AFRICAN AMERICANS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump has declined an invitation to address the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday [7-19-17].
The White House did not offer any details on why Trump would not speak to the 108-year-old civil rights group…
She said that while Trump would not speak at the conference, the White House would be happy to have a dialogue with the group…
The NAACP did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Trump had declined to speak at the NAACP convention last year because it coincided with the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where he was formally nominated as the party’s presidential candidate. Previous Republican presidential nominees regularly attended the annual meetings of the oldest U.S. civil rights organization.
Trump’s most recent predecessors in the White House, Barack Obama, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a Republican, both delivered speeches to the NAACP during their time in office.
This year’s NAACP convention begins Saturday in Baltimore.”
-Ayesha Rascoe, “Trump declines invitation to speak at NAACP convention,” Reuters, July 19, 2017 01:11pm