Clyburn: Biden's Diversity Comments Were About Continents Where People Have Roots
On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said 2020 Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden’s comments on the diversity of the African American and Hispanic communities were about “the diversity of, not just the communities, but also of the continent” where people’s roots are.
Clyburn said, “The word ‘diverse,’ … I’m sort of a stickler for the word being what it is, and what he was talking about is whether or not you — what continent. You know, when you start talking about Latino Americans, you’re talking about, not just various communities and countries, you’re even talking about various continents. The ethnicity — the diversity of the ethnicity, most African Americans in this country come from either the Caribbean or from Africa…in fact, the roots are basically in Africa. So, all he was talking about was the diversity of, not just the communities, but also of the continent. And you bring those backgrounds and those experiences into the discussion and…you don’t have the same set of experiences that you would have if you didn’t have this kind of diversity in your background. So, diversity could mean within a community, within a state, but there is a broader diversity in his discussion, and it’s more worldwide. But you don’t get a chance to explain all of that in a soundbite world.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett