Rakeem Jones, a Black Lives Matter activist, posed for a picture with conservatives including President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump on Wednesday, the Fayetteville (NC) Observer reported.
Later, Jones posted the photos with Trump, as well as conservative duo Diamond and Silk, on Facebook and said, “Trump supporters are not as bad as people make them out to be. That really is the biggest thing we learned.”
Trump, Diamond, and Silk posed in the pictures without masks, while Jones was wearing a mask that says, “The Ville’s Voice,” a group he helped found to support the Black Lives Matter agenda.
President Trump has not softened his stance against Black Lives Matter, saying in Atlanta on Friday that the radical group is “really hurting the black community.”
Jones said he posted the photo as part of his process of “learning about both sides.”
In an effort to learn about Republicans, he hosted them on his radio show on WIDU, a Fayetteville-area radio station.
And Jones attended a Trump rally two Saturdays ago at the Fayetteville regional airport.
He said contemporary political divisions occur because people are “messed up” and “take things in an extreme way.”
His willingness to speak with Trump supporters comes after a hostile encounter with one of them.
While Jones was protesting outside a Trump rally in 2016, John McGraw, 78, elbowed him in the head. McGraw pleaded no contest at the trial, and he and Jones hugged.
Despite the extreme beliefs and tactics of Black Lives Matter as an organization, Jones has remained opposed to violence.
Other pictures on Facebook show him with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, and Democratic State Rep. Kirk deViere.
“NEVER FORGET TO BE OPEN-MINDED,” he said.
