In a video that was posted online earlier Tuesday, Teresa Haley, the state director of the NAACP in Springfield and the past president of the DuPage County NAACP, said things about immigrants that were like savages and rapists. This led to calls for her resignation.
Patrick Watson posted the 47-second video of Haley making inappropriate comments about the LGBTQ community at a meeting of NAACP state presidents on October 26. He told The State Journal-Register on Tuesday that he was “horrified” by the comments and quit his job with the DuPage group after Haley made inappropriate comments about the LGBTQ community at a meeting of branch presidents on November 30.
Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker said Haley’s comments were “reprehensible” and hoped she would say sorry.
Haley, who is also head of the Springfield NAACP branch, wasn’t responding right away to a text message asking for comment because she was out of the country.
Misty Buscher, the mayor of Springfield, said Tuesday that she had also seen the tape.
“I know there is an immigration problem in our country, but we also need to remember that these are all people with feelings, emotions, and families, and we need to treat them with respect,” Buscher said after the committee of the whole meeting of the city council.
Haley said in the video, “These immigrants have come over here and they’ve been raping people.” She was talking about the refugees who have been bused to Chicago. The thieves have been breaking into homes. Yes, they are also like wild animals.
Watson, a Lisle small business owner who is 40 years old, said Haley should quit her job right away.
He told her that Haley is also running for an NAACP national office.
“She is a leader, and these statements are coming from her,” he said. “This is the reason I want her to quit.” When she thinks this way about the people she should be fighting to protect, she shouldn’t be on the national board of the oldest civil rights group in the country.
Haley told Watson at the meeting on November 30 that the NAACP was becoming more diverse and that “people wanted me to call them ‘they,’ ‘them,’ ‘it.'”What the heck is that?”
He said, “For me, that was the last straw,” even though there was no tape of the meeting.