Campaign consultants love to get creative with mailers. That’s why they’re paid! And sometimes they use Photoshop to make their point. But when an image of a light-skinned candidate is altered to look like a dark-skinned person, does that cross the line? That question is now being asked about Senator Nancy King’s most recent negative mailer targeting her challenger, Saqib Ali.
Check out the Sleazy Saqib mailer sent out by King criticizing Ali for taking PAC money. Note the two images of Ali on the first page.
The top image of Ali seems to be a real shot. The bottom image has been altered in two ways: it has been flipped and darkened. Every aspect of Ali in the bottom image – his hair, his skin, his five-o’clock shadow, his tie and his suit – is darker.
Dark Saqib is then enlarged later in the mailer.
Here are Light Saqib and Dark Saqib side by side. The alteration can’t be missed.
What is the point of Dark Saqib? Is it to show him being corrupted by PAC money? Is it to show him as some sort of sinister figure?
District 39 resident Liz McKenna emailed us her reaction to the mailer:I was shocked and offended when I saw the latest anti-Ali flyer in my mailbox today. I know Saqib, and it was immediately obvious to me that the photo of him had been altered using something like Photoshop to make his skin look darker.
This is the second time something like this has happened during this campaign. When Senator King sent out an education issue mailer showing students of color goofing off and reading comic books in class, Council Member Valerie Ervin asked, “Is there an explanation for why all the kids in the photos are black and latino?” No one replied.
I don’t even know where to begin -- this kind of dirty trick not only misrepresents Saqib, but plays on offensive negative stereotypes regarding skin tone. The ugly trope at work here is “darker skin = unsavory” and that in itself is wrong. Many of us remember when O.J. Simpson’s mug shot was similarly darkened for the cover of Time Magazine back in 1994. I had hoped that I had seen the last of such racist editorial decisions in this century. Apparently I was wrong.
Saqib Ali deserves an apology. All people of color, and people of conscience, deserve an apology.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth M. McKenna
North Potomac, MD
We are not – repeat – NOT making a judgment on this. But we can’t ignore it either, because people are talking.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Light Saqib, Dark Saqib
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16 comments:
In a contested race, with a lot of money being spent on high paid vendors and a lot of “hard” mail going back and forth – I cannot imagine the altering of the image was either a mistake, an error, or due to faulty equipment.
Mistakes happen in a campaign…typos…wrong pictures…graphic errors…grammar errors…but shading the same picture darker while keeping lighter one on THE SAME mailer…is no mistake.
Perhaps the ACTUAL mistake is having the proof of the before-and-after in the same mailer.
Further, I cannot see how making a picture of a brown person browner/darker will in anyway endear Sen. King to her diverse district. At best it shows a lack of sensitivity and at worse…well you can let your imagination run.
This is beneath Sen. King’s career of accomplishments and the seat she is running for.
Now for the record: I don’t live in D39 and while I am sure many people know that Saqib is a friend of mine, this comment is not in concert with Delegate Ali, his Senate campaign or any other campaign.
I think it's time we heard from the King campaign on this...
Did they intentionally darken the image, and if so, to what purpose?
Yes, I'm sure that purple people everywhere are outraged.
But it would irresponsible not to speculate, wouldn't it Adam?
Tom Steele
I've got some horse manure at my place on Barnesville Road that smells better than the King campaign.
Everyone deserves an opportunity to explain and defend themselves. My first reaction to this is that this is politics at its worst. Something you would see in another part of the country in a different era.
There is no room for this anywhere, but certainly not in Montgomery County and certainly not from a candidate hoping to represent Montgomery County in Annapolis. I hope Senator King will explain this flyer.
They tried to make Ali into some dark forboding Arab, when he is anything but. They made themselves into the north end of a horse going south instead.
Today, we are all purple.
Tom Steele
A mistake or poor judgment? One can only hope it is the former.
In every race on which I have worked, the candidate (or sometimes campaign manager) had to initial every page of direct mail pieces before the mail firm would authorize printing in order to ensure mistakes and misunderstandings are minimized. But I am still hoping this was a mistake and not something else.
I very much would like to hear an explanation from the King campaign on this blog for why her campaign darkened the photograph of Saqib Ali.
Sam Arora
Quick poll - which is more ridiculous:
- that Ali supporters are crying "foul" yet again;
- that people actually believe that the King campaign is trying to court closet racists who somehow missed the fact that her opponent is named Saqib Ali, and felt it necessary to turn him purple in a mass mailer; or
- that Adam Pagnuco is fanning the flames of this idiocy in the name of page hits?
