South Carolina Voters Like What They Hear

"Establishment Democrats" can not automatically count on the "black vote" in South Carolina. And that's a good thing because it sets the stage for real change.

Nov. 20, 2015 -- Bernie Sanders spoke for 90 minutes to a Charleston Town Hall Meeting, where he received a standing ovation for his plan to tax Wall Street to provide tuition-free education.

Nov. 21, 2015 -- Senator Sanders' plan to improve racial inequality received a 65% approval rating at the BET Criminal Justice Forum at Allen University in Columbia, SC.

Sanders is very serious about making real change happen by way of a political grassroots movement that will involve the people today, tomorrow and when he is elected president. "Nothing will happen until millions of people rise up together to say Enough is Enough! Government must represent the people and not just a handful of billionaires."

In September, Christale Spain, the deputy executive director for the South Carolina Democratic Party, joined the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, as outreach director.

Andrew Springer, formerly the senior editor of social media at ABC News, has also joined Sanders' South Carolina team, as the state communications director.

Nationally, Bernie Sanders has expanded his support by 9% in the last 30 days, including a 16-point gain among non-white voters and a 23% gain among under-50 voters, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, released 11/22/2015.

The Charleston Town Hall Meeting

The town hall was hosted by State Senator Marlon Kimpson (D-Dist.42), the Charleston Democratic Party and the House Democratic Delegation that includes State Representatives J. Seth Whipper, David J. Mack, III, Wendell G. Gilliard, Mary E. Tinkler, and Robert L. Brown.

Senator Sanders talked about his campaign that is fueled by more than 800,000 individual contributions averaging around $30 -- with no money at all from Corporate Billionaires.

“So, I do not represent the billionaire class or corporate America,” Sanders said.

We are a country with the largest income gap in the world --- with 487 billionaires and 16 million children living in poverty. We are a country that sends one out of every four young black men to prison, but does not prosecute and send to jail the Wall Street bankers, who crashed the US and world economy in 2008... and who continue to pay "settlements" instead of going to jail when they commit white collar crimes.

“It seems to me that it makes a lot more sense for us to be invested in education and jobs for our kids rather than jails and incarceration,” Sanders said.

The crowd gave him a standing ovation when he talked about introducing legislation that would make public universities tuition-free.

“People should not be denied going to college because they don’t have enough money,” he said.

The audience was also supportive when Sanders began talking about legislation that would take marijuana out of the controlled substances act.

“I’m not advocating smoking marijuana,” he said, and a few booed in the crowd. “It doesn’t make it legal, it just means that you’re not breaking the federal law. The reason we introduced that legislation is because I’ve talked to too many people whose lives have been destroyed because of the police records they get for possessing marijuana.”

Sanders said he advocates that full legalization of marijuana should be up to individual states.

The South Carolina Criminal Justice Forum

Nov. 21, 2015 -- The 20/20 Leaders of America, along with BET and Facebook, hosted presidential candidates at Allen University in Columbia, SC. Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton chose not to give a presentation or be part of the Q&A discussions.

The topic was Criminal Justice Reform, and Bernie Sanders' message was very well received.

Drum Poll Results: Sanders 65%, Clinton 23%, O’Malley 12%

The 20/20 Club is a collective of politicians, prosecutors, attorneys and law enforcement officials, who have been hosting listening sessions throughout the year to give both Democratic and Republican candidates a platform to speak on issues currently being faced by the African-American community. These issues include criminal justice reform and community policing tactics. 

Other organizations co-hosting the forum included Facebook, IMPACT, Insight America, the National Black Police Association and the League of Cities Black Caucus. 

"BET Networks continues to make a concerted effort to mobilize the significant voting bloc of unregistered African-Americans and encourage them to sign up and get to the polls," said Debra L. Lee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BET Networks.

You can view the ABC News video of Bernie Sanders speaking to families here. 

Bernie Sanders advocates raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, closing tax loopholes exploited by the wealthy and profitable corporations, undertaking a massive $1 trillion program to fix roads and bridges, railways and other infrastructure that would also create or sustain 13 million jobs. His campaign advocates a Medicare-for-all health care system to provide better care for more people at less cost, and expansion of Social Security, and a tuition-free education at all public colleges and universities. 

His in-depth plan to address racial inequality and racial injustice was introduced at a rally in Seattle that was attended by a record crowd of 28,000 on Aug. 9, 2015. --- The policy plans that would be implemented by Bernie Sanders, as President of the United States can be found at BernieSanders.com/issues/racial-justice.