The Latest: Trump pays tribute to civil rights movement
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump's visit to Mississippi for the opening of museums dedicated to the state's history and its role in the civil rights movement (all times local):
11:30 a.m.
President Donald Trump has paid tribute to Mississippi's role in the civil rights movement at the opening of two new museums in Jackson, the capital.
Some black leaders — including civil rights leader and Georgia congressman John Lewis — are boycotting Saturday's event, saying Trump has sown racial division instead of racial harmony.
In his remarks to assembled guests, Trump said: "The civil rights museum records the oppression, cruelty and injustice inflicted on the African-American community, the fight to bring down Jim Crow and end segregation, to gain the right to vote and to achieve the sacred birthright of equality."
He said: "And it's big stuff. That's big stuff."
Trump left before the public opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the adjacent Museum of Mississippi History.
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11:05 a.m.
About 50 protesters greeted President Donald Trump at the opening of museums in Jackson, Mississippi, dedicated to the state's history and its role in the civil rights movement.
Some black leaders — including civil rights leader and Georgia congressman John Lewis — are boycotting the event, saying Trump has sown racial division instead of racial harmony.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, the only statewide elected official who's a Democrat, declined an invitation to go inside the museums to meet Trump. Hood instead mingled with the public at the ceremony outside.
The national president of the NAACP and the mayor of Jackson also are not attending Saturday's opening. They said they can't share a stage with Trump in Mississippi because of his "pompous disregard" for the values embodied by the civil rights movement.
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10:50 a.m.
President Donald Trump has arrived in Mississippi to help open a museum dedicated to the state's role in the civil rights movement.
Some black leaders — including civil rights leader and Georgia congressman John Lewis — are boycotting the event, saying Trump has sown racial division instead of racial harmony.
Lewis had been expected to be one of the main speakers, along with Myrlie Evers, the widow of assassinated Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers.
Medgar Evers' brother, Charles, who endorsed Trump, was among those who greeted him at the airport in Jackson on Saturday.
Trump plans to tour the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and make brief remarks to assembled guests, but will leave before the public opening of this museum and an adjacent museum on Mississippi history.
