Cass County mayor says liberals form ‘the true hate groups,’ defends Confederate symbols

A Cass County mayor wrote that liberal “snowflakes” are “the true hate groups” in a lengthy Facebook post Wednesday.

Harrisonville Mayor Brian Hasek also called for preserving Confederate monuments as a means to recognize U.S. history and “the things that should never be repeated.”

The end of his message took an inflammatory turn when he called those advocating the removal of monuments “snowflakes,” a term often used by some conservatives to denigrate liberals.

“Grow up, grow a spine and get out of diapers snowflakes,” Hasek wrote in the since-deleted post. “You are the true hate groups and if your (sic) not careful you will be remembered someday as a dark part of our history.”

Bret Reece, a Harrisonville resident, took offense to Hasek’s comments.

“In a news cycle dominated by neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, Brian Hasek just said that people who disagree with him are the ‘true hate groups,’ ” Reece said. “This is sickening.”

Hasek, when reached by phone, said he would not comment.

But Thursday afternoon, Hasek wrote a follow-up post, acknowledging his original post had a “negative tone.”

“I could have expressed my opinion without those statements and I would like to apologize for my hateful remarks,” he wrote.

Harrisonville resident Virgil Butler agreed with Hasek’s first post.

“That’s a pretty good idea,” Butler said of calling liberal groups the true hate groups. He added, “You start tearing down monuments that have been put up to honor people because they fought for their belief.”

Butler added that he believed the Civil War was fought to preserve states’ rights, not slavery.

But Southern states formed the Confederacy during the Civil War to preserve slavery.

The Atlantic reported in 2015 on the justifications given by Southern states for entering the war.

South Carolina, the first state to secede, wrote that Abraham Lincoln held “opinions and purposes hostile to slavery.”

Mississippi: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery — the greatest material interest of the world.”

Louisiana: “The people of the slave holding States are bound together by the same necessity and determination to preserve African slavery.”

Christie Mangan, another resident of Harrisonville, said Hasek’s post embarrassed her.

“I’m encouraged by the fact we have more diversity in our community than we have had in the past,” she said, but she added she’s “embarrassed that the mayor feels the need to perpetuate hatred in a town where he should be encouraging community pride and unity.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Cass County mayor says liberals form ‘the true hate groups,’ defends Confederate symbols."