During the final days of the presidential election, a black conservative group in Dallas is making a last-ditch effort to appeal to minority voters by painting slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as a Republican.
A group known as the Raging Elephants has installed billboards across the city that read: “Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. Vote Republican,” NewsOne reports, via CBS Dallas.
The man behind the billboards is Claver Kamau-Imani, head of Raging Elephants. “The use of Dr. King, because of him being an icon in the community, we feel would be most effective. That’s why we used it,” says Kamau-Imani. “We have the documentation to back the claims we’re making on the billboard.”
One of the billboards is strategically placed. It looks down on the very street that bears that civil rights icon’s name. There are others mostly located in Black communities in Dallas, Houston and Austin. The hope is that the billboards will get some Blacks to consider voting Republican this November …
In reality, no one knows for sure what Dr. King’s views were.
Politifact reports that he may have had to register as a Republican but that is no clear indicator of how he voted. Another thing, the Republican Party of the 1940s, 50s and 60s is not the GOP we have today.
It’s a good thing that voters are aware of political operatives’ use of subterfuge and can make informed choices in the voting booth.
