Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, who has struggled to attract black voters who are crucial in the party’s primaries, made a campaign stop in Chicago Wednesday, speaking on criminal justice reform in a city torn by gun violence, poverty and high incarceration numbers.
“Institutional racism existed then,” the independent socialist said, recalling his participation in civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s when he was a student at the University of Chicago. “Institutional racism exists today. The criminal justice system was broken then. The criminal justice system is broken today. I consider reforming our criminal justice system one of the most important things that a president of the United States can do.”
Sanders called it an “international embarrassment” that the U.S. incarcerates more prisoners than any other country.
“This is unacceptable,” Sanders said about the disproportionately high rate of incarceration for black males.
Sanders also echoed previous calls to end for-profit prisons, the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentencing. He also said as president he would remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances.
While speaking, a man wearing a T-shirt that read “Rahm Failed Us” stood on stage, referring to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel has come under fire following the release of a video showing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times by a Chicago Police Department officer.
In a statement earlier this month, Sanders called out Emanuel and other city officials on their actions surrounding McDonald’s death and the video showing it — “Any elected official with knowledge that the tape was being suppressed or improperly withheld should resign. No one should be shielded by power or position” — and when asked if he needs Emanuel’s support as he runs for president, Sanders made it very clear his opinion of the mayor.
“If the question is do I want or need Rahm Emanuel’s support for president,” Sanders said when asked, “with all due respect to the mayor, no, I don’t.”
Sanders also discussed police militarization and police practices, calling deadly force “the last option, not the first option.”
“Being a cop is a difficult issue … When someone is charging you with a gun, you’re going to use that gun, but if people are walking down the middle of the street, if people are not a threat to others, there are ways to disarm and destabilize those people without having to kill them. And that’s what we have to do,” he said while calling for body-worn cameras on all law enforcement officers. He added, “I want police departments to look like their community, not like occupying forces,” he added.
Sanders then concluded by promising to lower the nation’s incarceration rate and invest more into jobs and education for young people.
“At the end of my first term as president, we will not have more people in jail that any other country. Period,” he said.
The stop in Chicago is part of Sanders’ latest push to reach the African-American vote. Earlier this week, Sanders called for nation-wide reforms of the criminal justice system after a grand jury decided not to indict anyone for the death of a black woman as she was held in custody in Texas.
Sanders still trails Clinton nationally in the race for the 2016 Democratic presidential ticket, and the black vote is part of that reason why. In South Carolina for example, an October CNN/ORC poll showed Sanders leading Clinton among white votes, but trailing by 55 points among African-Americans — who then swing the state for Clinton.
