Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Monday released a campaign video that highlights his childhood in Brooklyn.
Sanders is interviewed by actor Mark Ruffalo as they walk through the Brooklyn College campus, where Sanders attended for a year before going to the University of Chicago.
“How much did it cost you to go to school here,” Ruffalo asks Sanders. “Much cheaper than it is today?”
“I would say that is an understatement,” Sanders says. “It is not a radical idea” to have free tuition at public colleges and universities he adds, speaking about one of his main policy proposals.
The video shows old photos of Sanders and his parents, shots of the apartment building he lived in on East 26th Street in Midwood, Brooklyn, as well as shots of Sanders’ high school, James Madison High School.
Sanders says when he was growing up, his life revolved around “playing ball” outside with other kids without any adult supervision.
“We made up our own games and we worked these things out ourselves,” he says in the video. “I learned a lot about democracy in the school yards of Brooklyn, New York.”
Ruffalo, who spoke at Sanders’ rally on April 8 outside his childhood home, speaks highly of the senator’s participation in the civil rights movement and about his time as mayor of Burlington, Vermont.
“Because of your legacy, Burlington is now the first American city to run 100 percent on renewable energy,” he says. “People — they just — they don’t know this.”
The video had been viewed more than 8,500 times as of Monday afternoon.
