The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, met virtually Wednesday to discuss legislation that would establish a commission looking into reparations for black Americans.
First introduced in 1989 by the late Rep. John Conyers, H.R. 40 was reintroduced in1by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee with the support of 162 Democrats.Republicans chose two black witnesses to speak against the bill, Salem radio host Larry Elder and former NFL legend Herschel Walker.
Elder used his five minutes to completely dismantle the arguments presented in the hearing and focused on how black people have historically survived and thrived despite difficult circumstances of racism, slavery, and Jim Crow.
“Black people have overcome to the point now that only 20 percent of black people are below the federally defined level of poverty—still too high—but in 1940 that number was 87 percent, and 20 years later that number had been reduced to 47 percent—a 40 point drop in 20 years. That is the greatest 20-year period of economic expansion for the history of black Americans,” Elder said. “And notably, that came before the Brown v Board of Education decision, that came before the Civil Rights bills of 1964, 1965. Despite all this racism, all this prejudice, black people still overcame.”
He also brought up former President Obama being elected and serving two terms, referencing a 2007 Gallup survey that asked Americans if they would oppose voting for a black person, a woman, a Mormon, or someone in their 70s for president, referring to the major Democratic and Republican candidates for president—Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, and John McCain.
The survey found 5 percent said they wouldn’t vote for a black person, Elder recalled, 11 percent wouldn’t vote for a female, 24 percent wouldn’t vote for a Mormon, and 42 were opposed to voting for a person as old as McCain would be upon entering office.
1 comment:
I STILL snicker when I remember the lib who jumped all over Mr. Elder for using his 'white privilege' to get ahead. Yes that really happened to him but to be 'fair' to her it was on the radio...............
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