Donald Trump declared Tuesday that America's African-American communities "are absolutely in the worst shape that they've ever been in before, ever, ever, ever."
At a rally Tuesday in rural Kenansville, N.C. – named after a man whose family owned a slave plantation, according to the Washington Post – Trump attacked Democrats who control America's urban centers as having failed the black residents who live there.
He then rhetorically asked black voters, "what do you have to lose?" Politico reported.
"We're going to make our country wealthy again," he told the mostly white audience, Politico reported.
"We're going to make our country safe again. We're going to rebuild our inner cities because our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape that they've ever been in before, ever, ever, ever.
"You take a look at the inner cities, you get no education, you get no jobs, you get shot walking down the street. They're worse, I mean honestly – places like Afghanistan are safer than some of our inner cities."
The comments drew immediate criticism on social media from critics who blasted him for failing to consider America's history with slavery, Jim Crow laws and segregation.