In the already divisive Louisiana governor's race, there are now accusations of racism and race baiting.
The politics in some of what we're hearing and seeing are designed to be polarizing. Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone released a new ad Tuesday. The voiceover starts, saying, “Liberal John Bel Edwards is so desperate, they're playing the race card, listen…”
A second voice comes in, asking, “What is the difference between David Duke, Eddie Rispone and Donald Trump? They do not care about you or anyone who looks like you," said the voice.
That latest ad from Rispone uses snippets of another political ad from the Black Organization for Leadership Development (BOLD). It's a New Orleans based political group. The ad which Rispone pulls from features the voice of New Orleans City Councilman Jay Banks.
"Do you have any doubt what make America great again really means,” asks Banks.
The campaign for Democratic incumbent John Bel Edwards made it clear it's not responsible for the ad by BOLD.
"It's imprudent and even stupid to bring David Duke into a race in Louisiana when duke is not connected to this. That was a politically dumb thing to do, but it wasn't racist. I don't blame Rispone, nobody should blame Rispone for turning it around and using it," said Eyewitness News Political Analyst Clancy DuBos.
The state Republican party is trying to capitalize by using flyers from so called supporters of Edwards which draw comparisons of Rispone to David Duke.
"It has to do with who you are talking to. It's about the audience, not the candidates. The commercial put out by BOLD was speaking to a black audience. Eddie Rispone's response is totally aimed at a white audience," said DuBos.
In a Facebook group supporting Eddie Rispone, one post basically calls Edwards "the vanilla version of former President Obama. That post has been shared more than 500 times. The Rispone campaign is not responsible for that Facebook group.
"That is overtly, on its face racist, talking about the black former President is now in white face in the person of the white governor," said DuBos. It could be a sign of the political times, that race is somehow thrown into a contest between two white candidates."
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.