During Friday’s “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, network host Al Sharpton shared his reaction to former Vice President Joe Biden’s comments about working with segregationists.
Sharpton said he does not believe the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful is a “racist,” however he said Biden has no right to be offensive.
“I think many of us, me included, have said things that ended up being racially offensive to people, even if that wasn’t our intention,” Sharpton told host Joe Scarborough. “I know Joe Biden. I don’t believe he’s a racist. I don’t believe anyone has said he is. And he took a lot of shots for standing up for civil rights down through the years. He certainly took a lot of abuse as vice president under Barack Obama. It does not give him the right to be offensive and he should admit when he is, own it and deal with it and move on, like many of us have had to.”
He continued, “I think at the same time that Cory Booker showed maturity in talking with him on the phone, trying to explain to him the hurt and the pain, and I think that if we are who we say we are, we need to be humble enough to understand the pain we cause and strong enough to show that is not who we are and prove it with our actions.”
Sharpton then turned the discussion into a slam of President Donald Trump.
“This president has both in word and deed proved that he is who he says he is,” he said. “I think Joe Biden has it now in front of him to continue to show what he has throughout his career — that he may say things that doesn’t [sic] reflect what he really means, but he must prove that to people.”
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