President Donald Trump denounced the "horrors" of slavery in a speech Tuesday marking the birth of US democracy, but an interruption by a heckler accusing him of "hate" underlined how many Americans now see him as openly racist.
A political firestorm over race has engulfed the Republican leader over the last week and the ugly controversy followed him to Jamestown, Virginia, where 400 years ago English colonists established their first local legislature. Black Virginia state lawmakers boycotted the event, saying it had been "tarnished" by Trump.
"It is impossible to ignore the emblem of hate and disdain that the President represents," the African-American lawmakers said in a statement, accusing Trump of using "racist and xenophobic rhetoric."