Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 8-24-18

Feature
Bernie Sanders Comes To Tampa To Rally For Andrew Gillum For Governor
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
The clock is winding down until the primary elec- tion and on Thursday, guber- natorial candidate Andrew Gillum got a little help from a big name – 2016 presiden- tial candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Sen. Sanders riled up a crowd of about one thousand at a rally for Gillum at Ar- mature Works, urging them to vote for the Tallahassee mayor in the Aug. 28th pri- mary.
Taking the stage while
Aretha Franklin’s “Re- spect” glared in the back- ground, Sanders received a hearty welcome and chants of “Bernie! Bernie!” from the audience before touting Gillum’s agenda.
It’s up to voters to “make certain that the state of Florida is going to move in a very different direction, in a progressive direction and that we are going to elect this
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS
man the next governor of this state,” he said.
“I’ve got a radical idea...in Florida and throughout this country, we need a govern- ment that represents all of us, not the one percent,” he said. “Unlike the Trump ad- ministration, we need a gov- ernment that brings us all together: Black and white and Latino, men and women, gay and straight. We are not going to let Trump and his friends divide us up.”
It is now the time for pro-
ANDREW GILLUM ...Gubernatorial Candidate
gressives like Gillum to stand up and fight to protect the rights of the people, act to reverse climate change, and push for a living wage, Sanders said.
“What we have here is the opportunity to...send a mes- sage that will be heard all over the country,” he said.
During his remarks, Gillum urged the crowd to “vote like your life depends on it.”
“We have to vote like our lives depend on it because if
you are Marquis Mc- Glockton in Clearwater, Florida, your life does de- pend on winning these elec- tions,” he said, referencing McGlockton, a father of three who was shot outside a Clearwater gas station last month. The shooter, Michael Drejka, claimed a “stand your ground” defense. Drejka was arrested last week on manslaughter charges.
“We can believe that guns have no place, guns that are military-style weapons... have no place in our city streets,” he said. “If you want to carry the power of God on your waistbelt, then you ought to have a background check.”
Democrats can win the Governor’s Mansion if they turn out voters who feel like they’ve been ignored and give them a reason to vote, Gillum said.
That means fighting to provide children an “equal opportunity education” and
workers fair wages, he said. “I don’t believe that any person who gets up every single day...to report to a job, where they work a full-time set of hours...I don’t believe those folks ought to earn a poverty wage,” he said. “So we’ve got to create the kind of economy in this state that
makes a way for them, too.” Gillum – the son of a bus driver and a construction worker – touted his humble Miami roots, but also took shots at his wealthy oppo- nents, Gwen Graham, Phillip Levine, Jeff
Greene, and Chris King. “I don’t believe that you should have to be from a fa- mous family or be able to stroke your own check to be the governor of the state of Florida,” he said. “I believe that you could literally come from the bottom...and make your way to the top of this state and represent the everyday interests of the peo- ple of the state of Florida,
that’s what we believe.”
FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3-B