“Attention to all Blacks who plan to vote for Trump: You are an ignorant, stupid negro,” reads the marquee sign outside New Era Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The church’s pastor, whose name is Michael Jordan, stands by the message.
“I want to get a message to African Americans and poor whites that we have a very serious election coming up,” Jordan told WVTM.
The opposite side of the sign reads, “Warning African Americans: A vote for Trump will put [Black] folks back to picking cotton.”
“If Donald Trump can control what we study and read, or control our wages, we’ll be substandard to him,” Jordan said of the sign’s warning.
The church marquee has stirred controversy in the community, even getting the attention of Republican Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth.
“Churches are supposed to spread the Gospel, offer messages of God’s love, and share the life of Christ, not threaten, intimidate, and insult those who exercise their right to vote and support the candidate that is best for them,” Ainsworth wrote in a social media post. “Those responsible for this sign should be ashamed.”
In response to the criticism, Jordan pointed out that “Donald Trump makes sad, pitiful, negative statements about people every day.”
“This is my ministry,” Jordan told AL.com. “This is my calling.”
Posting controversial statements on the church sign is nothing new for Jordan. In 2019, he emblazoned the sign with the statement, “A white vote for Trump is pure racism.”
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Other images that have been uploaded to the church’s Google listing feature messages such as “white preachers are scared, racist cowards,” “blame racist Republicans and Donald Trump for the mass murder of Blacks in Buffalo,” and “Kyle Rittenhouse[‘s] white skin sent him home.”
