Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) told Harvard law students that Trump is not a “bush league racist” and that anti-drug policies calling for mandatory minimum sentences are “re-enforcing racial hierarchy.”
Video of Ellison speaking at Harvard earlier this April shows the Minnesota Democrat criticizing Trump for racism while defending his relationship with Rev. Louis Farrakhan. Ellison claims he has denounced anti-Semitism and that “it offends me that anyone would insist that I do it one more time.”
“People think Trump is some bush league racist, no he’s isn’t,” Ellison said.
“Trump is very skillfully re-enforcing racism. That’s what he’s doing. He’s trying to get the blacks and whites to suspect the Hispanics –‘ they’re taking your jobs.’”
“He goes to a police department in Suffolk, New York and tells them ‘don’t worry about putting your hand on the tops of the heads of the people you're arresting, let them bash their head,’” Ellison continued.
“He’s enforcing racism, when Sessions, who is Trump, says we’re going to redo the war on drugs and give people maximum penalties for drug sentencing – he’s enforcing racial hierarchy.”
But when asked about his highly publicized connections to anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, Ellison says he’s already denounced anti-Semitism and that should be enough.
“It’s a smear man, I’m sorry, it is a smear,” Ellison said about comments connecting himself or other members of the Congressional Black Caucus to meeting with Farrakhan.
“It is frustrating to be pulled out - it’s like your daily moment to denounce anti-Semitism. We denounce it. We absolutely denounce it.”