Within the last two weeks, a number of high-profile politicians have been asked to comment on the issue of racism within the United States of America. These conversations reached a boiling point when South Carolina Senator Tim Scott delivered the Republican Party's response to President Joe Biden's congressional address. During his remarks, Scott told the GOP that he did not feel American was a racist country.
“Hear me clearly. America is not a racist country. It’s backward to fight discrimination with different types of discrimination and it’s wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present," he said.
Scott immediately faced backlash for his comments. After 400 years of racial discrimination within the context of American history, many Black voters found these comments particularly offensive coming from a Black politician. However, another high-profile Black lawmaker followed Scott by saying that America was not a racist country.
"First of all, no, I don't think America is a racist country, but we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today," Vice President Kamala Harris said during a recent appearance on Good Morning America.
"It does not help to heal our country ... to ignore the realities of that."
Much like Scott's comments, these remarks also offended others. One of the many people put off by the Vice President's comments was comedian, actress and television host Amanda Seales.
"D---, Kamala. The paradoxical political pandering is tired and insulting to the constituency that supported you along with affirming the doubts of those that didn't. Please fix this ASAP," she wrote on Instagram.
"We don’t have to think about whether America is a racist country. It is one...without question," actress Vanessa Williams added.
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