FYI, found by googling "bernie sanders mlk"

    *Bernie Sanders entered into politics through the civil rights movement, more than a half century ago.  He organized with CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality) in Chicago, and led a sit-in against segregated housing as far back as 1962.  

    *According to John Nichols of The Nation, Sanders is one of only 2 sitting U.S. Senators who actually attended the 1963 March on Washington, and saw Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., give his “I Have A Dream” speech in person.  (The other is Mitch McConnell, believe it or not...)  At the time, Sanders was an organizer for SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). [Emphasis mine]

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced "snick": /ˈsnɪk/) was one of the most important organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.[1][2] It emerged from a student meeting organized by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in April 1960. SNCC grew into a large organization with many supporters in the North who helped raise funds to support SNCC's work in the South, allowing full-time SNCC workers to have a $10 per week salary. Many unpaid volunteers also worked with SNCC on projects in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and Maryland. SNCC played a major role in the sit-ins and freedom rides, a leading role in the 1963 March on Washington, Mississippi Freedom Summer, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party over the next few years. SNCC's major contribution was in its field work, organizing voter registration drives all over the South, especially in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

    The Nation: That focus on employment goes back to the historic message of the civil-rights movement. Civil-rights organizing was one of the ways into political activism for you, wasn’t it?


    Sanders: Civil rights was a very important part of it. I was very active in the Congress of Racial Equality at the University of Chicago. I got arrested in trying to desegregate Chicago’s school system. I was very active in demanding that the University of Chicago not run segregated housing, which it was doing at that time. We were active in working with our brothers and sisters in SNCC [the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]… at that point helping them with some very modest financial help. So, yes, I was active. And I do not separate the civil-rights issue from the fact that 50 percent of African-American young people are either unemployed or underemployed. Remember the March on Washington—what was it about? “Jobs and Freedom.” The issue that Dr. King raised all the time was: This is great if we want to desegregate restaurants or hotels, but what does it matter if people can’t afford to go to them? That’s still the issue today.[All emphasis mine]

A whisper campaign appears to be floating around the Daily Kos reality-based community. People are tsk, tsking about how very awful it is that Bernie Sanders actually claimed to have been there "with" Martin Luther King Jr. when he gave a certain speech back in 1963. My lord, the man has no scruples! If you don't know what I'm talking about, please check the rec list.

From my extensive five minute research (shown above), it appears that Sanders perhaps did a tad bit more than just listen to a speech.

We are all very fortunate this election season, in that we have a choice. We can vote for a candidate who shows every sign of being committed to fighting "politics as usual" or we can fight for a candidate who is extremely capable at those very politics.  We can tsk, tsk over the meaning of the word "with," just like conservatives who quibbled over the meaning of the word "is" (remember?), or we can spend our time on more serious issues. But when you have a choice, you become responsible for how you use it. If you don't vote, you lose the right to complain about our political system, is that right? If you vote for "politics as usual" when you have the extremely rare opportunity to vote against it, don't you pretty much lose the right to complain about it?

Published on Aug 16, 2013.  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) talks about the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington lead by Martin Luther King, Jr. Sen. Sanders attended the speech while a student at the University of Chicago and explains what it was like to witness that historic event.

h/t to both VClib and Gordon20024

Please watch the video above.  Decide for yourself whether or not Sanders is trying to take credit for the work of Dr. King (which really is the implication of the whisper campaign, isn't it?), or whether he appears to be a humble man trying to emphasize the importance of what Dr. King's work was about, and one who is continuing to work for the dream.