Bernie Sanders Gets Rock Star Greeting at Civil Rights Convention in New York
NEW YORK — Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont got a rock star's greeting at Al Sharpton's National Action Network's convention in New York City Thursday and he responded in kind by stepping briefly outside his security bubble for a moment to mingle with his fans.
Sanders' arrival inside the Metropolitan Ballroom of the Sheraton Times Square on Thursday afternoon set off a wave of screams and chants of "Bernie! Bernie!" until Sharpton settled things down and told the crowd how much the senator wanted to be there.
"Senator Sanders had agreed to come on tomorrow, expected on Friday and after his agreement they called him and changed and agreed to the debate tonight. I want you to know that the advice thrown was 'you have to prep for the debate so you cannot go to the National Action Network.' He said 'no, I'm going to the National Action Network,'" Sharpton said to more cheers. "He's not in the hotel prepping."
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Sanders and his rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are expected to face off in CNN's Democratic presidential debate in Brooklyn Thursday night as ahead of a critical contest in New York on April 19.
Unlike Clinton's appearance at the convention on Wednesday, the excitement over Sanders was palpable and vocally aggressive.
Sanders' supporters showed up with campaign paraphernalia and whooped and shouted almost every time he made a point they agreed with.
The different crowd responses contrasts sharply with the election results. Clinton is leading Sanders mostly due to the strong support of non-white Democrats. In South Carolina, for instance, only 35 percent of the electorate was white and black voters favored Clinton 86 to 14. Clinton was that state with 74 percent of the vote.
"I have a history of being blunt, so let's be blunt today," he began. "Blunt is being about telling the truth in politics at a time when not a lot of truth is being told so here are some of the truths we need to be talking about."
He then delved into a host of issues such as campaign finance, trade policy, the need for free education up to the tertiary level, criminal justice reform, unemployment and healthcare then tidily summed up the reason behind his campaign.
"Here is what this campaign is about and the decision that the people of New York are gonna have to make on Tuesday. If you believe that given the crises we face as a nation: a declining middle class; 47 million people living in poverty; a broken criminal justice system; a campaign finance system that is corrupt; climate change is threatening not only our country but all over the world; millions of kids leaving school deeply in debt; a dysfunctional child care system; public education which is not doing what it should be doing; if you believe that those issues can be addressed by establishment politics and establishment economics you've got a very good candidate to vote for but it's not Bernie Sanders," he said to cheers.
"If you think, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, If you think that you're going for office, have a super PAC and raise tens of millions of dollars from wealthy special interests and then go on and take on the big money interests and protect working families, well if you think that, you have a very good candidate out there but it's not Bernie Sanders," he quipped.
He then delivered the kicker to his pitch.
"If you believe that now is the time for real change. If you believe that now is the time that millions of people black and white and Latino and Asian American and Native American, that our people come together that we tell the Donald Trumps of the world, 'sorry, you're not gonna divide us we're coming together,'" he said.
He then talked about the time in 1988 when he fought with the Democratic establishment in supporting civil rights leader, the Rev. Jesse Jackson for president.
"If you want a candidate who has stood up to every special interest throughout his political career. Back in 1988, I was the mayor of the largest city of Vermont an almost all white state then. I supported Jesse Jackson running for President," Sanders said.
"It wasn't a popular thing to do. I had to take on the whole Democratic establishment in the state of Vermont. I stood up," he continued.
"Jesse did you win the state of Vermont," he asked Jackson who was sitting in the front row at the convention. "He won the state of Vermont," said Sanders answering his own question.
"So what this campaign is about is whether we go with the status quo and by the way I've known Hillary Clinton for 25 years and I mean this very seriously you know that. She is an extremely intelligent…but that is not what this campaign is about it is whether we bring people together to tell the people on top you can't," he said. "If you elected me president you will have a president who is prepared to take on the billionaire class not take their money."
He then cited his string of wins and polls showing him beating Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.
"We are beating Donald Trump by 20 points in national polls and I believe … if you want to beat Donald Trump you are looking at the strongest Democratic candidate. I need your help on Tuesday. Let us have this great state join so many others and say we are gonna go forward with a political revolution," he said to chants of "Bernie, Bernie! Bernie!"
