Story highlights "(It) demonstrates a profound ignorance of history," he said

Trump has tried to reach out to the black community

Washington (CNN) NAACP President Cornell William Brooks derided Donald Trump Wednesday, saying his recent comments about African-Americans were "an insulting degree of ignorance and/or insensitivity."

On Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominee said African-American communities in the US are "absolutely in the worst shape that they've ever been in before."

"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," Trump told a nearly all-white crowd during a rally in North Carolina.

Brooks said Trump's assertion ignores "the fact that African-Americans were lynched, African-Americans were forced to drink out of colored water fountains, ride the back of the bus, were enslaved in this country ... demonstrates a profound ignorance of history and insensitivity to what we are going through at this very moment."

Read More