President Trump spoke with awe Tuesday about the contributions of black citizens after his tour of the nation’s new African American history museum in Washington, but his outreach was met with scorn on the left.
Mr. Trump emerged from his tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall to praise it as “a beautiful tribute to so many American heroes,” from Sojourner Truth to Frederick Douglass to Rosa Parks.
“I’m deeply proud that we now have a museum that honors the millions of African American men and women who built our national heritage, especially when it comes to faith, culture and the unbreakable American spirit,” the president said. “This tour is a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms.”
But on social media and on liberal TV networks, many on the left criticized the president, accusing him of insincerity and hypocrisy.
“Trump at the African American Museum to show commitment to black folks & yet not once has he invited Frederick Douglass to a round of golf,” said actor Jeffrey Wright, who suggested on Twitter that Mr. Trump should stay at the museum so “they can build an exhibit around him on racist attempts to delegitimize the 1st black POTUS.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, said Mr. Trump made America’s racial divide worse by advancing the “birther” movement that claimed President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.
“We know that for five years, he perpetrated the racist lie that Barack Obama was not born in the United States of America, suggesting that he was born in Kenya,” Mr. Jeffries said on MSNBC. “It was an effort to delegitimize the first black president.”
Mr. Trump said he was proud to be the second sitting president to visit the museum — Mr. Obama was the first, when he dedicated the new facility last September.
In fact, just a week before the museum opened, Mr. Obama had mockingly urged candidate Donald Trump to visit it, taking offense that Mr. Trump was telling black voters they had nothing to lose by voting for him.
“You may have heard [Hillary Clinton’s] opponent in this election say that there’s never been a worse time to be a black person,” Mr. Obama said at the annual Congressional Black Caucus foundation dinner. “I mean, he missed that whole civics lesson about slavery and Jim Crow. But we’ve got a museum for him to visit. We will educate him.”
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that although Mr. Trump has spoken out frequently against racism and anti-Semitism, the president was clearly moved by his visit to the museum on Tuesday morning.
“His desire is to honor the immense contributions of courageous African-American leaders throughout our history by building a more unified country dedicated to liberty and justice,” Mr. Spicer said.
The White House said Mr. Trump is expected to meet soon with members of the CBC, after some black lawmakers expressed disappointment that the president hadn’t responded to their initial invitation last month.
One of the CBC’s most prominent members, Rep. John Lewis, Georgia Democrat, had accused Mr. Trump of not being a “legitimate” president and was among the dozens of House Democrats who boycotted his inauguration. Mr. Trump had countered that Mr. Lewis was “all talk.”
During his museum tour, the president encountered an exhibit about Mr. Lewis, a longtime civil rights figure, speaking on a large video screen.
“We watched the video of John Lewis … describing his efforts in championing of voting civil rights,” Mr. Spicer said. “I know the president paused and watched it and listened to it. I watched him and it was a very powerful experience for him and I know he looks forward to going back.”
Mr. Trump walked through the exhibits with Ben Carson, his nominee for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, who is himself the subject of an exhibit. Also accompanying the president were daughter Ivanka, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and presidential aide Omarosa Manigault, with the tour guided by museum Director Lonnie Bunch.
They viewed an underground gallery that recounts the history of slavery and includes objects recovered from a slave ship that went down off southern Africa, among other exhibits.
The president said it was “very special” to accompany Mr. Carson and his family as they viewed the museum and his exhibit for the first time. He urged Senate Democrats to vote on Mr. Carson’s nomination next week.
“We’re going to do great things in our African American communities together,” Mr. Trump said. “HUD has a meaning far beyond housing. Ben will be able to find that true meaning of HUD as its secretary.”
He also hugged Alveda King, niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., calling her “a tremendous fighter for justice.”
“We have a divided country. It’s been divided for many many years,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re going to bring this country together, maybe bring some of the world together.”
During the tour, Mr. Bunch talked about a statue of Thomas Jefferson that stands above the title “The paradox of liberty,” next to a wall of bricks bearing the names of each slave owned by Jefferson.
The president and his group also viewed a glass case containing a bible belonging to Nat Turner, who led a slave revolt.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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