reached out to those who brought up the issue.

“I hope that people understand that. We’re all human, and we all make mistakes, and all I can do is apologize for it,” Henley said.

Henley was principal at North Side High School and Jackson Central-Merry Early College High in the past. He is an inductee into the TSSAA Hall of Fame and is currently running for a school board position in District 2.

Carter says in order to better educate students, the district needs to move forward with better leadership.

“When we look at this system, which is majority African-American students, we see the test scores are horrendous,” Carter said.

“We can’t go back. Normal is what got us here, and we have to make a stand here, as all people in this community, black and white, are beginning to do,’ Carter said.

The NAACP adds that they think the post is indicative of a larger issue in the school system.

“We cannot be investing in the rhetoric of years gone past. We need to get over this. All of us. It’s not just Mr. Henley, there are others, and it is time we start calling them out,” Carter said.

Henley says he took the post down after one of his former players reached out to him.

“One of my former football players said that he was very disappointed that I posted something like that,” Henley said.

Henley says he had no racist intent behind it.

“I certainly didn’t mean anything racist about it,” Henley said. “But I do understand, now that I took time to look at the post after it was brought to my attention, where it could be.”

The NAACP says they have not spoken with Henley about the post yet, but they plan to do so soon.

Henley was endorsed by the Madison County Republican Party last Sunday.