Someone approved 'white elevators' signs at Republican convention

Though convention staff were reportedly working to replace the signs, not all of them were gone by opening day.
 By 
Colin Daileda
 on 
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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The first controversy of the Republican National Convention occurred well before day one, when signs for "white elevators" were spotted in the halls.

The convention also, reportedly, has red and blue elevators -- part of a patriotic color trio -- at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. It is unclear why none of the convention staff realized "white elevators" might remind convention-goers of not-so-distant times when segregation was legal.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who will be nominated at the event, has flirted with overt white supremacism ever since he officially waded into the election in June, 2015.


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Trump began his election campaign by calling Mexican immigrants "rapists," and has been praised by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, so it wasn't particularly hard for many people to draw a connection between those overtones and the "white elevators" signs adorning the convention.

Though convention staff were reportedly working to replace those signs, not all of them were gone by opening day.

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Colin Daileda

Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.

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