At a campaign event for South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-Ind.), a white man in a “Black Lives Matter” Christmas sweater charged the stage and stole the microphone from a black Buttigieg supporter, as The Daily Caller reports.
As Councilwoman Sharon McBride of South Bend was expressing her support for the mayor’s candidacy, the white man began shouting at her, declaring that she and the others present were not real leaders of the African-American community, asking “Where are the black leaders who don’t have three-piece suits, leather jackets, and nice clothing?”
Several other officials tried to prevent him from getting any closer to the stage as he continued shouting. One elderly black woman stood up and raised her cane above her head in an effort to strike the man before being stopped by others in the audience. He eventually broke free and charged the podium, snatching the microphone away and asking “Who chose these people as the black leaders” and “what kind of nonsense is this?”
When three officials finally wrestled the microphone away from him, he began clapping his hands, chanting “This is a farce,” and running around between the rows of seats before finally being escorted out by a bouncer.
Buttigieg himself eventually commented on the incident and condemned the protester, saying that “it shows kind of where politics has come to, especially for somebody to interrupt an African-American woman who was speaking about her truth and in her experience.”
The incident comes amidst the broader backdrop of Buttigieg struggling to find support among the African-American community, even as he has surged in most recent Iowa polls and has emerged as one of the few remaining top-tier candidates, alongside former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).