NAACP blasts Tuberville over racist reparations comments

(The Hill) — NAACP President Derrick Johnson on Monday accused Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) of using dangerous rhetoric after the senator claimed Democrats want reparations for minorities because they are “criminal.”

“Senator Tuberville’s comments are thoroughly racist, ignorant and absolutely disgusting,” Johnson said in a statement Monday. “His words promote a centuries-old lie about black people that has led to the most dangerous policies and violent attacks on our community throughout history.”

“We’ve seen this before from the far right, and we’ve seen what they can do when they take power,” Johnson continued. “The next time the senator wants to talk about crime, he should be talking about Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021 hateful rally and the attacks that followed. Perhaps the real criminals are in its orbit.”

Tuberville’s comments came Saturday at a rally hosted by former President Donald Trump in Minden, Nevada. He accused the Democrats of being intentionally soft on crime.

“They want crime because they want to take what you have,” Tuberville said. “They want to control what you have. They want redress because they think the people who committed the crime are to blame.”

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) defended Tuberville on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, saying the comments were not meant to be racist and that the rise in crime across the country cannot be ignored.

With the midterm elections less than a month away, Republicans have used the rise in crime to mobilize voters. They have accused Democrats and Liberal prosecutors of being lax in prosecuting criminals.

Johnson’s statement follows CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers’ comments on the State of the Union on Sunday.

Sellers said Tuberville’s comments prompted “racist language” and greater belief within the Republican Party.

“For him to give these racist tropes — I mean, it pisses me off,” Sellers said. “But that’s a big part of the Republican Party that they have to contend with, which they’ve never done.”