The Young Black Conservatives of Trump’s America

I've have never ever ever mattered to the Democrat Party laughed votes always have the Democrat Party have established a house of token niggers token niggers Democrat Party they want us to permanently be in a state of fear racism white racists Republicans they just put a black person in the White House for eight years didn't do anything for us here we go Oh such a so we are so scared to try something different the Democrats are very nervous they do nothing for you and that was supposed to be automatic not anymore I'm curious like is this really about the politics like how do we know this is real is this legit you guys have a beautiful home and a lot of family photos yes a lot of people said that my family was brainwashing me and that really bothered I've had people have known me for seven to ten years that have texted me and told me that I have a mental illness I read a little bit out for my sister at one time to say that you're a traitor a traitor to who a traitor to my race how do you feel about black conservatives like y'all House Negroes that y'all just trying to please this white man these are lost to sturb self-loathing people notice that all caps on so I think some people assume this is a play for boats well I haven't changed and I'm not gonna change voting for Trump is not about being a Republican make America great again is for us too what does it make you feel like when you wear it it makes me feel like a proud American you have to defend why you go to first run Hilary Clinton that's who they wanted us to vote for over Trump just because you're black you don't have to be a Democrat I am a black gay conservative and I am proud of that we have to solve over like free agent [Music] the people in this room are going to change America [Music] [Applause] we're standing in the white house not fair not that the Democrats are very nervous I will tell you they're very good they do nothing for you and that was supposed to be automatic not anymore [Applause] I can live with that that's I was never a fan you know that right the past the black community has been promised everything from the Democrats by the Democrats and they've got nothing Democrat policies have led to unsafe communities failing schools over incarceration when I ran for president I asked black Americans to give me a chance with your vote by saying what the hell do you have to lose [Applause] I'm just going to be honest I never thought I would ever see this many black people in megawhatts President Trump received more votes from black voters than both Mitt Romney and John McCain and a lot like his presidential campaign much of the media seems to be dismissing the growth of the black conservative movement and instead is attacking their character and motives we all know african-american Republicans these are lost disturbed self-loathing people who are part of a personality called for a president who calls for domestic terrorism and a destruction of every norm that makes this country great was not a summit it was a make America great rally the use of young blacks as props notice that all of those youngsters had caps on it was almost like we're gonna dress you for the photo and while the Democratic Party historically controls eighty to ninety percent of the black vote they don't need to lose that many black voters before they start losing elections we're in DC for the first ever young black Leadership Summit where young black conservatives from around the country have come together here in a conference to be put in front of conservative thinkers to find what is hopefully a physically safe space for them to be both black and conservative in a way they've only been able to do online I don't know if this is genuine but I'm really curious to find out from some of the kids who are here this weekend why they're here and what being here actually means to them what being there meant to them black lives have never ever ever mattered to the Democrat Party black votes always have they create this narrative every four years that the Republicans are racist they try to scare us are we such punks that we are so scared to try something different because every four years they knock for our boats and they say vote for us because the other guy's racist this is our time make America great again is for us too we are Americans first in fairness we have been in this country since 1619 before any other immigrant group this is can soand at 29 she is the most influential young black conservative voice in American politics black support Donald Trump has doubles at this time last year you guys are trying to pretend that he is pushing in a racist era in this country when in fact we know the Democrats are the racists have always in the races the left is incredibly good at linguistics planned parenthood that sounds nice I want to plan my Parenthood but in reality they're murdering babies yeah me too you guys have also not been too nice to me in the press in less than a year she went from being relatively unknown to capturing the attention of the President all through social media rushing collusion is the dumbest that you guys have pulled out in a really long really this is it like this oh my gosh if you don't vote for Democrats we don't get behind us the Russians are gonna be infiltrating your computers and telling you how to vote like what is wrong with you guys are we really witnessing the evolution of the face of the Republican Party here or is this an effort to capture more black votes and nothing else Oh so what you'll realize is we never tell anybody how to vote this has never been about AI for the first time two weeks ago register as a Republican I was just I always called conservative curious I knew something wasn't working on the left they've grown increasingly violent and they seem obsessed with races every single day they're trying to sell to us our own oppression we're not voting for people who are not serving our communities is serving our best interests the only people that are right that we have allowed around us all right liberals and the reason why black men are out here stomping new flags and burning them is because the Democrats never taught them how to love that flag we're done with the fear-mongering and we are understanding that despite everything that's presented by President Trump he's brought more results in the black president that was in