You should be careful about making assumptions about the motives of others.

If he gave a racist reason, then that's one thing, but voting against a black man getting a national holiday is not in of itself a racist flag.

Sure, I wouldn't be surprised if he was racist, but I think of him as one of those oblivious elites who can't grasp what minorities go through and thus can't really emphasize with their issues.

This is why he defended Obama, but stands against civil rights. He didn't think they needed extra legal protection when they clearly do. So he was in the wrong, but I don't think it was cause of hating a skin color. Just learned a lot of bad behaviors that were reinforced by society his whole life. Not an excuse, but he was no Trump or McCuckguggler