Bernie Sanders Promises ‘War’ With Racism And White Nationalism
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders vowed on Saturday that he will, if elected president, “go to war” with racism and white nationalism, Newsweek reports.
The Vermont senator made the remarks during a speech at the Young Leaders Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. He began by explaining to the audience that members of his family were wiped out in the Holocaust during the Second World War.
“My father’s whole family was wiped out by Hitler and his white nationalism,” Sanders said.
“Too many people have fought over the years, too many people have died against racism to let it resurface and flourish in America,” he continued, before vowing to wage a war against racism and white nationalism.
“We will go to war against white nationalism and racism in every aspect of our lives,” he said.
The White House hopeful said that he would, if elected president, use every tool at his disposal to fight racism in the United States, describing racist violence as more than “just a hate crime,” and stating that such violent acts should also be considered “domestic terrorism.”
Sanders added that he would make sure his administration “looks like America,” before detailing a number of policy proposals meant to combat institutional racism and discrimination, arguing that his policies would level the playing field and ensure that all Americans have equal access to health care, education, and housing.
Sanders said that he would fight to end “redlining” in housing discrimination, and that he would fight for ending “the absurdity of black kids leaving school much more deeply in debt than white kids.”
To achieve his goals, the senator said, he would use, among other tools, executive orders, and fight to end the discrimination in the health care system, “where black women are dying three times the rate of white women when they give birth.”
As Newsweek notes, Sanders’ remarks come as far-right groups and members of the Antifa face off in Portland, Oregon.
Ahead of a right-wing rally in Portland, Oregon, where clashes are expected between far-right and far-left demonstrators, Trump tweeted this morning that he's considering designating antifa as a terror group. https://t.co/uEfaSqBmew
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) August 17, 2019
As The Inquisitr reported, President Donald Trump has floated the idea of declaring Antifa a terrorist organization, repeating the threat on Saturday.
Trump has, however, refrained from suggesting that far-right groups should also be considered terrorist organizations, despite the fact that racist and far-right groups are to blame for the vast majority of deaths attributable to violent extremism, according to statistics.
During a congressional testimony in July, according to The Hill, FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed that the majority of domestic-terrorism related cases the bureau had investigated since October relate to white supremacist violence.
