Thread by @AmericasVoice

[1/10] As part of our 2020 ad tracker project, here is a break down of the worst #DogWhistleAd of the week.

Find out more about this campaign and if politicians in your district are using racist ads to get elected with our tracker: 2020adwatch.com

[2/10] One Nation, Karl Rove’s dark money super pac, dropped a set of ads in several senate races this week. Their attack ad against @DougJones was especially problematic which is why it has earned our spot as the most racist ad of the week.

[3/10] The ad begins with fear-mongering around BLM protests in San Francisco, New York, and Portland. The images are cherry-picked and mostly taken out of context, ignoring the larger picture of ongoing police aggression and escalation by Trump’s DHS.

[4/10] The ad then turns to connect one racist dog-whistle to another. The narrator says “San Francisco, New York, Portland- sanctuary cities that harbor illegal immigrant criminals,” as it dramatizes someone hopping over a fence in reference to border crossings.

[5/10] There are four distinct coded racial elements working as this part of the ad. First, The use of the words “illegal” and “criminal” seek to paint non-white communities as inherently dangerous and justify treating these groups with alarming suspicion.

[6/10] Second, the language used in this ad is dehumanizing. No one is “illegal” and such rhetoric can, and often does, lead to the horrific treatment of immigrants with policies like family separation.

[7/10] Third, so-called “sanctuary cities” are not harbingers of crime. While no single definition exists, sanctuary cities are generally local municipalities who seek to impose laws equally, regardless of immigration status.

Read more: americasvoice.org/blog/what-is-a…

[8/10] Fourth, connecting these two racist dog-whistles falsely attempts to blame foreign, non-white elements for perceived aggression in American protests. The ad absurdly claims “sanctuary cities spread crime and anarchy,” as a cheap attempt to stoke fear and racial division.

[9/10] As the ad continues, they further attempt to paint non-white groups as inherently dangerous and criminal by showing dramatized stock footage of a masked man breaking a window and another hooded man brandishing a knife.

[10/10] While this ad is especially disturbing, unfortunately messages like these are not rare and have been used throughout the 2020 campaign cycle.

We will continue to track racist and xenophobic dog-whistles used in 2020 campaign ads here: 2020adwatch.com