{"id":13138,"date":"2019-10-22T10:45:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T17:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=13138"},"modified":"2019-10-22T10:45:36","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T17:45:36","slug":"im-willing-to-fight-for-someone-i-dont-know-sanders-speech-becomes-viral-rallying-cry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2019\/10\/22\/im-willing-to-fight-for-someone-i-dont-know-sanders-speech-becomes-viral-rallying-cry\/","title":{"rendered":"“I’m Willing to Fight for Someone I Don’t Know”: Sanders Speech Becomes Viral Rallying Cry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 21, 2019 by Common Dreams<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There is an America that most people believe in,” said Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. “It is an ideal. It’s not a reality yet.”<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Eoin Higgins, staff writer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Democratic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks during a Bernie’s Back rally at Queensbridge Park. (Photo: Ron Adar\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket?Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ closing remarks during his event with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Queens on Saturday became a viral rallying cry for supporters of the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful over the weekend as thousands of social media users promised to be “willing to fight for someone I don’t know.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Are you willing to fight for that person who you don’t even know as much as you’re willing to fight for yourself?” Sanders asked<\/a> the crowd of over 26,000 who gathered at Queensbridge Park in Long Island City to hear the senator, Ocasio-Cortez, and others speak. An overflow crowd of an additional 5,000 people were reportedly listening to the event from outside of the park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter users thoughout the weekend tweeted affirmations that they were willing to do just that, a continuation of sorts from the senator’s “Not Me, Us” campaign tagline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The request from the Vermont senator was reminiscent of the message sent at Saturday’s rally from Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, and in an endorsement video<\/a> by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omar emphasized Sanders’ multiracial, diverse coalition of support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Senator Bernie Sanders is the only candidate that has built a movement, and continues to build a movement, that transcends gender, ethnicity, religion,” said Omar. “And we know that in order to take on Trump, we’re going to need a unifier, someone who understands what the fight looks like and someone who is ready to defeat him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future with a Sanders presidency, Omar added, is one where the U.S. could potentially live up to its promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There was an America that I dreamed about,” Omar said. “There is an America that most people believe in. It is an ideal. It’s not a reality yet.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her remarks Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez sounded similar notes<\/a>, telling the Queens crowd that the Sanders movement is about more than simply changing the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our priority is not only defeating Donald Trump,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “It’s defeating the system of which he is a symptom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rally attendee Tasfiya Kashem, 16, told<\/a> Gothamist<\/em> on Saturday that she finds the senator’s message and advocacy to be an ageless message that transcends identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He uplifts working class people, people of color and women, minorities in general,” said Kashem. “I think a lot of people believe that since he’s a white man, it’s important to endorse other candidates like women candidates and candidates of color, but I think he’s still the only candidate who works for those people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/em> opinion editor James Downie wrote<\/a> Sunday that Ocasio-Cortez and Omar’s endorsements are part of a generational shift in progressive politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Whatever happens to Sanders’ 2020 campaign, the movement behind it likely will continue to be a force to be reckoned with,” wrote Downie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Jacobin<\/em>, Kalewold H. Kalewold opined<\/a> that the Sanders campaign’s lasting effect will be the invigoration of a true working class, left movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Something new is taking shape for the American left, a unique opportunity presented by his candidacy to build social democracy in America, rein in the long and destructive arm of American military policy, and unite a durable coalition that can build pro-worker policies for decades to come,” wrote Kalewold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 21, 2019 by Common Dreams “There is an America that most people believe in,” said Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. “It is an ideal. It’s not a reality yet.” by Eoin Higgins, staff writer Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks during a Bernie’s Back rally at Queensbridge Park. (Photo:… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13138"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13139,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13138\/revisions\/13139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}