Pastor Calls Trump Most ‘Pro-Black’ President Ever

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with inner-city pastors in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Aug. 1, 2018. Oliver Contreras - Pool/Getty Images

An African-American pastor praised President Donald Trump and his administration’s efforts in communities of faith, particularly in the African-American community, at a roundtable at the White House on Aug. 1.

“This administration has taken a lot of people by surprise,” Pastor Darrell Scott, from Ohio, told members of the roundtable in the White House’s Cabinet room. “This is probably the most proactive administration regarding urban America and the faith-based community in my lifetime.”

Scott, the co-founder of the New Spirit Revival Center church, was among a number of religious leaders from around the country who met with the president to converse primarily on the topic of prison reform.

Scott compared Trump’s efforts with those of former President Barack Obama, the first African-American president elected to the White House.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Senior pastor John Gray during a meeting with inner-city pastors in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Aug. 1, 2018. Oliver Contreras - Pool/Getty Images

“This is probably going to be ... the most pro-black president I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Scott said. “This president actually wants to prove something to our community, our faith-based community, and our ethnic community.

“The last president didn’t feel like he had to. He felt like he didn’t have to prove it. He got a pass.”

In May, Trump scored one of his first major bipartisan wins in Congress after a House prison reform bill—the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, or FIRST STEP Act—successfully passed through the judiciary committee. The bill sets up a system of ranking prisoners based on their risk of recidivism. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, led the effort.

Kushner, who was also at the roundtable, told attendees that faith communities like theirs contributed greatly to getting the bill passed.

“You guys came to the White House. You all mobilized your communities,” Kushner said. “And we were able to get the bill through the House, and hopefully, we’ll have the same results in the Senate.”