Joe Biden’s newly hired senior adviser said in 2016 that white people shouldn’t be at the head of the Democratic party.
Biden, who is white, would be the leader of the party if elected.
Symone Sanders, who is black, was hired by Biden’s team to a post of senior adviser.
“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic Party right now,” she said during a November 2016 appearance on CNN, referring to the possibility of Howard Dean becoming the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she added. “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”
The footage was circulated widely on April 25 after Sanders joined his team following Biden’s announcement that he was officially running for president.
The former CNN political analyst has made a number of other racially charged remarks. After Trump won in 2016, she claimed, “We have put white supremacy in the White House thanks to Donald Trump.” After a white Trump supporter was dragged from his car and beaten in Chicago, she claimed it was Trump who was to blame, rather than the perpetrators.
“The audacity of privileged white people to sit on national television and question if hate crimes [against black people] are happening, to just flippantly say ‘stop it, it’s not okay,’ and not put any action behind those words, it’s appalling to me. It’s actually appalling,” she said.
When asked to defend her comments that the mob beating the man was engaging in a political protest, she responded: “Oh my goodness, poor white people! Please!”
“We can’t call for people to be peaceful when the rhetoric that has been used is not peaceful, when people don’t feel peaceful in their home,” she reiterated, apparently signalling approval of the beating.
Sanders also dismissed outrage over racist tweets by New York Times writer Sarah Jeong, saying that Jeong might have a “prejudice perhaps against white men” but wasn’t a bigot.
The Democratic strategist worked for the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2016.
.@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right. PS – all stock photos aren’t created equal ????. https://t.co/JXvgEGHaRI
— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) April 25, 2019
Lol yes. I also donated to Castro and Gillibrand because I believed then and do now that they all should have their shot on the debate stage. Lots of folks donated to a lot of campaigns for this very same reason. Couldn’t be happier to be on #TeamBiden https://t.co/dphwT2VuUA
— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) April 25, 2019
Biden and Sanders are the two frontrunners in the Democratic field, according to virtually every poll.
On Twitter, announcing her new job, Symone Sanders wrote: “Joe Biden & Dr. Biden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right.
Sanders hasn’t addressed her comments about white leaders but did hit back at a piece noting hat she donated to Fort Wayne, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, another rival to Biden, in March.
“Lol yes. I also donated to Castro and Gillibrand because I believed then and do now that they all should have their shot on the debate stage. Lots of folks donated to a lot of campaigns for this very same reason. Couldn’t be happier to be on #TeamBiden,” she wrote.
