Editor’s note: Below are the video and transcript to K. Carl Smith’s address at the Freedom Center’s 2014 Texas Weekend. The event took place May 2nd-4th at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.
KCarl Smith from DHFC on Vimeo.
K. Carl Smith: Thank you so much. I want to thank David Horowitz for putting this event on. And thank you for coming.
If you’re a veteran, please stand. If you’re a veteran, please stand. I just want to say to you –
(Applause)
— on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your service to our beloved country. Thank you so much.
It’s an honor for me to be here. It really is. And I just want to say that I’m tickled to death that I was called and asked to come and share a message of empowerment – how we’re going to save this nation, how we’re going to broaden the base of the conservative movement and restore and secure the blessings of liberty for our posterity.
I want you to leave here empowered. I want you to leave here with a sense of knowing that there’s something that you can do to make a difference. You don’t have to wait for the next rally. You don’t have to wait for Candidate Smith. You are Candidate Smith. We don’t need to have just a politician be a Candidate Smith; that’s what we need to do. We got to learn how to engage and talk to our friends, our fellow citizens and our family members. Every family got somebody that’s a liberal.
(Laughter)
They make Thanksgiving times tough.
(Laughter)
It gets so tough, you get up and you leave, you go to the tiny table with the kids. I know that, I been there.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
You’re so funny.
But we all know that United States – we’re in a serious problem. There’s those who are in leadership now of our country – they want nothing more than to fundamentally transform our country into a European and socialist nation. And we must stop them. As conservatives, we can’t fail. We can’t fail.
(Applause)
We cannot fail. I mean, this is about our children and our grandchildren. And the other side, they’re playing for keeps. We got to stop them. We’re the only thing that’s standing between them and their goal of – like I say – of fundamentally transforming our beloved nation.
With that in mind, let me share this with you. I contend there are two major challenges facing the conservative movement. If we don’t find an answer to these two challenges, we’re toast. We’re history.
Challenge number one is this – we must find a way how to inspire – not recruit, but how to inspire more minorities – blacks, Latinos, Asians – to join the ranks of the conservative movement. How to inspire more women and young people to join the ranks of this movement.
According to a Gallup Poll survey that I read two months ago, maybe a month and a half ago, most Americans identified themselves as conservatives. More so than liberals. If that’s the case, why are we having such a difficult time to get people to join the ranks of our movement?
We don’t have a message problem; we have a messaging problem. There’s nothing wrong with our values. And compromising our values is not the answer. We’re not going to stop being who we are. So we don’t have a message problem; we really have a method problem. The way that we try to share our conservative values with people – we do it in a way where it doesn’t resonate. What happens – we’re the victim of the propaganda attacks of the Left.
So the first challenge is this – we got to inspire more minorities, more women and more young people to join the ranks of our movement. The second one is this – we got to find a way how to defeat the vile and the malicious attacks of the left-wing propaganda machine. They call us racists. They call us sellouts, homophobes, women-haters. They do that for a reason – to keep control of the narrative.
They accuse us what they’re guilty of. They call that projection. I’ll get into it later; it’s really a Satanic strategy. I’ll tell you now, Revelation 12:10 – Satan sits at the throne of God all day long, and all night long. He’s the accuser of the brethren to [maintain] control of the narrative.
But how do we turn this thing around, K. Carl? How can we save this nation in our lifetime? By 2014 and 2016? How can we do this?
What has to happen is this – we are in need of a conservative hero. We need someone who can reignite America’s passion for liberty and spark an emotional appeal for conservative values. The answer is Frederick Douglass.
You’re going to hear me share this with you – the Left don’t have an answer for Frederick Douglass.
(Laughter)
Once we get this Frederick Douglass Republican message on a national level, the liberals – they’re going to go back to France and start jumping out of windows. They don’t have an answer for it.
(Laughter)
Don’t have an answer for it.
The quintessential American Dream story, and the quintessential constitutional conservative, is Frederick Douglass. And thank God we have a literary legacy of the writings of Frederick Douglass to refute the lies and propaganda of the communist Left.
