Politics

op-ed: this video of a young black trump supporter leaves us with serious questions about how to deal with black republicans

June 21, 2016

You’ll hear me say regularly, “I don’t trust a black Republican.” Although I have unwavering respect for them, I’ll laugh and shake my head at the Ben Carson’s and the Colin Powell’s and the Condoleezza Rice’s of the world. Through socialization, history lessons, and family rants during the evening news, I knew that black and Republican just didn’t go together. There’s cats and dogs, oil and water, and black people and the Republican party.

The Republican party’s been at odds with minority voters for a while. They love to shout “The Party of Lincoln” in response to their inability to connect with (read: neglect of) the people of color in this country, but there’s no way of hiding the party’s rotten, racist behavior when their presidential nominee is Donald Trump.

Trump is a racist on his own, making controversial statements about Mexican immigrants and refusing to denounce David Duke, but his supporters make his candidacy all the more repulsive. With so much of the Republican party exposing their prejudices to the mainstream, seeing a black Republican is confusing (to say the least).

By Jaylin Paschal*, AFROPUNK contributor

Aside from and beyond the David Duke issue, many black protesters have reported being called the N-word by Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters are regularly kicked out of his rallies. Just looking out into the crowd at a Trump rally will tell you a lot, via the Confederate flag propaganda. Not to mention, the racism that is laced in “Make America Great Again.” The campaign slogan denies the reality of entire demographics. For many of Americans, this country has never been great, and is only progressing a centimeter at a time, if at all.

Note: The Democratic party has had its fair share of racist leaders and policies, too. Republicans are just a bit more openly racist, and Trump is even more blatantly racist.

So when the video of a young black man defending not just the Republican party, but Trump, to an older black man went viral, Black Twitter reacted exactly how you’d imagine, calling the kid ignorant and a “disgrace” and more than a few choice words. Many of these tweets, I could agree with. Yes, it was sad. Yes, he was being an asshole. He did need to take a history class or two (or eight). And I would even argue that beyond moronic, a black Trump supporter is oxymoronic. I was just as grossed out as everyone else because, like I say, “I don’t trust a black Republican,” and furthermore, a black Republican who subscribes to Trumpism.

But what I couldn’t agree with were the tweets saying that the teenager “wasn’t black” or that we needed to “trade him in the racial draft” or that we “release him of his blackness” or anything along those lines.

Along with “distrusting” them, like I do, we often “disown” other black people who lean right, identify as Republican, or express any opinion that doesn’t align with our general black consensus. Think of our general response to Clarence Thomas’s votes and Don Lemon’s “reporting” and Raven-Symone’s nonsense and Stacey Dash’s antics. We almost consider it betrayal, and we don’t take Uncle Tom-ing lightly. We say “They ain’t black,” and cross their names off this nonexistent list as if they no longer qualify. As a race with a history like ours, it’s easy to understand why we have no time for what feels like racial treason. So beyond our initial confusion, we react emotionally to scenes like this one. Our confusion develops into anger which eventually manifests disgust, and sometimes, in my case, distrust. Especially when we consider how many Trump supporters would probably disrespect, discriminate against, or dislike this young man simply because of the color of his skin. Let’s not forget that The Times found that nearly 20% of the Trump supporters they surveyed didn’t think the Emancipation Proclamation was a good idea. It’s clear to most of us that a Trump presidency is not in any black person’s best interest, as we recognize it as an inglorious manifesto of everything we’ve been working against.

I understand why some may choose to pull the teen’s black card and sneer “He’s not one of us.” It would be dishonest of me to say that my most immediate reaction wasn’t to do the same; to cast him away as if he didn’t matter to me anymore.

And while defending the kid makes me vomit a bit in my mouth, the fact of the matter is, when I say “Black Lives Matter,” I mean his, too. Obviously, skin color doesn’t automatically determine political beliefs. However, it does undoubtedly influence the political experience and therefore should certainly impact political beliefs, but if a black man chooses to vote for Trump, he’s entitled to that vote. It doesn’t strip him of his blackness in any way. He’s still black. Still just as vulnerable to a cop’s bullet, or a judge’s prejudice, or an employer’s bias. So yes, I vehemently disagree with everything Donald Trump stands for, and yes, I think this teenager is blind to the truth of the man and party he has aligned himself with, but no, I won’t trade him in any metaphorical racial draft. At the end of the day, we’re all still subjected to the same prejudices, racism, and systemic injustices–even those of us with the wool pulled over our eyes, or who fail to recognize hate speech, or who simply disagree. Even those of us who don’t need Black Twitter to strip them of their blackness; those who try their best to shed this skin themselves. Even those of us who vote counterproductively on the Supreme Court, or do really shitty Ferguson reporting, or talk about “ghetto” names, or become Fox News bobble heads.

With my side-eye in full effect, I’d still protest for Uncle Ruckus and them just like I would any other black life.

*Jaylin Paschal is a journalism student and blogger who is passionate about politics and prose. Follow her blog at creativeliberationblog.com. Contact her at creativeliberationblog@gmail.com or through Twitter @creativelbrtn.

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