State Rep. Joe Mitchell, D-Mobile, had an outlandish exchange via email with a Jefferson County man who asked him and other lawmakers not to pass any laws that would restrict gun ownership.
Eddie Maxwell sent a mass email to state legislators at 10:54 p.m. on Jan. 27, warning them that even attempting to introduce a gun control bill was, in his opinion, a violation of state law.
Mitchell responded from his public, ALHouse.gov email account at 11:59 p.m., telling Maxwell:
"Your folk never used all this sheit (sic) to protect my folk from your slave-holding, murdering, adulterous, baby-raping, incestuous, snaggle-toothed, backward-a**ed, inbreed (sic), imported criminal-minded kin folk."
"That’s not the type of reply I expect to receive from a state legislator," Maxwell replied on Feb. 11.
"I’m not a racist and I find your reply to be especially offensive considering the position you hold."
Copies of the email exchange were provided to AL.com by state lawmakers who were included in the correspondence. The emails are printed below, edited only to remove the specific addresses.
Mitchell, who is black, did not respond to email and telephone messages from AL.com seeking comment this week. He told the Associated Press today that he was explaining that citizens who descended from slaves and were disenfranchised by the state constitution have a different view of history and the constitution than white citizens.
Maxwell, who is white, verified that he wrote the messages sent from his email address and said he was "surprised at the racial tones" in Mitchell's responses.
He said the exchange was the first and only contact he's had with Mitchell, who has served in the state House since 1994.
"It just makes me more determined that we the people need to stay involved," Maxwell said in a telephone interview today. "It's up to us as citizens to watch our government."
Maxwell, a retired coal miner, said he'd heard from two state lawmakers who told him they regretted Mitchell's comments. One of them was state Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, who said in a Feb. 11 email to Maxwell that "this member hears you loud and clear."
"I just received this chain of emails and wanted to let you know that I am with you on the gun issue and am saddened by the tone of my colleagues email," Todd wrote, copying all members of the legislature, including Mitchell. "All of us have suffered from the racism of the past and I thank you for your civic and thoughtful response."
Maxwell said he hoped that legislative leaders would discipline Mitchell for his comments.
"I think (Mitchell) needs to be called in to face his actions. I think he at least needs to be questioned about it," he said.
Here are copies of the emails, as provided to AL.com:
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