With Donald Trump’s candidacy, racism is on blast more than it has been in a long time. Because of this, any racist move someone makes is immediately thrust into the spotlight. In today’s edition of “post-racial America,” we travel to Tennessee, where one Congressional candidate’s racist billboard not only draws the ire of the populous, but is being used to justify a boycott of this man’s very existence.
Rick Tyler is running for a congressional seat in Tennessee’s 3rd district. Because American politics is less about qualification and more about reality television levels of flashiness, his idea to promote his candidacy came in the form of a billboard. Specifically, this billboard:
Nothing quite says “I want to be a voice for Tennessee” than putting up a billboard that also says “I’m a racist asshole.”
Modern racism is fairly institutionalized nowadays and isn’t nearly as out in the open as it was even 50 years ago. But in Polk County, Tenn., modern racism is literally placed out in the open. It takes huge stones to put something like this up, or alternatively, an eye-opening degree of stupidity.
Facebook user Amy Hines Woody came across the “blame the darkies” declaration and took to social media with her discovery. She — like many others who would also be made aware of Rick Tyler’s example in the frailty sometimes present in common sense — was less than thrilled. She used Facebook to put the spotlight on Tyler.
“I am so enraged I can barely express myself without copious amounts of profanity. This disgusting bunch of bigotry was erected about 20 minutes from our house. The person listed, Mr. Rick Tyler, is a local business owner. He owns/runs the Whitewater Grill in Ocoee, TN. Please, if you are the decent and loving people I know you to be, boycott this business. We’ve already complained to the authorities (and so have MANY others). People of ALL colors have died in defense of our country and this reprehensible display is not MY America.”
The “boycott the shit out of me” sign put up by Rick Tyler also caught the attention of others and the boycott grew. Ultimately, the billboard was taken down, to which Amy Hines Woody remarked:
“***UPDATE… THE SIGN IS OFFICIALLY DOWN!!! Never should have been there in the first place, but at least it’s gone.”
How could someone be this dense? I mean, some people are racist, but we don’t live in a society where publicly expressing that racism doesn’t come without serious consequences. Tyler spoke to WRCB-TV about the billboard, explaining to the regional NBC affiliate that he bore no animosity toward people of color, but wanted a return to a “1960s, Ozzie and Harriet, Leave it to Beaver time when there were no break-ins; no violent crime; no mass immigration,” because apparently those things are totally the fault of non-white people.
This billboard couldn’t be more racist even if it were draped in a white sheet with a burning cross right next to it. But I wish I could say this would be the death of Rick Tyler’s candidacy. After all, the racist bones in the American skeleton are on display during this election, thanks primarily to a sentient spray tan who thinks he can “make America great again” by being President.
But even Trump never went this far.
h/t Raw Story
