Charlotte, NC – A Republican congressman who represents the Charlotte area said Thursday that people are protesting in the city because they “hate white people.”
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U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger, whose district includes parts of Charlotte and its suburbs, was asked by an interviewer for Britain’s “BBC Newsnight” what grievance the protesters have.
In the video posted online Thursday, Pittenger responded: “The grievance in their mind is — the animus, the anger — they hate white people because white people are successful and they’re not.”
He also complained that the government has spent too much on welfare programs that ultimately hold people back.
He later released a statement apologizing for what he said, and his comments were condemned by Democrats.
“What is taking place in my hometown right now breaks my heart. My anguish led me to respond to a reporter’s question in a way that I regret,” he said in his apology statement.
Protesters massed on the Charlotte’s streets for a third night Thursday, though the demonstrations were peaceful. Two previous nights included chaotic protests that damaged property, injured people and led to one death.
The protests stemmed from the shooting of a black man by a police officer Tuesday.
The North Carolina Democratic Party released a statement saying Pittenger’s remarks were inexcusable and accused him of “fanning the flames of hate with his racist rhetoric.”
Pittenger, who was first elected to his seat in 2012, won a razor-thin Republican primary this year after a recount, and he faces a Democratic challenger in the November election. His largely affluent district was redrawn under court-ordered redistricting and now includes poorer areas along the South Carolina border.
The truth hurts
You can’t speak the truth !!!! And if you do,you have to apologize !!!!
Sad but partially true. After decades of democrats blaming one persons failure on the others success & villifying the rich as Obama said “you didnt build that”. This is the results.
Another Republican moron making America Dumb Again. Should blacks love whites? Should Armenians love Turks? Should Jews love Nazis? Blacks didn’t just suffer slavery, but 100 years of Jim Crow and now 50 years of police violence. And 500 years of colonization and atrocity in Africa. Genug ist genug…
Listen they have no one else to blame anymore. They have black elected officials, they have a black president, yet they have taken steps backwards. Unemployment rates remain very high in their circles, they have no one else to blame but the White Man.
But unfortunately calling blacks out on their racism against whites is not politically correct, while they’re allowed to accuse every white of racism going back to slavery!
The Congressman seems to be an idiot.
American Blacks, Palestinians.
It’s all the same. They act violently and it’s always somebody else’s fault.
The more they get, the more violence in return.
The world needs to learn, you can’t always blame white people.