Greeley city council candidate apologizes for racist Facebook post

By Kelly Ragan
A city council candidate took to Facebook to apologize for a post he called poorly worded. Others called Paul Wood’s post racist.

The post in question reads: 

“Paul opinion: If I was the sheriff of any border state, and I found that a local citizen shot and killed an illegal immigrant, who could be carrying COVID or who was threatening his or her life or property, I would probably turn a blind eye. Just saying.” 

Several prominent members of Greeley’s Latino community, including Stacy Suniga, president of the executive board of the Latino Coalition of Weld County, said the post was racist. 

“That was a divisive, hateful, racist statement,” Suniga said in an interview with the NoCo Optimist.

In an interview, Wood said he had a habit of letting all his feelings out on Facebook,and he realizes now he should be more diplomatic. Wood is running for the at-large seat against Brett Payton and Lavonna Longwell. Wood said he wants to be known for who he really is, a Greeley water employee of 42 years who loves Greeley. 

His goal, he said, was to bring attention to a larger issue — border security — and get people talking about it. 

“Regarding the border, I did not intend to pick out any race or person,” he said. “I have friends down on the border who talk about being robbed all the time, and that the police and border control can’t do anything about it.” 

Suniga said that was ridiculous. 

“He’s talking about immigrants crossing a border – I don’t think he’s talking about white immigrants,” Suniga said. “Does he want us to think he’s talking about Canadians? No, we all know what he’s talking about.” 

When asked if he actually condoned killing undocumented immigrants for carrying COVID-19, he said no. 

“I obviously wouldn’t turn a blind eye — that was a way to get a conversation stirred up, but then I find I alienate myself and the conversation doesn’t happen,” Wood said. 

Sitting city councilmember Kristin Zasada got pushback for Facebook posts referencing “black on black crime” in 2020, as some groups, including the Latino Coalition of Weld County, and other city officials called for her resignation. While she didn’t resign, she also is not seeking re-election this year.

The NoCo Optimist asked Wood if he’d received any criticism for the post. 

Wood said one person confronted him about the Facebook post at The Greeley Mayoral & City Council Candidate Forum Sept. 29, hosted by the League of Women Voters Greeley-Weld County and the city. 

“I guess I felt like the lady who talked to me last night was just attacking me on the basis that she assumed I was racist,” Wood said. “I’m about as far from racist as you can get.” 

The NoCo Optimist tracked down the woman who spoke with Wood at the meeting Sept. 29. Her name is Patricia Garcia Nelson. (You might recognize her as an activist advocating to shut down the Extraction Oil And Gas well near Bella Romero.)

Nelson said she’s a first generation American and that her parents were undocumented when they came to U.S. She said she knows a lot of mixed status households in Greeley. 

“I know what that feels like. Even though I’m an American, that post scared me. I know what it feels like when someone treats you badly because they think you’re undocumented,” she said. “He has no business representing our community.”

Nelson said she decided to confront Wood about the post when, during the forum, Wood said he didn’t understand why Latino people didn’t feel welcome in the Republican party. To her, the answer was obvious: The things people in power say matter. 

“He said he felt attacked, but he’s the one who started getting close to me,” Nelson said. “I had to tell him to back off. He’s the one who felt comfortable enough to get into my personal space.” 

Several others, including sitting city councilmember Tommy Butler, took to social media to criticize the post. 

“As a nation, we’ve started to allow rhetoric like this to enter our political discourse, and I’ve had enough of it,” Butler wrote. “This man is running for City Council in Greeley right now. He should drop out of the race, apologize, and walk away from politics. This post is flat-out racist, endorses violence against undocumented people, and it sure as Hell has no place in the community I love.” 

Since Nelson confronted Wood at the forum, he’s posted several follow-ups. 

One post reads: 

“Paul opinion time: It seems that these days, no matter what you say, you will offend someone. I only knew of a time of innocence, when our friends were friends. We didn’t care what color you were, or what church you went to, or what your politics where (sic). We didn’t even know what politics was. We didn’t care. We played army and Huck and Tom on the river. We dug fox holes, built our own guns. We built rafts from old dry logs and floated the river. We only knew each other by Sam, George, Frank, Pedro, Abe, and Pablo. I as one have been known to say things that I never knew, until lately, were hurtful to someone. Why can we not go back to our innocence and find a way to just love each other as “just friends”? 

Suniga said Wood’s interpretation of the past doesn’t reflect her reality, nor the reality for many other people of color. 

“I don’t remember a time like that, when there was ever a place where they didn’t care what color you were,” Suniga said. 

Nelson said the comment runs deeper than hurting people’s feelings, especially in a community that’s still grappling with the legacy of racism. 

“This is a community that used to have signs on business fronts that said no dogs or Mexicans allowed,” Nelson said.