Growing Up Black and Conservative: The Loyalty Test That Divides Us

By Dorian Francis

I’ve always been proud of my Black heritage, the history of my ancestors, what they overcame and what they fought to secure for my family today. I was raised by two Black parents who instilled strong morals and principles in me and my sister. I love Black culture: the music, the dances, the cookouts, the giants who came before me and looked like me.

But sometimes that love feels conditional.

As a 23-year-old Black conservative, I’ve learned that in parts of the community, support can vanish the moment you think differently. Step outside the majority view on politics, culture or policy and suddenly your “Blackness” is questioned. You’re told you’re not “Black enough,” that you’re on the “plantation,” or that you’re “talking like a white person.”

I voted Republican in 2020 and plan to do so again because I believe in strong families, economic freedom and self-reliance , ideas I trace straight back to Frederick Douglass. The backlash was immediate, even if unspoken. Friends and peers posted videos and memes implying that voting red made me a traitor to my race.

The script is predictable. Do you support Second Amendment rights for self-defense in high-crime neighborhoods? You’re betraying the community. Do you question affirmative action because you believe in advancing based on merrit, not on race? You’re against Black progress. Do you push back against the glorification of single motherhood or street culture in music? You’re “sounding white.”

Celebrities face the same gauntlet. When Nicki Minaj spoke at the United Nations in November 2025 and thanked President Donald Trump for standing with persecuted Christians in Nigeria, she lost hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers almost overnight. The message about Christian persecution took a backseat to the fact that she dared mention Trump positively.

The same happened to Kanye West, Ice Cube, 50 Cent and gospel singer Tina Campbell when they endorsed a Trump initiative or voted for Trump. They were called sellouts, Uncle Toms and worse, not because their policy arguments were debated, but because they deviated from the approved script.

This isn’t how any community grows. We don’t advance by exiling or canceling those who disagree. The Black community rightly prides itself on overcoming centuries of oppression, yet we sometimes oppress our own for holding divergent views. It’s the soft bigotry of low expectations dressed up as loyalty.

Data show the shift is already happening. Black conservative voices, especially among young men, are growing rapidly on issues such as border security, abortion and preserving the nuclear family.

True progress requires diversity of thought, not conformity. Black excellence thrives when we are free to think independently , not when authenticity is measured by how closely we follow the crowd. If we want real change, we have to let brothers and sisters like me speak without fear of being shunned.

After all, isn’t that what freedom is supposed to look like?