“I have never, ever seen a person running for president come through here. Not one time.”

[Hissyspit]

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/12/09/3729452/bernie-baltimore/

POLITICS
Bernie Sanders Visits Site Of Freddie Gray’s Murder While Officer Stands Trial

BY ALICE OLLSTEIN DEC 9, 2015 8:00 AM

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND — Until Tuesday, 49-year-old Mike Williams had never seen a presidential candidate visit Sandtown-Winchester — the impoverished Baltimore neighborhood where police killed 25-year-old Freddie Gray this past April. As Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders passed by, surrounded by local African American pastors and tailed by dozens of reporters, Williams told ThinkProgress he was impressed.

“I have never, ever seen a person running for president come through here. Not one time,” he said. “At first, I wondered if he is just trying to get the black voter. But I did some research and found out he fought a lot for civil rights, and even marched at one time with Martin Luther King. I never knew that. And in his speeches, he says, ‘Yes, black lives do matter.'”

Williams, a neighbor and friend of Freddie Gray, said he wanted Sanders to see the exact spot where the young man suffered a fatal spine injury in police custody. “That was some foul stuff they did to my man,” he said. “But I was always taught that everything happens for a reason. So it’s sad he had such a short life but the good side is that he made a big impact, not only in Baltimore but all over the country.”

- snip -

Pausing before the mural, Sanders said he found the depth of poverty he witnessed “stunning.” “We are less than an hour away from the White House and the United States Congress,” he said. “It is stunning to understand that we are the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and every year we are seeing more and more millionaires and billionaires, but in communities like this, we are seeing kids dropping out of school, living in dilapidated housing. It is time to transform our national priorities.”

- snip -

“A few blocks from where Jane and I live, there’s a very nice grocery store. We buy good quality food at a reasonable price. You don’t have that here. The prices people in this community are paying are substantially higher. And I can put my money in a bank, where I earn interest. I can cash a check without paying 15, 20 or 50 percent. There aren’t any banks in this community. So it seems like it’s very expensive to be poor.”

The data back up Sanders’ observation. A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that stores in lower-income neighborhoods charge higher prices for food, driving families to purchase lower quality items. Food purchased at convenience and corner stores — which are more common in poor neighborhoods — can be 20 percent more expensive than the same item in a grocery store.

MORE AT LINK

[99Forever]

1. Yeah, but he wouldn't talk about ISIS when the Hillary plant wanted him to.

It's like he really actually cares about the plight of the poor and struggling in America!

Imagine that!

And "the media" is pissed off about it.

[HerbChestnut]

7. I know right?

I mean, how does a guy like that get off anyway? Those lowly poor people mean nothing when Teh Turrists are on our doorsteps.

[Fast Walker 52]

35. screw the criminal corporate media!

[MynameisBlarney]

69. The noive o' dat guy!

GAH!

How DARE he be a statesman and not a company man!

Feel The Bern!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. A big fat K&R!

[bvf]

5. Make that two! n/t

[nc4bo]

11. And a humongous THREE!! nt.

[Kalidurga]

3. If Bernie would have talked about ISIS

NOT GOOD ENOUGH BERNIE!!!!

[Art_from_Ark]

75. Absolutely

The same people who are getting their knickers in horrible knots about Bernie sticking to the subject of urban poverty would have been all over him for getting into a discussion about ISIS.

[cui bono]

80. You bet your bippy!

[Vattel]

4. Bernie was awesome. He sees the importance of investing

in inner city neighborhoods like the one he visited. He gets it.

[ErikJ]

18. Like what kind of investments?

Looks pretty hopeless.

[daleanime]

42. Which means there's plenty of room....

for improvements.

[ErikJ]

47. Like Detroit?

Where they just burn down or bulldoze the buildings which are way beyond repair and unsafe for human occupation. Govt housing tracts have a history of not working or making things worse. Its going to take private and public sector urban renewal cooperation after they bulldoze the area.

[Enthusiast]

53. Your post just makes me feel miserable. Like sick in the pit of my stomach.

Private and public partnership? Government housing makes things worse?

[1StrongBlackMan]

78. I know ..

Yesterday, "ghettos need diversity and integration", today this.

While I am not troubled by a public/private partnership, as I know of several that work well and benefits the people .. this "government fails" vibe I'm getting is troublingly sad.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

60. Have you been to Detroit lately? ...

Just wondering.

[ErikJ]

76. Never but I've heard its in ruins.

[madwivoter]

64. Or maybe it takes a village?

[Volaris]

67. The exodus out of Detroit happened because the jobs went out of country

To rebuild detroit, all that's needed is for Congress to buy, build and run the world's biggest solar panel factory. Its the Jobs, stupid, and good paychecks (to paraphrase) and the rest will mostly rebuild itself.

