BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Broward Clerk of Courts Brenda Forman posted a quote attributed to Adolf Hitler earlier this week on her social media account.
On Wednesday, in an interview with Local 10 News’ Ian Margol, she explained the Facebook post, which has created a stir throughout Broward County.
One of her opponents in the upcoming election called it “unhinged,” but Forman said it has been taken out of context.
“It’s not that I am for Hitler, trust me, that is not who I am,” Forman said.
The post shows a quote that is falsely attributed to Hitler next to a photo that is meant to look like the Nazi leader. The text’s subject matter is about controlling a group of people by systematically and subtly, revoking their rights.
Forman, however, shared the post with no context, which sparked a deluge of outrage from Broward residents.
Paul Backman, a candidate for the Clerk of Courts position, said he was shocked.
“I was just appalled that in the 21st century we have to go back and relive the history that has existed between any quote dealing with an individual by the name of Hitler in reference to Jews,” Backman said. “Where an individual who references herself as the first female and first woman of color. . . I give her all of that credit because she was, but this is just unhinged.”
Forman said she was not sharing the post to glorify the message or the man it was incorrectly attributed to.
Instead, she was trying to share the words in the post as a warning. She added that, in hindsight, she probably should have added context in the post.
(Watch Local 10 Ian Margol’s complete interview with Brenda Forman below.)
“I don’t set out to offend people,” said Forman. “I never will offend any group of people, race, creed, color or nationality or your religion. That is not who I am, and it was not meant to be set out there in that way. I want my African American community to know because of what’s going out there. You have people out there marching for Black Lives Matter, why is that the clerk of the courts can’t fight for you on the inside and let you know, I know what injustice is?”
Backman isn’t buying it. He said that hate in any form is unacceptable.
“I don’t care, it doesn’t matter where it comes from, everyone in this country and everyone in the world comes from the same place and we should expect each other, we should respect their religions, we should respect their beliefs, and I just don’t understand why this world can’t all play in the sandbox nicely,” he said.
Before the post was deleted, Facebook flagged it for a fact check issue: “False information. Checked by independent fact checkers.” The “here’s why” was because, according to the checkers, it was not said by Adolph Hitler.
When asked why she deleted the post, Forman referred to the backlash.
“I deleted it because it needed to be deleted, because there were a lot of negative things being said towards me and my people,” she said.