In an ill-fated attempt to take a digital dig at President Obama, Kansas lawmaker John Bradford stirred up controversy and revealed the true depths of his ignorant bigotry when he shared an offensive meme on his Facebook page.
The image pictures a Latino man with a mustache and sombrero, overlaid with a poorly photoshopped image of Obama. The caption reads, “MEXICAN WORDS OF THE DAY: PIZZA CHIP & BELIEVING. THIS PIZZA CHIP WILL BELIEVING THE WHITE HOUSE SOON.”
As if the republican representative’s choice to make a political statement through lowbrow humor on the internet wasn’t bad enough, the shameless use of an ignorant stereotype to do so raised red flags to his less idiotic Facebook friends.
Bradford’s offensive image was not his first social media post in bad taste, as he previously used his page to compare gun control efforts to Hitler’s policies as well as share a status stating “SORRY, BUT I DON’T LISTEN TO ANTI-GUN LECTURES FROM PEOPLE WHO THINK IT’S OK TO KILLA BABY.”
Though he has since deleted the post and issued an apology through the House Speaker’s Office offering his regret and stating “I did not create the image, but I did share it, which was in bad taste,” his blatantly racist actions have not gone unnoticed by the Hispanic community.
Kansas attorney and Cuban immigrant Pedro Irigonegaray called Bradford out for his “unacceptable level of ignorance, which sadly fuel hateful conduct and disrespect for the Hispanic community,” and aptly pointed out the dangers of having a legislator “who is willing to treat human beings that he perceives as different with such disregard.”
While Bradford turns an entire community into a bad punch-line and barely veiled racism further flavors Kansas lawmaking, Irigonegaray best expresses the sentiments of the sane by asking “If he’s willing to do it to the Hispanic community, who’s next?”
