The candidate is a former NFL player turned politician.
QUICK FACTS:
- Pastor and former NFL player Jerone Davison released a campaign ad that caused a stir, focusing on the potential need for firearms for protection.
- Davison’s ad features himself fending off white hood-wearing Ku Klux Klan members who have come to his yard.
- The explosive ad contained a dramatization of an attack on Davis’ home and his voice-over, saying, “Democrats like to say that no one needs an AR-15 for self-defense. That no one could possibly need all 30 rounds.”
- “But when this rifle is the only thing standing between your family and a dozen angry Democrats in Klan hoods, you just might need that semi-automatic and all 30 rounds,” the voiceover continues.
DAVISON’S BACKGROUND:
- Davison identifies himself as a father, pastor, author, speaker, former NFL and Arizona State University football player, as well as a Congressional candidate for Arizona’s 4th district.
- One social media user called out Davison for his ad saying, “‘Democrats in Klan hoods.’ Dude, that’s not even a thing; that hasn’t been a thing since the 1960s.”
- Davison shared the tweet replying, “I was born in 1970 in Mississippi. When the KKK came to town, I always felt safe, because my father had rifles to protect us. This video is a cinematic depiction of a situation I faced growing up. Racist white liberals love to tell me that my LIVED EXPERIENCE didn’t happen!”
BACKGROUND:
- The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 and “extended into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies,” according to History.com.
- The group was famously part of the Democrat party, which stood against the former Republican President Abraham Lincoln’s efforts to free slaves, nationwide.
