(Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich.Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Republicans are normally hesitant to acknowledge how race can play a role in how an individual experiences life in America.
But after two black men were fatally shot by police this week, and after a Thursday-night ambush attack claimed the lives of five officers in Dallas, some in the GOP took a markedly different approach when discussing race relations.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is on Donald Trump’s short list for vice president, said Friday that white Americans "instinctively underestimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk” black people face in the US.
"If you are a normal white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America," he said.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a top Republican who ran an unsuccessful bid for the White House, issued a similar statement.
“Those of us who are not African-American will never fully understand the experience of being black in America,” he said.
Rubio, referring to the shooting death of Philando Castile, added: “But we should all understand why our fellow Americans in the black community are angry at the images of an African American man, with no criminal record, who was pulled over for a busted tail light, slumped in his car seat and dying while his four year old daughter watches from the back seat.”
“All of us should be troubled by these images. And all of us need to acknowledge that this is about more than just one or two recent incidents," he continued.
Even House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking elected Republican, praised Black Lives Matter demonstrators in his Friday speech reacting to the Dallas attack.
The "values that brought these protesters to the streets," the speaker said, were those of "respect, decency, compassion, humanity."
Ryan added that both Republicans and Democrats hunger for “a world in which people feel safe regardless of the color of their skin.”
“And that’s not how people are feeling these days,” he concluded.
(House Speaker Paul Ryan.Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
In conversations with Business Insider, two GOP strategists said such comments indicate the party is “headed in the right direction.”
“I think many leaders in our party have wanted to be more sensitive to racial issues,” said Matt Mackowiak, founder and president of the Potomac Strategy Group. “I think you’re going to see more and more of that.”
Mackowiak told Business Insider that there is a “new generation of leaders in the party” who are more eager to speak on issues regarding race.