President Biden agreed with Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) claim that America is not a racist country, but said that a legacy of Jim Crow laws and slavery have left Black Americans lagging in opportunity.
In an interview that aired Friday on NBC’s “Today,” Biden was asked about Scott’s comments and was specifically pressed on if he felt Americans are racist.
“No, I don’t think the American people are racist,” Biden said. “But I think after 400 years, African Americans have been left in a position where they are so far behind the 8 ball in terms of education, health, in terms of opportunity.”
“I don’t think America is racist, but I think the overhang from all the Jim Crow and before that, slavery, had a cost and we have to deal with it.”
Scott, the only Black Republican senator, said during his rebuttal to Biden’s Wednesday address to a joint session of Congress that America “is not a racist country” as he was defending GOP efforts to impose new voting laws.
“Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country,” he said. “I’m an African American who has voted in the South all my life. I take voting rights personally.”
Vice President Harris also agreed with Scott’s sentiment, telling ABC News’s “Good Morning America” that while the U.S. isn’t racist in sentiment, the nation still has to come to terms with the racism that still exists.
“No, I don’t think America is a racist country,” Harris said. “But we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today. I applaud the president for always having the ability and the courage, frankly, to speak the truth about it.”