Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Watch: Bernie Sanders Pledges to Muslim Student That He'll Fight
Islamophobia
________________________________________
Watch: Bernie Sanders Pledges to Muslim Student That He'll Fight
Islamophobia
By Zaid Jilani [1] / AlterNet [2]
October 29, 2015
On Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders held a
national town hall with students at George Mason University where he, among
other things, pledged to remove the federal prohibition against the use of
marijuana.
At one point, a Muslim student asked Sanders about the bigotry being
expressed all over the country against Muslim Americans. Sanders embraced
the student and brought her up on the stage. He commented about his own
religious background and compared anti-Semitism to Islamophobia:
SANDERS: Let me be very personal here if I may. I'm Jewish. My father's
family died in the concentration camps. I will do everything that I can to
rid this country of the ugly stain of racism which has existed for far too
many years. And let me tell you something. What racism is about is many many
things. It is pent-up hatred, it is lashing out at people in uncontrollable
ways, but it is something very different than that. For many years in this
country you have had politicians, and I'm old enough to know this, who
played black off against white. So they told white workers who are earning
pennies an hour, you think you're in trouble but you're better off than the
blacks who can't drink at a water fountain or go to your school. And they
told straight people, well you think you've got problems, but you're off
than those gay people right? And they held men against women. They played
one group off against another. Rich got richer and everybody else is
fighting with each other.
Our job is to build a nation in which we all stand together as one people.
And you are right, there is a lot of anger being generated, a lot of hatred
being generated against Muslims in this country, that's absolutely correct.
There is hatred being generated against immigrants in this country. And if
you stand for anything we have got to stand together and end all forms of
racism, and I will lead that effort as president of the United States.
Watch it:
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Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/media/watch-bernie-sanders-pledges-muslim-student-he
ll-fight-islamophobia
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/zaid-jilani
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Watch: Bernie Sanders
Pledges to Muslim Student That He'll Fight Islamophobia
[4] http://www.alternet.org/
[5] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Watch: Bernie Sanders Pledges to Muslim Student That He'll Fight
Islamophobia
Watch: Bernie Sanders Pledges to Muslim Student That He'll Fight
Islamophobia
By Zaid Jilani [1] / AlterNet [2]
October 29, 2015
On Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders held a
national town hall with students at George Mason University where he, among
other things, pledged to remove the federal prohibition against the use of
marijuana.
At one point, a Muslim student asked Sanders about the bigotry being
expressed all over the country against Muslim Americans. Sanders embraced
the student and brought her up on the stage. He commented about his own
religious background and compared anti-Semitism to Islamophobia:
SANDERS: Let me be very personal here if I may. I'm Jewish. My father's
family died in the concentration camps. I will do everything that I can to
rid this country of the ugly stain of racism which has existed for far too
many years. And let me tell you something. What racism is about is many many
things. It is pent-up hatred, it is lashing out at people in uncontrollable
ways, but it is something very different than that. For many years in this
country you have had politicians, and I'm old enough to know this, who
played black off against white. So they told white workers who are earning
pennies an hour, you think you're in trouble but you're better off than the
blacks who can't drink at a water fountain or go to your school. And they
told straight people, well you think you've got problems, but you're off
than those gay people right? And they held men against women. They played
one group off against another. Rich got richer and everybody else is
fighting with each other.
Our job is to build a nation in which we all stand together as one people.
And you are right, there is a lot of anger being generated, a lot of hatred
being generated against Muslims in this country, that's absolutely correct.
There is hatred being generated against immigrants in this country. And if
you stand for anything we have got to stand together and end all forms of
racism, and I will lead that effort as president of the United States.
Watch it:
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Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [3]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[4]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/media/watch-bernie-sanders-pledges-muslim-student-he
ll-fight-islamophobia
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/zaid-jilani
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Watch: Bernie Sanders
Pledges to Muslim Student That He'll Fight Islamophobia
[4] http://www.alternet.org/
[5] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B