PERSON: Rochelle ‘Silk’ Richardson

Political Commentator

Herneitha Rochelle “Silk” Richardson (born 1970) was an African-American conservative political activist and the sister of Lynnette Hardaway.

Herneitha Rochelle Richardson was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1970, the sister of Lynnette Hardaway. Their parents were televangelist pastors who sold anti-witchcraft materials, and the sisters went on to establish a media presence of their own as the YouTubers “Diamond” and “Silk”. Their channel initially promoted the Black Lives Matter movement and opposed police brutality, and they were still Democrats as of 2012, but, in 2015, they switched their party affiliation to Republican to vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. They espoused anti-immigrant, anti-BLM, anti-progressive, and conspiratorial views, and they became an overnight sensation on YouTube and Facebook, becoming celebrities among the American right-wing. They spoke at Trump rallies and later became Fox News contributors, although Fox released them in 2020 for promoting Coronavirus conspiracies involving 5G towers.

>> Historica