By the end of next week, many area fair-goers in Mower, Freeborn and Steele counties will have looked to the skies for some propaganda with an obvious and quite straight-forward message: deport illegal immigrants.

A local citizen has hired a private pilot to fly a banner emblazoned with “Keep America Great Deport Illegals” over the three county fairs.

While this citizen/group has a right to their opinions and are free to express it, is a county fair really the right venue for that?

County fairs are traditionally known as a place for campaigning on issues; for example, political candidates, churches, non-profits and others set up booths at the Mower County Fair to convey their messages to the public. They spoke with citizens, handed out brochures and basically made their presence known for those who wanted more information.

When a 5-year-old child points to that airplane flying overhead and asks, “Mommy, what does that say?” how is she supposed to respond? Although it likely isn’t the intent, the message comes across as hateful propaganda. Is this the most effective way to get your message across? Wouldn’t talking with legislators or speaking with citizens be a more logical way to make a change?

If they believe there is a problem with this issue, why not do something to change it, rather than just blast opinions in people’s faces? A good example of how this back-fired would be the parade in Albert Lea. Sure, the woman riding the Coalition of Immigration Reduction’s float did not deserve to be pummeled by flying rocks, but these messages are going to invoke strong emotions in many citizens — and they aren’t going to be pleasant ones.