Members Of NYC's Haitian Community Call Trump's Reported Comments 'Offensive,' 'Ignorant'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New Yorkers are reacting to President Donald Trump's reported vulgar remarks about immigrants from African countries and Haiti.
On Thursday, Trump reportedly questioned why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti and "s***hole countries" in Africa. Some media outlets also reported that Trump said in reference to Haitians, "take them out."
In multiple tweets Friday morning, the president said "this was not the language used" and insisted he "never said anything derogatory about Haitians."
But the city's Haitian community isn't buying the president's denials.
"We're not going to take it from Mr. Trump. Trump has to go," Marie Lourdes St. John Beaute, spokesperson with the immigration advocacy group KOMOKODO, said. "But I'm not surprised he said that because not too long ago he said all Haitians have AIDS."
The Haitian government said it is "deeply shocked and outraged'' by the president's reported vulgar remark, calling it "racist.''
Members of New York City's Haitian community agreed.
"That wasn't appropriate. That was very offensive to a lot of people and he shouldn't have said that," a Haitian woman who works in Little Senegal said, adding it's too late for an apology. "It's already done, it's not about me, it's about what he said already."
"I think it was an ignorant comment," said a high school student whose parents immigrated from Mali. "To me he doesn't seem like a president. I think he doesn't deserve to be a president."
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said Haitians are resilient.
"We will out-Trump Trump, and let him know that America belongs to all of us," he said.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
