Poverty Pimp' Posters of Maxine Waters Spark Demand for Civil Rights Investigation

A Los Angeles community activist group is calling for an investigation after posters mocking Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) as a "poverty pimp" appeared in her district.

Image: Provided to TheBlaze

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, told radio station KNX the posters are "vile, vicious, offensive and yes, racist." In addition to the "poverty pimp" pejorative, the poster features the words "n****s better have my money."

Hutchinson's group is demanding that the California Fair Political Practices Commission investigate and find out the posters' source and levy a fine, CBS Los Angeles reported.

TheBlaze spoke with the artists claiming to have created the posters, who said what they're doing is protected free speech.

The artists say they're also the masterminds behind the "Saving Barack Obama" posters that cropped up on bus benches near the home of Steven Spielberg when the director welcomed the president to his home for a fundraiser.

Image provided to TheBlaze

"Most of the 'Saving Barack Obama' posters were ripped down within 45 minutes of our putting them up," a member of the group told TheBlaze.

On Monday, one day before the midterm elections, the group also claimed credit for another poster campaign inviting voters to "flush" Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who is up for re-election. The posters featured Brown's head in a toilet along with some high-speed rail cars — a pet project of the governor's.

Image: Provided to TheBlaze

"We're trying to dispirit the people who are giving him [Obama] money," one of the members of the artist group told TheBlaze.

The group says it's worked with several "fellow travelers" in the state who want to change the course of California politics.

"We'd rather be doing other things, but we believe you have to change the culture," the group member said.

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