Extremist groups using violence videos as hate props

The 2022 election has brought out a disturbing attack on electoral decency, one every thoughtful citizen should reject.

I refer to at least 2 such extreme right groups using video of black urban violence to turn out conservative votes on Election Day.

This trend surfaced in Illinois during the June Primary when GOP activist Dan Proft successfully used those videos to derail black GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Richard Irvin, throwing the GOP nod to ultra conservative Darren Bailey. Proft slimed Black Lives Matter as a Marxist organization. He doubled down on his hysteria by showing clips of black civil unrest having nothing to do with the millions of Americans, including me, participating in peaceful Black Lives Matter protests. He even quoted President Trump claiming BLM was a “symbol of hate.”

With the General Election coming up Proft is at it again. His 30 second spot opposing Gov. Pritzker’s re-election bid is even more racist and mean spirited than the first. He darkened Mayor Lightfoot’s black skin color in her brief appearance before showing videos of violence, including shootings and carjackings in minority communities.

Next up is GOP activist and former Trump administration official Ian Prior. His nearly 2 minute ad is a horrifying collage of violent street crime with the admonition “Stop the extreme left’s love affair with criminals.”

Both Proft and Prior avoided diversity in their violence porn depictions. Black street criminals represented: 100%. White: 0%.

Both Dan Proft’s group ‘People Who Play By The Rules’ and Prior’s ‘Citizens For Sanity’ are scurrilously using videos of black street crime as props to inflame voters to vote against candidates promoting sensible policies to uplift life in poor, violence prone urban communities.

Neither group plays by the rules or promotes sanity. Both tear at the delicate fabric of our political and cultural life at its most vulnerable condition in memory.