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Obama calls on Trump to visit African-American history museum

by Jesse Byrnes - 09/23/16 9:41 AM ET

President Obama is encouraging Donald Trump to visit Washington’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture, saying it could benefit the GOP presidential nominee.

Obama said in an interview that aired Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” his suggestion was in response to Trump claiming that that African-American community is in worse shape than ever before.

{mosads}”I think that even most 8-year-olds will tell you that whole slavery thing wasn’t very good for black people, Jim Crow wasn’t very good for black people,” Obama said. “What we have to do is use our history to propel us to make even more progress in the future.”

Trump has made a series of appeals to black voters in recent weeks as he tries to draw support from a group that overwhelmingly supports his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. On Thursday, he called for police wrongdoing to be “vigorously addressed” after officers shot and killed black men in two states.

Obama made his remarks in an interview at the Smithsonian’s newest museum, which opens Saturday.

Obama also alluded to the museum during a speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation last weekend when first commenting on Trump’s remarks about the history of the African-American community.

“We’ve got a museum for him to visit, so he can tune in. We will educate him,” Obama said.

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton