The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Conservatives
Many also point out that Trump was slow to denounce white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, and used derogatory language to refer to Haiti and countries in Africa.
There is only one African American in the Trump Cabinet, and most of his higher-profile black supporters tend to be fringe figures like Candace Owens or Cleveland pastor Darrell Scott.
“It is very difficult for the party to attract African Americans because the party has a stigma that it has to overcome,” said Kirk Wilder, a local attorney who is a member Black Conservatives for Truth. “And it doesn’t help when messages coming out of the White House are not supportive of black and brown people.”
Trump is headlining a fundraising event in Atlanta next month, and there’s speculation that he will also attend an event designed to energize black Republican voters during his visit. Friday, he was scheduled to attend a criminal justice reform forum at the historically black Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.
Walker started her organization during the 2016 election. The Facebook group has since grown into a group of about 9,000 members. She is expecting a couple of hundred people to attend the summit.
“Some people didn’t like my opinions on politics, so I said, ‘I am going to create a group so that black people can talk about issues pertaining to us from a conservative standpoint,’” Walker said. “These are things that are very difficult for black people to talk about openly. I wanted to create that space.”
Walker grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was a member of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, where the city’s first black mayor, Harvey Gantt, also worshipped. Walker’s mother worked on Gantt’s team when he ran for the U.S. Senate against Jesse
Helms, an archconservative often accused of being a racist.
In her closet, Walker keeps a green London Fog coat riddled with 11 bullet holes. It belongs to her father, Bobby Burton.
On Feb. 8, 1968, Burton was one of 200 protesters, mostly South Carolina State University students, demonstrating against racial segregation at a local bowling alley in Orangeburg. South Carolina Highway Patrol officers fired on the protesters, killing three students and wounding scores more.
Of those who survived, Burton was the worst off, shot three times in the back. One bullet is still lodged right behind his heart.
“From an emotional issue, my father was shot because of racism, because people had an emotion against black people,” Walker said. “I think that racism is an issue in America, but not as much as we think it is. I am not saying that we don’t have racism. I am saying that it is not as prevalent as it was before. I believe that people have evolved.”
A 1991 graduate of North Carolina State University, Walker first voted for president in 1988 after getting registered by Jesse Jackson.
“I will always be appreciative of Jesse because he was the catalyst. But I voted Democrat because my family voted Democrat,” Walker said. “Then I started to research my beliefs and pay attention to the elections. I realized my beliefs did not align with the party that I vote for.”
She voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 but backed his opponent, Bob Dole, in 1996. She never voted for Barack Obama and backed Trump in 2016.
Notably, Walker is anti-abortion, a policy position she shares with the GOP.
Walker said it has come at a cost. The married mother of three who is active in her church and is a member of the oldest black sorority in the country said she has lost a sprinkling of friends who tell her they just don’t get her anymore.
“That hurts. But you can turn away and stay in the closet or be vocal and have the understanding that people will shun you,” Walker said. “I just decided that people are always going to have something to say, regardless of what you do. You can’t please the masses. Just please yourself.”