Kentucky Democrat condemned by own party for ad depicting 'lynching'

Phillip M. Bailey | Courier Journal

The Kentucky Democratic Party is condemning one of its candidates over a newspaper advertisement that it says depicts a lynching.

Realtor Bobby Smith, a Democrat, is running for judge-executive in Spencer County, where he will face Republican incumbent John Riley in the general election. The ad appeared in the Spencer Magnet, a local weekly, this week and shows four bodies hanging from a tree limb that viewed together spell out "Good Ol’ Boy System."

"Some hard choices need to be made to make Spencer County great again," the ad says. "I will make those choices." It continues by saying the people in the community must work together to improve the area.

Read this: Alabama's lynching memorial is forcing Kentucky to confront its brutal and racist past

In a tweet Thursday morning, however, the state party rebuked Smith’s ad, saying it finds the depiction “to be offensive and appalling given its imagery. There is no defense for making light of lynching. Mr. Smith should rescind it and apologize immediately."

Smith, who is white, told the Courier Journal that the bodies aren't meant to represent actual people but rather symbolically show the system he's frustrated with in Spencer County, which is just southeast of Louisville. He said the ad wasn't meant to make light of lynching or its history in Kentucky.

"I'm not so much of a party person, but if the liberals in the party find it offensive I will apologize to them," Smith said.

Riley, who has served as judge-executive since 2015, declined to comment for this story.

This is not an ad from the Kentucky Democratic Party. Our statement on the ad: "The Kentucky Democratic Party finds this ad to be offensive and appalling given its imagery. There is no defense for making light of lynching. Mr. Smith should rescind it and apologize immediately." https://t.co/48FrnMRznU — Kentucky Democrats (@KyDems) August 2, 2018

Research shows thousands of people, mostly African Americans, were lynched across the U.S., mostly in southern states, as a way to terrorize people of color. This year a national memorial was opened in Alabama to remember its victims.

In Kentucky, 186 black people were lynched between 1877 and 1950, according to the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at the University of Washington. The Courier Journal mapped those incidents earlier this year, including one case in Spencer County, where a black man named Leon Beard was "riddled with bullets" on July 7, 1905.

U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Tim Scott, the only black members, introduced legislation in July that would make lynching a federal hate crime. The proposal describes lynching as the "ultimate expression of racism" in post-Reconstruction America.

Congress tried almost 200 times to make lynching illegal in the first half of the 20th century but failed due in large part to opposition from southern lawmakers.

Smith said his ad is about lynching a system in Spencer County, not about hanging people.

"If people want to make an issue out of it that's OK with me," he said. "If the Democrats want to make an issue out of it, I'll apologize to anybody who is offended, but they need to apologize to me for being crooked."

Spencer County's population is roughly 18,050, and less than 2 percent are black, according to Census data.

Asked what message his ad could send to black residents, Smith instead mentioned his friendship with former Louisville Fire Chief Larry Bonnafon, who was the city's first African-American chief. Smith said he was a firefighter who fought a blaze alongside Bonnafon, he said.

He also talked about how his home is decorated with pictures of black people who have fished at a pond located on his farm in Spencer County.

"I don't have any racial tendencies — none," Smith said. "That (ad) doesn't have anything about race in it and somebody is making up s---. I'll apologize, but if the Democratic Party don't like it that's their problem, but I'll apologize."

Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or pbailey@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/philb.