OPINION: Dazed and Confused – The Atlanta Voice

The owner of Rocky’s Barbershop, a small black-owned business on Piedmont Rd. in Buckhead, is confused. Rocky Jones allowed his small barbershop to be the site of a small business roundtable hosted by Republican Congressmen Byron Donalds (FL) and Wesley Hunt (TX), and Dr. Ben Carson, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Trump. And somehow, Jones has publicly stated that he didn’t know it was an event led by a Trump surrogate. He didn’t know it would be political in nature.

Yeah, that’s right, man.

I was there that day, along with over 30 other members of the media. I’m not sure we would have all been crammed inside and gathered outside the barbershop on a hot Wednesday afternoon if it was just “locker room talk.” I was invited by a member of the Trump campaign communications team. As a member of the media, I jumped at the chance to cover a Black small business owner who openly supported Trump’s re-election campaign. Only Jones must have been confused as to what was happening.

A few days after the panel discussion, a day before the first presidential debate between President Joseph R. Biden and former President Donald J. Trump in Midtown, Jones went on a mini media tour to explain his inclusion in the event. He didn’t realize that hosting the event would lead to a negative reaction from customers. He didn’t understand that having “Blacks for Trump” and “Never Surrender” signs in his barbershop was going to be seen as support for the Trump campaign. I’m willing to go on record saying he didn’t realize that Trump lost Georgia by a little over 12,000 votes in the last election and that some of those people who voted against Trump and for Biden were clients of his hair salon.

But don’t cry for Jones. He was compensated financially for the time his barbershop was closed to customers. I saw him leave the salon several times before the event began, and each time he saw more and more media outside, once telling me “The Atlanta Voice, huh” while looking at the logo on my work polo shirt. Jones is no fool. You can’t run a successful business in Atlanta and not have a clue what’s going on around you. He knew what was going on and now seems to regret getting involved. He chose a side, even if only for a few hours, and apparently made the wrong choice, at least as far as his business was concerned: cutting black men’s hair.

In the black community, barbershops are safe spaces to talk about anything that’s going on in the world. On Wednesday, Jones set up his business, signs and all, to become a safe space for Trump surrogates and support. As an American, he had the right to do so. The backlash and the dazed and confused consequences he is currently experiencing now weigh on him. Trump has moved on.

Editor’s note: This column represents the opinions of the author and not those of The Atlanta Voice.

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