Yet again, for the second time in two weeks, another Oklahoma Republican Party group is forced to apologize for a vile and offensive Facebook post.
An Oklahoma Republican women’s group has now apologized for posting to Facebook an image of a Black man, lynched, hanging from a tree. The graphic, below, bears a false anti-welfare message.
“The KKK was formed by the Democrats to keep control over black Americans. The Democrats of today just traded ropes for welfare,” it reads.
Pam Pollard, president of the Oklahoma Federation of Republican Women, apologized when a local TV news reporter from KFOR called her about the offensive and racist image. She later posted a statement to the group’s website, saying it “regrets” the post was made and noting she “did not make the post or approve the post and when it was brought to my attention I immediately deleted it.”
The Oklahoma Federation of Republican Women is not a loosely formed group. It is “recognized as an arm of the Republican Party and has a seat on the state executive committee and the state committee,” according to its website, and boasts membership of 1300 Republican women. Its LinkedIn page says it was formed in January of 1941.
The group’s Facebook page appears to have been taken offline for now.
ThinkProgress’ Ian Millhiser notes that the “image’s insinuation that welfare programs primarily target black people is also false. In 2013, over 40 percent of food stamp recipients, for example, were white — while only about a quarter of such recipients were African American. Similarly, in 2010, less than a third of individuals who benefited from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program were black. The percentage of TANF beneficiaries who are African American declined every year from 2001 through 2010.”
Just two weeks ago, the official the Oklahoma Republican Party was forced to apologize after also posting an offensive message to Facebook. As NCRM reported, the post claimed that 46 million people receive food stamps, and then stated that the National Park Service “asks us ‘Please Do Not Feed the Animals,'” because they “will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves.”
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Image, top:Â Oklahoma Federation of Republican Women
Image, insert: screenshot via KFOR