Detroit Free Press editor Stephen Henderson called for the murder of Michigan House GOP members — both in a column and on Twitter — because of their support for charter schools.
“We really ought to round up the lawmakers who took money to protect and perpetuate the failing charter-school experiment in Detroit, sew them into burlap sacks with rabid animals, and toss them into the Straits of Mackinac,” Henderson wrote in a column over the weekend.
GOP House harlots deserve worse than hanging for selling out #detroit kids on #DPS bills. https://t.co/zbPajL81qq
— Stephen Henderson (@SHendersonFreep) June 3, 2016
Henderson then reiterated his call for violence on Twitter, tweeting: “GOP House harlots deserve worse than hanging for selling out #detroit kids on #DPS bills.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist’s calls for violence went largely unnoticed until The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway pointed them out in an article on Tuesday.
Hemingway blasted Henderson for his rhetoric, writing: “The political environment is toxic all around these days, but it’s shameful that a Pulitzer winner sought violent retribution against political opponents, much more that he wrote these thoughts down, and much more that his newspaper has no problem with it.”
Henderson previously wrote an article calling for Donald Trump to be held accountable for his rhetoric.
“Rhetoric matters, not least because it reflects thought — or it should. Used wisely, rhetoric can make complex ideas understandable or rally people behind a common cause,” he wrote.
Follow Peter Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHasson