Uprising

by Diamond

  The jealousy got so bad that we heard one of our sister-friends was bad-mouthing us and referring to us as hood rats. She assumed that we would be getting some job that we were never offered. She was angry because she wanted a position that she couldn’t get.

  Diamond and Silk weren’t even interested in a position.

  No. We always said that we’re too big to fit into the cabinet, hahaha.

  That’s right. Never let people get under your skin when they slander you and call you out of your name. We had someone with a criminal record saying, “Well, who do they think they are? They’re uneducated.”

  Well, we were educated enough to leave her there in the dust while we continued propelling forward.

  That sister is probably still jockeying for that same position that she didn’t get, but Diamond and Silk moved on.

  So the inauguration was a formal event, y’all, and we had to go pick out our dresses. Remember, we did not wear dresses.

  Right. If y’all look on the campaign trail, you always saw Diamond and Silk in pants, nice blouses, and a pair of flats. Hell, we stopped liking dresses when we had to wear them throughout high school.

  That’s right.

  Well, we had to go pick out dresses, and, y’all… oh, my God… first of all, I had gained all of this weight. So I’m trying to pick out a dress, but I didn’t want my arms to show, I wanted to be modest, and I needed something slimming.

  Hahaha. You got that right.

  So we finally found dresses, but the best part of the whole experience was when we walked into the store where we finally found them, the people in the shop knew us.

  They were excited because they knew we were getting ready for the inauguration, and they wanted us to look stunning. For me, not having purchased a dress in years, it felt a little strange and out of the ordinary, but it was fun. I felt like Cinderella going to get a beautiful dress for this beautiful ball.

  Right. It was an incredible moment.

  It really was.

  We made our hotel reservations and, y’all, everything was so expensive. This is why you have to have good credit and a nice credit card. Visa and Mastercard will be your best friends. Get you some good credit.

  Hahaha. Sometimes your best friend may be plastic.

  The Trump International Hotel was sold out, so we weren’t able to stay there, but the Trump team had arranged for our information packets and tickets to be held there. We went there first because we wanted to have those things in hand. Our packet and tickets clearly designated us as friends of the president, and we were supposed to be in that family and friends section throughout the inaugural event.

  Yes. Then we went back to our hotel so that we could grab a bite to eat. As soon as we walked into the hotel that we were staying at, all of these people rushed us.

  We love our fans so much, but it becomes a safety issue when crowds close in. Security had to get us out of there and up to our room, quick.

  Mm-hmm. Thank God for security and executive protection.

  Right.

  The next day, it was time for the festivities. We had to meet at the Trump Hotel so that we could all get into the specific vehicle assigned for us.

  Right. They were loading people into these buses, and it was like the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.

  It was very unorganized, yes.

  We were in the family and friends group, and many of us had to figure out what was going on. The organizers were just loading us along with the rest of the guests.

  Once we finally got there and got seated, we were ecstatic about the number of people out there for our president. The crowd literally roared behind us. It was so powerful. There was strength behind the voices.

  After the ceremony, we had to get in position for the parade.

  Mm-hmm. Nobody knew where we were supposed to be. I don’t know who put this together, but I felt it was intentionally set up to be a mess, especially for family and friends.

  I’m going to be honest: the ones who didn’t have a hand in electing Donald Trump were the ones who got the best seats, the best of everything. Anybody that had a hand in electing him, they got the worst of everything.

  That’s right. So that let me know that those running it were not true Trump supporters.

  We had tickets to the parade, and we couldn’t even get there because the bus that brought us to the inauguration left. People were just walking in the streets; they didn’t know where to go. It was horrific.

  I’m so glad we had our executive protection. They took care of us and got us back to the hotel and out of that traffic.

  Yes. We heard that people were protesting in the streets; we never saw any of it because of how professional our protection was.

  After that, we went on back to the hotel and waited for the inaugural ball that night.

  Right. Now, the inaugural ball was a little bit better organized, and the food was so good.

  Mm-hmm. And food-tasting is my specialty.

  So we walked into the ball, and we’re with family and friends, so it should be a smooth-sailing, amazing night. Well, as soon as we walked in—bam—everybody wanted pictures. We had to start a whole photo line because that many folks wanted pictures.

  During the inaugural ball, I looked up, and Omarosa’s fiancé, who is now her husband, was rolling her out in a wheelchair because she had done something to her foot.

  Mm-hmm.

  Now, y’all, I’m going to be honest with you… Omarosa had gotten on my last nerve. I didn’t have another nerve for her to get on. I’m not trying to throw anyone under the bus, but if she wasn’t going off about one thing, she was being irritated by something else.

  She was a drama queen, dramatizing all over the place.

  Diamond and Silk don’t roll like that. If we’re in something together, we’re not going to put one against the other. It’s just not how we act.

  So I remember one day Diamond leaned over to me and said that if Omarosa kept jumping and hopping around like that, she was going to end up breaking her leg.

