Gary Johnson admits blind spot on racial discrimination

Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson said Wednesday night the Black Lives Matter movement made him realize his "head's been in the sand" on the issue of racial discrimination, urging Americans to "wake up" to it.

During a Libertarian Party town hall on CNN, Shetamaia Taylor asked Johnson how he felt about the movement. Taylor is an an African-American woman who was wounded while protesting police violence in Dallas the night of the ambush that claimed five police officers' lives.


"What it has done for me is that my head's been in the sand on this," Johnson admitted. "I think we've all had our heads in the sand. And let's wake up. This discrimination does exist, it has existed, and for me, personally, slap, slap, wake up."

Sitting beside his running mate, former Massachussetts governor William Weld, the pair discussed how economic issues, intertwined with race, have weighed down minorities in the U.S. — while urging politicians to respond.

"I think we have a national emergency in the number of male black youth who are unemployed without prospects," Weld said.

"They're four times as likely to be incarcerated if they have intersection with law enforcement as white people are. Their educational opportunities are not there. We have to get them in to education and just concentrate the power of the government, trying to make sure that there are jobs available for them. It's a national emergency and when there's a national emergency, the government has to respond. Libertarian or no libertarian."