Colin Powell slams GOP for racism: 'I still see it'

Colin Powell, America's first black secretary of state who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, took shots at his own political party on national television, telling ABC's George Stephanopoulos that many Republicans were still racist and that there was a "dark vein" of intolerance that ran through much of the nation.

"I still see it," he said, during a "This Week" interview about the memorial march in Selma, Ala. "I still see it in the Republican Party and I still see it in other parts of our country. You don't have to be a Republican to be touched by this dark vein. America is still going through this transformation from where we were just 50 or 60 years ago."

Powell said similarly in January 2013, during a "Meet the Press" interview on NBC. Then, he said there was a "dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the [Republican] party. What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is they still sort of look down on minorities." During that interview, he pointed to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her reference to "shuckin' and jivin' … [as] a racial-era slave term," various media reported.

Now, in an interview on the 50th anniversary of Selma, Powell said Republicans have made progress over the years insofar as discrimination goes – but still have a way to go.

"We've come a long way, but there's a long way to go," he said, ABC News reported. "And we have to change the hearts and minds of Americans. And I see progress, especially in the younger generation. … But we still now have hurdles that we have to get over."

Powell also weighed in on the Justice Department report on Ferguson that cleared officer Darren Wilson of any criminal culpability in the shooting death of Michael Brown, but found systematic discrimination against blacks in the local police department.

"I was shocked but not that surprised, frankly," he said, ABC News reported. "I know these things have existed in other parts of our country. This shouldn't have been that great a surprise to any of us. But it's not throughout the country."