During the Norfolk, Neb. Independence Day parade on Friday, one float depicted President Obama’s presidential library as an outhouse, spurring state Democrats to denounce the float and the message it sent.
The float featured a wooden outhouse on the back of a flatbed truck, with signs reading, “Obama Presidential Library.” A dummy in overalls was attached to the float.
Obama float at Nebraska parade sparks controversy
http://t.co/hMr2sIBT9n pic.twitter.com/DMIK0Gynak— The Gazette (@csgazette) July 6, 2014
The sponsor of the float is unknown, and the Norfolk parade committee member Rick Konopasek said there were few restrictions on what floats could enter the parade.
“We don’t feel its right to tell someone what they can and can’t express,” he told the Journal Star. “This was political satire. If we start saying no to certain floats, we might as well not have a parade at all.”
However, residents and state Democrats were offended by the float.
“You see people laughing, pointing at it, smiling, looking positive about it. I immediately felt sick to my stomach,” Norfolk resident Glory Kathurima told KMTV. “I knew what that meant and I knew there was no sort of political statement being made by an image like that.”
Norfolk City Councilman Dick Pfeil made it clear that the town didn’t support the float’s message.
“The City of Norfolk doesn’t condone that,” he told the World-Herald.
The Nebraska State Democratic Party condemned the float, calling it one of the “worst shows of racism and disrespect for the office of the presidency that Nebraska has ever seen,” according to the World-Herald.
[H/t Huffington Post]
