Hakeem Jeffries criticizes Byron Donalds for “outlandish” Jim Crow remarks on black families

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) took to the House floor Wednesday to condemn comments made by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) suggesting black people were better off during the Jim Crow era.

“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 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 were not better off when people could be denied the right to vote without consequence because of Jim Crow.”

“You better check yourself before you wreck yourself,” Jeffries added in his House floor speech, a nod to Ice Cube’s hit from the early 1990s.

The House Democratic leader’s comments come in response to a speech Donalds gave during a Trump rally in Philadelphia earlier this week, during which he implied the Jim Crow era was a positive time for black people. The Jim Crow era occurred during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characterized by laws mandating racial segregation across the country.

However, Donalds argued, the period was also marked by unity among the black population.

“You see, during Jim Crow, the black family was together,” Donalds said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “During Jim Crow, more black people were not just conservative — black people have always been conservative-minded — but more black people voted conservatively.”

Those comments have sparked backlash among Democrats, with the Democratic National Committee highlighting Donalds’s comments in an email titled: “Trump’s MAGA Veepstakes: Byron Donalds Suggests Black Americans Were Better Off Under Jim Crow.” Donalds is considered a contender to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate.

“Let’s be clear: Jim Crow ripped apart Black families, and it’s absurd to suggest it was anything but a horrific stain on our country’s history,” DNC senior spokesman Marcus W. Robinson said in a statement. “Trump’s MAGA veepstakes gets more extreme by the day — the American people have seen Trump’s blatant racism for years and will never allow him or his out-of-touch MAGA allies to get anywhere near the White House.”

Donalds pushed back on the criticism, accusing Jeffries of misconstruing his words to harm him politically because Democrats are losing support from black voters.

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“Joe Biden’s campaign is lying to you once again, and they’re gaslighting,” Donalds said. “Now they’re trying to say that I said black people were doing better under Jim Crow. I never said that. They are lying.”

“What I said was is that you had more black families under Jim Crow, and it was the Democrat policy under H.E.W., under the welfare state, that did help to destroy the black family,” he added. “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.”