Benedict College News September 12, 2015 Bernie Sanders tests presidential appeal with students, African-Americans at Benedict College Highlights * Historically black Columbia college was Sanders' first of three stops in the Palmetto State on Saturday * African-American civil rights activist, professor Cornel West introduced the U.S. senator from Vermont Columbia -- Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders tried out his fiery populist message at Benedict College on Saturday - part of the U.S. senator's efforts to broaden his appeal to African-Americans and Southern Democrats. About 1,000 people came to hear the U.S. senator from Vermont speak at the historically black college in Columbia - his first in a few stops planned around the state Saturday. The crowd was diverse and mostly enthusiastic, giving Sanders several standing ovations. But overall, the audience was more subdued than the nearly 3,000-person crowds that packed a steaming hot conference center in Columbia and waited in a long line to hear Sanders speak in Greenville last month. Scattered in the bleachers at Benedict were a few clusters of young adults watching from the rear who appeared disinterested in Sanders' outrage over income inequality and other plights of the working class. Some sat looking down at their phones. Others clapped occasionally. But Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, succeeded in reaching a group of Benedict freshman who said, after hearing him speak, they could vote for him. Dajana Baker, a freshman from Greenville, said Sanders came off as sincere to her and acted as though he really cares about people. "He's doing it from his heart, not because someone is paying him to do it," Baker said. Sanders faces a tough battle to win over Democratic voters in South Carolina, where African-Americans traditionally make up a large part of that electorate. To begin that work, Sanders had Cornel West, a professor, writer and national civil rights activist, introduce him. West touted the senator's civil rights record and his commitment to helping the working class and the poor. "He's going to win because he represents so much of the best of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.," a vociferous West said, his booming voice energizing the crowd. "The condition of truth is to always allow suffering to speak ... That's what brother Bernie Sanders stands for. That's why we are here." In a speech similar to the one he gave in South Carolina last month, Sanders decried income inequality and the concentration of most of the nation's wealth among the top 1 percent of Americans. He vowed to reverse the flow of dollars to the benefit of working-class people. He said he would push for a trillion dollars to create jobs rebuilding the nation's transportation infrastructure. He also wants to establish a $15 minimum wage, the key to boosting the economy, he said, by giving the nation's lowest wage earners some disposable income. Sanders directed parts of his speech toward college students, calling for free public college, criminal justice reforms and telling them that they are essential in forcing his so-called "political revolution." Baker, the Benedict student, and three of her freshman classmates were among the last people to leave the school's gymnasium. Saja Hargrow from Aiken said she appreciated Sanders talking about "people in jail, how when they come out, they go right back in, because we don't really have a plan for them." Sanders "spoke really well, he connected to us," said Marc Walker, drawn to the senator's promise to fight for free-tuition at public colleges. Walker's mother is paying for his college education, he said, "and she's a single parent," so Sanders' promise could really help his family. After leaving Columbia, Sanders had stops in Florence and at Winthrop University in Rock Hill. Sanders said he has a lot of work to do in South Carolina to get his message to young and minority voters. In a recent poll, Sanders edged Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton for the first time in Iowa, beating her by 1 percentage point, and he is almost eight percentage points ahead of her in New Hampshire. But in South Carolina, Sanders trails Clinton by 45 percentage points, according to a recent poll. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.