ORANGEBURG, S.C. – For LeAndrea Montgomery, uneasy and sometimes hostile encounters with white people have occurred all too often in recent years.
The police stops while he was an undergraduate at Clemson University. The questions from security while he shopped at Kmart. The women clutching their purses as he walked by.
He’s black, 6-foot-2, with a beard and frosted-tipped dreadlocks that spiral the length of his back. He’s also a fourth-grade teacher who earned a master’s degree in education administration in December.
Montgomery’s candidate for president is Bernie Sanders.
“He’s unfiltered, which is great,” said Montgomery, 27, pausing during a recent daylong summit on empowering black youth, held on the campus of South Carolina State University.
Montgomery is especially drawn to Sanders’ calls to address systemic racism and revamp the criminal justice system, where blacks make up a disproportionate share of the prison population.