[Armstead]

74. Everything dfepends on how it is done. Blanket statements are worthless

[Paka]

6. K&R

Bernie is awesome!

[WillyT]

8. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[reformist2]

9. As voters start to do some research, they tend to go with Bernie...

This bodes well for the weeks to come... VERY well!

[Jackilope]

10. This is our chance in a lifetime candidate.

I am so glad he is in this race. Placing a spotlight on our poverty, on our oligarchy system, on real issues ... we have a rare opportunity to push back against an oppressive system.

[moobu2]

12. Even if Bernie got himself elected he wouldn't be able to make any advances

on any of the issue he uses to get votes.

[eggplant]

17. Oh, well, then fuck him.

(in case it wasn't obvious.)

[madokie]

19. And hillary will?

bullshit, Hillary will do all she can to further the plight of the majority of us and that is a fact. If you can't see that I can't help you, you're on your own.

[Jackilope]

20. Wouldn't it be great if he was the first of many better Democratic candidates

Voted into office by the masses that were disenfranchised, but now energized seeing opportunity for change?

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. Good grief.

[arcane1]

31. You are absolutely right. We should give up and choose someone whose ideas get through the repubs.

[BernTheRich]

38. Are you sure you're a Democrat?

Because that sounds like something a Republican would say.

[moobu2]

48. Saying Bernie Sanders is offering stuff he knows he cant deliver is just being honest.

Even he knows he can't deliver. Hell, he's been in Washington for more than 1/4 century now and hasn't done crap relative to the immense amount of time he's been in office. It isn't like he's going to be elected DOTUS (Dictator of the United States) or anything. Bernie Sanders is just dangling a bunch of stuff in front of his naive supporters in order to get them all worked up for him. He's a phony. And anyway, Bernie Sanders doesn't even have the temperament to be under the pressure of running for president much less actually being in that office.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

49. You have no understanding.

Whether he can get everything or anything done depends on the makeup of congress, same as with Hillary. But at least we know his beliefs. We know the kinds of things he WON'T do, and the kinds of things he will veto. I can't trust Hillary to do what is right for the people.

[beerandjesus]

65. Well gee, better vote for the candidate, then, who won't even try!

"I'm ready for Hillary... because she KNOWS she can't beat the Republicans!"


What a great slogan!

[tex-wyo-dem]

66. Bernie is not, by any stretch of spin or imagination,...

"a phony". He's been fighting for the us in the struggling middle-class and poor for decades and truly believes what he says. He knows that even if he becomes POTUS positive change will be an uphill battle since the monied interests are so entrenched in our political system. But by using the power of the office, and the power of people working together against the oligarch establishment, we can change the momentum back in our favor. He can't do it alone....that is why he has been talking about how a political revolution by the people is so important, even if he doesn't become POTUS.

[cui bono]

82. Offering? What a strange way to put it.

He's campaigning on what he will fight for. That's what candidates do.

His record is vastly better than Hillary's, so I sure am not going to vote for what she's going to fight for, war, Wall Street, free trade...

Everything you said just makes no sense and is a defeatist attitude. I can't even believe that you believe it. How could you if you are really a follower of politics? Why are you pushing the corporate candidate by saying such things?

.

[Bluenorthwest]

85. You called Obama a 'fake' as well. March 14, 2008 moobu2 posted:

2. Barack plagiarized “The audacity of hope” line from one of Wrights sermons
He’s a fake.
And
He's a fake who couldn’t even create his own catch phrase.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5088015

Another 2008 moobu2 fav:
"For 20 years, virtually ALL of his adult life Barack closely associated with a hateful, vengeful America hating racist. That's not going to heal shit. All that's going to do is give us 4 more years of Repuk rule. "
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5131707


So you do seem to have a decided 'attack anyone who is not Hillary with extreme verbiage' habit going on.

[cui bono]

81. Oh, what a poo-pooer you are.

.

[Scarsdale]

54. Checking account

My son wanted to open a checking account, and was told he would HAVE to keep $400 in there at all times!! He just started working again, after being unemployed, running out of unemployment insurance and benefits. He does not have ANY extra money to keep in the bank. How do the folks in impoverished areas manage, I wonder.

[Ken Burch]

86. They are forced to go to check-cashing stores

Where they have to give the store a sizeable chunk of the check just to get access to the rest. If that isn't enough, they are forced to take out payday usury loans, which are issued at massively high interest rates specifically designed to make the loans unrepayable and keep people in perpetual debt.

[LWolf]

62. Agreed. nt

[AzDar]

13. Bernie is the Real Deal.

[slipslidingaway]

15. knr nt

[George II]

16. Hillary Clinton was in Baltimore in May.

[Scootaloo]

21. Baltimore's a pretty big city.

Big difference between west baltimore...


And this Baltimore:


Don'cha think?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

27. Yes

big difference

[George II]

30. Not as big as you might think.

[Scootaloo]

33. Tell me another one, George

[BeanMusical]

50. "I was in the pool!"

[Divernan]

40. I KNOW it to be a HUGE difference.

Having been a regular (ranging from whole summers to weekly overnight stays) visitor to Baltimore since 1960, I know there to be a massive difference between the Inner Harbor and Sandtown.

A Portrait of the Sandtown Neighborhood in Baltimore
MAY 03, 2015

Freddie Gray grew up in Sandtown-Winchester, a Baltimore neighborhood that has been depressed for decades. It takes a long memory to recall when the neighborhood was a different place, but in the 1950s and ’60s, Billie Holiday and Diana Ross performed in venues on nearby Pennsylvania Avenue, and some referred to the area as “Baltimore’s Harlem.”

After riots in 1968, many residents fled, looted businesses did not reopen, and drug use and violent crime became commonplace. Since 1970, the Sandtown population has declined much more rapidly than the rest of the city; despite efforts to rebuild the neighborhood beginning in the late 1980s, disrepair has persisted. Now, more than a third of its houses are abandoned, more than a fifth of working-age residents are unemployed, and nearly a third of its families live below the poverty line.

With 3 percent of the community’s population incarcerated, Sandtown has more people in prison than any other Baltimore neighborhood. Sandtown residents face these challenges, as well as a police presence that many residents describe as harassing. They are still finding a way to survive, even if, for some, it means living in the only occupied building on their block.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/03/us/a-portrait-of-the-sandtown-neighborhood-in-baltimore.html?_r=0

[daleanime]

44. Gee, tell me more......

[AtheistCrusader]

71. Really?

Really. Wow. Ok then.

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

22. Well my goodness...

I lived in Maryland for years and have spent an enormous amount of time in Baltimore, including the neighborhood in question. Maybe you should vote for me

[AlbertCat]

25. Hillary Clinton was in Baltimore in May.

Did she evolve by June?

[Tab]

24. Bernie is acknowledging the concerns of the poor

Because of "bad" (or, perhaps, no) credit, and many other things (maybe just no resources) people are excluded from things like bank accounts. He does mention that things are more expensive at convenience stores than grocery stores, which is totally true (it's been 5 years since I had to go into a 7-11 for something), but it's not so much the convenience store as simply that there are no grocery stores/supermarkets accessible. I know in Detroit that you have to go a long way (extreme example) but even where I live there are sections where there's no supermarket around.

Check-cashing, payday loans, title companies, and buy-here-pay-here used car places all exploit the bad economic situation of people in that category. To be fair, some are risky, but world-wide (particularly with microloans) people are finding out that just poor economics aren't finding people to be untrustworthy - sometimes it's suprisingly the opposite for some economies. Regardless, the fact is that people in those economic situations are generally penalized, and they're the ones least able to tolerate it econmically.

Not that it's limited to the poor - middle class getting in over their heads with credit find themselves with tens of thousands of cc debt and 29% interest rates. They, however, don't necessarily need to take on that debt to survive (some do, but then I argue you've moving out of middle class), but those poor - particularly in dire urban settings - may not have a choice.

I suspect the problem is going to get worse before it gets better. Kudos for Bernie for not losing sight of this in the midst of everything else going on.

[arcane1]

43. It's what so many people know but it NEVER comes up. It is the biggest taboo n/t

[erronis]

59. Nice post. And I agree that it might get worse before it gets better. Hang on!

[Deny and Shred]

26. Just as true today as in 1972. Stevie's Big Brother

Your name is big brother
You say that you're watching me on the tele,
Seeing me go nowhere,
Your name is big brother,
You say that you're tired of me protesting,
Children dying everyday,
My name is nobody
But I can't wait to see your face inside my door

Your name is big brother
You say that you got me all in your notebook,
Writing it down everyday,
Your name is I'll see ya,
I'll change if you vote me in as the pres,
The President of your soul
I live in the ghetto,
You just come to visit me 'round election time

I live in the ghetto,
Someday I will move on my feet to the other side,
My name is secluded,
we live in a house the size of a matchbox,
Roaches live with us wall to wall,

You've killed all our leaders,
I don't even have to do nothin' to you
You'll cause your own country to fall

[Segami]

28. Kick....

[arcane1]

29. "So it seems like it’s very expensive to be poor.” Amen. Groceries are just the tip of that iceberg.