office for eight years prior to him but the time is now people are feeling in power at a time is now for us to stand up and say doesn't matter what you call us anymore we want to be free we want to be a piece of the American dream too while these points could be debated back and forth by both sides for literally eternity this was the standard rhetoric being used throughout the entire event in 2008 I voted for Obama simply because I got blacked into it I'm gonna be honest and you treated us like we are victims the things that I learned in the hood are very conservative principles welfare lamb for the slaughter you make money somebody comes up to you says give me thirty five percent of your money what are you gonna do excuse me give you what give me your gun thank you thank you these are very conservative principles that we are raised with but we don't even know it I call myself just a free thinker it's become a lifestyle you know it's Who I am no one paid us to be here I absolutely love myself I am at a coon so when people are like oh you're just being used by the Republicans no you're being disrespectful to me because I know what I'm doing today in this room I'm so excited because we are going to launch in front of the world a movement a movement that will forever be remembered as a piece of American history a movement called blex it the black exit [Applause] [Music] while there are only a few hundred people at this summit wearing blogs and t-shirts there are thousands more online and as long as black Americans have had the right to vote there have been black Republicans but there has never been the community activism and recruitment than that created by the rise of social media and one such influencer in this space is Antonio Okafor a second Amendment rights activist and conservative speaker yesterday a horrific incident took place at Texas Tech University a student took his gun and shot campus police officer in the head I am ia campus carry activist for this very reason to empower the law abiding individual and student on a college who's afraid of a criminal harming them we're following her to Iowa because she's being honored at congressman Steve King's annual pheasant hunt a GOP tradition sponsored by a man who's been called a racist by the press previous honorees have included Ted Cruz and Donald Trump jr. so why Antonia whose agenda does this serve because in my mind this looks a lot like GOP recruitment raise it up to your shoulder [Music] ready little bit out nice and easy it's just like a regular thing you come out into the plains with white men cash I do live in born and raised in Carrollton Texas right that was me was predominantly white have you like found yourself being like one of few or like the only minority and like rooms more as your like political influences groom probably yeah but also while I've been doing this I've seen it grow the whole thing that's happening right now the young black Leadership Conference it's just like showing in one place what I've known for a long time that there are a lot of black conservatives and that there are many of them who are big black conservatives they're out there yeah I knew I wasn't alone but I was the most vocal is it an isolating experience being a black conservative there is a mentality almost like if you say anything that's different there's a firing squad waiting for you can you tell me about when you transition from being democrat to having these more conservative views yeah I think I've always had conservative views it was until 2010 that I started to realize that President Obama who I use II a Stickley voted for that the policies that he had put through I didn't feel that I was empowered as a young individual hope and she and he said that he was gonna drastically change America that was his platform though sure so no I don't think that it was unfair or unrealistic no I think maybe it's actually we need different policies to change things if a black man didn't change it I'm curious how you as the child of an immigrant from Africa reconcile the comments that Donald Trump made where he you know alluded to it being a shithole I always used my mom is a great example and hearing her say do you think I went to America just because I liked Texas or something it is horrible there are people there are Christians who are being killed by machetes and outside of that context just thinking about the checkered past that the Republican Party does have with minority groups in this country why is it that you can like stomach the injustice is so please tell me what injustice is you're talking about the Republican Party voter suppression laws for example so having an ID which I have a driver's license people would tribute these things to being you know an infringement upon people's rights if anyone's disenfranchise a minority groups it's the Democratic Party especially right now when they're taking our vote for granted because we are the majority usually and they can press comfortably on that that is disenfranchising a whole crew [Music] people are gonna watch this and they're gonna like question your motives for being so outspoken okay and so I want to know like how do you what is your response to that it's not that we have to that someone can't make a decision to change a part of their life or switch and not have a motive you know you behind it as special guests men like Ted Cruz and Donald Trump jr. why now honor Antonia she is a clear and a consistent conservative voice defending the Second Amendment in particular and she can do a better job of it in the arena that she's in that I can't do and the hunters out there they're a pushover for a young lady I'm so passionate about protecting seconds a minute because as an individual I know how important it is that I have a right to defend myself I'm a survivor of sexual assault I know what it means to feel completely vulnerable and defenseless I think some people will see you're standing next to Antonia here they will assume the worst which is that this is a play for votes or this is a play for influence in a place or maybe you didn't have it before well I haven't changed and I'm not gonna change and as popular as virtue signaling is it's almost a requirement in this society today I never do it and I never will and yet Congressman Steve King retweeted neo-nazis and publicly targeted immigrants by saying we can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies