James Patterson, III is a high school junior from Kansas City, Missouri who made national headlines for his decision to serve as a volunteer for Donald Trump‘s Iowa Caucus campaign.
Patterson wanted to see if the sentiments expressed about Trump in the media were accurate. He then joined Roland Martin on NewsOne Now to share his experiences with the Trump campaign and whether he experienced any instances of racism while working as a volunteer.
Patterson explained he wanted to “know their strategy” regarding how the campaign attacked voters. “I found that they were attacking voters similarly the same way that Donald Trump was attacking voters through his speeches,” he said.
The high school junior told Martin the campaign used Trump’s “make America great again” mantra, “which has a racial undertone.”
When asked how campaign staffers interacted with him, Patterson said, “I experienced a sense of isolation as the only person of color that was working on the campaign at the time.”
Patterson said, “When I would come into contact with people that I knew were going to vote for Trump — I knew these were people who did not want minorities to succeed in this country.”
“Most of these people, I assumed through their voting for Trump, understand what Trump’s policies were, especially the no Muslims allowed policy that Donald Trump wants people to go forth with,” he continued.
Martin asked if Patterson was offended by what he heard from a number of Trump’s supporters. He replied, “I did not take it personal, because I know ignorant people are everywhere. I didn’t take it as a personal indictment of me, but I was offended that there were a lot of people who supported these policies and who really take offense to minorities making strides in this country.”
Watch Roland Martin and James Patterson, III discuss his stint as a volunteer with Donald Trump’s Iowa Caucus campaign in the video clip above.
Subscribe to the “NewsOne Now” Audio Podcast on iTunes.
Black Teen Who Volunteered For Donald Trump’s Iowa Campaign Shares His Experiences With Staffers was originally published on newsone.com