CNN segment spins into chaos after Black conservative quotes Malcolm X to boost Trump
CNN's Sarah Sidner clashed with a Black conservative who framed the election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in racially reductive terms.
Shelley Wynter, a self-described traditionalist who hosts a talk show on Atlanta's WSBB-FM, made reference to Malcolm X's famous 1963 speech, “The Race Problem in America," in which he traced the differences between two kinds of slaves – the "house Negro and the field Negro" – which set off a chaotic clash with Sidner and guest Michael Blake, a former White House aide to Barack Obama.
"Let's be honest here, and let's really be clear what's being said," Wynter said. "If you're an African American man, look, let me boil this election down in the African- American community to a very simple – I'll reference the great Malcolm X. This race is between house African Americans and field African Americans, and a field African American's going for Trump."
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"Wow," Sidner said.
"I'm talking about your men who build," Wynter continued, "your men who put things together, your men who work with their hands, your men who do things, not the men who push paper or the men are connected to power and want to continue to be connected to power, I'm talking about the men in our community who are doing the work."
Sidner asked whether he was denigrating Black men with professional, white-collar jobs, and Blake pounced on the talk radio host.
"Is Shelley the house one or the field one?" Blake said. "I'm just trying to understand that part, I'm just trying to understand the one that's spitting talking points right now – are you the house Negro and the field Negro that you're referring to? I'm just trying to make sure. Your question was about denigrating Black people, that literally was your question. You have a Republican fool who was talking right now – you literally just said Black men, this is an election about house or field. This is the nonsense that we are listening to right now by those that are supporting Donald Trump."
"You sound absurd and silly," Blake said over Wynter's protestations.
Trump has made activating low-propensity voters, including Black and Latino men, a major part of his re-election strategy, but he also said Tuesday night in Atlanta that those voters who back Kamala Harris "got to have your head examined," which he frequently says about her supporters.
"The point I'm making is this," Wynter said. "The men who get up, the men who get up every day and make things happen with their hands – they build things, they're plumbers, they're electricians, they're working for Amazon. These men who are coaching seven-and-under football, not because their son or daughter plays, but because they want to keep brothers off the street and they're volunteering their time, these men are going for Trump."
Blake strongly disagreed, saying that Trump has shown his disdain for Black communities and had failed to prioritize their needs in his first term in office.
"He's essentially communicating that the people in Detroit and Milwaukee and Philly that are doing work, manufacturing jobs, putting in for their communities, are going to vote for Donald Trump, a man who has no policy, no support, who called for the death penalty of Black men and has repeatedly been against us. So let's be abundantly clear. You have a choice: You can follow the rhetoric of someone who is literally calling you a house or field Black man or you can follow the Black woman who was a [district attorney], an [attorney general], a United States senator, a vice president, and [historically black colleges and universities] alum, a sorority sister, who was actually helping Black people. This is the decision you have in 20 days."
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