President Joe Biden called out Republicans in Congress as “the party of chaos and division” and said they are “worse” than Strom Thurmond, a former South Carolina senator who ran for president as a segregationist in 1948.
“I’ve been a senator since ‘72. I’ve served with real racists. I’ve served with Strom Thurmond. I’ve served with all these guys that have set terrible records on race. But guess what? These guys are worse. These guys do not believe in basic democratic principles,” Biden said at a fundraiser in San Francisco on Wednesday, according to the pool traveling with him. “Time and again Republicans show they are the party of chaos and division.”
Biden’s comments come as Republicans in Congress are holding still a foreign aid package that would send aid to Ukraine and Israel. The $95.3 billion foreign aid bill, which was passed by the Senate last week, still faces a showdown in the House as House Speaker Mike Johnson has told his House Republican Conference members that he is not rushing to respond to the bill.
Racism is not an immutable concept. People are not either “racists” or “not racists”. Racism is a behaviour that people engage in.
Calling people ‘a racist’ implies that that’s all they’ve ever been and that’s all they’ll ever be. It leaves no room for improvement. Don’t call people ‘a racist’, call their behaviour racist.
People can grow and change. I’ve met a good handful of people who were raised in households that engender conservatism, racism and sexism who have been able to deprogram that bullshit and become well-rounded human beings who care about social justice. When they were young, you’d have incorrectly called them ‘a racist’ and may have driven them further down the conservative rabbit hole.
The way we speak to and about one another needs to get better. We need to identify that people are flexible and have capacity for change if we ever want to see that change. People cannot be bullied away from these positions, they need to be guided.