Bravos for Bernie in the Bronx

By SEAN EGAN

Bernie Sanders was in a New York state of mind Thursday night as the Brooklyn-born Socialist brought his message of ending income inequality and boosting immigrant communties to an enthusiastic crowd of some 15,000 supporters in St. Anne’s Park in the South Bronx, an area regarded by the pundits as Clinton turf.

With an important New York primary less than three weeks off, Sanders made his mark as the real New Yorker running for the Democratic nomination a day after his opponent, Hillary Clinton held a rally at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and painted herself as the true New Yorker, citing her eight years as a New York Senator, and her work with emergency responders after September 11th.

“I am very proud that I was born here in New York City,” Sanders said to open the rally. “My father came here from Poland without a nickel in his pocket, and he never had much money. We lived in a three and a half room apartment in Brooklyn. I learned to live without much money, and I learned a lot about the immigrant communities here.”

Immigrants were Sanders’ target audience on Thursday. Before he spoke actress Rosario Dawson, Spike Lee, Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda, and Latin musician Presidente buffed his bona fides as an authentic New Yorker and a friend of Latinos.

Dawson, Presidente, and Sepulveda all connected Sanders to the immigrant community. They spoke at length about the problems facing Puerto Rico, and how Sanders iws the only candidate that has paid any attention to the U.S. Caribbean territorty where many of his listeners traced their roots.

“The only person I could ever support in this presidential election is Bernie Sanders,” assemblyman Sepulveda said. “Bernie Sanders has the best plan to deal with the problems in Puerto Rico.”

“The U.S gets more out of Puerto Rico, economically, than Puerto Rico gets from the U.S,” said Presidente. “I support Bernie Sanders because he is the most honest candidate. I support Bernie sanders because a person like Hillary Clinton does not deserve my vote.”

Rosario Dawson energized the crowd with her speech, touching the hearts of New York Natives and lighting a fire in the young and old liberals getting behind Sanders’ message, inciting several “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie” chants.

“I know New Yorkers and we’re not interested in being bamboozled,” Dawson said in regards to Clinton. “They’re trying to divide us. They’re trying to say all Bernie supporters are white males and that’s clearly not true.”

Dawson also brought up the Iraq war and how Sanders has been opposed to every aspect of it since the beginning of the conflict, unlike his current opponent
“We weren’t supposed to go to Iraq and invade that country,” said Dawson, pausing to let the boos subside. “And the media who sold us that is now trying to sell us the person who voted for it.”

Frustration with mainstream media was a common theme at the rally. A young woman holding a sign that said “Hey, CNN are you seein’ this,” was being constantly photographed, and people several people were handing out flyers and magazines of alternative news sources promising more honest coverage of the Sanders campaign.

Haley May Block, 22, is a New York City native and resents Clinton for using the attacks on September 11 as a political tool to gain votes.

“It’s wrong of her to us a national tragedy to pinpoint her place in the New York community,” Block said. “If you were born here then you’re a New Yorker.”
David Marin, 18, was ready to take extreme measures if Sanders doesn’t win the nomination.

“I would want to get out of the country if Bernie doesn’t get the primary,” Marin said.

Marin was there with his friend Farhana Haque, 22, a Queens native living in Brooklyn. They held a sign saying “Muslims for Bernie.”

“He’s from Brooklyn. She was born in Arkansas, how can she call herself a New Yorker,” Haque asked of Clinton. However, that wasn’t the real issue in her eyes; stopping Donald Trump is the real goal.

“It’s so important [to support Sanders] with what Trump and Cruz are saying about Muslims,” Haque said. “If we don’t stand up for them now it will be like what happened in Germany.”

Marin, and Haque are both first-time voters and said they would not have voted at all if Bernie wasn’t on the ticket.

While there were many young people at the rally, there were also many older people. James Giannone, 64, lived in New York for a while but now lives in New Jersey.

“Bernie is the real New Yorker,” Giannone said. “He is also the only politician, I’ve seen, who sticks up for everyone. He believes in what he’s saying; he talks the talk but he’s also been walking the walk. And look, he’s inspired young people to join the democratic process. What’s not to like?”

Sanders of course went after Wall Street and big banks like Goldman Sachs in his speech, but he brought it to a New York level and talked about affordable housing in specific areas of the city.
“We are going to reinvest in the South Bronx and communities all over the country,” Sanders said. “There is no reason anyone should pay 40-50 percent of their limited income on housing.”

He also addressed the issue of mass incarceration and privatized prisons.

“A country is judged not by how many millionaires and billionaires it has but how it treats its most vulnerable,” Sanders said. “Some kid gets picked up in New York or Vermont for smoking marijuana, he gets a criminal record. If you’re an executive on Wall Street you don’t get a criminal record for destroying the economy – you get a pay raise.”

“We don’t represent Wall Street. We don’t represent the corporate class, or billionaires, we represent you,” Sanders said. “This is a campaign by the people, of the people, and for the people.”

His verbal assault on Wall Street caused the crowd to chant, “break them up.”

Sanders seemed confident he could win New York, and that a win here would mean a win in November. Clinton, however, held a substantial lead in the latest polls.

“In a month this state will have a very important primary,” Sanders said. “If there is a large voter turnout, we will win. And if we win here in New York we will get the White House.”

There were many tear-filled eyes as the rally ended to the Simon & Garfunkel song, “America.”