Bernie Sanders Rally at Findlay Park, Columbia SC - with Blackillac, Nina Turner, Danny Glover and Killer Mike.
I just got back from the Bernie Sanders rally in Columbia, SC at Findlay Park. This was not a mega-event with tens of thousands of people. Nothing major happened. This was just a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon with like-minded people concerned about the future of our country who back a candidate with a particularly clear, progressive and inclusive vision and policy aspirations.
The crowd here trended young and diverse, which is no surprise. In that, no, it did not represent SC as a whole but I think did represent the future.
The warm-up was a two-man rap group called Blackillac who were really a lot of fun to listen to!
The soundtrack filling the gaps included all the favorites you might guess: Simon and Garfunkle, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Neil Young.
For the whole thing, I’ve added the link from C-SPAN above. They had a way better camera and vantage point than my short stack with a tall, knit-capped head in front of me (:.
Chokwe Lumumba, the mayor of Jackson, MS delivered a powerful closing line for his part:
I leave you with this, the words of the great activist Lilla Watson — If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, let us work together.
Danny Glover was great, as was the always-amazing Killer Mike. If you haven’t listened to him, I can’t recommend KM high enough. His part part starts at 16:50 but I’d also look for him on YouTube. Nina Turner was fantastic as well. Her theme that (Bernie’s policies are) RIGHT ON TIME! resonated way, way more with me than John Kerry’s limp “Help is on the way” ever did.
Said Turner:
In order for a tree to bear fruit it has to have been planted for awhile. (Love it. To quote from the movie Parasite — “It’s SO metaphorical!”)
Bernie himself hit the stage, delineated his policy objectives and the urgent need for them: M4A, GND (noting that climate change will and has already affected SC coastal cities like Charleston and Myrtle Beach), Ending the Wars and resisting autocratic power including the fossil fuel, pharmaceutical and defense industries, Justice System Reform and ending the for-profit Prison Industry, Housing Reform, investment in education, ending the War on Drugs, decriminalizing marijuana, immigration reform including restoring the legal status of DACA residents and a path toward citizenship. Sanders called to end the horror of gun violence, and to reform gun laws as determined by the American People and NOT the NRA and would include universal background checks, ending the gun show loophole and the sale of assault weapons.
He took Trump to task for holding a rally in the upstate as the nation is on the brink of a likely outbreak of coronavirus, which, combined with our failed, extractive, for-profit based health care system, would be an unmitigated disaster. This point tied in nicely with Trump’s outright lie about giving everyone awesome healthcare, and Sanders’ signature M4A policy.
Sanders had much more on women’s rights, the grassroots energy needed to effect real change in this country and followed up with his thanks, and lots of encouragement for his supporters!
Artistic pic of Sanders.
Sanders supporters about an hour before the event.
Killer Mike! —
“I LOVE what the democratic party has done, but I’m gonna love MORE what we are about to DO!”
“We’re gonna progress that old guy right into the White House.”
”I don’t give a damn what your leaders who were radical 55 years ago have done if they’re not doing it TO-DAY!...If it rhymes with slow don’t vote for it.”
Danny Glover — “We’re on our way; we’re climbing Jacob’s ladder.”
