Virginia Democrats are using a photo of Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox to accuse him of sporting a ‘white power’ sign, generate outrage, and raise money for their unit.
The first instance of the photo’s presence is from eight years ago, and it features Republican Kirk Cox posed with his hand resting and loosely forming the ‘OK’ symbol.
The Henrico Democrats Facebook page seems to have discovered this photo recently, publishing a concerned post on Facebook.
The Democrats conflated Cox’s pose with a hand gesture used by the main suspect from the shooting in New Zealand.
The gesture is most commonly known as an ‘OK’ symbol, but progressive activists have increasingly described it as a white power symbol.
White House advisor Stephen Miller has been the target of such attacks for a photo taken of him while adjusting his tie.
Zina Bash, a former clerk for Brett Kavanaugh, was also a target when her hand placement roughly formed the ‘OK’ symbol during Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
But apparently, this trend became popular after a somewhat popular website, 4chan, started the trend with a hoax campaign.
On their website, the Anti-Defamation League explains “it is important to realize that the ‘OK’ gesture is a nearly universal hand gesture and most usage of it is completely innocuous.”
In reference to the link between the ‘OK’ symbol and the ‘White Power’ attack, ADL explains:
The “OK” hand gesture originated as one of these hoaxes in February 2017 when an anonymous 4channer announced “Operation O-KKK,” telling other members that “we must flood Twitter and other social media websites…claiming that the OK hand sign is a symbol of white supremacy.
But in this case, its unlikely Cox intended to make any gesture at all. And according to the ADL’s timeline, Cox’s 2011 photo was taken long before the hoax gesture was popularized.
The Democrat’s post now has Republicans outraged that Democrat’s would cast such an accusation and link it to a tragedy to raise money.
“The whole thing is ridiculous,” said Matt Moran, Kirk Cox’s chief of staff. “I guess the Henrico Democrats are desperate to talk about something other than the governor and attorney general admitting to wearing blackface, and we hope every serious Democrat in the state denounces this attack.”
The Henrico County Democrats have since deleted the post, as outrage throughout the Commonwealth grew to a fever pitch.
What do you think?
Leave your thoughts the comments section below.