Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took his campaign message to Morehouse College where he spoke before a crowd of over 4,000. The senator from Vermont was introduced by rapper/activist Killer Mike. Both spent the day in Atlanta and Killer Mike took Sanders to several places that were key locations during the Civil Rights movement. “I wanted him [Bernie] to see where Martin [Luther King Jr.], Andy Young, Ralph David Abernathy, and John Lewis sat to have meetings,” Killer Mike told the crowd
Sanders’ speech at Morehouse was preceded by an impromptu step show, selections from Morehouse’s band, and introduction by actress Jasmine Guy and Georgia Senator Vincent Fort. Fort recently changed from his support of Hilary Clinton to Sanders. “Any election that I ever run in the future is going to be about creating a peoples’ movement, a grassroots movement. And that’s the intersection between what Bernie is doing and what I’m doing,” Fort said.
Killer Mike followed Fort and revealed why it’s important for voters to support Sanders. “If you every marched with Martin Luther King Jr., or for the poor, for the downsized, for the weak, for the women, for the people of color, for the people of poverty. You need to take that and put it on the board and you need to write down all the candidates from all the parties and say well whats your policy? There is only one candidate whose polices align with that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Killer Mike told the crowd.
Sanders followed and entered the stage with an astounding ovation. The presidential hopeful discussed economic inequality, mass incarceration issues, climate control, education, and unemployment.
“In this country today, unemployment for high school kids, and people who graduated high school between the ages of 17-20 is 33 percent for latinos, and 36 percent for African Americans. Overall, 51 percent of people in that age group are unemployed or underemployed. There is a connection between kids without jobs and without accurate education. We have more people in jail than any other country. That is why I believe that we should be investing in education and jobs, not war, jails or incarceration,” Sanders said.
Sanders’ visit to Morehouse came several months after Hillary Clinton visited another HBCU in Atlanta, Clark Atlanta University.
