Day 2
I have to apologize. There were many great panels and breakout sessions on day two that I missed after Nina Turner brought down the house. There were many Sanders campaign surrogates at the Summit but none with more knowledge of what Bernie is planning to do next, so I followed Turner and Tulsi Gabbard around the rest of the afternoon. Like I said, Nina Turner brought down the house.
Tulsi Gabbard and Chuy Garcia were also on the panel that was billed as "A People's Agenda."
Cook County Commissioner Chuy Garcia, who is from Chicago and gave Rahm Emanuel a scare in the last mayoral election, opened the panel. He spoke about the gains progressives have made in Chicago and Illinois, but warned at the end that we must do a better job of diversifying the revolution. People of color must be at the table if we are going to build a movement for all of us.
Nina Turner then took the stage and even left the stage during a speech that had some asking her if she was ready to announce her candidacy in 2020. I heard others saying that they wished she was on the Ohio Senate ballot instead of Ted Strickland. At one point, she left the stage to be with the people as she told a personal story about her upbringing and explained why Bernie Sanders resonated with her. The crowd was on its feet giving her high-fives as she passed them, calling for people to be "Doers of the Deed."
I heard a woman standing in front of the press riser tell her friend, "I really needed this. She is reigniting the Bern!"
Election after election I have been disappointed by the Democrats' poll-tested message about fighting for the middle class. Nina correctly pointed out that candidate after candidate refuses to acknowledge the poor or talk about poverty. Turner said that there are 100 million people in this country who either live in or on the brink of poverty, and it's time to fight for them.
She had fighting words for the establishment as well, warning them that, "We don't have time for the okie dokie. We need people elected who actually give a sh*t! We are not going back to business as usual. We don't care what their party affiliation is, whether they be Democrat or Republican. We need to form the party of the RT, the party of the right thing." Turner then held a brochure up in the air and pushed the hashtag #ReformTheParty.
After her rousing speech, she met with reporters. When asked about her feelings on people being angry at the Democratic Party, she called herself a rogue Democrat and vowed to stay in the party and fight to change it.
If you won't watch any of the other videos, watch the next two. I believe Nina will play a huge role in whatever organization Bernie forms beyond the election.
Following her speech Turner took questions from the press:
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard had the hardest task of the weekend. She followed Nina Turner on stage. Tulsi was one of the few speakers to tackle foreign policy. She was a medic in Iraq and is the first American-Samoan to be elected to Congress.
Tulsi called on the Summit to stand up and fight against regime change interventions in general and specifically the intervention in Syria. It was the only anti-war message that I heard on the main stage. It was a message well received by the conference attendees.
What followed on day two were many breakout groups that I missed. One was on the media and you can see it at the end of this video of the whole day...
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