Ben Shapiro’s recent video arguing President Trump should pardon Derek Chauvin elicited passionate responses on social media. Some conservative commentators thought it was a bad idea that would cost the president precious political capital. Others believed Trump should do it despite the guaranteed outrage it would incite on the left.
For black conservatism to survive, it must aspire to more than just policing the excesses of the progressive left or the fringe right.
The response from Xaviaer DuRousseau, in particular, caught my attention because the popular influencer and commentator jokingly raised an issue that a particular subset of conservatives rarely expresses openly.
Being a black conservative and maintaining your cookout credentials is getting soooo hard.
He ended his post with four crying emojis that made his point crystal clear: Issues that are racially coded and politically charged are hard for black conservatives to navigate.
Many black conservatives experience this identity crisis — one characterized far more by the “tragic mulatto” trope from 19th- and 20th-century literature than the “Uncle Tom” epithet that is synonymous with racial self-hatred. The tragic mulatto stereotype arose in a culture governed by racial hierarchy. It was associated with mixed-race people who struggled with feelings of alienation in a world that did not accept them as either wholly black or white.
Black liberals are quick to label their conservative brethren “sellouts” for rejecting progressive politics. White liberals, likewise, have no problem questioning the racial bona fides of blacks who don’t vote for Democrats. A growing chorus of white conservatives also blame Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement for diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as Black Lives Matter, critical race theory, and LGBT radicalism.
Black conservatism, in many ways, faces a unique challenge. It exists as a racial subgenre within a broader political movement that has traditionally emphasized color blindness and minimized the impact of racism on the current outcomes of black Americans. The only notable exceptions occur when accusations of bias and discrimination are directed at white liberals or at failed progressive policies.
Anyone paying attention to conservative public discourse in the age of social media, however, can see that the right’s approach to race is rapidly evolving. Conservative commentators are increasingly vocal about what they view as anti-white bias in criminal prosecutions, professional sports, media representation, and the job market. This emerging race consciousness is evident in heated online debates about American identity and culture. It also serves as an underlying theme in policy fights over immigration.
Race is the most visible source of the black conservative identity crisis, but the movement’s mission is equally important to its long-term survival. Today, the most visible black conservatives in America seem focused on increasing Republican representation in politics and growing their brands as right-wing commentators.
The conservative ecosystem certainly makes room for political operatives and culture warriors. But when black conservatism focuses primarily on boosting voter turnout and participation in elections, it fails to fulfill its core mission.
Donald Trump maintained roughly the same support from black voters as in 2020 — about 13% overall and 20% of men. In fact, he lost black conservatives to Kamala Harris by an 11-point margin. Investing financial, political, and social capital to attract black voters has yielded poor returns. But this does not spell the death of black conservatism.
The movement needs a new generation of “reconstructionists” focused on strengthening local institutions and individuals rather than politicos and media personalities fixated on national elections. The most crucial task ahead is restoring the traditional family structure that prevailed from the end of the Civil War through the Civil Rights movement.
From 1890 to 1950, black men and women were more likely than their white counterparts to be married by age 35. In the 1930s, 65% of black women were married before having their first child. The 1960 Census showed that two-thirds of black children lived in two-parent households. Today, only 33% of black adults are married, 70% of black children are born to unmarried parents, and 45% live with a single mother. These outcomes are worse for blacks than for any other group.
Although the family is the most important institution, it is not the only one. The poor educational outcomes in many urban districts should motivate a new generation of black conservative scholars, educators, and activists to take action.
Many have already risen to the occasion.
Ian Rowe, an educator who has spent his career teaching children in the Bronx, opened Vertex Partnership Academies in 2022. This high school’s mission is guided by the four cardinal virtues: courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. Denisha Allen founded Black Minds Matter, an organization that promotes school choice and empowers black educators working to improve outcomes in their communities.
These leaders demonstrate that black conservatives need not feel conflicted between their ethnic identity and political ideology, especially when both are grounded in a Christian worldview of human dignity.
For black conservatism to survive, it must aspire to more than just policing the excesses of the progressive left or the fringe right.
The movement should also avoid the trap of believing that electoral politics alone can drive social progress. The most valuable contribution black conservatives can make today is to leverage their cultural competency, experience, relationships, and expertise to build institutions that can radically improve social and economic outcomes in the cities and communities they care about most.
