Trump tweets support for Jim Brown event

Max Zahn
After meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, Manhasset native Jim Brown (right) sits with Trump transition team member Anthony Scaramucci, a resident of Port Washington.

On Dec. 30, President-elect Donald J. Trump tweeted two polarizing remarks in praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response to American sanctions.

Between the posts, Trump wrote a lesser-noted promotion of an inauguration weekend event hosted by Amer-I-Can, an organization founded by Manhasset native and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Jim Brown.

“Join [Amer-I-Can], founded by Hall of Fame legend [Jim Brown] on 1/19/2017 in Washington, D.C.,” Trump wrote.

The tweet reinforced Brown’s status as a leading African-American supporter of the president-elect, who met with Brown at Trump Tower on Dec. 13.

Amer-I-Can, founded by Brown in 1988, offers personal development for young African-Americans. Ray Lewis, a former NFL player who also  attended the Dec. 13 meeting, will appear at the Amer-I-Can inauguration event.

“When he goes through what he went through to become the president, he got my admiration,” Brown told CNN after the meeting with Trump. “No one gave him a chance.”

Speaking on race relations with CNN’s Brooke Baldwin after the meeting, Brown referred to his upbringing in Manhasset.

“The three greatest people in my life were white, OK. My high school coach, my high school superintendent and my mentor in Manhasset, Long Island,” he said.

Though he supported Hillary Clinton in the general election, Brown said he was impressed with how Trump approached the meeting.

An inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and eight-time NFL rushing leader, Brown participated in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, and helped create a business preparedness organization called the Negro Industrial Economic Union, according to www.cleveland.com.

After his meeting with Trump, Brown was photographed with Trump transition team member Anthony Scaramucci, a resident of Port Washington.

The Amer-I-Can inauguration event will also feature former Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight, who endorsed Trump in the general election.

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