the upcoming Republican National Convention is scheduled in Milwaukee from July 15th to the 18th drawing more than 50,000 people it will also serve as a formal nomination for former president Donald Trump as a Republican presidential candidate amidst this there are discussions on the impact of the convention on black conservatives Orlando Owens who runs the program project move to needle believes a strong RNC could swing state in Trump's favor by November Owens joins us now thanks for joining us thank you for having me so what does the RNC mean for uh Wisconsin and especially black conservatives like yourself was a great opportunity for us to contrast our platforms and our solutions to the other side and for individuals to take a hard look at where their votes and their concerns May align with so you grew up on Milwaukee's North Side single parent uh you also attended a HB you what influenced you to become a republican well like many blacks I thought I was a Democrat but many blacks we have very uh conservative values and we just don't call them conservative it's kind of how we were brought up we don't like big government or the man in our business we like our Firearms we like traditional families we like being entrepreneurs and so having those values in my family we just never called it conservative which just how we were and when I started down the political process I saw an alignment that better align with Republican conservative values uh Trump recently made news calling Milwaukee uh a horrible City uh will that hurt him at all in Milwaukee when he comes here I think when we're honest about Milwaukee and all the negative indicators um I question how wrong president Trump really was in his assessment we lead We R of the leading Nations uh um neighborhoods in the country for high incarceration for black males high unemployment Dropout rates all the negative indicators uh we just had you know juneth just past had a shooting uh a week ago we had three murders in the weekend so we some of that is factually correct so I think it' be it's an honest assessment okay so Trump um who's a former US president uh first to be convicted of felony crimes 34 to be exact will that hurt him at all again when we are talking about African-Americans um again I go back to the previous statement we have a lot of Fel in our in our city so felons are eligible voters in Wisconsin once you completed your probation these are good people and I think also it speaks to how the ingested system can be Injustice tell me about your program project move to needle what is that about and what are you trying to do with that we're trying to move the needle in the city of Milwaukee by anywhere from three to five percentage points because we understand we won't win Milwaukee or Milwaukee County but we can move the needle which which means it plays a better uh position in the overall vote inter state of Wisconsin if we can win Wisconsin then we can win the country so how many votes do you have to get this move that needle well I would say anywhere between 7even to maybe 10,000 I'm ambitious so I want to I want to push the I want to move the needle and also push push the envelope because I think we can do it I think like no other time before more blacks especially black males are very open to hearing another conversation are you targeting specific area codes or zones we are we have a different car codes and wars that we are focused on mostly black brown um under 35 uh years of age uh renters we are looking at the register of Voters we are definitely targeting our efforts we can't cover the entire city so we're targeting different Wars that we think this message will resonate with so Trump also said that he's done more for blacks than former president um Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden what's your statement on that I think you look at each president has always have their legacy pieces of legislation and policies I think the first step Act was tremendous in in in Justice reforms I think the in the support of uh opportunity zones locking in of historical black College funding for over a decade these are things are Hallmarks of the Trump Administration that he can look back very finely of so what makes Trump the best candidate I think he has the best grasp of the economy um he started the first step act I want to see where that goes opportunity zones are huge as far as in Milwaukee in particular the levels of black male unemployment I think he has a better grasp of the economy and definitely a better grasp of where we are on the world stage uh with our with our you know with the military so I think he has the components that we need right now in this time in history does Trump age bother you uh not at all I think it's uh really about the individual I think you compare and contrast both Biden and Trump you see two men who are a few years apart but how AIDS has affected each one a little bit differently okay um I've heard many blacks refer to Trump as being a racist um he has made some statements that are a little controversial some people say a lot controversial what do you say when people say you know Trump is is a racist and he will attack a lot of black programs he will attack uh uh things like that what do you say to that I don't think his history shows that he's been president before and didn't show anything of attacking anything that you know would be harmful to African-Americans on the other hand I can talk about Joe Biden from the 84 cency Bill the 94 crime Bill uh these things directly and still today in particular Milwaukee and urban areas to black and brown people still affect us today um so I can we can look at one who may say something controversial versus who says things and actually does things in application I remember Joe Biden talking about the busing jungle uh you know so we we can we can hold both men accountable and I think people are okay well thanks for joining us m