Sanders Campaign Press Release - Sanders Visits King Center

ATLANTA – Calling the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "a hero" and "an inspiration," U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday visited the national historic site where the slain civil rights leader and his wife, Coretta Scott King, are buried.

Sanders said he was "honored and pleased" to meet at the King Center with the Rev. Bernice King, the Kings' youngest daughter.

"Dr. King saw not only the need to end racism and segregation but to create an economy that works for all Americans," Sanders told reporters gathered on a sidewalk outside the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr. was the pastor.

As a student at the University of Chicago, Sanders in 1963 traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and saw King deliver his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Campaigning in King's hometown, the Democratic Party presidential candidate later stopped by the Busy Bee Café, a soul-food restaurant where the senator was introduced by Michael Render, the Atlanta activist and rap artist known by his stage name Killer Mike.

Sanders capped a two-day trip to Georgia with a rally that drew more than 5,000 supporters to the historic Fox Theater.