By Chinta Strausberg, Chicago Crusader
Vowing to win this election, interim Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile is urging all Americans to embrace the candidacy of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She said supporters of Bernie Sanders should back the party’s platform Sanders helped craft.
Speaking of past politics, Brazile said, “We didn’t see many women in politics or in leadership capacities, but because Rev. Jackson took a risk allowing us to lead doing genuine work not just frivolous work, we were put in charge of the field operations.
“My first assignment with Rev. Jackson was to manage the entire southern region.” Brazile said she learned at an early age how to strategize, organize and build coalitions, which enabled her to grow and to be “one of the top organizers for the party which led me to become the campaign manager for Al Gore.”
Brazile, who for the second time holds the title interim chairman of the party after DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned due to a leaked e-mail scandal, credits her political astuteness “to that spirit of never surrendering…going out there each and every day, believing in the movement, believing in the cause of justice.”
During the convention, Brazile apologized for those e-mails both to the Black and Hispanic Caucus. However, moving forward with a little over 100-days to go before the November 8th election, a confident Brazile said, “I have to hit the ground running and I will do so…. We’re going to win this thing….”
Asked by this reporter how she plans to win over the Bernie Sanders diehards many of whom have vowed not to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Brazile said, “I will open the door for everybody to participate including those who supported Senator Sanders.
“We need the participation of every American especially those who worked so hard as Senator Sanders’ supporters did. I hope they know the platform. They may not support the campaign, but they should support the platform because it is Senator Sanders platform,” Brazile said.
At a breakfast held at the Hilton Hotel, Jackson, Senator Vincent J. Hughes (D-Philadelphia), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Dr. Michael Dyson, NAACP national president/CEO Cornell William Brooks, and others echoed the same message—voter turnout is the key to defeating Trump.
Brooks said, “This election is not merely about any history with respect to race or agenda…or the triumph of party or politics. This election is about protecting our children. It is about protecting and preserving a legacy…it is about preserving the freedoms of our country…. It is about the heart and soul of the civil rights movement….”
Jackson, who said he cannot help unite the party alone, and Hughes spent two-days in Philadelphia warning voters that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump can win if they don’t register to vote and come out in huge numbers come Tuesday, November 8, 2016.
With a little more than 100 days to go before the Nov. 8th election, Jackson said, “In Philadelphia today, there are 400,000 with criminal records…most of them will not vote…500,000 functional illiterates in Philadelphia today and most of them will not vote. They are ours. In Louisiana, there are 700,000 Blacks unregistered.
They are Democrats. We registered them. They are ours.
“There are 1.2 million Blacks eligible in South Carolina, 900,000 registered. In the last election, the governor won by 40,000 votes. That’s our crowd. The South is ours if we fight back,” said Jackson.
When Jackson arrived in Philadelphia Saturday, it was as though he was once again a presidential candidate taking his GOTV message to every stop and with a very serious message—stay home and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump could win.
His first stop was Saturday, where he attended a reception in the 1199C Union Building hosted by Senator Hughes. Jackson answered a number of questions from the audience including fears of apathy among Black voters, the lack of a social/economic agenda and taking the Black vote for granted.
Jackson also spoke at the Anon Tabernacle Baptist Church headed by Rev. Alyn E. Waller, where he again warned African Americans to vote in a united bloc or risk the consequences of a Donald Trump victory. Jackson ticked off several southern states where he says hundreds of thousands of Blacks are not registered—“enough to win this election.
If we fight back, we win,” he said. “We only have 100 days to get well…to close ranks” for a victory.
