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Rubio becomes the first Republican presidential candidate in 2016 to admit US must confront “painful” history of racial discrimination

The United States must acknowledge a "painful, complicated" history of racial discrimination that still affects many minorities, Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio said Monday between campaign speeches in South Carolina.

Rubio told reporters that "decades and decades of discriminatory practices" have yielded a lack of economic opportunity for many minorities and sour relationships between law enforcement and minority communities, particularly African-Americans.

"It's important for us to confront these issues because we can't fulfill our promise as a nation if we have a significant percentage of the population feeling as if the American dream is out of reach for them, that they're somehow locked out of the promise of America," Rubio said after addressing South Carolina's Upstate Chamber Coalition.

Read entire article at US News