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Why I Joined Bernie Sanders - Sen. Vincent Fort/HuffPo
Why I Joined Bernie SandersSen. Vincent Fort - State senator and leading progressive in GA
HuffPo
02/26/2016 02:06 pm ET | Updated 21 minutes ago
ASSOCIATED PRESS
<snip>
When I was a graduate student studying African American history at Atlanta University, one of the nation's premier HBCU graduate schools, I had the opportunity to meet with James L. Farmer Jr., a founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, known better by its acronym of CORE. Farmer created the organization in Chicago in 1942, and was at the forefront of the movement to use nonviolent protest to dismantle Jim Crow segregation laws across the nation.
Farmer told me the story of his work, including being the subject of a house-to-house search by Louisiana law enforcement for his organizing activities there. He also told me about how CORE recruited idealistic young people of every ethnicity and background to fight racism across America, including James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, who were kidnapped and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia, Mississippi during the Freedom Summer activities of 1964.
My chance to sit down face-to-face with Mr. Farmer is one of the highlights of my life. That's why, when I learned about Bernie Sanders' history as the leader of the University of Chicago's CORE chapter during his time in college, I took notice. You may recall that no less an authority than Martin Luther King Jr. himself said after being hit with a rock while marching for integration in Chicago, "I think the people from Mississippi ought to come to Chicago to learn how to hate."
The choice of a young Bernie Sanders to align himself with CORE as a college student in early 1960s Chicago says an enormous amount about his character and courage, as well as his commitment to righting the wrongs of American society. Bernie was not just a campus leader, either. We now know that he was arrested and prosecuted by Chicago authorities for protesting in favor of fair housing.
Bernie's history was my starting point in learning more about him, but what he's pushing for now is what clinched my decision to switch my endorsement for president from Hillary Clinton to him. There are three specific policy reasons I support him, and I am working as hard as I can to spread the word and win converts here in Georgia, especially in Atlanta's African American community:
<snip>
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-vincent-fort/why-i-joined-bernie-sande_b_9330496.html
36 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Thanks for the thread, WillyT. 
Thank goodness...
Why do you suppose that is ???
In fact... many of those hacks wouldn't have their positions at all if it weren't for people laying the groundwork.
People like James L. Farmer Jr., MLK, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and yes Bernie Sanders and thousands of others.
Farmer told me the story of his work, including being the subject of a house-to-house search by Louisiana law enforcement for his organizing activities there. He also told me about how CORE recruited idealistic young people of every ethnicity and background to fight racism across America, including James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, who were kidnapped and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia, Mississippi during the Freedom Summer activities of 1964.
And...
The choice of a young Bernie Sanders to align himself with CORE as a college student in early 1960s Chicago says an enormous amount about his character and courage, as well as his commitment to righting the wrongs of American society. Bernie was not just a campus leader, either. We now know that he was arrested and prosecuted by Chicago authorities for protesting in favor of fair housing.
From Op.
