Clarence Henderson is a proud, self-proclaimed HBCU grad and a civil rights protestor from the ‘60s. He was also used by the Republicans last week at its convention to perpetrate another half-truth about the Republican Party. And every time it happens, it’s important that someone chime in to correct it.
“I’m a Republican, and I support Donald Trump,” Henderson said in his video. “If that sounds strange, you don’t know your history.” Well, it does sound strange, and I do know history. Enough of it to know why what Henderson went on to say was extremely misleading.
First, here’s some context as to why Donald Trump at the RNC didn’t mention Black Lives Matter or the Kenosha, Wisconsin shooting of Jacob Blake. But he loves Clarence Henderson and those like him.
Throughout the campaign, polls show Blacks hover around the 90 percent mark AGAINST Trump. Henderson is an outlier. That’s why you saw so many Blacks (many of them former athletes) speaking up for Trump at the RNC. They represent a micro-minority. As far as people of color go, polls show Trump has about 30 percent of both the Latino and Asian voters in his fold. He may be maxed out there. But among Blacks, there is hope for new votes. So Trump is mining and chipping away looking for those Black voters willing to march to their inner Clarence Thomas. Or Clarence Henderson.
Diversity of thought is what Republicans like to call it. And at the RNC it was on full display.
“It was a Republican party that passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery,” Henderson said proudly. “It was a Republican party that passed the 14th Amendment, giving Black men citizenship. It was a Republican party that passed the 15th Amendment, giving Black men the right to vote.”
Yes, it was the Republican Party. But with the heart of today’s Democratic Party.
