South Dakota Republican Rep. Lynne DiSanto shared a meme on her Facebook page that encourages drivers to hit protestors.
The meme she uploaded in a public Facebook post sys, “All lives splatter. Nobody cares about your protests. Keep your ass out of the road.”
DiSanto added, “I think this is a movement we can all support.”
Comments were initially supportive until the post was more widely circulated the tone of comments turned against DiSanto until she deleted the post Tuesday afternoon.
“To put up a meme that pretty much encourages violence and possibly murder, that’s inappropriate. She’s a community leader and an elected official,” said Lori Miller, a spokeswoman for Indivisible Rapid City. “Not only is she inciting violence, she is targeting a certain race of people.”
Officials from the South Dakota Democratic Party called on DiSanto to apologize Tuesday evening. She later issued the following statement to the .
“I am sorry if people took offense to it and perceived my message in any way insinuating support or condoning people being hit by cars,” DiSanto said. “I perceived it differently. I perceived it as encouraging people to stay out of the street.”
The Rapid City Journal reported Wednesday that DiSanto has lost her position at a local real estate firm because of the Facebook post.
