The president’s elevated and scripted words honoring 400 years of representative government in the Western Hemisphere and the role played by African Americans stood in contrast to the acerbic attacks he made beforehand on a black congressman and his Baltimore-based district.
But the racial furor of recent days, punctuated by his latest comments assailing Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., followed Trump to Jamestown, where elected representatives first met in 1619. Virginia’s African American state lawmakers boycotted his speech, calling the president an “emblem of hate” who does not represent the best ideals of the nation.
One state lawmaker, Ibraheem Samirah, stood and interrupted the president’s speech, holding up a sign that said, “Go Back to Your Corrupted Home” and “Deport Hate.” Samirah, a Democratic state delegate and a Palestinian American, shouted: “Mr. President, you cannot send us back. Virginia is our home.” He was led out by police officers.
Trump made no response nor did he reference the broader controversy during his speech, but instead made a point of highlighting that this year is also the 400th anniversary of the first slaves brought to America.
“Today, in honor, we remember every sacred soul who suffered the horrors of slavery and the anguish of bondage,” he said, adding, “In the face of grave oppression and grave injustice, African Americans have built, strengthened, inspired, uplifted, protected, defended and sustained our nation from its very earliest days.”
Just hours earlier, Trump again disparaged Cummings, whom he has accused in recent days of running a “disgusting” congressional district.
Facing questions about his apparent willingness in recent days to divide his supporters and opponents along racial lines, Trump insisted he was the “the least racist person there is anywhere in the world.” Then he called the Rev. Al Sharpton, another recent adversary, “a racist.”
Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, has emerged as a major foil for the president as his panel presses investigations into Trump’s administration.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.