‘How Dare You!’ Hakeem Jeffries Takes to the House Floor To Nuke Byron Donalds’s Jim Crow Comments
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) took to the House floor on Wednesday and slammed Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) for recent comments speaking favorably of the Jim Crow South.
Donalds co-hosted a Trump campaign event for Black voters in Philadelphia on Tuesday and told those gathered, “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 continued, “And then H.E.W., Lyndon Johnson — you go down that road, and now we are where we are” – referring to the former U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. While Donalds appeared to be trying to take a swing at Democrats and their policies, he instead sparked a fury of criticism for framing the racist and discriminatory policies of the Jim Crow era in a seemingly positive light.
Jeffries: It has come to my attention that a so-called leader has made the factually inaccurate statement that black folks were better off during Jim Crow. How dare you make such an an ignorant observation. You better check yourself before you wreck yourself pic.twitter.com/TfxOwHGCl8
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 5, 2024
“Mr. Speaker, it has come to my attention that a so-called leader has made the factually inaccurate statement that Black folks were better off during Jim Crow,” Jeffries began, adding:
That’s an outlandish, outrageous, and out of pocket observation. We would not be better off 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 would not be 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 would not be better off when people could be denied the right to vote without consequence because of Jim Crow. How dare you make such an ignorant observation? You better check yourself before you wreck yourself. I yield back.
Watch the clip above.
