Roy Moore's Slavery Comment Resurfaces, Draws Criticism, Ahead Of Alabama Election

Former Alabama state judge and Republican Roy Moore reportedly said that U.S. was last “great” during the time of slavery, according to a September report by Los Angeles Times. This was resurfaced by a tweet Thursday made by Eric Columbus, former special counsel to the general counsel, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, just days before the Alabama Senate race, which resulted in massive reactions.

According to a report, Moore, during his rally in Florence, South Carolina in September was asked by an African-American audience as to when did Moore think, America was last “great.” To this question Moore, while taking into account the nation’s racial divisions said, “I think it was great at the time when families were united — even though we had slavery — they cared for one another.”

He then added, “Our families were strong, our country had a direction.”

The Los Angeles Times report also stated that during the same event, Moore mentioned the terms “reds and yellows” when referring to Native Americans and Asian Americans respectively.

While referring to how U.S. was affected by the Civil War, Moore said during his rally in Florence, “We were torn apart in the Civil War — brother against brother, North against South, the party against party. What changed?”

He then went on to say, “Now we have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting, Democrats and Republicans fighting, men and women fighting .”

However, this is not the only instance when Moore-who has been the subject of multiple sexual misconducts and assault allegations-stated something which can be perceived as quite debatable in nature.

In August this year, in an interview with The Guardian, Moore reportedly said that former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s declaration-where he said that the Soviet Union was “the focus of evil in the modern world”-could be applied in the case of U.S. presently.

He then went on to say, “We promote a lot of bad things.” When he was asked as to what kind of things U.S. promotes, Moore replied by stating “same-sex marriage.”

After this Moore was pointed out to the fact that his views were quite similar to Russian President Vladamir Putin’s on the issue of gay rights. Moore then said, “Well, maybe Putin is right.” He also said, “Maybe he’s [Putin] more akin to me than I know.”

In another instance, Moore during a speech at the Open Door Baptist Church, in February, quoted verses from the Old Testament’s Book of Isaiah and suggested the fact that the Bible prophesized the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Moore quoted Isiah 30:12-13 and said, “ Because you have despised His word and trust in perverseness and oppression, and say thereon ... therefore this iniquity will be to you as a breach ready to fall, swell out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instance.”

He then added, “Sounds a little bit like the Pentagon, whose breaking came suddenly at an instance, doesn't it?"

The comment made by Moore regarding America being “great” during the time of slavery resulted in a big social media response.

Actor, Wendell Pierce in a tweet, Friday mentioned the fact that his family was “split apart on the auction block.”

Numerous Twitter users also gave their reactions to the incident.