President Trump has broken the GOP tradition of largely ignoring black voters by putting forth an effort to increase his support from the African American community. Nevertheless, while his actions have received the most attention, other GOP candidates seeking office at the local and state levels are also trying to make inroads. 

We can see this trend in Baltimore, where several black Republican candidates are running for office. Jovani Patterson, who is running for City Council President, seems to be a rare breed, a black Republican seeking local office in a deep blue state. I got the opportunity to chop it up with Patterson to get his thoughts on some of the more relevant issues facing the city. 

We talked about several different topics during the conversation, including Black Lives Matter, the spiritual battle the country is facing, and even taxes on rain. But the bulk of the conversation focused on how the Democrats are running the city of Baltimore and the actions they have taken to keep significant numbers of black Americans in poor living conditions. 

Patterson, who also works as a cybersecurity engineer, lives in West Baltimore with his wife and two children, one of which seems to be destined to become a running back. According to his website, he “routinely volunteers his time to mentoring and encouraging young Black males to pursue careers in science and technology,” and is “guided by his Christian faith which provides him with the strength and wisdom to actively pursue change for Baltimoreans.”

One part of the conversation that might be surprising for some is when Patterson discussed his experience running as a black Republican in a predominantly black city. He talked about the differences between black residents of the city and white liberals who live there as well when it comes to their reactions to him. 

When asked how black people typically respond when they find out Patterson is a Republican, he stated that the usual type of response is “Oh, you’re a Republican? Oh wow, I haven’t seen a black Republican in person before.” Then, he added, “But it’s not a complete dismissal at that point; It’s ‘okay so what are your thoughts on XYZ?’”

Patterson indicated that at that point, there is “a more productive conversation.” 

White liberals, on the other hand, tend to have a different reaction. “It really has been mostly just the white liberal population that say, ‘you’re black and Republican? You’re crazy!’” he explained. He continued, recounting a conversation he recently had with a white progressive Baltimorean. 

He said:

“I had one lady just the other day tell me that I should be scared to be a black person. A white lady telling me I should be scared to be a black person. I’m like, if that’s not the definition of racism, I don’t know what is! And you’re sitting here with Black Lives Matter posters on everything trying to tell me about my lived experiences as a black man and that I should be scared of you!”

We also had an interesting conversation about Black Lives Matter. He said, “It’s a Marxist movement really to get people to identify with the struggle with an event and then use that as a catalyst to build an entire movement and an entire organization to promote a Marxist evil, Satanic organization.”

But as stated previously, the “meat” of the discussion focused on Baltimore’s political environment and Patterson’s theory on how elected Democratic officials are deliberately repelling businesses that might want to come to the area while maintaining excessively high tax rates. 

I actually learned what a rain tax is. And yes, if you don’t already know, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds. Check out our conversation!

If you want to know more about Jovani Patterson or donate to his campaign, you can do so here. 

You can also follow him on Twitter: @MrJPisGreat

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Follow me on Twitter: @JeffOnTheRight