The nation's racial unrest can be blamed in part on former Attorney General Eric Holder and his embrace of rabble-rousers like the Rev. Al Sharpton, says GOP presidential candidate George Pataki, the former governor of New York.
"We have seen the country take a step backward in race relations over the course of the past seven years and it started when you have people like Eric Holder embracing Al Sharpton, who has been a divisive force forever," Pataki said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
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Pataki cited Holder's trip to Ferguson, Missouri, last summer after unarmed black teen Michael Brown was shot dead by white Police Officer Darren Wilson, prompting riots — and Holder's Justice Department probe of the shooting even after a Missouri grand jury vindicated Wilson. He said Holder ultimately had to issue a report "saying that police officer did nothing wrong."
Reflecting on the Charleston, South Carolina, tragedy in which nine African-Americans were shot dead during a prayer meeting last week, Pataki told Steve Malzberg:
"It was a white racist who committed this horrible, horrible act of criminal terrorism. He should face the consequence, but we all have to look at ourselves and say, 'What are we doing to unite people instead of divide us?'"
"I'm fortunate, I grew up in a very ethnically, racially, very diverse community and we all looked at each other as part of that town. Neighbors, friends, teammate soon the basketball team or the track team.
"That's what we have to get back to. We're all Americans and let's stop dividing so that we can gain some advantage."
Pataki also weighed in on the renewed call for more gun control laws.
"It's part of our Constitution and our constitutional rights to have the right to bear arms and whenever there's an incident like this, too many try to use it to gain a political advantage and advance an ideological agenda," Pataki said.
"But if you want to look at the real cost here, it's not the gun. If you look at Virginia Tech, you look at Columbine, you look at Tucson, you look at Newtown, someone obviously mentally ill, obviously a clear danger to others, never got the mental health treatment, never was removed so that they could be forced to protect themselves from violence.
"That's where the problem lies here. It's with mentally ill individuals and when I was governor, I was proud to sign a law that said that we could confine in a mental health institution people against their will when it was clear that they posed a threat to themselves or others."
Pataki said he supports the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state Capitol in Columbia. Alleged killer Dylann Roof proudly displayed the flag in photos taken before the church massacre.
"I called for it to be taken down early yesterday because at the Capitol, it's inappropriate to have this historic symbol, which is a divisive symbol, on display," Pataki said.
"A museum, fine, and in fact, you know I thought this issue had been resolved because a good friend of mine, Gov. David Beasley, former [Republican] governor of South Carolina, when he got elected … he took it down."
"And then he lost for re-election. The Democrats ran on, we're going to put the Confederate flag back up. So I don't see this as a partisan issue. Beasley took it down, he did the right thing then and I hope South Carolina does the right thing now, which is remove it and put it in a museum."
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