One of the four former Minneapolis police officers who were convicted in connection with the death of George Floyd has been released from prison.
On Wednesday, J. Alexander Kueng, 31, walked out of FCI Elkton a free man. FCI Elkton is a low-security federal prison in Lisbon, Ohio.
In October 2022, Kueng pled guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter for his alleged role in the death of Floyd. Kueng was then sentenced to three and a half years in prison, a term that he has now officially served.
Like the other former officers imprisoned for the Floyd incident — Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao — Kueng was also convicted in federal court of depriving Floyd of his civil rights. Kueng was sentenced to three years in the federal case.
Kueng was allowed to serve his state and federal sentences concurrently.
'There were no medical findings that showed any injury to the vital structures of Mr. Floyd's neck. There were no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation.'
On May 25, 2020, the officers arrested Floyd after he was accused of using a counterfeit bill. Bodycam and other footage showed that Floyd was behaving erratically, and the officers attempted to restrain him during the arrest.
Chauvin infamously knelt on what appeared to be Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. Kueng knelt on Floyd's back, while Lane restrained his legs. Floyd later died.
Lane was the first of the former officers to be released following the completion of his sentence. He left prison in August.
Thao, who was also convicted of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter for keeping bystanders at bay, will be released in November.
Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He has been sentenced to spend more than two decades behind bars.
In November 2023, Chauvin was violently stabbed nearly two dozen times by a fellow inmate and required "lifesaving measures." He was released from the hospital a few days later. The suspect in the stabbing, John Turscak, is reportedly a former FBI informant.
Despite those convictions, questions remain about whether Floyd was actually murdered. A little over a year ago, Tucker Carlson called the narrative about Floyd's death a "lie."
Carlson quoted a deposition from former Hennepin County prosecutor Amy Sweasy, who claimed the medical examiner told her "that there were no medical findings that showed any injury to the vital structures of Mr. Floyd's neck. There were no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation."
Citing toxicology reports she had seen, Sweasy also testified that at the time of his death, Floyd had COVID, severe heart disease, and a "fatal level of fentanyl" as well as methamphetamine in his bloodstream.
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A 22-year-old student was murdered on her University of Georgia campus by a 26-year-old illegal immigrant, and the mainstream media is showing its true colors.
The student, Laken Riley, was going for a morning jog when Jose Antonio Ibarra allegedly kidnapped and killed her.
However, in stories published on the tragedy from publications like the Associated Press, the reporters neglect to add in a very important detail: the alleged murderer is an illegal immigrant, and he already had a criminal history here in the United States.
According to ICE, Ibarra was caught crossing illegally into El Paso in September 2022 and was released into the United States via parole.
Nearly a year later, New York police arrested him for acting in a manner to injure a child less than age 17, and, yet again, he was released.
“I’m sure that it was just, you know, an oversight,” Sara Gonzales mocks, “just a little oopsy. Surely, they wrote a follow-up that highlighted the glaring omission that this man should not have even been in this country in the first place.”
“You have to imagine — surely, it’s incompetence rather than a deliberate act of deception,” she adds sarcastically.
The Associated Press did write a follow-up on the story in which it blamed toxic masculinity for her death rather than the allowance of a criminal into the United States.
The author then used the death of Mollie Tibbetts as another example of toxic masculinity but neglected to mention Tibbetts was also brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant.
“Both women were murdered by illegal immigrants, but that doesn’t fit the narrative. That’s not good for optics,” Gonzales says.
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Failed Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson recently found herself stopped by her own reasoning concerning the right to a fair trial after podcast host Tim Pool applied it to the case of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
On the Dec. 21 episode of the "Timcast IRL" podcast, Pool and Williamson discussed various sensitive topics, including the surge of illegal immigration under President Joe Biden's watch, critical race theory, late-term abortions, and Democratic efforts to prevent the electorate from casting votes for former President Donald Trump.
Late in the conversation, they broached the subject of fair trials and judicial bias, particularly as it concerns those Jan. 6 protesters given relatively extreme sentences.
Pool, who noted both a dearth of "far-left extremists" similarly rotting in jail and concerted efforts by the "corporate media" to pre-emptively convict rightists in the court of public opinion, focused in particular on the treatment of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was nevertheless sentenced to 22 years in prison. The host suggested the lengthy sentence was not the result necessarily of something Tarrio had done but rather due to who he is.
