CA Senate Candidate Criticized for Mocking Native Americans

California congresswoman and current Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez has come under pretty intense scrutiny after making a “war cry” sound and gesture during an informal talk at the California Democratic Party Convention. Sanchez made the stereotypical gesture while explaining to a group of California Democrats that she expected a supporter to be Native American, rather than Indian American.

Via The Guardian:

“So I’m going to his office, thinking that I’m gonna go meet with wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh, right?,” Sanchez said, making the war-cry action with a hand. “Cos he said ‘Indian American’. And I go in there and it was great.”

The gesture was captured on cell phone video.

“I was shocked and appalled that she’d make the disparaging comments about Native Americans that way,” Uduak-Joe Ntuke, the man who filmed the video, told Stockton-based KCRA.

Sanchez is currently running in a primary to replace Senator Barbara Boxer. Her primary opponent, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, told the station, “I don’t know what to say.”

KCRA tried to catch up to Sanchez to ask about the video, and Sanchez literally ran away from the reporter.