Trump: Black communities are 'absolutely in the worst shape they've ever been in'

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 21 September 2016

Despite slavery, lynchings, sitting on the back of the bus, and a litany of other historical injustices, Donald Trump argued Tuesday that today, "our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape that they've ever been in before. Ever. Ever. Ever."

Trump, talking to a mostly white crowd in Kenansville, North Carolina, said he will "rebuild our inner cities," because now, "you get no education, you get no jobs, you get shot walking down the street. They're worse — I mean, honestly, places like Afghanistan are safer than some of our inner cities." Trump did not mention, CNN notes, the widely reported shooting in Tulsa last weekend in which Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man, was killed by police outside his stalled SUV.

Over the weekend, President Obama called Trump out for earlier comments he made about the modern perils faced by blacks. "You may have heard Hillary's opponent in this election say that there's never been a worse time to be a black person," he said during a speech at the Congressional Black Caucus gala. "I mean, he missed that whole civics lesson about slavery or Jim Crow. But we've got a museum for him to visit, so he can tune in. We will educate him." Recent polls have Trump's support with African-Americans in the low single digits.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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