"I think they are sending him to jail because he's a prominent Trump supporter and the chair of the Proud Boys," said Pool.
Williamson questioned whether there was indeed a "massive conspiracy" among the jury members in Tarrio's trial and in others like his, prompting the host to question whether Washington, D.C., where 93% of the electorate voted Democrat in the last presidential election, could ever produce a jury free of substantial partisan bias.
"I think we are, in essence, a purple nation in our hearts," replied Williamson. "And I think people are interrogated before they are allowed to sit on a jury, and if they say things that are clearly prejudicial, then they are not allowed to sit on that jury."
The Democratic activist added, "We can agree that people should be ... held fairly accountable and that the legal system should be fair to everyone."
Drawing upon an audience question, Pool asked Williamson, "Would you agree with black people people being sentenced to long prison sentences if the jury determines that's what should happen?"
Despite her stated faith in the jury system, Williamson acknowledged that it's not always perfect, as some jury decisions "are fair, some of them are obviously unfair, but it's the best that we have."
Pool pressed the issue further, asking, "Do you think like a jury of white people from a wealthy suburb are going to be fair ... to like a black man accused of selling drugs?"
"That's why often it is, you know, there's a movement for a case to be tried elsewhere for that reason," responded Williamson. "I mean, that's part of the system that one can argue that this person could not get a fair trial in this area."
Pool then asked whether it would be acceptable if a judge indicated that "a fair trial would not be possible, so we're going to do it here anyway."
"I don't think that would be right. And somebody would be petitioning somebody," said Williamson. "I mean, even in those cases, there is such a thing as judicial prejudice. Someone would be arguing for judicial prejudice. ... I would be the first to say, 'This is wrong.'"
The host then put it to Williamson: "So will you stand up in defense of Derek Chauvin?"
Williamson was visibly stunned by the question, muttering, "Uh, wow."
After repeating Chauvin's name, Williamson fell silent, held her head, and looked off blankly to the side with mouth agape.
Chauvin's defense attorney attempted to change the location of his murder trial in March 2021, arguing that a jury pool would be greatly influenced by the then-recent news of Minneapolis' settlement with George Floyd's family, reported NPR.
"You have elected officials — the governor, the mayor — making incredibly prejudicial statements about my client, this case," said defense attorney Eric Nelson, reported the MinnPost. "You have the city settling a civil lawsuit for a record amount of money. And the pretrial publicity is just so concerning."
"I do not think that that would give the defendant any kind of a fair trial beyond what we are doing here today," responded Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill. "I don't think there's any place in the state of Minnesota that has not been subjected to extreme amounts of publicity on this case."
Cahill previously admitted he was "a little shocked" when two jurors admitted the Floyd-Minneapolis settlement "did move them off being fair and impartial."
"I was surprised that it had such an effect," said the judge.
One of the jurors was seen in photos taken before the trial wearing a BLM baseball cap and a T-shirt that said, "Get your knee off our necks."
According to the U.S. and Minnesota constitutions, individuals facing criminal prosecution have right to trial by an impartial jury.
After puzzling over Pool's question for a moment, Williamson attempted to defend Judge Cahill's decision, suggesting it was an "overriding circumstance."
"Wasn't there some legitimacy to that given the fact that everybody saw the video?" said the Democrat. "So how could there be a lack of prejudice anywhere?"
"So the question is about the Constitution and what is fair in the court of law, not what we want to have happen because of our feelings," said Pool. "So if the issue is the issue is a judge says, 'There will be no fair trial for you,' my argument is that there's no trial at all and the man should be released because that's a limitation of our democratic system."
Williamson, who tried her hand at becoming the president of the U.S. in 2020, ultimately disagreed with the host's suggestion that a fair trial is necessary for a court to imprison an American citizen.
Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in spring 2021 and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison.
He was stabbed 22 times last month at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona, by a former FBI informant.
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Federal prosecutors said Derek Chauvin was stabbed 22 times in prison by a gang leader, who was also a former FBI informant.
John Turscak was charged with assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury on Friday. The attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder charges are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Turscak had been scheduled to complete his current sentence in 2026.
