I went to Milwaukee July 18 and 19 to see for myself what the people and atmosphere were like at the Republican National Convention. After all, I’m a citizen, a writer, a voter and an educator, and I wanted to actually meet the folks who support a person who has spent the last 15+ years insulting everything about my race and gender, my hometown and my beliefs. As an African American, a woman, a Chicagoan, a public school alum, a person who believes in science, and a person who embraces racial, gender, and religious diversity, I am the almost polar opposite of former President Donald Trump’s focus and policies. For that reason, almost everyone who I told about my attending the RNC reacted with great concern and/or horror. They vigorously cautioned me to be safe!
Even though I had slight concerns for my safety, because of the pervasive white supremacy marches that are full of Trump supporters, I convinced myself that there would be enough security there so I would be OK. In order to fit into the MAGA crowd, I got myself a red hat with Jesus Christ stitched on the front and another one with an American flag motif to wear with a red shirt.
Once I maneuvered my way around the extensive security, I found myself in an environment that seemed like a gleeful family reunion. There was a sea of almost all White people, dressed in every combination of red, white, blue, and sometimes gray attire emblazoned with Trump or “Make America Great Again.” And in case people wanted more, there was a wide array of products for sale with slogans and/or Trump’s name or face.
While hanging out in this party-like atmosphere I went to all of the vendor booths and tables. I chatted with the folks from the Heritage Foundation, American Conservation Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Strive investment firm and others to try and understand what they stood for and believed in. Even though no one would explain the basics of Project 2025, which I understood to be the blueprint for dismantling and overhauling our entire government, what I got out of the conversations was a quest to implement their version of a Christian nation that had little to no government regulation, low taxes (especially for the wealthy), very few immigrants (at least Brown ones from the Southern border) and of course the never-ending “tough on crime” mantra.
There were booths with everything from food to bobble-heads to cell phone carriers. I hung out with some folks from Wyoming who were more than happy to give me advice on places to visit in their state. I also listened to Donald Trump Jr. and others talk about hunting rights. At one table, a woman talked about the right to take public money to pay for private or home schools. Intertwined with these messages was the pervasive reference to 1st Amendment rights, 2nd Amendment rights, guns guns guns, including a cutout of Trump looking like his dream of being Rambo. There was also a table selling Trump bibles that included sections of the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Pledge of Allegiance, and another with a book of Trump “poems” (a collection of his tweets).
In the midst of the anti-immigrant, anti-diversity, anti-non-Christian, pro-gun, anti-choice messaging, there were some interesting exhibits: C-SPAN had “American Presidents Life Portraits” with images and information about all former presidents. Johnston & Murphy’s “Shoes of the Presidents” exhibit showcased shoes from about a dozen former presidents. The Wisconsin Historical Society featured panels about the suffrage movement.
Then, outside of these exhibits was the one and only Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene doing a signing of her “MTG” book.
Although White people were in the extreme majority at the RNC, it was not ALL white. Three percent of the delegates were Black. There were some Latinos, a handful of Native Americans and some other people of color. But for the most part it was a sea of whiteness. Everyone I interacted with was cordial, friendly and polite. I had beer with a group, lunch with a group, and talked to a woman who was concerned about election integrity and proudly talked about how she was at the Capitol on January 6. She was selling books of letters and artwork by those who were “wrongfully” imprisoned for their part in that day. I talked to another woman who was selling Trump gear who explained how she goes around the country doing just that. She gave me a flyer about a 1st Amendment film festival.
One of the things that really struck and annoyed me was a Frederick Douglass Foundation booth with a huge cutout image of him. Since I am friends with some of the Douglass family descendants and have experienced having the name and image of my great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells, used by organizations without our family’s permission, I was curious to know if the Foundation had contacted the family. The woman I talked to, who was in an incredible hurry to leave the booth, said they had no connection to or contact with the family.
It’s disingenuous and historically inaccurate to use the name and image of historical figures like Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington and my great-grandmother (especially without permission from their families) to represent or support today’s Black Republicans. The same is true for organizations that exploit my ancestor as a 2nd Amendment advocate with no apparent regard to the lynching era she lived through. Either the willful ignorance, or total disrespect for facts by people who use historical figures to promote causes that skew or defy the work the ancestors did is infuriating. And it is time-consuming and emotionally and financially exhausting trying to police every misuse. The fact is that the political parties have vastly changed from the 19th to 21st centuries. People need to realize that the Democrats and Republicans basically switched in the 1960s as a result of the Southern Strategy.
The actual truth is that Douglass, my great-grandmother, and most of their contemporaries were enthusiastic about the Republican party of Lincoln over a century ago, not today’s party of Trump. Based on how they fought for racial and gender justice and equality, today’s Democrats are in alignment with the work the Black civil rights activists from the 19th and 20th centuries did.
Inside the Fiserv Forum I hung out mostly in the press area in the upper level, but I did make it to the floor a few times to be in the midst of the pumped-up atmosphere as the various speakers made their remarks. Among those I listened to, the overarching theme was Trump is a martyr who took a bullet for us all (this was a few days after his ear was grazed at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania). Trump has been “persecuted” by his enemies. Trump doesn’t have to “sacrifice” himself to run the country, but is such a patriot that he’s willing to do so. Illegal immigrants (meaning Brown people coming over the Southern border) are destroying our country. Trump is a nice guy who plays golf. Trump will lower grocery bills, gas bills, and taxes. Trump will make sure we “drill baby drill” and not have electric everything. Trump will get tough on crime — which I took to not include white collar crime, since Trump is a convicted felon who people proudly support.
The American flag was everywhere, on everything from capes to dresses to hats to pins to banners. Some wore that miniature pillow-looking bandage on their ear the same that Trump had on his ear. People happily and gleefully held up placards with various phrases, including “Mass Deportation Now.”
People sang and chanted and laughed and waved flags while pining for a United States that has never been — a predominantly White, predominantly “Christian,” predominantly wealthy, predominantly male-run country. Yes, the folks who plundered this country were allegedly all of those things. But there have always been women who have done more than bear children. Always been people of color (remember there were millions of Native Americans here first). There were four million enslaved people of African descent here when the Civil War ended in 1865. Entire swaths of the country were part of Mexico, so this fantasy of an all-White country is just that.
I left the convention toward the end of the last day, during Kid Rock’s performance, when the crowd was getting hyped up before Trump’s speech and started chanting “TRUMP TRUMP FIGHT FIGHT.” As I made my way back home, I listened to Trump’s 90+-minute acceptance speech where he droned on about securing the border from “dangerous” migrants, cutting taxes, “Black jobs,” and the late great (fictional) Hannibal Lecter.
Even though the RNC was like an alternate universe for me, it was something important to experience. It made me wonder how people can come across as friendly and generous, yet gleefully hold up signs that advocate for millions of people to be deported, families destroyed and the earth to be exploited. Per the speeches, these “nice” people are concerned about the price of groceries, gas, have the desire to feel safe, want good-paying jobs, affordable housing, good schools (that teach only what they want to hear) and many other things that most humans long for. The question I pondered was about who they were willing to erase, hurt, or oppress in order to get what they want for themselves. The pleasant demeanor while focusing on themselves at the cruel expense of others was the scariest part to me.
