Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders heads to Florence on the campaign trail

Sen. Bernie Sanders makes his second trip as a presidential candidate to South Carolina on Saturday, hoping to broaden his appeal with a key constituency – African Americans – in the first Southern primary state. Now the Vermont senator is out to overcome hurdles with black voters who are still learning about him and could shape whether his underdog campaign for the 2016 Democratic nomination can last. “He’s just saying, ‘Here’s my program”, Buffett said.

In a speech similar to the one he gave in South Carolina last month, Sanders decried income inequality and the concentration of most of the nation’s wealth among the top 1 percent of Americans.

The challenge for Sanders then becomes finding a way to reach people before the South Carolina primary in February.

Since he formally announced his campaign in May, Sanders has increased his focus on racial justice issues, the need to combat poverty among African Americans, and “institutional racism”.

He stuck to that script Friday evening at an Atlanta fundraiser, his first event of a busy weekend schedule.

The Berkshire Hathaway CEO reaffirmed his support for Clinton’s policies, and said that the email scandal was not particularly concerning for him.

Sanders edged past Clinton in one Iowa poll this week and is leading her in New Hampshire, neighbor of his home state of Vermont.

Sanders has a civil-rights record of organizing sit-ins as a college student over segregated housing.

“We want to be able to get involved and be informed about who we’re voting for”, Bell said.

“We are the wealthiest country in the history of the world”, Sanders said. “For the hardcore white liberal voters, it doesn’t bother them and he is a fairly moderate socialist, but I don’t see it as a net plus”.

“What I love about Brother Bernie is he’s a brother of integrity and honesty and decency”, said West. “He’s not just on the move”.

“I basically support everything he says, mostly the free college idea”, said student Dejah Smith. “He provides validation to many people that the agenda Bernie is putting forward is an agenda that would benefit people in the African American community and beyond”, said Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver.

After a rally in Sumter in August, Sanders backer Calvin Bennett, 44, said the candidate simply isn’t known.

But Muhiyidin d’Baha, a lead organizer in Black Lives Matter of Charleston, praised Sanders for “his evolution” in how he talks about economic and social inequities.

Sanders ticked off several other names – Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, “and too many others who died at the hands of police officers, or in police custody”, he said as the audience rose to its feet.