House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on Wednesday condemned Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) for suggesting Black families were better off during the Jim Crow era.
“A so-called leader has made the factually inaccurate statement that Black folks were better off during Jim Crow. That's an outlandish, outrageous, and out-of-pocket observation,” Jeffries said during a House floor speech. “How dare you make such an ignorant observation? You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.”
During an event Tuesday in Philadelphia meant to entice Black voters to the Republican Party, Donalds, who is a candidate to be Trump’s running mate, said he was starting to see the “reinvigoration of the Black family.” But he argued Democratic policies following the Civil Rights Movement eroded Black families, according to Newsweek.
“During Jim Crow, the Black family was together. During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative — Black people have always been conservative-minded — but more Black people voted conservatively,” Donalds said. “And then Lyndon Johnson — you go down that road, and now we are where we are.”
“We were not better off when a young boy named Emmett Till could be brutally murdered without consequence because of Jim Crow. We were not better off when Black women could be sexually assaulted without consequence because of Jim Crow,” Jeffries responded. “We were not better off when people could be systematically lynched without consequence because of Jim Crow. We were not better off when children could be denied a high-quality education without consequence because of Jim Crow. We were not better off when people could be denied the right to vote without consequence because of Jim Crow.”
