Friday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said former Vice President Joe Biden needed to apologize for his comments about working with segregationists.
De Blasio said, “It’s personal for me and millions and millions of Americans. Eastland was not just a segregationist. He called for violence against black people. He was very overt about it. He thought white people had a right to kill black people in America. And he said those things publicly. And it is not just a part of our past. We’re living with so many of the legacies of segregation to this day including horrendous economic injustice in this country for people of color. There’s still so much more that needs to be done on criminal justice reform. These problems are with us now. The problem is for anyone who understands what African-Americans and all people of color have been through, how on earth can you say those times of civility, I wish we could go back to that. You can’t acknowledge as a positive civility with someone who did that much harm.”
He added, “Joe Biden needs to apologize. It’s incredible to me that he’s kind of puffing up his chest and doubling down and saying, ‘I have nothing to apologize for.’ It’s not about who Joe Biden is as a person. I think he’s a good person. It’s that he has to recognize he’s caused a lot of pain and he’s caused a lot of people to have questions. How can someone who doesn’t understand what that means for people of color in this country want to be the nominee of this party and move this country forward? Our party has to be the party of the future, not the party that’s looking back longingly to the days of civility with people who wanted to divide us so deeply.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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