E.W. Jackson, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, said on Wednesday that government programs were worse that slavery for black family because they were "trying to solve problems that only God can solve."
"I am a direct descendant of slaves," Jackson told a crowd at a Juneteenth event in Newport News. "And I'm telling you that slavery did not destroy the black family, even though it certainly was an attack on the black family. It made it difficult."
"But I'll tell you that the programs that began in the '60s, the programs that began to tell women, 'You don't need a man in the home, the government will take care of you,' that began to tell men, 'You don't need to be in the home, the government will take care of this woman and take care of these children,'" he continued. "That's when the black family began to deteriorate."
"It wasn't slavery that did that! It was government that did that trying to solve problems that only God can solve and that only we as human beings can solve."
Jackson went on to say that he had been told that an African-American man could never be president.
"But I've always said, I believe that there will be," he insisted. "I have to tell you, I wish we had a different black president. But nevertheless, I always knew that we would have one. And I'm telling you that he will not be the last, he will not be the last."
"And I want to say that I look forward to the day when there were be black president who loves God and loves America and loves our people and is willing stand up for what we know is right, will stand up for the lives of unborn children, will stand up for the family as union between one man and one woman in holy matrimony, and will stand up and speak up for things that we know this nation was founded upon," Jackson added.
"So I want to encourage you on Juneteenth to remember our history, but don't wallow in it."
Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. by commemorating June 19, 1865, when abolition was first announced in Texas.
(h/t: Blue Virginia)
