Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) hit back at GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s remarks toward her last week, when he compared the congresswoman to “grand wizards in the KKK.”
Pressley responded to Ramaswamy’s comments about her and progressive author Ibram X. Kendi on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” with host Rev. Al Sharpton on Sunday.
“Reverend Al, the verbal assault lobbied against myself and Dr. Kendi is shameful. It’s deeply offensive. “It is dangerous,” said she. It wasn’t that long ago when a white supremacist mob seized the Capitol, waving Confederate flags and erecting nooses on the West Lawn of the Capitol. It was not that long ago that a white supremacist mob seized the Capitol, waving Confederate flags and erecting nooses on the West Lawn of the Capitol.”
Ramaswamy doubled down on his remarks toward Pressley on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, claiming that his assessment of her comments should spark an “open and honest” discussion.
“We all agree that the KKK was an awful organization. This is a stain on our nation’s history. We can then start by agreeing on that. The people who are calling for more racial discrimination on the basis of skin color,” he said. Pressley, a Black woman, responded that she is still focused on achieving racial equality in the U.S. “I remember when my family moved to a cul-de -sac that was predominantly white in the 1980s, when I was a young child. “So, I don’t give him any space in my mind, no matter how offensive, dangerous, or shameful his words may be.” She continued. “I am still focused on undoing centuries of harm done to Black Americans, and charting a course of racial and restorative justice.” We don’t want any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice.”
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