African-American pastors criticize Trump ahead of MLK Day


In services ahead of Martin Luther King Day, ministers in black churches across the country on Sunday called out President Trump for reportedly making disparaging remarks about Africa and Haiti in discussions about immigration, expressing disappointment in the direction of the country since Trump took office.
The Rev. Raphael G. Warnock told a mostly African-American crowd celebrating King at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King was co-pastor, that Trump is "a willfully ignorant, racist, xenophobic, narcissistic con man," and that people of all races must stand up for those Trump denigrates. In Los Angeles, the Rev. J. Edgar Boyd urged his congregation at First African Methodist Episcopal Church to pray for Trump, and asked God to hold the president accountable for "his words, his deeds, and his actions."
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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