Kamala Harris agrees with Tim Scott that America not a 'racist country' but says must 'speak truth'

[brooklynite]

Source: Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris said America is not a "racist country" but the nation must "speak the truth" about its history with racism on ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Thursday.

The vice president's comments were in response to Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who gave the Republican Party's rebuttal to President Joe Biden's speech to Congress on Wednesday.

Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, spoke about his own experience with racism in the U.S. The senator contended "America is not a racist country" and said progressives perpetuate discrimination akin to Jim Crow-era policies.

...snip...

"Well, first of all, no, I don't think America is a racist country, but we also do have to speak the truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today," Harris said while praising Biden's comments on race and domestic terrorism in his first joint address to Congress on Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/29/kamala-harris-responds-tim-scott-saying-america-not-racist-country/4886682001/

[marie999]

1. What percentage of people have to be racists before the country is considered racist?

[maxsolomon]

11. For the GQP, 100%.

Anything less gives plausible deniability.

[LenaBaby61]

2. Not sure why Vice-president Harris ....

agreed with Tim Scott, because this is an very racist country, and there are many African-Americans calling her out on her statement today.

[LymphocyteLover]

14. Yeah, usually she's great on this sort of thing

I can only guess she wants to put out the idea that as our ideal, we are not a racist country, but still that whitewashes a lot of racism

[pat_k]

32. Frustrating

I don't know what defines "racist country" but the massive statistical inequities obviously point to systemic racism in both private and public policy.

To assert anything else propagates the racist notion that blacks are statistically "behind" on measure after measure because there is something wrong with them.

What we need to become is an anti-racist country that proactively implements policies that close racial gaps.

[LymphocyteLover]

35. Yes-- Democrats try to do that and then Repubs freak out and then rile up the racists

to get back in power and reverse those policies

[Baitball Blogger]

24. That is sad that she did.

[walkingman]

3. Not sure about the rest of the country but Texas is a racist state. I think the reason that

the VP chose to respond to Tim Scott is to pacify some of these "nasty white people" who act racist on a daily basis will not get their little feelings hurt. No harm in being nice.

[Layzeebeaver]

4. America is not a racist country, but...

…it does have more than enough racists.

[DallasNE]

5. So Sen. Scott Thinks

That "progressives perpetuate discrimination akin to Jim Crow-era policies.". That is a jaw dropping thing to say. Does that mean he thinks it was progressives in Georgia that recently passed Jim Crow-era voting laws? Obviously Sen. Scott knows that his job depends on perpetuation of the Republican big lie and that he can lie with the best of them. How cowardly of him to toe the line and kiss the ass of the racists.

[Budi]

6. "we want to unify the country, but not without speaking truth and requiring accountability"

"One of the greatest threats to our national security is domestic terrorism manifested by white supremacists," Harris said, referencing reports from federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies identifying white supremacists as a persistent and rising terror threat.

"And so these are issues that we must confront, and it does not help to heal our country, to unify us as a people, to ignore the realities of that," the vice president said.

"The idea is that we want to unify the country but not without speaking truth and requiring accountability where it is appropriate," she urged. "

[elleng]

9. This will be a difficult tack for V.P. Harris to maintain (and 'thrive' on,) imo.

[Budi]

20. America is made up of more Races than racists.

Last edited Thu Apr 29, 2021, 04:40 PM - Edit history (1)

I believe VP Harris is actually the perfect choice to drive the hardest racists of society into their own box.
It is bold & gutsy, but in a necessary way.

America is made up of more Races than racists. This is the point where VP Harris begins on her official mission to bust the hard drawn line.
I support her & the President's meeting of the challenge that's been lain at their feet.
To throw down this ugly gauntlett & take it on rather than send it to future Presidents is precisely why they were chosen to hold the Office they now have.

I wish VP Harris, President Biden & America great success.

It'll be interesting to simply watch their methods to changing this madness.

[sanatanadharma]

7. USA, a nation of good, deeply dis-eased by the cancer of racism

Among us of the USA are a majority of good non-racist people of varied mores but common morality.
Among us are our neighbors whom racists choose to torment; first hand witnesses of America's existent racism.
It is from within our non-racist reality that racism is identified and called out.

Were we to be 100% racist, there would be no one pointing out our nasty neighbors.
Of those in the next neighborhood who'd care?

But we are not 100% racist or good.
The good of humanity exists among USa, along side the ethical-evil of embedded systematic racism.

[ananda]

8. Oh dear. Sigh

America was founded on racism.
It's endemic throughout the society.

Some of us are trying our best to do
the right thing and end the systematic
killing and oppression of people who
are not white, but not speaking the
truth about this country doesn't help.

Only facing our shadow can bring us
into the light.

Look to Jung for the answer.

[maxsolomon]

10. Harris isn't fool enough to step into Scott's trap.

I think the majority of Americans don't WANT America to BE a Racist Country. But only the delusional can deny there is a legacy of Racism - to the point of Genocide.

So, aspirationally, we're not. Historically, we are. I like to think I'm not, but I've said and done and thought things that, in retrospect, are.

Every debate in America (and most on DU) gets made into a Binary Opposition. We are or We are not are the only 2 choices. But, like every topic, the reality is a gray area. It makes me so frustrated.

[robleb]

12. I am wondering...

how many of Tim Scott's repug colleagues have had him over for dinner with the family or would want him dating daughters?
Does he realize he is just a repug house ____?

[Permanut]

13. Racism is rampant in the U.S.

What I'm seeing in VP Harris's statement is a careful effort to distinguish systemic racism from inherent racism. I'm hearing that she believes that this country can go in a different direction, if we make it so.

