Meghan McCain Describes 'Extreme Shift' in Her Perspective One Year After George Floyd's Murder

Just yesterday, the women of The View got into a bombastic, year-making fight, but today, they managed to put their differences aside to honor the anniversary of George Floyd's murder. As the co-hosts discussed whether the world has changed in the wake of Floyd's death, McCain admitted that her "perspective has done a huge shift" over the past year, and she promised to continue doing her part as an "ally" to the Black community. "I want to continue ... taking my own responsibility and culpability in what I have done to contribute to make America a racist country and to help make it a less racist country," said the conservative co-host.

"The last year since George Floyd's murder has been paradigm-shifting in the sense that, because of the circumstances of the pandemic, we were all isolated and alone and able to confront the issues of egregious police brutality and the killing of unarmed Black men, whether you liked it or not," said McCain. "For me, personally — I can't speak for anyone else but myself, but I have done a lot of work since the summer, and a lot of reading and processing and speaking to people who know more about these issues than I do."

"I know my personal perspective on it has done an extreme shift," she continued. "If you would have asked me, 'Is police brutality a huge problem in America' before George Floyd, I probably would've said, 'Yes,' and now, I would say, 'Absolutely yes.' There is no doubt in my mind."

WHAT’S CHANGED ONE YEAR AFTER GEORGE FLOYD’S DEATH? The co-hosts reflect on the anniversary of George Floyd losing his life to the brutality of ex-officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murder, and question if there has been real change in America. https://t.co/83hKdofmPk pic.twitter.com/7r20sMaubg

— The View (@TheView) May 25, 2021

McCain added that she now realizes that, as a white woman, she's treated differently than her Black colleagues, Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin. "If my co-hosts and I want to go shopping and to lunch after the show, it would be a different experience for Whoopi and Sunny than it would be for me. Full stop, hands down," she said. "Racism is still a big problem in this country."

Clearly, McCain's remarks were enough to build some semblance of a bridge after yesterday's blow-up. "For me, hearing what you're saying, hearing you say, 'I've taken a look and I see that there are issues here,'" said Goldberg, her tone complimentary. "If people just cop to the fact that it's not in our minds; this has been going on to us since we got to this country — when we got here, we were considered chattel. Like bedding, like your cat or your dog. So, the things and laws that were put forth in America were not put forth with us in mind."

"It's important that everybody just go, 'Oh, damn. Damn, yeah, okay, I get it. I hear what you're saying,'" Goldberg said of Black Americans' decades-long (and centuries-long) battle with institutionalized racism. "If you hear what we're saying and you see what we're going through and you realize that once they're done doing this to me, you're next — maybe we can all help to bring the change if we all say we see what's going on and not pretend we're not."

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Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.