The African Union’s response to President Trumps comments on Africa at Immigration meeting, along with FAU’s MLK Day 2018 response

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, and co-author of an Immigration Plan with Republican Senator Graham, claimed Trump used an obscenity to describe African nations and made disparaging remarks about Haitian immigrants.

Durbin quoted the president as saying of African nations, “‘Those shitholes send us the people that they don’t want.’” Durbin continued, “He repeated that. He didn’t say that just one time.” Durbin also quoted Trump as saying, “‘We don’t need more Haitians.’”

After the meeting, Graham reportedly told his fellow Republican senator from South Carolina, Tim Scott, a African American, that the media reports about Trump’s language at the meeting were “basically accurate,” according to Charleston’s Post and Courier.

As of MLK Day 2018 the White House has issued a statement that did not deny the remarks.

The African Union Response

Friends of the African Union’s response – 

January 15th 2018

From Friends of the African Union (FAU), an American Non-Governmental Organization member of the African Civil Society delegation to Africa Week at the United Nations, in 2017 which was led by Dr. Delois Blakely who was recognized by  the Chairman of Africa Week as the African Civil Society leader.
The FAU action of Moving money to Main Street not just Wall Street, NOW takes on special meaning with the words attributed to the US President in relation to Africa. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, and co-author of a  Immigration Plan with Republican Senator Graham, claimed Trump used an obscenity to describe African nations and made disparaging remarks about Haitian immigrants. Durbin quoted the president as saying of African nations, “‘Those shitholes send us the people that they don’t want.’”  As of MLK Day 2018 the White House has issued a statement that did not deny the remarks.

FAU through the FAU USA Bureau apologizes for remarks attributed to our President and do so bearing in mind that the United States of America, a founding member of the United Nations (1948) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), practiced from its formation, in its constitution, human slavery of Africans. It was legal from 1788 to 1865. In 1868 the freed African slaves and other persons in the USA were given citizenship through the 14th Amendment to the aforementioned US Constitution. The USA’s federal government practiced institutionalized racism from 1868 to 1965 on Americans of African Descent. Our President is 71 years old, born in 1946, and apparently grew up not understanding the history of Africans in the USA nor the importance of Africa to America in Making America Great. (America was “made great” the first time with African slave labor and native land).

We act based on our actions during Africa Week 2017 were FAU and allies in African Civil Society stepped in the role of creating a Africa-USA Partnership. It is envisioned to be based on the $30B in bank based Community Benefit Agreements that FAU’s Chamber of Commerce is signature too. This will serve as a framework for our proposed national public private partnership based on building in the USA a relationship with Africa on a agreed framework for addressing institutionalized racism and the problems identified in the Report of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent on its mission to the USA in 2016 and the 2015 Universal Periodic Review of the USA.

Hershel Daniels Junior

FAU Chairman

MLK Day 2018 Response to President Trump