As the largest African-American owned and operated independently affiliated podcast and commentary news resource in Michigan, we have decided to support without waiver U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders quest to be the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States in 2016.

Why Are We Endorsing Senator Bernie Sanders to gain the Democratic Nomination?

After viewing Sunday, March 6, 2016 Michigan Democratic Debate, there is no question that Senator Sanders policy positions as it relates to Free Trade, Fracking and uplifting of Communities of Color, are strongly supported by the Senator.

The debate likewise confirmed if elected, Senator Sanders will continue advocating for ideas, thoughts and legislative actions from the Executive Officer role, protecting People voting him into the role of President of the United States first, and not the interest of corporations.

“Bernie’s concerns are the same concerns that I have for my constituents. His commitment to create jobs, reduce inequity and end the disparities between whites and blacks.” said Johnson.

“Sen. Sanders understands what is happening here on the ground in Michigan and his policies will directly support the residents of my district.”

Johnson’s Senate district includes northeast Detroit, Highland Park, Hamtramck, Harper Woods and all five Grosse Pointe communities.

ST. LOUIS -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) may be losing out to Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton with minority voters, but three Ferguson activists he invited to speak at an Illinois rally Friday say they're definitely "feeling the Bern."

Bruce Franks, the founder of 28 to Life, an organization that focuses on youth empowerment and police relations with communities, talked about losing his brother to gun violence at the packed rally inside Southern Illinois University Edwardsville basketball stadium.

“In 1991, my brother, Christopher Harris, was 9 years old when he was killed. He was used as a human shield," said the 31-year-old, before announcing his run for Missouri state representative of the 79th district.

“Senator Sanders knows that the root cause of violence is lack of jobs, education, and resources.”

Franks told The Huffington Post that he wanted to run as state representative because he recognized the need for changes from the legislature.

“We’ve been out here in the fight since day one," said the Riverfront Times Best Activist of 2015, gesturing to his fellow activists. "I’ll continue to fight. I’ll continue to be an activist, but I figured the next road for solution was changing things from the inside."

Cori Bush, another activist-turned politician, spoke at the rally about being tear-gassed in Ferguson and the importance of standing against social injustice.

“For some reason, my brown lips and my dark skin says that I must make less money than my counterparts and I don’t understand that,” said the single mother, ordained pastor and nurse, who is running as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.

She wants to “eradicate the school-to-prison pipeline” and said that her platform echoes much of Sanders’.

Sanders was introduced at the news conference by Dana Duggins, executive vice president of the National Union for Social Security Workers. She praised him as “a champion for Social Security” who fought to preserve the program throughout his career in Congress. Sanders, she added, “will be the best champion of Social Security as president of the United States.” The union represents about 29,000 workers across the United States who help administer Social Security and Medicare benefits for millions of Americans.

On Friday afternoon, the Tax Policy Center (TPC) — a project of centrist think tank Brookings Institution — published a thoroughly-flawed analysis of Bernie Sanders’ tax plan. The TPC claimed that by raising $15.3 trillion in new revenue over ten years to fund Sanders’ proposals for free public college, universal health care, paid family and medical leave, and millions of new infrastructure jobs, the overall income of the average American would drop by approximately 12 percent.

However, the analysis was fundamentally disingenuous, as it analyzes the tax increases in a vacuum and does not account for the tremendous amount of savings that would be realized by families using public health insurance and colleges. It also does not account for the overall economic benefit of 13 million new public sector jobs and the resulting flow of new money into the economy.

“We do not account for the effects of the new government programs on income,” TPC co-founder Leonard Burman told Politico, in a revealing quote buried thirteen paragraphs below Politico‘s misleading headline. “We’re not really experts on the spending component.”

“Our lands – as indigenous lands – are the place where most of the oil and gas, and a good portion of the uranium and coal comes from. The easiest answer for the future generations is to keep it in the ground. And we are thankful for Bernie Sanders for saying ‘Let’s keep it in the ground.’ Don’t make a mess we can’t clean up.”

The bad news is that key leaders of the Democratic Party—including the president—are getting on board with Republicans, despite some talk about confronting income inequality. Influential Democrats intend to negotiate with Republican counterparts on the size and terms of post-facto tax “forgiveness” for America’s globalized companies. This is real money they’re talking about—a giveaway of hundreds of billions.

Why haven’t voters heard about this from candidates? Because Republicans and Democrats both know it would make angry voters even angrier.

To put it plainly, this trade-off is certain to worsen income inequality, because the money goes to the very people—shareholders and corporate execs—who have already done fabulously well at the expense of other Americans.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, as she often does, found the right words to describe this transaction. She called it “a giant wet kiss for the tax dodgers.” Warren and Senator Sanders have repeatedly charged that the system is rigged. What’s particularly outrageous about this new rigging of the tax code is that even though the politicians are engineering it in the midst of a presidential election, most voters don’t have a clue.

What does Hillary Clinton think about this scandal? Citizens should ask her everywhere she goes. But don’t leave out Republican candidates. Ask them too, and ask those Tea Party irregulars. Are they on board with bank robbers? Or fed-up citizens? Ask your senators and representatives which side they are on.

They say this is the year of rebellion. I hope it’s only the beginning. There is the promising possibility that this time, voters will instruct the powerful rather than the other way around. People are learning they can do more than listen.

Meet the Rust-Belt Populist Who Wants to Be Pennsylvania’s Next Senator
John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, wants to fight for “legacy communities” and the soul of the Democratic Party.

Fetterman, who is white, has led the charge to revitalize the mostly black Braddock, which was abandoned by industry in the 1970s. Nearly 40 percent of its households now fall below the poverty line. Except for its racial demographics, Braddock is typical of the struggling Rust Belt towns that may prove pivotal in this election. Some of Donald Trump’s biggest rallies have been staged in these “legacy communities,” drawing supporters still reeling from the Recession. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is hoping to rally the working class against the corporate interests that have deserted it. Like Sanders, Fetterman is in a battle for both the Democratic nomination and the soul of the party. Can he win over his state’s infamously conservative, mostly white center, by wooing the rural working-class voters that have fled the Democratic Party in droves? In These Times talked with Fetterman about Bernie, Braddock and 2016.