They don’t have an answer for Douglass. You remember Frederick Douglass? Born 1818, in Maryland. Frederick Douglass was born below poverty. See, Dr. Ben Carson and Herman Cain – they were born into poverty. But when you’re born into slavery, you’re born below poverty. You don’t even own your own body. He was a sub-zero-percenter. He was a slave for the first 20 years of his life. Never owned a pair of shoes until he was eight years old, never slept in a bed until the age of 10.
Frederick Douglass was home-schooled, self-taught. He learned how to read and write while he was a slave on a plantation. Ninety percent of black Americans at that time in history could not read or write.
He was a slave for the first 20 years of his life. Escaped from slavery in 1838. Wait a minute now – he escaped from slavery in – what did he escape from? Slave master providing Douglass with food, shelter, clothing, healthcare and a cell phone.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Slavery by government’s still slavery. He escaped from that. He ran away from it. Slave master entitlements.
Now, while he was on that system, he used it to jumpstart his life. He learned how to read and write. In other words, he maximized educational opportunities [while as] a slave. Escaped from slavery age of 20, 1838.
Frederick Douglass, when he escaped from slavery, of course – people don’t know this, but Frederick Douglass was an advisor to five Republican Presidents. Five Republican Presidents. Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, James Garfield, Rutherford Hayes and Benjamin Harrison. That’s not bad for a man with zero days of formal schooling.
Frederick Douglass was a capitalist. Let me say that again, so you don’t think I said something else differently. Frederick Douglass was a capitalist. He a free-market entrepreneur. He wrote three autobiographies. Three autobiographies. He was a lecturer on the anti-slavery circuit.
When Frederick Douglass passed away in 1895, as the result of a heart attack, Frederick Douglass had amassed $300,000 in savings. $300,000 back then is more than $10 million today.
So here’s a man who was a zero-percenter. He was a slave for 20 years, getting that free stuff. He was a 47-percenter. He died a one-percenter.
(Laughter)
The Left don’t have an answer for Douglass.
(Applause)
But more importantly, we should thank God that we have a literary legacy of the writings of Frederick Douglass to refute the lies and propaganda of the Left.
I’m going to say something very provocative. Hold tight. I’m going to explain what I mean by that in a minute. Here’s my point. The political insight of Frederick Douglass is more important than the political insights of the Founding Fathers. That’s heresy, K. Carl.
(Laughter)
Blasphemy. Oh, I can’t believe he said that. Let me say that again, so you don’t think I said something differently.
(Laughter)
The political insight of Frederick Douglass is more important than the political insights of the Founding Fathers. Here’s why I say this. The Founding Fathers gave us two magnificent documents – the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Some of the Founding Fathers owned slaves. So when the Constitution was ratified, that’s not when they freed their slaves. Some of the slaves were freed after the death of some of the Founders. So when it comes to liberty, and the Founding Fathers, the Founding Fathers are tainted. And the Left plays on that. They demonize the Founding Fathers, demonize the Constitution.
On the other hand, Frederick Douglass did not own any slaves. He was a slave. And in his writings and his speeches, he affirmed both the Founding Fathers and he affirmed the Constitution. Douglass said on one occasion – about the Constitution, Douglass said – the Constitution reads “We the people.“ It does not read “We the white people.”
(Laughter)
Douglass said – if black folks are people then, they are to be included as benefactors of this Constitution. Douglass closed that whole thing out by saying – the problem is not with the Constitution; the problem is in the application of the Constitution.
Ah. Douglass writes with a former slave perspective that the Left cannot attack. For the past five years, I’ve been traveling the country. And we do a workshop called Frederick Douglass Republican 101.
And let me explain this right quick, because y’all look – when I first got in yesterday, I had my sport coat on, and even this morning – this lapel pin says – FDR is not who you think – Frederick Douglass Republican.
(Laughter)
So I want to make sure I get that clear.
(Laughter)
Douglass is the answer. He is the answer to save this nation and broaden the base of the Republican Party. I am a conservative. I’m a Republican. But that’s not how I describe myself politically. The word “conservative,” the word “Republican ” – that word has a negative connotation because we’re losing the propaganda battle. Those words are synonymous with the word “racist.”
