Bernie Sanders in Ann Arbor: ‘We’re going to win this election’

From left, U.S. Rep. from New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduces presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at March 8 rally in Ann Arbor. Torrence Williams | Washtenaw Voice

By Lilly Kujawski
Editor

Thousands of supporters gathered in the University of Michigan Diag yesterday to rally for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Sanders campaigned throughout Michigan this past weekend ahead of the March 10 presidential primary. 

“Tuesday is a very, very important day and Michigan is the most important state,” Sanders said at the rally. “Let’s win here in Michigan, let us win the Democratic nomination and together, let us defeat Donald Trump.”

About 10,000 people showed up for the rally, said deputy chief Melissa Overton of U-M public safety.

Sanders made promises to champion major issues if elected, including climate change, education, immigration, workers’ rights, Medicare For All, gun control and abortion rights.

“What we need is an agenda that works for all of us and an agenda that we are prepared to fight for,” Sanders said.

Sanders encouraged supporters to take to the polls, push for change, and inspire family and friends to do the same.

“We are capable of making sweeping change if we have the courage to do it. And the history of real change in America, as all of you know, is when people at the grassroots stand up and fight for justice,” Sanders said. “Change never takes place from the top on down, always from the bottom on up.”

Faran Farooqi of Canton brought his son, Yousuf, 10, to the event. Farooqi said he was excited to show Yousuf  “a real rally for a real revolution.”

Farooqi said the movement showed the “true unity of Michigan and the country at large,” across many ethnicities, religions and identities.

Sanders brought education reform and free tuition at public colleges and universities to the forefront during his U-M campus visit. He said K-12 free public education is not good enough anymore.

“Four years ago, I talked about making public colleges and universities like this one tuition-free,” Sanders said. “As president, that is exactly what we will do in every state in this country.”

“As president, we are going to change national priorities and put education way up there at the top of the list,” he said. 

Sanders was joined Sunday by U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, a major supporter and ally of Sanders’. Ocasio-Cortez spoke of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson who recently endorsed Sanders. Jackson ran for president in 1984 in the Democratic party and lost to former President Ronald Reagan.

“This was [Jackon’s] analysis back then, in 1984, that Reagan won, not by genius—he won while we were asleep,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “He won by the margin of despair; he won by the fracture of our coalition, by the margin of racial division; he won by default. Does that sound familiar, Michigan?”

Ocasio-Cortez compared Jackson’s campaign to the upcoming election, urging voters to unite and take action.

“Michigan, we have a choice to make. In November, we will do everything we can to defeat that margin of despair,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The question is how. Will we defeat it by going back to how things were? Or will we defeat it by fighting for working people in every corner and every pocket of the United States of America, from the South Bronx to Ann Arbor, to El Paso?” 

Khadiza Begui, 21, a U-M student at the rally, was happy to see such a large turnout and said this is only the baseline of the movement.

“This is just us getting started,” Begui said. “We’ve just begun.”

Jessica Kakstis came to Ann Arbor from Toledo, Ohio, to support Sanders at the rally. Kakstis’ draw to Sanders comes from his push for Medicare For All and his hope to cancel student debt. She said another priority for her is more protections for Social Security—which her mother, who has a disability, depends on. 

Michigan Sen. Jeff Irwin, Michigan Rep. Yousef Rabhi, politician and poet Michelle Deatrick, and 2018 gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed all spoke at the rally, along with student leaders from U-M.

“Don’t just show up today. It’s not about how much time we have, it’s about how much of ourselves we’re willing to put into our time. We’ve got until Tuesday to have those conversations with our loved ones, the people we work with, our friends and our family, folks you see down the street, even that guy wearing the MAGA hat—have that conversation,” El-Sayed said. “Join me on Tuesday and let’s help make Bernie Sanders the next president of the United States of America.”

Sanders’ campaign rival, former vice president Joe Biden, is scheduled to host a “Get Out The Vote” rally today at Renaissance High School in Detroit at 7 p.m.

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