Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) argued that systemic racism cannot exist in America and that the elections of President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris are the proof. His comments came in response to President Joe Biden, who said that the killing of George Floyd revealed systemic racism in America.
“No, not in my opinion,” Graham declared. “We just elected a two-term African-American president; the vice president is of African-American and Indian descent. So our systems are not racist.”
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Graham added that he believes the result of Derek Chauvin’s trial to be just, but that the officer is simply an example of a “bad actor” and not a flaw in the system.
He explained: “America is not a racist country. Within every society, you have bad actors. The Chauvin trial was a just result.”
While calling America the “best place on the planet,” he admitted that it is a “work in progress.”
Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Floyd.
“In order to deliver real change and reform, we can and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that tragedies like this will ever happen and occur again,” Biden said after the verdict. “And this takes acknowledging and confronting, head-on, systemic racism and the racial disparities that exist in policing and in our criminal justice system more broadly.”
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