Willie Horton political ad 1988

This political ad ran in 1988 before the presidential election.

BUG REPORT: The last 22 seconds of the video have been cut off and is also out of sync now. The original commercial is 30 seconds long (as the video was when first posted).

A full and better version can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io9KMS...

• Category

  News & Politics

[SaveHipHop100]

I definitely acknowledge William Horton as a murderer/rapist,But that's not where the racism lies in this ad.

They used the face of a Black released convict to scare voters in the South and smear Dukakis,A real racist southern strategy.They used the "Black boogeyman" strategy.There were actually more white felons that had also abused the furlough system. it was designed from the get-go to prey upon the widely held yet irrational fear of white people being attacked by black criminals.

[sweeterthanhunni]

Aren't you a bit too immature to be watching political ads?...

[sethmanrockandroll]

It is racist that you are accusing us of racism just for showing a black face. 

[KanyeTroll]

Nothing racist about this. Crime is crime.

[MegaFoobar]

What about the Racist White Boogeyman we see so often?

[ellenila]

Actually, I'm studying this commercial right now in my Psychology course. This was in NO WAY a prejudice ad. It was not just solely played in the South, it was played nation wide. The goal was to use an attitude change strategy that persuaded watchers to associate Dukakis with poor decision making as a politician. It didn't matter is Dukakis let out a WHITE or BLACK man. They were just trying to target his only mistake.

[Aegius]

I did a little checking. This ad was not part of the campaign by Bush '41, but an independent group. I still don't see any racism in it as the focus was on Dukakis' policy on crime and not race. Bush '41 campaign did run another ad w/o any photo of Horton in it. It's not anti-White to have a photo of Ted Bundy, nor is it anti-Black to have a photo of Willie Horton in solely referring to the individual. To jump to race is then to fixate on race and that really is racism.

[Aegius]

Real racists = Democrats. They don't condemn over Blacks who commit crimes & then call ppl who condemn specific Blacks, who commit crimes as racist. Wrong. If u can't call a Black thug as a thug, then the real racist is u. If u don't allow for references of specific Blacks who crimes, b/c they are Black, the real racist is u. This ad is about Dukakis' policy on crime & not on race. The ppl who fussed over Horton's race are the real racists as they won't acknowledge certain Blacks commit crimes.

[Aegius]

check... cry foul.

[Aegius]

cont.... Yes for you this is race and for you we aren't allowed to refer to Black criminals, but only White criminals. That's why you fuss over Horton's race and try to downplay his monstrous crimes as much as possible. The real racists were the Democrats who did just that: focus on race and try to turn a blind eye to Horton's crimes and downplay Dukakis' ridiculous policy on crime. If Horton were White, you would say nothing, but he is Black, so you cry foul. Real racist = YOU!

[Aegius]

Slate? There are other sites. The reason the Bush '41 campaigned was glad to learn of Dukakis' policies to enable the horrors of Willie Horton is to show how weak Dukakis was on crime and that he coddled monsters like Horton. Bush focused on Horton's CRIMINAL RECORD and Dukakis' policy of allowing monsters like Horton to run amock. You are the one fussing about race as that is your entire focus and not on crime. If Horton were White, you would say nothing, but he is Black so you cry fout. cont.