WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was joined by golf star Tiger Woods to mark Black History Month at the White House on Thursday with a reception he called to as a chance to “pay tribute to the generations of Black legends, champions, warriors and patriots who helped drive our country forward to greatness."
The celebration comes as Trump has made ending diversity, inequity and inclusion initiatives a priority, signing an executive order to eliminate them in the federal workforce and spending.
Addressing an exuberant crowd of guests in the East Room, Trump referred to the month as a “very special time,” pledging to work with the Black community to make America “greater than ever before.”
“We're pleased to be joined on this really beautiful afternoon at the White House by hundreds of incredible members of the African American community, many of whom are making history themselves,” Trump said.
The president went on to use the event to announce that he was tapping criminal justice reform advocate Alice Johnson to be his “pardon czar.” Johnson, who herself received a pardon from Trump in 2020 after being convicted of a nonviolent drug offense, will make recommendations on people who should get clemency, the president said.
Trump also announced that a statue of Prince Estabrook, an enslaved man who fought with the Continental Army, would be included in his recently unveiled plan for a National Garden of American Heroes. He added historic Americans such as Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Coretta Scott King, Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., Kobe Bryant and more would be featured in the national park as well.
“That's not simply because they're Black heroes, but also because they are truly American heroes who inspire all of us very much,” he said.
He joked that was going to feature Woods in the garden but would “wait a little bit” as he would be the only person still alive.
Trump took the event to boast about his support from Black voters in the 2024 election. According to a survey of about 120,000 voters called AP VoteCast, the president essentially doubled his support from Black voters last November compared to the 2020 election. Still, about 80% of Black voters cast their ballot for former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the survey.
The president noted that the first Black History Month reception he hosted in his first term did not feature as large of a crowd as the one filling the East Room on Thursday.
“We had about five people in the front,” he said. “I said ‘Is anybody else coming? This is it? Are we open.’”
“But that’s all changed,” he added.
He repeated a question he has floated several times, asking those in the audience if they think he should run for a third term, something that is not permitted by the Constitution.
The crowd began to chant “Four more years” as the president added: “There’s your controversy, right?”
Black History Month has been recognized by every U.S. president since 1976, including Trump during his first term.
Trump has called DEI programs “discrimination” and pushed to eradicate diversity programs from the government, directed that DEI workers eventually be laid off and exerted similar pressure on the private sector to shift to an exclusive focus on merit.
The sweeping effort has sown discord and confusion across federal agencies, which have variously interpreted the order to limit how they can acknowledge race in history and culture or report demographic data on race and gender.
One woman in attendance, a flight attendant and former GOP chair for the Virgina city of Alexandria, Annetta Catchings, said in an interview that she doesn’t believe DEI initiatives have particularly benefited Black Americans. She did say, however, that she would like to see Trump back reparations.
“Trump doesn’t have another term, he’s already doing some monumental revolutional things,” Catchings said when asked about whether she believes Trump could get behind the idea. “If the talk of reparations is going to come from any Republican candidate or any Republican politician, it’s gonna come from him.”
Meanwhile, during the reception, the president also gave a shout out to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and player director Adam Scott. Along with Woods, the two were joined by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, for a meeting earlier on Thursday with Trump about the “reunification of golf,” according to a statement from the PGA Tour.
On stage during the reception, Woods said it was an “honor” to be at the White House with Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
