Make America White Again': Tenn. Congressional Candidate Unwavering After Controversial Billboards Taken Down

Rick Tyler, an independent candidate for Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District seat, paid for a few campaign billboards in Polk County that quickly ignited controversy.

The billboards — which were located off Highway 411 near Benton, WRCB-TV reported — said "Make America White Again" and included images of white people engaged in picturesque activities.

Image source: WRCB-TV

But while WRCB said the billboards have been taken down, Tyler is unwavering in his campaign platform: "If I could, I'd have hundreds of these billboards up across the 3rd District."

Tyler told the station he doesn't hate "people of color" and merely wants — as the billboards apparently depict — America to return to an "'Ozzie and Harriet,' 'Leave It to Beaver' time when there were no break-ins, no violent crime, no mass immigration."

Tyler said Wednesday he'd been receiving death threats over the signs, but he told WRCB that he's not afraid of the backlash.

"I don't fear it," he told the station. "I welcome it, and I will respond with the application of truth." As for his detractors? "I respect their right to have an opinion," Tyler added to WRCB.

Rick Tyler (Image source: WRCB-TV)

"I believe the majority of the people in the county like it," he noted. "I saw people taking pictures beside it right after I posted it."

Tyler also had another billboard posted with the words "I Have a Dream" — the title of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic civil rights speech — over an image of the White House surrounded by Confederate flags.

And that billboard was taken down less than 12 hours after it was installed, WRCB reported — but Tyler said he didn't take it down.

The owner of the billboard structure wouldn't confirm to the station if his company removed it, but Tyler said he wants them back up, since he paid for their presence through the November election.

Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, who holds the 3rd Congressional seat, denounced Tyler's message.

“I totally and unequivocally condemn the billboard and Mr. Tyler’s message and will vigorously fight any form of racism in the 3rd district of Tennessee or anywhere else in the nation,” Fleischmann told WRCB in a statement.

Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes echoed Fleischmann's sentiments.

"There's no room for this type of hateful display in our political discourse," Haynes told the station in a statement. "Racism should be rejected in all its heinous forms in the Third Congressional District and around the country."

Tennessee's primary elections take place Aug. 4, and the general election is Nov. 8.