CNN exclusive: Rancher says he's not racist, still defiant over grazing battle

• NEW: Bundy says he is "not tired of talking about race"
• The Nevada rancher has battled U.S. government over his cattle grazing free on public land
• He came under fire after suggesting blacks may have been better off as slaves
• "We need to get over this prejudice stuff," he says

(CNN) -- Cliven Bundy -- the Nevada rancher turned conservative folk hero for bucking the federal government's attempts to stop his cattle from grazing on public land -- admits he doesn't understand the bipartisan uproar over his comments suggesting blacks might have been better off under slavery.

But in a contentious interview Friday on CNN's "New Day," Bundy stood by his remarks, saying he's not a racist but only somebody who speaks his mind, perhaps using politically incorrect language.

"Maybe I sinned, and maybe I need to ask forgiveness, and maybe I don't know what I actually said, but when you talk about prejudice, we're talking about not being able to exercise what we think. ... If I say Negro or black boy or slave, if those people cannot take those kind of words and not be (offended), then Martin Luther King hasn't got his job done yet," he told anchor Chris Cuomo on Friday, adding, "We need to get over this prejudice stuff."

Bundy brought up civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, who was arrested in December 1955 for not giving up her seat on a public bus to a white man. The arrest sparked the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott.

King would have wanted Parks to sit anywhere on a bus, according to Bundy. The 67-year-old added: "I want her to sit anywhere in the bus, and I want to sit next to her anywhere in the bus."

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In one exchange with Cuomo, Bundy said, "I don't know how to talk about these ethnic groups. ..."

"Then don't," Cuomo said.

For two decades, Bundy's cattle have fed off government-owned land without paying grazing fees like thousands of other ranchers. He claims he won't do business with the federal government because, in his view, the Constitution doesn't say Americans can't use land owned by the federal government. He said he'd be willing to talk with state and local authorities..

"I'll be damned if this is the property of the United States. They have no business here," he said on "New Day."

"This is a sovereign state, the sovereign state of Nevada. The federal government has nothing to do with public land in Nevada." He said other ranchers are as frustrated as he is.

This stance made him a darling of some conservatives in the media and Republican circles upset over what they've deemed government overreach. Militiamen rallied by the side of the 67-year-old rancher as federal rangers tried to force him off his land.

Bundy won that standoff, but he didn't stop talking.

Speaking to reporters over the weekend, he recalled driving by a public housing project in North Las Vegas, Nevada, and seeing "at least a half-dozen (black) people sitting on the porch, they didn't have nothing to do."

"Because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?" he added in comments first reported by The New York Times and later seen on video. "They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton.

"And I've often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn't get no more freedom. They got less freedom."

The remarks have since gone viral, drawing widespread condemnation from Democrats and Republicans alike. The rancher said he doesn't feel "abandoned" by the uproar by the likes of right-wing radio firebrand and Fox News host Sean Hannity, who has ripped what he called the "ignorant, racist, repugnant, despicable comments."

Sen. Rand Paul, who originally supported Bundy's case, issued a statement Thursday decrying Bundy's racial comments.