[elleng]

32. I'm sorry he missed Martin O'Malley in Baltimore in April.

This was before he announced he was running for president.

[SheilaT]

34. Going where no candidate has gone before

is incredibly effective.

More than ten years ago, when I was running for office (Kansas State House and I lost, so as to kill the suspense) I did a lot of door-to-door, and in certain areas people greeted me with shock, telling me no candidate had ever knocked on their door before. It really matters.

[Docreed2003]

36. K&R

Last edited Thu Dec 10, 2015, 12:46 AM - Edit history (1)

Sobering to see a candidate walk the streets and attempt on some level to connect with the pain people are feeling. Reminds me of Bobby Kennedy who worked to highlight the poverty within cities, and Appalachia, and in migrant farms. It is sad and sickening that some would use a moment of extreme poignancy to attempt to catch Sanders off guard, or, more likely, goad him into confrontation by asking about an unrelated topic when it was clear the focus of the moment was on that community, which much like many communities from urban centers, to rust belt towns abandoned by plant closures, to the run down rural towns of the south, to the migrant fields across this country have felt left out and ignored by not only the MSM during this "fantastic recovery" but by our own government. Is ISIS and terrorism an important topic of conversation? Without question. But that wasn't what the day was about. It wasn't what the focus of the moment was on. Those issues have been addressed by Sen Sanders previously and will continue to be addressed. But all of the whaling and gnashing of teeth in the aftermath of a reporter asking a bogus question, has served to shift focus away from a very real problem in America, and to that Baltimore community in particular, and allowed pundits and random message board heroes to slam a candidate for president who seems to genuinely wish to make this country a better place for all its citizens. It's an easy way for critics to tear down a candidate while ignoring the problem. So yes, I'm angry at the vitriol spewed at Sen Sanders, and at the same time I weep, for the soul of a country that would rather focus on sniping for political points than the message that was being brought forth by a candidate.

[BernTheRich]

39. Thank You, Docreed2003. That was perfect.

[Docreed2003]

41. Thank you!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

83. It also speaks tons about Hillary.

And her total lack of connection with the general population. When her minions come out and ambush her opponent, that shows her true colors. Green. As in millions from banks.

[chervilant]

45. This:

I weep, for the soul of a country that would rather focus on sniping for political points than the message that was being brought forth by a candidate.

I hope you don't mind if I quote you.

[Docreed2003]

57. Not at all, Thanks

[LongTomH]

70. Wonderful response and I agree entirely!

[Art_from_Ark]

84. Great post!

[olddots]

46. Bernie walks the walk

the others just talk the talk .

[Betty Karlson]

51. This shows the nobility of Sanders' character.

He doesn't snub the poor. He cares for them on every issue (including race).

[Manifestor_of_Light]

52. I saw Hillary campaigning in 1992.

At a fundraiser at the home of a couple of attorneys. She spoke for over an hour without notes. She was promising all kinds of good stuff like maternity leave, and many other things. She was on the backyard patio of this house and standing on one of those exercise steps, with a mike in front of her on a stand, and nothing else.

I videotaped the whole thing, standing right in front of her. I was very impressed. I should probably get the tape out and look at it to see what she said. However, I don't think Bill got any of the things she talked about passed.
I was disappointed. She talked like a liberal Democrat but Bill sure looked like a moderate Republican.

[djean111]

55. "She talked like a liberal Democrat but Bill sure looked like a moderate Republican" - nutshell.

This is what is happening today - talks like a liberal Democrat, but would look like a moderate Republican.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

56. Michael Moore already said it.

"Bill Clinton is the best Republican president we've had."

[Doctor_J]

58. Isis!!!!!!11!11!!1!1111!11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fuddnik]

61. Bernie is the only candidate who "gets it".

Too much time is wasted on foreign policy, and damn near no time on domestic policy.

We live here dammit.

[Uncle Joe]

63. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.

[marble falls]

68. Good stuff. Its a relief to see Bernie finally breaking through.

[nyabingi]

72. Hillary will come marching through this neighborhood next week (nt)

[Kalidurga]

77. will she tell them that if that is the way they feel she will just talk to white people

[Duval]

73. K&R!

Hi, Hissyspit! Great post!

[Fawke Em]

79. So Sanders converted another Hillary fan.

Interesting:

"I'm impressed," said Michael Williams, a West Baltimore man who described himself as a Hillary Clinton fan. "There has never been a person running for president to come to our neighborhood."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-sanders-baltimore-20151207-story.html