Khanna had commented that he was ‘profoundly embarrassed’ by Ramaswamy’s attempt to lecture a Black man on Black history
Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have engaged in a fiery Twitter feud which errupted after CNN anchor Don Lemon got in an heated debate with Ramaswamy about Black history. During a recent interview with Joy Reid, Khanna pulled the debate further commenting upon the twitter spat and calling Ramaswamy’s remarks, ‘embarrassing’.
Khanna said in ‘The Ried Out’, “(Vivek Ramaswamy’s) comments were embarrassing & wrong. To sit there lecturing a black man about black history was totally uncalled for.”
Khanna went on to say, “Indian Americans owe a huge debt to the African American community…If it weren’t for the civil rights movement & immigration reform in 1965, my parents wouldn’t have been able to come to America.”
Ramaswamy did not hold back on Ro’s comment and escalated the argument further by tweeting,-
MLK Jr. got his idea of nonviolent protest from Gandhi, but I’m not going to sit here & say that means black Americans owe Indians some “debt of gratitude.” All 3 of us are kids of immigrants & we owe gratitude to *America*, not to a racial group.
The exchange between Ramaswamy and former CNN host Don Lemon sparked controversy after Ramaswamy made claims that Black Americans received equal rights after the Civil War and with the help of the National Rifle Association. However, Lemon and co-host Poppy Harlow challenged Ramaswamy’s claims, leading to a heated exchange.
Khanna, an Indian-American politician, expressed his disappointment with Ramaswamy’s attempt to lecture a Black man on Black history and added that Black Americans paved the way for the 1965 immigration act, which allowed his and Ramaswamy’s families to come to America.
The feud between the two Indian Americans has highlighted the ongoing division in the United States over issues of race and how history is taught and understood.
Also read | ‘I reject this toxic idea’, Ro Khanna calls out Vivek Ramaswamy for ‘lecturing’ Don Lemon on Black History
As the nation grapples with its complex history and ongoing issues of racial inequality in the light of Presidential elections in 2024, the debate sparked by Lemon and Ramaswamy serves as a reminder that these conversations are far from over.