Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been a popular option among Black voters, but that may change after a video surfaced of him making controversial comments to a Black student about policing.
During an appearance at the Second Step Presidential Justice Forum at HBCU Benedict College, a Black student asked Sanders what advice he would offer him on encounters with police, if he was Sanders’ son. According to CBS News, the presidential candidate struggled to answer. Sanders began his answer by advising the student to be polite and things got worse from there.
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“I would respect what they are doing so that you don’t get shot in the back of the head, but I would also be very mindful of the fact that as a nation, we have got to hold police officers accountable for the actions that they commit,” he continued. “I would be very cautious if you were my son in terms of dealing with that police officer, but I would also defend my rights and know my rights and make sure if possible that police officer’s camera is on what goes on.”
He was not met with much crowd approval.
Democratic presidential front runner, former Vice President Joe Biden was asked the same question and seemed to be more confident as a Black female student asked him what she should do when pulled over by police, if she was his daughter.
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“If you were my daughter, you’d be a Caucasian girl and you wouldn’t be pulled over,” Biden said. “That’s what’s wrong.”
Biden went on to post a clip of his answer to Twitter. Sanders did not post his answer, but instead tried to clean up the mess by posting a clip of his take on the criminal justice system. Social media users were not having it.
In 2015 Bernie said black people were locked up more often than whites for drug crimes because “most drug dealers are African American”https://t.co/TcWnx1FL8n
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) October 26, 2019
POLICE WILL SHOOT YOU WHETHER OR NOT YOU MAKE SUDDEN MOVEMENTS WTF do you know how ignorant you have to be about race relations not to understand that
— David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) October 27, 2019
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