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President Trump's Attacks Prompt Soul Searching in Baltimore

Carolyn Presutti

   BALTIMORE - U.S. President Donald Trump's denouncement of the storied
   East Coast city of Baltimore as a "rat and rodent infested mess" and
   its longtime African American Congressman, Elijah Cummings prompted a
   cacophony of objections from Baltimore City and Maryland state
   officials who defended the city as a work in progress.

   National civil rights leaders assailed Trump as a racist, given [1]the
   city is nearly 64% African American.

   But the president insisted there was nothing racist about shining a
   harsh light on a poorly run city that has long shortchanged its African
   American residents. Trump's attacks on Twitter and in press appearances
   have touched off both outrage and soul-searching by many of the city's
   residents in the past week.

References

   1. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/baltimorecitymarylandcounty/PST045218

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