OPINION: The campaign ad delivers an evocative indictment of Booker’s political opponent while simultaneously reducing Black trauma to something of a political tagline.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
I’m genuinely conflicted, y’all. Yes, Charles Booker’s latest ad is powerful and effective, and yes, it is a crude use of Black trauma. Both are true.
Even allowing myself to enter into this gray area of “yes, and” warrants a gold star for being a mature adult who can hold space for this internal conflict, but it’s the truth. The “noose” ad delivers an evocative indictment of Booker’s political opponent while simultaneously reducing Black trauma to something of a political tagline.
As a political strategist, I go on-air every single week demanding that Democrats paint pictures and evoke emotion to ensure that their messaging cuts through the noise to actually reach voters and prompts some form of behavioral next step—be that voting, advocating or protesting. And this ad hits a nerve from the moment it starts.
Anger. Rage. Heartbreak. Viewers, particularly Black viewers, will feel it all immediately. And then comes the wave of, “Well, he ain’t lying.” The video editors were intentional about intricately and seamlessly weaving in the legislative history and brutality of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s harmful, obstructionist votes. Between images of lynched bodies and even a noose meant for Vice President Mike Pence that insurrectionists carried to the steps of the Capitol during the violent attacks on Jan. 6, there was Charles Booker, Democratic Senate candidate for Kentucky, reciting Paul’s problematic statements and votes.
This impactful ad paints a plain picture of who Sen. Paul is—an obstructionist who doesn’t care about anyone at all. Paul today!
The post Charles Booker’s noose ad is complicated appeared first on TheGrio.
