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The Dallas Morning News:
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders spoke against police brutality on Sunday in Dallas, one day after he was confronted by “Black Lives Matter” protesters at a progressive activists conference.
“We want a nation where a young black man or woman can walk down the street without worrying about being falsely arrested, beaten or killed,” Sanders told more than 8,000 people who packed a Sheraton Hotel ballroom.
Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, has been drawing huge crowds in his long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Though he’s considered unlikely to wrest the nomination from Hillary Clinton, liberal voters concerned about issues such as income inequality and the power of big banks have responded with enthusiasm to the self-described socialist.
“The reason I’m [in Dallas] today is because I do know that this state is controlled by Republicans and I’m here today to change that,” Sanders said. “We’ve got to fight [Republicans] in 50 states, including Texas. I am here to say that when childhood poverty in Texas is 26 percent, we’ve got to take them on. When over 17 percent of the people in Texas are living in poverty, we’ve got to take them on.”
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Arlington resident Kent Summerour, 36, has never voted in a presidential election, saying that he never felt the candidates would keep their promises. But to him, Sanders is “authentic.”
“I was very apathetic before finding Bernie three months ago,” he said. “The biggest reason why I support Bernie is that he knows the economy is rigged in favor of the 1 percent. No one else is really saying that, and it’s a huge problem.”
More Local Dallas coverage"
Hillary Clinton remains the heavy favorite to win the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2016, but she has a challenger that is firing up crowds across the country.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders hosted an overflowing crowd in a ballroom at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel Sunday afternoon.
Senator Sanders’ appearance in Dallas is part of a southwestern road trip through traditionally Republican stronghold states.
"The reason I am here today is that I do know that this state is controlled by Republicans and I'm here with you to change that,” Sanders stated.
Sanders hammered what he called the growing wealth inequality in America and policies that have led to a shrinking middle class.
More:
Organizers estimated the rally drew more than 7,000 people, though a more official count was expected later in the day. In any case, the event appeared to be the largest held by any presidential candidate in Texas so far this election cycle.
Sanders, who has emerged as the most popular alternative to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, won loud applause for touting a host of items on liberals' wish lists, including a $15 minimum wage, higher taxes for the wealthy and a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that gave rise to a new era of campaign finance.
Lubbock Online:
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent running for president as a Democrat, rallied thousands of Texans here Sunday afternoon with a progressive clarion call that included some tough talk for Democratic opponents who may be overlooking solidly red Texas in their campaign calculus.
“One of the problems that exists in American politics today, in my view, is that the Democratic Party has conceded half of the states in the country at the national level, and that’s wrong,” Sanders told a raucous crowd inside a downtown hotel ballroom. “We’ve got to fight them in 50 states, including Texas.”
“If we are serious about change in America, we can’t just do it in blue states,” he later added, emphasizing the need for Democrats to have a “50-state strategy” to win the White House.
Houston Coverage:
A crowd of more than 5,200 people packed into Hofheinz Pavilion at the University of Houston to hear Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speak.
Early Sunday morning, the Sanders campaign announced a change in venue was required because they expected an even larger crowd.
"Today this is a conservative Republican state, but that doesn't mean it will be tomorrow," said Sanders.
Sanders brought his progressive message to Texas and rallied supporters by attacking Wall Street greed and income inequality.
"Politics should be about improving the lives of our people," said Sanders.
The Vermont senator's biggest applause of the night came when he vowed to help make college tuition free.
Local ABC13:
The Vermont senator is considered the most liberal contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, denouncing corporate influence on government, speaking out for the middle class,
In Phoenix, he was interrupted by protesters from Black Lives Matter but in Houston the crowd was enthusiastic.
He's getting the biggest crowds of any Democratic contender but it's a long road to the primaries.
"Supporters would vote for Hillary Clinton if she were the nominee but I'm going to be rooting for Bernie as long as I can," said supporter Emily Hall.
From Queerty:
These days, you’d be hard pressed to find a Democrat with any sort of antigay platform — hell, even the Republicans are starting to realize that to be relevant in 2015 and beyond, you’ve got to move past the “gay issue.”
But these are only very recent developments. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may be champions of same-sex marriage now, but you don’t have to go far back to find a time when they weren’t. And hey, we’re happy to have their evolved support.
“A decade ago politicians ran against LGBT rights; today, they’re running towards them,” Obama said once in a speech, leaving out the fact that he is one of those politicians.
