Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday stated systemic racism doesn’t exist in the US, pointing to the elections of former President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris to again up his declare.
Throughout Graham’s look on “Fox Information Sunday,” host Chris Wallace performed a clip of President Joe Biden stating Tuesday that the nation must confront systemic racism “head on” after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd.
“Is there systemic racism on this nation in policing and in different establishments?” Wallace requested Graham.
“No, not for my part,” Graham stated. “We simply elected a two-term African American president. The vice chairman is of African-American-Indian descent. So our methods usually are not racist. America is just not a racist nation. Inside each society, you will have unhealthy actors.”
Graham, who helped perpetuate President Donald Trump’s “massive lie” that Biden and Harris stole the election, as a substitute bashed Biden for stating that systemic racism is an issue in the US, a rustic constructed by enslaved individuals.
“This assault on police and policing ― reform the police, sure. Name all of them racist, no,” Graham stated. “America is a piece in progress however [sic] finest place on the planet. And Joe Biden spends numerous time operating the place down. I want you’ll cease it.”
The elections of Obama and Harris ― the nation’s first Black president and first Black vice chairman, respectively ― don’t negate the racism entrenched within the nation’s establishments and legal guidelines, which is exemplified in myriad methods, together with the disproportionate charge at which police kill Black males; the earnings disparity between Black households and white households; and the excessive variety of individuals of shade killed by COVID-19.
In a subsequent interview on Sunday, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), the previous chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, pushed again on Graham’s declare.
“My response is, sooner or later in our nation’s historical past, now we have received to determine a solution to discuss race the place we are able to discuss it objectively and folks don’t really feel particular person guilt,” Bass stated.
“You’ll be able to take a look at every of our establishments,” she added. “Why is there such large inequality in the case of schooling, in the case of well being care? Why does that exist? And so now we have to determine a solution to discuss it. Proper now, to say it doesn’t exist doesn’t assist anybody.”
Watch Graham’s full interview under:
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