MS NOW Anchor Feels ‘Deep Unease’ About Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday: US Has Never ‘Fully Reckoned With Its Racist Past’

MS NOW anchor Ali Velshi told his viewers on Sunday he feels a “deep unease” about celebrating the USA’s 250th birthday — in large part due to the country’s “unresolved racial politics.” He also slammed America as a “so-called democracy” during a rant on his program.

“Anniversaries are imperfect records of the thing which is being celebrated. In America’s case, anniversaries often gloss over the racial dynamics underlying much of America’s history and politics, issues that remain unsolved, because America has never actually fully reckoned with its racist past and its original founding sin of slavery,” Velshi said.

He continued, “In one month, America will mark the 250th anniversary of its founding. Like previous anniversaries, there is a deep unease about this. I feel a deep unease about the celebrations to which I am invited to mark the 250th anniversary of our so-called democracy.”

Velshi, who was born in Kenya in the late 1960s and grew up in Canada, became a U.S. citizen in 2015. He continued explaining why he feels anxious about celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday bash:

This 250th anniversary is taking place during yet another period of deep and fundamental and existential unrest in this country, brought on by the country’s unresolved racial politics. That’s what this is.

Women and Black Americans have seen their rights taken away. The Voting Rights Act has effectively been gutted. A number of states are continuing to gerrymander their congressional maps ahead of the midterm elections, with the explicit effect of taking away political power from Black Americans.

Louisiana did exactly that. Just a few days ago, it passed a new map that eliminated Black majority districts.

Velshi added, “If you’ve got conflicting feelings about America’s upcoming anniversary — like you want to celebrate the ideals that America strives for, which are noble and should be celebrated, but lament the state of the country — you’re not alone. At least I’m with you on this.”

Watch above via MS NOW.

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