The chair of the Congressional Black Caucus said Wednesday night his heated letter to President Donald Trump was intended to explain his frustration with the President’s attitude toward racial issues.
“The truth of the matter is I don’t care if the President is a racist, a man of goodwill or anything else,” Rep. Cedric Richmond said to CNN’s Don Lemon on “CNN Tonight.” “I care about his policies and I care about how it affects the communities that we represent.”
Richmond, a Democrat from Louisiana, slammed Trump’s criticisms of NFL players’ protests during the National Anthem as well as his administration’s approach to race relations in the letter sent late Wednesday.
“Almost everything you have done and said on the topic of race or on issues that implicate race demonstrate a shocking lack of knowledge for an adult public official in the 21st century,” Richmond wrote.
Richmond also told Lemon that the Congressional Black Caucus had sent Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions a lengthy policy book and a letter that offered insight into the group’s concerns, but never received a response.
“There are a bunch of people in this country who believe in equality, who believe in the cause in which Colin (Kaepernick) and other NFL players are fighting for,” Richmond said to Lemon.
At a rally for Alabama Republican Sen. Luther Strange last week, Trump said NFL team owners should respond to the protest against police brutality by saying, “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he’s fired. He’s fired!” His comments — and repeated tweets on the matter — have escalated a nationwide controversy that has significant racial and cultural undertones.
“We are better than this as a country, and we shouldn’t let one man — one rich, petulant child — define this country and I’m just so sad that we’re in this place,” Richmond told Lemon.