A volunteer coordinator for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in Ohio resigned on Thursday afternoon after the Guardian published a video interview in which she said there was “no racism” until President Obama came into office and that black people who’ve struggled to succeed since the 1960s have no one to blame but themselves.
“If you’re black and you haven’t been successful in the last 50 years, it’s your own fault,” Kathy Miller, chair of the Republican nominee’s campaign in Mahoning County, Ohio, said in the interview. “You’ve had every opportunity, it was given to you.”
“You’ve had the same schools everybody else went to,” Miller continued. “You had benefits to go to college that white kids didn’t have. You had all the advantages and didn’t take advantage of it. It’s not our fault, certainly.”
She added: “I don’t think there was any racism until Obama got elected. We never had problems like this. … Now, with the people with the guns, and shooting up neighborhoods and not being responsible citizens, that’s a big change, and I think that’s the philosophy that Obama has perpetuated on America.”
“My personal comments were inappropriate, and I apologize. I am not a spokesperson for the campaign and was not speaking on its behalf,” she said in a statement. “I have resigned as the volunteer campaign chair in Mahoning County and as an elector to the electoral college to avoid any unnecessary distractions.”
Her resignation comes as Trump continues his attempted outreach to African-American voters in crucial swing states like Ohio.
At a Fox News town hall focused on black issues in Cleveland on Wednesday night, Trump proposed that police departments launch or reinstate controversial “stop and frisk” policies in high-crime cities like Chicago.
Trump gave a grim assessment of black neighborhoods at a rally in North Carolina the night before.
“Our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape that they’ve ever been in before, ever, ever, ever,” he said.
Making the case for why African-Americans should support Donald Trump on Wednesday, boxing promoter Don King continuously used the word "Negro" and even the N word in a Cleveland church. King made the comments while telling a story about what he told Michael Jackson about assimilation in America.
Trump began his pitch to Ohio’s black voters last month.
“What the hell do you have to lose?” Trump said at a rally before a predominantly white crowd in Akron on Aug. 22. “Give me a chance. I’ll straighten it out.”
Hillary Clinton and her fellow Democrats have been critical of Trump’s remarks.
“You may have heard Hillary’s opponent in this election say that there’s never been a worse time to be a black person,” Obama said at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner in Washington on Saturday night. “I mean, he missed that whole civics lesson about slavery and Jim Crow.”
“He says we got nothing left to lose,” Obama continued, “so we might as well support somebody who has fought against civil rights and fought against equality, and who has shown no regard for working people for most of his life. Well, we do have challenges, but we’re not stupid.”
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