Ben Carson’s Top Adviser Offers To Pay Historical Black College’s (Talladega) Way To Inauguration

Talladega College is still weighing whether to accept Armstrong Williams’ offer to pay $60,000 for the school’s marching band to participate in the Trump inaugural parade

TALLADEGA, Alabama -- Armstrong Williams, a longtime conservative media entrepreneur and adviser to former GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson, said he has offered to pay $60,000 in travel expenses for Talladega College’s marching band to perform at the inaugural parade on Jan. 20.

Williams told BuzzFeed News he hadn’t heard back from the president of Talladega College — the oldest historically black, private liberal arts school in Alabama — since making the offer Friday.

“The issue is: The kids want to go,” Williams said. “I don’t want resources to be a reason they can’t go.”

Of the 41 organizations formally invited by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Talladega College — founded in 1867 by former slaves — is the only historically black college or university (HBCU). Talladega applied to participate in the event before the election.

Talladega College President Billy Hawkins said Wednesday that the school’s Board of Trustees has told him they’d prefer to raise their own money. Hawkins noted that the school has raised nearly $32,000 of its $75,000 goal through a GoFundMe account.



CONTINUE READING