The driving force of Bernie's career in public service has been the fight for fairness and equality. To remain free from outside influence and lobbyists, he has become the longest-running Independent congressman in American history. As the senator from the overwhelmingly white state of Vermont, he has not always made issues of race the driving force of his speeches, but I have grown to learn that racial equality has always, since his youth, been a part of why he does what he does. It's why he broke with most of the Democratic Party and endorsed Jesse Jackson for president in 1984 and 1988. It's why he hired a black woman with a heart for reforming the juvenile justice system, Symone Sanders, as his National Press Secretary.