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The State Ports Authority, headquartered in Mount Pleasant, took disciplinary action this week against an employee who posted racist comments on social media. Brad Nettles/Staff/File

The State Ports Authority has taken disciplinary action against an unidentified employee for a social media post that called for the prison release of white supremacist Dylann Roof amid protests in Charleston and elsewhere over racial injustice.

Roof received the death penalty for killing nine black members of Charleston's Emanuel AME Church in 2015 in what he said was an effort to start a race war. He is currently in federal prison.

The social media post was first reported by the Charleston City Paper.

The authority would not say who the employee is or what position he holds. The agency that owns and operates the Port of Charleston has more than 700 employees.

"While we do not normally comment on employee issues, we want to make it exceedingly clear that S.C. Ports Authority does not tolerate hate speech or racist remarks," the SPA said in a statement. "Swift disciplinary action has been taken against the employee in question, and the offensive posts have been removed from his social media platforms. Diversity, inclusion and respect for all are an integral part of our core values as an organization."

The authority did not say what type of disciplinary action was taken but said the worker is still employed by the maritime agency.

The remarks were made as protests have occurred throughout the United States in the wake of a Minneapolis police officer's killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man accused of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. The officer has been charged with second-degree murder.

  

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Reach David Wren at 843-937-5550 or on Twitter at @David_Wren_

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