If you call yourself a black conservative, a black Republican, a Reagan conservative, a Reagan Republican, a Tea Party conservative, you might as well drop that last word and call yourself a black racist. Especially when you’re out here trying to engage.
See, the way we save this nation – Karl Rove has it partially right. He wants to do these ad campaigns and send us up through the atmosphere, what I call the Tokyo Rose strategy. That’s not how you win the war. We’ve got to grow a powerful ground force who know how to engage
So as a conservative, how do I talk to my friends, my family members and my fellow citizens about my conservative values without the fear of them calling me a racist? Or a sellout? And at the same time, I can inspire them to join the ranks of the movement? Because why? Most folks are conservative at heart. The answer’s Frederick Douglass.
So I’m a conservative. Matter of fact, if you call yourself a Constitutional conservative, you might as well call yourself a racist racist.
(Laughter)
And so when that happens, the wall is up. When you’re out here trying to engage, the wall is up. Black conservative. Black racist. The wall is up. We’re out here trying to engage. How do you stop that wall from coming up, where you can create an atmosphere of political dialog? I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican.
So when I say that I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican, that gives you a glimpse into my political psyche. And when I say that I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican, what I’m saying is I believe in the four life and party values of Frederick Douglass – number one – respect for the US Constitution; number two, respect for life; number three, I believe in limited government. In other words, I’d like to keep more of the money that I make. And four, I believe in personal responsibility.
So to become a Frederick Douglass Republican is not based on your skin color or your ethnicity. It is based on your embracing those four life-empowering values of Douglass. It’s not about color; it’s about values. It’s about values.
Been doing this for four years now. This is a game-changer. When someone says – I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican, you can’t call them a racist. Because you believe what Douglass believed in.
You’ve heard of Senator Elbert Guillory, out of Louisiana? Man was a Democrat, switched; became a Republican? If he was here, he would tell you the reason why he became a Republican and left the Democrat Party – because the Democrat Party no longer represented his values of his grandmother, he would say.
Now, if you ask him what inspired him to come out the closet, he’d have to tell you that – I sat down with K. Carl Smith two months in advance. And the Louisiana GOP had been trying to get Senator Guillory to switch parties for three years. Because as a Democrat, Senator Guillory had a very, very conservative voting record. They tried to get him to switch parties.
What the Louisiana GOP couldn’t do in three years I did in 30 minutes. And I shared the Douglass message with him.
(Applause)
So this Frederick Douglass message is what gave him the inspiration and the grit to come out of the closet. So when he did this video, he embraced Douglass. Ah. Powerful approach. Powerful approach. And we’re growing.
So our goal is grow a nationwide army, if you will, of Frederick Douglass liberty messengers. Something like a Candidate Smith, but more powerful than a Candidate Smith.
You can’t play the race card on a Frederick Douglass Republican. You can’t say that a Frederick Douglass Republican don’t care about the poor. Nobody did more for the poor than Frederick Douglass.
When you look at those four voting blocs we did poorly in in the last general election – blacks, Latinos, women and young people – Douglass resonates with all the dem – Douglass has a universal appeal. Number one, I don’t care which victim category the Left will put people in; they cannot out-victimize Frederick Douglass.
(Laughter)
Number one. Dr. King is not the father of the Civil Rights movement. He is the son. The father is Frederick Douglass. Dr. King got many of his ideas from the writings of Frederick Douglass. The first ever women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Susan B. Anthony was there, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was there. [Sedona Truth] was there. Two hundred women were there. Thirty-two men were invited. Of those 32 men, only one man was invited to speak – Frederick Douglass.
He was affectionately referred to as a women’s rights man. Because he worked with the women as part of the anti-suffrage movement. And they worked with him in the anti-slavery movement.
How did Douglass resonate with the Latino community, or minority community as a whole? In the 1800s, the Chinese were being brought to work on the railroad. They went to Douglass. And Douglass one time gave a speech entitled “Our Composite Nationality.“ Douglass said in that speech – for humanity reasons, let them come to this country. This is the greatest country in the history of the world, where you can take your God-given gifts, your God-given talents, and you can take your obsession and make it a profession, improve the quality of life for your family. Douglass said let them come.
