Stories of Us: Brandon Straka | Stories of Us

Black people and white people don't have to hate each other. Citizens don't have to hate the police. This is all a manipulation. I'm Brandon Strock, and this is my story. The majority, if not the totality, of my political opinions and identity as a Democrat, as a liberal, stemmed almost entirely from my sexuality, from being gay, and the way that I felt about religious people, conservatives, Republicans. Around 2013, I'm still an active alcoholic. I'm still an active cocaine addict. I started reaching out to people close to me and saying, I really think I have a problem, and I really, really think I need help. And everyone was like, you're fine. You're fine. Everybody goes out and parties. Everybody goes out, and don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. And I was like, no, but this isn't fine. I know it's not fine. It's not okay. I ran into this guy when I went home for Christmas back to Nebraska. And back then, he had a horrible crystal meth addiction. He was in really, really bad shape as a human being. And he looked amazing. He was so physically fit. He looked so attractive. He looked so happy. And he said, well, I've been sober for more than seven years. He was like, I hit my rock bottom, and I had to get sober. At that moment, I just thought, I was meant to run into this person. And I just said, help me. Please, please, please help me. And so he said, yes, I will help you. I joined a 12-step program. I started going to AA meetings. It was Monday through Friday. It all boiled to a head one day at a meeting that I went to in Berkeley, California. And this is when the world really started to change their opinions about the gay community. The Supreme Court that year decided that marriage equality would be the law of the land. And it became clear that as a society and a culture, we were reaching this tipping point where people were now starting to view the gay community differently. And I raised my hand to share. And I didn't know that this was all going to purge out of me. I had no idea. And somewhere in the middle, it turned. And by the end, I was almost in a rage. And I kept saying to everybody, it's great that you guys have all changed your mind. Good for you. But I was like, I want an apology. I need an apology. I need to know that people are sorry. And it was awkward when I got done. And they were like, thank you, Brandon. Joan? And then they sort of moved on. But when the meeting ended and everybody just lined up in front of me and literally just said, I'm sorry, Brandon. We're sorry, Brandon. It healed my soul. Something lifted out of me on that day. And I stopped feeling burdened by this feeling of resentment toward heterosexual people, toward conservative people. And suddenly, I started to feel free to get to know these people on a different level. That leads us to the 2016 election. For me, it was a no-brainer that I was going to vote for Hillary Clinton. I bought into hook, line, and sinker the media narrative of who Donald Trump was, who his supporters were, and what he was all about. And then finally, I posted that I would never be able to understand how anyone could vote for a man who stood before a cheering crowd and mocked a reporter's disability. One person responded to me. She said, look, I'm not trying to start a problem with you. I'm not trying to have a fight. I'm just asking, have you seen this? What happened next changed my life forever. It was a compilation of footage of Donald Trump in numerous, numerous circumstances throughout the years, doing that exact same voice and that exact same gesture. And it became very clear that this had nothing to do with the reporter's disability. My brain was saying, oh my God, I don't think he mocked that reporter's disability. But my heart was saying, yeah, but we hate him. But we hate him, but we hate him. This presented an even bigger conundrum for me, because if Donald Trump did not mock a reporter's disability for me, why did CNN tell me that he did? Because CNN had never lied to me before. So why all of a sudden did CNN start lying on that day? So what I chose to do was go to work. And when I came home from work, I would get on my computer and I would watch videos and I would read stories and I would research as much as I could possibly research. And what I discovered was astounding. All of this fear and all of this terror that I was experiencing, which was affecting the way that I feel, was a carefully crafted narrative. But why would they do this? I thought that they cared about the gay community. I thought that they cared about Black people. Black people and white people don't have to hate each other. Citizens don't have to hate the police. Gay people and straight people don't have to be at odds with one another. This is all a manipulation. And I was thinking about this. How am I going to wake people up? How do I capture people's attention? And I felt on this day in April of 2018, like I'd been struck by lightning as I was out jogging. I felt and heard in my own mind this voice say, once upon a time, I was a liberal. And that speech, it's like it downloaded into my brain. Like line by line. And I became so exhilarated that I ran home as fast as I could. I got a couple of friends together and I borrowed a camera. And we went into a dark room with a dark background and a little ring light. And I just read my script that I had written into the camera. Once upon a time, I was a liberal. Well, to be honest, less than a year ago, I was still a liberal. I became a liberal because I felt I'd found a tribe whose values aligned with my own. In an effort to gain voters and maintain power, the Democratic Party that I once loved has joined forces with the extremist left. I knew that there must be tens, if not hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people who were feeling exactly the same way I was feeling. And so I put the video out on Memorial Day of 2018, May 26th. And the video just exploded. WalkAway is not about becoming a Republican. It's not about becoming a Trump supporter. It's about doing your own homework, doing your own research, thinking for yourself. But never again will anybody have to walk away from the political left and be alone. And so my advice to anybody would be, make that decision because it's the best choice you'll ever possibly make in your life. And join the rest of us, and you will be so much happier that you made this decision.