Black religious leaders tell colleagues: Think twice before supporting Trump
A group of black religious leaders are asking their colleagues to consider Donald Trump’s rhetoric on race before endorsing him for president.
In an EBONY magazine op-ed Friday, more than 100 black pastors, professors and activists denounced those in the community who are expected to give their support to Trump’s White House bid.
{mosads}“Mr. Trump routinely uses overtly divisive and racist language on the campaign trail,” the op-ed says.
“By siding with a presidential candidate whose rhetoric pathologizes Black people, what message are you sending to the world about the Black lives in and outside of your congregations?” the op-ed continues. “Which black lives do you claim to be liberating?”
The piece points to an incident last week in which a Black Lives Matter protester was tackled to the ground and thrown out of Trump event.
“Most recently, he admitted his supporters were justified for punching and kicking a Black protester who had attended a Trump rally with the intent to remind the crowd that ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ” it says.
Hope Hicks, a Trump spokeswoman, said at the time that “the campaign does not condone this behavior.”
The billionaire business mogul’s campaign announced Wednesday that a coalition of 100 religious leaders from the black community is set to endorse his campaign at a Monday event.
But some reports have raised questions as to whether the black religious leaders will actually endorse Trump at the event.
Pastor Darrell Scott, who said he is endorsing Trump for president, told the Daily Beast on Friday that he set up the press conference only as a meeting between Trump and the black community.
“Some of these pastors have never even met Trump yet,” Scott said. “They told me, ‘I don’t know if I’m ready to endorse yet. I want to see and I want [to] hear his heart.’
“All of these guys are my friends and they know me,” he added. “I let them know I am endorsing, but that doesn’t mean you are endorsing.”
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