Donald Trump faced a swift backlash Tuesday after declaring that African-Americans are “in the worst shape they’ve ever been” during a campaign event here.
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The statement overlooked the fact that slavery was legal for almost a century after the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.
Reading from prepared remarks at the New Spirit Revival Center in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Cleveland, Trump said black churches have inspired Americans “toward a better moral character, a deeper concern for mankind, and a spirit of charity and unity that binds us all together”.
“You take a look at the inner cities, you get no education, you get no jobs, you get shot walking down the street”.
President Obama responded to the earlier versions of Trump’s claims, as Tuesday night was not the first time he has mentioned the state of African-American affairs during the campaign.
Speaking at a rally in Kenansville, North Carolina, Trump again stumbled in an apparent attempt to endear himself to black voters.
During the Congressional Black Caucus gala, President Barack Obama also commented on Trump’s opinions on the black community. He said Hillary’s opponent has said that there has never been a worse time in America to be a black person, noting that Trump must have missed the civics lesson about slavery and Jim Crow. Fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed. Black child poverty has remained stable, while other groups have seen improvement in recent years, and it is significantly higher than its lowest point around 30 percent in 2001.
The comment, made in a city named for a slave owner, is objectively untrue, and completely ignores that black people were once subjected to slavery and Jim Crow laws.
That said, Trump appears to believe his messaging plan is working.
Obama urged voters to support Clinton over Trump.
“I think it’s important to separate out the pervasive sense of frustration among a lot of African-Americans about shootings of people, and the sense that justice is not always color blind”, he said.
During his speech, Trump said his poll numbers with black voters have been “going like a rocket ship”, although he still struggles with the demographic.
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As former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Digital Director Brandon English pointed out on Twitter, Cleveland Heights is 42 percent black, so it couldn’t have been that hard to find black audience members for a town hall on “African American Concerns”. According to the poll, 97 percent of black voters view him unfavorably while three percent remain undecided.