but now he's given Antonia what seems like a convenient platform now you owe me in there [Music] what was life like when he first started to be more outspoken about your political beliefs oh it was oh it was horrible it was definitely the one part that I was affected most by or impacted most by were the people around me for my sister at one time to say that you're a traitor a traitor to who a traitor to my race because of influencers like Antonia and Candace Owens more young black conservatives have declared their allegiance to Trump online but this decision can have life-altering consequences so my name is Shekinah for those of you that don't know and I've decided to exit the Democrat Party shekinah Geist is one of these people a budding social-media influencer that we met at the conference in DC who recently dropped out of college after being bullied for wearing a trump t-shirt on campus so we're following Chicana to her hometown to see whether embracing your political beliefs online is worth social suicide thank you and a lot of family photos yes mom loves pictures yeah what is this your brother up here yes I really Levi and that's my brother Daniel and his wife CeCe that's me we were adopted mm-hmm yeah and how's that experience been probably one of the best experiences ever because my birth mom was 15 when she had me I felt like she did the very best for me and gave me a better life yeah so this is the shirt Wow mm-hmm and so that was one too like your mom sent to you yeah mm-hmm anywhere on campus and stuff and your parents kind of impart any leanings one way or the other on you really no not at all my dad hates politics so they encourage you to like find your own way yeah they said you research and you um pick whoever you think is best fit you know when you wore that Donald Trump shirt that your friends know kind of your political leanings or um is that when they found out I definitely got backlash you know you're afraid of losing some of the first black friends you have yeah and did that happen most of them said they just couldn't imagine me supporting someone like Donald Trump we just kind of quit being friends it wasn't necessarily uncivil we just kind of quit talking to each other there are people who have had their names tossed around as being racist within the party right how are you okay with that if I truly feel that a candidate is being racist I will not stand with them and I don't think that Donald Trump says everything right I definitely think that he words a lot of things incorrectly and so what happened in the days that followed that like caused you to come back home to Greeley I think it was initially the shock just not expecting people to like message me and say things to me it was like the content of those messages that I lost my race card that I wasn't black anymore did I was an Uncle Tom did I was a sellout that I was just trying to make money I was trying to get attention I was trying to seek acceptance from white people a lot of people said that my family was brainwashing me and that really bothered why because I knew that I love my family and so I felt like I needed to go home and I wanted to do more research I wanted to be confident myself I wanted to know what I believed and I just felt like I had to completely reshift predominantly black urban areas have been destroyed our educational institutions have been destroyed black owned businesses have been destroyed all of these things the Democrats have done to destroy the black community why make your beliefs public it was a decision that I made after I felt more confident myself you have expressed concern that like you would have to deal with this kind of backlash I'm just curious like why still do it I felt that it was good to receive that backlash I felt it was good to hear a different perspective I felt it was good to challenge myself the first people to turn on Shekinah for her political leaning with the first black friend she's ever had and I wanted to get a better understanding of why there is so much resistance within the black community to black conservatives so right now we're at the University of Northern Colorado and we're gonna go meet up with a black student union she kind of hangs out here a lot with her friends she goes to the Community College around the corner we go hear what they think about young black conservatives what's up guys like is this like a liberal area or still having to go to class the next day I think that was the hardest part because like you go there and like you see people you know I was just like oh my gosh what kind of madness is this how do y'all feel about black conservatives the black booze yzs our vices I'm not never see the house Negroes every day I just facts that's big facts that's big facts they just house Negroes is like supporting a party I mean honestly we gonna be a real both parties I've never liked to me haven't done anything black people in a sense of like I wanna pot let's see I don't want no speeches I want policy but about what conservatives it's just like y'all house Negroes but y'all just trying to please this white man y'all gonna be on his good side so as much as I want to look past like oh you're a person and you might be confused but like you're personable values are tied into policies that affect my life like voting for Trump is not about being a Republican you voted for somebody who blatantly supports and encourages white supremacy like hate crimes are way up so like when you think about you know blacks in Union supports like diversity right do you guys also support that diversity and thought like would young black conservatives could they feel welcome in this space that is supposed to be welcoming for black students that's a unique word I wouldn't say welcome I'll definitely say feel challenged to back up the reason why you believe while you believe in ours who the same as well as everybody else with some with some facts and also with some emotions clearly many black students had a negative perception of black trump supporters but Shekinah was able to connect with one other like-minded black conservative in Greeley Sierra while a lot of black conservatives have found each other online this is one of those rare cases where they've created a real-world friendship so a lot of people tell me that when I talk about politics or use my social media it's solely to gain followers and that's just not the case we just want to try and get the word out there to let more people know that I mean that that this is for real this is who we really are as black conservatives you guys don't wear this on camera so as of right now I haven't I just got that like two weeks ago okay oh yeah probably I mean look at my backpack do you oh yeah I walk around with that every day what does it make you feel like when you wear it oh my hair is not poppin today I need a hat it makes me feel like a proud American I feel confident in it especially when you're in DC oh yeah I felt more confident wearing it there do you guys think that organizations like the Black Student Union which is supposed to be like a welcoming space for all black students you know do you think that would be accept - you guys I would say I would hope that they would be accepting I feel that if these people are truly pro-black it would be good to have a different perspective it would be good to have diversity of thought the Black Student Union invited us over to pregame for UNC's basketball game that night and we asked if we could bring Shekinah and Sierra for what will probably be an incredibly awkward introduction I'm curious like what are your preconceptions on black people and conservative and like conservative ideals yeah there's nothing wrong with being a conservative there's nothing wrong with voting your political party the issue is trunk but trumpets and making fun of people who are mentally handicapped making fun of women making fun of immigrants making fun of refugees making fun of black people that is the issue this is a long time for me to be a conservative I have a lot to say I have love that I could say I don't know had to really begin but well one of the things that I really appreciate that he's doing he's actually trying to start her vim revitalization with Ben Carson wasn't Ben Carson a doctor in their insane always how is he gonna help out with I was going on because he grew up in extreme poverty high bromination poverty I can't fix houses oh I think we have seen a lot of making an effort to try and fix the VA okay what was the thing betrayed the United States Mexico Canada agreement how he's been fixing that yeah not really frustrated me as trump's taking credit for a black unemployment rate i'm pretty sure we're all seeing that black unemployment rates that louis has ever been you did not do that it started going down underneath the brock obama you know where huge had that conversation with the tour bus with Billy Bush Billy Bush yeah about the time I was like ten years ago he referred to as locker room top he did publicly apologize I don't know if any of you guys watched that debate white nationalist literally said I feel emoted by Trump there's no way in hell you can justify that you have to defend why you like literally voted for Trump and there's nothing you can't get away from there cuz ben Carson has nothing to do with public house you're black I'm black like what does he have to say for you to stop a green with trouble immigration wise it's difficult because the people have already been here I don't think it's I I really don't think it's fair and a lot of conservatives believe it is I don't think it's fair for someone who's been here for thirty years started a business had a family to be deported back to wherever they came from me hear me talk is like you don't support him but you like you rep your party I respect that and black people we have this ideology brocco bomb is Jesus Christ which is not even close he never gave me a policy he to give no black people policy but as a citizen it's your civic duty again to hold them accountable for me I guess a good way to put it as I'm sometimes Trump there's things that I like and there's things that I will call him out on but when you just take away my black card and say that I'm not black anymore and you don't even want to discuss it with me you just want to say that white people have brainwashed me that's where I really have an issue I feel like it's not healthy to attack the black character it's not gonna do anything for us as your black community it's very common productive and then at the end of the day people are gonna be like oh black people and black people don't like each other so this is something that we have to discuss just hearing this movie you guys's and it really means a lot it's great [Music] one of the things that I hope is more people coming together [Music] [Applause] for me I've seen a lot of my friends and myself where people just completely disassociate themselves with black conservatives or vice versa as Americans we all have a civic duty to both to hold our government accountable people have always voted against their best interests and whether or not that's what's happening with black conservatives isn't really for me to say what do you feel are the biggest misconceptions about conservatives or the Republican Party that exists within the black community I think a lot of people think that that we're here to appease life people our job is to restore those pillars of the exception when America on the track to become again a greater nation they think that we're doing this for some Elster your motive we're gonna get celebrity status or whatever just because we're a black conservative I didn't do that for that [Music] it's definitely not a life that you want to live and live vocally but I think we all do it conspicuously because we want other people to realize that there are other people out there just like them and things just like that [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] black Republicans are still a fairly small group but the disillusionment within the black community with the Democratic Party is very real and if these concerns that black Americans have with the Democratic Party are continuously marginalized and ignored I think this movement could grow I don't know if this is an honest effort from the GOP to change the face of the party but I do know that this political evolution is real and earnest to the individuals that I met in DC and I just hope that at some point we can look past our differences and find a commonality and so that we can help our communities instead of arguing in such a partisanship that we see on both sides of the aisle now if we really want to make America great again attacking someone for the way they vote is never going to be the way that we get there you

