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3. Black Christian Leaders Detest Claim That Trump Is the 'Driver' of Racial Division in America
Following violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, involving Alt-Right groups as well as Antifa, some pointed to President Donald Trump for courting white supremacists and exacerbating racial divisions.
But a group of conservative black pastors and intellectual leaders came to Trump's defense in August, saying he was not the driver for division in America.
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"You are saying that the president is the instigator and I think that is absolutely wrong," said the Rev. Derek McCoy, CURE's executive vice president who also directs the CURE National Clergy Network.
William Allen, a professor of political philosophy at Michigan State University," said, "I will say this about the repeated ascription of President Trump as the driver of hateful speech in our country: there are two things wrong with that view. The first thing wrong with it is we are pretending to hide behind blaming President Trump for our failures."
Allen also argued that Americans have gotten away from the principle of standing up for the free speech rights of others.
One person was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of people in Charlottesville where white nationalists were protesting the removal of a confederate statue. They clashed with Antifa and Black Lives Matter counter-protesters.
Trump condemned "this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides," but was criticized for not specifically naming white supremacists. The White House later clarified that Trump's condemnation also included "white supremacists, the KKK, Neo-Nazi and all extremist groups."
A day later, however, Trump was ripped by the media again when he said "there is blame on both sides" for the violence and that there were "some very fine people on both sides."
