Rep. Jim Clyburn says democracy is in 'danger of disintegrating' and the US is in 'danger of imploding'

Majority Whip James Clyburn speaks onstage during the 2022 John Lewis Foundation Inaugural Gala at The Schuyler at Hamilton Hotel on May 17, 2022 in Washington, DC.

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• Rep. Jim Clyburn said the "country is in danger of imploding" during a Washington Post interview.
• He also spoke about the Buffalo shooting and said it reminded him of the 2015 Charleston shooting.
• The South Carolina Democrat said the US "refuses to admit" it has a racism problem.

Rep. Jim Clyburn said that the country is under threat of "imploding" in the aftermath of the racially motivated shooting in Buffalo on Saturday.

"The country is in danger of imploding," Clyburn told The Washington Post.  "Democracy is in danger of disintegrating. And I don't know why people feel that this country is insulated from the historical trends. These trends are just clear to me." 

In the interview, the House majority whip was asked about his thoughts on the Buffalo shooting, in which 10 people in a predominantly Black neighborhood were killed, as well as solutions for racism in the US. 

Clyburn said the recent tragedy reminded him of the Charleston, NC, shooting, in which nine people in a Black congregation were murdered. The Charleston shooter, like the Buffalo shooter, was inspired by white supremacist ideology. 

"And you know it's just a mystery to me that we've become so tolerable of these kinds of incidents," Clyburn said. "It seems as if they were just supposed to happen then you go and wait for the next one to happen. And they're going to keep happening." 

He also said that the country refuses to acknowledge racism, which makes it difficult to put together legislation in response to acts of hate.

In 2021, Clyburn sponsored the Enhanced Background Checks Act and co-sponsored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the House, both of which were blocked by the GOP. 

"No problem can be solved until you first admit that the problem exists," Clyburn said. "And we still refuse to admit that we have a race problem in this country. And it's been there for over 400 years."

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