Trump Attended Civil Rights Museum Opening On Saturday While Top African-American Leaders Stayed Awa

Image Credit: Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

President Donald Trump traveled to Mississippi yesterday to attend the opening of a new civil rights museum. The visit was sullied by the absence of some of the country's top black political leaders.

He delivered a speech at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and paid tribute to African-Americans who fought back against institutionalized racism in the 1960s. One of the men he commemorated was Medgar Evers, an activist who was murdered outside of his home in the city of Jackson.

Trump said, "We want our country to be a place where every child from every background can grow up free from fear, innocent of hatred and surrounded by love, opportunity and hope. Today we strive to be worthy of their sacrifice. We pray for inspiration from their example."

Evers' wife Myrlie and brother Charles were sitting in the audience.

According to a Reuters report:

"U.S. Representative John Lewis of Georgia, a Democrat who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s, said on Thursday that he would not go to the museum opening because of Trump’s presence.

"'President Trump’s attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum,' Lewis said in a statement with Mississippi Democratic U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, who also declined to attend."

U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Mississippi, U.S. December 9, 2017 (Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Despite the protest, Ben Carson, the current U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary and also an African-American, accompanied the president on his tour of the museum.