Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and urged a crowd of more than 4,000 at the Fox Theatre on Monday to “keep (King’s) extraordinary vision alive” as he tried to boost his black support in the South.
Sanders lags considerably far behind Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton in polls of black voters, who make up the brunt of the party's electorate across the region. Her campaign is counting on a Southern firewall to stop Sanders in case he wins the early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
“He kept his eyes on the prize,” Sanders said of King. “Victory does not come easily. Struggle does not come easily. And what we need to do is to keep our eyes on the prize. Always, always fighting for what he called the beloved community.”
He added, to cheers from the crowd: “Real change always takes place from the bottom on up. Never from the top down.”
Sanders visited Atlanta and Savannah as part of a Southern swing that also brought him to South Carolina over the weekend. Earlier Monday, the 74-year-old met privately with Bernice King, one of the slain civil rights leader's children, to talk about her father's legacy.
He was introduced at the rally by the rapper Killer Mike — his real name is Michael Render — who got roars of applause when he warned against a return to Reagan-era policies and the election of “a new Margaret Thatcher.”
Several of the thousands at the Fox Theatre expressed a barely concealed contempt for Clinton — though they each said they would hold their nose and vote for her should she defeat Sanders.
“Bernie is the only one I feel is working for us instead of the donors. We are his donors,” Dan DeYoung, a 65-year-old retired electrician, said as Sanders groupies awaited the candidate’s arrival. “I’ll vote for Hillary — but only barely. I’ve said all along that I don’t trust her. But if she’s the Democrat, how can I go with Republicans? They are so silly.”
Keith Bussey, a 54-year-old small business owner, was one of a smaller group of black supporters in the audience. Sanders has an uphill battle with African-Americans, Bussey said, but he was drawn to the candidate because of his plans for college affordability, health care and criminal justice.
“My wife supported Hillary — until she started to listen to both candidates. Now she’s feeling the Bern,” Bussey said. “I think people will start coming over. They just need to listen to him.”
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