But you know who wasn’t? Well, assuming you’ve already read the headline, you’re right: Bernie Sanders.
Not only did Sanders vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, signed into law by then-president Bill Clinton — an unpopular position then — a look back at Sanders’ political career shows consistent support of the gay rights movement. Even when it was more than just unpopular, it was downright controversial.
On Netroots Nation:
Protesters repeatedly confronted Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland during a town hall discussion with liberal activists here Saturday, demanding the Democratic presidential candidates address issues like discrimination and police brutality.
Chanting, “What side are you on, my people, what side are you on?” and “Black lives matter,” the demonstrators moved to the front of the ballroom about 20 minutes into the event as O’Malley discussed proposed changes to Social Security. They remained there, heckling the candidates and posing questions, until organizers shut down the event, one of the centerpieces of the annual Netroots Nation conference.
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Sanders, taking the stage a few minutes later to a standing ovation from the audience, tried to respond to the protesters and deliver a brief stump speech on economic inequality.
“Black lives, of course, matter,” Sanders said, answering the chants. “I spent 50 years of my life fighting for civil rights and dignity, but if you don’t want me to be here, that’s OK. I don’t want to out-scream people.”
Sanders was mostly successful in delivering his prepared remarks, which included a call for a criminal justice overhaul and job creation to help boost low-income minority communities.
Sanders then took several questions on immigration before the event was brought to an end 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
The Guardian:
Sanders fared better with the protesters in the morning, at one point telling them: “Black lives of course matter. I spent 50 years of my life fighting for civil rights and dignity, but if you don’t want me to be here, that’s OK. I don’t want to out-scream people.”
Later, the independent Vermont senator attracted another large crowd, the largest of his presidential campaign so far.
“When a police officer breaks the law, that officer must be held accountable,” he said.
Sanders went on to quote the 19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass, saying: “Freedom doesn’t come without struggle.”
CNN:
Thanks O'Malley:
Should this team’s work pay off and Sanders becomes even more viable, the target on his candidacy will grow. On June 25 a super PAC linked to former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, another declared Democratic candidate, spent about $10,000 on online ads critical of Sanders’ record on gun control, which is, for a Democrat, notably friendly to gun owners.
Sanders’ team fought back, using the same rhetoric that Warren so effectively employs against her many critics: Frame the attack as an assault on the progressive movement and raise buckets of cash off of it.
The day after the ads began, Sanders’ campaign blasted an e-mail to supporters requesting help. Within 48 hours they’d raised more than $800,000, according to a source familiar with his fund-raising.
More On Netroots Nation:
After talking over one another, Sanders eventually ditched pre-planned remarks and tried to address questions from demonstrators.
"Black people are dying in this country because we have a criminal justice system which is out of control, a system in which over 50% of young African-American kids are unemployed," Sanders said. "It is estimated that a black baby born today has a one in four chance of ending up in the criminal justice system."
When Sanders cited the Affordable Care Act as a law he supported that helped people of color by making health insurance more accessible, one man shouted, "we can't afford that!"
Before Sanders finished speaking, many of the protesters walked out on him toward exit doors in the back.
The spectacle was a far cry from what was expected of the forum. Sanders, who is running as a more liberal alternative to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, was one of the most highly anticipated speakers at the gathering. Hours before the event, excited supporters lined up to hear him speak, and some ran to secure seats close to the stage when organizers opened the doors.
Attendees who were not part of the rally said they supported the protesters' message, but debated how it was carried out.
Conference organizers issued a statement following the townhall.
"Our aim was to give presidential candidates a chance to respond to the issues facing the many diverse communities represented here," Netroots Nation spokeswoman Mary Rickles said. "Although we wish the candidates had more time to respond to the issues, what happened today is reflective of an urgent moment that America is facing today."
Even More:
Sanders re-emerged later that evening for a short speech at a private fundraiser for the Latino Victory Project, an advocacy group led by major Democratic donors that focuses on Latino outreach, where he, again, took questions about race.
But instead of adopting the defensive stance from that morning, Sanders' tone changed. He appeared humble, and asked questions of the activists gathered about how he could better pursue and talk about policies to combat racial injustice.
"I want some help on this. I'm being very honest," Sanders said. "I want some ideas, as somebody who was arrested 50 years ago fighting for Civil Rights trying to desegregate schools in Chicago, who spent his whole life fighting against racism, I want your ideas. What do you think we can do? What can we do?"
