Inside the gym at Santa Fe Community College on Thursday afternoon, more than 3,400 people were truly “feeling the Bern.”
Wearing a powder-blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and no tie or coat, 74-year-old Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders delivered his message for sweeping economic and social reform ahead of New Mexico’s June 7 primary.
“The only way real change takes place is when millions of people stand up, fight back and demand action,” the senator from Vermont said in his thick Brooklyn accent. “And that is what I am seeing from coast to coast and what this campaign is about.”
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He repeated many of the messages he has been spreading throughout his underdog campaign and said he’s telling people what they want to hear – the truth, even when it hurts. For the Santa Fe audience, that included references to New Mexico’s poor ratings in various economic and other categories.
He noted that at 30 percent, New Mexico has the highest rate of childhood poverty in the country. “That should not happen in New Mexico. It must not happen in America. We’re going to change our national priorities,” he said.
He said the nation’s education system needs to be improved, reminding the crowd that New Mexico has the worst high school graduation rate in the country.
Sanders spoke to the Native Americans in the crowd, saying they had been lied to and cheated, and he promised that he would change the relationship between indigenous people and the federal government if he’s elected president.
Speaking to the Latinos, he said there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants in America, and he criticized Trump for suggesting they should all be deported. “That type of bigotry and hate talk has got to end,” he said.
xBernie Sanders meets some of his supporters at a Santa Fe rally Friday afternoon in New Me… https://t.co/D2AA3tjd9mpic.twitter.com/4LjhQeU7hz
— ABQJournal Photo (@ABQJournalPhoto) May 21, 2016