Atlanta Newspaper Apologizes for Incredibly Racist Tweet about Lottery Winner

What better way to congratulate someone who just won $1 million than to reference slavery?

Yesterday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution posted a tweet saying, “$1M GA Lottery winner Willie Lynch can get 40 acres and a whole lotta mules.” The historical reference is to a post-Civil War proposal to help freed slaves start new lives by giving them land previously held by whites. When such policies were overturned shortly after the war, the subject became a source of bitterness among African American southerners.

 

 The decidedly un-funny tweet was quickly deleted, and this tweet appeared in its place:

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