(CNSNews.com) – Donald Trump will probably be “the most pro-black president we’ve had in our lifetime,” Pastor Darrell Scott said during a White House meeting with inner city pastors Trump held on Wednesday.
Scott said Trump “actually wants to prove something” to the black community while former President Barack Obama “didn’t feel like he had to.”
“But, to be honest, this is probably going to be the -- and I’m going to say this at this table -- the most pro-black president that we’ve had in our lifetime because -- and I try to, you know, analyze the people that I encounter. This president actually wants to prove something to our community, our faith-based community and our ethnic community,” said Scott of the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
“The last president didn’t feel like he had to. He felt like he didn’t have to prove it. He got a pass. This president is -- this administration is probably going to be more proactive regarding urban revitalization and prison reform than any president in your lifetime,” he said.
“If we work together, give him a chance. Don’t pay any attention to these guys back here,” Scott joked, referring to the White House press pool. And I’ll promise you, we will do something that -- we will -- this administration will continue to make history. It’s going to be a lot of positive changes. Great things are on the horizon. I promise,” Scott said.
Scott said he’s had “the honor and privilege to work with then-candidate, now President Trump, and to observe him behind the scenes and have a number of personal conversations with him, and people ask me why do I defend him so vociferously. And I say it’s easy for me to do it because I know him, and he’s shown me his heart, and I know he has a heart for all Americans,” the pastor said.
“And I will say this: This administration has taken a lot of people by surprise, and it’s going to surprise you guys even more, because this is probably the most proactive administration regarding urban America and the faith-based community in my lifetime, and I’ll be 60 years old in December,” Scott said.
Trump praised Scott, saying, “I have to say one thing about Darrell. So, I didn’t know him at all, and I’m watching one of the, I would say, ‘unfriendly’ groups of broadcasters, to put it nicely. And I said, ‘Who is that guy?’ He was destroying them. I say, ‘Who is he?’ And then I saw him two or three times, and I said, ‘I have to meet him.’ But I want to just thank you. You have been incredible. You are some voice.”
Trump started the meeting by touting the economic gains his administration has made so far including lowering unemployment, reducing regulations, cutting taxes, increasing U.S. energy, promoting U.S. manufacturing, as well as launching a workforce training initiative, addressing “Opportunity Zones” for communities with high unemployment in the tax reform bill, and helping former prisoners re-entering society to find jobs.
“We've increased and created 3.7 million more jobs since Election Day. African American and Hispanic unemployment rates have reached the lowest levels in recorded history, meaning history -- the lowest levels ever. African American and Hispanic, Asian also, Women also -- 66 years,” the president said.
“We've launched a bold workforce training initiative. So far, over 100 companies and associations have already pledged to train and retrain over 4 million Americans. So important, because we have companies, once again, coming back into our country, and they want to employ people. So we're training and working with these people, and we're getting companies to do the same,” he said.
“We fought very hard to include ‘Opportunity Zones’ in our tax bill, which, as you know, we have. This tax incentive will bring badly needed investment into distressed communities -- communities with high unemployment, communities where it's really tough, and tough to get a job. And already, we're seeing what's happening. We're seeing the benefits,” Trump said.
“Our focus on opportunity for every citizen includes helping former prisoners. These citizens reentering society have had a tough time. We want them to get jobs so they don't have to return to a life of crime and go back into the same prison where they just got out. I mean, this has been a tremendous problem, and the best thing we could do, actually, is exactly what we're doing: creating an environment where the country is doing so well,” he said.