By: Stacy M. Brown, Black Press USA

Michael Lewis, the creator of the much-talked about and apparently racist billboard that recently drew wide-spread anger, has fessed up to the deed but said it wasn’t racially motivated at all.

Lewis reportedly went on a local radio station and said the billboard is meant as a promotion for a breast cancer fundraising event, “Laugh, Live, Love Comedy.” Black Press USA and numerous other outlets were provided with misinformation that the billboard was created by the artist-led group “For Freedoms,” and that it was intended to spark dialogue ahead of an exhibit marking the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Instead, it set off anger and pain in a city where civil rights history is not distant memory but lived experience. Critics said the pairing of MAGA messaging with blackface is more than provocative — it is racist and dangerous. “Timing and context mean everything,” wrote one Montgomery resident in response. Others argued that no amount of artistic intent could justify splashing racist caricatures on a public billboard in a majority-Black city.

Even Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed expressed outrage, ordering the billboard removed almost immediately after it went up, calling it a politicized distortion of a sacred history. “We must be extremely mindful of how we use such images of our shared history, especially when they risk being perceived as politically charged,” Reed stated. “Our history deserves to be treated with the utmost respect and care, ensuring it unifies rather than divides us as a community.” The Southern Poverty Law Center praised the mayor’s decision, saying, “We can never afford to empower or embolden bad actors to cause harm and trample the rights and freedoms of marginalized groups.” But the National Coalition Against Censorship condemned the move as government overreach, writing in a letter to Reed, “Though you may not agree with the politics or the vision of the artists behind the billboard, your position…does not give you the right to enforce your personal political perspective on the museum’s programming.”

For many in Montgomery, the billboard reopened wounds tied to the ongoing use of MAGA rhetoric. The slogan, tied to Donald Trump’s presidency, has long raised questions: Which America is being called “great,” and when exactly was it great? “This is a country built on slavery, and the legacy of slavery,” one resident stated. “What has been great are the people who fought for freedom. That is what makes America great.”