He doesn't care what you want

Donald Trump's attendance at an opening of a Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi has sparked a boycott.

Many of them stayed away from the launch [including notable 60s civil rights activist Sen.John L Lewis, who was originally scheduled to give the keynote address], accusing the president of racial division.

The National Association for the Advancement for Colored People, or NAACP, the most storied civil rights organisation in America, had asked Trump not to come, saying Trump has done nothing to support black Americans as president.

  alJazeera

So who invited him?

On Friday, museum officials scrambled to accommodate both sides. They organized a private tour for the president — who was invited to the ceremony by Gov. Phil Bryant (R) — and arranged for him to address veterans of the cause in a private event in the auditorium of the Two Mississippi Museums complex — the civil rights museum and a museum of Mississippi history.

[...]

— instead of attending the public opening ceremony.

  WaPo

Wasn't going to subject himself to actually facing protesters. Governor Bryant should be disinvited from the governorship next time a vote comes around.

“President Trump’s attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum,” Lewis and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a joint statement Thursday.

[...]

Trump spoke briefly Saturday, peering down frequently at prepared notes. He mentioned several civil rights leaders, including King and Medgar Evers.

How about John L Lewis? Did he mention John L Lewis?

“Today we pay solemn tribute to our heroes of the past and dedicate ourselves to building a future of freedom, equality, justice, peace.”

What "we" is he talking about? It's obviously doesn't include himself.

Amos C. Brown, a civil rights activist who at 14 years old founded the NAACP’s first youth council, also boycotted Trump's visit.

“I'm very uncomfortable with his antics and policies on matters of race and justice,” Brown said. “And that’s why people felt, as I do, that his presence cheapened the occasion. It was a mockery for him to be present. He has not been involved at all in the struggle.”

Oh, he has. Just on the other side.

One [protester's sign] read, “There’s nothing civil or right about Donald Trump.”

Amen to that.

“I think it’s very hypocritical of Donald Trump to be here,” said Gladys Bunzy, a Jackson native. “He doesn’t care about civil rights. He doesn’t care about human rights. He doesn’t care about the rights of women, and he doesn’t care about the rights of people of color. For him to be in the state of Mississippi, which has the worst civil rights record in the history of America, it's a slap in the face. He should not be here.”

Part of the reason he (and Governor Bryant) did it.

Trump stayed largely on script as he spoke for about nine minutes to an invitation-only crowd of 200 museum donors, civil rights figures, and local and state officials in an auditorium.

[...]

In contrast to the majority-black city and nearly all-black crowd of more than 1,000 people who had gathered at the outdoor ceremony, the group Trump addressed was mostly white.

  LA Times

Mostly white audience.

See if you can spot where he went off script:

“These buildings embody the hope that has lived in the hearts of every American for generations. The hope for a future that is more just and is more free,” Trump said. He mentioned the “the fight to end slavery, to break down Jim Crow, to end segregation, to gain the right to vote, and to achieve the sacred birthright of equality.

“That’s big stuff. Those are very big phrases. Very big words. Here we memorialize the brave men and women who struggled to sacrifice, and sacrifice so much, so that others might live in freedom,” Trump said.

Did you spot it? Subtle change, eh?

I wonder how many times he said, "Many people don't know this," about things he didn't know.

“There’s not a lot of black people here,” said John Perkins, an 87-year-old Jackson resident and veteran of the civil rights movement who sat in the front row of the auditorium with his daughter, Joanie Potter.

[...]

Perkins stood for the president as he entered and exited. But his daughter, who came with her husband and two sisters, did not. “He’s up there saying the right thing, but look at what he is doing against everything the museum stands for,” Potter said.

Good for her. I hope there are pictures that air on Fake News so he can fume about it on Twitter.

Oh, yeah. Trump dragged his token black, Ben Carson, along with him. For cover, I suppose. Ben Carson has about as much respect for the civil rights of black Americans as The Most Notable Loser does.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.