Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said that George Floyd’s death was difficult for her family, which includes two children adopted from Haiti.
“As you might imagine, given that I have two black children, that was very, very personal for my family,” the judge said Tuesday during her confirmation hearing in response to a question by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.
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Barrett said she and her 17-year-old daughter Vivian cried after hearing about Floyd’s death.
“All of this was erupting, it was very difficult for her, we wept together in my room,” Barrett told the lawmakers, “and then it was also difficult for my daughter, Juliet, who is 10. I had to try to explain some of this to them.”
“My children, to this point in their lives, have had the benefit of growing up in a cocoon where they have not yet experienced hatred or violence,” Barrett said. “For Vivian, to understand there would be a risk to her brother, or the son she might have one day, of that kind of brutality, has been an ongoing conversation. It’s a difficult one for us like it is for Americans all over the country.”
When Durbin asked where Barrett sees the United States in terms of race, she said it is clear that the country is still grappling with issues of race.
“I think it is an entirely uncontroversial and obvious statement, given as we just talked about the George Floyd video, that racism persists in our country,” Barrett added.
Barrett said the exact means by which to tackle the deeper issues of racism being discussed fall to the policy side.
“Those things are policy questions,” she said. “So while I did share my personal experience and am happy to discuss the reaction our family had to the George Floyd video, giving broader statements or making broader diagnoses about the problem of racism is kind of beyond what I’m capable of doing as a judge.”
Video of the last minutes of Floyd’s life catapulted the U.S. into protests over racial inequality and police brutality. Floyd, an unarmed black man, was filmed being pinned to the ground by a white police officer as he struggled to breathe. He died shortly after, while in police custody.
Tags: News, Amy Coney Barrett, Supreme Court, George Floyd, Racism, Haiti, Nominations
Original Author: Zachary Halaschak
Original Location: ‘Racism persists in our country’: Barrett says George Floyd video was ‘very personal’ for her family