Donald Trump spoke last Saturday to members of a predominantly black church in Detroit and said that he wanted to build the MI city and that “there are many wrongs that should be made right”.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, stands and listens during a church service at Great Faith Ministries, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Detroit. “I fully understand that the African-American community has suffered from discrimination and there are many wrongs that should be made right”.
“Our nation is too divided”, he continued.
Trump told the congregation he believes “we need a civil rights agenda for our time, one that ensures the rights to a great education – so important – and the right to live safely and in peace”.
In his relatively muted address, Trump offered praise for black Christians and called for a “civil rights agenda for our time”, including support for charter schools and new job growth. “We must love each other and support each other in this all together”.
After leaving church, Trump took a tour of Carson’s childhood bungalow style home in southwest Detroit.
Saturday’s trip marked Trump’s first visit to a black community on the 2016 campaign trail, part of his recent outreach to minority voters who have declined to embrace his message.
Some protesters tried to push through a barrier to the parking lot but were stopped by church security and police.
The Trump talk sounded a far more positive note that his previous rhetorical question about what blacks had to lose by pulling the lever for him instead of opponent Hillary Clinton.
Trump is polling at around one percent nationally with black voters, although if his campaign continues its refusal to believe polls and instead believe rally crowds, Saturday’s event will surely be considered a success. “I want to work with you to renew the bonds of trust between citizens and the bonds of faith that make our people strong”.
The New York Times published Thursday what it said was a script of preapproved questions Trump would be asked in his interview with church pastor Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, along with prepared answers.
Detroit is about 80% black, and many are struggling.
But Denaria Thorn, who also attended the service, said she remained opposed to Trump’s candidacy and that she was “expecting an apology” for harsh rhetoric he delivered in the past.
Jackson, the pastor of Great Faith Ministries, reportedly described his presentation of the shawl as an anointing.
Trump’s visit was an attempt to reach out to African-Americans, a voting bloc that is ambivalent about his candidacy.
But several of the participants at the meeting Friday with Philadelphia black leaders, many of whom identified themselves as Republicans, said they were Trump supporters.
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Mr Nathan Liverman, 29, a Detroit small business owner said of Mr Trump’s message that “you could feel it was authentic, that it was to heart”.
