Politics

Kenyan Woman Featured on Pete Buttigieg’s Website for Frederick Douglass Plan for Black America

OOPS

The Kenyan woman whose image appeared alongside a child was confused why she was being featured on a website for black empowerment in America.

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Brian Snyder/Reuters

A Kenyan woman whose image appeared along with a child on Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg’s website for his plan for empowerment in black America has spoken out. Ryan Grim, bureau chief for The Intercept, says the woman reached out to him after he wrote an article about issues with Buttigieg’s plan, which is called the Douglass Plan for Black America, after the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Grim tweeted that the public relations firm tasked with creating Buttigieg’s campaign material had simply taken a stock photo without checking the origin of the subject. “On top of everything else, the Buttigieg campaign used a stock photo from Kenya to promote its Frederick Douglass Plan for Black America,” Grim wrote on Twitter, adding, “The woman in the photo reached out to me very confused.” Grim alleged in an article in the Intercept that Buttigieg is conflating the names of prominent black Americans who support his plan, but not his presidential bid. A spokesman for the Buttigieg campaign emailed The Daily Beast on Sunday to say that the page on the candidate website has since been removed.

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