Rep. Ilhan Omar Responds to Sen. Lindsey Graham Denying Systemic Racism: He’s ‘Trying to Tell Us That The Sky Is Not Blue’
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) responded to comments by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) denying the existence of systemic racism because former President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris were elected, telling CNN’s Jim Acosta that it felt like Graham was “trying to tell us that the sky is not blue.”
Acosta played a segment of Graham’s appearance on Fox News Sunday, in which the South Carolina senator told Chris Wallace that in his opinion, there was not “systemic racism in this country in policing and in other institutions” because we had elected Obama to two terms as president, and now Harris as vice president.
“Our systems are not racist, America is not a racist country,” said Graham. “Within every society you have bad actors. Reform the police? Yes. Call them all racist? No. You know, America is a work in progress, but best place on the planet.”
Acosta introduced Omar, commenting that she was planning “to reintroduce a bill that would establish a federal agency to investigate police killings much like how the NTSB investigates plane crashes,” and asked for her response to Graham.
“Senator Graham basically is trying to tell us that the sky is not blue,” replied Omar. “You know, it’s as if saying, you know, we don’t have poverty issues in this country because we have millionaires and billionaires.”
“It is obvious that we have a long way to go in this country,” she continued, if lawmakers were “refusing to acknowledge” that there is “institutionalized racism that is embedded within our systems that we need to actively work in booting out.”
Acosta brought up the original press release from the Minneapolis Police Department after George Floyd’s death, calling it “stunning to look at now” for how sharply it diverged from the scene America saw unfold on the bystander videos.
“If a 17-year-old bystander hadn’t recorded that nine minute video of Floyd’s final moments, we may never know what happened in this case,” said Acosta.
“That is so true,” said Omar, praising “her ability to stay focused and provide that recording and bear witness to the murder of George Floyd.”
The original police reports are often taken “at face value,” Omar continued, by both the public and prosecutors, “and there are so many people across this country who have lost loved ones, who have not received accountability or justice,” and that’s why she was supporting this legislation, “because independent investigations are necessary and important.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
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