According to a report in The Hill, prospective GOP presidential contender Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke at historically black Bowie State University today, where he “frequently nodded to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s idea that there are ‘two Americas,'” and made his case for criminal justice reform.
Paul’s notion of two Americas involves one “where citizens are free to pursue their lives freely, and one where the federal government piles on with unnecessary laws, burdensome fines and regulations, and overly strict sentencing guidelines that contribute to keeping minority groups mired in poverty”.
Paul said some laws make it a system “somewhat like segregation.”
“There’s a racial outcome to this,” Paul said. “I don’t think it’s intentional, but it’s real, and we should do something about it.”
Paul pointed to two recent racially charged incidents that have provoked protests across the country as evidence of there’s “an undercurrent of unease.”
Ferguson, Mo., has been on edge since a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager after an encounter on the street last year. The incident led to a Justice Department investigation that found widespread abuses within the criminal justice system there and ultimately led to the resignation of the police chief.
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