Bernie Sanders: Change from the Ground Up

Speaking to a crowd of more than 12,000 people at Navy Pier, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday described a pivotal moment in his political development that happened about 55 years ago when he was a student at the University of Chicago.

Sanders, who transferred to the elite school, was arrested in 1963 while protesting the squalid conditions of mobile trailers that the city provided to reduce overcrowding at South Side schools instead of integrating black students with their white peers.

"My activities here in Chicago taught me a very important lesson that I have never forgotten ... real change never takes place from the top on down,” he said to booming applause “It always takes place from the bottom on up."

Sanders’ message of social and economic justice underscored his hourlong address to a packed arena, marking one of the first events of his latest bid to reach the White House, as he promised to lead a political revolution leading up to the 2020 election.