Bernie Sanders to visit Baltimore youth center named for Freddie Gray

Source: W Post

By John Wagner

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at an event sponsored by the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago recently. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, who’s been trying to step up outreach to African American voters, plans a visit next week to a new youth center in Baltimore named for Freddie Gray, whose death in police custody in the city led to rioting.

Sanders’s scheduled visit on Tuesday, which also includes a tour of the neighborhood where Gray lived, comes as the first of six police officers charged in connection with the incident, stands trial in Baltimore.

Sanders’s campaign said he would hold “an ecumenical round-table to discuss issues directly impacting the African-American community." The Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, pastor and founder of Empowerment Temple Church, will help lead the discussion at the Freddie Gray Empowerment Center, aides to Sanders said.

The Gray case has also figured prominently in the rival Democratic presidential bid of Martin O’Malley, a former Baltimore mayor who used the troubled city as a backdrop when he announced his candidacy in May. O’Malley’s legacy as mayor, which included aggressive policing tactics that critics said strained relations with some communities, came under scrutiny as he entered the Democratic contest.

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Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at an event sponsored by the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago recently. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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