Oklahoma GOP women's group attacks welfare with image of a black man being lynched
Image posted on Facebook by the Oklahoma Federation of Republican Women (KFOR)
July 30, 2015
Another Oklahoma Republican group posted an offensive comparison about welfare recipients on its official Facebook page.
The Oklahoma Federation of Republican Women posted an image Wednesday that showed a black man being lynched and made references to the Ku Klux Klan to make a muddled point about public assistance, reported KFOR-TV.
“The KKK was formed by the Democrats to keep control over black Americans," read text on the image. "The Democrats of today just traded ropes for welfare.”
The TV station contacted the group's president, Pam Pollard, who said she had not seen the post until it was pointed out to her, and she deleted it while talking to a reporter over the phone.
Pollard said the page administrator, who she did not identify, is "usually really good about" posting appropriate content to the Facebook page, and she planned to issue an apology.
The Facebook page has since been deleted, and Pollard issued an apology by email.
“The OK Federation of Republican Women regrets that an offensive post was made to our Facebook page today," Pollard said. "I did not make the post or approve the post and when it was brought to my attention I immediately deleted it. I have since changed the settings on our page to approve all posts before they are published.”
The state's Republican Party chairman, Randy Brogdon, offered an apology earlier this month for a Facebook post that compared welfare recipients to wild animals.
Brogdon apologized to anyone who "misinterpreted" the post, which borrowed language used by GOP lawmakers and candidates elsewhere, that claims national parks prohibit the feeding of wild animals while other federal agencies disburse food stamps.
Oklahoma's Republican Gov. Mary Fallon said welfare reform was an important topic for debate, and she accepted Brogdon's explanation for the post.
The Democratic Party was historically linked to the KKK and other southern racist institutions, but former slave states have voted overwhelmingly Republican in the decades since the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act.
Only about a quarter of food stamp recipients are black, and the percentage of black beneficiaries dropped every year between 2001 and 2010, reported Think Progress.
Watch this video report posted online by KFOR-TV: