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Barr Under Fire Over Comparison Of Virus Lock-In To Slavery During Comments In Michigan

SUSAN WALSH / AP

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr is drawing sharp condemnation for comparing lockdown orders during the coronavirus pandemic to slavery. In remarks Wednesday night at Hillsdale College in Michigan, Barr called the lockdown orders the “greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history” since slavery. Rep. James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democratic leader, told CNN that Barr’s remarks were “the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful things I’ve ever heard” because they wrongly equated human bondage with a measure aimed at saving lives. Clyburn said: “Slavery was not about saving lives. It was about devaluing lives.”