Leftist ‘Cancel Culture’ Mob Destroys Anti-Poverty Billboard

He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. – Proverbs 10:4

It used to be commonly known (and said) that to increase the chances of success in life, you should at least graduate from high school, get a full-time job, and get married before you have children. Marriage reduces the risk of poverty, particularly for children.

But these days, telling the truth gets you canceled.

On August 17, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) commissioned a series of billboards to go up in cities across the country.

The campaign’s message? A similar age-old formula to avoid poverty: finish school, take any job, get married, save and invest, and give back to your neighborhood.

But leftists did not like the message, calling it shaming, racist, and sexist. They bullied and intimidated the company contracted to erect the billboards into removing them.

The cancel culture mob won this round. Star Parker, founder and president of CURE, told an ABC affiliate in Milwaukee that this common-sense advice helped her get out of poverty.

“I lived criminal activity, drug activity, sexual activity,” Star said. “I barely graduated high school literate. I was in and out of the abortion clinic, after clinic. I lived on welfare.”

And she’s fighting back against the leftist bullying.

“Poverty is disproportionately hurting poor Black people. So I think it is the opposite of racist to say we should focus on the weakest link,” she said. “Maybe we should talk directly to the disadvantaged. The people that are complaining most, they would’ve been more offended if I put some white girl up there with blonde hair telling them to do these steps in a Black neighborhood.”

She said her freedom of speech was being infringed upon.

“We’re talking about a free country and free expression here,” Parker said.

CURE’s COO William Allen spoke to a Fox News affiliate about the backlash:

FOX6 News spoke with William Allen, Urban Cure’s COO, before the billboards were removed on Wednesday. Allen described his group as a “think tank” based [in] Washington D.C. and tied to an extensive clergy network throughout the country.

“It has always been the message parents have given — of course, parents give it in the home and privately,” said Allen.

Allen said the non-profit purchased the same two billboards in the Minneapolis and Philadelphia markets. He said the message is not political, and not timed for the Democratic National Convention [which recently changed its schedule].

CURE’s mission is to fight poverty and restore dignity through the messages of faith, freedom, and personal responsibility. A conservative agenda of traditional values, limited government, and free markets — not a leftist agenda — benefits all low-income Americans. The billboard campaign was designed to fulfill this mission and give people hope for their futures.

But leftists don’t want what to them is a “captive audience” to hear the this message.