In that same speech, Douglass says there’s a process. Douglass said, number one – and I quote – he said – they must bow to the same law, bow as a form of respect, respect [of] law. Douglass said, number two, they must speak the same language – English. We got to have a common language for the marketplace.
Then, number three, Douglass said, they must understand the duties of citizenship in this country. The first duty of citizenship is obey the law, and to value and study the significance of our Constitution.
This is a game-changer. My parents are Frederick Douglass – I grew up in a Democrat household. I knew I was born black; I thought I was born a Democrat.
(Laughter)
And I was not converted to conservatism. I’ve always been one; I just didn’t know it. Just didn’t know it.
My brothers, now – everybody in my family – family reunion time in my family is different now, for me. I used to be isolated. Now I’m the center of attention. Because they want to know about this Frederick Douglass message.
My organization – we were contacted two weeks ago by 25 black pastors in Alabama, 13 black pastors in Milwaukee. I’m going there the end of this month. They want to be trained in this Frederick Douglass Republican message. Because reason why – if you’re a pastor of a predominantly black church, you’re crazy if you think you’re going to go at your church and talk about conservative this, conservative that. Why? It has a negative connotation. They think you lost your mind. You’re going to lose your members.
So they called us, my brother and I, and asked us to teach them how to advance the cause of conservatism without using the word. That’s Frederick Douglass Republican. The quintessential Constitutional conservative is Frederick Douglass.
So what we have to do – we got to grow this nationwide army. If you’re waiting for the RNC cavalry to come, the cavalry ain’t coming. We’re the cavalry. We’re the cavalry. We got to be empowered. We got to be equipped. And we got to be trained how to go out and make a difference in this country by spreading the message of liberty.
And I say to you – I got to say this to you – I contend that the greatest asset we have to save this nation is not being utilized. It’s not being utilized. And that greatest asset are white conservatives. The conservative [boot] is predominantly white. But no one up to now has taught them how to engage. How to get out here in the streets and engage folks in the trenches, without the fear of being called a racist or a sellout.
For the past five years now, we’ve been doing this training called Frederick Douglass Republican 101. It’s a three-hour training. And we’re teaching conservatives how to engage.
I am purposely traveling the country preaching to the choir. The choir got to be trained. The choir got to be equipped. The choir has to be empowered how to go out and get new choir members.
You’re heard of Forsyth County, Georgia? You know about that – that’s supposed to be a KKK haven. Matter of fact, it’s supposed to be so bad that one time Oprah Winfrey broadcast her show from Forsyth County, Georgia. Well, last year, the Forsyth County Tea Party and the Forsyth County GOP invited my organization to come, and they wanted to hear this Frederick Douglass message.
I couldn’t make it, so I sent my brother. I had a scheduling conflict. Okay, nobody laughed. That’s good. I’m serious – it was a scheduling conflict.
(Laughter)
He came back in one piece.
(Laughter)
And he went there and share this message of how to engage, teaching them how to engage.
The point is this – two months after he left, they decided – we’re going to try this Frederick Douglass Republican message of engagement. Within two months, they had inspired six blacks to join that local Tea Party. That’s a 600 percent increase.
(Laughter)
Now, they didn’t join as Tea Party active; they joined as Frederick Douglass Republicans, or Frederick Douglass liberty messenger.
You know the name Sharon Engle, out of Nevada, who ran against the Senate seat, ran for Senate against Harry Reid? I met Sharon last summer. Share the Frederick Douglass Republican message with her. She called me one day, and said – K Carl, I have a testimony. I said – what is it? She said – this Frederick Douglass Republican message works. I said – share your testimony with me; I want to hear it.
She said – I was in the Reno Airport. I was going to fly to Atlanta. Matter of fact, she was going to fly there to meet me. I wasn’t there. I was going to speak with her at an event. I couldn’t make it; I sent my brother to that one, too.
(Laughter)
And so, three black women approached her at the airport. They recognized Sharon. And they asked her – Mrs. Engle, where are your travels taking you this time? And Sharon had made up her mind – I’m going to try this Frederick Douglass Republican thing out.
