Here is his full answer (the video is below if you prefer to experience it):
"I love your question because I saw where Joe Biden tweeted last night that everyone should have a fair chance at realizing the American dream. And that's one of the reasons why, like the president and I was talking, like the president was talking in Dallas last week. He made it clear that if we are going to take a step today to provide new resources to law enforcement, to help them, you know, adopt more standards high in de-escalation and use of force and establishing information sharing. - I mean, you know, like I said, nobody hates bad cops more than good cops, and most men and women who put on the uniform of law enforcement every day are truly the best of us - we know that. We will take these steps today to help improve the police service, to advance this process as a country as a result of these events t rage and the violence that followed, but we're not going to stop there, Brian. means, Biden says everyone should have a free kick on the American dream, well we would say, "Well, why don't you support allowing African American families to choose where their children go to 'school? This president has in fact defended the choice of school, we have doubled the Educational Choice program here in the capital of our country, and we really believe that you should not be denied the opportunity to choose where your children go to. school simply because of your postal code or because of your income. We have also, as you said, as part of this president's policy, we have the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for African Americans, we have worked with Senator Tim Scott to adopt zones opportunity. There are now more than 4,000 opportunities in the areas that have attracted $ 100 billion in investment to our cities, we will continue to advance jobs and opportunities. I mean, we understand the media narrative at that time and the negativity at that time, but as I sat down with African American leaders in Pittsburgh, Maryland, as the president welcomed the leaders here at the White House and in Dallas, I think millions of African-Americans have seen the progress we have made in the past three years, and they know that we will bring this economy back not only from these tragic events and the violence that followed, but also, of course, of this coronavirus pandemic, that it is President Donald Trump who has the prescription for more prosperity, more educational opportunities and really, more access to the American dream than 50 years of democratic leadership under the aegis of Joe Biden never gave them. "This response, which lasted almost three full minutes, was 446 words. And none of these words really answered the question. Which is quite amazing.
What we asked Pence was essentially the following: is there systemic racism? And he had no answer.
This is consistent with the way President Donald Trump and his administration have responded to questions raised - or over-raised - by the death of George Floyd while in detention by the Minneapolis Police Department, and the protests in courses in the country have focused on race and policing.
"Our police have allowed us to live in peace and we want to make sure we don't have bad actors in there and sometimes we will see horrible things as we have seen recently, but I say 99.9 - let's go with 99% of them - great, great people and they did record breaking jobs, "Trump said earlier this month.
"I think there is still racism in the United States, but I don't think the law enforcement system is systematically racist," said Attorney General Bill Barr recently. "I understand the mistrust, however, of the African American community given the history of this country."
"To paint the police with a broad brush of systemic racism is really a disservice for the men and the women who put the badge, the uniform every day, risk their life every day to protect the American people" added the acting secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf.
The message is clear: Floyd's death was the result of a few bad apples in law enforcement. And we can't let a few bad apples spoil the bunch.
The problem with this line of thinking is, well, history. A long history of unarmed black men and women killed in confrontations with the police, with the police often facing little (or no) consequence for his behavior. Tragically, Floyd's death is no exception. It is more like a rule - and part of a larger structural bias built in American society, a society that was both built and torn apart by the enslavement of African Americans.
Of course, for Pence, to recognize that there are structural barriers that make the success of black Americans more difficult would be to directly contradict his boss. And Pence isn't there to do it - at least in part because he wants to be Trump's handpicked heir in the 2024 presidential race.
And so, when asked a simple question about race and its effect on a person's chances of success in America, Pence entered a largely absurd answer in which he sort of ended up on the "millions of African Americans (who) have seen the progress we have been in the past three years. "
Because answering the question he asked honestly is not politically feasible. Well yes.