Wednesday, December 14, 2016
YOUNGSTOWN
NFL legend Jim Brown said he didn’t know what to think heading into a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss issues facing the black community.
But Brown said after the meeting, “This is the best I’ve felt in a long time about what’s going on in this country.”
In an exclusive interview today with The Vindicator, Brown said before the meeting he knew Trump was different. "I knew that he was a rational person to some degree.” After a laugh, Brown said, “That’s the way I have to put it. He woke up America. Many people thought he would not be president.”
But Trump displayed “the energy and the bravado to make things happen,” Brown said of his Tuesday meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan. That meeting also included football greats Curtis Martin and Ray Lewis as well as Bruce Zoldan, chief executive officer of B.J. Alan Co. of Youngstown and a longtime friend of Brown’s.
Brown, a longtime civil-rights activist who backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, said he was concerned about having access to Trump.
But after receiving a great deal of enthusiasm and support for his program, Brown said, 'I have access to the next president of the United States.
Zoldan added that Trump "has a close Youngstown connection sitting next to him at all the meetings...".
Read who that is and more about the meeting in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.