From Pulpit To Public Square

A recent TV ad by Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy focuses on the evils of sexual assault. The issue is certainly deserving of attention since sexual assault should be condemned at every turn.

The problem with the ad was not the topic. The problem was the way in which the story was told.

There was a white woman who discussed her experience as a victim of sexual assault. Then came Ramaswamy with an impassioned condemnation of people who commit sexual assault with the additional comment that such persons should spend the remainder of their lives in prison. The scene then shifts to a prison cell and an African American male in an orange jumpsuit.

The message seems obvious: white women are the victims and black males are the predators.

I am not suggesting that black men are innocent when it comes to sexual assault. But at a time when the entire world is focused on Jeffrey Epstein and his decades of hundreds of cases of reported sexual assault against young girls, why is there only a black face for the evil of sexual assault? President Donald Trump has been found guilty of sexual assault. Over the years, many white males have been spotlighted for the crime of sexual assault.

So why is the only depiction of a sexual assault offender in Ramaswamy's commercial that of a black man in an orange jumpsuit? What is his message and who is his intended audience?

Ramaswamy’s ad is reminiscent of the Willie Horton commercial used by George H. W. Bush in his 1988 campaign against Michael Dukakis where the revolving door of repeat offenders always involved black males. It seems almost too obvious that Vivek Ramaswamy is sending a similar message.

Voters in Ohio need to ask him and his campaign about this political ad. If this blatant form of racial messaging is how he is campaigning, what will his governing policies be if he is elected?

Again, I am NOT saying that black men have never committed this awful crime. What I am saying is that if the world ever got to see the Epstein files that are so closely guarded and so heavily redacted by the United States Department of Justice, it would quickly become apparent that there are a great many rich, powerful, and well connected white men who are guilty of sexual assault as well.

In the last two weeks, two members of Congress, Eric Swalwell of California and Tony Gonzalez of Texas both resigned following credible charges of sexual assault. Neither of them is a black male. Shame on Vivek Ramaswamy for playing that "played out" race card. Shame on any Ohio voter that buys into this hurtful and dishonest message.

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