Hakeem Jeffries leaves after Byron Donalds suggests black people were better off during Jim Crow

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called Rep. Byron Donalds’ comments ignorant after he suggested black people were better off during Jim Crow.

Representative Donalds said: “During Jim Crow, the Black family was together. During Jim Crow, more black people were — not just conservative, because black people have always been conservative — but more black people voted conservative.”

Video from Jeffries:

Top House Dem Hakeem Jeffries rejected Republican Byron Donalds’ suggestion that Black families were better off during the Jim Crow era than under Biden.

“That’s a bizarre, outrageous, out-of-pocket observation,” Jeffries said today.

https://t.co/R7mNb9LkDz pic.twitter.com/NMTzhF5lCt

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Jeffries said:

It has come to my attention that a so-called leader has made the factually incorrect statement that black people were better off during Jim Crow. That’s a bizarre, outrageous observation coming out of my own pocket. We were no better off when a young boy named Emmett Till could be brutally murdered without consequences because of Jim Crow.

We were no better off. When black women could be sexually assaulted without consequences because of Jim Crow. We would not be better off if people could be lynched systematically and without consequences because of Jim Crow. We would not be better off if children could be refused. High-quality education without consequences thanks to Jim Crow.

We would not be better off if people could be denied the right to vote without consequences because of Jim Crow. How dare you make such an ignorant observation? You better check yourself before you destroy yourself.

Donalds made these comments while trying to convince black voters in Philadelphia to support Donald Trump. Republicans always try to portray slavery or Jim Crow as a great time for black people in the United States.

No American is better off if their rights are taken away.

The message couldn’t be clearer. Republicans believe in an America where white people are in charge. It appears that Trump and his allies will not be satisfied until the clock is turned all the way back to Jim Crow.

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