A top campaign aide to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders got into a dust-up with Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen after Turner brought up Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s statements about white moderates.
The clash took place on CNN Thursday evening.
“It’s very much in the tradition of President FDR. That is the kind of democratic socialism that [Bernie Sanders is] talking about,” Nina Turner, the national co-chairwoman for Sanders’s campaign, said about her boss. “It’s in the same spirit — it’s in the spirit of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who, in his letter to the Birmingham jail, warned us, us being the black community, about white moderates.”
Turner, who is black, was reacting to a remark King made in his April 1963 letter from Birmingham city jail, in which he wrote: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”
Rosen protested Turner linking King’s remarks to Sanders’s platform.
“Nina referenced Dr. Martin Luther King before, saying that he said from the Birmingham jail that we should be concerned about white moderates. That’s actually not what Martin Luther King said,” she said. “What he said was we should be worried about the silence of white moderates.”
Turner responded, “Don’t tell me what kind of standing I have as a black woman in America. How dare you?”
“Listen, don’t dip into what I have to say about the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. How dare you, as a white woman, sit up here and try to tell me … what I’m supposed to feel and what I’m doing right now,” she continued.
The back-and-forth ended when CNN host Chris Cuomo interjected to say they were out of time for the segment.
Rosen later apologized for her comments and said she would take “full responsibility.”
Good morning. I have nothing but the upmost respect for Nina, her experience as a person of color, and the fight she’s waging in this election. Wake up this morning to this: I apologized + I take full responsibility. I look forward to the rest of the primary seeking common ground
— Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) March 6, 2020
I’m horrified that anyone would think i would call Nina Turner “an angry black woman” I would NEVER!! After the TV hit last night, I was getting tons of ugly messages to keep fighting her using that phrase. I was trying to tell people to STOP. Cause I KNEW I needed to apologize.
— Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) March 6, 2020
2/2 I unequivocally know I disrespected her and I wanted to make it right by telling disgusting white folks to stop. Wow did that tweet go wrong. I am so sorry.
— Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) March 6, 2020
I’ve called Nina to apologize directly. Whether or not she takes my call, I am still humbly sorry.
— Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) March 6, 2020