So Sharon responded by saying – I’m traveling to Atlanta to meet a Frederick Douglass Republican friend of mine. The three women, the three black women, looked at her – Frederick Douglass was Republican? Said yes, he was Republican, and he believed in four life-empowering values – respect for the Constitution, respect for life; he believed in limited government, and he believed in personal responsibility. The three black women responded to Sharon by saying – hmm. Can you come to our church and share that message?
So, I think, about another couple months, maybe a month, I’ll be going to Reno, and going to that black church with Sharon to share that message. That’s what we have to do. It’s that powerful. It would never happen without Douglass.
Sharon was so excited, so empowered, that through her PAC, she bought 10,000 copies of our book to help me get the message out. It’s a game-changer.
If we’re serious about defending liberty, if we’re serious about defending the Constitution, we got to put Frederick Douglass as an integral part of our message.
See, what the Left does to keep control of the narrative – they do two things – they accuse, and they rewrite history, to control the narrative. They accuse us of being racist. They play the race card to control the narrative. Douglass trumps the race card. Douglas defeats those accusations of racism. That comes off the table.
They rewrite history. I mentioned this, for those that were in Florida with me when I spoke during a breakout session – the Left – they rewrite history. If you go to the Democrat Party’s website tonight – this is your homework assignment – go to democrats.org – their website. Go the About link. If you have a Smartphone, you can do it now. Go to the About link. Then there’s a sub-link, says – our history.
On their website, here’s what you’re going to find. And I quote – for more than 200 years, we have led the fight for civil rights.
(Laughter)
Come on. Women’s rights. Workers’ rights. When I read that, I said – pardon my language, since you started it – I said –hell.
(Laughter)
I said – slaves were workers.
They accuse, and they rewrite history. Thank God we have a literary legacy of the writings of Douglass to refute the lies and propaganda of the Left. Douglass was alive during that timeframe. Two hundred years ago was 1814. Douglass was born in 1818. So this timeframe, this 200 years that they’re talking about – when they said they led the fight for civil rights – Douglass was alive back then. He wrote about these things.
Matter of fact, Douglass wrote an essay, an editorial, called “The Slavery Party.“ And I quote – Douglass said – the best representation of slavery in politics is the Democrat Party.
So somebody is a liar. Either it’s Douglass, or it’s the leadership of the Democrat Party. The rank-and-file folks of the Democrat Party – they don’t know this. It’s the leadership, from the White House to the state houses. They deceive. They distort. They accuse and rewrite history. We have to get control of the narrative. How do you take control of the narrative?
In this workshop – I’m going to give a little training right now. When I say – well, let me put it this way – I used to do liberal talk shows. I don’t do them anymore, because I’m not invited.
(Laughter)
Wherever I do a show, or whenever I go speak, and I know I’m going to get questions – especially a show – before even the conservative shows I go on – before we take any phone calls, I have to set up my perimeter. There’s some things I know I must say first. If not, they’re going to attack me.
When I say that I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican – and that’s not the same thing as Republican – I’ll get to that in a minute – I know there’s three things that I must say right after that. When I say that I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican, and it’s not the same thing as Republican – see, the Republican Party today does not resemble the party of Frederick Douglass, in Douglass’s time, when it was the defender of the Constitution and it made the plight of the poor and the working poor a legislative priority. Not in terms of keeping the poor on entitlements, but to elevate the poor to become employees and entrepreneurs.
My organization and this movement – we are anti-status quo Republican Party. We don’t want the Republican Party to stay the same; we want it to improve, so we can be a viable political force again.
So when I say that I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican, three things I got to say right after that. [The] best way to put it is this way. Let me add this, too. I got to make sure, when I say this, you really get it. I don’t want you to wait two weeks and then you get it; you got to get it before you leave here.
(Laughter)
Let me put it this way. Okay. I wrote a book. The book is entitled “Frederick Douglass Republican: The Movement to Re-Ignite America’s Passion for Liberty.“ This is not a dissertation on the political views of Douglass. This is a conservative action handbook. It’s a book that gives you information so you can engage.
I take those four life-empowering values of Douglass – the Constitution, his respect for life, limited government, and personal responsibility. And painstakingly, I went through a lot of the writings of Douglass. And I give you five quotes what Douglass said about the Constitution, what Douglass said about respect for life. What did Douglass say about limited government? Douglass said on one occasion – Douglass said – the duty of a national government – he said the first duty of the national government is protection. He said that. Then, the five things Douglass said about personal responsibility. So this book gives you information.
