Bernie Sanders Met With Boos After Name-Dropping Martin Luther King at She the People Summit
Struggled to offer specifics on what he’d do to help women of color, combat white nationalism.
Loren Elliott/Reuters
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was met with audible groans from the audience Wednesday night at the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston for his response to a question on the rise of white nationalism. Sanders, one of eight Democratic contenders for 2020 featured at the summit, which described itself as “the first-ever presidential candidate forum focused on women of color,” prompted boos from the crowd after defaulting to his usual talking points about immigration reform and mentioning his attendance at the March on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King when asked how he’d handle the issue of white-supremacist violence and what specifically he’d do for women of color. The questioner, former NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Sayu Bhojwani, later tweeted that Sanders “had a rough time” with the question but “came around.” Others were less forgiving. “Bernie was asked important questions and he answered none of them,” tweeted disability-rights advocate Stephanie Olarte. “It is so sad that the moderators ask the questions in different forms to get an answer Y NADA.”
Wow. Bernie just said at #SheThePeople2020 to audience of women of color that he was "at the March on Washington with Dr. King" and the audience audibly groaned. i think someone said "we know."
— marisa kabas (@MarisaKabas) April 24, 2019
After getting called out for dodging specific questions about minorities, Bernie reminds the audience he "marched with MLK".
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) April 24, 2019
Audible groans/boos.
He wags his finger at them.
This is embarrassing.#SheThePeople2020 pic.twitter.com/iOG1FthwLI
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