Trump Staffer's Racist Interview On Black America Goes Viral: 'It's Your Own Fault'

Kathy Miller thinks racism did not exist before Barack Obama became president. Kathy Miller is also the campaign chair for Donald Trump in Mahoning County, Ohio.

She was interviewed as part of a video series by the Guardian that explores how bizarre our American presidential election has become this year.

Paul Lewis from the Guardian realized that pretty much everybody at a Republican event was white. So, he asked Miller about it.

She started by insinuating that African-Americans don't vote. In fact, black voters had a higher turnout rate in the 2012 election than white voters did.

Then, Lewis asked if Trump's candidacy allows for below-the-surface racism to come out. Miller dropped a bold claim in response, saying, "I don't think there was any racism until Obama got elected."

I don't think there was any racism until Obama got elected. 

Because, uh, you know, America doesn't have a noted history of slavery and civil rights and discrimination in job hiring and zoning laws and police stops. Cool story, bro.

Miller said that since Obama came to office, there have been people "shooting up neighborhoods" and "not being responsible citizens." She said that Obama "perpetuated" that "philosophy."

After these statements, Lewis looked like this:

Oh, but don't worry: Miller didn't stop there. As Lewis raised his eyebrows, she just kept on talking.

Miller said, "If you're black, and you haven't been successful in the last 50 years, it's your own fault."

Lewis pushed back, saying that people born white in America have an advantage over black Americans. Miller replied,

I think you had a real advantage over [white people] because you had all the advantages going to college. You had all the advantages because they got into schools without the same grades as a white kid.

Miller is referring to affirmative action, which was created because schools irresponsibly lacked diversity and promoted white children, who had better opportunities for education and were more likely to not be first-generation college applicants.

She went on to say that three generations after the Civil Rights Movement (presumably), black people are still having "unwed babies, kids that don't go through high school."

I mean, when do they take responsibility for how they live?

After the interview formally ended, Miller ran up to Lewis to spout some more racist opinions.

She said that if people go to school and get jobs, "there is no racism."

This just doesn't make any sense, first of all. And secondly, it also ignores the systemic racism that puts black Americans in worse schools and gives them fewer job opportunities, not to mention perpetuates poverty and so on.

Miller was going on and on about education and jobs for black Americans, so let's get a few facts out about that.

Public education still remains largely segregated and unequal, as U.S. News reported. Moreover, per U.S. News,

On average, schools serving more minority populations have less-experienced, lower-paid teachers who are less likely to be certified. A report from the Center for American Progress found that a 10 percentage point increase in students of color at a school is associated with a decrease in per-pupil spending of $75.

Black students also face harsher punishments than white students at school, according to data from the Department of Education.

These harsher punishments reinforce the school-to-prison pipeline. Schools made up of mostly black and Latino students have a higher police presence, which ends up meaning that school offenses turn into legal misdemeanors.

As for jobs, hiring discrimination is totally a thing... as a ton of research has shown. People with names typically related to the black community get fewer callbacks than their white counterparts when they send in resumes.

An experiment conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2001 and 2002 -- years before Obama became president -- showed that there were also more callbacks for resumes that indicated an applicant lived in a "more white neighborhood."

Racism has existed for as long as America has existed. It creates advantages for white Americans that black Americans do not have. Miller, much like the candidate she supports, is using racist rhetoric.

She does not understand reality.

Citations: Guardian, New York Times, New York Times, U.S. News, Huffington Post, Huffington Post, National Bureau of Economic Research