ABC News(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump’s recent overtures to African-Americans has been met with skepticism by many voters.
After all, as ABC News previously reported, the Republican presidential nominee has declined invitations to speak at the NAACP, Urban League and the recent National Association of Black Journalists/National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention. Plus, the cities and towns which have hosted the recent rallies at which he’s made such overtures, are overwhelmingly white.
“If African-American voters give Donald Trump a chance by giving me their vote, the result for them will be amazing,” Trump said at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday.
The following day, he proclaimed at a rally in Dimondale, Michigan, “At the end of four years, I guarantee you I will get over 95 percent of the African-American vote. I promise you.”
And at rally in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on Saturday, he said, “I want our party to be the home of the African-American voter once again.”
Even though many voters are suspect of his comments, some African-Americans welcome his words and are supporting his presidential candidacy.
“It is time to wake up, African Americans — wake up,” Trump supporter Carl Nichols, who is African-American, told ABC News at the rally in Fredericksburg Saturday. “Life in Detroit, where I am from, looks like a warzone, because of the Democrats who have been there for 50 years. It’s a big mess. Let’s give the man a chance. You have tried out Obama, but it didn’t work. I told you all that, it wasn’t going to work. You had all the rest of these crazy folks, and it’s time. It’s time to see what is going to happen.”
Nichols continued, “I believe that if we give Mr. Trump a chance, I believe that things in Michigan are going to change. It is time for the African-Americans to wake up, read for yourselves, stop listening to CNN, and some of the other crazy news channels. Do research yourself. And stop listening to your buddies who are trying to keep you in bondage. I thank God for Mr. Trump, and we are going to win this thing.”
Another African-American supporter at the rally, who told ABC News her first name is Jacqueline, said of Trump’s claim that he can fix issues plaguing the black community, “I believe he can do a better job than Hillary can.”
Jacqueline added that African-Americans have been essentially conditioned to vote for Democrats. “It’s been so ingrained in us what we have been doing these past few years, and just like he said last night, it hasn’t worked. But we’re among those who are listening and want to try something new, so we are excited.”
And Marquetta Colbert, another African-American supporter at the rally, agreed that Trump can solve problems plaguing some black communities. “I believe he is a guy who does what he says he is going to do,” she said.
And Trump’s message to African-American voters may speak to other minorities. Ray Flores, a Hispanic Trump supporter at Saturday’s rally, said of the presidential hopeful’s message, “I think it should resonate not only with African-American voters, but with Hispanic voters, as well.”
He add, “I think it is bold and I think it is accurate. I see people waking up, regardless of what skin color, what ethnicity, we are. We are Americans. It’s time to stop the divisiveness that the Obama administration has perpetuated, and Hillary Clinton is only going to take us further down the road into despair.”
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