Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he will “try to do better” in reaching out to racial justice leaders in Vermont in response to criticism that he has fallen short in representing the state’s minorities during his long political career.

“Well, you know, I’m sorry to hear that and I will try to do better,” the independent lawmaker said in response to a question about concerns voiced by African-American leaders in Vermont that he had done little to stay in touch with them.

“I think if anyone looks at my record here in Vermont and nationally on issues of racial justice, I think it’s a pretty strong record and will continue to be,” he said.

In an interview recorded on Tuesday and aired on Wednesday morning on Waterbury, Vt.-based radio station WDEV, Sanders also responded to claims from a leading campaigner for racial justice that the senator was “focusing on economic justice at the expense of racial justice.”

Sanders said issues of economic and other types of inequality often hit African-Americans and people of Latin American heritage especially hard.

“You cannot also ignore the fact that youth unemployment in the African-American and Latino community is sky-high” and “that when you look at our jail population, which is the highest in the world, that is disproportionately African-American and Latino as well,” he said.

The comments came during a short but wide-ranging interview that also touched on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, how such meddling might be avoided in the future and the government’s role in guarding against abuses on social media platforms.

Sanders’ comments came ahead of a trip to Memphis, Tenn., where he was a featured speaker on Wednesday at a rally commemorating the 50th anniversary of the fatal shooting in that city of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Sanders has been unwilling to comment on any plans he might have to make a second bid for the White House in 2020. To do so, he likely would seek to round up more support among African-Americans than he received in the 2016 primary contests against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton won an overwhelming share of the black vote in primaries.

Sanders’ poor showing was blamed in part on his failure to reach out to minorities during his career as a national politician, a criticism that has been echoed by minority leaders in Vermont, the whitest state in America, with an estimated minority population of about 5 percent.

Sanders made headlines on the campaign trail in 2015 for an awkward encounter with Black Lives Matter protesters at a town hall in Arizona calling for him to address racial injustice.

“Listen, black lives of course matter, and I spent 50 years of my life fighting for civil rights, and for dignity,” Sanders said, according to reports. “But if you don’t want me to be here, that’s OK.”

He later asked the protesters for advice while simultaneously defending his own actions on the issue.