Leo Williams, the mayor of Durham, North Carolina, recently faced backlash for referring to the city’s young people as “YNs,” a slang term which stands for “young n***as.” Williams, who is running for re-election, used the word when he was talking about gun violence during a town hall meeting.

“We’re dealing with some YNs out here just doing their own thing, stealing [guns] out of cars and they don’t know how to communicate,” Williams said during the meeting, according to The Raleigh News & Observer.

What is the public reaction to Leo Williams calling young people YNs?

Durham activist Paul Scott is among the people who are disappointed in Williams for the term he used.

“As someone who brags about being a former educator, you know the power of words,” Scott said in a Facebook video, per Yahoo! News. “You know that people would take you calling young Black men breaking into cars YNs, people would take that and run with it. Durham already gets bashed enough.”

Still, some others don’t see a problem with what the mayor said because he is Black: “What? Even black people aren’t allowed to say it now?” one person tweeted.

Mayor Leo Williams has since apologized for using the term ‘YNs’

On using the word, Williams told The Raleigh News & Observer, “It was me responding to an audience in the context in which we were having a conversation.”

Williams continued to stand firm on his statement as he provided more context to the remarks he made.

“I’m not taking back the context of that conversation, and I’m not going to apologize either,” he said. “My reference is, these youngings on the street are killing each other, something has to be done. I wish people would focus on that, rather than two letters that came out of my mouth.”

The mayor also posted a Facebook video in which he showed remorse for offending the public, in which he did apologize.

“For the folks that I know and respect who are hurt by how this has materialized into something else, I apologize,” Williams said in the video, per The News & Observer. “I also apologize around the fact that even though the intent was something different, there may be a young person who is taking what they’re seeing and thinking that they’re undervalued, and that is not something that I want.”

Blavity also received a statement from the mayor, which reads, “During a recent community event held at a local bar with many members of Durham’s Black community, a person in the audience used an acronym, and I repeated it in the answer to his question. While I was not code-switching, I do believe in meeting members of the community where they are, which is what good leadership is about. Although we’ve already also seen a 26 percent drop in crime this year, when we consider that many of the victims of crimes in Durham are young Black men, we must acknowledge that we have more work to do. While I apologize to those who may have been offended, my goal is to continue seeing crime decrease in our city, and I am determined to keep doing that work if re-elected.”

Leo WilliamsNorth carolina