Dillard's Department Store to Sponsor Fundraiser for Racist, Anti-Abortion Billboards

What's in fashion for spring? According to one branch of Dillard's department store, racism and anti-abortion extremism.

The American Independent reports that the Southern department store giant's Memorial City location in Houston, TX, is set to sponsor a fashion show fundraiser for Heroic Media. That's the Austin-based outfit behind a series of race-baiting anti-abortion billboards creating controversy across the country.

Last month, Life Always -- which shares an owner and a North Austin office with Heroic Media -- erected a billboard in New York City with an image of a young Black girl next to the words "the most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb." The billboard directed viewers to crisis pregnancy centers, which are non-medical, ideologically driven outfits that use shame, misinformation, and scare tactics to convince women not to have abortions. Change.org members joined the successful push to get the offending billboard taken down almost immediately.

Now, Dillard's and Heroic Media are teaming up to raise funds to bring the same message to the Houston, Texas metro area. On April 9th, Heoric Media supporters will model nautical-themed fashions provided by Dillard's for attendees who pay the $50 entry fee. A $5000 donation buys the opportunity to model in the show.

This isn't the first time Dillard's has lent a helping hand to Heroic Media: an Austin branch of the store hosted a fundraiser for the anti-abortion organization last spring that netted over $45,000 to pay for billboards in that city. That event was attended by 200 people. Dillard's in Memorial City is expecting at least twice that number at their April event.

Dillard's Memorial City store manager Stephen Brophy claims the choice to sponsor the event isn’t ideologically motivated. “We try to not get too political,” Brophy told The American Independent. “We’re about fashion. We try to appeal to the masses.” But Heroic Media’s billboards are not about fashion -- they are about a racist message that insinuates Black women are ill-equipped to make choices about their bodies and are, by their very existence, dangerous. Heroic Media’s billboards are not for the masses, either, as evidenced by the outrage elicited by the New York City billboards and similar ones in Atlanta last year.

Dillard's needs to hear from customers that standing next to a racist organization with extreme, anti-woman views isn't cute. Sign the petition to demand Dillard's immediately cancel current and future sponsorship of Heroic Media events.