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Rob Smith is a decorated Iraq War veteran and a former member of the United States Army. He is an accomplished political pundit and commentator and can be seen across media platforms everywhere. From Fox News to CNN to Newsmax and beyond, Smith has exploded onto the scene of political commentary ever since his dramatic “coming out” in The Daily Mail nearly four years ago.
Oh, not that kind of “coming out.” The kind of coming out that can bring all kinds of bigots and elitists out of the woodwork to put a young black man in his place. Rob Smith came out as a conservative.
Insert collective gasp here.
Smith’s star began to rise immediately. He’s handsome, intelligent, and engaging. It was only a matter of time before the media world would begin to take notice. However, when Smith began climbing up the ladder in his industry, he found himself discouraged by the lack of options for black conservatives and the lack of outlets available to cover this valuable segment of the punditry industry.
“My background is in media and journalism. What I wanted to do was, every time there’s some viral moment….these moments kind of just come and go and there’s nowhere for them to just live on online.”
The FirstTV personality says that average black viewers aren’t getting their news and politics from Fox News, as powerful of an organization as they are.
“Your average black millennial democrat is not watching Fox News. So while it’s great that you have me on there, this is not going to reach that audience, so we have to start thinking differently about it and I think we can’t wait for these different organizations that have all sorts of different focuses…why don’t I create something where black people and waking up and opening the eyes of this community?”
Smith then went out and did just that. He has recently founded The Douglass Society as that “home” for black thought theaters across the right… and let’s face it, these days if you’re not a vocal, aggressive, hard-left progressive, you’re “on the right.” On the site, audiences can find multimedia clips from some of their favorite personalities, and new ones they have yet to discover. They can find stories and news articles regarding issues that directly affect the black community, and they can find out how to support new pro-America, pro-sanity voices in the media space.
Smith says he hopes to raise enough money to begin buying ad time and media presentations on channels like BET and other places we wouldn’t often see black conservatives being highlighted. He says it’s foolish to believe that anyone in the mainstream would just hand over that time to conservative voices, but airtime can be purchased and conservatives and Republican organizations need to start strategizing in order to bring their messages to a wider audience.
Smith aims to do just that — highlight black, right-of-center voices to audiences who otherwise might not have the opportunity to hear from some of these great minds.
I caught up with Rob Smith at CPAC last month and interviewed him at length about The Douglass Society and what their plans are moving forward. The audio is below. Get to know this young man who is working to change the media game in a powerful way.
Go to The Douglass Society to learn more.
Source: This post first appeared on RedState
