NAACP Blasts Tuberville For Racist Reparations Comment

Reparations refers to the process of compensating the ancestors of enslaved people for the suffering they endured, as well as centuries of the systemic inequality spawned by slavery.

Democrats have no official party position on reparations, although a bill to study the issue received support from a House of Representatives committee last year and has since stalled in Congress.

The NAACP, the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the US, condemned Tuberville, who is a strong ally of Donald Trump and who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“Next time the Senator wants to talk about crime, he should talk about Donald Trump’s hate-fueled rally on January 6, 2021, and the attacks that followed,” Johnson of the NAACP said. “Perhaps the real criminals are in his orbit.”

The National Urban League, another prominent social justice group advocating for Black people, also denounced Tuberville.

“Even in this era of heightened racial rhetoric, Sen. Tuberville’s bigoted comments were stunning,” said Marc Morial, the group’s president and CEO. “Every member of the Senate must make it clear that Tuberville’s repugnant views are unacceptable and must bear no influence on public policy.”

Morial also noted that Tuberville had previously served as a college football coach, most famously at Auburn University in Alabama.

“Tuberville’s racial views are even more heartbreaking in light of his decades of coaching Black athletes who entrusted their health, safety, and futures to a man who clearly holds them in the lowest contempt,” Morial said.

Representatives from Tuberville’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.