WINTERVILLE, N.C. — Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump for his treatment of the African-American community here Thursday, citing his comments on the Central Park Five and an “endorsement” by “the official paper” of the KKK as a “preview” of what could happen if he wins the White House.
The Democratic nominee debuted new attacks on both of those issues and also revisited Trump’s history with housing discrimination against minorities.
Clinton brought up Trump's history with the case of the Central Park Five. The GOP nominee has continued to insist the five men in the case are guilty of assaulting a Central Park jogger decades ago even though the men were all exonerated through DNA evidence. She used that as an example to ask voters what kind of judgment he would use if elected.
“To him, those kids were still and will always be guilty, no matter what the evidence says. Do we want this man appointing judges? Do we want him controlling the Justice Department?” she asked at an outdoor rally at Pitt Community College.
On the recent KKK newspaper endorsement, Clinton strongly denounced it and said “that is not who America is and we’re not gonna let it ever go back to that,” referring to group’s longtime goal of “preserving white identity.”
"You’ve got to ask yourself -- do any of us who believe in our constitution, who believe in the rule of law, who believe that we are stronger together, who believe that we want to keep moving positively toward the vision of freedom and equality set forth by our founders. Do any of us have a place in Trump’s America?”
Before that, Clinton detailed the story of one African-American woman who says she was denied housing by Trump in the 1970s. The woman, Mae Wiggins, tearfully introduced the Democratic nominee at the rally.
“Think about that. If he were to win, he would be in charge of the federal housing apartment. If he doesn't respect all Americans, how can we trust him to serve all Americans?” Clinton said.
She then weighed in on the recent Mississippi church arson case, saying it should “not be normal” for people to paint “Vote Trump” on the side of a church before setting it on fire. “Who would do that to a house of worship?” Clinton asked.
Clinton also went after Trump for his comments in Florida earlier in the day about having “the greatest temperament that anyone’s ever had.”
“He knows we can see and hear him right?” she said to laughs from the crowd. “This is someone who at another rally said to himself: 'stay on point, Donald, stay on point.' His campaign probably put that in the teleprompter.”
Noting that she was in Arizona last night during the World Series, Clinton said she was “a little anxious” to speak while the game was still going on. The Chicago native called herself a lifelong Cubs fan and said she wished her late father could have lived to see them win.
“Last night was very special — on lots of fronts,” she said. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll see even more history made in the next few days. You know, the last time the Cubs won, women couldn’t vote and I think women are making up for that in this election.”
