Kentucky Democrat Charles Booker filmed an advertising campaign highlighting racial injustice.
On Tuesday, the 37-year-old politician released the controversial 1 minute 30 second ad. The video opens with a shot of a gallows hanging from a tree. The scene then leads Booker to reflect on the history of lynching.
“The pain of our past continues today,” Booker said. “In Kentucky, like many states across the South, lynching was a tool of terrorism. It was used to kill the hope of freedom. It was used to kill my ancestors. “
The ad hangs around his neck and transforms into a booker. The politician talked about the historic nomination and shot at his GOP opponent Sen. Rand Paul. Booker. Booker cites Paul’s controversial remarks about civil rights law, his comparison of healthcare to “slavery” and his denial in the initial version of the anti-lynching bill.
“My opponent?” Booker continues. “The same person who compared expanded healthcare to slavery. The man who said he was opposed to the civil rights law. That person alone prevented an anti-lynching act from becoming federal law. “
He continued, “The choice may not be clear. Should we move forward together, or should we allow politicians like Rand Paul to hold us back forever and separate us?”
Paul’s team later responded to Booker’s ad by saying he initially opposed the anti-lynching bill because he believed it was too broad.
“Dr. Paul has worked diligently to strengthen the language of this law and an associate of this bill who now confirms that federal law would define lynching as a heinous crime. Any attempt to make otherwise is a desperate misrepresentation of the truth,” Paul’s office said in a statement. Wrote.