The chairwoman of Delta County’s Republican Party will meet with the county’s executive committee tonight over a racist Facebook posting. Meanwhile, a group of black clergy is calling for Linda Sorenson to resign and apologize.
Sorenson is under fire for sharing a picture on Facebook of Ronald Reagan holding a chimpanzee, with the caption “I’ll be damned… Reagan used to babysit Obama!”
Pastor Patrick Demmer with the Greater Denver Ministerial Alliance says the post is insulting to all African Americans.
"For too long, we were looked at and you saw things that suggested we were monkeys," he said. "It’s sad and hard to believe that it’s 2016 and something like that is still going on."
Demmer says leaders of the state Republican Party responded quickly and apologetically when his group reached out.
Last week, Committee Vice Chairman Vic Ullrey said Sorenson did not post the image and that her account was accessed by someone else.
State chairman Steve House told the Grand Junction Sentinel that Ullrey misspoke when he used the term 'hacked.' House also said the party needs to do more to train members in racial sensitivity and social media use.
Sorenson said in a May interview after the image was posted that she didn't care if people were offended by it.
Sorenson, the Delta County GOP chair, will meet with other local party leaders to discuss her Facebook post.
