Black GOP Senate candidate rips Obama

Darryl Glenn, the Republican Party’s only black Senate nominee, bashed President Obama as the “divider in chief” and accused him of inflaming racial tensions during his time in office. 

“This president ran to be commander in chief. Unfortunately, his rhetoric has made him divider in chief. We’re more racially divided today than before he ran,” Glenn said Monday night at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. 

{mosads}“Here are some more facts, Mr. President: Neighborhoods have become more violent under your watch. Your rhetoric has a direct impact on the relationship between communities and the police.”

He pitched himself as the Republican Party’s answer to the assertion that the Democrats are the party of black Americans. He cast the Democratic Party as the “party of handouts” and questioned liberal black leaders. 

“Did you see the New Black Panthers outside? Where’s Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? They don’t speak for black America, and they don’t speak for me,” he said. 

“And, quite frankly, someone with a nice tan needs to say this: all lives matter.”

Black Lives Matter activists have argued that phrase diminishes the importance of the recent killings of black people in police custody, but critics have pushed back by arguing the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is restrictive and doesn’t adequately support police. 

Glenn went on to echo Obama’s own words during his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech.

“Mr. President, I have a message: This is not about black America, white America or brown America; this is about the United States of America,” he said. 

Glenn scored an underdog victory at last month’s Colorado Republican primary and will take on Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.

Colorado had been seen as one of the Republican Party’s only chances to knock off a sitting Democrat, but Glenn’s relatively low name identification and more conservative leanings have tamped down expectations there.