SECOND DEMOCRAT PLANTATION EXODUS GROWS
When Candice Owens and other young black conservative activists announced their plans to lead the American Black community away from the Democratic Party through a movement christened "BLEXIT", most of the talking heads on the liberal left dismissed the group out of hand as insignificant. Only a few years later we've seen the movement grow to not only include members of the black community, but conservative gay leaders like Brandon Straka have launched #WalkAway leading members of the LGBT community and other minorities from the Democratic Party.
Now the BLEXIT flag has been hoisted by one of the most prominent black activists and political commentators in South Carolina. A Black Nationalist who opposed Donald Trump during the 2016 political elections and spends the majority of his time trying to uplift Charleston, South Carolina's impoverished black community, Jonathan Thrower (known more commonly as Shakem Amen Akhet) was no fan of Republicans or conservatives just a few years ago. But shortly after the 2016 election this man, who once sat in a Mississippi federal prison on a drug and gun conviction, began to make shocking moves that caught the eye of the people of Charleston. Now, Shakem set to make waves across the entire Palmetto State, and possibly the country.
FROM PRISON TO ACTIVISM
Shakem was released from a halfway-house in Charleston, South Carolina in 2010 after serving an eight and a half year federal prison sentence on drug and gun related charges. Instead of returning to crime the way so many do, he decided to dedicate himself to the black community of the greater Charleston area which he felt had been mistreated and abandoned by local government. Following the police involved deaths of Treyvon Martin and Mike Brown, Shakem helped to found the Charleston branch of the growing #BlackLivesMatter movement. Holding major protests across the South Carolina low country against police brutality and government corruption, calling local politicians out at city and county council meetings, and trying deceitful community leaders in the court of public opinion, Shakem quickly rose in notoriety among South Carolina's black community, particularly in the Charleston area.
Shakem Amen Akhet (Left) With The Late Charleston BLM Activist Muhiyidin D'Baha (Right)
Blasting local politicians, police officials, education administrators, and community leaders put Shakem at odds with the Charleston Democratic establishment early on, and Shakem didn't spare democrats in his attacks. He called out Charleston white Democrat mayor John Tecklenburg for posing in photos in traditional African garb while pushing a development agenda that is systematically removing black Charlestonians from neighborhoods they've lived in for generations. He challenged the legacy of Charleston's beloved former Democrat mayor Joe Riley who governed the city for 40 years, during which time Charleston went from approximatly 52% black to less than 25% black . While all of this flew in the face of the Democratic establishment who feel entitled to the support of black community leaders like Shakem, nothing would shock the local political establishment like what would happen in 2017.
THE CHARLESTON ACCORDS
On August 12, 2017 a clash of political and racial ideologies in Charlottesville, Virginia led to violence, destruction of property, and death. During that time two very different groups were operating in Charleston, South Carolina, which on the surface seemed primed for conflict in the political climate at the time. Shakem Amen Akhet was the leader of the South Carolina Black Nationalist Movement, a black community based movement centered around black autonomy and nationalism, who were frequently holding events, protests, and demonstrations centered around their community based agenda throughout the greater Charleston area.
Simultaneously, in the wake of the national calls to remove Confederate monuments and the like, several Confederate Heritage organizations had formed across the South, the most outspoken and active of which was based out of Charleston. The South Carolina Secessionist Party, a self-described Confederate Heritage organization and advocates of the right of States to secede from the Union, were very active throughout the Charleston area, often conducting events which prominently display the Confederate Battle Flag and other Confederate symbols. With two groups such as these operating in such a small city, Charleston seemed primed to provide the stage for the next Charlottesville. However, instead of planning a provocative demonstration, or plotting a first strike, Shakem Amen Akhet reached out to the Chairman of the South Carolina Secessionist Party, and the two met....over a beer.
Shakem Amen Akhet (Right) With SC Secessionist Party Chairman James Bessenger (Left)
On August 15, 2017, only days after the incident in Charlottesville, Shakem Amen Akhet held a press conference in front of Charleston City Hall with the Chairman of the Secessionist Party and called for peace. A few days later, the two signed a document called "The Charleston Accords", which outlined a plan for the two organizations to not only be peaceful and respectful in their political protests, but to find ways the two can work together of the improvement for the community as a whole. It was an unprecedented move, and it caught the attention of the political left and right. And while the left attacked Shakem as a "traitor" and "house negro" for his willingness to be civil with those he disagrees, the South Carolina Republican Coalition took a different approach.
SEEING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTYS TRUE COLORS
Following the signing of the Charleston Accords members of a Charleston based Republican grassroots organization congratulated Shakem on the gesture given the current political climate and invited him to speak at one of the organizations upcoming meetings. Only a few days later Shakem was turning heads in South Carolina with his outspoken rebukes of the White Liberal Establishment. Shakem began to speak publicly and online about the manipulation of the black community by the Democratic Party and its white liberal activists. He began challenging Charleston's very active white liberal protestor community, which he accused of showing up only to hold a sign or call conservatives racist, but who never show up when he needs volunteers to hand out food and clothing to North Charleston's black homeless.
He held major protests in the famous Charleston Market after the city's Democratic Mayor John Tecklenburg began enforcing a policy which required police officers to arrest black Gullah Geechee children selling Palmetto Roses (roses made by hand from folded and weaved sweet grass) on the streets without a permit. The protests kicked off when a 16 year old black child was arrested near the Charleston market for selling the roses, and signs were posted around the city advising tourists not to buy the roses from the children. Following the embarrassment of the protests in one of Charleston's most beloved tourist sites, and condemnation from State politicians, the mayor was forced to concede.
Shakem Often Gives Classes On Conflict Resolution To High School Students
Shakem took on prominent black Charleston area political hopeful Thomas Dixon as late as February of 2020. Shakem has repeatedly slammed Dixon, another Charleston area black community leader who has been called out repeatedly by other black activists for "selling out" the black community to white liberals and sacrificing the real needs of the black community to the needs of the Party establishment. Dixon has made attempts at elected office on the local, state, and federal levels.
BLEXIT SOUTH CAROLINA
In January of 2020, Shakem attended his first BLEXIT rally, and during an interview said what black Americans across the country are realizing,:
"We have to be able to be more forward thinking. A lot of the things that Trump has done have been beneficial. Look at the second chance act. I actually know men in the federal prison system who have benefited. We have to remember that President Clinton actually put that into place, so Trump is trying to fix what a liberal Democrat has done.
Also when you look at Bloomberg, you know, he's apologizing now for policies he's implemented that have affected negatively black and brown men and women. You know, we have these Democrats, look at Biden. Look at Hillary Clinton with the "super predator" comment. We're so caught up in, I would say, "loving them (Democrats) unconditionally" that we dont even think that there is another avenue that we could go to get beneficial things passed for our community. I think that's why I'm voting for Trump in 2020. I always tell people around me, we've got to support. We cant keep continuing to put all our eggs in one basket, and just saying 'we're gonna vote blue no matter who'. That's idiotic. That's stupid".
In February of 2020 Shakem was elected the State Director of the BLEXIT South Carolina Chapter. He helped found the North Charleston Community Resource Center, which provides computer access, free food, free clothing, and career courses to local disadvantaged citizens and youth. He founded the Muhiyidin D'Baha Leadership Academy, and dedicates the majority of his free time to helping the Charleston and South Carolina black youth grow and develop. He also calls himself a conservative and plans to vote for Trump in 2020.
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