Watch: Barbershop Full of Black Men Tells Reporter Kamala Harris Isn't Black, Trump Isn't Racist
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
This just in: Narratives pushed by the establishment media aren’t reflective of how regular people actually feel.
If you needed any evidence of this, look no further than the “Off the Air” segment WHP-TV filmed in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, where reporter Joel D. Smith interviewed Back To Life Barbershop black patrons and owner Raymond Perez on topics concerning race, politics, and the upcoming November general election.
The segment — uploaded to YouTube on July 29 — came just days before former President Donald Trump took the stage in Chicago on July 31 in front of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Notably during that appearance, Trump traded barbs with ABC’s Rachel Scott. During her line of questioning, Scott pressed Trump on the topic of Vice President Kamala Harris — the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee — and her race, as well as her critics who rightly pointed out that she engages in race-based pandering to appeal to voters.
Smith’s segment sheds light on how the actual voter feels about these issues, proving that whatever the establishment media says, much of Trump’s skepticism and critique of Harris is not confined to a fringe group of his supporters.
One telling exchange came when Smith brought up Harris and the likelihood of her candidacy swaying the other men in the room to vote Democrat.
The question of whether or not Harris is black came up, being posed to Perez. He eventually responded, “To me, no.”
One patron agreed with Perez after a moment of pause saying, “I share that same view,” while another brought up her being mixed-race.
Perez elaborated on his view that “she’s black when she wants to be.”
He noted: “She uses the black card when she has to.”
While Harris’ race and her pandering is a conversation in itself, consider the ramifications of those statements.
We are told this narrative is almost exclusively a Trump and diehard MAGA position.
WHP interviewed neither Trump nor anyone explicitly MAGA.
These are regular people expressing these views (even prior to Trump’s appearance in Chicago and interview with Scott, where this issue became a hot topic).
Another important moment came when Smith straightforwardly asked the room of Trump, “Is he a racist?”
Smith let one man getting a haircut from Perez respond, who said, “That man hasn’t done anything or said anything that made me look at him and go, ‘Oh he’s a racist.'”
Another patron who had previously responded to Smith said Trump’s depiction as racist was “painted in the media for him” by way of mainstream media outlets taking Trump’s remarks and actions out of context.
While a third patron did respond in the affirmative, Perez answered, saying he had actually worked for Trump previously and spoke to his diverse workforce. Trump “treated me like a king,” he said.
This particular YouTube footage is just normal people having a conversation. There is not an agenda here. Yet, the segment still provides many of the remarks we are told are fringe and far-right, concerning Trump’s views on race or criticisms of Harris.
That is the takeaway from Smith’s interview.
When the mainstream media tells you a position exists in the outskirts of political discourse, do not take their word for it.
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