A fundraising email sent by the National Republican Congressional
Committee isn’t content with the ordinary level of racism involved in
attacks on Colin Kaepernick. It ups the ante by purposely darkening the
former NFL quarterback’s skin tone substantially. This is just the
latest of several incidents in which Republicans have made such changes
when directing appeals to their base.
As Yahoo News reports,
the ad went out under a banner meant to make an none-too-subtle point:
“WHO DO YOU STAND WITH?” it asks in all bold, capital letters.
”DONALD
TRUMP AND THE BETSY ROSS FLAG OR ANTI-AMERICAN FLAG COLIN KAEPERNICK?”
The implicit racism in the framing of the image is staggering, but the
NRCC didn’t stop there. It made the racism of the image deliberately
more explicit in a way that was also done with images of Barack Obama,
and with images of other African Americans going back decades.
In what is surely not a coincidence, not only is Kaepernick’s skin
tone altered, but his jersey has been altered, and the placement of the
banner across the image hides the fact that his tattoos are mainly Bible
verses reflecting his faith.
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