Trump Brings Message of Unity to Parishioners at Black Church in Detroit...

Trump Brings Message of Unity to Parishioners at Black Church in Detroit...

When I heard Trump was going to address a Black church today, I wondered just what he was going to say. I expected him to promise them jobs and education, and general feel-good rot like this --

'I want to help you rebuild Detroit, make the city the economic envy of the world,' he said to applause. 'Things are going to get better.'

--- but I didn't expect this from him:

'But today, I'm here to listen,' he said while reading from a hand-written message. 'I mean it from the heart.'

'I'm here today to learn, so that we can together remedy injustice in any form, and so that we can also remedy economics so that the African-American community can benefit economically through jobs and income and so many other different ways.

I'm still not voting for him, but this approach is a breath of fresh air. I hope and pray it opens up new lines of communication and dialogue and collaboration which then lead to much needed effective reforms. Einstein's definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It's time to put some new heads together, work together, and find new solutions.

a reply to: Boadicea

We are not going to be able to solve our indifferences with more government. Not going to do it if we keep voting the same people who are establishment either. Dems or Reps are not solving anything either beings how they are the ones that caused this cluster fluck. I think we as individuals can do better if we just treat people the way we would like to be treated. A little kindness can go along way in another's life.
I can be my own hope for a better tomorrow for someone else.

a reply to: Tarzan the apeman.

I think we as individuals can do better if we just treat people the way we would like to be treated. A little kindness can go along way in another's life.
I can be my own hope for a better tomorrow for someone else.

I agree -- most definitely!!! And I think this is the right step in that direction. Talking to people and listening to people talk to you... instead of someone in a cushy government office -- or anywhere -- telling folks what they need or what they need to do or what they cannot do and on and on.

I also strongly agree that the best way to help anyone is to help them help themselves, so I do like the talk of better education which will lead to increased jobs on its own... or... give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for life.

But it all starts with talking and listening.

a reply to: Tarzan the apeman.

I don't think the underlying message was more government, and I understand your thinking that government doesn't have a place in deciding the direction of the private sector. That being said policy does have an impact on private sector and things definitely need to be addressed. I'm not saying I think Trump is the man to do it, just making a point.

That being said I'm glad he left his douche bag at home. He was almost not a stunt clown today.

Understand when I type this that I got this from black school admin - We were told to make rules with the kids as much as possible. Why? Because the rules were partially of the kids' own making, they took ownership and when they took ownership because they were partially responsible for having made that, they took more pride in trying to uphold those rules.

This is the same idea for these communities.

You cannot hand them things and expect them to take ownership. They have to work with you and be at least partially responsible for the changes, so that those things are as much theirs as anyone else's.

For example, school choice.

You don't just try to hand them beautiful schools. You make it possible for them to choose to attend beautiful schools, and then it is up to them to either avail themselves of that choice and make it stick or not. They meet you halfway on it. Those who truly don't care won't bother, and it sucks to be their children, but odds are that many of those kids were not going to make it out anyhow ... not without the environment at home.

At that point, we have to figure out how to try to address those issues, but it becomes about repairing broken homes and less about repairing broken school. School needs home in order to be fully successful for almost all kids.

So yes, we need to talk and we need to listen, and it needs to happen all the way around. We do need to work together because its only in working for something and earning it for yourself that you truly take pride in ownership and accomplishment. You DO build that, and with it comes a confidence and sense of worth that cannot be replaced by anything else. If we can get that going in many of these communities, I think we'd be well on track to fixing a lot of what ails this country.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Actually, no.

Trump talked about school choice which involves freeing government tax dollars so that parents can have better control over where the money spent/child now goes instead of being confined to the school district they live in.

It's better known as the voucher system.

I'd love to have it. My own area spends up wards of $12,000/child/year and if I had that in a voucher, even a tiny portion, we could afford to easily keep sending our kid to his current school with no issues. As it is, we may have to apply for financial aid to help us cover the tail end of his tuition next year. Think what that power would mean to poor parents locked in the inner city whose kids do everything right but are essentially trapped in failing, violent schools.

That wouldn't require more government. On the contrary, it requires less or a shifting of what currently exists.

The other part of the message was the idea of freeing up America's economic engine. Again, a lot of this is through less government which is a large part of what is strangling business and job opportunities.

Then, yes, there will need to be some restructuring of programs to be more efficient at what they do.

America twice elected a black man.

We all thought some real progress had been made.

Then they found out it wasn't politically expedient.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

I don't think the underlying message was more government, and I understand your thinking that government doesn't have a place in deciding the direction of the private sector. That being said policy does have an impact on private sector and things definitely need to be addressed. I'm not saying I think Trump is the man to do it, just making a point.

Thank you for summing that up so well -- and adding it to the thread!

a reply to: ketsuko

We do need to work together because its only in working for something and earning it for yourself that you truly take pride in ownership and accomplishment. You DO build that, and with it comes a confidence and sense of worth that cannot be replaced by anything else. If we can get that going in many of these communities, I think we'd be well on track to fixing a lot of what ails this country.

Your entire comment was excellent -- thank you for adding it! -- and this summed it up well.

No one can give someone else self-worth and self-sufficiency -- especially not government. The best we can hope for and strive for is a level playing field that provides everyone the opportunity to learn and strive and achieve for themselves. Then they own it and they know it.

a reply to: ketsuko

That wouldn't require more government. On the contrary, it requires less or a shifting of what currently exists.

The other part of the message was the idea of freeing up America's economic engine. Again, a lot of this is through less government which is a large part of what is strangling business and job opportunities.

