Just a few days ago — August 2, 2019 — my husband and I attended Kamala’s first rally in Denver. It was more than amazing. It was transformative.
I was already all in for Kamala, but something special happened Friday night in Denver, nonetheless. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to start at the end and work my way back.
I know two horrible things have happened already since this rally — the tragic and practicaly predictable mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. A horror that is becoming common place, and a horror that Kamala Harris is prepared to deal with. (See her comments here.) I am choosing to keep the rally the focus of my essay because I want things to change.
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I met her!
We held hands! (She doesn’t shake hands — she holds them.)
She looked at me, right in my eyes, smiled and said, “Hi.” I mumbled something, then leaned forward and whispered in her ear (it was really loud in there!) “I’m part of the Daily Kos #KHive!” She threw back her head and hooted that beautiful laugh and hugged me like she’d known me all her life.
“I just love you guys!” she whispered back, “You’re so powerful!” Then, just as she was being pushed to move on, she turned back to me and asked, “What’s your name?”
“I go by Reflect-a-moment,” I admitted, giggling. She hooted again, and gave me another little hug.
I quickly introduced her to “my better half” who had just managed to push his way through to reach a few feet behind me. She happily proclaimed, “Oh, I saw you earlier!” as she took his hand.
We had been two faces out of thousands, far from the podium, but he’s tall, and she had already noticed him! Later he told me he felt like they had met eyes, but he was astounded that she would remember his face through that crowd. I wasn’t. I felt that way, too.
By the time we met Kamala, the event was long over, but there were still hundreds and hundreds of people hovering around, like us, just hoping for the possibility of meeting her. She clearly needed to be out of there and on to her next event, but it was obvious that she was in love with the people who had waited so long to see her — standing for hours in a steaming, packed gymnasium after waiting even longer in the hot sun. Kamala simply could not tear herself away.
She wanted to connect with each and every one of them. Even if they were only toddlers!
We met this family* waiting on the sidewalk, in front of the high school. They sat behind us in the loud sweaty gym, the babies playing and waiting to see “Kamala!” We bumped into them again after it was mostly over, and I just happened to catch the Senator talking to this beautiful little girl about maybe being president herself someday:
*I asked permission to use their photo
And after that she moved on to...ME! But I already told you about that. (((Which is still unbelievably unbelievable — I wouldn’t even believe it myself but I accidentally recorded it on my phone when she came up to me right after talking to the little girl — and I jammed my phone in my purse still recording. I’ve listened to it over and over! Lol!!)))
As we walked away, I was absolutely giddy, but I couldn’t help feeling bad about the hundreds still waiting towards the back. Kamala could not possibly get to them, and I had been waiting with some of them all day. We had made friends during that time, exchanged texts, photos, and phone numbers.
(On our way home, though, I got a text from a lady waiting at the very end — down by the watering station I had guarded — whom I had been standing with the whole evening. She sent me a photo of Kamala with her and three other women who had also waited — Kamala made it all the way to the end of the line! My new friend was so happy.)
That whole day though -
there was something in the air.
It was all around...
a kind of hope?
“They” were all around...
Good People.
Thousands of them.
Some weary, some bouncy, but all motivated.
No one pushed or shoved.
I didn’t hear a single angry word spoken to another person. Kindness and patience were plentiful. Diversity was in abundance, although there seemed to me more white than any other individual group. There were lots of elderly folks, but there were also a lot of kids of all ages. I grew up in west Denver (now Lakewood) and I had long known of Manual High School as “the all black high school” in Denver. The only one. This was my first time ever being there. (I also taught at the lowest per capita-income elementary school in West Denver in 1976 through 1978, when they were first instituting forced busing. I saw it up close and personal, too. 22 years after Brown vs the Board of Education.)
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“This is a fight that is not only for the soul of our country; this is a fight that is borne out of love for out country. And this is a fight we will win!”
Senator Harris had us in the palm of her hand for 40 minutes.
You can listen to Kamala's speech here, though I couldn’t actually “see” it myself. Too short. ;)
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I’m also not going to spend much time quoting her, partly because I couldn’t hear all that well. I wrote down a few things, but most of it was familiar. I’ve been listening to Kamala for a long time. We have had and will continue to have many columns here at DKos Kamala2020 on her policies and her positions. We also provide links to all things Kamala.
But mostly, I just want to talk about the rally itself. The experience.
The thing was...the energy.
The power.
The unity.
The first political rally I ever attended was for Barack Obama in 2008. He was still a bit of a long shot then. There weren’t even half as many people at his rally as there were last night for Kamala.
But something felt the same.
Three months after my first rally, I drove to another Obama rally in a different city, taking an old friend from my teaching days. The entire stadium was filled with people! Lines and lines of folk waited to hear him speak. He was catching fire.
Something feels the same.
Is it the hope?
or the confidence?
The competence?
or the compassion?
Or is it the fire?
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Get involved.
The sooner the better.
The more the merrier.
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This is the most important election of our lives.
Will you tell your children, or your neighbors’ children, “I wish I had worked harder to affect the outcome, I wish I had tried harder…?” Because I doubt we will ever be sitting back saying to ourselves, “Dang, I wish I hadn’t worked so hard to save my country.”
Besides, it just feels so good to be around good people. And these are good people.
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We finally got in our car to leave at about 7:45 pm.
(After we literally watched the senator drive away — only because of where we had randomly parked. What luck for us!)
It was a clear night with just a bit of rain. As my “better half” drove us home, through two cities, and up the pass to our house, I just tingled. (A little with exhaustion, a little with sweat crystallizing in the air conditioner, but mostly with excitement). We listened to Van Morrison, et al. and gulped water while I sent texts and photos to new people I had met.
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After we got home, we sat on the couch and reviewed each other’s photos and videos. That’s when we realized I had inadvertently recorded Kamala talking to me. We laughed and laughed. “I thought I might have dreamt it,“ I said. But I didn’t. She knows us. She values us. We make a difference here.
We bring her joy.
We protect and promote her.
And we do it with positivity and passion.
We are the Daily Kos #KHive!
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I thought about Kamala, again, just as I climbed into bed, remembering how I had awoken with her on my mind. I had been so excited, even nervous then, anticipating the day. Now, I swear, she feels like an old friend.
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Kamala’s mother told her:
”You will be judged by your service to others.”
And so will we.
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Group Guidelines
The Kamala2020 community group has been created to positively support Senator Kamala Harris, and not to engage in negativity towards other Democrats running in the 2020 primaries.
All should be made to feel welcomed here. What’s not welcomed here is petty bickering over any of our preferred candidates, or personal attacks on fellow Democrats. We’re not responsible for the actions of others who may offend, insult or attempt to sow discord and disunity — that’s on them.
What we are responsible for are our own words and actions — that’s 100% on us.
I’d like to ask all group members, as well as those dropping by who support or are interested in Kamala’s bid for the nomination, that we not respond to negativity from other campaign’s supporters with even more negativity. Let’s do better than our best and respond with respect, humor or try to hold our peace. Recipes and cat pics work, too 😃
Doing no harm costs us nothing... pie-fights will cost us everything.