Following in South Dakota governor and former Trump VP hopeful Kristi Noem’s footsteps, another rumored veep contender seems to have put his foot in it.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) shared some of his retrograde thoughts on Jim Crow laws at a campaign event in Philadelphia on Tuesday, suggesting that the reversal of Jim Crow has negatively impacted Black families, according to reporters from Politico and the Philadelphia Inquirer who were in attendance.
“You see, during Jim Crow, the Black family was together,” he reportedly said. “During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative—Black people have always been conservative-minded—but more Black people voted conservatively.”
He went on to mention the Civil Rights-era Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and policies enacted by former President Lyndon Johnson, to make a point about Black Americans being dependent on government support. “You go down that road, and now we are where we are,” he said.
He then spoke about having clearly defined gender roles in the home, according to Politico. “[T]here’s a difference between men and women anyway. Men have been created by God to be conquerors, to be hunters,” he said. “A Black man in today’s America is looking around and saying, ‘How can I go hunt for my people and hunt for my family?’”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) addressed Donalds’ comments on the House floor on Wednesday, calling them “outlandish, outrageous and out-of-pocket.”
But Donalds replied on X, claiming that the Biden campaign was “lying” about his comments, before reiterating his line about more “Black families” being “together” during Jim Crow.
Social media users were quick to pile on Donalds. One replied to a post on his X account asking, “How many of those black family members were beaten, discriminated against, hung by trees, had their churches bombed, water-hosed, were attacked by dogs, etc.?”
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