Black conservative radio host Shelley Wynter sparked outrage among many when he divided the black male electorate in the US into “house African-Americans and field African-Americans” during an appearance on CNN on Wednesday.

Wynter told NBC News on Thursday that he knew his comments would be “a bazooka attack” but stood by them nonetheless.

On “CNN News Central,” Wynter discussed with co-host Sarah Sidner whether blacks will vote for the Democratic presidential candidate, as they have in the past, or vote Republican in greater numbers.

“Let me boil this election in the African American community down to one very simple thing – I’m referring to the great Malcolm X,” he said. “This race is between House African Americans and Field African Americans, and Field African Americans are voting for (Donald) Trump.”

During slavery in the United States, “house slaves” worked in the main house and generally did indoor work. “Field slaves” performed hard labor in the countryside and lived in decimated quarters.

The reference to slavery seemed to baffle Sidner and his guest Michael Blake, a former adviser to Barack Obama. The comment also sparked an avalanche of criticism on social media against Wynter, whose radio show “The Shelley Wynter Show” airs in Atlanta.

At the same time, Wynter’s comments highlighted the intensity of the black male vote and how influential it could be in November.

“I was kind of shocked, not just by the choice of words, but conceptually by what was said,” said Lesley Mac, an organizer and activist from Brooklyn. Mac added that the closeness of the race has made black voters a desirable bloc, drawing more attention from both candidates than in the past. “It’s just kind of reached a fever pitch this year,” she said.

Rashawn Ray, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, said Wynter’s comments “suggest a growing social class divide between the haves and have-nots among black Americans.”

“These are the types of comments that often happen behind closed doors in the black community.”

Wynter said he expected the backlash — and was unfazed by it. “I’m a radio show host,” he said. “If I choose the Jets over the Giants, I will be criticized. No matter what I say, people will disagree with me.”

In this case, however, Wynter doubled down and said he used part of a famous 1963 speech by Malcolm X. In “The Race Problem in America,” Malcolm used white society to house slaves; He then made a connection between blacks seeking racial liberation and enslaved people who toiled in fields, sought escape routes, and openly “hated their master.”

Wynter said anyone who has a problem with him invoking Malcolm X and slavery is “overanalyzing it.”

“You can argue that whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, we’re all technically slaves to this system,” he said. “No one is called a slave. It’s the use of an analogy in the context in which it was used, just like when Malcolm was explaining something, and when he gave that speech he didn’t refer to black people as slaves.

“He said it was an attitude thing. There are people in the black community who, when close to power – that is, mastering it – embrace those characteristics and defend that power. And that’s what we’re seeing now in this race.”

Wynter said the black men he interacts with every day support Trump in real life. “It’s construction workers and electricians that the mainstream media doesn’t follow,” he said. “Their lives consist of everyday life, trying to get ahead and taking care of their families.”

Mac sees it differently. She said Wynter’s comments were wrong. “Given Shelley’s own profession, to invoke the language of our oppressors for political reasons is just wild to me,” she said. “It just does a disservice to all of us, both as voters and as black Americans. Malcolm criticized America’s systemic oppression and did not support a far-right, authoritative agenda like that of Donald Trump. It is an insult to Malcolm’s legacy and lifelong struggle for Black empowerment against structural racism.”

She added that Wynter’s inflammatory comments were strategic. “It kind of exposes this Republican strategy of reducing black voters, including conservative ones, to simple stereotypes that perpetuate division instead of actually addressing the things that our community needs.”

Ray said Wynters’ comments were “problematic” but also insightful in a deeper sense. “There is nothing like enslavement in the United States or for black Americans,” he said.

However, he added that Wynter’s choice of wording points to class differences, colorism and other divisions within black communities being directly expressed.

“The main problem is that they rarely go into public spaces that allow other people to listen and also criticize and respond to the particular feelings that often exist in barbershops, ball fields, dinner tables or gatherings with friends said Ray.