Bernie Sanders: 'Nobody On Top Is Ever Going To Give You Something Unless You Demand It'

At a "Fighting Oligarchy" rally in Missoula, Montana on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) quoted abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Transcript

00:00Let me read something to you, which was a statement made in 1857, a few years ago,

00:28by the great abolitionist, Frederick Douglass.

00:31You all remember Frederick Douglass?

00:35I want you to hear what he said.

00:37This is in the years preceding the Civil War,

00:40when the great struggle of the time was whether or not this country would end the nightmare of slavery.

00:46Listen closely to what Douglass said back then and see its relevance for today.

00:52This is what he said, and I quote,

00:54Power concedes nothing without a demand.

01:00Got that?

01:01In other words, nobody on top is ever going to give you something unless you demand it.

01:09And then he continued,

01:09It never did, and it never will.

01:13Find out just what any people will quietly submit to,

01:18and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them.

01:26And these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows or with both.

01:31The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

01:44Brothers and sisters, we are tired of being oppressed.

01:49We believe in democracy, not authoritarianism.

02:09We believe in an economy that works for all,

02:12not just for Musk and his fellow billionaires.

02:15Brothers and sisters, let's stand together, let's go forward, let us win this struggle.