House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) backed President Joe Biden and said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Republican state legislature passing voting legislation was “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Clyburn said, “I’ll tell you this, we are not going to roll over. As the president has said, that if you don’t do it this week, you can find a way to come back the following week or the week after that, but we are going to keep pressing this issue, and we’re not going to roll over.”
Anchor Martha Raddatz said, “You know, I want to go back to President Biden. He got very serious pushback after his speech on Tuesday from all sides. Senator Dick Durbin said he took it a little too far by comparing current voting restrictions to Jim Crow. Mitch McConnell called Biden profoundly unpresidential for his divisive language. So was that fierce tone counterproductive?”
Clyburn said, “Absolutely not. I disagree with both of those statements. I know Dick. I like Dick a lot. But let me tell you something that’s what Jim Crow was all about.”
He added, “When Reconstruction came to an end by the way in 1876, and when Reconstruction came to an end, we got Jim Crow laws. That’s exactly what this is about. This is Jim Crow 2.0. That was one of the strongest points of the president’s speech that I agree with.”
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