CLEVELAND (AP) – In the hours after the deadly attack on police officers in Dallas, Donald Trump offered his “thoughts and prayers” for all the victims of the week’s violence – including two black men killed by the police in separate incidents in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Less than two weeks later, there are few signs of sympathy for African-American victims of police shootings inside Trump’s presidential nominating convention.
A speaking lineup arranged by Trump’s campaign, facing an overwhelmingly white audience in a majority-black city, has repeatedly belittled the black community’s frustration. There have been almost no references to black victims of police brutality.
The program has instead featured people like prominent Black Lives Matter critic David Clarke, a Wisconsin sheriff who drew a massive ovation by declaring “Blue Lives Matter.”
The “Blue Lives Matter” call in particular aggravates many minority voters, in Ohio and elsewhere, who make up a growing segment of the electorate.