Then, yes, there will need to be some restructuring of programs to be more efficient at what they do.

Again, excellent comment -- thank you.

It's all about how we regulate and govern... not if.

a reply to: Boadicea

If you wanted to know what he was going to say? It was in the NYT a day before and on our local Detroit nightly news...word for word...the day beforehand.

Search these out....below.

Leaked Script Shows What Advisers Want Trump to Say at ...

New York Times · 2 days ago

Sep 01, 2016 · Credit Sean Proctor for The New York Times . DETROIT — Donald J. Trump’s visit to a black ... Conservative Hispanics Deplore Donald Trump’s Speech ...
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NY Times: Trump's Interview With Black Pastor Scripted, to ...

News Max
2 days ago
Sep 01, 2016 · Donald Trump's upcoming interview with a black pastor in Detroit has been scripted ... Trump campaign, The New York Times ... Trump Immigration Speech ...

a reply to: mysterioustranger

If you wanted to know what he was going to say? It was in the NYT a day before and on our local Detroit nightly news...word for word...the day beforehand.

Interesting. I saw lots of articles that he would be speaking... but I hadn't seen any including a transcript of his speech. I know it's not unusual for folks to release their planned speeches ahead of time; but this was apparently leaked? Probably like accidentally-on-purpose leaked of course.

Oh well. Too late now anyway. Had to read about the real thing instead!

So if you're from the Detroit area, what did you think? Hearing any scuttlebutt around town about what others thought of this?

a reply to: Boadicea

What most of us thought? A majority realized speechwriters wrote his words so as to say the right things and not offend the community any further.

The most obvious is they werent his thoughts like in the beginning days...but carefully scripted and crafted to achieve an agenda...and his purported "sensitivity"(yeah NOW)...to the black community.

SAD...and he will be toning down and reading more telepromoters the closer it gets.

I also saw a report that he showed up at the church and stayed for only 15 minutes... and that there weren't a lot of people there. The source was Bipartisan Report, though the Washington Post reports it as a "brief visit."

a reply to: mysterioustranger

That's pretty much what I think about every politician -- including Trump.

But after being taunted for not taking his message to Black people directly to Black communities, I think the fact that he did just that -- and these pics -- are working for him. At least with some people. I guess what I'm hoping is that despite Trump's pandering, this is going to create new ways to approach old problems, even if/when Trump loses the election.

a reply to: Byrd

Yeah, I didn't see a specific amount of time he was there, but that he only stayed for half of the service. I must have missed something though, because it also said after the service he went to the childhood home of Dr. Carson, and I thought the pastor was with them. But maybe he went before the service. I've read a few articles since this one, and I probably confused myself.

a reply to: mysterioustranger

At least his prepared remarks didn't include adopting fake accent or claiming he went everywhere with hot sauce in his brief case.

What he did was explain how specific policy positions would do to help them.

And in my experience, when you talk to a concerned inner city parents and explain to them that the state spends over $10,000 every year to force them to send their kid to that crappy school and that most solid private school options cost less than $10,000 per year and ask them, "If you could do the leg work to apply and get your kid into one of those schools, and you had access to that money the state settles to force you send you kid to that sucky school that you and I both know is failing both your and your child, would you take that option and force the state to use that money to put your kid in the private or charter school instead?"

I've never met one who said no.

Thing is that most inner city parents who care that much about their kid's education are going to see to it that their kids toe the line in better school if it means keeping them there. And the schools in question will take the money if the kids are going to toe the line.

a reply to: ketsuko

Yes. We've just had MILLIONS of $$ stolen from principals in the Detroit Public School system. 8-9 of them. Some already plea bargained....one was on the Ellen DeGeneres show accepting a donation for his school of $500,000...and THEN was found to have stole more than that for unordered "school supplies".

You should see the mansions some were in...while their schools had holes in the walls, toilets broken, not enough books...you name it...it was missing. These principals were out for themselves...while crying that the schools needed help. Some of them were in their 60's. One agreed to pay back the schools to avoid prison.

And for many years now...I know of Detroit residents that registered their children as living in relatives suburban Detroit homes...so they could go to those schools for a real education. And there are thousands of those living at "Auntie Mary's" in LIvonia or Dearborn Heights, Redford, Southfield etc.

The school system is so broke and broken that we need more than candidates to promise things they cant deliver or who have no real knowledge of whats going on really...and some classes have 40-60 students..with one teacher...many sharing books...

There is such a thing as moving the outhouse because it just cant get any more worse. The school buildings are broken, supplies gone, overcrowding and rich thieves for principals.

And Trump or Clinton cant even begin to fix all this......

a reply to: ketsuko
a reply to: mysterioustranger

Both of you bring up valid issues, and this is where we need to expand our perspectives and find/create fresh solutions for old problems.

The school voucher program is one. Not only does it let kids escape crappy schools for better schools, it also allows for charter schools focused on specific areas -- such as math and science, or the arts, etc -- and thus allows kids to go where their individual aptitudes are allowed to flourish and thrive.

I've heard good things about open enrollment within a district as well.

We could also put more resources into home-schooling programs and internet study programs -- not just the brick and mortars. This could be especially beneficial for kids at both ends of the spectrum; remedial students could get the additional help they need that public schools too often cannot/do not provide, and gifted students could progress at their own pace and not be held back by programs that geared to the average student.

For high school students, work study programs, as well as more shop classes and/or dual enrollment in vocational training programs.

I know people may not like him but, this is kind of Trump in a nutshell right here,

Einstein's definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It's time to put some new heads together, work together, and find new solutions

And the reason I am voting for him.