“What about it?” Colorado state Rep. Tim Hernandez, a Democrat and DSA member, said when a Denver resident accused him of not condemning Hamas’ mass executions and kidnappings of Israelis.
On Saturday, far-left Colorado state representative Tim Hernandez participated in a Palestinian celebration outside the capitol in Denver shortly after news broke that Hamas had carried out mass executions and kidnappings of civilians in southern Israel. A video of Hernandez’s interaction with a Denver resident has gone viral and brought additional scrutiny to his past statements as well as the political organization he is part of, the Democratic Socialists of America.
"You can't condemn women, children and elderly people being murdered in the streets,” a resident said to the lawmaker and school teacher in the video. In response, Hernandez asked, “What about it?”
As the back-and-fourth continued, the cameraman said, “I think anybody who watches [this video] would understand what your actual position is here.” Hernandez interrupted: “All three people that are going to watch your bullsh— video, Russel?”
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View on XThe video has gone viral on social media and Hernandez’s comments have been widely criticized, particularly among conservatives.
Russel, who uses the name “@_walruss” on X, asked The Post Millennial not to print his full name out of fear of retribution by Hernandez. He says the socialist lawmaker threatened him when he stopped recording.
“He got right in my face, literally nose-to-nose with me, and told me, ‘You don't want to mess with me. Do you know what happens to people who mess with me? I'm a gangster,’" Russel said.
This journalist contacted Rep. Hernandez for comment but did not hear back by time of publication. This story will be updated with his comment if he replies.
A media inquiry sent to Colorado state rep. Tim Hernandez via email and social media
The backlash against Hernandez’s comments forced him to issue a long statement on his X account by Monday evening claiming that he attended the celebration rally out of “solidarity with the Colorado Palestinian community, not Hamas.” He added that he was “heartbroken for any loss of life at all.”
Though Hernandez has unshared a number of inflammatory pro-Palestine X posts since the Hamas attacks claimed an estimated 1,000 Israeli lives, mostly civilians, controversial posts that he “liked” were still visible as of Tuesday.
One of the posts he liked was written as the Hamas atrocities were still ongoing on Oct. 7. “The Palestinians have humiliated Israel. They have accomplished more in one morning using parachutes than Ukraine did in half a year using $80b. Lmao,” reads the post.
Colorado state rep. Tim Hernandez liked a number of inflammatory social media posts celebrating the terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians
Another post Hernandez liked was written by Hannah Riley, an Atlanta activist for the domestic terrorism Antifa-linked “Defend the Atlanta Forest” movement. In September, 61 members of the far-left extremist group were named in a Fulton County grand jury indictment on RICO, domestic terrorism and/or money laundering charges.
“Pay real close attention to who gets described as a terrorist when fighting for freedom, from Atlanta to Palestine," Riley wrote in the post that Hernandez liked.
He also liked a post quoting Malcolm X: “Anyone who is depriving you of freedom isn’t deserving of a peaceful approach by the ones who are being deprived of their freedom.”
Hernandez’s attendance at the Palestine celebration rally garnered criticism from mostly conservatives, but also some Democrats.
"I wholeheartedly disagree with Rep. Hernandez's decision to attend a rally in support of the unconscionable terrorist campaign unfolding against thousands of Jewish families in Israel," State Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet wrote, adding, "his posting of harmful rhetoric supporting the terrorist action on social media is reprehensible and dangerous."
Hernandez represents District 4 in the Colorado House of Representatives. In August this year, he was appointed to the seat by a vacancy committee of the Colorado Democratic Party. He was only sworn into office on Sept. 12.
Hernandez is a member of the DSA and until recently worked as a high school ethnic studies teacher in Denver and Aurora. Several chapters of the DSA have issued controversial statements in support of the terrorist attacks by Palestinian Islamist militants. The New York City chapter of the party, of which congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a member, promoted a widely criticized Palestine celebration rally in Times Square the day after the massacres. The San Francisco chapter posted on X: “Socialists support the Palestinian people’s, and all people’s, right to resist and fight for their own liberation.”
Chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America issued official statements in support of the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel
Before he was sworn into office, Hernandez frequently posted about his radical critical race theory teachings in the classroom. In a September 2022 post, he boasted about his students applauding the death of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.
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He has also shown off political propaganda and flags in his classroom.
In an August 2022 post, he recounts being asked by a student why there wasn’t an American flag on his wall. He wrote: “My response? ‘America is an empire, and we don’t wave the flags of empires in a place where we talk about Freedom.’” Flags that featured in his classroom include the Black Panters Party, Palestine, Black Lives Matter, and anarchist-communist symbols.
The Colorado Democratic Party was reached for comment.