Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert pointed to her race and gender for the intense, bipartisan backlash the office has received following her vacation to Jamaica.
The clerk’s office reopened Monday morning with hundreds of Memphis drivers demanding answers. It was closed for a week and will be closed again in September.Halbert took offense to the public scrutiny.
“Don’t disrespect me like that, don’t disrespect my family. Don’t make me feel like cause I’m a female, cause I’m a woman who happens to be the first African-American in this office, don’t make me feel like this is something else, because it’s starting to feel like that,” Halbert told reporters.
MASSIVE Lines: Shelby County Clerk’s Office Reopens
Halbert defended her vacation and then pointed the finger at others, hinting at a more serious issue.“I’ve been here pretty much almost every day,” she said. “I’ve seen people who haven’t been here for months. Don’t make me feel like there’s something special or different about me, ’cause that’s what it’s starting to look like and feel to me.”
Todd Starnes, host of the Todd Starnes Show, said Halbert might be on to something regarding the race card.
“Wanda Halbert says she’s under attack because of her race and gender,” he said. “She has a point. It really is about race. Voters rejected a well-qualified candidate because he is a white man. They got what they voted for – incompetence.”She received backlash during the live-streamed press conference with mostly negative comments.
“Well we played the ‘I am a woman’ card and the race card all in one speech,” read one of the comments.
“It’s not a race issue, people of all races have been complaining about her and her actions,” another said.
However there were some comments that supported the idea that the criticism is just a result of racism.
“Wanda, tell these racists bye! They don’t own you… Take care of you dear! You don’t owe them a thing!!! Do they require this of themselves or their kind? Nope!!!”
WATCH HALBERT’S FULL PRESS CONFERENCE BELOW:
