March 2, 2024
Why do some Black males support Donald Trump? I was going to leave the rest of this article blank and let the silence of the pages speak for themselves. However, the better part of valor urged me to wade into the fray. Why do some Black men support Trump? This is a question that has confused me for some time. In speaking with the few Black males that I know who support the failed president, they were reticent to explain it to me, perhaps for fear of not being able to effectively explain it to an Afrocentric Black man. Some Black males may be too young to remember the housing discrimination case of 1973, wherein Donald was sued for instructing his housing managers to throw applications of Black and Brown people in the garbage.
Above: Central Park Five Falsely Imprisoned from 5-13 years
Perhaps they are too young to remember the case of the Central Park Five, wherein Donald took out a full-page ad in multiple New York newspapers calling for the return of the death penalty. Now just think about this my dear brothers, if it were not New York City, and maybe a few years earlier, Donald Trump would have incited a lynching of five innocent Black and Brown boys who became known as the “Central Park Five.” Just think about that! It is not as if it has not happened before in this country; in fact, too many times. Once the Central Park Five was exonerated, Trump refused to acknowledge their innocence. Instead, he doubled down and insisted they be punished anyway. As if five to 13 years of innocent time in jail was not enough. There are unsubstantiated claims of him having a Black accountant fired because he intimated that Black people cannot count. It is also rumored that he had all Black and Brown employees “clear” the floor when he had VIPs coming through his casinos. Of course, full disclosure: those were just…. rumors.
However, when Michael Cohen testified before the House Oversight Committee in 2019, he stated that Donald Trump stated, “Black People are too stupid to vote for me.” Perhaps some of our Black males are too young to remember the “Birther Movement” that was championed by Trump. The Birther Movement was a movement that challenged President Obama’s citizenship. Donald Trump pushed the lie that President Obama was born in Kenya. Once Barack Obama proved that he was born in the United States, Trump never apologized. In fact, at a news conference in the aftermath of this debacle, Trump yelled, “Why doesn’t he show us his college transcripts? I’ll show you mine!” The inference was a Black man could not graduate from an Ivy League school and cheated his way through.
It can be noted at this point that Trump had his fixer, Michael Cohen, call the University from which Trump graduated and threaten it with lawsuits if they released Trump’s transcripts. Hmmmm, I wonder why? I know my brothers are old enough to remember when Trump said that there were “Good people on both sides” when speaking about the Charlottesville incident in which racists marched through the streets chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” Those racists were lifting their arms in a Nazi salute. Maybe my dear brothers did not see the interview in which Trump refused to denounce David Duke, the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
A Snippet Of Charlotteville Incident That Turned Deadly
The racist list of things Trump has either said or did is innumerable. Then there are the more recent reminders of just how racist he is. There is “Sneakergate”, wherein it has been blasted all over Fox News that clearly black people will support Trump now, those Black folks love sneakers! How insulting! Then there was his attempt to garner Black support by proclaiming his affiliation with us because he was ….wait for it….indicted. He tried to hide his racism by going on to say Black people have been discriminated against and hurt badly. Black conservatives could not hear the insult; it was hidden. The Black Republicans did not hear that he tried to place his white privilege discrimination on par with the discrimination Black people endure daily, and more severely. Ears that do not want to hear will not. Black people love his mug shot and buy his shirt with it plastered on the front because we can certainly relate to a mug shot.
My dear brothers, take off your conservative ears and replace them with Black ones. Then he thought it was cute by saying, “These lights are so bright in my eyes that I can’t see too many people out there. But uh, I can only see the Black ones….” Of course, the Black conservatives laughed with their white colleagues (shameful.) This article would be too long if I listed all the racist “Trumpisms,” I think you get the point. My brothers, did you ever wonder why\ white supremacists support him so strongly? Well, I will tell you, they see him as one of their own, plain and simple. His dog whistles blew so loudly that they are deaf to them. Now, he can speak plainly; America has given him license to make it clear. This is a white country for the white man and I, Donald J Trump will Make America Great Again.
Why Do Some Black Males Support Trump
They have an intense dislike for the Democratic Party. There may be simple party affiliations that are more aligned with their politics. They are conservatives and are serious about their conservative values. I can certainly understand that. However, let me say, in support of your conservative values, you are supporting the most racist modern president we have ever had in the White House. Remember, I wrote “modern” president. Supporting Trump is supporting his racism which brings all his racist’s views to the White House. Sometimes, my dear brothers, you must make a choice. Your conservative values and politics, or a racist and a racist agenda that will affect Black and Brown people negatively for years. Are your politics and conservative views more important than what Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and many others died for? Are your views more important than Rosa Parks? That brave woman who simply had enough and stood up by sitting down. I am just asking. Yes, it is that serious.
Their Christian Faith. Jesus would not support abortion. Ok, fair enough. Would Jesus support a racist rapist that bragged about sexually assaulting women on an Access Hollywood tape? Would Jesus support a person that told 30,573 recorded lies over his four short years in office? Would Jesus support someone who called for an insurrection that killed, according to some accounts, ten people? Would the Lord support someone who would not have a problem if a mob hung his Vice President? Would Jesus support a man who had affairs with women while his wife was pregnant and paid hush money to both to win an election? Would Jesus support a crook who was convicted of fraud in a New York City court? Would Jesus support a person who has ninety-one criminal charges and four indictments? Now, I realize that none of us are without our issues and faults, and I thank God for the ability to repent and be forgiven. And I am positive that Jesus would forgive and perhaps even support Trump if he was adjudicated not guilty on ninety-one charges and four indictments. Since we are using your Christian values as the litmus test, I have always been taught that one must be truly repentant to be forgiven. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/
However, Trump once said, “He’s never asked for forgiveness because he’s never done anything to ask forgiveness for.” ( I was under the impression that the Christian faith rests on the foundation of repentance and forgiveness, but that is just me.) But you are against abortion. OK, Self and Black Hatred. Now, this is the heavy one. I cannot cover the intricacies of it all in one article, so I will be as succinct as possible here. Unfortunately, America has done a job on the African American psyche. It is not hard to understand why some of us hate
ourselves and anyone that looks like us. Clarence Thomas, Tim Scott, and Ben Carson are infected with an age-old disease. This disease infected slaves that told master when a slave revolt was happening or anything that would adversely affect the orderly running of the plantation; they were referred to as House Negroes. I do not blame the aforementioned fellows; they are victims of the indoctrination of America that made them hate themselves and those of us who look like them. I pity them. The Afrocentricity in me will not permit me to watch as Black Republicans appear on news broadcasts and defend Trump's every remark. It is too painful for me to bear. My soul wails, my spirit moans, and my heart breaks.
That notwithstanding, self, and Black hatred are two reasons among many others why some Black men support Donald Trump. Just a few more questions for you my brothers: if President Barack Obama did one tenth of what Trump did during his presidency, where do you think Obama will be now? Do you think the discrimination would be equally applied to President Obama as it was to Trump’s claim of discrimination, or would it be more severely evident? My brothers in Congress, would you defend him as fervently as you do a racist? Before you answer these questions, remember, you are still Black, with black experiences. My dear brothers, now is not the time to support this man; now is a time to remember who we are as a people. You can return to your conservative convictions when he is gone, but for now, he must go for our children’s sake. This has ascended beyond politics, my dear brothers; “This thing is bigger than Nino Brown.” (New Jack City, 1991)
Soooo much to unpack here. My bags are feeling lighter already. Thank you for this very real and necessary article.
-Ms Cherry