Trump changes date of Oklahoma rally to 'respect' emancipation holiday

US President Donald Trump File Photo: IANS

US President Donald Trump File Photo: IANS

Published Jun 13, 2020

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Washington - US President Donald Trump

said on Friday he would shift the date of an Oklahoma rally from

June 19th, the date of the "Juneteenth" holiday, to June 20th

out of respect for a day commemorating the end of US slavery.

Amid protests against racial injustice, Trump had faced

criticism for scheduling his first campaign rally in months on a

day known by African Americans as Freedom Day and in Tulsa,

Oklahoma, a city where white mobs massacred African-Americans a

century ago.

“Many of my African American friends and supporters have

reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date out of

respect for this Holiday,” Trump tweeted. "I have therefore

decided to move our rally to Saturday, June 20th, in order to

honor their requests."

Trump, seeking re-election on November 3, scheduled the Tulsa

rally on June 19th, the date in 1865 when Texas became the last

of the pro-slavery Confederate states forced to comply with

President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation during the

Civil War declaring all people held as slaves free.

%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/MAGA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" style="font-size: 12pt;">#MAGARally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for June 19th – a big deal. Unfortunately, however, this would fall on the Juneteenth Holiday. Many of my African American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date out...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

Tulsa, a city important in African-American history, in 1921

was the site of one of the bloodiest outbreaks of racist

violence in U.S. history in which white mobs attacked black

residents and businesses.

Referring to his rally, Trump told Fox News in an interview

aired earlier on Friday: "Think about it as a celebration."

The Republican president suspended his political rallies in

March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump denied that

scheduling the Tulsa rally on Juneteenth was deliberate.

The rally will take place against a backdrop of protests

around the United States against racism and police brutality

sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in

police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 after a white officer

knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The officer was fired

and has been charged with second-degree murder.

Fox News interviewer Harris Faulkner, who is black, later

said she was not sure whether Trump was aware of the painful

history of Tulsa for African-Americans because her questions in

the interview, held on Thursday, focused on the Juneteenth date

of the rally.

"This isn't just a wink to white supremacists - he's

throwing them a welcome home party," US Senator Kamala Harris,

a contender to be Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's

vice presidential pick, wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

Trump, who this week rejected calls to rename US military

bases named for Confederate military figures, said in the Fox

News interview that what Lincoln had done was "questionable,"

but was cut off before he could elaborate.

"I think I've done more for the black community than any

other president. And let's take a pass on Abraham Lincoln 'cause

he did good, although it's always questionable. You know, in

other words the end result," Trump said without explanation.

Faulkner then spoke over him saying: "But we are free, Mr.

President. He did pretty well."

"We are free. You understand what I mean. I'm going to take

a pass on Abe - Honest Abe as we call him," Trump responded.

Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of stoking

racial divisions.

The president said during the Floyd protests in which

looting occurred in some cities that "when the looting starts,

the shooting starts." Trump told Fox News he was not aware that

this phrase originated with a white segregationist who was Miami

mayor in the 1960s.

On Thursday, the Republican Party scheduled Trump's speech

to formally accept its presidential nomination for August 27 in

Jacksonville, Florida.

That day will mark the 60th anniversary of what is called

"Ax Handle Saturday," when a white mob wielding ax handles began

a riot over black youth attempting to order food from a

whites-only lunch counter in Jacksonville.

Reuters

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