Rand Paul: "There is a perception that Republicans don't like people of color" [View all]

[Jamaal510]

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/rand-paul-people-of-color_n_3100092.html

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) defended his performance at Howard University last week in a 48-minute session with reporters on Wednesday morning, and said that he will continue his efforts to speak with minority groups because he wants to change what he said is a widely held view that the Republican Party is racist.

"There is a perception that Republicans don't like people of color, they don't like black people, brown people or people of different color skin. It's not true, but that's the perception that we have to overcome," Paul said at a breakfast organized by the Christian Science Monitor. "And the only way to overcome that, I think, is by showing up and saying over and over again that it is not true."

Paul said he will continue to speak at places like Howard about the Republican Party's "rich history in civil rights."

"I'll keep trying. I don't give up easily," he said.