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Paint the Bern: feel the Bern …man puts Sanders on his roof

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><h6><span style&equals;"font-size&colon;large&semi;"><br &sol;>&NewLine;<b>English teacher Daren Wilkerson sits on the Bernie Sanders logo that he has painted across his roof&comma; at his home in Castro Valley&comma; California<&sol;b><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"color&colon;red&semi;"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon;x-large&semi;"><i>2 year old and can barely speak a full sentence&&num;8230&semi;asked about the Sanders message&comma; screams his mantra for billionaires &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Enough is enough&excl; You can’t have it all&excl;<&sol;i><&sol;span><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>3 year old sister asked &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What do we do to Donald Trump&quest;”  screamed&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Take him to the dump&excl;”<i><&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Their father&comma; Daren Wilkerson&comma; a resident of Castro Valley in northern California&comma; has trained his daughters to preach Sanders’ message on cue – and this week&comma; he’s using more than just his adorable daughters to drum up support for the Vermont senator&period; The 39-year-old super Sanders supporter has painted a giant blue Bernie logo on top of his house’s roof – an eye-catching sign in this left-leaning Bay Area suburb&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"gallery-lightbox&lowbar;&lowbar;img js-gallery-lightbox-img" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;guim&period;co&period;uk&sol;img&sol;media&sol;0160c673e239b0b97cbf5312f973b3f66f449279&sol;0&lowbar;0&lowbar;2333&lowbar;3500&sol;2333&period;jpg&quest;w&equals;700&amp&semi;q&equals;85&amp&semi;auto&equals;format&amp&semi;sharp&equals;10&amp&semi;s&equals;8968a05b1a7a9ae0591a7e2228e47049" width&equals;"426" height&equals;"640" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<span style&equals;"font-size&colon;x-small&semi;"><i>Photo&colon; Gabrielle Lurie for the Guardian <&sol;i><&sol;span><br &sol;>&NewLine;<span style&equals;"font-size&colon;large&semi;"><b>Daren Wilkerson&comma; 39&period; Daughter Marlo Wilkerson&comma; aged 21 months&comma; already fluent in Sanders &&num;8216&semi;Speak&&num;8217&semi;&period; <&sol;b><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I wanted a bold statement that says I’m voting for Bernie&comma;” the high school English teacher said while standing below his 4ft-by-20ft rooftop painting&comma; wearing pins that said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Bern Nerd” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Bernie speaks for ME”&period; He added&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This is not an election where you go quietly to the polls and vote … We’ve gotta get ahead&period;” <img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;digitaljournal&period;com&sol;img&sol;9&sol;9&sol;5&sol;4&sol;2&sol;4&sol;i&sol;2&sol;4&sol;7&sol;p-large&sol;Bernie&lowbar;Sanders&lowbar;Madison&period;jpg" alt&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;digitaljournal&period;com&sol;img&sol;9&sol;9&sol;5&sol;4&sol;2&sol;4&sol;i&sol;2&sol;4&sol;7&sol;p-large&sol;Bernie&lowbar;Sanders&lowbar;Madison&period;jpg" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"425" &sol;> <span style&equals;"font-size&colon;x-small&semi;"><i>Photo&colon; digitaljournal<&sol;i><&sol;span><br &sol;>&NewLine;<span style&equals;"font-size&colon;large&semi;"><b>Bernie Sanders addressing a crowd of 10&comma;000&period; Madison&comma; Wisconsin<&sol;b><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Wilkerson is one of a growing number of Sanders supporters using large&comma; colorful works of art and other creative forms of expression to encourage voters to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;feel the Bern”&period; After watching a Sanders speech on YouTube last summer&comma; Wilkerson said he felt more passionate about Sanders  than he has about any politician in his life&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-size&colon;large&semi;"><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I just started crying&comma;” &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I thought that if I sat back and gave him my vote and didn’t do anything else for him&comma; I couldn’t sleep at night&period; I knew I had to put my whole weight behind this man&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>His wife Sarah&comma; a 32-year-old speech-language pathologist&comma; said she was initially shocked – but pleased – when she drove home last week and saw the huge Bernie letters on her roof&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He’s a politician who actually tells the truth&comma;” she said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I just hope the neighbors don’t hate us&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;After seeing the roof and the news coverage&comma; some neighbors and friends have said they want to learn more about Sanders&comma; Daren said&period; At least one neighbor has&comma; however&comma; made clear to him that he’s voting for Trump&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I didn’t do this to impress the neighbors&period; I did this to send a message as far and wide as I possibly could&comma;” he added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sanders fans are increasingly using big murals and other original art projects to raise the candidate’s profile as the campaign continues and as Sanders closes in on Clinton&comma; long considered the front runner&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It’s growing every week&comma;” said Ken Harman&comma; a San Francisco art gallery owner said the recent boom in Sanders fan art resembles the momentum that built around Obama within various art scenes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Bernie is definitely appealing to a younger vote than Hillary&comma; and when you get into the younger vote&comma; you have more street artists involved&comma;” said Haran&comma; a 33-year-old Oakland resident&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;For Bernie&comma; it’s free advertising&comma; which is nice … and it’s very organic&period; It’s not an advertising agency with a mission trying to come up with a statement that will capture a certain voter&period; It’s an individual who is actually inspired making something very true from the heart&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In downtown Denver&comma; street artist Gamma Acosta recently painted a 50ft-long Bernie mural featuring the 74-year-old’s face and the words &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We the People”&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It sets an example for the younger generation who is more into street art and murals that you have to speak up and that voting is important&comma;” said the Denver resident&comma; who goes by the artist name Gamma Gallery&period; He said he has followed Sanders for years and wanted to find a splashy opportunity to raise his profile in the swing state&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A mural was my way to help him get a little bit of exposure&comma; but now he’s getting plenty&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"color&colon;blue&semi;"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon;large&semi;"><i>&&num;8220&semi;Sanders is pure like a jedi in Star Wars&period;&&num;8221&semi; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He hasn’t pandered to special interests … He has had the same political philosophy since he started 30 years ago&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;span><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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