In Gainesville, Fla., pastor Terry Jones erected an effigy of President Barack Obama hanging from a noose this week. The publicity-seeking Dove World Outreach Center leader says the act was sparked by Obama's recent announcement regarding same-sex marriage. He added that while many may think his move calls for violence against the president, the act was only a physical metaphor for what he'd like to happen to Obama's career — he wants it dead.
According to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, Jones, who was also behind a Quran-burning stunt in 2011, is considering an electoral run for the president of the United States.
Jones said the display was not meant to have any racial symbolism and was only "a symbolic action saying we do not, of course, want him reelected. It is death — of course, not to him. To his political career."
When asked whether he thought his message might get lost behind the physical display of a black man with a noose around his neck, Jones said, "Quite honestly, I never even thought about that.
"We are not looking at him as a black man. He is not black; he is not white; he is the president of the United States," he said. "And the noose, of course, was to represent the death of his presidency and political career. Not at all to represent his race … His race has absolutely nothing to do with it."
Read more at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.