  The reason I said that is because she would be all over the place. We would go to an event, and she’d have to get up and walk all around to be seen. Somebody would be standing up talking, and she’d be in the audience taking selfies.

  Creating commotion.

  I don’t like those kinds of things. I think that’s rude and arrogant, and it shows ignorance and disrespect. I would see her do that, and I would cringe because it would bother me so much.

  Right.

  So, I wasn’t shocked when her fiancé at the time was rolling her out of the ball in a wheelchair because she had hurt her foot. She probably jumped up out of nowhere to be seen and—bam—now she’s in a wheelchair.

  Probably from hopping around like a bunny rabbit.

  Then, after that, our president and First Lady had their first dance.

  Oh, that was really nice.

  Not everybody gets the opportunity to be at an event like that, and we felt so blessed and humbly grateful to have that experience.

  That’s right. We’re sure President Trump didn’t even know about the disorganization. You have to remember who was running the RNC at that time if you want to get to the bottom of that.

  That’s right.

  So after the inaugural celebration, we went back to the hotel to get ready to leave D.C. the next day. That’s when the atmosphere really started to smell swampy.

  It looked like a swamp: dingy and dirty. I looked at Silk and said, “Something is not right about D.C. I’m ready to go home.”

  Mm-hmm.

  I said, “Our president is going to need much prayer. There are forces here that are not for him, but against him.” I was so ready to go home.

  Yes. When we did our next show, we told the people about the inauguration and how something was not right; our president needed prayer.

  It turned out to be just the way we said it.

  Next we were invited to the White House f
or the Christmas party, in 2017. We have to thank Omarosa, once again, for extending the invitation.

  We were excited and honored all at the same time. We flew into D.C. and stayed at the Trump International Hotel. We had invited our personal assistant Tressie and her husband Bill to the event. As we were leaving for the party, we were introduced to Scott Baio.

  Yes, we were. Now, if you don’t know who Scott Baio is, let me help jog your memory. He played Chachi on Happy Days. Do you remember now? He still looks the same, and, between you and me, I had a small childhood crush on him.

  While we were standing there in the lobby, he and his wife wanted to take a photo with us. He mentioned that they were on their way to the same Christmas party. We invited him and his wife to ride with us.

  While in the SUV, he mentioned his respect for Donald Trump and that all he wanted to do was shake the president’s hand. We told him just what we’ve been telling y’all: keep believing it will happen, and it will happen.

  We made it to the White House grounds, and, after going through the security checkpoints, we walked through the opened doors to the White House. I remember seeing huge Christmas trees with big bulbs.

  Everything was white as you walked in. The trees were white, the lights were white. Everything was bright. The First Lady had outdone herself. It was unbelievable.

  Yes, it was, Silk; the orchestra was playing Christmas carols…

  We even stopped and sang the last line to one of the songs.

  We sure did. We walked through different rooms that all had a special significance. The tables were heavily decorated and filled with cookies, cakes, candy, and delicious food. We saw a lot of familiar faces that we hadn’t seen since the 2016 campaign.

  It was like a family reunion. Remember, the swamp didn’t allow a lot of President Trump’s allies around him.

  Tressie, our personal assistant, had already figured out where the president would be giving his speech so we would be in the vicinity when the time came.

  All of a sudden, a distinguished gentleman approached us. He looked like he was in the military. He walked up to us, grabbed our hands, walked us up to the ropes, and told us to stand there.

  The area did not open up until he placed us at the red rope directly in front of the podium. Then it was time. Music began to play, and the forty-fifth President of the United States and First Lady Melania began walking down the stairs.

  As he came around to face the podium, he spotted us, and his face lit up like a Christmas bulb. There was feeling in his smile, like happiness took him over. The very first thing he did was point directly at us, Diamond and Silk. It was like no one else was in the room. He saw his long-lost friends out of all of those prestigious people in that room, and he was overjoyed to see us. He broke all protocol and called us up onstage with him and First Lady Melania Trump.

  Somebody had to come hold the rope up so that we could get on the stage. We hugged and kissed them both, and then he asked us to say a few words.

  I remember saying how there was a time when our black ancestors used to be slaves and they worked in the White House. Now, look at us; we are standing here with the President of the United States, guests at the White House.

  The feeling of euphoria that filled that room was unexplainable. Then we walked offstage and continued to listen to the president.

  Y’all won’t believe what happened next: President Trump looked across the audience, and, out of all of the people standing there, he spotted Scott Baio. He invited Scott Baio to the stage.

  He sure did. I think we may have been more excited than Scott was. He was probably in total shock. Remember, he had just told us about an hour earlier that all he wanted to do was shake President Trump’s hand—and it happened, just like that.

  President Trump looked over at me and Diamond and mentioned how excited we were. You see, President Trump didn’t know that Scott Baio had ridden to the Christmas party with us, hahaha. He didn’t know what Scott had said to us in confidence.

