Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is in hot water after claiming that unvaccinated black people are the reason for the recent surge in COVID-19 infections across the country.
During an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Thursday night, Patrick addressed Democrats who are criticizing his state’s handling of increased COVID cases, claiming that the virus is spreading mostly among those who are unvaccinated in the Black community.
“Democrats like to blame Republicans on that,” Patrick said. “Well, the biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated. The last time I checked, over 90 percent of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties.”
“In terms of criticizing the Republicans for this? We’re encouraging people who want to take the vaccine to take it, but Democrats are doing nothing for the African American community that has a significant high number of unvaccinated people,” he added.
Patrick’s comments sparked immediate outrage, with Russell Foster, another Democratic candidate running for Congress in 2022, calling him out on Twitter for “pushing these awful racist views.”
“That’s odd because the reports I hear from the hospitals in my district are that they are full of unvaccinated white people that refused the vaccine,” Foster commented on a clip of Patrick’s interview. “It’s not just Dan Patrick that’s pushing these awful racist views. Most Texas GOP leaders including Pat Fallon are doing the same.”
Meanwhile, Jorge Caballero, a former instructor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, told the Washington Post, “Making a statement that casts blame on a racial or ethnic minority for the spread of disease is a well-known racist trope that predates most of us. People are already getting hurt by this virus, and it makes absolutely no sense for us to add insult to injury.”
