White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre seemed to dance around with her words while answering reporter April Ryan’s questions about President Joe Biden’s stance on reparations for Black Americans on June 14.
The White House press briefing took place the day after the Juneteenth celebration at the White House.
Citing a proposal sponsored each session from 1989 to 2017 by the late U.S. Rep. John James Conyers Jr. and a newer resolution by Rep. Cori Bush for a commission to study and develop reparation plans for African-Americans, Ryan asked, “What does this White House believe when it comes to this controversial issue, repairing a wrong for the descendants of Africans and this nation?”
Jean-Pierre referenced the White House Juneteenth concert in her response and seemingly avoided the question by noting Biden made Juneteenth a national holiday.
“So, look, as you mentioned Juneteenth, there was a concert here yesterday, and we saw how powerful and how moved the President was by the concert and by, uh kind of, the story that was laid out through the concert about Juneteenth and how important that moment was,” she said, before mentioning civil rights activist Opal Lee.
Related: ‘Finding Ways to Excuse the Inexcusable’: Rep. Byron Donalds Slammed for Racing to Donald Trump’s Defense As He Makes Historic Court Appearance for Mishandling Classified Docs
“Opal, as you know, was here, and it’s always moving to hear her and to see her. And — and, as you know, the President signed — signed Juneteenth to be the most recent holiday about two years ago.”
After Ryan tried to interject, Jean-Pierre continued to avoid the reparations question.
“So, I think that shows from that action — I’ll give you more — I think that shows from that action how important the President thinks this moment is, how important he thinks that it’s — it is important to continue to lift up the African American…
Read the full article here
