Hours after urging black voters to support Trump, Milwaukee businessman is shot dead
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson from Wisconsin is among several voices calling for “justice” after Bernell Trammell, a black Milwaukee business owner, was shot dead last Thursday just hours after he urged black Americans to vote for President Donald Trump.
“Bernell Trammell was known to many in Milwaukee. My condolences to his family and friends. I hope they get answers and justice soon,” Johnson tweeted late Friday.
Trammell, 60, who ran “Expressions Journal,” a small publication where he also made large signs with political and religious messages such as “Vote Donald Trump 2020” was well-known in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood, WTMJ-TV reported.
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Affectionately known as “Ras,” Milwaukee Police say he was shot dead outside his store at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
This was just hours after he gave an interview to blogger Armstrong Ransome, which was published on thegoddegree.com, explaining why black Americans should support the re-election of President Donald Trump because he is the “sign of the times.”
“I am encouraging Afro Americans from all walks of life and culture here in Wisconsin, particularly here in Milwaukee, to vote Donald Trump for this year. Trump 2020. I believe Trump is the sign of the times in which Afro Americans according to … who the world wickedly or ignorantly calls Jesus Christ, told us that we discern the skies as far as weather and we’re correct but we’re not as correct when it comes to the signs of the times,” Trammell said.
“Now the reason why I said Trump is the sign of the times is that Trump did something, nobody has done, no president, black or white has done from the White House. He took an Afro American Woman, a descendant of the slave and took her all the way to the White House and gave her a position, show the whole world that an Afro American woman, a descendant of the slave, has the intelligence to run his staff and that was Omarosa in Trump’s cabinet,” he said.
Omarosa Manigault-Newman, is the former director of communications for the White House's Public Liaison Office.
Condoleeza Rice, a member of the Republican Party, was the first female African-American Secretary of State and the first woman to serve as National Security Adviser during former President George W. Bush’s administration.
Trammell also noted that President Trump sat down and spoke with African Americans such as Kanye West when explaining why black Americans should vote for Trump during his interview with Ransome.
“No less than two hours after I left from filming Ras Bernell I had heard word from Facebook that the someone in the area that Ras Bernell stays in had been shot. To my surprise it was Ras Bernell,” Ransome wrote. “He was murdered right outside of his shop where we were just speaking. His home. Seemingly these were his last words. He took his time to think about what he was going to say and I let it him have the floor. He was adamant, poised and well-articulated.”
In a statement reacting to Trammell’s death, the Republican Party of Wisconsin called it “senseless.”
“It is tragic to learn of the senseless murder of Bernell Trammell, and I offer my sincere condolences to his family and friends," Chairman Andrew Hitt said. "Because of Trammell’s well known political activism and the possibility that his murder could be politically motivated, I respectfully request that United States Attorney Matthew Krueger open an investigation into this heinous crime. No American should fear for their personal safety because of where they live or their political affiliation."
