title:  U.S. Air Force Advertises Martin Luther King Day ‘Fun Shoot’ Event, Claims It Was An ‘Honest Mistake’
text: Put this one under  Shit You Just Can t Make Up :A U.S. Air Force base in Georgia was forced to pull a flyer advertising a Martin Luther King Jr. Day  fun shoot  after public outcry, reports WMAZ.The flyer   featuring the face of the civil rights icon   promoted a noon gathering on Jan. 18 for the Robins Air Force Base Trap and Skeet Club, where participants would get two rounds of shooting and lunch for $20. Air Force officials pulled this provocative MLK Day  Fun Shoot  flyer: https://t.co/F65HoNYfwu #gapol pic.twitter.com/trss95PIcJ  Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) January 14, 2016 Officials at the base insist that the whole thing was just an honest mistake and, aw shucks, they didn t mean nothin  by it! They were just some good ol  boys never meanin  no harm. The official apology cleared the whole thing up: We realized the inappropriateness of the advertisement several days ago and immediately began removing the flyer. There was no malice of forethought in the flyer s creation and it was never the base s intention to portray Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in a negative light,   It continued.  It was an honest mistake, to which we ve personally counseled the parties involved and will provide them with remedial training and appropriate oversight to prevent this sort of inattention from occurring in the future. If it was a state less prone to overwhelming racism, the apology might be believable. But this was Georgia. And it was the Air Force, the branch of the military most heavily infested with Christian extremism. If you weren t aware of it, the Christian Right has been trying to turn the United States military into a religious institution for decades. They ve had the most success in the Air Force so far.Unsurprisingly, where there is Christian extremism, there s systemic racism as well. So, keeping these facts in mind, the MLK Jr.  Fun Shoot  starts to take on a much more ominous tone. Context is everything.Featured image via screencap.