Lindsey Graham says Kamala Harris as VP and Obama as two-term African-American president proves systemic racism 'doesn't exist' - and warns Biden to stop criticizing U.S. for historic wrongs

• e-mail

Senator Lindsey Graham insisted Sunday that systemic racism 'doesn't exist' in the US - pointing to the elections of President Barack Obama and VP Kamala Harris as proof - before telling Joe Biden to stop criticizing America for historic wrongs. 

The South Carolina Republican was responding to President Biden's comments that George Floyd's murder 'ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism' that has become a 'stain on our nation's soul.'

Asked by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace is systemic racism in the police and other American institutions, Graham said: 'No, not in my opinion. We just elected a two-term African-American president; the vice president is of African-American and Indian descent. So our systems are not racist.'

He continued: 'America is not a racist country. Within every society, you have bad actors. The Chauvin trial was a just result.' 

Lindsey Graham told Fox News Sunday that he did not believe systemic racism existed in America 

The Republican went on to criticize 'this attack on police and policing, claiming that Democrats suggest officers 'are all racist'.  

Concluding his comments, Graham added: 'America's a work in progress but it's the best place on the planet. And Joe Biden spent a lot of time running the place down. I wish he would stop it.'

Following Chauvin's conviction by a jury on all counts - second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter - on Tuesday, Vice President Harris said Floyd's death represented the 'racial injustice that black Americans have known for generations'.

Biden said afterwards: 'We can't stop here. It was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the vice president just referred to.' 

He then made a plea for 'concrete reforms' in policing and for the elimination of racial bias from the nation's criminal justice system. 

Responding Sunday to the president's comments, Graham expressed hope that a bipartisan deal on policing reform could be done by May 25, as long as a consensus could be reached on qualified immunity - which gives officers protection from legal action. 

'Qualified immunity is a very big deal. If you want to destroy policing in America make sure every cop can be sued when they leave the house,' he said. 

'So there's a way to find qualified immunity reform, take the cop out of it. You sue the department rather than the officer if there's an allegation of civil rights abuse or constitutional rights abuse. 

'We can solve the issue if there's a will to get there and I think there is in both parties right now.'  

The South Carolina Republican was responding to President Biden and VP Harris' comments on Tuesday that George Floyd's murder proved that the police are institutionally racist 

President Barack Obama giving his inaugural address in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2009 

Asked by Wallace if a deal could be reached by May 25, he said: 'I hope so'. 

Graham’s belief that police departments should be sued rather than individual officers are in line with Senator Tim Scott (R., S.C.), who is leading Republicans in police reform negotiations. 

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary dodged a reporter's question and cut him off abruptly when she was asked if President Joe Biden plans to address his role in systemic racism while a senator for more than three decades.

'To what extent does President Biden acknowledge his own role in systemic racism and how does that inform his current policy positions?' New York Post reporter Steven Nelson asked Psaki during her briefing Wednesday.

He noted that Biden is 'an architect of multiple federal laws in the 1980s and 90s that disproportionately jailed black people and contributed to what many people see as systemic racism.'

Instead of noting any of his potential role in exacerbating the issue in the past, Psaki decided to list his steps toward relieving that.

Biden said after the guilty verdicts: 'We can't stop here. It was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the vice president just referred to' 

'One of the president's core objectives is addressing racial injustice in this country, not just through his rhetoric but through his actions,' Psaki deflected. 

'And what anyone should look to is his advocacy for passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, for nominating leaders to the Department of Justice to address long outdated policies, and to ask his leadership team here in the White House to prioritize these issues in his presidency, which is current and today and not from 30 years ago.'

The reporter tried to push Psaki on the issued with: 'Do you believe it's important for him to accept his own culpability –'

But he was cut off.

'I think I've answered your question,' Psaki tersely quipped before calling on another reporter to ask a question.

Chauvin, 45, was accused of killing Floyd by pinning his knee on the 46-year-old black man's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he lay face-down in handcuffs after being detained for using an alleged counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes