Republican lawmakers promote racist, bogus news stories on social media
Donald Trump wasn’t the only politician making news for provocative, racially-charged comments last week. A handful of Granite State Republican lawmakers got in on the act by promoting a series of bogus news stories and memes with racist overtones on social media.
An assailant falsely labeled the ‘Black Lives Matter shooter’
Rep. Susan DeLemus (R-Rochester) shared a story from a conservative online news site that described the African-American assailant in a Kansas mass shooting as the “Black Lives Matter Shooter.” The body of the Freedom Daily article failed to even suggest a connection between the shooter and Black Lives Matter – as did all the rest of the reporting on the workplace shooting – but that didn’t stop visitors to DeLemus’ page from using it to denounce the activist movement.
DeLemus included a comment from her husband, Tea Party leader Jerry DeLemus, who asked, “Where’s the Congressional outrage? Hands up don’t shoot?” Another visitor not only blamed Black Lives Matter for the shooting, but claimed President Obama was responsible also. “Our RACEBAITING POTUS is to blame for this,” he wrote. “Instead of saying BLM is a Terrorist Organization he SUPPORTS THEM !!”
A doctored photo of a Ferguson protester
Rep. Max Abramson (R-Seabrook) posted a photo of a black man holding a sign that read, “No mother should have to fear for her son’s life every time he robs a store.” The photo, widely debunked on social media, was a doctored version of a photo of a Ferguson protester whose sign actually read, “No mother should have to fear for her son’s life every time he leaves home.”
A couple of hours later, Abramson tacitly acknowledged the image had been photoshopped by posting a copy of the original image. That didn’t stop his Facebook friends from denouncing the protester in the bogus photo. “Don’t rob a store dumb ass,” one wrote. “Well, teach your son not to rob a d*mn store, bitch!” added another.
A fabricated quote attributed to Al Sharpton
Rep. Gary Hopper (R-Weare) shared a story on his Facebook page with the headline, “Al Sharpton Says It Should Be A Federal Crime To Shoot A Black Man, Even In Self Defense.”
The civil rights activist and talk show host never said that. The article, widely shared on conservative websites, referred to comments Rev. Sharpton made expressing disappointment that George Zimmerman was not charged with violating Trayvon Martin’s civil rights because federal officials could not prove Zimmerman was motivated by race.
The site Hopper shared cited Young Conservatives as the source for the quote, which cited BuzzPo as the source, which cited MegynKelly.US as the source, which cited Breitbart as the source, which contained no such quote.
Visitors to Hopper’s Facebook page obviously didn’t bother to check the sourcing. “[W]hat a racist,” wrote Rep. Jeff Oligny (R-Plaistow). “What if you run him over, is that OK???” another man asked. “Don’t they call that littering?”
