The former leader and founding member of the Black Panther Party endorsed Donald Trump for president.
In a video posted to TikTok, Hilliard called Trump a “friend to African Americans” and a “decent man.”
Hillard also revealed he knew Trump when he was a college student in New York City.
“Trump is a person who’s a decent man, and he supported the Black Panther Party,” Hilliard said.
“He was someone who gave us money.”
He added:
“Trump’s a friend of African Americans, and I knew Trump from the 1960s in New York, where he comes from, and he’s a friend to African Americans.”
“I mean he’s not a racist. He’s not a racist, fascist, white man. He supported Black people.”
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The Daily Caller reported that Hilliard alleged that Trump had been convicted of felony charges because of his friendliness towards the black community.
The jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to former porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep affair allegations undisclosed ahead of the 2016 election, making him a convicted felon months before the 2024 election.
“Because Trump likes Africans in America. He likes black folks. That’s one,” he said.
“I think that Trump is qualified and a very decent approach to having somebody representing America. Trump is a very decent man.”
“He’s always been a friend of black people, that’s where I know him from,” Hilliard continued.
Trump’s campaign has reached out to the black community following the former president’s convictions,
Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott told CNN black Americans are veering their support toward Trump for “jobs and justice.”
“The reason we’re seeing so many African Americans come into the Trump campaign — two big things: jobs and justice,” Scott said, according to Axios.
“As an African American born and raised in the Deep South who had concerns about our justice system as it relates to race, I’m now seeing it play out from a partisan perspective.”
Meanwhile, black support toward President Joe Biden has fallen to a record low, with the president leading Trump’s 70% to 18% among black voters, according to New York Times/Sienna College poll.
READ: Trump Nearly Doubles Support among Black Voters since 2020
