James Patterson is a high school junior in who volunteered for Donald Trump’s Iowa Caucus campaign as part of a civics activity. Students were offered the option of volunteering for Trump, Marco Rubio, or Hillary Clinton. James told The Young Turks that if he had been allowed to choose without restriction, he would have chosen Rand Paul.
He said that he opted to make phone calls for the Trump campaign because he wanted to see for himself whether aspersions cast against the campaign had any validity. Standing among around 300 avid Trump supporters awaiting results on Caucus Night in West Des Moines, James said that he had sensed apprehension and distrust while volunteering for the Trump campaign and that he overheard comments that confirmed what he had suspected.
Patterson agreed with TYT reporter Jordan Chariton’s characterization that he was being made to feel like an “other.”
“When I would bump into various members of the crowd, there were hostile looks when I would attempt to excuse myself,” he told TYT. “Many people in the crowd looked me up and down as I was walking. If I had to describe the feeling it would be that of isolation.”
What James discovered comes as no surprise to the average person paying attention to Trump’s campaign speeches and shenanigans. If anything, for some, it may be a surprise that James wasn’t tarred and feathered for even looking like the color of his skin mattered. Just when some of us may have lost hope in our black youth, it’s great to see that there are kids like James.