Biden Says There’s ‘Systemic Racism’ In ‘Everything We Do’

Speaking with CBS’ Evening News Norah O’Donnell on Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden insisted that not only is law enforcement riddled with “systemic racism,” but “systemic racism” is “across the board … it’s in everything we do.”

Biden’s answer was prompted by O’Donnell asking, “Do you believe there is systemic racism in law enforcement?”

Biden answered, “Absolutely, but it’s not just in law enforcement, it’s across the board. It’s in housing, and it’s in education, and it’s in everything we do. It’s real. It’s genuine. It’s serious. Look, not all law enforcement officers are racist. My lord, there are some really good, good cops out there. But the way in which it works right now is — we’ve seen too many examples of it.”

Asked if he supported defunding the police, Biden responded, “No, I don’t support defunding the police. I support conditioning federal aid to police, based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness. And, in fact, are able to demonstrate they can protect the community and everybody in the community.”

Donnell asked, “Does it hurt Democrats’ cause if there are some in your party that are saying ‘defund the police’? The president is suggesting that shows Democrats are weak in terms of —”

Biden interrupted, “The president has no credibility in terms of anything. He lies; he’s the first person anyone can think of in modern history who’s taken regular military officers and had them move against peaceful demonstrators causing four former chiefs of staff to say, ‘This guy’s bad. This guy’s wrong. He should just stop.’”

O’Donnell asked, “What would you do to end systemic racism?”

Biden replied, “I’ve laid out a whole plan — how I would do that. Number one, you have to start off by insisting that the police departments meet a national standard of what constitutes policing that is appropriate. And that’s one of things we gotta set out, that national standard. And all police departments are gonna have to adopt it. We’ll put together a commission to do that.”

He continued, “We have to, in my way, change the way that the entire criminal justice system functions and the prison system. It should turn into a rehabilitation system, not just punishment.”

In January 2015, Biden said the media exaggerated the problems between police and the communities they protected, as Real Clear Politics reported:

Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the Major County Sheriffs’ Association/Major Cities Chiefs Association 2015 winter meeting on Monday. Biden addressed bridging the relation between communities and the officers who police those communities. “This is not nearly as bad as it has been in the past,” Biden said in Washington. “The press exaggerates how far off this is. But, we have to nip it in the bud.”