Sanders took on questions about what activists called "institutional racism" in education, housing, and criminal justice, and called for changes in leadership and an end to mass incarceration. He listened to ideas from the small group, and he even brought those who questioned him to stand next time while he spoke. He said that stories of minorities being shot by police was "horrendous" and "unacceptable," but touted progress that had been made since he began first started protesting for civil rights as a young radical in the 1960s.
Bernie #saystheirnames:
Forget for a moment that a Jewish Democratic Socialist who was born in Brooklyn NY and hails from Burlington Vermont is drawing thousands of people to his campaign events in Texas and Arizona. Forget for a moment that he is harkening back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and openly welcomes the hatred of our Economic Royalists. Just a few hours ago Bernie Sanders became the first and only Presidential candidate to #Saytheirnames!
Addressing 8000 citizens in the Dallas Ballroom Sanders said:
“We should be proud that in 2008 the American people looked at the ideas and the character of a candidate, not the color of his skin.
“But we should also be aware and knowledgeable that racism continues to exist today in this country. We have made progress and I’m proud of that, you’re proud of that.
“But when we look at names like Sandra Bland and Freddie Gray, we understand that what we want is a nation where a young black man or woman can walk down the street not worried about being falsely arrested or beaten…”
He is the first person as a member of the Presidential field taking a public stand with our black brothers and sisters whose legitimate grievances have been ignored and downplayed since the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Bernie Sanders is the first candidate to affirm that all human life is sacred and in doing so he will force the public media, and the rest of the political field, to seriously address the legacy of white supremacy that still lives on today.
Alternet:
Today, Sanders took his Southwestern tour to Dallas and Houston. In Dallas, he spoke to nearly 10,000 people. The senator condemned the Democratic Party's political strategy in the South, saying that it has “conceded half of the states in the national level.” He said that when “childhood poverty in Texas is 27 percent, we've gotta take it on. When 34 percent of people living in Texas have no health insurance, we've gotta take it on.” The people sitting in the bleachers behind him took to their feet to applaud when he said it makes more sense to invest in “jobs and education” rather than “incarceration,” something that has become a feature of his stump speech.
Sanders' speech in Phoenix on Saturday night brought together an estimated eleven to twelve thousand people – one of the largest political rallies in the city's history (by comparison Barack Obama got 13,000 in January 2008). The crowd gave Sanders standing ovations at numerous points, such as when he condemned police violence, called for tuition-free college, and demanded that American provide for the veterans of its wars. It's worth noting that, in contrast to Donald Trump's homogeneous audience, Sanders’ crowd was extremely diverse; there was heavy representation of young Latinos, with one activist introducing the Senator before his speech.
Bernie is campaigning across the Southwest to show he has broader appeal than just the safe blue-state regions of the country. It is an echo of the swing through the South that Sanders did in 2013, when he was still considering his candidacy.
Surprisingly, Trumps Campaign Is Nothing Like Bernies...:
To his credit, Donald Trump has now become the front runner to represent the Republican party according to recent polls. From his announcement, Donald Trump made it clear that his campaign would not be concerned about anyone that is not Donald Trump. A dangerous strategy for any serious Republican candidate to capture minority votes after the primaries are settled.
To top it off, his denouncement of John McCain’s war hero status could almost be passed off as a parody of his campaign so far.
“He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured”
Juxtapose to Donald Trump is the self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. Saunders’ campaign is powered by the grassroots of the democratic process, similar to that of Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008. While Saunders has provided the only real challenge to perennial favorite Hillary Clinton, the Independent Senator of Vermont has refused to degrade his opponent. Instead, Sanders’ campaign is built on ideology rather than personality.
Among the poorest within the U.S. Congress, Sanders’ message income inequality has resonated stronger with his electorate than any other within the crowded field of Presidential hopefuls. Audiences have been flocking to see the progressive candidate speak, drawing a crowd of more than 11,000 in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday. Last week, Donald Trump held a rally in the same venue drawing just half as many as Sanders.
Sanders’ message at the rally in Phoenix could almost be used as a chant against the likes of Trump who have been vilified by those rebelling against the authoritarian figures of U.S. politics.
“For the last 40 years the great middle class of this country—once the envy of the world—has been disappearing. We need to stand together to make a political revolution where we create an America that works for all of us,” he continued. “Enough is enough—the billionaires are not going to have it, it’s our country. Let’s create that nation!”