Why One Black Civil Rights Hero Is Voting For Donald Trump

By: Giovanni Zaburoni

The demographics of the Democratic and Republican parties have changed since slavery was abolished.  The Republicans call themselves the “Party of Lincoln” and back then, Republicans were behind constitutional amendments to abolish slavery and grant other protections for Black people, but times have changed and party ideologies have drastically shifted?  The alt-right, also known as white nationalists have essentially taken over the Republican party and their platform revolves around keeping immigrants of color out of the country with a large wall, cutting taxes for the wealthy, and cutting programs that benefit disenfranchised people of color and poor whites.  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is their leader and he has the support of a civil rights activist, Clarence Henderson.  Henderson participated in one of the first sit-ins at a segregated lunch counter in Woolworth’s, in North Carolina 60 years ago.  

According the Daily Mail and anyone who has been paying attention to the news, Donald Trump is not popular with African-America voters.  His support is less than the margin of error on certain polls so Henderson’s decision to back Trump has placed him in the line of fire and critics are accusing him of abandoning the principles he clearly had when fighting for equality as a civil rights activist.  Henderson says he is ignoring his critics.  “Donald Trump is certainly not a politician, and politicians are a dime a dozen, but leaders are priceless.  ‘He has proved to be a leader in the business field. Has he done everything right? No, certainly not. But I think that he has more at stake than Hillary does. I would rather be in the minority on the side of justice than in the majority on the side of injustice, because I have lived a life where I saw there was injustice.”

Henderson claimed that President Barack Obama was not a viable candidate for President of the United States says he is voting for Donald Trump because he must vote his conscience.  

Black people are not monolithic.  Like other races, Black people have different experiences, ideologies, and ways of looking at the world.  Back on the plantation, there were slaves who desperately wanted to escape captivity and others who yearned for the acceptance of their masters.  Those mindsets are still prevalent today and unfortunately there are still many Black people that harbor views about politics and social issues that are detrimental to their race.  A Black person voting for Trump, especially after seeing the kind of people that are following him, are questionable at best.

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