Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke asserted that the United States is racist “at its core” and “inherently violent.”
O’Rourke, who is currently running in the Democratic primary for president, spoke at a Democratic convention in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday. O’Rourke said that the U.S. is systemically racist, and that racism caused the August shooting in El Paso, Texas, which took 22 lives. The suspected shooter posted an anti-immigrant manifesto online and said he was targeting “Mexicans.”
“This country, though we may not be in El Paso, Texas, is still racist at its foundation, at its core, and throughout this system,” O’Rourke said. “This country, though El Paso is one of the safest cities in America, is still inherently violent.”
“40,000 gun deaths just last year in America. No other country in the world comes close to this kind of carnage,” O’Rourke said.
The former representative blamed President Trump for exacerbating systemic racism.
O’Rourke rose to prominence running against Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018 and losing a close contest to the incumbent senator. O’Rourke’s presidential campaign has struggled to take off, and the candidate has “relaunched” his campaign twice.
O’Rourke has settled on a campaign that centers around confiscating certain types of guns, such as the military-style weapon that was used in the El Paso shooting.
