“To my mind, it makes eminently more sense to invest in jobs and education, rather than jails and incarceration”, the self-described democratic socialist told leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The NRA endorsed Sanders in his first congressional election in 1990 (though since then, it has given him mostly D and F ratings).
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But if activists do decide to abandon the Democratic Party, it’s not clear that they will find many allies on the Republican side.
“I was certainly leaning toward Hillary“, Bruno said. “If he stands on the right issues, I think he’d have a chance” of winning new fans in the crowd.
In an interview with Meet the Press, Bernie Sanders made it absolutely clear that he is for improving the gun control system we have in America.
Rather than dwell on his past civil rights work, which many in the room likely already knew, Sanders turned to “the need to simultaneously address the structural and institutional racism which exists in this country, while at the same time we vigorously attack the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality which is making the very rich much richer while everyone else – especially the African-American community and working-class whites – are becoming poorer”. They are this nations assiduous conscience, a tangible reminder that between the headlines, black lives are routinely lost in interactions with police. As bussers and servers in starched white shirts and black vests whizzed by carrying trays on their shoulders, Sanders – gesturing frequently with his right arm – spoke to reporters standing under a loudly fizzing pipe.
Sanders reiterated his position on background checks, saying the gun show loophole needs to be closed and guns should be kept out of the hands of criminals and domestic abusers. In some of the strongest language he has used so far in the campaign, Sanders called out the names of several African-Americans who have died after encounters with law enforcement, including Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Rekia Boyd, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray and Tamir Rice.
On his campaign website, berniesanders.com, Sanders says, “If you can believe it, between 2013 and 2015 the 14 wealthiest individuals in the country saw their net worth increase by over $157 billion dollars”.
No one doubts Sanders civil rights bona fides, or that when it comes to social justice issues hes regarded as one of the good guys. “But the important piece is: Anybody can bring up a piece of legislation tomorrow, but if it doesn’t have the support of folks who come from rural America, it’s not going to get passed”, he said, urging people to “stop shouting at each other and come forward with sensible ideas”.
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“We still have men who are suffering from it today”, Marvin “Doc” Cheathem, a past president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP, told The Washington Post recently. “But this will cause me to pay more attention to his campaign”. When asked about 20 high-profile issues, GOP primary voters ranked race relations second-to-last among topics that they want presidential candidates to talk about.
