There is one particular sign just off of a highway in the Deep South that is generating all kinds of controversy. The sign was put up by Rick Tyler, an independent who is running to try and unseat Republican Congressman Chuck Fleischmann in Tennesee's third congressional district. It is located just off Highway 411 near Benton in Polk County, Tennessee.
Rick Tyler feels he is just being honest, and he believes that a majority of people in his district feel the same way, and appreciate these controversial signs?
Wait, what? Signs, as in more than one?
Yup. Tyler already produced another controversial sign, although this one was taken down within 12 hours of being put up. It featured the most famous words of Martin Luther King's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, although it had a picture of the White House completely surrounded by Confederate flags.
He claims not to harbor any hatred for blacks, or people of color more generally. But he wants to return the country to what he claims was a more innocent time, and he associates that time with when the country was generally more predominately white. This was his defense of the sign and what he hopes it evokes for many:
"1960s, Ozzie and Harriet, Leave it to Beaver time when there were no break-ins; no violent crime; no mass immigration."
Tyler posted a second sign on Highway 64 with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" quote written over a White House surrounded by Confederate Flags.
While Tyler might deny that there is anything particularly wrong about these signs, and suggests that they are not hateful, not everyone agrees.
Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes responded by saying, "There's no room for this type of hateful display in our political discourse. Racism should be rejected in all its heinous forms in the Third Congressional District and around the country."
Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, the man that Tyler hopes to replace in Congress, similarly responded. “I totally and unequivocally condemn the billboard and Mr. Tyler’s message and will vigorously fight any form of racism in the 3rd district of Tennessee or anywhere else in the nation.”
Indeed, top Republicans have strongly rejected this kind of overt racism. However, one cannot help but wonder if the rise of the current presumptive GOP presidential candidate has empowered such individuals to feel more comfortable in expressing outright racism. After all, this motto of his, which made it's way to a billboard on the side of an American highway in 2016 - half a century after the legalized racial Jim Crow segregation in the South was rendered illegal - is only one word off from that presumptive nominee's own motto.
Here is the link to the article:
"Make America White Again" campaign sign causing controversy in Polk Co. by Ken Nicholson and Kelly McCarthy, Jun 22, 2016:
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