Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden gave a “bad answer” about the effect slavery has had on race relations, according to Indiana mayor, Pete Buttigieg.
“It was a well-intentioned answer, and it was a bad answer,” the Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate said during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “The reason that we are seeing racial inequity in this country is that it was put into place on purpose.”
“And I’m not just talking about slavery beginning 400 years ago. I’m talking about policy decisions that happened within living memory that excluded black Americans from everything from fully being able to access the G.I. Bill to labor protections. These have consequences,” he concluded.
Buttigieg’s comments are in reference to an answer given by the former vice president regarding a question on the legacy of slavery at the third Democrat presidential debate on Thursday night in Houston, Texas.
The initial question was posed by moderator Linsey Davis, who asked Biden what responsibility Americans need to take in order to “repair” the legacy of slavery.
Biden commented:
Look, there’s institutional segregation in this country. From the time I got involved, I started dealing with that. Redlining banks, making sure we are in a position where—look, you talk about education. I propose if take the very poor schools, triple the amount of money we spend from $15 [billion] to $45 billion a year. Give every single teacher a raise to the $60,000 level. Number two, make sure that we bring in to help the teachers deal with the problems that come from home. The problems that come from home, we have one school psychologist for every 1,500 kids in America today. It’s crazy.
Biden concluded by stating that parents should “make sure you have the record player on at night, the—make sure that kids hear words, a kid coming from a very poor school, a very poor background will hear 4 million words fewer spoken by the time we get there.”
However, his remarks may worry some potential voters.
“More significantly, on his final tangent, he had suggested that black parents did not know how to raise their children and needed social workers to explain parenting to them,” wrote Joseph Simonson of the Washington Examiner.
Breitbart News reported that presidential candidate and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Thursday that he is also baffled by Biden’s comments.
“At one point, he’s talking about people in communities like mine listening to record players. … But there are definitely moments where you listen to Joe Biden and you just wonder,” Booker said.