Atlanta(WAOK)-A meeting between Governor Nathan Deal, members of the state arm of the NAACP, the Legislative Black Caucus  and other activist turned heated after what some say was an insensitive comment made by the Governor. Ed Dubose , State Conference President of the NAACP says the group of Black leaders met with  the Governor  to express to him why  it wasn’t right for him to remove elected officials who have been chosen or voted in by their communities. Dubose says they told  the Governor his actions crush the efforts made by civil rights leaders to gain the right to vote for African Americans.

After the meeting seemed to be over, the Governor reportedly said ” Find some good black people to run for office”.  Spokeman for the Governor  Brian Robinson says Deal was  only encouraging them, since  race  became a  major issue during the meeting.  He says Deal was telling the Black leaders to get African Americans involved in this process and to make sure that we have some really good African-American candidates who represent their community well to go on this school board.

Gov. Nathan Deal organized the meeting with voting rights advocates after the group pushed for a meeting on the removal of the six Dekalb School Board members. A nomination panel has screened up to as many as 100 people to choose 12 finalists  to replace the suspended school board members