Bernie Sanders discussed government-sponsored college, single-payer health care and climate change at his first presidential rally in Alabama. He took the stage at Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 18.
The crowds there to see the Democratic Vermont senator stretched down the block and far around the corner of the Birmingham Museum of Art.
Student supporters from across the state were bussed in from their respective universities. Auburn University and the University of Alabama were both represented. The students had been given a free lunch and T-shirts on the ride to Birmingham.
One could spot the “Bernie Bus” riders from Auburn and Alabama by their “War Damn Bernie” or “Roll Tide Bernie” T-shirts.
A video comparable to an Auburn football hype video played, touting Bernie’s values and celebrating his battle against big business.
Johnathan Austin of the Birmingham City Council was the first speaker to take the stage.
He encouraged the audience to realize they were the face of the campaign, and they were needed to make sure Sanders is elected.
“Look at each other,” Austin said. “This is a future we can believe in.”
Dr. Cornel West, a philosopher and academic who is regularly featured on MSNBC, was the next speaker at the rally. He spoke on the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. and how Bernie Sanders’ campaign was based on many of his same ideals.
Nina Turner, a Democratic senator representing Ohio, was the last to speak before Sanders took the podium. She said other politicians cared too much about getting re-elected.
“(Other politicians) care more about the next election than the next generation,” Turner said.
Turner said unlike other politicians, Sanders “doesn’t give a speech to one group and a different kind of speech to another group.”
Boutwell Auditorium usually opens its doors to accommodate the city’s homeless on cold winter nights. With weather in the mid-20s Monday night, the warmth shelter was closed for the rally. The Sanders campaign has stated that they were not aware of the closing of the warmth shelter, according to an article by AL.com.
Sanders took the stage to thunderous applause at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Sanders opened his speech with a joke about Alabama’s political ideology.
“There must have been a mistake,” Sanders said. “I was told Alabama was a conservative state.”
Sanders began by discussing his rise to prominence, describing initial reports that his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton would win the Democratic nomination by a landslide. He discussed how his campaign had closed the gap to Clinton’s without any funds from billionaires. The senator said his average campaign contribution was $27, and he was proud of this fact.
“This is a campaign of the people, by the people and for the people … I’ll take my contributions from the working class of America,” Sanders said.
The senator went on to mention King and the reason he came to Alabama on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He spoke about the the March on Washington he attended and why Americans can’t think of the civil rights movement as history, but as something they must still support today.
“To truly honor the life of Dr. King, we must fight to carryout his vision for America,” Sanders said.
He then talked about what King was doing when he was assassinated. He said King not only cared about race relations but also income inequality, seeing as when King was shot in Memphis he was working with trash collectors on strike there. He then quoted King directly, who said there was little point in integrating lunch counters if the people couldn’t afford lunch. Sanders compared this to college and health care.
“What does it mean if you can go to university but you can’t afford university?” Sanders said. “What does it mean if you can get in the hospital but you come out bankrupt?”
Sanders then discussed racism and called out some Alabamians who play a role.
“We have broken down many of the segregational barriers that used to exist,” Sanders said. “We should be proud of that, and I know that not everyone in Alabama is proud, but I am proud that we have elected a president based not on the color of skin but by his ideas.”
Sanders discussed what he said was a “wild and crazy idea,” that corporations such as Walmart are responsible for abusing welfare and not individuals because the corporations do not pay a livable wage.
Sanders spoke out for abortion and his plan to institute a guaranteed three-month paid medical leave for all workers in the United States.
Sanders also said students should not be penalized for wanting to receive a higher education, and student loans being as high as they are is fundamentally wrong.
He proposed tuition-free college that would be paid for by taxing Wall Street speculation.
About an hour into his speech, a woman in the crowd fainted.
The senator stopped his speech to make sure the woman was OK, which was appreciated by the crowd. Sanders stopped the speech for approximately 10 minutes as he waited on EMTs to arrive.
When EMTs arrived and took the woman to the hospital, Sanders took the opportunity to introduce his opinions on health care. Sanders, who played a part in writing the Affordable Care Act, said he believes the country should switch to a single-payer system.
He said the United States is the only developed country that doesn’t have health care as a right.
He then tackled climate change, arguing that it was real and he said the only reason Republicans don’t believe in it is because they are funded by big oil companies.
One of Sanders’ last points was on the prison system, saying marijuana should be decriminalized and inmates should be properly conditioned to return to society so they don’t end up going back to prison later.
The senator then addressed police brutality, arguing that though most police officers are just, those who break the law should face consequences.
Sanders said he knows it is harder for Democrats in Alabama, encouraging his supporters to help their friends in the middle class to stop voting against their best interests.
“If we work together, if we don’t let the Trumps of the world divide us up, there is nothing we cannot accomplish,” Sanders said. “That is what this campaign is about.”
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