Al Sharpton to Bernie Sanders: What about the 'race element' of income inequality?
One day after civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton sat down for a meeting with Sen. Bernie Sanders, he remains unconvinced that the Democratic presidential candidate is adequately addressing the issue of race in income equality.
"One of the things that I was saying to Senator Sanders is saying that you've got to deal with income inequality and wages is fine, but what about the race element of that?" Sharpton said Thursday on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "He did not address that directly," Sharpton added.
As it stands right now, Sharpton says, all he is hearing from Sanders is "rhetoric" and him "talking about his ideology," but he has yet to hear "a list or enumeration of the kind of things we can do to redress or overturn these things." That, he says, is what he pushed Sanders to do in their sit-down over breakfast in Harlem Wednesday. "Are you going to talk about affirmative action?" Sharpton said. "Are you going to talk about racial disparities in terms of promotions and access to capital?"
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Sharpton says that addressing these issues is going to be key as Sanders moves forward in the race. "As we leave the New Hampshire/Iowa states, which are basically white electorate, they're going to have to deal now with issues across the board," Sharpton said of both Democratic presidential candidates.
Sharpton is set to meet with Sanders' Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, next Tuesday.
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