Whoopi Goldberg Clashes With View Guest Over America’s Progress on Race: ‘They’re Lynching People’

Whoopi Goldberg had a spirited conversation with NBC Sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya about how much progress America has actually made in moving past racial issues.

Tafoya, The View’s latest guest host, was on the panel Tuesday as the show talked about the Virginia gubernatorial race between Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe. The show especially focused on how critical race theory has become a wedge issue overshadowing the contest as the race narrows.

Goldberg called for people to more forcefully push back on the idea that critical race theory — which examines the intersection between racism and American law — is taught to children instead of college students. Joy Behar followed up by calling the entire uproar “culture war BS,” but Tafoya interjected to dispute that characterization.

Tafoya spoke about how race has factored into the experiences of her kids at school, and she asked “Why are we even teaching at the color of the skin matters? Because to me, what matters is your character and your values.” Here’s how the conversation unfolded from there:

Goldberg: “Yes, but you know — you live in the United States. You know that color of the skin has been mattering to people…”

Tafoya: “Can’t we change it that it doesn’t?”

Goldberg: “We need white people to step up and do that.”

Tafoya: “But I think they have been doing that since the Civil War.”

Goldberg: “No, no, no. No, they haven’t.”

From there, Goldberg spoke of how long it took for certain states to outlaw the lynching of Black people.

“It was okay in the South,” she said. “People did it all the time. People would run you down not that long ago, they’re lynching people.” She also spoke of how America faces a “reckoning” on race, and people of all ages need to be educated for the country to move past the dark histories of racism.

Watch above, via ABC.