Turscak is accused of stabbing Chauvin 22 times on Nov. 24 at the law library of the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona. Turscak reportedly told correctional officers that he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly. Officers reportedly used pepper spray to subdue Turscak.
The 52-year-old inmate attacked Chauvin with an “improvised knife” with the “intent to do bodily harm” and to “commit murder,” according to the New York Post.
The knife attack happened around 12:30 p.m. on Black Friday, prosecutors said. Turscak reportedly told FBI agents that he purposely attacked Chauvin on Black Friday as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement and the "Black Hand" symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization.
The Associated Press reported, "Turscak, who is serving a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, told investigators he thought about attacking Chauvin for a month because he is a high-profile inmate but denied wanting to kill him, prosecutors said."
Turscak has been transferred to an adjacent federal prison in Tucson.
Prison staffers performed “life-saving measures” on Chauvin, the Bureau of Prisons said. Chauvin was rushed to a hospital for "emergency medical treatment."
Three days after the attack, federal authorities told Chauvin's mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, that her 47-year-old son was in stable condition in a medical facility and “has protection.”
The former Minneapolis police officer was sent to the Federal Correctional Institution in August 2022 – where he will simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating George Floyd’s civil rights and a 22-year state sentence for second-degree murder.
Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, previously warned that Chauvin should not be subjected to the general population because he would be a prized target for inmates. Nelson wrote in court papers last year that the ex-cop was mainly kept in solitary confinement "largely for his own protection."
Turscak – who went by the nickname "Stranger" – was a Los Angeles gang leader with the Mexican Mafia in the late 1990s. In 1997, Turscak reportedly became an FBI informant, who provided inside information about the gang and covertly recorded conversations with Mexican Mafia members.
In 2001, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for committing crimes while working as an FBI informant.
According to CBS News, "During his time in the mafia, he said he authorized 'assaults of individuals for infractions of Mexican Mafia rules,' and collected 'taxes' from street gangs and drug dealers in 'return for Mexican Mafia protection and permission to engage in narcotics trafficking.' He also said he murdered a man in 1990 while he was in Folsom Prison, and authorized the murder of another man in 1998, according to documents."
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On May 25, 2020, George Floyd Jr. was arrested by Minnapolis law enforcement after using a counterfeit bill to purchase cigarettes at a local convenience store. White cop Derek Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges in Floyd's death after he pinned him to the ground, kneeling on his neck for several minutes.
There are many who refuse to accept Chauvin’s charges as a reflection of what actually happened.
Chauvin certainly doesn't agree with his conviction and plans to appeal his sentence at the Supreme Court after being denied a hearing in the Minnesota Supreme Court.
“[Chauvin’s] attorney said that they are going to raise the issue of whether [he] was denied a fair trial due to pretrial publicity and potential violence had he been acquitted,” Sara Gonzales reports.
Further, Judge Peter Cahill “wrote in a memorandum that Chauvin’s sentence,” which was 22.5 years in prison, “was harsher than the state’s guidelines of 10-15 years.”
Blake Kresses, Kaden Lopez, and Gabe Victal of “The KGB Show” join Sara to discuss the situation.
Kresses welcomes the appeal, as he’s certain Floyd “died of a fentanyl overdose.”
“George Floyd was shouting ‘I can’t breathe’ while he was still sitting in his car,” and “there were no verifiable physical ailments that led to his death,” according to the autopsy, he tells Sara.
While Kresses does agree that the cop violated some civil rights, “the idea that Chauvin murdered George Floyd is out of the question,” he says.
Lopez agrees, claiming “Chauvin should not be in prison,“ although he probably needs “a different job.”
“[Chauvin] did not get a fair trial” because “everyone was scared that … they were going to have their houses burned down by BLM,” Victal adds.
While all on the panel agree that Chauvin should not be convicted of murder, they acknowledge that his acquittal will almost certainly mean “violence like we’ve never seen before.”
“What sort of calamity is going to be caused if and when this occurs?” Kresses asks.
Chauvin’s appeal “just happens to be coming around the corner of an election year, where BLM is most prominent typically,” Lopez adds.
Could it be that this is all part of the left’s plan?
Will there be a “BLM part two”?
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The language is all too familiar and can only be described as assassination prep -- carefully cloaked in moral outrage -- designed to incite the most egregious acts of political violence.
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