The Courier-Journal

Bernie Sanders cares about all people, not just the rich. He is concerned about income inequality, protection of our environment, universal health care, etc.

He is a champion of labor unions. He understands that labor unions have been eroded by big business interests, and need to be revitalized and strengthened to protect workers. His admiration of Eugene Debs, union organizer, and union leader is well documented.

Sanders also has a long history on civil rights and racial justice issues. He was an organizer with both the Congress of Racial Equality as well as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was arrested in 1962 for protesting segregation, and he marched in the 1963 March on Washington. Furthermore in 1991, he worked with a few white Congress members who fought to preserve Pell Grants for incarcerated citizens. Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights hero, praised Bernie for his activism on this front.

Police violence and the broken criminal justice system is a topic that he has dealt with more recently. Due to his attempts to improve these areas, the NAACP gave Sanders a 100 percent rating in 2012 and 2014.

In his presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders has developed a plan for racial justice. It includes demilitarizing our police forces so they don’t appear to look or act like invading armies. He believes in community policing and feels that the make-up of police forces should reflect the diversity of our communities.

At the federal level, he believes that organizations like Black Lives Matter should have an impact on developing how we police America. He favors mandatory, federally-funded body cameras for all law enforcement officers as well as accountability for police officers who break the law, public reports of all police shootings and deaths that take place while in police custody and training in de-escalation of confrontations as well as the humane treatment of persons with emotional and physical disabilities.

He advocates that federal justice grants should be given to states and localities that make progress in these areas, and those who do not should have their funding slashed. Furthermore, federal resources must be available to deal with illegal activities of hate groups.

Ruby Gordon

Louisville 40220