My political outlook 100% shifted after converting to LDS. The reason is because I always thought that I could get pretty far, but it’s been really difficult as a foster kid. When I became LDS, I felt an impression that God has greater plans than the mistakes of your parents. Parents make mistakes. They go down paths that lead to sickness, troubles, or incarceration.
When I became LDS I started to see men who took care of their families, whether that was 40 hours a week, 60 hours a week, or 80 hours a week. The LDS church was the first organization, in my opinion, that I saw with my own eyes, with men saying, “I am responsible for my wife”, “I am responsible for my family”, and they took responsibility for their own salvation and priorities.
I voted for Hillary Clinton and for Barack Obama for the second term. I am a new republican. I am not necessarily a Trump supporter, but I think Trump’s ideas are better for my family, and for me making money, and being a businessman.
MILITARY
The military is one of the most important things to me politically. The reason I think that the military is number one is because we as a country have to protect ourselves from foreign adversaries. When I was an international student ambassador and I learned that there are other countries out there that are not as free as America, it was alarming. We live in this bubble. If you go to the continents of Africa or South America, or to the Far East it’s a different world. The military provides an opportunity for a barrier against that. Also, in America we’re the policemen - the watchdogs. We are the ones who say that the human rights in other countries are being dismantled. My dad served 20 years in the air force. I believe wholeheartedly in the military, to the point that I think we should incentivize people to go into the military. There is nothing greater than freedom, and that’s why the military is number one.
ECONOMY AND JOBS
The second thing for me is the economy and jobs. In the African American community, we have the fewest individuals who are employed. We make up about 20% of America. Our people are the lowest wage earners of them all. Every man needs a job. I really believe in jobs. We look at some of these people who make billions of dollars. I don’t want to take their money, but I do want them to employ more people, so I would give them a tax break. It’s not their fault they are a billionaire. Everything that generates revenue is businesses. I really believe that the economy should be roaring. We should have an amazing economy because when you have money people can fend for themselves.
RACIAL MOVEMENTS
Do I believe that there are police who are misusing their power? Absolutely. Do I think it’s predominantly towards African Americans? Probably. Do I think people are dying by the gun? Absolutely. Where I think we can improve is police need to go through more rigorous training. They are not being trained enough on the use of force. When you shoot a man in his back, when you illegally tell someone to step out of the vehicle when you have no right to, and when you stop and frisk, I don’t think that’s right. I think that we’ve made a huge mistake in this country by not letting our police be trained better. I would change that very quickly.
I think Black Lives Matter is important to talk about. I think that I’m not as far right as Candace Owens, but I’m not as far left as Whoopie Goldberg. I think Black Lives Matter is a pointless movement. You have to look at who has actually delivered change in the African American community. It was Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. He single-handedly delivered bills being changed. Bills that went through the House and Senate. What I’m not understanding is what the Black Lives Matter movement really is. Is it saying that police brutality is a problem? Yes. If that’s what it’s saying, yes, we do have a problem with police brutality, but trying to solve it that way is not going to make a difference.
It’s kind of like BET. I just don’t subscribe to that. I don’t think that African Americans need a subset culture within the American culture. I think we’re united. My problem with Black Lives Matter is that we’re not talking about the stuff that matters. We are not talking about the uneducated, the fatherless, the single moms who are doing it for their own damn selves. It’s not right. Someone needs to make something happen. We need to cut the crap. It’s sad to watch Chicago, Brooklyn, LA and Skid Row, Minnesota, Louisiana - New Orleans, and Texas. My problem with Black Lives Matter is that the leaders in that organization aren’t good enough, straight up.
It’s hard at the point of history that we’re in. I think that before we protest, we have to literally go to the youth and to educate them on what the Black community really is. The Black community is not all athletes, they’re not all entertainers. We as an African American community aren’t doing a good enough job at making men in our society as fathers, businessmen, and educators.
PRISON REFORM
I believe that our prisoners are not being educated. They are becoming a burden to society. We have young men who are fatherless and their mothers are misguided. They go into prison or into delinquency and they come out and they are nothing. They don’t have a work history. They don’t know how to pay taxes. They suck money from the government. They have free everything and they are essentially rebellious young men in our society. Every prisoner needs to be educated, period. If you go to prison, you need to read X amount of books. We need to get serious about that. I think that we are doing a huge disservice to our prisoners and to our own country. I also think that colleges need to be taxed.
CLIMATE CHANGE
I believe that global warming is a problem. I acknowledge global warming. I don’t think it’s an item of an agenda. I don’t think you can run a campaign on global warming because everyone in the world has to buy into this. It can’t just be America getting cleaner. It doesn’t work that way.
