'Obama Skunk' Picture Draws Accusations of Racism to Tea Party Group
A Kansas-based Tea Party group is defending its controversial picture of President Obama as a skunk, calling it strictly satire.
According to the Patriot Freedom Alliance’s website, much like President Obama, the skunk is "half black, half white, and almost everything it does stinks."
“Its satire is what it is,” Thomas Hymer, who maintains the Patriot Freedom Alliance’s website, told Hutchinson News. “Satire in a politically incorrect form.”
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Local NAACP president Darrell Pope called the group’s depiction of the president explicitly racist, according to The Hutchinson News.
Tea Party groups across the country are no strangers to accusations of racism.
In April, Marilyn Davenport, a Southern California Tea Party member, sent out an email to fellow conservatives of a doctored family portrait of the president as an ape being held by two ape parents. The words “Now you know why no birth certificate,” were written above the picture.
“Oh, come on! Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people–mostly people I didn’t think would be upset by it,” Davenport told the Moderate Voice in a telephone interview.
Tea Party members have also been condemned for derogatory signs raised at their rallies labeling President Obama a “monkey” and a “Communist.”
Patriot Freedom Alliance hosts regular meetings and has previously held rallies in the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
