“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin complained Monday about being repeatedly called a racist on social media.
The panel criticized Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville for saying that Democrats back reparations because they think “the people who do crime are owed that” at a Trump rally Saturday. Hostin said people accuse her and others of being “racist” for supporting reparations.
“The minute you start talking about reparations, people call you a racist and I’ve always said, you know, please, people need to start just looking up what the definition of racism is,” Hostin said. “It’s really a power dynamic, it’s not just about the color of your skin and I think when you talk about those who committed crimes owe reparations, those are the people the atrocities of slavery, who stole land, who killed indigenous people. Today is Indigenous People’s Day.”
“Those reparations are still owed and so to sort of try and subvert the conversation and bash the conversation and call people racist because you call out racism is something I get to experience every single day on social media, thank you very much. I am somehow a race bater and a racist because I call it like I see it. And I think it’s being used as a political wedge issue, everything is racist, everything is racist especially if you call it out,” she continued.
Co-host Sara Haines said Tuberville and the rally audience do not know what reparations are because the atrocities were committed by white people, calling his comments an emulation of “ignorant people.” (RELATED: ‘Why Was He Chosen?’: Sunny Hostin Says Republicans Only Wanted Tim Scott ‘Out Front’ Because He Is Black)
“This is full-stop racism and they clearly don’t know what reparations are because the people who committed those crimes were the white people so no one’s asking for reparations for them,” Haines said. “There’s so much ignorance in these statements and the sad part is, in politics, there are conversations about crime. There are conversations about reparations, not with this guy. You just left the conversation completely by playing the tropes of other ignorant people.”
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin claimed Tuberville went “full racist” instead of addressing the uptick of crime in the U.S. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg then said that reparations have been paid in the past to atone for wrongdoings and criticized politicians who are not addressing the central issues.
Hostin came under fire recently after accusing former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley of hiding her ethnicity for using her middle name. Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, has gone by her middle name for her entire life and explained that it is common in Punjab, the region of India where her parents emigrated from.