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Woman Who Said 'We Don't Need White People Leading the Democratic Party' Joins Biden Campaign

Symone Sanders / Getty Images
April 25, 2019

Democratic strategist Symone Sanders has joined the 2020 Joe Biden campaign, despite her previous comments that white people should not lead the party.

The former Bernie Sanders spokeswoman and political commentator spoke out against former DNC chairman Howard Dean's rumored plans to run again for the position in 2016. Appearing on CNN, Sanders said that the next DNC spokesperson should not be white.

"In my opinion we don't need white people leading the Democratic party right now," Sanders said. "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."

"I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks," she said at the time.

Now Sanders has joined the recently announced campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden—who is neither brown nor a millennial—as a senior advisor. In her announcement tweet, Sanders allowed that Biden "won't always be perfect."

Sanders has a history of questionable comments regarding white Americans. She initially denied that the beating of a disabled white man by teenagers shouting "Fuck white people" was a hate crime, saying on CNN "we can't callously call things hate crime." During another CNN appearance, she dismissed a Trump supporter who had been attacked by a mob, sarcastically saying "Oh, my goodness! Poor white people!" Sanders also excused anti-white tweets sent by New York Times columnist Sarah Jeong, arguing that racism is "prejudice plus power,"