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Micheal Bloomberg’s recent visit to a Black church in Selma, Alabama didn’t go as planned when several members of the church stood up and turned their backs in protest. Bloomberg has been trying to win over Black voters addressed the members at Brown Chapel AME Church on Sunday morning where they gathered to commemorate the 55th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” The former New York City mayor didn’t receive the warm welcome while he spoke to them. Photos and videos of the event were posted to social media showed members standing to their backs to Bloomberg while he spoke. While introducing the billionaire pastor Rev. Leodis Strong said that he initially declined the invitation to speak because he was focusing on campaigning to beat Donald Trump.

“‘I was hurt, I was disappointed,” Strong said, according to CBS 58. However, Bloomberg would later agree to come and speak.

“I think it’s important that he came, and it shows a willingness on his part to change,” Strong said. “And I like that. And I think that is important. And I want to thank him for coming, for being here.”

Bloomberg got on the stage and talked about several issues which included voter suppression, economic justice, and criminal justice reform. Bloomberg faced criticism for his support of stop and frisk policy, which disproportionately affects and targets Black and Latino residents while he was the mayor of NYC. Bloomberg said he was going to address racial inequality with his proposed Greenwood Initiative.

“Dr. King understood that the right to vote was only the first step in the march to true equality because true equality means that wealth in this country should have no relation to race or ethnicity. That is what my Greenwood Initiative is all about,” Bloomberg told the crowd according to The Hill. Bloomberg referred to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, adding that up until a year ago he was totally unaware of it “like so many other Americans.”

“It was one of the worst tragedies in American history,” the Democratic candidate said. “But sadly, it was just another instance of black families being systematically robbed and exploited. In today’s reading from [the book of] Isaiah, ‘do right, seek justice and defend the oppressed’ was the call to action. That’s what our Greenwood Initiative resolves to do.”

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