A coordinator for the Black Men for Bernie Sanders group agreed with Donald Trump’s spokeswoman Tuesday morning that establishment Democrats are to blame for the struggles in minority communities.
CNN’s Carol Costello moderated a panel with Gary Frazier, the east coast coordinator for Black Men for Bernie, and Katrina Pierson, Trump’s national spokeswoman. CNN Democratic contributor Hilary Rosen also was on the panel. The discussion got heated over the claim that establishment Democrats are responsible for the suffering of some minorities in America.
Frazier said First Lady Michelle Obama was playing the race card during her speech Monday night at the Democratic National Convention.
Pierson also put much of the blame on the Democratic Party.
"We see the racism and bigotry in the DNC emails," Pierson said, referring to the emails leaked in the recent hacking of the Democratic National Committee. "These are all things that Republicans are being accused of doing, and it’s been exposed to the country that it’s the DNC that participates in racial divide and gender divide. And we’re seeing this play out on a national stage where someone like Trump, who as his daughter said it best, is color blind and gender neutral and just wants to keep America safe."
Frazier shook his head in agreement with Pierson.
"It goes back to the minority communities that folks continue to overlook," Frazier said. "That’s the thing. These communities are suffering at the hands of established Democrats. These aren’t the Republicans that are doing this to us, these are established Democrats doing this to us. Until we start to have a real conversation about what we’re going to do with those in the minority communities, how can we ever get behind such corruption?
Costello then asked Frazier about Michelle Obama’s speech on the first night of the convention and if he embraced the speech.
Frazier claimed Obama was playing the race card.
"I think the establishment is playing the race card. See, first, you try and send us Oprah. Obama didn’t work. You send us Oprah. Oprah didn’t work," he said.
Rosen was not pleased with Frazier’s comments and quickly jumped into the conversation.
"Stop, stop. No. They are their own people. They are not anybody’s tool," she said.
"They’re being used as tools," Frazier responded.
"No, they’re not. That is disrespectful to the first lady," Rosen quipped back.
Frazier got the last word, saying, "No, that is disrespectful to us in the minority community."
Trump has recently been vying for the Sanders vote against Hillary Clinton for the general election. The Republican candidate recently tried to woo Sanders supporters during his speech at the Republican National Convention last Thursday night.