Bundy: Fox News misunderstood meBundy: I spoke from my heartGOP running from Bundy's commentsRancher Cliven Bundy, right, leaves the podium with bodyguards after a news conference near his ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada, on Thursday, April 24. Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management have been locked in a dispute for a couple of decades over grazing rights on public lands.Chris Shelton of Las Vegas interacts with his 1-week-old son as his mother Shelley Shelton holds his rifle during a Bundy family "Patriot Party" near Bunkerville, Nevada, on April 18.Bundy family members and supporters of rancher Cliven Bundy set up for a "Patriot Party" on April 18. The family organized the party to thank people who supported Cliven Bundy in his dispute with the Bureau of Land Management. Cattle rancher Cliven Bundy talks to his supporters Friday, April 11, in Bunkerville, Nevada. They had been protesting the federal government's roundup of Bundy's cattle, which led to an Old West-style showdown last week. The government says Bundy's livestock has been illegally grazing on U.S. lands for 20 years. Bundy says his family's cattle has grazed on the land since the 1800s.Brand Thornton carries a rifle at a protest site in Bunkerville on April 11. The controversy drew armed militia groups from across the country to Bundy's side. The Bureau of Land Management stopped rounding up Bundy's cattle on Saturday, April 12, and it says it returned about 300 head of cattle to the open range to avoid the potential for violence.People gather at a protest area along State Route 170, near the cattle roundup on April 11.A sign announces the closure of public land during the cattle roundup. Krissy Thornton, right, and Burgundy Hall protest the cattle roundup on Wednesday, April 9. Thornton, right, looks at a wound on Bundy's son Ammon on April 9. Bundy family members and dozens of supporters angrily confronted a group of rangers holding Tasers and barking dogs on Wednesday. Bundy family members say they were thrown to the ground or jolted with a Taser. Federal officials say a police dog was kicked and officers were assaulted.The U.S. government was rounding up cattle that it says have been grazing illegally on public lands for more than 20 years, according to the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service. The Bureau of Land Management said Cliven Bundy owed about $1 million in back fees.Cliven Bundy, left, and his son Dave talk to a reporter in Las Vegas on Monday, April 7. Bundy's dispute with the government began two decades ago, when the Bureau of Land Management changed grazing rules for the 600,000-acre Gold Butte area to protect an endangered desert tortoise, KLAS reported. Bundy refused to abide by the changes and stopped paying his grazing fees to the federal bureau, which he contends is infringing on state rights.People help erect a pole so that they could hang a banner April 7 in support of Bundy. One banner at the protest side stated: "Has the West been won? Or has the fight just begun!"Rancher Derrel Spencer speaks during a rally in support of Bundy on April 7.Chris Miller holds his hand over his heart during a rally in support of Bundy on April 7.Bundy's son Arden works at his father's ranch on Saturday, April 5.Cliven Bundy, right, and Clance Cox stand at the Bundy ranch on April 5.Bundy walks by a free speech area set up by the Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday, April 1.Federal rangers block a road near Bunkerville, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, on April 1.Photos: Showdown in NevadaPhotos: Showdown in NevadaPhotos: Showdown in Nevada123456789101112131415161718Photos: Showdown in Nevada

"His remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him," said the Kentucky Republican, who's considering a 2016 presidential run.

Cliven Bundy: Another conservative folk hero exposes racial nerve

GOP Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada earlier called Bundy's supporters "patriots." But on Thursday, the senator's office said he "completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy's appalling and racist statements."

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who had not weighed in on the land dispute, said Bundy's words were "beyond the pale."

Politicians denounce Bundy's racist remarks

On Thursday, in an exclusive interview with CNN's Bill Weir, Bundy was asked to elaborate on his remarks. He explained he'd been simply "wondering whether (blacks) are that much better off in the situation we're in now."

He backtracked somewhat, insisting he "didn't really mean it to compare (African-Americans' current plight) with slavery. I meant to compare it with maybe life on the farm or life in the South, where they had some chickens and the gardens, and they had something to do."

At the same time, Bundy stood by his general premise that blacks once had better lives -- stating that, right now, "they don't have nothing to do with their children, their family unit is ruined. ... That's what I was referring to. I don't think they have the life that they should have" because of the government.

How did he arrive at these generalizations?

"I feel that, because I see that," Bundy explained. He said, "I don't think I'm wrong. I think I'm right."

Weir at one point challenged the Nevada rancher about whether he was any more or less a "welfare queen" since his cattle have been feeding off the government, literally, by eating grass on public land.

Bundy's response: "I might be a welfare queen. But I'll tell you I'm producing something for America and using a resource that nobody else would use or could use. I'm putting red meat on the table."

On Friday, the Bundy Ranch Facebook page elaborated on the rancher's "New Day" comments. The post concluded with these sentences:

"I am doing the same thing Rosa Parks did -- I am standing up against bad laws which dehumanize us and destroy our freedom. Just like the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord, we are saying no to an oppressive government which considers us to be slaves rather than free men.

"I invite all people in America to join in our peaceful revolution to regain our freedom. That is how America was started, and we need to keep that tradition alive."

In a press conference later Friday, Bundy added that while he is "tired" personally he is "not tired of talking about race."

"It's time the United States had a discussion about race," he said. "... I think all races should be talking about this, having their opinions and defending their liberties."

CNN's Joe Sterling and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/24/politics/cliven-bundy-interview/