Two strong advocates for Medicare for All, jobs, and all forms of justice held a rally in a Detroit church yesterday. Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressman John Conyers talked about fundamental rights.
"What we saw last week with Nazis and anti-Semites marching in Virginia was upsetting to all of us. The word that kept coming up was 'scary.' But what was even worse — what we’ve never seen before — is a president who could not condemn Nazism in the strongest possible words," Sanders said. "400,000 Americans died and many more were injured fighting against Hitler and we have a president who’s equivocal. No, there are no nice Nazis."
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"Yes there are divisions in this country, but on major issue after major issue, the American people are united on wanting a government that represents all of us and not just the 1%," Sanders said.
Detroit Free Press
Congressman Conyers has been introducing a Medicare for All bill in the House since 2003. Bernie, who then was in the House, co-sponsored that first bill. Congressman Conyers spoke about fundamental rights:
"There are two fundamental human rights in our great democracy: Everyone should have health care from the minute they're born, and then of course, after you get born, you got to get a job," he said. "There should be full employment in the wealthiest nation in history. And for those that don’t have work or don’t know the technology that’s coming on so rapidly, we’ve got to train them."
Detroit Free Press.
Bernie agreed that this is about fundamental human rights:
"What this whole debate is about is what constitutes human rights: the right of freedom of speech, freedom of religion," Sanders said. "Franklin Delano Roosevelt said we need economic rights, not just political rights. And health care is a human right. The good news is that more people agree with us."
Detroit Free Press
More Sanders and Conyers on unity and the need for political justice and economic justice. Not one or the other, but both.
“Trump and his friends know something very profound, and we know the same thing: that when we are divided up, we fail. When we stand together, we win,” Sander said, adding: “Yes there are divisions in this country on a number of issues — I won’t deny that. But on major issue after major issue, the American people are united in wanting a government that represents all of us and not the one percent!”
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“We need jobs, justice and peace,” Conyers, a Democrat from Detroit, said to applause at Fellowship Chapel Church on the city’s west side. “We need political justice and economic justice.”
Tuesday’s forum, which drew a diverse crowd from across the region, was an “important gathering of people who believe in freedom, justice and equality,” said the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch NAACP and the church’s pastor.
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Both men argued Tuesday that securing health-care access for everyone enhances quality of life. “Health care is a human right,” Sanders told the crowd. “... If every other major country guarantees health care to every man, woman and child in their nations, by God we can do it in the United States.”
Detroit News
They make a great team.