How Bernie Sanders lost my vote
BY KWAME ROSE
Late last year I heard that Bernie Sanders was coming to Baltimore to meet with social justice and faith leaders from around the country. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Bernie's positions on a variety of issues that directly affected the Black community. The meeting was to be followed by a tour of Baltimore that included Penn-North and Sandtown Winchester, two places that became ground zero for the protests that erupted in Baltimore in response to the death of Freddie Gray.
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As a result of the Uprising, many of young people from Baltimore that took to the streets to protest, became engaged in social activism. However, none of those activists, including myself, were invited to meet with Bernie Sanders during his time in Baltimore. When word got out that Bernie would walk through Freddie's neighborhood, many local activist waited for the caravan to arrive at the mural that was painted to remember Freddie's Life and the Uprising his death inspired.
But when Bernie arrived, he was surrounded by bodyguards and media. And the fact that he didn't go to the public housing complex near the mural known as Gilmore Homes caused concerns amongst community advocates.
"He came to Freddie Gray neighborhood to talk to the media" said Devin Allen, the award winning Baltimore photographer whose raw images of demonstrators protesting the death of Freddie Gray made it to the cover of Time Magazine. "None of the people from the community that was outside knew who he was."
Bernie didn't interact with any of the people outside, and he only stayed for a few minutes without paying his respects to the Freddie Gray memorial, according to people present.
Instances like these are precisely why the barbershops, beauty salons, and street corners in Baltimore aren't feeling "the Bern."
Read more:
http://mashable.com/2016/02/25/kwame-rose-how-bernie-sanders-lost-my-vote/#MYCaIR7b7PqE
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