Biden says, 'I don't think the American people are racist,' despite finding 'systemic racism'

President Biden reiterated his call for the United States to combat systemic racism through policy initiatives on Thursday in his first public response to remarks made by Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.

"America is not a racist country," Scott said. "It’s backwards to fight discrimination with different types of discrimination." In an interview with NBC’s "Today" show, a clip of which aired Thursday evening on NBC Nightly News, Biden was asked to respond to Scott’s remarks and say whether he felt was America was racist. "No, I don’t think the American people are racist, but I think after 400 years, African-Americans have been left in a position where they are so far behind the eight-ball in terms of education, health, in terms of opportunity," Biden said.