Channel: VICE

Views: 3,962,984

Rating: 4.7614341 out of 5

Keywords: politics, RACE, Conservatives, Republicans, Minority Reports, black conservatives, vice, journalism, documentary, videos, underground, independent, vice mag, documentaries, docs, Candace Owens, Antonia Okafor, Steve King, Black Republicans, Trump, MAGA, Young Black Leadership Summit, Blexit, Freethinker, Freedom of speech, Build the wall, America first, Walkaway, african american, terrance k williams, YBLS, Black Conservatives, Charlie Kirk, TPSUA, Turning Point, stacey dash, exclusive

Id: DWam9FSRvGI

Length: 29min 58sec (1798 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 24 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/NativeImmigrant15]

I’m actually impressed with Vice for approaching this subject. The video really gives some good insight into something people might not consider or understand as far as American politics go. I hope people actually watch this and don’t just comment their opinion on something they won’t even watch.

[u/Ritter97]

I expected this thread to be a shitshow but it has actually been very informative and fair. Good on you r/documentaries

[u/Kuroen]

Holy crap, this might be the most respectful thread about politics I've ever seen on reddit.

[u/Willow_shay]

An interesting point was brought up in my con law class the other day: Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas is black and one of the most conservative justices. His beliefs stem all the way back to the Reconstruction era of the Post-Civil War when former slaves were guaranteed land by Sherman only to have it stripped from them by the government. In a lot of older black conservatives in the south, this has fostered a deep mistrust of the government. It reinforced conservative ideas that the larger and more powerful the government, the more likely it is to lie and steal from its citizens.

[u/[deleted]]

I would really like to see a documentary about the Black Hebrew Israelites. Never even heard of them until now.

[u/spaghettilee2112]

Basically this doc is a whole lot of "I'm sick of democrats". Seriously, everything they say about democrats is spot on. But they only talk about why not democrats and not a single word of why Trump.

[u/wecado]

Here's my opinion:

[u/okarnando]

I spilled lipstick in your Valentino bag.

[u/KZD2016]

Spoiler alert it's the same reasons other people support Trump. Being black doesn't obligate you to certain opinions.