The state legislature’s black caucus chairman, Representative Johnny Shaw, says Knoxville Representative Stacey Campfield is welcome, as is the public, to attend meetings and an upcoming November retreat.
Last week, Campfield a white republican, caused an uproar from the caucus and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people, when he told the Associated Press that the group’s bylaws are more racist than those of the Ku-Klux-Klan. The caucus refused to let Campfield join because the bylaws only allow for blacks to have full membership.
Shaw is a democratic representative from southwest Tennessee, who says the black caucus can offer Campfield honorary membership by unanimous vote, but honorary members don’t have voting power. And Shaw says Campfield would now be hard pressed to win a unanimous vote.
“All I want to say to representative Campfield is you owe all of us an apology, an official apology, in my opinion, you need to come to the caucus and apologize to us for the statement you made about us. But otherwise I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
Campfield says he’s already apologized and didn’t intend to compare the caucus “to any other hate group.”
“I’m a member of the republican caucus because I believe in the philosophy of the republican caucus. Other caucuses, I may agree with their philosophy also. I don’t agree with the democrat philosophy so therefore I’m not going to try and become a member. But the black caucus is not based on philosophy, obviously by their by laws it is based on race and that to me is wrong where it should be based on goals of helping people that are minorities
Campfield says he has a vested interest in issue the black caucus takes up because his district is 30 to 40-percent black.
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