Biden-Harris Campaign Roll Out Two Ads Targeting Trump Over Mistreatment of Black Voters

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are denouncing Donald Trump for his treatment of Black Americans. Two separate radio and television advertisements issue attacks at the politician for his harmful remarks on issues of race, and his unproven claims of achievements for the Black community.

The advertisements are part of a $14 million May ad campaign aimed at voters who identify as Black, Latino, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander, The Hill reported.

The two ads slam Trump for a range of issues concerning people of color, per HuffPost. Trump's previous remarks regarding Black people are highlighted in the first advertisement, a television spot titled Contempt, which includes his calls for the execution of the Central Park Five—a group of teenagers whose rape convictions were subsequently reversed.

Trump is also being attacked in the advertisement for his support of white racists during the 2017 neo-nazi "Unite the Right" demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, which resulted in the murder of an anti-racist demonstrator. The advertisement also references claims made in the 1970s that Trump and his father turned down Black family applicants for rental properties.

The second advertisement, titled Knock Knock, is a 60-second radio short that uses a dialog between a Trump campaign canvasser and a prospective voter to expose the candidate's record on Black Americans. The ad attacks him for supporting the birther conspiracy theory and casting doubt on President Barack Obama's citizenship in the United States.

The ad also calls out Trump for extending support to white Jan 6 convicts and proposes a scenario where if Black people were convicted for similar actions, he'd be calling them thugs and calling for strict punishments against them.

The Exonerated Central Park Five, a case referenced in the ads, exposed the racism, class, and gender prejudices in the media and provoked public indignation. The teenagers were incarcerated for the rape of a white jogger and were sentenced to five to thirteen years—until being found not guilty in 2002 thanks to DNA evidence.

New York City Councilman Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five, said in a statement through the Biden campaign. “We must come together to ensure that a man like Donald Trump never steps foot in the White House again. Our future, our children’s future, and the very soul of our nation depend on it.”

Salaam said in a statement shared with HuffPost, “Throughout my wrongful conviction, the one thing I would not allow to be taken away from me was my voice. I urge black and brown communities across the country: do not sit this election out.”

Biden-Harris campaign told HuffPost that the ads “underline how a second term would be worse for Black Americans.” In a statement, Janiyah Thomas, the Trump campaign's director of Black media, claimed that the advertisements don't “address Biden's terrible policies that are hurting our community.”

Pointing out that Biden supported the 1994 crime law and that the majority of his first term has been marred by inflation, Thomas added, “The Biden campaign is panicking because they see that Black voters aren’t buying what Biden is selling.”