Sen. Bernie Sanders, refusing to give up on black voters who have so far mostly voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nomination fight, released a new ad Saturday in which civil rights activists praise his policies.
“People of color have a deeply vested interest in what Bernie Sanders brings to us in this election,” actor Harry Belafonte says in the 30-second spot.
The ad includes Erica Garner, the daughter of Eric Garnerand and Linda Sarsour, who helped to expose a New York Police Department’s program that was accused of spying on Muslims.
The ad is part of a multimedia campaign produced by famed filmmaker Spike Lee, according to the Sanders campaign, the New York Times reported.
Belafonte appeared at a Sanders event in Harlem Saturday.
“This country is steeped in the sickness of race,” the actor and singer said, also pushing for a change in school curricula.
Still down in the delegate race but a winning streak in recent caucuses and primaries, Sanders may see this as his last chance to wrest the black vote from Hillary Clinton.
Sanders backers hope Clinton is newly vulnerable because of an exchange between her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and a Black Lives Matter activist this week.
“You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter. Tell the truth. You are defending the people who cause young people to go out and take guns,” Clinton said at a campaign event this week, after being interrupted by BLM protesters.
Sanders said Saturday that President Clinton’s words were inexcusable.
