Subject: Philly Enquirer: #BernieorBust Democrats plan DNC protests
From: "Walker, Eric" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 May 2016 15:19:56 -0700

#BernieorBust Democrats plan DNC protests<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/dnc/20160519__NeverHillary_Democrats_plan_DNC_protests.html>
Updated: MAY 18, 2016 - 5:24 PM EDT

by Julia Terruso and Thomas Fitzgerald, STAFF WRITERS

Concern spread in party circles Wednesday that the protracted and increasingly tense primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders could lead to unrest at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this July.

The impetus was a chair-throwing outburst at Saturday's Nevada state convention by enraged Sanders backers who thought their man had been cheated - followed by obscene messages and death threats directed at the state chairwoman.

More than two dozen Sanders supporters gathered Wednesday in front of the LOVE statue in Dilworth Park to discuss their plans to protest - peacefully - at the DNC. The convention's CEO, meanwhile, said she expects tensions will ease before the summer.

"Bernie supporters - they're peace-lovin' hippies, and we want to keep that energy going," said Bill Taylor, 30, of Northeast Philadelphia during Wednesday's rally. "We're being broken down and belittled by a corrupt system. This is not what we're trying to put out. Bernie Bros, anybody trying to create violence during July, we don't want you. We are here to say there is no better place to show your Bernie love than in the City of Brotherly Love."

Tayor is part of several groups planning gatherings in the days leading up to and running through the convention, which is scheduled for July 25-28.

Five Bernie Sanders groups have applied for city protest permits, out of nine requests for sanctioned protests. All of the requests are pending, said Lauren Hitt, spokeswoman for the mayor's office.

Leah Daughtry, CEO of the convention, said she expected tensions would ease before the summer and called on the campaigns to work toward that end.

"I'm hopeful that after California and that day of delegate-rich states, things will begin to settle down and discussions will begin about how we pull together, because we all want the same thing, which is to win in November, and to not see Donald Trump as president," Daughtry said Wednesday during a meeting with the editorial boards of the Inquirer and Daily News.

California, New Jersey and three other states are scheduled to hold primaries June 7. Sanders has vowed to keep fighting until the last vote is cast - though it is all but impossible for him to overcome Clinton's lead in delegates.

Daughtry said that the convention's extra-tight security would prevent disturbances at the Wells Fargo Arena venue. Protest sites will be established within the view of delegates, she said.

A "D.C. to DNC" group plans to march from the nation's capital to Philadelphia, arriving on July 24. Karen Chamberlain, a group organizer, said Wednesday that her hope was to have everyone gather at the Liberty Bell to form a human peace sign and hold a "Let Freedom Ring" march toward the Wells Fargo Center.

"We want maybe a million bells ringing as we approach the DNC to wake up the nation to the corruption that is going on in our country," Chamberlain said, "to hear how our voices are not being heard and maybe someone will wake up and finally hear that."

She said the hope is to camp out near the Wells Fargo Center for the full four days of the convention.

Bruce Carter, of Dallas, Texas, who organizes for the Black Men for Bernie group, wore a "#BernieorBust #Never Hillary" pin. He explained why he's not afraid of splitting the party and opening a path for Donald Trump to win in November.

"At the end of the day, I'm not so concerned with defeating Donald Trump. Here's the way I look at it - if she has the candidacy, it's like me walking out my door knowing that there's a firing squad that's going to shoot me down. If there's a Trump candidacy, I don't know what's going happen, and I'd rather jump out the back window, maybe break a leg or two, then live, than know I'm going to walk out the door, and it's over with."

Carter doesn't like the criticism that has surrounded the Nevada caucus.

"At some point, if you don't acknowledge what caused the action, you only add fuel to the fire. I would say let's deal with some of the things people have issues with versus saying we can't have this kind of behavior."

Yahne Ndgo, 44, of Germantown, has become a spokeswoman for the Bernie or Bust campaign, frequently appearing on CNN. She said the goal was to get the message out now before the DNC.

"Bernie or Bust is a way of letting people know in advance, don't in November and December be sitting around saying, 'Oh, my goodness if I had known, we may have done things differently,' " Ndgo said. "because we're telling you right now we will not vote for Hillary Clinton."

Ndgo also is launching a Go Green 6-19 campaign to get people to change their voter registration to the Green Party, in hopes Sanders will run independently, or if he doesn't, to direct people to Green party candidate Jill Stein.

Tina Davis, 59, of Chester Heights, said she watched the news about Las Vegas devastated. "I cried. I sat there in bed and cried watching democracy take such a serious blow from the very people that are supposed to be standing up for it."

"I say we let the chips fall where they may. If the DNC wants to kill itself, that's their choice," said Davis, who added she would rather "chew my arm off," than vote for Clinton.

"I might vote Green, might write Bernie in. I'll see what my tribe is doing," Davis said. "Trump thinks he's being elected king. He doesn't understand he still has to deal with the Senate, House of Representatives and everybody else, and for all his bravado, he can't get around that any more than any other president has. We've survived worse than four years of a bad president; we went through eight years of Bush."

One of the few people to say he'd cast a vote for Clinton at Wednesday's rally was Kyle Bayne, 25, of North Philadelphia. He got involved in the Black Men for Bernie group through his uncle's Facebook page.

"I'm always going to be on the Democratic side," he said. I'm rolling with the punches now, but I would vote for Hillary."

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/dnc/20160519__NeverHillary_Democrats_plan_DNC_protests.html#RB1120UOD6PAxy0I.99

Eric Walker
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732-991-1489
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