I'm splitting hairs and picking nits and making distinctions of an extremely nuanced character, but that's what this old white guy heard, anyway.

I'm basing this on the assumption that VP Harris has seen racist behavior and hate speech all her life, and would have no reason to deny that this country has an infestation of racist psychopaths.

[maxsolomon]

17. I'm seeing that Scott's Gish Gallop has worked as intended.

Last edited Thu Apr 29, 2021, 04:29 PM - Edit history (1)

It's drawn Harris into a no-win debate and no one's discussing Biden's speech content.

The only thing the GQP excels at is playing the MSM like a fiddle.

[Permanut]

21. Amen, maxsolomon..

That would be the MSM that is characterized by the Mango Mussolini cult as being liberal.

We still have a hangover from the 4 years of insanity that ended on January 20th, but i'm hopeful.

[LymphocyteLover]

15. America as defined by the Federal Government is not racist

but we've got millions of racists living here and one of our major political parties is quite obviously racist.

[DallasNE]

33. Correct, Since The 1960's Our Laws Are Not Overtly Racist

Yet we have systemic racism. The implementation and execution are what lie between the written law and the actual systemic racism. So that needs to change, as does the training. But how do you train attitude prejudice away? It's been there forever. But you have to try.

[LymphocyteLover]

34. Our govt had classes to teach about systemic racism and the Trump admin freaked out

and tried to shut them down. The right HATES the idea of teaching about racism. I guess because they know it makes them look bad.

[JohnSJ]

16. When the Supreme Court invalidated key provisions of the voting rights act, that has directly

led to 43 states across the country introducing legislation to make it more difficult to vote, especially in communities of color, I find it difficult to ignore the racism behind it.

The country was founded on racism, and Tom Cotton made that very clear when he claimed:

"the Founding Fathers considered slavery a "necessary evil."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/tom-cotton-comes-under-fire-comments-slavery-n1234992

I would like to remind VP Harris what she and the President said only a few weeks ago:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden took aim on Sunday at the “ugly poisons” of “systemic racism and white supremacy” that he said had long plagued the United States, and vowed to change the laws that enabled continued discrimination.

In blunt language, the Democratic president said the country faced problems with racism, xenophobia and nativism.

Biden’s statement followed similar sentiments from Vice President Kamala Harris, who detailed in Atlanta on Friday the U.S history of discrimination against Asian Americans."

..........

"“Racism is real in America and it has always been,” said Harris, the country’s first Asian-American, first Black and first female vice president. “Xenophobia is real in America and always has been. Sexism too.” she said.

Biden’ statement, issued on Sunday night, marks the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, created in the 1970s to mark a 1960 massacre in South Africa.

“Hate can have no safe harbor in America. It should have no safe harbor anywhere in the world. We must join together to make it stop,” Biden said in the statement."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-racism/biden-harris-condemn-u-s-racism-sexism-in-blunt-language-idUSKBN2BE019

While the Vice President's strategy might have been to send a conciliatory message for compromise, and to try and bring republicans to support the infrastructure plan, this was not the way to do it, and unfortunately it will serve as a distraction what really needs to be done.

The press will only focus on her comment that the "country is not racist", not about her other comments about the history of racism in the country. She tired to have it both ways, and it isn't going to fly.

The best answer she could have given was about the history of racism in this country, and not included that the "country is not racist". Her best clean up on this would be that what she meant is that it is the ideal that the country should strive for, but we have a lot of work to do

[IronLionZion]

18. The important thing is to identify opportunities for improvement and take action

Kamala and many other minorities know it's not productive to use the racist label on our whole country. That does nothing to help anyone but does anger certain folks to resist progressive action.

[Phoenix61]

19. I don't think we are a racist nation.

We definitely have a racist history and a good 25% of the population are card carrying racists. Way too many of them are in positions of power, politically and/or economically. But, that leaves 75% who are not and we are slowly but surely getting our hands on the levers of power.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. Lol this country is built on white supremacy. It's racist.

[Ray Bruns]

23. Was and is built on white supremacy.

If you don't believe that, how do you account for the clause in the constitution counting african americans as 3/5 of a person? How do explain a hundred years of Jim Crow?

[Budi]

25. But starting today, with our President & VP, it does not have to remain that way.

That is the large & looming committment they have made & will begin to move America in another direction.
Believing it is indeed possible & it is doable by our sheer will & our steady walk because In America There are More Races & Racists.

[Edwcraig]

26. We Are All Racists

For almost all of us our amygdalas fires. I believe recognizing and controlling this is the key to eliminating racism.

[link:http://democraticprinciples.blogspot.com/2012/04/we-are-all-racists.html|

[ChazII]

27. A good article.

Thank you for posting.

[marie999]

29. I am not a racist. I don't care about humanity as a whole to care more for one group than another.

[PatrickforB]

28. Well, I definitely know why she took this tack in her answer.

If she would have said, "Yes, the United States IS a racist country that is built on a history of slavery and genocide," that would have thrown some steamed veggies (as opposed to red meat... ) to our base, but can you imagine the blowback from hate-talk radio, FOX and all the rest of the right-wing noise machine?

Anyway, she got the message across about how we have to speak the truth about the history of racism here and its state today.

[paleotn]

30. Nice of her to say, but actually, we are.

We are a very racist country.

[Blasphemer]

31. I disagree with them both...

(Though I assume Kamala Harris is saying this for political reasons).

The country's founding document is racist. Constitutional case law has been and still is racist. Schools continue to be segregated. Disproportionate police brutality, health disparities, and murdered/missing women are all reflections of the country's fundamental racism. None of it is accidental.

[mdbl]

36. America isn't racist, but most of the Republican party acts like it

and they are very good actors indeed.