Trump’s outreach efforts to the black community are dissolving almost as soon as they began, melted under his loud insistence that black people should be stopped and frisked more often by police.
As Mr. King, the retired boxing promoter, sought to explain how society unfairly categorizes African-Americans, he referred to a “dancing and sliding and gliding nigger,” before quickly correcting himself. “I mean Negro,” he said as Mr. Trump looked on a few feet behind him, grinning.
Mr. Trump described his enthusiasm for stop-and-frisk during a town hall-style discussion, also in Cleveland Heights, after a voter pressed him on how he would reduce violence in black communities. “One of the things I’d do,” he said, “is I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive.”
The largely white audience erupted into applause.
In reality, violent crime is lower than it ever has been. But so is the visibility of black people—and the injustices to which they are subjected. Naturally, Trump has friends in low places when it comes to doubling down on racist policing.
