“In the HBCU Times op-ed and in communications with the press, we’ve been clear that not every supporter of the plan is Black, and have never claimed otherwise in any public communication,” the Buttigieg campaign told Business Insider. “We never gave the impression publicly that these people were endorsing Pete, only that they supported the plan. After they indicated their support, we reached out to people multiple times giving them the opportunity to review the language of the op-ed and the option to opt-out. We did hear from people who weren’t comfortable being listed and we removed them.”
On Friday, The Intercept’s Ryan Grim noted an additional issue with how the Buttigieg campaign has promoted the plan:
Grim reported on Sunday that the woman featured in the photo was confused about her likeness being used by the Buttigieg campaign and that she had never heard about the Douglass Plan. He said the “Douglass Plan for Black America is now news in Kenya.”
Buttigieg’s campaign confirmed to Business Insider on Sunday that the photo of the Kenyan woman was no longer on the website. The campaign added that they no longer work with the contractor who selected the stock image, adding that the firm did not know the photo came from Africa.
