‘Our Systems Are Not Racist’: Lindsey Graham Slams Biden for Remark

Graham (R-SC) was asked about Biden’s comments about “systemic racism” following the conviction of former Minneapolis police cop Derek Chauvin last week in the death of George Floyd.

“Not in my opinion. We just elected a two-term African-American president. The vice president is of African-American-Indian descent. So our systems are not racist. America is not a racist country,” Graham told host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

“So this attack on police and policing — reform the police, yes, call them all racist, no. You know, America is a work in progress but best — best place on the planet and Joe Biden spent a lot of time running the place down. I wish he would stop it,” Graham said, The New York Post reported.

Biden, speaking after Chauvin was convicted, called systemic racism “a stain on our nation’s soul — the knee on the neck of justice for black Americans — profound fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion that black and brown Americans experience every single day.”

Graham called Chauvin, who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes during an arrest last May, a “bad actor.”

“The Chauvin trial was a just result. What’s happening in Ohio where the police officer had to use deadly force to prevent a young girl from being stabbed to death is a different situation in my view,” Graham said.

He was referring to the fatal shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant by a police officer in Columbus, Ohio, last week as she appeared to be lunging with a knife at a person during a dispute.

Graham also expressed cautious optimism that a compromise could be struck on a police reform bill between the Democrats’ version and one proposed by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).

But he said the issue of qualified immunity in the Democratic proposal for police officers could be a sticking point.

“Number one, we’d have had police reform in the last Congress but Chuck Schumer and Kamala Harris made a conscious effort to block Tim Scott’s reform bill. They filibustered Tim Scott’s bill because they didn’t want Tim Scott and President Trump to get credit for it. There’s no reason we shouldn’t have done it last time. We’ll try again,” Graham said.

The House approved Scott’s JUSTICE Act last year but Senate Democrats killed it in that chamber.

Graham said qualified immunity would destroy policing because it would expose every police officer to civil liability.

“It’s a pretty simple solution: don’t sue the police officer. Sue the police department so the cop doesn’t have to worry about losing his house and his entire – you know, car and everything else that comes with being a police officer,” Graham said.

“So there’s a way to find qualified immunity reform, take the cop out of it. My idea, along with Senator Scott, is you can’t sue the police officer, you sue the department if there’s an allegation of civil rights abuse or constitutional rights abuse,” Graham said.

He said he believes Democrats and Republicans can “solve that problem.”