Essence‘s Tanya Christian shares the Trump’s newest claim:
On Thursday, Donald Trump met with a number of Black Michigan legislators and leaders in Detroit to discuss White House support of African-American communities. During the sit-down, which he used to tout his claims of improving Black America, he also pondered an idea given to him by embattled Democratic lawmaker Karen Whitsett to found a “new” HBCU in the city of Detroit.
For those unfamiliar with the schools known collectively as historically Black colleges and universities, the U.S. Department of Education and the Higher Education Act of 1965, defines them as institutions of higher learning established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, whose principal mission was, and still remains, to educate Black students. Despite the designation, which is also found in the language for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Whitsett appealed to Trump to establish one in the Motor City. Her request comes seven years after Lewis College of Business, an actual HBCU founded in Detroit in 1928, ceased operations.
“I would love to see a historic Black college in the city of Detroit,” Whitsett can be heard saying in a clip posted to Twitter by The Hill. “I think that would be amazing and I think you’re just the president to be able to make that happen.”
Pondering the idea, Trump responds by saying that he finds the proposal “interesting.” “Maybe we can work something out,” he adds. “We’ll talk about that.” Read the full article.
