Rep. Byron Donalds told Newsmax Tuesday that Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., was engaging in "pure and utter foolery" with her tweets over the weekend calling the Independence Day celebrations into question and saying that "Black people still aren't free."
"We know we have a past in our country when it comes to race," the Florida congressman, who like Bush is Black, told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "Black people have been able to thrive in the United States. For more than 100 years. We've gone through civil rights, we've gone through Jim Crow. We've gone through Reconstruction. We've gone through the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation."
Bush wrote on Twitter that "when they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they're referring to is for white people. This land is stolen land and Black people still aren't free."
"There's been so much progress for Black Americans in our country, even in spite of our past," said Donalds in response. "For her to tweet this out, it's just trying to get press. It's frankly disgusting. It makes no sense. It flies in the face of reality, especially when Cori, she has the ability to serve in the people's House. Just like I do in America in 2021. That's (not) how Black people are being oppressed. That's Black people thriving, and we're going to continue to thrive in America as the years continue."
He also spoke out against the "cute little tweets" Democrats have put out questioning the Declaration of Independence and how it was written by people who had owned slaves.
"Yes, we know that there were Black slaves when the declaration was being written, but the theme of that document, the beauty of that document was actually to have a country of by and for the people that were free from British charity. Our country continues to live up to that," said Donalds.
He added that he finds it "interesting" that the "Democrats are the ones always trying to take us back."
"Everybody else is trying to live where we are today and move forward," said Donalds. "They're trying to take us back. It is the silliest thing. It is, frankly, the most divisive thing of this kind of rhetoric. This kind of talk doesn't bring America together. It further divides us. But I will tell you that there's a lot of Black Americans and white Americans obviously who don't subscribe to this, who don't want any parts of this. They find it to be nasty politics and they're over it and they're sick and tired of these kinds of comments."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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