Virginia’s black state lawmakers to boycott Jamestown event with Trump

African-American state legislators in Virginia are planning to skip events commemorating 400 years of representative democracy in Jamestown on Tuesday because of the presence of President Trump, who is again taking criticism for his attacks on minority lawmakers. 

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC) announced the boycott on Monday, saying in a statement that the president’s participation would tarnish the programs meant to celebrate the nation’s origins. 

{mosads}”The commemoration of the birth of this nation and its democracy will be tarnished unduly with the participation of the President, who continues to make degrading comments toward minority leaders, promulgate policies that harm marginalized communities, and use racist and xenophobic rhetoric,” the group said, adding later that “it is impossible to ignore the emblem of hate and disdain” that Trump represents. 

“Those who have chosen to attend and remain silent are complicit in the atrocities that he incites,” the caucus concludes. 

Trump is among one of the many state and national leaders expected to attend a ceremony in Jamestown for the American Evolution 400th Anniversary Commemoration. He is slated to speak at the Jamestown Settlement on Tuesday morning. 

Asked for comment on the boycott, the White House pointed to Trump policies and achievements that it said would benefit black voters.

“President Trump passed criminal justice reform, developed opportunity zones securing record-setting investment in distressed communities, and pushed policies that created the lowest unemployment rates ever for African Americans, so it’s a bit confusing and unfortunate that the VLBC would choose to push a political agenda instead of celebrate this milestone for our nation,” press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to The Hill. 

The VLBC said it would arrange alternative events in Richmond. Among them will include a wreath-laying ceremony at the state capitol, as well as a commemoration of the first documented arrival of enslaved Africans to Virginia. 

The announced boycott came as Trump ramped up his attacks against Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and the Baltimore-area district he represents. Among other things, Trump has derided Cummings as a “brutal bully” and his district as a “rodent infested mess.”

The slams on Cummings followed Trump’s attacks earlier this month on four minority congresswomen. In tweets that the House voted to condemn as racist, the president told the freshmen Democrats to “go back” to where they came from, despite the fact that all four are U.S. citizens and three were born in the U.S.

Following Trump’s attacks on “the Squad,” the leaders of the Virginia House and Senate Democratic caucuses had previously vowed to boycott the Jamestown ceremony if he attended. 

“The current President does not represent the values that we would celebrate at the 400th anniversary of the oldest democratic body in the western world,” the Virginia Democrats said in a statement. 

“We offer just three words of advice to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation: ‘Send Him Back,’” they added, referencing the “send her back” crowd chant that occurred as Trump lashed out at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) at a rally in North Carolina this month. 

—Updated at 8:44 p.m.