In Haywood County, one Facebook comment just cost the school board chair his gavel.
Haywood County School Board chairman Allen Currie stepped down as chair on Saturday after posting a Facebook comment urging people to “get a rope” in response to the arrest of an 18-year-old tied to a deadly Brownsville pre-prom shooting. The remark landed with a thud in a county with a long civil-rights history, reopening old wounds and sparking fast, loud anger from community leaders.
As reported by LocalMemphis, Currie submitted his resignation as board chair on Saturday, though he is still serving as a member of the Haywood County Board of Education. The outlet reports that the Facebook comment appeared under a post about Dequarius “DQ” Lax and has since been deleted, according to NAACP officials.
NAACP demands removal and files a complaint
The Haywood County NAACP did not mince words. The group labeled Currie’s comment “racially driven and dangerous” and filed an ethics complaint with the Tennessee School Board Association, according to Action News 5.
“The term ‘get a rope’ has been used as part of racial terrorism,” Fitzgerald Mann, president of the Haywood County NAACP, told the station. State NAACP president Gloria Sweet Love backed up that assessment, and local leaders said this is about far more than a careless social media post.
NAACP officials are calling for a full, public apology and for Currie to be removed from leadership. In their view, the comment clashes directly with the duty of a school board official who is supposed to serve and protect all students and families.
What the comment referred to
Officials say the post at the center of the controversy was about Dequarius “DQ” Lax, an 18-year-old who was indicted by a Haywood County grand jury on May 19 on 22 counts, including first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Saturah Hayes, as reported by WBBJ. Lax later surrendered to authorities.
The shooting, which broke out during a pre-prom photoshoot on May 8, wounded several people and has left Brownsville residents rattled and grieving. In a community already on edge, a school board leader invoking the phrase “get a rope” poured gasoline on an already tense situation.
What comes next for Currie
NAACP leaders have formally asked that Currie be removed from his position and have filed their complaint with the Tennessee School Board Association. Action News 5 reports that some community members are also eyeing recall petitions or other political steps allowed under Tennessee law.
So far, board members and county officials have offered little in the way of public comment. The TSBA complaint, however, gives state-level officials a formal path to review whether Currie’s conduct violates school board ethics rules.
Haywood County Schools still lists Allen Currie as chairman on its Meet the Board page, though that online listing may not yet reflect the reported change in leadership. The board holds regular meetings at the district office on East Main Street, and the next session is expected to draw pointed questions from residents.
Community leaders say they want a clear, public accounting from their elected officials, even as the district continues to grieve, search for answers and push for accountability in the wake of the pre-prom shooting.
