Lynnette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson known as “Diamond and Silk” are two of President Donald Trump`s most ardent African American supporters.
They take “coonery and buffoonery” to an absurd level, and their videos resonate with Trump`s racist base for the same reason that minstrel shows were very popular in the South in the early 19th century.
I can imagine white Trump supporters watching a Diamond and Silk video, laughing at their antics, and wondering why all black people can`t be hoodwinked so easily.
It sickens me that two black women shucking and jiving in support of a blatantly racist president garner millions of views on YouTube.
But YouTube and Facebook shouldn`t take any measures to censor or demonetize their videos. Coonery and buffoonery isn`t hate speech, and Diamond and Silk videos are protected free speech.
Facebook recently classified the videos produced by Diamond and Silk as “unsafe to the community,” and that had the practical effect of making their content on Facebook more difficult to access.
Their videos are an affront to the black race, and indeed all of humanity, but as I have previously stated their content shouldn`t be censored or restricted.
In the Facebook community there is enough bandwidth for pages that celebrate cats, promote human rights, defend liberty, advocate on the behalf of gays, lesbians and other minorities, and yes there is even space for pages where Uncle Toms can indulge in their coonery.
Follow Robert Paul Reyes on Twitter: http://twitter.com/robertpaulreyes