Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of stoking racial divisions. (File)
Washington:
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he would shift the date of a rally in Oklahoma from June 19, the “Juneteenth” vacation date, to June 20, out of respect for a day commemorating the end of slavery American.
Amid protests against racial injustice, Trump had been criticized for scheduling his first campaign rally in months a day known to African Americans as Freedom Day and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city where white crowds massacred African Americans a century ago.
“Many of my African American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we are considering changing the date out of respect for this holiday,” Trump tweeted. “So I decided to move our rally to Saturday June 20 in order to honor their requests.”
… We have already received over 200,000 ticket requests. I can’t wait to see everyone in Oklahoma!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2020
Trump, seeking re-election on November 3, scheduled the Tulsa rally on June 19, the date in 1865 when Texas became the last of the pro-slavery Confederate States forced to comply with President Abraham’s emancipation proclamation Lincoln during the Civil War declaring all people detained as free slaves.
Tulsa, an important town in African American history, was in 1921 the site of one of the bloodiest outbreaks of racist violence in the history of the United States in which white crowds attacked residents and black companies.
Referring to his rally, Trump told Fox News in an interview released earlier on Friday: “Think of it as a celebration.”
The Republican President suspended political rallies in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump denied that the scheduling of the Tulsa rally on June 19 was deliberate.
The rally will take place against the backdrop of protests in the United States against racism and police brutality caused by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 after a white officer knelt down. around the neck for almost nine minutes. The officer was dismissed and charged with second degree murder.
Fox News interviewer Harris Faulkner, who is black, later said she was unsure if Trump was aware of Tulsa’s painful story for African Americans because his questions in the interview, held Thursday, focused on the June 19 date of the rally.
“This is not just a nod to the white supremacists – he throws them a welcome party,” US Senator Kamala Harris, presidential candidate for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Trump, who rejected calls to rename US military bases named after Confederate military figures this week, said in a Fox News interview that what Lincoln did was “questionable”, but was halted before to be able to elaborate.
“I think I have done more for the black community than any other president. And let us pass by Abraham Lincoln because he has done good, although that is always debatable. You know, in d ‘In other words, the end result,’ said Trump without explanation.
Faulkner then spoke to him saying, “But we are free, Mr. President. He has done pretty well.”
“We are free. You understand what I mean. I’m going to let Abe go – Honest Abe as we call him,” replied Trump.
Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of stoking racial divisions.
The president said at the Floyd protests in which looting took place in some cities that “when the looting begins, the shooting begins.” Trump told Fox News that he was unaware that this phrase came from a white segregator who was mayor of Miami in the 1960s.
On Thursday, the Republican Party scheduled Trump’s speech to officially accept his presidential nomination for August 27 in Jacksonville, Florida.
This day will mark the 60th anniversary of what is known as “the handle of the ax on Saturday”, when a white crowd brandishing ax handles started a riot against young blacks who were trying to order food from a Whites-only breakfast counter in Jacksonville.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
