The stigma of being young, black and Republican

After being shuttered for 10 years, students at Howard University recently reinstated the school’s college Republicans group. And they had some help… from the party.

In November, at its launch party, the group was presented with a $2,000 check from the Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus. Leah Le’Vell, a member of the RNC’s African American Strategic Initiatives Team, was there to present the check.

Le’Vell, who served as a student advisor to the National Diversity Coalition for Trump at Georgia State University, says she believes many black Americans do align with the Republican Party but that the persecution that comes with being an openly black Republican keeps many of these voters silent.

“Social media’s super popular these days and there’s so much persecution,” Le’Vell said. “And so people often don’t say who they publicly align with.”

In the video above, watch two students from Howard, a historically black university, discuss the future of the party for young, black Americans and how they came to identify as Republican despite being surrounded by more progressive family and friends.