Politics

Beto O’Rourke Says America ‘Is Still Racist Today’

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Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said America “was founded on racism” and is still a racist country during his keynote speech at Saturday night’s Third Annual Clinton Dinner in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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“And this country, though we would like to think otherwise, was founded on racism, has persisted through racism, and is racist today,” said the former Texas congressman, who lost his 2018 senate race to Ted Cruz. O’Rourke called the racism “foundational” because of the legacy of slavery before launching into an attack of the president and his rhetoric and policies.

O’Rourke’s comments echoed statements he made during a campaign stop in Nashville, Tennessee last month when he said the country was “founded on white supremacy.” (RELATED: ‘Wax My Ass, Scrub My Balls’ — This Beto O’Rourke Poem From 1988 Is Beyond Belief)

“Every single institution and structure that we have in this country still reflects the legacy of slavery and segregation and Jim Crow and suppression even in our democracy,” he said then.

Many Twitter users pushed back on O’Rourke’s framing, with some questioning whether maligning every white person in America along with their ancestors was the best tactic, and others wondering if O’Rourke, himself a white person, was the best person to carry the message.