The presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday released an 11-minute video of pop superstar Cardi B interviewing Sanders about a range of topics, including police brutality, immigration policy and worker pay.
The Afro-Latina rapper, born Belcalis Almanzar, endorsed Sanders in the 2016 election and lamented last month that “we let him down in 2016.” Both Sanders and Cardi were born and raised in New York City.
Cardi B, who supports Sanders’ proposals of “Medicare for All” and tuition-free public college, is backing the Vermont senator again this election cycle. The pair sat down in July for a heart-to-heart discussion at the TEN Nail Bar, a nail salon owned by Black women in Detroit.
The conversation, which the Sanders campaign had been hyping, included its share of lighthearted banter and production flourishes, such as camera pans across the salon.
But with Cardi B asking the questions ― which she said were sourced from her fans ― the discussion was almost entirely substantive, giving Sanders a chance to pitch Cardi B’s massive following on his left-leaning proposals.
The pop star first asked Sanders how he would address police brutality against Black men and other people of color.
“It makes us feel like we’re worthless. We constantly see our men getting killed, every day,” she said. “And it seems like nobody cares, nobody’s sympathizing, nobody’s talking about it.”
“Obviously, we need to end all forms of racism in this country ― from Donald Trump down to the local police department,” Sanders replied.
“We have something like one out of four young Black men in this country end up in the criminal justice system,” he continued. “They may end up in jail, they may end up on parole, they may end up on probation, whatever it is. That is disgusting and beyond belief.”
He went on to lay out a three-pronged approach to the problem: improving education and job access to prevent crime at its roots; task the Department of Justice with investigating when police kill someone; and use the power of the federal government to ensure that police departments “look like the community that they serve, not like an oppressive army.”
“We get rid of a lot of this militarization in the police department, which is a form of intimidating people in the community,” Sanders said.
Watch the full video below.
Support HuffPost
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.