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VIDEO: Lankford Calls For Racial Understanding, Dialogue On 'Solution Sundays'

U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, talks with the media outside police headquarters in Guthrie, Okla, Friday, July 8, 2016. Lankford visited with police officers during a private meeting.
Sue Ogrocki
/
AP
U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, talks with the media outside police headquarters in Guthrie, Okla, Friday, July 8, 2016. Lankford visited with police officers during a private meeting.

U.S. Sen. James Lankford says he thinks racial tension in this country could be improved if people intentionally spent more time with each other in their homes.

During a floor speech Thursday, the state's junior Republican Senator suggested what he called "Solution Sundays" – sharing a meal with a person or family of a different race once a week in order to have a greater dialogue about race in the country.

"Everybody put their feet under the same table and to develop a friendship and a relationship,” Lankford said. “Every person can do that. Every person can be a part of the solution. Every person in our country can start to move that conversation a little farther. It's part of who we are. We don't solve things based on a vote in America. We solve things around our dinner table."

-KLyRc

Lankford said he started discussing the idea earlier this week with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) South Carolina Republican Tim Scott, one of only two African-Americans in the chamber.

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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