Herschel Walker and Kim Klacik and many other Black speakers praised Trump and rejected Democrats. A series of African-American speakers at the Republican convention challenged claims from Democrats that President Trump is a racist. They heralded his record on criminal justice reform and historically low unemployment rates in black communities (before the pandemic) and accused Democrats of decades of failed policies and urged black voters to back Trump. The 2020 Republican National Convention (RNC) this week featured a notable amount of diversity in its speaker lineup that included about two dozen Black, Hispanic, Asian, and even handicapped speakers. The speakers delivered heartfelt speeches about their own personal struggles, how they became Republicans, or how they have benefitted under the Trump administration. One of the most memorable speeches from the first night of the RNC was from Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican senator of South Carolina, who said he went from flunking four subjects in high school to realizing that education was the closest thing to “magic in America.” “Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime,” he said. Another memorable speech was from Kimberly Klacik, a young female U.S. House of Representative candidate for Maryland’s 7th district. Rep. Vernon Jones (D-GA), a Georgia state representative, also delivered a fiery speech, saying the Democrat Party does not “want Black people to leave the mental plantation they’ve had us on for decades.” The first night also featured Herschel Walker, the famous athlete and businessman and longtime friend of Trump. “Growing up in the deep south, I have seen racism up close. I know what it is. And it isn’t Donald Trump,” he said. It also featured Kentucky’s first Black Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who rebuked former Vice President Joe Biden’s comment that if black people did not vote for him, then “you ain’t black.” “Mr. Vice president, look at me, I am Black. We are not all the same, sir. I am not in chains. My mind is my own. And you can’t tell me how to vote because of the color of my skin,” he said. The second night also featured Founder and CEO of HOPE for Prisoners, Inc. Jon Ponder, who was surprised by a pardon from Trump. The third night featured three Black speakers: Superbowl champion, author and Utah’s 4th congressional district candidate Burgess Owens; former NFL player and financial consultant Jack Brewer; and Civil Rights champion Clarence Henderson, who participated in the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter sit-in. The fourth and final night of the RNC featured four Black speakers: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, deputy assistant to the president Ja’Ron Smith, Marine veteran Stacia Brightmon, and justice reform advocate and grandmother Alice Johnson, whose sentence Trump had commuted. Johnson delivered a speech touting Trump’s signing of the First Step Act. “It was real justice reform,” she said. Conservative Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen called the outreach to black voters “outstanding.” Throughout his presidency, Democrats have attacked Trump as a racist and have falsely accused him of calling white supremacists “very fine people,” when in fact he explicitly condemned them. But Trump has often touted his record in reducing unemployment among minorities before COVID-19, steps he has taken on criminal justice reform, and funding of historically black colleges and universities. A recent Zogby poll showed that his message is being heard. Trump’s approval rating hit a new high of 52 percent, buoyed by black and independent voters, according to the Washington Examiner‘s Paul Bedard. Zogby said 36 percent of Blacks approve of the president, as do 37 percent of Hispanics, and 35 percent of Asians. He added: Trump has been making the case that he has done more for African American voters, by way of prison reform and previously low black unemployment, than Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, both of whom have been accused by the president for increasing incarceration among African Americans for generations on nonviolent drug charges. On Friday, Trump announced a surprise pardon of Johnson. Also on Friday, members of Congress announced that the Trump administration would approve a posthumous Medal of Honor for Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe, the first Black veteran to receive the award for the post-9/11 wars. While serving in Iraq in 2005, Cashe sacrificed his life to rescue his soldiers from a burning vehicle after it hit an improvised bomb