Well, this is … different.
A candidate for Minnesota’s House of Representatives has released a campaign video that ends with him definitely using a racial slur.
“I want to be your state representative, I want to be your public servant, and I want to be your n—-r,” says Kyle Greene, who claims African-American and Cherokee Indian heritage. The video was uploaded this week both to his campaign website and Facebook page.
Oof. He even uses a hard “R.”
Greene told the Star Tribune he incorporated the racial slur into his ad because he wants voters to focus on “the real issues at hand.”
“We need to unify as a society, and we need to stop dealing with trivial matters,” the candidate said. “The word … is part of the American history, regardless of the race. … It’s part of my history being African-American, white and Cherokee Indian.”
I have no idea what any of this means.
Greene “decided to run for the rural House seat that includes Litchfield and part of Hutchinson because he feels the incumbent, Republican Rep. Dean Urdahl, has been ignoring what he believes is judicial corruption,” the Star Tribune reported. “The system is incarcerating people who shouldn’t be locked up, laws are being applied inappropriately and people are manufacturing convictions to advance their careers, he said.”
“Greene, an organic farmer who lives near Grove City, said he is drafting bills to hold members of the judicial system accountable,” the report added.
Luckily for Democrats and Republican, Greene is running as an independent. So neither party has to worry about answering for his ad.
Honestly, I can’t make up my mind about this video. If his candidacy is indeed genuine, and there’s some doubt about that, this ad is either incredibly stupid or shockingly shrewd.
On the one hand, it seems crazy to use a racial slur in a campaign ad, especially given that that’s all anyone is going to talk about regarding Greene’s candidacy. Then again, the fact that we’re talking about an organic farmer whose running for Minnesota state representative as an independent candidate because of his shocking – shocking! – campaign video suggests maybe that was the point all along.
I can’t decide if this ad is a massive self-own, or the cleverest, shrewdest publicity stunt of this election cycle.
