Blacks account for 12 percent of the USA electorate, and Trump, who trails in the polls, recently has sought gingerly to widen his base.
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Trump, along with Dr.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump promised African Americans prosperity and jobs on Saturday in a visit to a black church in Detroit, as he called for a “civil rights agenda of our time”.
Flanked by a few black supporters, including Ben Carson, a former presidential candidate, and Omarosa Manigault, a former contestant on “The Apprentice”, Trump cut a subdued figure here at Great Faith Ministries International.
Carson also said the Democratic Party has “explaining to do”, noting it’s been “in charge of our cities for a long time”.
The Republican nominee for president gave his first address before a predominantly black audience at Great Faith Ministries and avoided the bellicose language that marked his comments last month while speaking before a largely white audience in MI. The shawl, also known as the tallit, was given to Trump by Bishop Wayne Jackson.
Many in the crowd carried signs blasting the billionaire developer, including the messages “No hate in the White House” and “0 votes from African-Americans”.
Emma Lockridge, 63, said as she entered the church that she found his comments about Mexicans and Muslims “hateful”.
“Nothing is more sad than when we sideline young black men with unfulfilled potential, tremendous potential”, Mr Trump said in the 10-minute address. “We talk past each other, not to each other, and those who seek office do not do enough to step into the community and learn what is going on”, Trump said.
Donald Trump called for a “civil rights agenda of our time” while visiting a predominately black church in Detroit yesterday as his campaign looks to boost his lagging approval numbers among the black population.
After he spoke, the church’s bishop presented him with a prayer shawl from Israel.
But she said she also had concerns about Clinton’s support in the 1990s for crime legislation signed by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, which many black Americans say contributed to high incarceration rates in their communities.
“The African American community has suffered” due to racism and discrimination, Trump said in his speech. “The devil’s in the pulpit”, one protester shouted in a reference to Trump.
Some protesters tried to push through a barrier to the parking lot but were stopped by church security and police.
“Let me just put this on you” as he gave Trump the tallit, Haaretz reported.
“People picked up on” Trump saying “you’re all just crap”, said McIlwain, who for years ran a community center that offered education and drug prevention programs in one of Detroit’s most distressed neighborhoods.
Trump has argued that his emphasis on job creation would help minority communities in a way that Democrats have failed to.
The Republican nominee noted that too often traditional partisan rhetoric has prevented a constructive dialogue on rebuilding America’s cities.
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Meanwhile, Trump said Saturday he plans to make a trip to water crisis-stricken Flint “at some point” in the presidential election campaign.