Tom Steele
This is the second piece of mail that has left me wondering if Senator King has any idea how many people of color that she represents in her district. First there was a very insensitive photograph taken depicting only children of color acting out in class. The second is a clearly a darkened photograph of Delegate Ali. What message is your campaign intending to send to voters in D-39? There is so much hate in the country directed at immigrants and people of color and I think our residents expect better. This is an old scare tactic that should not take hold here in Montgomery County.
Tom,
Quick poll -
Which is more ridiculous:
King supporters continue to become defensive when anyone points out the negative tone of her campaign?
or
That after the 'education' mailer that showed three minority kids as being the problem with education AND an obvious photoshop darkening of her opponent that they're acting surprised that there's a perception of Senator King having a race problem at the moment.
For someone who claims to want to make this race about the issues, your'e spending an awful lot of time deflecting the issue addressed in the mailer, namely the fact that Ali broke his promise not to accept PAC money.
Tom Steele
I'd love the race to be about issues...but it's not.
Be honest Tom.
It's not about, and hasn't been since nearly the beginning.
But I'll say now what I said when I first read it:
Since PAC money is such an issue, let's call on both candidates to return all of the money that they got from PACs.
After all if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander, yes?
Of course, Senator King isn't likley to agree to that, is she?
According to the University of Maryland, Delegate Ali got about 23% of his funding from businesses and PACs.
According to the same database, Senator King got over 70% of her funding FROM businesses, politician's election funds and businesses.
She's just as likely to give back the PAC money as she is to address the race issue that her campaign has inadvertently brought up.
In short, ain't gonna happen.
Tom,this is a race about issues, but it also an issue about race. This is just the type of thing up with which I shall not put on the council. As the first legal counsel for the National Caucus on the Black Aged, as someone who has defended about 25,000 persons charged with various offenses, I know that we are all wronged when the rights of a single person are stepped on. Ali did not go to a tanning salon. It seems the effort here was to make him look dark and ominous, to misrepresent him as a person. I see the racial overtones here and I do not like them.
I'm sure people see racial overtones, because it fits their narrative. But as I pointed out earlier, it's complete nonsense to think that someone who is even the slightest bit racist (maybe even subconciously) could be pushed into voting for Sen. King because they somehow didn't pick up on the ethnicity of someone named Saqib Ali. There's absolutely no ambiguity there - it's not like his name is Saqib Jones or Bill Ali.
And Don, it wasn't Sen. King who made a promise not to take PAC money, it was Del. Ali. Now he's taking PAC money - why? Further, his implication four years ago was that there some quid pro quo inherent in taking such money, so I guess it's fair to ask what someone from Chicago gets from Ali for a $4000 donation, if we accept that premise.
Tom Steele
As someone who was at the photo shoot for the “Educational Issue Mailer” with my child, there are several facts I think need to be stated.
1. There was a wide range of races and ages represented at the photo shoot.
2. These same children were also included in another mailer and a walk piece from Senator King which showed them as being actively engaged with the teacher who is also a minority. I do not believe this that either of these pieces was posted on MPW. Perhaps now would be a good time to do so.
3. I can see that there is at least one, if not two Caucasian males in the ”Educational Issue Mailer” that has been discussed here.
4. The children in these pictures are also residents of the Upcounty area.
I find it somewhat ironic that no one has discussed the children who were in Delegate Ali’s Educational Contrast Mailer in which there are no minority children or adults present. It also appears that there are no male children in the photo. It appears to me as if a stock photo was used and it is hardly realistic of the population of a public classroom in D-39. This piece was posted on MPW on September 3rd.
(http://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2010/09/alis-education-contrast-mailer.html)
I also find it very disappointing that Council Vice President Irvin is “wondering if Senator King has any idea how many people of color that she represents in her district.” She should know that for the past 16 years, 8 as a School Board Member and 8 as a legislator in Annapolis, Senator King has represented the citizens of the Upcounty area and has served all of its citizens well as the demographics of the area has changed over the years. That is probably why County Executive Ike Leggett, Governor Martin O'Malley and Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown as well as the African American Democratic Club of Montgomery County are just of few of the many individuals and groups that have endorsed Senator King on this race. They know Senator King has a strong record of getting results for the residents of District 39, Montgomery County, and the State.
David Heller
District 39 Resident and Lifelong Resident of Montgomery County
Disclosure: I have volunteered on Senator King’s campaign as I feel she is the better candidate.
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