White House Reporter Cites Tyre Nichols Killing to Ask Biden Spox Jean-Pierre: ‘Is The United States A Racist Society?’

Voice of America White House correspondent Anita Powell cited the killing of Tyre Nichols to ask White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “Is the United States a racist society?”

At a White House briefing Wednesday, as Vice President Kamala Harris attended and spoke at the funeral of Tyre Nichols, Powell told Jean-Pierre that the world is watching, and asked her to comment on those who wonder “Is the United States a racist society?” because of the young man’s killing at the hands of police:

ANITA POWELL: And then, just zooming out on the Tyre Nichols funeral today. People both inside the United States and outside are looking at this killing and asking, “Is the United States a racist society?” I’d like to hear your thought on that and also what the administration is doing beyond just police reform, qualified immunity, those discussions — what the U.S. is doing holistically — what the administration is doing holistically to address that perception.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, at the top of the briefing, you heard me lay out how important this month is because it’s Black History Month, and how important it is to see Black Americans and lifting up the contribution of Black Americans, and also understanding that their culture, when you think about Black culture as an American, is also American culture; when you think about what they’ve been able to — what the Black community has been able to contribute to the history of this country, what they’ve been able to contribute in many different sectors of America.

And so, that’s something that’s really important that we will continue to lift up. There was a memorandum that was put out by the President.

And, look, you know, when the President walked into this administration, he said there were four crises that we needed to deal with. One of them was COVID. One of them was the economy, climate change. And he talked about racial justice.

And he had given many — he has given many — many speeches on the work that we still need to do to deal with an issue that is affecting a community acro- — communities across the country — this particular community, the Black community.

So, we understand — he understands there’s a lot more work to be done. And we need to call out injustices and continue to do that.

And while we have a rich history and an important history in this country, there are things that he also believes is important that we talk about and we speak to, and that is the injustices that we have seen in the Black community and other communities as well, historically.

So, that’s why the President has made it a priority in his administration to make sure that it looks like America, to make sure that we see the diversity in this administration, throughout different communities. And you see that over and over again when you look at the different agencies, when you look in to the White House.

And this is — this is historically the most diverse administration in history. And that matters. When we talk about policies, when we’re talking about transformational change, when we talk about how do we move forward in a country that is dealing with many issues, that’s important to see that and to have that at the federal government.

So, again, lots more work to be done. The President understands that. He’s spoken to that. And we’re going to hopefully be able to work towards the healing for this country.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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