Ramaswamy sparks furor with comments on race
by Cheyanne M. Daniels - 09/21/23 6:00 AM ET
Vivek Ramaswamy has sparked a firestorm of criticism since launching his 2024 presidential campaign for comments that some have called racially charged.
Recently, the 38-year-old entrepreneur faced backlash for comparing Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Black Democrat representing Massachusetts, to “modern grand wizards” of the Ku Klux Klan. He has said that the U.S. education system is a “modern ghetto system,” that the government pays women in inner cities to be single, and has argued with former CNN anchor Don Lemon on what it was like to live as a Black person in America.
“I think there is a pattern here, but to be honest, I will go one step further and say that this is a cornerstone of his campaign,” said Brandon Weathersby, presidential communications director for the American Bridge PAC.
“Just because you deliver it with a smile, just because it’s a little more palatable, doesn’t mean that it’s not going to have a lot of the same negative implications for folks or literally feeling like there’s a target on your back when you go outside or when you go into certain communities, because that rhetoric has been normalized.”
Ramaswamy, who is Indian American, announced his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination in February, quoting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his announcement video. But much of rhetoric has echoed that of former President Trump’s.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4214596-ramaswamy-sparks-furor-with-comments-on-race/
