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Sanders says he'd be better for race relations than Obama

Under a President Bernie Sanders, race relations in the United States will be better than under the current president, he affirmed.

“Absolutely," he said in response to a question from the moderator. "Because what we will do is instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they’re not hanging out on street corners. We’re going to make sure those kids stay in school are able to get a college education."

Sanders remarked upon the "disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street" that disproportionately affected African-American and Latino communities.

"So when you have childhood African American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration which by the way leaves the children back at home without a dad our even a mother, clearly we are looking at institutional racism," he said. "We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those people are African American."

Earlier on Thursday, Sanders criticized President Barack Obama's leadership in an interview with MSNBC, saying, “There’s a huge gap right now between Congress and the American people. ... What presidential leadership is about [is] closing that gap.”

