During a fiery floor speech on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) took the gloves off in addressing Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Florida) over remarks he made suggesting Black Americans were better off during the Jim Crow era than they are today.
Donalds made the comment while stumping for former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in an effort to court Black voters to the GOP's side. According to Newsweek, Donalds reminisced fondly about the Jim Crow era in which Black Americans were systemically discriminated against and experienced routine brutality from whites.
"You see, during Jim Crow, the Black family was together. During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative — Black people have always been conservative-minded — but more Black people voted conservatively," Donalds said. "And then [the former Department of Health, Education and Welfare], Lyndon Johnson — you go down that road, and now we are where we are."
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While House of Representatives' decorum doesn't allow for members to attack other members on the floor by name, Jeffries ripped Donalds without actually once saying the Florida Republican's name.
"A so-called leader has made a factually inaccurate statement that Black folks were better off during Jim Crow. That's an outlandish, outrageous, and out of pocket observation. We were not better off," Jeffries said.
"When a young boy named Emmett Till could be brutally murdered without consequence because of Jim Crow we were not better off. When Black women could be sexually assaulted without consequence because of Jim Crow, we were not better off. When people could be systematically lynched without consequence because of Jim Crow, we were not better off. When children could be denied a high-quality education without consequence because of Jim Crow, we were not better off," Jeffries continued. "How dare you make such an ignorant observation."
With a nod to the hip-hop culture of his home district in Brooklyn, Jeffries added told Donalds, "You better check yourself before you wreck yourself."
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Donalds is considered to be on the short list of potential running mates for Trump, given that he's from the state where Trump is domiciled, his reputation as a staunch MAGA Republican and his propensity for defending Trump in public. Rep. Donalds was one of the multiple Republican elected officials who traveled to Manhattan to attack Judge Juan Merchan, witnesses and jurors outside of the courthouse where Trump stood trial.
Other potential Trump running mates include House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik (R-New York), Sens. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. The former president is expected to announce his 2024 vice presidential pick prior to the Republican National Convention, which kicks off on July 15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Watch video of Jeffries' remarks below, or by clicking this link.
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