Following his townhall-style appearance at Netroots Nation that could have gone better, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders told a packed house in Phoenix that, although the country has made great strides is race relations, “we still have a long way to go.”

Before a fervent crowd that Sanders’ campaign spokesperson estimated at over 11,000 took time to switch gears from his message of economic populism to address the concerns of #BlackLivesMatters protesters who disrupted his talk earlier.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It is not acceptable that an African-American male baby born today, if we do not change things, stands a 1 in 4 chance of being in prison during his life,” the Vermont independent told the crowd.

He continued, “It is not acceptable to me that we have seen young black men walk down streets in this country be beaten and be killed unjustly — that is not acceptable. Most police officers — and I was a mayor for eight years — and I worked with police officers, it’s a tough job but most cops do it well. But when a police officer breaks the law, that officer must be held accountable.”

Watch the video below, uploaded to YouTube by Dennis Gilman: