MSNBC host Ed Schultz pounced at the opportunity to call Republicans racist following the Senate’s failure to pass the minimum wage bill, as he said not raising the minimum wage is “every bit as racist as comments made by Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling.”
Schultz used the recent controversies surrounding the Los Angeles Clippers owner and Bundy, a Nevada rancher, as cause to slam Republicans for failing to pass the Senate bill to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour during his MSNBC show Wednesday afternoon.
“Not raising the wage, the minimum wage, is every bit as racist as comments made by Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling,” Schultz charged. “It’s just displayed in a different way.”
The MSNBC host criticized Congress for showing “their disdain for people of color,” and noted that raising the minimum wage would be especially beneficial to African-Americans.
“I think not raising the minimum wage is a racist policy,” he said. “Standing up, making the case that people of color in this country do not deserve a living wage is a racist policy. There’s a lot of different ways to prove racism in America. Not providing a livable wage for Americans hurts African-Americans.”
Schultz targeted Republicans, specifically, and said their racism is not just demonstrated by their failure to pass a minimum wage hike. Instead, he cited a reduction in food stamps, attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and cuts to Medicaid and Medicare as other policies that display racism. All, he said, are the priorities of the GOP.
“It’s not just the minimum wage,” Schultz claimed. “Republican policies, look at what they do, they hurt all people of color with their policies. … Not raising the minimum wage is just the latest in a long line of Republican policies that hurt minorities across the board in this country.”
A bill to raise the minimum wage stalled in the Senate yesterday after it failed to garner the 60 votes needed to advance. Republicans fear such a hike would negatively affect business owners and cause a reduction in jobs, as demonstrated by a study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Democrats, though, argue a minimum wage increase would lift families out of poverty and lessen the income gap.
Watch Schultz rant about the minimum wage below, courtesy of Newsbusters.
h/t Newsbusters
