In an interview with NBC's Sheinelle Jones, Jones asked Rice about race relations in the age of the Trump administration, telling her “there are people who will say it feels worse now when we’re talking about race, or it just feels like a divisive environment

Rice pointed out the absurdity of the claim by telling Jones, “look, it sure doesn’t feel worse than when I grew up in Jim Crow Alabama, OK? So, let’s drop this notion that we’re worse race relations today than we were in the past.Really? That means we’ve made no progress, really? And so, I think the hyperbole about how much worse it is isn’t doing us any good. This country is never going to be colorblind. We had the initial original sin of slavery.It’s still with us... when we start saying, ‘Oh, you know, it’s worse today,’ no, they’re not.”