'Ditch and Switch': Diamond and Silk Talk Bravery in the Face of Left-Wing Attacks
Conservative influencers Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson — better known by their stage names, Diamond and Silk — are calling for a nationwide insurgence among fed-up Democrats and Republicans alike.
Hardaway and Richardson advocated against political complacency in the United States during a Tuesday appearance on The Western Journal’s video podcast, “WJ Live,” where they discussed their debut book, “Uprising: Who the Hell Said You Can’t Ditch and Switch? — The Awakening of Diamond and Silk.”
Released in August, the book details the pair’s path from small-town American sisterhood in a family of eight to unofficial campaign surrogacy for President Donald Trump.
It was a journey that saw Hardaway and Richardson undergo a public transformation from longtime Democratic Party voters into nationally renowned Republicans — and the two were quick to encourage their fellow American Democrats to make the same trek, engaging in ideological exploration regardless of the judgment of naysayers.
“You should risk it, because that’s the only way change is going to come,” Hardaway said.
“If you keep doing the same old thing, you’re going to keep getting the same result,” Richardson added.
“Sometimes the left, they get complacent and they think what they’re doing is right,” Hardaway said.
“It’s not right for you to demonize somebody for having a train of thought, for wanting to think outside of the box, that don’t want to — that don’t choose to go along with the liberal ideology.”
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According to their book, Hardaway and Richardson left the Democratic Party in 2015, recognizing that its promises to the community were not often kept and immediately seeing a unique spark in then-candidate Donald Trump during the Republican primary.
The two have since worked online and in the field to challenge others to vote Republican for the first time and making it a point to remind black Democrats that not only is the Democratic Party the party of chattel slavery, but of anti-Reconstructionist sentiment and Jim Crow as well.
In the modern day, they argue little has changed, with the left simply moving its “Democratic Plantation” into the intangible ideological space, promising incentives to buy the loyalty of longtime voters and minority communities and publicly shaming those who consider leaving the party.
“Stop staying chained to something that wants to keep you in the pains of the ancestors,” Hardaway told The Western Journal on Tuesday.
Numerous public figures known for breaking those chains have faced backlash, bigotry and smear campaigns for openly expressing opinions contrary to the leftist mainstream.
Black Democratic Georgia state legislator Vernon Jones and gay conservative political commentator Brandon Straka, for instance, were met with all manner of verbal abuse from members of the left in light of their recent public departures from the Democratic Party in support of President Trump.
Hardaway and Richardson are no stranger to that abuse, having faced similar slings and arrows from the establishment media themselves for the boldness with which they proclaim their values.
“Our critics — who claimed to be civilized and more enlightened than us deplorables — called us coons, Uncle Toms, and sellouts,” the sisters explained in their new book. “They marginalized us, criticized us, stigmatized us, and when that failed, they tried to assassinate our characters and ruin our reputations.”
This did not stop them from discouraging the drive to remain silent, telling The Western Journal that the negative consequences of left-wing attacks rarely outweighed fulfillment that came with free thought.
“Let’s talk about FEAR for a moment,” Richardson said. “It’s False Expectations Appearing Real. The only thing behind the curtain is a little man pulling some strings. It’s not as big as they want to make it appear.”
The sisters were not unable to sympathize, however, with those who had yet to work up the courage to make the changes they have.
For those folks, the two had strong words of advice: Practice your pitch on paper and in the mirror.
“Understand, it takes courage,” Hardaway said. “The first step is to speak it.”
“Now, sometimes you may be scared to speak it out, so I’m gonna give some you an assignment. Get you a nice little journal and write it out first, how you feel. Then get in front of a mirror and speak it out as if you were speaking to the world. That prepares you so, when you get ready to speak, nothing will harm you,” she added.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt. The more they hate, the more we continue to educate.”
New episodes of “WJ Live” air on The Western Journal’s Facebook page every Tuesday and Thursday at 5 p.m. EDT and 2 p.m. PDT. Click here for more information about the show or where to find Diamond and Silk’s debut book “Uprising: Who the Hell Said You Can’t Ditch and Switch?”
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