Some television moments leave viewers with their eyes wide and jaws dropped as they ask, "Did that person really just say that?" Yesterday, FOX News provided one of those moments as Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick discussed the spread of COVID-19 with Laura Ingraham. While on national television, Patrick indicated that the latest surge in COVID-19 cases has been guided by unvaccinated Black Americans.
"Most of the numbers are with the unvaccinated and the Democrats like to blame Republicans on that," Patrick said.
"Well, the biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated. The last time I checked over 90 percent of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties, so it's up to the Democrats to get just as that it's up to Republicans to try to get as many people vaccinated."
Immediately after Patrick made this claim, a number of health officials, academics, journalists and lawmakers stepped in to call him out. Political commentator and best-selling author Keith Boykin pointed out that Patrick and his colleague, Governor Greg Abbott, have blocked several CDC measures in Black communities across the state.
"Texas Governor Greg Abbott is blocking the Black mayors of Houston and Dallas from implementing CDC-recommended Covid rules to save people's lives and Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has the audacity to blame Black people for the spread of Covid in his state," Boykin tweeted.
"This took a turn so...quickly. In fact, it took only 7 seconds into Dan Patrick's answer to blame Black people. Texas is 73% white [and] 12% black," NBC News Correspondent Morgan Radford added.
Not only did viewers disagree with the comments that Patrick made on FOX News, but they also presented figures that blatantly disprove his claims. Specifically, Dr. Jorge A. Caballero of the Stanford University School of Medicine found that "White Texans are responsible for twice as many cases as Black Texans." He also noted that "there are [three] unvaccinated White Texans for every [one] unvaccinated Black Texan."
Neither Patrick nor Ingraham have apologized for the comments that were made on The Ingraham Angle on Thursday night.
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