Then I wrote a companion guide to the book. The companion guide that comes with the book is titled the “Most Asked Challenges.“ In this companion guide, I identify the 12 most asked challenges that we face as conservatives and as Republicans, and how you take that challenge, you turn it around, you make it a teachable moment, and you inspire that person to join the ranks of the movement.
So you’re out here engaging. You got to engage, we got to get in the trenches. Karl Rove is doing this stuff in the political ads; we’re in the trenches.
And somebody asks you – are you a conservative, what would you say, before you met me?
(Laughter)
If you say yes, you just lost. That word has a negative connotation. I’m not saying you don’t ever use a word. But before you use it, you got to make sure you define your definition. Because most folks have a different definition of conservatism.
When I was a Democrat, and grew up in a Democrat family – when you said “conservative,” I’m thinking about George Wallace, Bull Connor. Their definition of conservatism was this – they wanted to secure the doctrine of their racist fathers. As Republicans, our definition is different. We’re using the same word, but our definition is different. We want to secure the values of the Founding Fathers, not the racist fathers.
K. Carl, you’re conservative. I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican. There’s a difference between the – that’s the wrong one. K. Carl, are you a conservative? I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican. And I believe in the four life-empowering values of Frederick Douglass – respect for the Constitution, respect for life – I go through that pattern. And you got to turn it around on them – do you share the values of Douglass? Most folks in America would say yes. And you say to them – guess what? That makes you a conservative. Better still, that makes you a Frederick Douglass Republican. And that’s the hook. That’s the hook.
You can do this. I need you to stop believing the lie that because you are a white conservative you cannot engage somebody of a different ethnicity. Stop believing that lie. It’s not true.
I know some black conservatives who cannot engage black folks. I was one of them. When John McCain won the nomination, 2008, I went out and bought me a McCain-Palin T-shirt. Caught myself going to the ‘hood, and going to engage.
(Laughter)
I was engaged, all right. I didn’t realize it was a bull’s eye. This was before God gave me Frederick Douglass.
(Laughter)
I was ostracized, I was humiliated. I was almost decapitated.
(Laughter)
I said – God, you got to give me something else. And God started giving me Douglass. And God started perfecting this message in me.
You’re out here engaging. Somebody asks you if you’re a Republican, what would you say?
Audience: Frederick Douglass Republican.
K. Carl Smith: Before you met me?
(Laughter)
If you said Republican, you just lost. Again, we’re losing that propaganda battle; that word has a negative connotation. K. Carl, are you a Republican? I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican. There’s a difference between the two. You don’t need to write this down; it’s in the book.
(Laughter)
So, what I’ve learned over the past five years – the way you change hearts and minds – I think it was Vladimir Lenin who said this – he said – most of the people who support communism are not even communists. I’ll take it a step further. Most of the people who support the liberal agenda or the Democrat Party aren’t even liberals. They’re conservative at heart. My parents are not socialists. They’re conservative at heart.
So what I’ve learned is – you got to have a message that provides some information and gives them inspiration. Information and inspiration. Information and inspiration. The Information – that’s the writings of Douglass. Douglass wrote about the Three-Fifths Clause. I’m a graduate of a historical black college. I was taught – and they still teach this today – that the Founding Fathers gave us slavery in the Constitution, referring to the Three-Fifths Clause, saying that blacks were three fifths of a human being. I was taught that.
But in 1861, in Glasgow, Scotland, Douglass was in a debate. Douglass gave clarity to the Three-Fifths Clause. It’s in the book. And Douglass said – that’s not what that was about, Douglass said. Douglass said the Three-Fifths Clause has nothing – was not about saying that black people were not human, but it was a compromise used by the Northern free states upon the Southern slave states that limit their way of how they were counting their population. It limit their congressional representation. Douglass wrote about that. Thank God we got a literary legacy of the writings of Douglass.
You got to become Frederick Douglass liberty messengers. You got to be willing to step outside the conservative closet and step into the arena of the political dialog confident and informed. You’re the army. You’re the army. Just got to be empowered, equipped and trained how to do it.
