Artur Davis on Charleston: America is 'too slow to see threat from far-right radicals'

As the country mourned the tragic killing of nine South Carolina churchgoers Thursday, Montgomery mayoral candidate Artur Davis made waves on Twitter by suggesting American’s vigilance in rooting out Islamic extremism has stood in contrast to their overlooking of rightwing “radicals.”

One lesson of #CharlestonShooting: we are quick to see dangers of Islamic jihadists, too slow to see the threat from far-right radicals.

— Artur Davis (@ArturDavis) June 18, 2015

The shooting took place in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historically black congregation that traces its roots back to the early 1800s. Law enforcement officials say the shooting suspect Dylann Roof, told a woman in the church he had come “to shoot black people,” but there has been no indication that the attack was motivated by Roof’s political beliefs.

Davis’s tweet was met with immediate pushback from Alabama conservatives, and others who took exception to him bringing politics into the conversation.

.@ArturDavis Jumping to conclusions? Do we know he’s far-right yet? How are you defining that? Never forget, Nazis & KKK are LEFTWING orgs.

— WitCoHE (@E__Strobel) June 18, 2015

@ArturDavis you have no idea of this suspect’s political bent. He is sick no matter what political flavor.

— Harry McFarland (@madmc49) June 18, 2015

@ArturDavis I don’t think we can draw any conclusion of the such other than mental illness. You’re better than this tweet

— Tim Baker (@HsvBlazer) June 18, 2015

@ArturDavis @lyman_brian How do you have some unique insight into this guy’s politics?

— jeremycoleman (@jeremycoleman) June 18, 2015

@ArturDavis, far RIGHT radical????? Really and u want to be MAYOR???? keep baiting.

— BZ Z (@deejohnston53) June 18, 2015

@ArturDavis And you know what side this guy was on? All we know is that he was a huge racist. How could you even say that? #alpolitics

— Patrick Speigner (@P_Speig) June 18, 2015

Absolutely disgraceful, Artur. I really thought you were better than this. https://t.co/SJaQ701cJ9

— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) June 18, 2015

Cliff Sims said during his Yellowhammer Radio program Thursday that Davis reached out to him after his tweet to clarify his comments.

“Artur has assured me his referring to the Charleston shooter as ‘right wing’ was not a criticism of limited government conservatives, but rather the lexicon he uses to describe white supremacists, neo-Nazis , etcetera,” said Sims. “In other words, the political spectrum he was referencing was not the ‘left’ and ‘right” or ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ typically used to describe American politics.

“I still think it was a poor choice of words and turned the conversation surrounding the Charleston tragedy into a politically-charged debate,” he continued. “But I’ll take his word for it that he was not claiming limited government conservatives are a threat on par with radical Islam.”

Davis is challenging incumbent Republican mayor Todd Strange. The election is set to take place August 25.