Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight

Presidential Candidate Donald Trump talks to Gregory Cheadle of Redding, right, after his speech at the Redding Municipal Airport. Trump called out Cheadle as "my African-American over here" during his speech.

SHARE Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Gregory Cheadle of Redding talks to a woman before presidential candidate Donald Trump visited Redding Friday, speaking to a crowd at the Redding Municipal Airport. Cheadle, a candidate for Congress was called out by Donald Trump at the rally for being, "my African-American over here." Jenny Espino/Record Searchlight Gregory Cheadle, a candidate in the 1st Congressional District race, talks to another person at the Donald Trump rally on Friday in Redding. Cheadle was the man Trump pointed to and said, "There's my African-American." Related Photos Photo gallery: Donald Trump holds rally in Redding

Gregory Cheadle took no offense when on Friday during a rally, Donald Trump singled him out and asked, “Look at my African-American over here!”

At the Friday rally, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was in the middle of describing a past campaign event, at which he said a black supporter “slugged” protesters who were dressed in a “Ku Klux Klan outfit.”

“I want to find out what’s going on with him,” Trump said of the supporter at the previous rally. He then appeared to spot a black person in the audience of Friday’s event at Redding Municipal Airport.

“Oh, look at my African-American over here,” an excited Trump said, while pointing into the crowd. “Look at him. Are you the greatest? You know what I’m talking about? OK!”

Cheadle, a Republican from Happy Valley in the running for the 1st Congressional District, said he was beaming.

“That was me seriously. I got two autographs out of that,” he said.

Cheadle said African-Americans have historically been dismissed by politicians, which is why they were so quick to support President Obama, the country’s first black president.

So it was gratifying to him and he was proud that someone like Trump would acknowledge him in an audience that was 99.99 percent white, he said.

“To give the black folk the time of the day, I was happy,” Cheadle said.

Trump spoke to more than 4,000 people who turned out for his event. Cheadle was close to the front rows and on the northern side, when Trump pointed toward him.

Trump told his supporters that an African-American supporter who attended one of his rallies in Arizona had punched a protester who had turned up wearing a traditional Ku Klux Klan hood.

“This African-American gets up and, man, he slugged these guys. He slugged them.”

Trump said many people thought the black supporter at the earlier rally was an opponent of his campaign.

“He was like this great guy, military guy, we have tremendous African-American support,” he said. “The reason is I’m going to bring jobs back to our country.”

After the rally ended, Trump went to greet supporters, starting on the southern side and working toward the north.

“I was at the point he was about to leave and I called out, ‘Uncle Donald, Uncle Donald,’” Cheadle said. “He recognized me as the guy he had called out.”

The two men exchanged a few words and Trump explained himself.

“You know what I was talking about? Jobs, jobs, jobs,” Cheadle said, paraphrasing what Trump told him. “I said, ‘Yeah, jobs.’ It’s all a fog. I’m glad I’m not on the witness stand. But it means a lot to me when a person of his stature can come to Redding.”

Cheadle was holding two Trump placards, one belonging to him and the other two a young woman who had been standing next to him. Trump signed the two, Cheadle said.

Polls have consistently shown that when it comes to support among African-American voters, Trump trails his likely general election opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.