Check out the NRA's latest effort to win over African-American supporters. The video is below, but the shorter version is this: Youngish, angryish black guy in a Yankees cap earnestly says that black people need to be really, really scared of getting shot by people named "Pookie" and thus need guns to defend themselves.
Some of the more intense commentary, reported by U.S. News & World Report and delivered in an intense tone somewhat reminiscent of serious spoken-word poetry:
"No one wants to fight for protection, they want the government to do it. The same government who at one point hosed us down with water, attacked us with dogs and wouldn't allow us to eat at their restaurants and told us we couldn't own guns when bumbling fools with sheets on their heads were riding around burning crosses on our lawns and murdering us."
Frightened, angry and ready to buy a semiautomatic rifle so you can go back in history and shoot Klan members yet? It's a lot to process.
There's also an awkward dig at David Gregory's tan, along with ominous music in the background. Recipe for minority support? You tell us. The spokesman goes by the name of Colion Noir. (Also let us know if you think that sounds at all real or just a little too convenient for a black mouthpiece.)
Here's the take of the NAACP's Hilary Shelton, also from U.S. News, who accused the NRA of using false information to recruit vulnerable youths:
"They are convoluting the history to support the mischief to have more guns on the street … The loss of African-American life is not the [Klan] pulling the trigger. When you look at what is happening now in the African-American community, it is because of destitution and easy access to guns."
Read more at U.S. News & World Report.