Texas Prosecutor Resigns Over Sharing Facebook Post Comparing Black Lives Matter to the Nazis

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Marcy Oster, JTA

June 30, 2020

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – JUNE 05: A South Korean activist holdsa placard during a rally to mourn the death of George Floyd and show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement near the U.S. embassy on June 05, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea. Activists hold a rally to support the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and remember George Floyd. The movement has been spreading across the U.S. and around the world following the death of George Floyd, a black American at the hands of a white police officer. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

(JTA) — A prosecutor in Texas has resigned over her sharing of a Facebook post that compared demonstrators against racial injustice to Nazis.

Kaylynn Williford, a prosecutor in Harris County, which includes Houston, resigned Monday, days after she shared the post from a Facebook page that has criticized the Black Lives Matter movement and praised President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported.

Williford shared the post on Thursday and said she removed it shortly after, when someone pointed out how offensive it was.

A criminal defense lawyer in Houston saved the post in a screenshot and posted it on Facebook. Mauro Beltramini told The New York Times he saw it on Friday.

The post shows an image of hundreds of rings in a box, likely removed from a Nazi death camp. The caption reads: “Wedding bands that were removed from Holocaust victims prior to being executed, 1945. Each ring represents a destroyed family. Never forget, Nazis tore down statues. Banned free speech. Blamed economic hardships on one group of people. Institute gun control. Sound familiar?”

Williford in a statement emailed to the newspaper confirmed that she had shared the post, but had not intended to make a comparison to Black Lives Matter protests.

“What I interpreted as a post that promoted tolerance was taken in a completely different manner,” she said.

Williford has served as the trial bureau chief in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office since 1992, The Hill reported.