Bernie Sanders: West Baltimore Like 'Third-World Country'

BALTIMORE, MD - Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said his walking tour of west Baltimore Tuesday showcased an American experience that he wants to improve.

“You would think that you’re in a third-world country,” Sanders said of the Sandtown-Winchester community.

Related: Bernie Sanders Visits West Baltimore

“Half of the people don’t have jobs. There are hundreds of buildings that are uninhabitable...” the Vermont Senator said, noting the lack of banks and grocery stores.

Part of Sanders’ campaign platform involves increasing opportunities for all Americans to reverse what he said was a “massive transfer” of wealth from working-class families to the top 1 percent of earners in recent years. “That’s what I’m dedicated to changing,” Sanders said.

One way to do so was making public colleges and universities tuition-free, he said.

Sandtown-Winchester is “a community in which the dream of getting a higher education for many kids is as real as is going to the moon,” Sanders said, continuing that anyone who studies and works hard should be afforded the right to continue learning.

He also called for evaluation of the country’s correctional system.

“Every American should be deeply ashamed that we have more people in jail than any other country,” said Sanders. “We are spending $80 million a year locking up fellow Americans.” He also mentioned the disproportionate number of black and Hispanic individuals in jail.

In fact, Sandtown-Winchester leads the state in concentration of those incarcerated in Maryland, according to a study the Justice Policy Institute released earlier this year.

“We need to start investing” in communities “that are hurting,” Sanders said. “Rather than sending our kids to jail, we should be investing in jobs and education.”

When someone asked about ISIS, a topic Sanders’ spokesperson reportedly asked the media not to broach, he said: “You want to ask me about ISIS, I’ll talk about ISIS,” he said; but, he added, his campaign stop in Baltimore was dedicated to those “often forgotten about” in our communities across the nation.

“We need fundamental changes in our national priorities,” Sanders said. “There is an enormous amount of work to be done.”