Rick Perry slams GOP for ignoring black voters

Republican US presidential candidate Rick Perry has slammed his party for ignoring African-American voters, urging the party to work harder to win them.

“For too long, we Republicans have been content to lose the black vote because we found we didn’t need it to win,” Perry, the former governor of Texas, said on Thursday.

He added that the Republican Party's indifference to African-American voters has damaged its moral legitimacy.

“When we gave up on trying to win the support of African-Americans, we lost our moral legitimacy as the party of [Abraham] Lincoln, as the party of equal opportunity for all,” he stated.

“It is time for us to once again reclaim our heritage as the only party in our country founded on the principle of freedom for African-Americans,” he emphasized.

Perry went on to say that the decades of failed economic policies by the Democratic Party have provided Republicans an opening to attract black people.

"I am here to tell you that it is Republicans, not Democrats, who are truly offering black Americans the hope of a better life for themselves and their children," he said.

The comments by Perry, who was also a White House contender in 2012, coincided with renewed public debate about race and widespread discrimination against African-Americans.

The killing of several unarmed black men by white police officers in recent months and decisions by grand juries not to indict some of the officers has triggered large-scale protests across the US.

The United States has actually suffered from an epidemic of racial violence throughout its history, which some experts say has increased after the election of President Barack Obama.

The United States has historically been a “racist” and white-dominated society where blacks endure “ethnic cleansing” and lack basic human rights, American researcher and historian Randy Short says.

“It’s historic, America’s lack of judicial fairness, lack of justice, corruption and perversion of justice is not only documented, but it’s embedded,” said Dr. Short told Press TV in November last year.

“The United States is a hypocritical, white settler society where Anglo Americans practice apartheid and eugenics, in particular against African-Americans,” he said.

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