Bernie PACKS HOUSE in Savannah
From Savannah Now
By KARSON HOAGLAND
Though the doors didn’t open until 5 p.m. Sunday night, those attending Bernie Sanders’ Town Hall at the Johnny Mercer Theater began arriving more than an hour before.
By the time the doors actually did open, hundreds were lined up outside the Civic Center. Varying ages, most in their mid-20s, stood in anticipation of getting a good seat. Some literally ran to the front row as they entered the theater.
The lower level of the theater was at 60 percent capacity within minutes. Half an hour later, the balcony had to be opened.
As 6 p.m. came and went, periodic chants of “Feel the Bern” rang out in anticipation of the Vermont senator. The venue reached capacity, which is around 2,500 seats, and volunteers frantically searched the rows to find vacant seats for the stragglers.
Finally, Mayor Edna Jackson took the stage amid, first, a chorus of cheers, and then, a chorus of boos.
She welcomed Sanders to the stage by talking about his longtime passion to break down walls of discrimination.
The thousands in attendance stood and cheered as Sanders took the stage, waving, followed by a chant of “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie!”
Sanders began the town hall by talking about his campaign — a campaign that he says has garnered more than 800,000 individual contributions averaging around $30.
“So, I do not represent the billionaire class or corporate America,” Sanders said.
Throughout his one-and-a-half hour speech, Sanders spoke on many topics, including economic disparity, the legalization of marijuana and education.
He went into particular detail about the correlation between high youth unemployment and the large number of incarcerated persons.
“It seems to me that it makes a lot more sense for us to be invested in education and jobs for our kids rather than jails and incarceration,” Sanders said.
“And it costs less money for us to send a young kid to the University of Georgia than to lock them up,” he said as the crowd began to cheer. “Let’s send them to the University of Georgia.”
One of his longest applauses of the night — a 20 second standing ovation — came when he talked about introducing legislation that would make public universities tuition-free.
“People should not be denied going to college because they don’t have enough money,” he said.
The audience was also supportive when Sanders began talking about legislation that would take marijuana out of the controlled substances act.
“I’m not advocating smoking marijuana,” he said, and a few booed in the crowd. “It doesn’t make it legal, it just means that you’re not breaking the federal law. The reason we introduced that legislation is because I’ve talked to too many people whose lives have been destroyed because of the police records they get for possessing marijuana.”
Sanders said he advocates that full legalization of marijuana should be up to individual states.
His one mistake for the night was accidentally calling Savannah Atlanta. He quickly made it up to the crowd by playing it out as a confused man’s joke.
“It is Georgia, right?”
Sanders said that the main message he wanted to get across at the town hall Sunday was one of unity.
“Yes, I am here to ask for your support to become your next president, but I’m also here to ask for more than that…the only way we transform America is when millions of people stand up and we come together.”
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