Jim Brown, Ray Lewis talk of ‘fantastic’ meeting with Trump

Daily News Article   —   Posted on December 15, 2016

(by Ben Kamisar, The Hill) – President-elect Donald Trump met Tuesday with former football superstars Jim Brown and Ray Lewis to talk about curbing gang violence.

Brown and Lewis praised the president-elect after the meeting at Trump Tower. They said they primarily spoke to Trump about Brown’s Amer-I-Can non-profit, which aims to keep kids away from gang violence.

“We couldn’t have had a better meeting,” Brown said. “The graciousness, the intelligence, the reception we got was fantastic.”

Former “Apprentice” star Omarosa Manigault and Cleveland Pastor Darrell Scott, two of Trump’s most prominent black supporters, sat in on the meeting. Pastor Scott told reporters that the president-elect gave a “verbal commitment” to merge Brown’s program with the Trump administration.

Throughout the campaign’s closing stretch, Trump made direct appeals to the black community, promising that he would help make their communities safer as president.

Brown and Lewis were superstars in the NFL and both won the MVP award and the league championship.

Lewis, who played for the Baltimore Ravens, told reporters that Trump is committed to “helping us change what hasn’t been changed.” He praised the Amer-I-Can program and said he supports Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who also ran in the Republican presidential primary.

“What we believe, with the Trump administration, is if we can combine these two powers of coming together, forget black and white. Black or white is irrelevant,” Lewis said.

“The bottom line is job creation and economic development in these urban areas to change the whole scheme of what our kids see.”

Pastor Scott, an ardent Trump supporter explained, “We talked about marrying or merging the Amer-I-Can program with the Trump administration to make America great again.  Rather than going out and inventing a vehicle to enhance the African-American community we have a vehicle in place that we need the country to get behind so we can affect positive change in our communities.”

Interviewed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper Tuesday night, Mr. Brown said that Trump was “very receptive” and lighthearted as they discussed those issues.

Brown acknowledged he was a Hillary Clinton supporter, but said that “people that go against the election are going against America.” He heralded America’s free and fair elections and said it would have been too easy for him to sit back and complain after his candidate lost.

“If you get off your butt and apply yourself,” he said, “you can be successful.”

Compiled from news reports by The Hill and the NY Daily News.  Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.