Republican Party of Kentucky attacks “Equity is a Threat to Society”

Jake Cox, who lists himself as a “research, digital, comm(unications)” staffer for the Republican Party of Kentucky, made the statement on his twitter account.

The tweet came in response to a Courier Journal reporter who highlighted a quote from Jefferson County Public Schools board member Corrie Shull in a recent story as saying “Some hear ‘equity,’ he said, and hear ‘a threat to their existence.’ ”

Cox’s tweet seems to confirm Shull’s remarks.

This is not the first time a Republican in Kentucky has been caught posting clearly racist things. Former State Rep. Phil Moffett did so in 2018, State Senator Phillip Wheeler was caught in 2020, as well  as State Rep. Savannah Maddox.

In a statement, Kentucky Democratic Party chair Colmon Elridge said equity is only a threat to a society in which one group hopes to rule over others. 

“Equity is not a threat to our society; it is a founding principle of our nation, and one we have yet to fully achieve. Just days after Juneteenth, a staffer for the Republican Party of Kentucky is expressing a view that was held by the very same people who refused to tell the slaves that they were free or allow them to be free. Our state and our nation will not go backwards in the ways The Republican Party of Kentucky wants us to. The Republican Party of Kentucky is no longer the party of Lincoln; they are the party of Proud Boys.”