“Supreme Court grants black man ‘40 acres of land and a mule,’” touts a headline from World News Daily Report , claiming that a “61-year old man filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2011, accusing the United States of violating their obligations to his ancestor, who died in 1891.”
As a stand-in for Abraham Brown—who it turns out, is not a real person—the article uses images of the very real Rickey Dale Wyatt who was declared innocent in 2014 after serving more than 30 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.
At the very bottom of its website—past all the ads that “you won’t believe!”—World News Daily Report notes it “assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website—even those based on real people—are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle.”
Other websites, including Free North Carolina and Community Village seemed to have missed the disclaimer and are reporting the article as fact.
TWS Fact Check will avoid the mistake of explaining this bit of satire (and the use of pictures from Wyatt’s hearing). For readers unaware of the “40 acres and a mule” promise to former slaves you can read up on it here and here.
While the original satire article is several years old, it was recently shared in earnest on Facebook pages such as “Fans of Rachel Maddow” and “Black Excellence.”
For many web users and internet perusers, differentiating between satire and “fake news” can be quite difficult, especially when the joke isn’t funny. But, a quick command-f search or for the words “satire,” “fake,” “humor,” etc. coupled with a quick read of the site’s “about” page can help quell confusion.
If you have questions about this fact check, or would like to submit a request for another fact check, email Holmes Lybrand at [email protected] or the Weekly Standard at [email protected]. For details on TWS Fact Check, see our explainer here.
