Du Buclet Recognizes the 100th Anniversary of Black History Month and Condemns Trump’s Racist Social Media Posts

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — State Rep. Kimberly Neely Du Buclet, D-Chicago, is denouncing President Donald Trump’s racist social media post depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.

“You cannot honor Black history while amplifying caricatures rooted in racism. And we will not allow a century of progress in recognizing Black history to be undermined by rhetoric that seeks to drag us backward,” said Du Buclet. “This resolution is not about one moment; it is about standards. It is about affirming that racism — whether subtle or blatant, whether analog or digital — has no place in our civic life.”

Earlier this month, an artificial intelligence (AI) video was posted to the president’s Truth Social account depicting various Democratic elected officials and content creators as jungle animals. The Trump administration claimed that the post was simply mirroring Disney’s The Lion King, although there were no apes in the film. The depiction of people of color as apes is a centuries-old, well-known racial stereotype and caricature. The video has since been deleted from the president’s social media without an apology to the Obamas or anyone else depicted in the video, nor acknowledgment of the video’s inherently racist nature.

Du Buclet introduced House Resolution 696 to honor the 100th anniversary of Black History Month and condemn the president’s racist rhetoric. The resolution makes clear that this AI video is not the administration’s first overtly racist action but one of its most recent efforts to diminish and sideline Americans of diverse backgrounds.

“Black History Month was founded to correct distortion — not create comfort. Black History Month exists because truth had to be defended,” said Du Buclet. “And today, one hundred years later, we are again confronted with distortion. We have a president who claims to recognize Black History Month, but he uses this month to circulate racist rhetoric, revive inequities of the past and diminish the full story of Black Americans in this country.”

You can watch footage of Rep. Du Buclet presenting the resolution on the House floor here.