Vest or Vote: A Creation of the American Right

By Chidike Okeem

Now that the midterm elections are fast approaching, liberals are using all the fortuitous cards that conservatives have dealt them over the past two years to their political advantage. Recently, the Dream Defenders produced a video imploring black people to either vote Democratic or wear bulletproof vests to avoid being shot by the police. The ad is demonstrably hyperbolic and demagogic, but it is also effective. While one can attack the use of such an ad, reasonable analysts must admit that, given the mainstream conservative response to the uproar in Ferguson, Mo., the American right aided its creation.