Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright shared what he describes as patriotic comments on his personal Facebook page.
The post has received more than 1,000 comments as of Wednesday afternoon.
Wright says he read the post thoroughly before re-posting it and he stands by it, describing himself as an American who loves his country.
Sheriff Wright has served Spartanburg County for many years and says his recent Facebook repost talks about America being a great place, he points out that to burn a flag is to insult every soldier that fought for this country.
The post reads in part, “Immigrants not Americans must adapt, take it or leave it.”
Wright says his intention was not to offend, but he wants people to appreciate the freedoms that U.S. citizens have and to learn the language if they live in this country. Wright says that ultimately helps law-enforcement help you.
“No one should worry about how I do my job because I’ve said it time and time again and I truly believe this, when I’m working and you dial 911 it doesn’t matter to me if you agree with me, if you like me, vote for me, none of that matters. It matters that we’re able to communicate with you and actually help you and figure out what the problems are,” Wright says.
The sheriff also acknowledged that he works with people from various ethnic backgrounds and while his intention was not to offend, he has an open door policy if they want to discuss the post.
“We have a pretty open dialogue around here especially when it comes to Facebook stuff we talk…. we talk quite a bit and I promise you the men and women who work here if they had a problem with it they would let me know about it they would email me, text me and say hey I’d like to talk about this post,” Wright says.
7News reached out to several local organizations for comment about the Wright’s post, but they have not returned calls.
