I'd heard that Jill Stein was going
to be speaking that evening in Berkeley. A couple of hours on
various trains and I managed to get there about when the announcer
was saying that Jill Stein was too sick to address us today.
Despite that, the show must go on so we'd have the rest of the
gang as promised.
David Cobb introduced himself as a
"social change activist from way back." He explained that the USA
is in profound need of revolutionary change. Despite that, the
status quo continues to float along, doing far more damage than it
should in far too many ways. He gave examples of how white
privilege is an invisible force to those who wield it. He
explained that as a Green he has renounced violence, making the
soap box and the ballot box the only tools for making and
measuring progress available to him. He believes in self defense
and so forth, but social change is about more than just "me".
I didn't catch this guys name. He's
a young activist from the northern part of California. He
described being a Bernie Delegate at the Democratic Convention,
and having his credentials rejected when Clinton won. He's working
for Jill Stein now "Because we can't let that shit stand!" He sees
voting for Stein as a revolutionary act.
Then the announcer came out and introduced YahNe Ndgo, the
progressive bombshell from Occupy Wall St. and the Bernie
campaign.
YahNe talked about going to Houston
to take over the Green Party and getting a "Please take us over,
the microphone is yours" response. By the time she was done I was
sure voting for Jill Stein would usher in a new era of clear
thinking in Government.
I think this guys name is Kor
Element. Sounds like "core element". He did a video that went very
viral, essentially saying "Jill Stein is the candidate of the
99%". He gave us a few minutes of reasons he likes the Green Party
and then did a live rendition of the song. It was a rock show for
those four minutes.
While Element was doing his thing I
noticed this guy in the audience who was wearing the only football
shirt in the venue. Makes sense that Kaepernik would be the left's
favorite football player, measured by fan apparel in the room.
This speaker is a socialist progressive city council member from
Seattle, Washington or some place like that. She spoke about
making a difference for her constituents because she wasn't
already owned by Boeing and the banks. She urged us to make a
difference by getting involved with making change happen. She
explained that voting for Jill Stein is part of that. Then she
brought up her campaign manager. He gave a dry and technical
presentation, the gist of which was that all over the country when
real progressives get the message out on a good campaign we win
elections and it works out well for the people of the district.
YahNe came back out and spoke of
what an inspiration to her Ajamu Baraka is. Then she introduced
him, the Green Party's candidate for Vice President of the United
States.
Ajama Baraka explained that Jill Stein sees her campaign as a
channel for bringing attention to progressive causes. That's why
she went to the Dakota Badlands to "Stand With Standing Rock!" and
did many things with Black Lives Matter and many other causes over
the past few months. He's seen a lot of energy and he is sure
something is happening around us. He asked us to vote for him and
Jill next month.
These were things I picked up at the
event. The guy giving out the white fliers was giving people inch
high stacks and pleading with them to give one to everyone you can
find that would be swayed by it.