Rick Tyler went to the Donald Trump School of Campaign Advertising. (Hope he didn't have to pay Trump University prices.)
The Polk County restaurateur running as an independent for Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District seat in the United States House of Representatives apparently is banking on outrageous racist billboards to bring him lots of red meat attention.
One billboard near U.S. Highway 411 read [before it was removed]: "Make America White Again." In smaller letters, passers-by saw "RickTylerForCongress.com" and "MakeAmericaWhiteAgain.info".
A billboard which formerly featured a campaign sign for congressional candidate Rick Tyler that read "Make America White Again" is seen on Hwy. 411 on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, in Polk County, Tenn.
This WRCB photo shows Rick Tyler's campaign sign off Highway 411 in Polk County.Another billboard on U.S. Highway 64 in Polk County features Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" quote. Below the unattributed quote is a doctored painting of the White House flying 12 Confederate flags.
Tyler, who rejects labels like racist and white nationalist (he calls them vague), describes himself as "ethnocentric." Dictionaries define that as one who has the idea that his or her own group or culture is better or more important than others.
But Tyler's message is not playing well in the region. Nor should it. If social media is any indication, the attention may not bode well for Tyler's business, the Whitewater Grill near the Ocoee River.
One family pictured and featured prominently on the restaurant's Facebook page was livid.
The grandfather responded that his family wanted nothing to do with the restaurant after a story about the billboards ran in Thursday's Chattanooga Times Free Press.
"[O]h my Lord does no one read that we posted several times that this was over three months ago. We had no idea about any of this. We are as shocked and disgusted as anyone," he posted. He added that he had asked that the photo be removed. Other people posted similar comments. By 4:30 p.m. Thursday, the pictures and posts were removed, including some from other people not pictured on the site but wishing to disavow the sentiments on the billboards.
Others were equally racing to distance themselves from Tyler's sentiments, including incumbent U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn.; Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Hayes, and the Polk County Kiwanis Club, whose president promised the civic club will never meet at the restaurant again.
Tyler's billboards - whether they represent his real sentiment or serve as just an attention ploy - aren't just racist, incendiary and divisive. And they aren't just shameful and embarrassing. The effect of these messages and the thinking behind them, like similar comments from the presumptive Republican nominee for president, are soul-crushing for all of us.
We're better than this. Or at least we should be.