  Whenever you want something, you get what you think and what you feel. So any time you want something, you have to feel like you already have it or like it already happened. That’s the way faith works.

  That’s the way God is. Think it and believe it; feel it and know it; it will happen. Now, for us, here’s the most amazing part of this already extraordinary evening: after it was all over and the president began to go upstairs, he looked back and told his people that he wanted Diamond and Silk, along with a few others, to come with them.

  We were speechless. The President of the United States had just invited us to his home. Once we were all upstairs, he gave us a small tour of his residence, along with some of the history behind everything. We spoke briefly. He was so happy to see familiar faces. Of course, we had to take a photo with him.

  Yes, we did. We found out later that out of all of the previous Christmas party gatherings that he had had the days before, he had never called anyone on the stage, nor had he asked anyone to speak. We were the first. Not everyone gets an opportunity like that. Just to be able to be in the presence of the most powerful man in the world was an opportunity that we were humbly grateful for, and we will cherish that special moment forever.

  Chapter 13 Media Antics

  If you’ve ever wondered whether labeling the mainstream media “fake news” is fair or accurate, we’d like to offer a few real-life examples for you to consider.

  If the media doesn’t like you, they will smear you. If they don’t like what you’re saying, they’ll try making you seem insignificant. When that doesn’t work, they’ll try to categorize you into one of the “evil categories” they’ve created.

  In our case, the media tried to label us and tie us to white supremacy, of all things. Now, the purpose of this was to discredit us and anything that we had to say.

  That’s exactly what the Democrats were trying to do. Here are a few of our earlier interview experiences.

  Newsmax

  So the first time we got thrust into the media was when we interviewed with Newsmax.

  Mm-hmm.

  When we did that interview, we thought millions and millions and millions of people were going to see it.

  Right. I remember that. I was worried about finding something to wear on TV. Then I realized that all the viewers would see was my blouse, so I just chose a pretty blouse to wear.

  Right. Because we did it over Skype, at home, all we needed was a pretty blouse to wear. We did our hair and makeup, and we went on to do the Newsmax interview with J. D. Hayworth.

  Mm-hmm. Okay.

  That was our first friendly interview on TV.

  Keep in mind, we were new to all of this, so there was a learning curve for us.

  Mm-hmm. Then, CNN reached out to us. Don Lemon wanted to have us on his show.

  Don Lemon

  So before we go further, let me tell about my experience when it came to CNN. I remember when we first got the request to be on with Don Lemon. We were excited about it because it was a major station with a popular news personality.

  Yes. We were excited.

  It was nothing like it is now. You have to remember, this was back in 2015. They even sent us a big black car to pick us up.

  Mm-hmm.

  We had to travel about an hour and a half to the studio in Raleigh, and it was evening by the time we arrived.

  Yes. Six or seven o’clock.

  I was really excited, almost giddy.

  When Diamond and Silk go on an interview, we do an interview like we’re having a conversation with someone at dinner or sitting in the living room.

  That’s right.

  All of the extra stuff that everybody else is all nervous about, we just play it calm, cool, and collected. We look at it as if we’re having a conversation.

  The studio wasn’t what I expected. It was just a plain room with their cameras and equipment set up. Nevertheless, it was fascinating to see the technical side of TV. It’s not as complicated as I thought it
would be. It actually looked pretty simple to me.

  So they gave us a seat, and we were expecting to meet Don Lemon. We never saw him; we just saw the black hole where we were supposed to look.

  Right. But we heard him in our earpiece.

  We were new to this; we didn’t know anything about it. So we sat there and looked into the lens of the camera and just talked. Whatever the host asked us, we answered the questions the best we could.

  Yes. And we were honest with our answers.

  We were very honest with him.

  The one thing I didn’t like about CNN is that they had us looking different, not like ourselves.

  Hahaha.

  No, they really did. We did not look like ourselves, and the quality of television was not up to par. When I look at the fake news now, after having experiences like these, it was probably deliberately set up to have us look unattractive and appear uneducated.

  Mm-hmm.

  That’s what they do with people who don’t agree with their narrative. After I went on CNN, I didn’t want to go back on another television interview, and I believe that was their goal, to keep us quiet.

  Looking back at myself on that interview, I remember going to the mall to try to find a makeup artist because I thought that’s what I needed for future interviews. Come to find out, I didn’t need any of it. CNN created that image for us.

  Furthermore, we didn’t need anyone spoon-feeding us a narrative. I remember telling Don Lemon, “You know, you can either give somebody a fish, or you can teach them how to fish.”

  The reasonableness of that saying went right over his head. He seemed uninterested in showing Americans that they could rise up.

  Oh, absolutely. It seemed like it did go over his head.

  People may ask, “Well, why did you go on CNN?”

  Well, back in August 2015, when we interviewed with Don Lemon, CNN was not known as fake news.