JACKSON: US President Donald Trump flew to Mississippi on Saturday to attend the opening of a civil rights museum, but his visit was marred by the absence of top African-American leaders who stayed away in protest of his policies and record on race relations. Trump toured the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and delivered brief remarks, paying tribute to African-Americans who fought institutionalized racism, including Medgar Evers, the civil rights activist who was murdered outside his home in Jackson in 1963. “We want our country to be a place where every child from every background can grow up free from fear, innocent of hatred and surrounded by love, opportunity and hope,” Trump said in prepared remarks. Referring to Evers and other civil rights leaders showcased in the museum, Trump said: “Today we strive to be worthy of their sacrifice. We pray for inspiration from their example.” Trump acknowledged Evers’ wife Myrlie and brother Charles in the audience. US Representative John Lewis of Georgia, a Democrat who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s, said on Thursday that he would not go to the museum opening because of Trump’s presence. “President Trump’s attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum,” Lewis said in a statement with Mississippi Democratic US Representative Bennie Thompson, who also declined to attend. Published in Daily Times, December 11th 2017.