NFL legend Jim Brown declared Tuesday that the black community “has a responsibility” to fix its own problems rather than placing the blame on President Trump.
In an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” the former Browns running back called Mr. Trump an “exceptional” president who genuinely cares about the country, but that he isn’t responsible for the black community’s troubles.
“We should look at ourselves first before we look at the president,” Mr. Brown, 82, said. “The black community … has a responsibility regardless of what the president does. And if you have a homicide rate within your black community, then it’s not the president that’s created a homicide rate, it’s the black community itself that needs to address it.
“So I don’t want to just put everything on him,” he continued. “And I’m sorry to say that the black community is not doing what we should do, and that includes myself. We have to be able to, as citizens, bring something that the president can join forces with and triple the effectiveness of it.”
Mr. Brown also gave credit to “white people” who have fought for and supported black Americans throughout history.
“The advancement of black people in this country is based upon white people who risked their lives just to do the right thing to make the playing field equal and balanced,” he said. “How many black athletes are millionaires because of those white fans that go to those games?”
Mr. Brown faced backlash last week after he criticized NFL national anthem kneelers and revealed that he was “really pulling for the president,” who has repeatedly criticized kneeling athletes.
Mr. Trump responded by thanking Mr. Brown on Twitter, writing, “Thank you to the great @JimBrownNFL32, perhaps the greatest running back of all time, for your wonderful words and support. Since our meeting in New York, African-American UNEMPLOYMENT has reached the LOWEST LEVEL IN HISTORY. You get it!”
Mr. Brown on Tuesday repeated his criticism of athletes who protest the national anthem.
“We should never denigrate our flag and our national anthem,” he said. “We should always be Americans first and we should work our butts off to do the right thing and make it a better country.”
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