Civil rights veteran Bob Woodson rejects claims of 'systemic racism,' says black struggles issue of class
Woodson's interview came as protesters across America marched for another night to protest police brutality against George Floyd and other African Americans -- something many have described as a result of systemic or institutional racism.
Earlier in his interview, Woodson, a former head of the National Urban League Department of Criminal Justice, told Carlson that the civil rights movement promised that if black people led institutions, "all of black America would be better off."
Woodson told Carlson that he left the movement because he "realized that many of the people who suffered most -- poor blacks -- do not benefit from the change -- that they're demographics were used by some of those leaders."
"It's more class than it is race ... and now race is being used to deflect attention away from the failures of people running those institutions," he added. "The question is why are black kids failing in school systems run by their own people?"
"When Eric Holder was a U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., a lot of young people were shot by the police, but they were black police shooting black kids and not one was prosecuted. But there was no public outcry because as long as illegality or evil wears a black face, then it escapes detection and that's what's wrong with looking life through the prism of race."
Woodson also suggested that much of black suffering was the result of Democratic leadership.
"In the past 50 years, $22 trillion has been spent on poverty programs. Seventy percent goes not to the poor but those who serve poor people," he said.
"So many of those people taking office use this money to create a class of people who are running these cities, and now after 50 years of liberal Democrats running the inner cities, where we have all of these inequities that we have, race is being used as a ruse, as a means of deflecting attention away from critical questions such as why are poor blacks failing in systems run by their own people?"
Let's talk about it. What are your thoughts?
Woodson's interview came as protesters across America marched for another night to protest police brutality against George Floyd and other African Americans -- something many have described as a result of systemic or institutional racism.
Earlier in his interview, Woodson, a former head of the National Urban League Department of Criminal Justice, told Carlson that the civil rights movement promised that if black people led institutions, "all of black America would be better off."
Woodson told Carlson that he left the movement because he "realized that many of the people who suffered most -- poor blacks -- do not benefit from the change -- that they're demographics were used by some of those leaders."
"It's more class than it is race ... and now race is being used to deflect attention away from the failures of people running those institutions," he added. "The question is why are black kids failing in school systems run by their own people?"
"When Eric Holder was a U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., a lot of young people were shot by the police, but they were black police shooting black kids and not one was prosecuted. But there was no public outcry because as long as illegality or evil wears a black face, then it escapes detection and that's what's wrong with looking life through the prism of race."
Woodson also suggested that much of black suffering was the result of Democratic leadership.
"In the past 50 years, $22 trillion has been spent on poverty programs. Seventy percent goes not to the poor but those who serve poor people," he said.
"So many of those people taking office use this money to create a class of people who are running these cities, and now after 50 years of liberal Democrats running the inner cities, where we have all of these inequities that we have, race is being used as a ruse, as a means of deflecting attention away from critical questions such as why are poor blacks failing in systems run by their own people?"
Let's talk about it. What are your thoughts?
