The racial composition of Marysville, Michigan is about 95 percent Caucasian. And, according to one city council candidate, she wants to keep it that way forever.
During a public forum for the candidates on Thursday, Aug. 22, a moderator asked whether city officials ought to be doing more to bring diversity to Marysville, according to the Associated Press.
Jean Cramer said the small town doesn’t need to change a thing.
“My suggestion … keep Marysville a white community as much as possible,” she said to a stunned auditorium.
“Seriously, in other words, no foreign-born, no foreign people. Because of what, in our past, we’ve experienced it’s better to have, simply American-born. Put it that way and no foreigners. No.”
The Marysville’s Mayor Pro Tem, Kathy Hayman, was jolted to her core and she reacted emotionally to Cramer’s remarks. She explained her father is 100 percent Syrian and her daughter has a black husband and biracial children.
Candidate Mike Deising commented next stating, “Just checking the calendar here and making sure it’s still 2019. Yeah, I thought we covered civil rights about 50 years ago.”
Listen to Cramers comments below, courtesy of the Associated Press.
According to NBC News 4 below, the current mayor of Marysville asked Cramer to withdraw her city council candidacy.
Mayor Dan Damman said “I would say that I probably came to the conclusion this morning,” he said. “After the initial shock of what she said really sank in and (given) the deep-seated viewpoints that she has, I don’t believe that she is fit to serve as an elected official in Marysville or anywhere else.”
Cramer, however, refuses amend her position nor drop out of the race.
