--- title: Bernie Sanders Commencement Speech: Read Transcript description: Sen. Bernie Sanders urged Brooklyn College graduates to not "allow demagogues to divide us." canonical: https://time.com/4798441/bernie-sanders-commencement/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-30T20:20:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:10:30.246Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Read Bernie Sanders' Speech to Brooklyn College Graduates og:description: Don't "allow demagogues to divide us" og:url: https://time.com/4798441/bernie-sanders-commencement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94b8830598147b4e/6988c22197cdff60d56b02a2/gettyimages-662145650.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bernie Sanders And Elizabeth Warren Hold Progressive Political Rally In Boston og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Bernie Sanders' Speech to Brooklyn College Graduates twitter:description: Don't "allow demagogues to divide us" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94b8830598147b4e/6988c22197cdff60d56b02a2/gettyimages-662145650.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders to Brooklyn College Graduates: Don't 'Allow Demagogues to Divide Us' by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 30, 2017 8:20 PM UTC  Former Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) waves as he takes the stage at the Our Revolution Massachusetts Rally at the Orpheum Theatre on March 31, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. Scott Eisen—Getty Images Former Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) waves as he takes the stage at the Our Revolution Massachusetts Rally at the Orpheum Theatre on March 31, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. Scott Eisen—Getty ImagesScott Eisen—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 30, 2017 8:20 PM UTC _Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders gave the commencement address at Brooklyn College on Monday. See his full remarks below._ --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4798441/bernie-sanders-commencement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4798441/bernie-sanders-commencement/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders to Brooklyn College Graduates: Don't 'Allow Demagogues to Divide Us'","datePublished":"2017-05-30T20:20:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:10:30.246Z","description":"\"It is necessary that we fight for a vision of a new America\"","url":"https://time.com/4798441/bernie-sanders-commencement/","keywords":["Education","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94b8830598147b4e/6988c22197cdff60d56b02a2/gettyimages-662145650.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94b8830598147b4e/6988c22197cdff60d56b02a2/gettyimages-662145650.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bernie Sanders And Elizabeth Warren Hold Progressive Political Rally In Boston","caption":"Bernie Sanders And Elizabeth Warren Hold Progressive Political Rally In Boston","creditText":"Scott Eisen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4798441/bernie-sanders-commencement/","name":"Bernie Sanders to Brooklyn College Graduates: Don't 'Allow Demagogues to Divide Us'"}}]}] ```