June 7, 2024
Hakeem Jeffries Blasts Byron Donalds Claims That ‘The Black Family Was Together’ During Jim Crow, ‘Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself’
Hakeem Jeffries tells Byron Donalds to "check yourself before you wreck yourself" after Donalds' comments on the Black family during Jim Crow.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wants Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) to “check yourself before you wreck yourself” after Donalds seemingly praised the condition of the Black family during the Jim Crow era.
Jeffries and Donalds went at it on the House floor Wednesday, June 5, one day after Donalds claimed “the Black family was together” during Jim Crow, Axios reports. Donalds, a potential running mate for Donald Trump in the 2024 election, was at a Trump campaign office opening in Philadelphia when he made the controversial statement.
“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, as quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“And then [the now-defunct Department of Health, Education and Welfare], Lyndon Johnson — you go down that road, and now we are where we are.”
Donalds was calling out the welfare policies put in place during the 1960s that he claims the Biden administration has continued. But once back on the House floor, Jeffries tore into his “out-of-pocket observation.”
“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. That’s an outlandish, outrageous, and out-of-pocket observation,” Jeffries said.
“We were not better off when people could be systematically lynched without consequence. … How dare you make such an ignorant observation. You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.”
Democratic National Committee spokesperson Marcus Robinson followed up Jeffries’ speech by accusing Donalds of “praising” Jim Crow.
“This is Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican Party: VP contender Byron Donalds is praising Jim Crow,” he said.
However, Donalds took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to get ahead of the narrative he claims Democrats are trying to portray of him.
“@JoeBiden @RepJeffries @harrisonjaime & @DerrickNAACP are gaslighting Black America,” he wrote. “I was talking about Black families, conservative mindsets, and conservative voting. Receipts are a beautiful thing! And don’t clip my words to keep lying. I’m watching 👀👀”
A separate video post shows Donalds speaking directly to the camera to explain his Jim Crow comments, which he claims were purposely misworded in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“America, Joe Biden’s campaign is lying to you once again, and they’re gaslighting. Now they’re trying to say that I said Black people were doing better under Jim Crow. I never said that. They are lying,” Donalds explained.
“But why would you be surprised? Because they always lie. This is the same Joe Biden that said, if you don’t vote for him, then you ain’t Black. The man is a liar. Sorry, just call it what it is.”
According to Donalds, there were “more Black families under Jim Crow,” he said.
“And it was the Democrat policies under H .E .W., under the welfare state that did help to destroy the Black family. That’s what I said. And I also said you’re seeing a reinvigoration of Black families today in America. And that is a good thing.”
“So don’t listen to the lies from the Biden administration. I know what I said, and I’ll say it straight to camera. They got to run to the Philadelphia Inquirer to move their lives,” Donalds concluded.
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