Trump: Obama has done "nothing" for African Americans
MANASSES, VIRGINIA --GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has repeatedly talked on the campaign trail about his feeling that President Obama has done nothing for the African-American community. But at a Wednesday rally in Manassas, Virginia, Trump turned it up a notch, saying that he didn't think America's first black president cared about African-Americans at all.
"What has he done? What has he done?" Trump said. "Your African-American youth. Fifty-one percent unemployment. Right? Your guys our age -- they have unemployment that's double and triple what other people have. What the hell has he done for the African-Americans? He's done nothing."
The unemployment rate in October for African Americans ages 16 to 19 is 25.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for Americans in the same month was 5.0 percent, the lowest level since Apr. 2008.
"I don't think he cares about them. I think he's done nothing. It's all talk. It's all words with this guy. He's an unbelievable divider," Trump added.
The comments came during a speech when Trump brought a small group of African-American pastors on the stage who offered their endorsements. While it wasn't the grand endorsement he had promoted earlier in the week at Trump Tower, it showed that he had some support among African-American evangelicals.
Trump led off the speech referencing the mass shooting Wednesday that took 14 lives in San Bernardino, California.
"This is when we appreciate our great police and our law enforcement," Trump told the crowd of a little more than a thousand. "Remember that, remember that. They don't get enough credit, they should get it."
He then called for a moment of silence - the second time he has done so while campaigning. The first was in Beaumont, Texas after the Paris attacks for which the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed credit.
Two audience members at the rally stood out. Both were wearing hijabs - a rare site at a Trump campaign stop. Forty-four-year-old Sherri Moore, of Woodbridge, brought her 16-year-ld daughter Layla Alnozaily. Moore converted to Islam more than two decades ago. She came to hear Trump speak as a result of his debunked comments on Muslim-Americans celebrating on the rooftops in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Moore matched the energy of fervent Trump supporters - in spite of her negative view of him.
"Muslims - we're always talking the good talk," Moore said, her voice rising. "If we want our voice to be heard, we need to be here to show them. I'm not going away. You're not going to pull anything over me. We're not going to be tagged. We're not going to be censored. We're not going to be anything."
She said was appalled by Trump's comments about celebrations.
"That's a lie," Moore said. "I don't believe that at all. Her father's from Yemen," she said, gesturing to her daughter, who was standing nearby. "Her father's full-blooded Yemeni."
Moore pointed at her daughter, who she said wants to be secretary of state.
"We talked on that day. We said, 'Oh my God, we have to pray for these people. We have to pray for their souls. They have to kill the people that did this, who were the masterminds.' Everybody agreed with that. You think anybody agrees with murder? In Islam, to kill one innocent life is to kill all humanity."
Trump announced during the rally that he would be visiting Israel "very soon" to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The campaign wouldn't confirm specifics of the visit.
The Manassas event was Trump's third visit to Virginia since announcing his campaign. The first two were to Richmond and Norfolk, where he unveiled his plan to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs.