A progressive Democratic candidate is taking flak after past comments about black leaders surfaced, showing once again that leftist leaders don’t actually care about black people.
William Lawrence, co-founder of Sunrise Movement, is running in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. The Huffington Post reported that the candidate slammed black leaders in a September 2024 episode of his podcast.
“The extent to which the older generation of black political leadership are such a pillar, frankly, for establishment, capitalist, imperialist American power through their role as this kind of traditionalist, establishment-ist pillar of the Democratic Party, it’s a big problem,” he said. “It’s a big problem for left politics in this country. And it gets us every single time. It really defangs the white left and puts us in impossible positions, really.”
Lawrence is now trying to walk back his comments. He told The Huffington Post that he has “tremendous respect for Black community leaders, who have been at the forefront of the fight for freedom for centuries” and that he regretted “how this specific point was expressed.”
But in a post on X, the candidate claimed, “My words are being taken out of context and weaponized by my political opponents.”
He explained that the interview was part of a podcast series about U.S. foreign policy and that he “noted that Black elected leaders in DC have been among those supporting unnecessary US wars and foreign intervention.”
However, he admitted, “The way I made this point was clumsy, and I regret my choice of words” and that he understands “the potential impact when received out of context.”
I want to address a comment of mine from two years ago that was reported today in the Huffington Post and has raised some concern. My words are being taken out of context and weaponized by my political opponents, and I want to set the record straight.
— William Lawrence (@WeWill2026) July 11, 2026
In 2024 I hosted a podcast…
Lawrence has a history of unhinged activism. When he was 22 years old, he locked himself to Enbridge construction equipment to protest work on a pipeline after a major oil spill into the Kalamazoo River.
He is an ardent critic of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and accused it of being “A lawless paramilitary force disappearing people, snatching people into unmarked vans, shooting people.”
The candidate backs a slew of far-leftist policies, including Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, a national moratorium on the construction of new data centers, and a path to citizenship for illegal aliens.
Do we even need to speculate about what would happen if a right-leaning candidate made remarks similar to this?
Of course not. But there has been minimal criticism against Lawrence over these comments. Given how much folks on the left pretend to care about black Americans, one would think these statements would be disqualifying. But the problem is that these people don’t give a rip about “marginalized” groups in America.
But they do love our votes, don’t they?