We’re doing this all over the country. Because we are a grassroots organization. Grass, grass group. We got very little grass; we got a lot of bald spots in our yard, but we’re coming up. And we’re a game-changer.
Of the 60,000 people right now who’ve been trained in this methodology – and they refer to themselves as Frederick Douglass Republicans, or Frederick Douglass liberty messengers – 59 percent of them are white. Fifty-nine percent. It’s not about color; it’s about values.
And they’re learning how to engage, how to trump the race card. That’s a big one. How many of you are sick and tired of being called a racist, and you know you’re not one? This is time – how you trump the race card. You got to have Douglass.
But what you have to do – you got to carefully study, to show yourself approved. Just can’t say this – I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican. You have to get K. Carl’s book.
(Laughter)
You know what I’m saying – and understand the message that’s in it.
And here’s my capitalist joke. The books come as a set. And the books are free. The autograph inside each book is $20, though.
(Laughter)
I’m a capitalist, what can I say?
But this is the answer. And my message to you is this – there is hope. And the way we win this whole battle for the future of our children and our grandchildren – each one of us must be willing to become a Frederick Douglass liberty messenger, and learn how to engage. How to take the issue of race; put that on the table. How to take the class warfare tax; put that on the table.
What’d they say about us? They said that Republicans and conservatives don’t care about the poor. Here’s how you respond to that, and it’s in here. K. Carl, conservatives, Republicans, don’t care about the poor. Remember, they’re going to attack you. I never said I was a conservative or a Republican; I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican. Nobody did more for the poor than Frederick Douglass.
When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, technically freeing four million blacks from slavery, the government came to Douglass and asked Douglass – what shall we do with the negro, since all these black folks are going to be free? Douglass – in an editorial called “What the Black Man Wants,” he said – what do you mean, what should we do with – don’t you think you did enough? You made him a slave. Douglass said leave him alone, and mind your own business.
(Applause)
That’s what Douglass said. Leave him alone, and mind your own business. Douglass said – my gosh, you didn’t do anything special for the Irish.
(Laughter)
Douglass is the answer.
What are your questions? What are your thoughts? I’ll be happy to address – yes, ma’am?
(Applause)
Unidentified Audience Member: Recently on my radar was a children’s animated storybook about – it was either Bastiat or “Democracy in America.“ And I was just thinking, that would be a really cool project also to translate the literary legacy of Frederick Douglass to children.
K. Carl Smith: Oh, that’s what they were doing. I appreciate your question.
We have to – our goal is to get this message into the culture. In addition to doing children’s books, we’re working on a Douglass movie. Not a documentary; we’re working on a Douglass movie.
Matter of fact, I just took a look at the treatment last night. I interviewed six screenwriters. Five of them want to do a documentary, one wants to do a movie. I wanted the movie guy. Because what I’m thinking, what we got to do is this – when people come and see this movie, they must be entertained and educated, [in order] to being educated.
That’s what we’re going to do. And that’s part of this whole thing as part of our goal to save this nation.
Yes, ma’am?
Unidentified Audience Member: Not too many people are aware of the fact –
K. Carl Smith: Yes.
Unidentified Audience Member: – that in the state of Texas, the Republican Party was actually founded by 120 blacks and 20 whites. And President Bush put more blacks into public office than any other President. And people aren’t aware of that. Nor are the black community aware –
K. Carl Smith: That’s right.
Unidentified Audience Member: – of the fact that when the Civil Rights Act was enforced and was signed into law, none of the Democrats voted for it. It was all voted for by Republicans. And many black people –
K. Carl Smith: Majority [of them].
Unidentified Audience Member: – should recognize the fact that their grandparents were Republican.
K. Carl Smith: Yes.
Unidentified Audience Member: So these are facts that I would hope and pray that you’re able to transmit to your audiences, as well as the fact that – you know, as a Jew, people have asked me repeatedly – how come you voted for Obama, you Jewish people voted for Obama? And I believe it was Dennis Prager who said – or it may’ve been Rabbi Lapin – that many Jewish people have this need to show how ecumenical we are. And they forget that Moses’s wife was pitch-black.
