During his remarks, Mr. Trump made little reference to issues that have historically plagued the Black community, such as elevated poverty rates, the wage and wealth gap between Black and white Americans, and gun violence. He promised to put statues of Black Americans in a new “National Garden of American Heroes.” Among those to be honored was Prince Estabrook, an enslaved man and the first Black American to spill blood in the Revolutionary War, along with Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin — and maybe Mr. Woods one day, Mr. Trump said.
He mentioned Prince Estabrook who was the first person to be wounded during the Revolutionary War and announced a statue of him will be added to the new National Garden of American Heroes. The garden will include statues of Harriet Tubman, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, Kobe Bryant and others. Trump said many states have offered to host the National Garden of American Heroes and a search team is assessing potential locations. Meanwhile, Congress is seeing a rise in representation among Black politicians, he said.
Trump said during Black History Month, we pay tribute to these heroes and many others “not simply because they’re black heroes, but also because they are truly American heroes who inspire all of us very much.” The president listed those who will have a statue in the garden, naming “incredible women like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billy Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Coretta Scott King.” “And I will showcase extraordinary, it will be something very extraordinary. We’re going to produce some of the most beautiful works of art in the form of a statue for men like Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, Jackie Robinson, what a great athlete that was,” Trump added. “Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali. He’s not a bad athlete. What do you think, Muhammad, not too bad. And the late Kobe Bryant. People love Kobe Bryant.”
