Photo: Getty Images
President Donald Trump applauded Liberian President Joseph Boakai for speaking English, the official language of his country, well, prompting sharp criticism.
On Wednesday (July 9), Trump was hosting leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal at the White House when he praised Boakai's "good English."
“Such good English, it’s beautiful. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?” Trump asked the Liberian president.
Boakai told Trump that he was educated in Liberia, where English is the official language.
“That’s very interesting," Trump said. “I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”
Liberia was founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society, which aimed to resettle freed slaves in Africa. Liberia gained its independence from the American Colonization Society in 1847. Multiple languages are spoken in the African country today, but English is the official language.
Several Liberians blasted Trump's "insulting" comment to Boakai, especially given the U.S.'s colonial legacy in the country.
“I felt insulted because our country is an English-speaking country,” Archie Tamel Harris, a Liberian youth advocate, said in a statement. “For him to ask that question, I don’t see it as a compliment. I feel that the US president and people in the west still see Africans as people in villages who are not educated.”
The White House defended Trump's remarks in a statement on Wednesday.
“I was in the meeting and everyone was deeply appreciative of the President’s time and effort. The continent of Africa has never had such a friend in the White House as they do in President Trump,” Massad Boulos, the Trump administration’s senior advisor for Africa, said.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly described Trump's comment as a "heartfelt compliment," adding that “reporters should recognize that President Trump has already done more to restore global stability and uplift countries in Africa and around the world than Joe Biden did in four years.”
In a statement, Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti said Boakai took "no offense" to the "good English" comment as “many people do not understand the linguistic borders or linguistic demography of the African continent.”
“What President Trump heard distinctly was the American influence on our English in Liberia, and the Liberian president is not offended by that,” Nyanti said.
“We know that English has different accents and forms, and so him picking up the distinct intonation that has its roots in American English for us was just recognizing a familiar English version,” she continued.
On Wednesday, Trump told leaders from the five African nations that their countries were “all very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, great oil deposits, and wonderful people," marking a drastic shift in tone as he previously referred to them as “sh*thole countries.”
Boakai remarked that Liberia “(believes) in the policy of making America great again.”
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