Trump calls Jesse Jackson ‘a piece of work’ and a ‘good man’
President Trump offered condolences to the family of Rev. Jesse Jackson at a Black History Month event at the White House.
- Florida A&M University President Marva Johnson attended a White House Black History Month event hosted by President Donald Trump.
- The event included a pre-meeting with leaders from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
- President Trump acknowledged the HBCU leaders in attendance and highlighted funding he secured for the institutions.
Florida A&M University President Marva Johnson was in Washington D.C. Feb. 18, where she participated in the White House Black History Month Celebration hosted by President Donald Trump, which included an HBCU Leaders Pre-Meeting.
“Florida A&M University has always been more than a place – it is a promise,” Johnson said in a prepared statement. “Every room I enter, I enter as FAMU’s president, in service of our students and our mission. It is an honor to ensure that we are represented in every room as we continue to advocate for our students and their success.”
During Trump’s Black History Month reception livestreamed on YouTube and C-SPAN, he gave leaders of the nation’s HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities) a shoutout but did not name any of the university presidents individually.
“I like the historically Black colleges and universities, which I saved,” Trump said as he highlighted funding he’s secured for HBCUs during his first presidential term from 2017 to 2021. “So many… are in the audience that are just friends of mine… but if I introduce all of you, we’re gonna be here a long time.”
The reception was visually packed, with Trump receiving consistent rounds of applause as several attendees were seen with their cell phones in the air to record the event.
Johnson, a former vice president for Charter Communications, previously served as a member of the Republican National Convention host committee in Jacksonville in 2020 during Trump’s first term in office. In December of that year, she was one of 29 Florida electors, who cast a vote for Trump during the state’s Electoral College gathering in Tallahassee.
Her predecessor, former FAMU President Larry Robinson also participated in events at the White House over the years. In 2017, Robinson attended a summit during Black History Month on HBCUs with Trump’s staff and Republican lawmakers, where he and other HBCU presidents were invited to the summit by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
“President Johnson will use every platform – public and private – to elevate the contributions of HBCUs and land-grant institutions, to ensure meaningful investment, and to reaffirm that institutions like FAMU are essential to America’s competitiveness and conscience,” the university said in a Feb. 18 release. “Her engagement is not symbolic; it is strategic. It is rooted in the belief that when HBCUs are fully supported and fully understood, the entire nation benefits.”
Besides acknowledging several Black leaders in the room during the reception Wednesday, Trump also honored the late Rev. Jesse Jackson – a civil rights icon who died Feb. 17 at 84 – and described him as a “real hero” who “truly loved people” and was a “force of nature.”
Some of the Black leaders at the reception who were named during Trump’s speech included:
- Ben Carson, former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary
- Scott Turner, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary
- Leo James Terrell, American civil rights attorney
- Earl Matthews, general counsel of the Department of War
- Alice Marie Johnson, American criminal justice reform advocate and former federal prisoner
- Lynne Martine Patton, deputy assistant to the President for Coalition Policy and Engagement
- Corrin Rankin, chairwoman of the California Republican Party.
- Diante Johnson, founder and president of the Black Conservative Federation
