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Originally Posted by brassmonkey
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Back in 1998 and 1999, Trump worked with Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH coalition to help offer a way to get African Americans into corporate America and improve their communities through building projects and jobs. Jackson praised Trump’s savvy business aplomb not once, but twice.
"We need your building skills, your gusto, your [unintelligible] for people on Wall Street to represent diversity, and we thank you for coming tonight. Let’s give Donald Trump a big hand," Jackson said at an event captured by C-SPAN cameras.
At another event a year later, Jackson introduced his "friend" and thanked Trump for giving blacks a "face" on Wall Street.
"When we opened this Wall Street project and we talked about it, you gave us face at 40 Wall Street, which was to make a statement about our having a presence there," said Jackson. "Beyond that in terms of reaching out and being inclusive, he’s done that, too."
Jackson also applauded Trump’s "will to make things better" for the "underserved communities." In addition, Jackson thanked Trump for meeting with him in 1984 and in 1988 when he ran for president at a time when the United States would’ve found the idea of a black president "laughable."