AP Iowa

Black Democratic chair gets lynching threat over Trump essay

Published October 19, 2021 5:01 PM

By THOMAS BEAUMONT
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The first Black chair of Iowa’s Democratic Party says he received a series of racist messages, including a lynching threat, after writing a newspaper op-ed criticizing former President Donald Trump and the state Republican officials who stood with him at a recent rally in Des Moines. Ross Wilburn reported the threatening phone and email messages to police. The messages came after The Des Moines Register published Wilburn’s op-ed on Oct. 8, the day before thousands of Trump supporters gathered for the rally. Several carried Confederate flags. A group that monitors threats says Wilburn’s experience is part of an uptick in racist and intimidating communications aimed at Black leaders.

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