Mr Trump reportedly used the term last week during a bipartisan Oval Office meeting on immigration reform.

He has now told reporters: “I am not a racist. I’m the least racist person you have ever interviewed.”

It is the first time the president has responded directly to the racism accusations.

He made the denial to White House press pool reporters at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach in Florida on Sunday night.

What did the president allegedly say?

The row broke out after lawmakers from both parties visited the president on Thursday to work on a proposal for a bipartisan immigration deal.

In recent weeks the Trump administration has been withdrawing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from a number of nationalities currently living in the country.

Reports later emerged in US media that Mr Trump had asked during the meeting: “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

Mr Trump was said to have told them that instead of granting temporary residency to citizens of countries hit by natural disasters, war or epidemics, the US should be taking in migrants from countries like Norway.

Accounts suggest that when Mr Trump was told that the largest groups of immigrants with the status were from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti, the president responded:

“Haitians? Do we need more Haitians?”

Who backed up the claims?

The president tweeted on Friday morning that the language he used in the meeting was “tough” but disputed the wording of the reports.

He also posted another tweet denying he had insulted Haitians, accusing Democrats of making it up.

But Senator Dick Durbin stood by claims, and said that Mr Trump had used “hate-filled, vile and racist” language during the meeting.

Several senior Republican lawmakers at the meeting, including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, have said they do not recall Mr Trump making the remark.

But another Republican senator who was there, Lindsey Graham, did not deny the comments were made.

“Following comments by the president, I said my piece directly to him yesterday. The president and all those attending the meeting know what I said and how I feel,” he said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a senior Republican, said that Donald Trump’s immigration comments were “very unfortunate” and “unhelpful”.

Asked on Sunday on whether he thought the comments had made it harder to achieve any immigration deal, Mr Trump responded: “Have you seen what various senators said about my comments? They weren’t made.”

What has the reaction been?

The African Union on Friday demanded that the US president apologize expressing their “shock, dismay and outrage” at the “clearly racist” remarks.

The UN human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville, told a Geneva news briefing: “There is no other word one can use but racist. You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes’.”

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) accused the president of falling “deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of racism and xenophobia”.

Several Democratic representatives have said they intend to skip the president’s State of the Union address later this month over the comments, accusing the president of racism.

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By: BBC

The post President Trump: I am no racist appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

There was public outrage after it was reported by the Washington Post that Trump had called some nations on the continent ‘shithole countries.’

According to Democratic Senator, Dick Durbin, Trump, during a meeting at the White House to consider migrant policies, said, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

The alleged remarks were said to have also been made in reference to Haiti and El Salvador.

President Trump has since rejected the claims against him in a series of tweets but White House communicators have however failed to categorically deny that he made those comments.

Mr. Mahama condemned the reported comments and urged the African Union to take action following these developments.

“Africans and Haitians come from ‘shithole’ countries? Isn’t Trump demonstrating that he’s nothing but a racist and pursuing a policy of ‘Make America White Again’? I congratulate Botswana for showing the way. Our AU Presidents must respond strongly to this insult,” Mr. Mahama said in a tweet.

The government of Botswana summoned the US ambassador of its country to express its displeasure at the comments and asked the ambassador to clarify if Botswana “is regarded as a ‘shithole’ country” in lieu of the alleged comments from President Trump.

Africans and Haitians come from ‘shithole’ countries? Isn’t Trump demonstrating that he’s nothing but a racist and pursuing a policy of ‘Make America White Again’? I congratulate Botswana for showing the way. Our AU Presidents must respond strongly to this insult.

— John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) January 12, 2018

The African Union has also said it was alarmed by President Trump’s vulgar statement.

“Given the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the United States as slaves, this statement flies in the face of all accepted behaviour and practice,” AU spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo said to the Associated Press.

The body has since issued a statement calling for the US leader to apologise for the remarks.

It said the “remarks dishonour the celebrated American creed and respect for diversity and human dignity”.

“While expressing our shock, dismay and outrage, the African Union strongly believes that there is a huge misunderstanding of the African continent and its people by the current Administration,” the AU added.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Mahama slams ‘racist’ Trump, urges action from AU appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“I can’t possibly accept this award,” she said as she (accidentally) broke it in two.

Of course, she did accept it in the end; despite protesting that Beyonce was the more deserving winner.

But the issue reignited claims the Grammys are racist – consistently overlooking black artists in favour of the white singers they inspire.

In the last 10 years, only one black musician has won the coveted album of the year award: Herbie Hancock, whose 2008 album, River, was a collection of covers of songs by the white folk singer, Joni Mitchell.

Things looked better the decade before that, when Outkast, Lauryn Hill and Indian-American artist Norah Jones all took home the trophy.

So does the Grammys have an issue with race? Not according to their president, Neil Portnow.

“I don’t think there’s a race problem at all,” he told Pitchfork, following Sunday’s ceremony.

“Remember, this is a peer-voted award. So when we say the Grammys, it’s not a corporate entity – it’s the 14,000 members of the Academy.

“We stand 100% behind the process: It’s a democratic vote by majority. So somebody could either receive or not receive a Grammy based on one vote. It could be that tight.”

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Source: BBC

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