Right-wing school board member who delivered racist rant faces removal after cyberstalking conviction

On Thursday, the Daily News in Jacksonville, North Carolinareported that the Onslow Board of Education is moving to remove Eric Whitfield, a controversial right-wing member who was convicted of cyberstalking.

"The school board has unanimously voted to move forward with the process of 'amotion,' in attempting to remove Eric Whitfield from the Onslow County Board of Education. Whitfield was elected to the board in 2020 following a controversial campaign during which he faced allegations of making racist and derogatory comments about minorities," reported Morgan Starling. "He was also convicted of one count of cyberstalking former Onslow County Schools employee Kelli Muse on April 7 of this year."

"The board's litigation committee met Thursday morning preceding a special board meeting to receive and review the reported recommendations of the committee," the report continued. "Chairman Bob Williams said they received the report and recommendations from their outside council, and were ready to make those recommendations to the board."

Whitfield's racist comments came during a Facebook rant in 2020, when he claimed that local NAACP leader Al Burgess "controls the ignorant darkies in his community." Whitfield had been enraged about disparaging comments Burgess made about Mark Robinson, a Black businessman who was shortly elected lieutenant governor despite a history of anti-Semitic comments.

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After his remarks, Whitfield was fired by the Jacksonville Christian Academy, which employed him as a teacher at the time. However, he did not drop out of the race, saying that he would only end his campaign "if the property tax rate can eventually get to a rate of 59 cents and stay at that level." He was elected anyway.

Whitfield has faced petitions for his removal ever since taking office.