Atlanta rally highlights how Bernie Sanders will try to compete in the South
Source: Washington Post
Atlanta rally highlights how Bernie Sanders will try to compete in the South
By John Wagner February 17 at 9:03 AM
ATLANTA -- At a raucous rally here Tuesday night, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders showcased how he intends to compete in the South, appearing with a string of prominent African American supporters and playing up his plans to reform a broken criminal justice system.
The senator from Vermont still had plenty to say about his core economic message -- offering a series of prescriptions to rebuild the middle class -- but for anyone who had seen him elsewhere, it was clear he wasnt in New Hampshire anymore.
Appearing before a racially mixed crowd of more than 4,800 people at Morehouse College, a historically black school, Sanders stretched out the section of his stump speech on criminal justice.
He decried the images on television of unarmed African Americans being shot. He said that police officers who break the law must be held accountable. He called for demilitarizing police departments. He spoke out against mandatory minimum sentences. And he advocated for getting rid of the death penalty.
Sanders also talked at some length about the water contamination crisis in Flint, Mich., recounting his visit this week with a small group of residents from the majority-black city. Sanders said he was particularly troubled after hearing from a mother whose daughters school performance had fallen off, apparently from prolonged exposure to the water.
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