Screenshots of racially insensitive and politically charged Instagram photos that involved a student body vice presidential candidate were posted on Facebook the day after it was announced that his ticket advanced to the runoff election.
Zach Lewis, a third-year studying statistics, was the subject of the images, posted to Technician’s page and the Wolfpack Students group by Noah Riley, a third-year studying biological sciences. The images were pulled from the Instagram account of George James, a third-year studying agricultural business management.
In one of the images, which appears to be a Snapchat, Lewis captioned the photo “I look so Mexican” and in another he posed next to James, who was wearing a “build that wall” shirt. In a third image, Lewis and James appear in a group photo captioned “#ghettosuperstars”.
According to Lewis, the photos are real, but he said that they were taken out of context.
“They are not representative of my viewpoint,” Lewis said. “I don’t necessarily agree with everything that my friend believes in, but I also don’t let that deter me from being his friend and I think my actions speak louder than words on someone else’s Instagram account.”
The photos were found and posted by Riley who asked that someone bring the photos up in the runoff debate Wednesday evening.
“I initially wanted to get the word out to students,” Riley said. “I think students deserve to know what candidates are about.”
According to Riley, he found the posts while researching the runoff candidates’ social media accounts and while he does not endorse either pair of candidates who have advanced to the runoff, he thinks students have a right to know about the posts.
“I don’t really mind what impact it has,” Riley said. “I just felt like students had the right to know about candidates and who’s going to be representing them. I don’t have any particular interest in elections.”
Alberto Quiroga, the presidential candidate running with Lewis, said he was surprised by the posts that surfaced Tuesday morning.
“The [photos] posted on Instagram from one of his friends, although we don’t agree with the views of that friend, it’s something that’s out of our control,” Quiroga said. “Concerning the Snapchat, that one was a little bit more disappointing to find out.”
Quiroga, a fourth-year studying aerospace engineering, went on to say: “as someone who identifies as a Latinx, it’s disheartening to see a picture like that used against them. He may not be vocal about it, but Zach comes from a Latinx family.”
Although the photos surfaced on Facebook a day before the runoff election is scheduled to occur against the Jess Errico and Meredith Spence Beaulieu ticket, Quiroga said that he does not expect them to affect their campaign or the election because he has confidence in the work he and Lewis have done.
“I think a lot of people still very much believe in our platform, still very much believe in our ideals, our characters, and I think the support will come out tomorrow, we just have to stay hopeful,” Quiroga said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop working, keep reaching out to people, keep reaching out to students.”
Lewis said that the posts were not representative of his beliefs and that he will continue to work hard to connect with students throughout campus
“I am apologetic they came out and came out in this way,” Lewis said. “I’ve realized these things are wrong. I unfollowed and untagged myself. … That is not representative of me.”
The runoff election is scheduled to begin Thursday at 8 a.m. and end at 8 p.m. and results will be announced that evening at 9 p.m. Student can vote at getinvolved.ncsu.edu.
