Sunrise Movement's Green New Deal Confrontation With Dianne Feinstein

Overview

Sunrise Movement's Green New Deal Confrontation With Dianne Feinstein refers to a viral video of children and teenage members of the Sunrise Movement activist group confronting United States Senator Dianne Feinstein in regards to her support for the environment legislation The Green New Deal. Many online criticized Feinstein for her response to the children.

Background

On February 22nd, 2019, the Bay Area Sunrise Movement posted a live video on Facebook ^[1] of the group confronting Senator Dianne Feinstein, urging her to support the Green New Deal, which aims to address climate change and income inequality in the United States. Feinstein is seen in the video debating the children as they plead with her to back the legislation. The post received more than 900 likes, 70,000 views and 1,300 shares within three days (shown below).

Developments

That day, the Sunrise Movement posted an abridged version of the video on Twitter. They captioned the video,^[2] "This is how @SenFeinstein reacted to children asking her to support the #GreenNewDeal resolution -- with smugness + disrespect. This is a fight for our generation's survival. Her reaction is why young people desperately want new leadership in Congress." The post received more than 13,000 retweets, 32,000 likes and 9 million views in three days (shown below).

Online Reaction

People reacted negatively to Feinstein's response to the children. Twitter^[3] user @CharlotteAlter tweeted,^[3] "Senator Feinstein was born in 1933, in the early days of the original New Deal. 85 years later, some elementary school-aged kids with the @sunrisemvmt went to her office to ask her to support the Green New Deal. She basically told them to stuff it." The tweet received more than 580 retweets and 1,700 likes in three days (shown below, left).

New Yorker writer Osita Nwanevu tweeted,^[4] "Some folks were mad about a piece I wrote during the Feinstein race arguing that Democrats with long incumbencies feel entitled to their offices & that careerism drives the party more so than the GOP, where ideology matters a good bit more. Still think all that's inarguably true." The tweet received more than 1,200 retweets and 6,800 likes in three days (shown below, center).

Other defended Feinstein. Twitter^[5] user @KateHarding tweeted, "So, with a bunch of people yelling, interrupting her, and reminding her that she'll be dead soon, she never raises her voice or speaks disrespectfully. What am I missing, besides a refusal to enthusiastically make a promise she can't deliver? Should she have handed out Werther's?" The tweet received more than 385 retweets and 2,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Twitter published a Moments page on the meeting and the reaciton.^[7]

On February 23rd, Redditor ^[8] holyfruits posted about the video in the /r/environment. The post received more than 20,000 points (81% upvoted) and 4,000 comments.

Feinstein's Response

That day, on Twitter,^[6] Senator Feinstein tweeted a response to the meeting and the reaction. She wrote, "I want the children from the Sunrise Movement to know they were heard loud and clear. I have been and remain committed to doing everything I can to enact real, meaningful climate change legislation." The tweet received more than 3,500 retweets and 12,000 likes in three days (shown below).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the video, including BuzzFeed, ^[9] The Washington Post,^[10] CNN^[11] and more.

Search Interest

External References