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Martin Luther King Jr. Republican Billboard Courts Controversy in Texas As Election Looms
The Huffington Post | By Meredith Bennett-SmithPosted: 10/29/2012 1:06 pm EDT Updated: 10/29/2012 1:17 pm EDT
Hovering above Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Dallas, a provocative billboard makes a controversial claim in black and red block letters: “Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
It's a claim, and a voter registration tactic, that has been used before, despite a decidedly mixed reactions from community members who see it.
The ads posted this year -- as well as similar billboards posted in Austin and in Houston back in 2009 -- are the brainchild of Claver Kamau-Imani, a Houston, Texas, church leader and the founder of RagingElephants.org, a conservative group that aims to recruit more African Americans for the Republican Party.
Kamau-Imani said the use of the American Civil Rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner is appropriate and accurate.
“The use of Dr. King, because of him being an icon in the community, we feel would be most effective," Kamau-Imani told CBS DFW. "That’s why we used it. We have the documentation to back the claims we’re making on the billboard.”
This documentation is hard to pin down, however. In 2009, Kamau-Imani told Fox News that King's niece, the Rev. Alveda King, said her uncle was indeed a Republican. But while video of Alveda King's claim is available on YouTube, Kamau-Imani acknowledged there's no documentation to back her up.
READ MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/29/martin-luther-king-jr-republican-billboard-texas_n_2039332.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices
The Huffington Post | By Meredith Bennett-SmithPosted: 10/29/2012 1:06 pm EDT Updated: 10/29/2012 1:17 pm EDT
Hovering above Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Dallas, a provocative billboard makes a controversial claim in black and red block letters: “Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
It's a claim, and a voter registration tactic, that has been used before, despite a decidedly mixed reactions from community members who see it.
The ads posted this year -- as well as similar billboards posted in Austin and in Houston back in 2009 -- are the brainchild of Claver Kamau-Imani, a Houston, Texas, church leader and the founder of RagingElephants.org, a conservative group that aims to recruit more African Americans for the Republican Party.
Kamau-Imani said the use of the American Civil Rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner is appropriate and accurate.
“The use of Dr. King, because of him being an icon in the community, we feel would be most effective," Kamau-Imani told CBS DFW. "That’s why we used it. We have the documentation to back the claims we’re making on the billboard.”
This documentation is hard to pin down, however. In 2009, Kamau-Imani told Fox News that King's niece, the Rev. Alveda King, said her uncle was indeed a Republican. But while video of Alveda King's claim is available on YouTube, Kamau-Imani acknowledged there's no documentation to back her up.
READ MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/29/martin-luther-king-jr-republican-billboard-texas_n_2039332.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices
... please make yourself at home ... 