Thousands of people gathered outside City Hall on Thursday afternoon for a May Day rally led by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who began his three-day tour in Pennsylvania with a message promoting democracy and workers' rights over the rising power of oligarchy.
Sanders, 83, has been traveling across the country in recent months to speak against the policies of President Donald Trump and expose the toll of corporate greed that he says will threaten the survival of democracy. The Vermont senator, joined by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO and other labor organizations, gave a speech emphasizing the plight of U.S. workers.
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"Today, in the richest country in the history of the world, 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck," Sanders said. "I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck. Many of you are living paycheck to paycheck. Millions of people should not and will not live paycheck to paycheck in the richest country in the history of the world."
Sanders, an independent who garnered broad-based support for his Democratic runs in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, decried the increasing political influence of Elon Musk and other billionaires as workers' wages and benefits fail to keep pace with inflation. He called for the passage of legislation to encourage strong labor unions, renewed his push for universal health care and said the United States must commit to policies that address the dangers of climate change.
"The American people, by the millions, are saying no to oligarchy, no to Trump's authoritarianism, no to Trump's kleptocracy, and no to tax breaks for billionaires," Sanders said.
Attendees at Thursday's May Day rally carried signs outside City Hall and cheered in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders' speech calling for better conditions for U.S. workers.
Thousands of people gathered in Center City on Thursday to see U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders speak at a May Day rally outside City Hall.
Thursday's rally came amid several protests across the city, including a group that gathered outside the federal courthouse on Sixth and Market streets to rally against Trump's immigration policies targeting sanctuary cities. Sanders' speech at City Hall was followed by a march on Broad Street.
"I'm just really upset about everything that's happening in this administration, and I'm particularly distraught about what's happening to immigrants," said Valerie Buickerood, who traveled to the rally from New Jersey. "… We have a dictator in power and I am just horrified over that. I have children who are young adults and have a whole life ahead of them to live in this country."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke out against the Trump administration and oligarchy during Thursday afternoon's May Day rally outside City Hall.
Buickerood said she's traveled to rallies in Washington and Florida in recent months to stand beside others who are alarmed about the direction of the country.
"Bernie, sometimes, is a little left of what I believe, but not so far left at all for me to not want to come out and hear what he has to say," she said. "I know where he's coming from and I'm in line with pretty much most of the things he stands for as a legislator."
Hank Albert, a retired teacher from Cheltenham, said he worked for the Sanders campaign in 2016. He called Sanders a rare politician who inspires people the way former President John F. Kennedy did when he famously challenged Americans to embrace the power they hold to do good for their country.
"Nobody believes in that, or nobody lives it anymore," Albert said. "Bernie Sanders is the closest I've ever seen to making that come true. … Everybody has that dream that maybe it can really happen, but who's going to open the door? There aren't very many people who have the key, but he does."
Sanders will continue his tour Friday with a stop in Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, followed by a rally Saturday at Lehigh University in Bethlehem.