And my granddaughter – who recently came back from Ethiopia on a tour of the Jewish community there, which is mostly now in Israel – was amazed, my granddaughter was amazed that the black Jews of Ethiopia were surprised that there were white –
K. Carl Smith: Jews.
Unidentified Audience Member: – white Jews.
K. Carl Smith: Yeah.
Unidentified Audience Member: So, this is just information.
K. Carl Smith: This is key.
Unidentified Audience Member: I don’t have a question. But I do want you to please remind – so the black community –
K. Carl Smith: Here’s what has to happen. I can’t do this alone. My message to you is this – you need to be empowered, trained and equipped how to deliver this message. How to start flipping people in your own circle of influence. That’s what this message is. Stop believing the notion you got to have a black person to go talk to a black person about conservatism and the Republican Party message for it to work.
Here’s what I’ve learned – when someone that’s not a black American says – I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican – in other words, it’s more powerful when you do it than when I do it.
Because why? What do we hear through the media? Conservatives are racist. White conservatives are racist. Republicans are racist. They have no redemptive qualities in their life; they’ll always be racist. Then you have one that carefully studied, showed themselves approved, they bought K. Carl’s book. And they said that I’m a Frederick Douglass – and now you got a white person saying – I hold Frederick Douglass in high esteem.
Now, you just took control of the narrative. I can’t call you a racist. You’re driving the narrative now. Now you’re changing hearts and minds. That’s what it does.
Yes, ma’am?
Unidentified Audience Member: Okay. First of all, would you write a blog for me for PolitiChicks?
K. Carl Smith: Okay. Okay, I will.
Unidentified Audience Member: Yeah. Do.
K. Carl Smith: Okay. And I know – well, you told me I’m going to do it, and so I’ll do it.
(Laughter)
Unidentified Audience Member: Okay, good.
And also, when are you going to do a one-on-one class in Los Angeles, where we need it desperately?
K. Carl Smith: Here’s what we’re doing. And the way we got to do – you know, you got to invite us to come. You got to invite us to come, and we’ll do that.
Unidentified Speaker: FOA.
Unidentified Speaker: FOA.
K. Carl Smith: What’s FOA?
Unidentified Speaker: Oh, that’s the secret thing we’ll tell you –
K. Carl Smith: Okay, FOA.
(Laughter)
We do this all across the country. We do it based on invitation. Does the message make sense to you? I kind of hit on some things. But this is the answer – we can’t do it without Douglass. And thank God we have Douglass on our side to refute the lies and propaganda of the Communist Left. They don’t have an answer for it.
So thank you for inviting me, Michael.
(Applause)
Unidentified Speaker: Question.
K. Carl Smith: Yes?
Unidentified Speaker: K. Carl, how can they buy your book?
K. Carl Smith: I have a – I guess I have a table out here. And I have the books with me. You get, again, both sets. They come as a set. The books are free. The autograph in each book – don’t say you want a book without autograph; all of them [is] pre-signed – I’m just kidding. But I’ll be out here with a table.
And I want to look at my notes right quick – I want to make sure I covered everything. I got to make sure.
Unidentified Speaker: What were the last four points? You said, when you get questions –
K. Carl Smith: Oh, here’s what happened. When I say that I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican, there are three things you must say right after that to take control of the narrative.
Number one is this – I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican; that’s not the same thing as Republican. Republican Party today do not represent the party of Douglass. Number two, we need people in both political parties with a Frederick Douglass perspective.
I think the RNC’s making a huge mistake. They’re trying to recruit people to become Republicans. That’s not what you want to do. What you want to do – you want to inspire them to vote their values. They’ll figure out where they want to land. You go ahead and try to get a Catholic to become a Protestant. You got to go through the same kind of emotions when somebody – trying to get them to become a Democrat, Republican. We need people in both parties with a Frederick Douglass perspective.
And last thing is this – we got to make the plight of the poor a legislative priority, and elevate them to become employees and entrepreneurs.
I’m here to tell you, the Left has no answer for this whatsoever. But you got to carefully study, to show yourself approved.
I’ll be outside, at my table. Thank you.
(Applause)
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