Opposition MP Rolfe Commissiong has criticised The Royal Gazette’s editor Tim Hodgson for quoting John C Calhoun in a “racist” and “condescending” manner in an opinion piece.

He highlighted the editorial, Exercising real people power, published on March 30, while criticising parts of an opinion article printed yesterday, Hope must not be a casualty of church massacre, about the Charleston shootings.

Mr Commissiong described the latest piece as “not a bad editorial”, but said Mr Hodgson lost him when he wrote that “the killer’s guiding star wasn’t white supremacism at all but rather that true All-American fixation: instant notoriety”.

Mr Commissiong said this statement suggested a “sense of white paternalism” on Mr Hodgson’s part, although he approved of the article’s focus on racial dynamics and the historical connections between Bermuda and Charleston.

But “what Mr Hodgson giveth, he always taketh away”, Mr Commissiong added, highlighting the March editorial quoting Calhoun, a 19th-century American politician renowned for his racist views and support of slavery.

The March editorial was written in response to a demonstration at the Senate about the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act.

Mr Commissiong said Mr Hodgson had quoted Calhoun, whom he described as one of the “architects of supremacy” in a “condescending” and “racist” way.