A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Oklahoma said he’s received death threats after someone allegedly hacked his campaign’s Facebook page and called for the euthanization of poor, disabled people on food stamps.
Candidate Christoper Barnett insists it wasn’t him who made the inflammatory comments, which have since gone viral.
“There are people saying they want to shoot me, they are going to assassinate me, they are going to shoot me, they are going to blow us up,” he told local station KFOR. “I’m in this election. I’m not dropping out. They’re not going to intimidate me.”
The controversy unfolded Sunday after Oklahoma resident Lisa Schwart shared screenshots of a poll posted on a page purporting to be for Barnett’s campaign titled, “ChrisforGov.” It should be noted that Barnett’s official campaign website bears the same name, Raw Story reported.
The administrator of the page initially posted a poll about food stamp requirements, asking users if it was fair to cut food stamps for folks who are unemployed. The administrator then proceeded to make comments promoting euthanasia as a fix for food stamp recipients who are too disabled to work, and thus “cannot contribute to society any longer.”
https://www.facebook.com/lisa.schwartz4/posts/10156341010803545
“Most receiving food stamps work, or are disabled,” one user remarked on the ChrisforGov poll post. “Some are elderly. And what about the children? What are your plans for them?”
“The ones who are disabled and cannot work … why are we required to keep them?” the person running Barnett’s account replied. “Sorry, but euthanasia is cheaper and doesn’t make everyone a slave to the Government [sic].”
According to a recent HuffPost report, a large chunk of the nearly 43 million food stamp recipients in 2016 were white — 36.2 percent to be exact. Just 26 percent of food stamp beneficiaries that year were Black while 17 percent were Latino. So, whomever was behind Barnett’s Facebook page essentially called for the mass euthanasia of poor white Americans.
“Obviously, I’m not saying the Government should put these people down,” the Chrisforgov account wrote, walking back its earlier statements. “I’m just saying that we shouldn’t keep them up.”
“If they can take care of themselves without Government assistance, great,” he/she added. “If not, let them starve and die. Easy as that.”
