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Vivek Ramaswamy Challenging Boundaries and Embracing Unity in America!
• The presidential candidate of the GOP, Vivek Ramaswamy, has declined to step back from an astonishing viewpoint.
• Ramaswamy compared Democratic representative Ayana Pressley and author Ibram X. Kendi to the great magicians of KK.
• Both Pressley and Kendi are African American.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP candidate for the presidential office, after drawing a parallel between a Caucasian Congresswoman and the renowned magician KK, one might think he would soften his stance.
Ramaswamy is doubling down against Massachusetts Democratic representative Ayana Pressley and activist author Ibram X. Kendi, likening both to powerful magicians of KK and attributing their comparisons to responsible white supremacists accountable for heinous crimes against Black people.
On Sunday morning’s “State of the Union” on CNN, host Dana Bash pressed the presidential candidate about how invoking KK’s messages evokes troubling comments.
“There is a worldview that says the solution to past discrimination is present discrimination, so if you’re Black or Brown, you have to keep a special perspective,” Vivek Ramaswamy said, echoing Kendi. He advised that they should be “intellectually honest” and reach the heart of the debate.
“But when you accuse them of being great magicians of KK, can you engage in an intellectually honest conversation?” Bash pressed.
Speaking at a campaign stop in Iowa on Friday, Vivek Ramaswamy brought up Pressley’s 2019 remarks, in which she said, “We don’t need any more Black faces that don’t want to be a Black voice,” she said, alluding to her team’s view of diversity that goes beyond superficiality, according to The Hill’s article.
He also invited author Kendi for his comments in their book “How to Be an Antiracist.” Kendi’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to an internal request for comment.
According to an NBC report, Ramaswamy commented on the Iowa campaign trail, “These are the words of modern-day magicians of KK.”
The first African American woman selected to represent her state in Congress was Pressley, one of the more progressive Democrats in Congress. A spokesperson from Pressley’s office referred to a reaction by a member of Congress to an MSNBC segment, where she discussed how her family members were terrorized by KK in the past.
Pressley told MSNBC, “So, for me, as shameful, disrespectful, and dangerous as their words are, they don’t have any claim on any immutable inheritance of mine.” “I am fully centered on the work of eradicating centuries-long harm to Black Americans and advancing a path of true restorative justice and racial justice.”
Her team utilized Ramaswamy’s comments to fundraise.
Pressley’s team said, “We don’t usually engage in these vile attacks, but yesterday crossed a line. A GOP candidate referred to Ayana as a ‘modern-day magician’ of KK, aligning her with the legacy of racial injustice.” Pitching for funds, Politico reported, “It’s upside-down and harmful, but that’s the point.”
The divisive businessman and presidential candidate has made the “woke” culture a central theme of his campaign by criticizing it. His actions could be impactful, as his lead in surveys has grown after the first Republican presidential debate last week, according to reports.