The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many Sanders supporters not ready to change bandwagons,
Protesters take to streets to support progressive agenda.
PHILADELPHIA — Bernie Sanders loyalists protested inside and outside the Democratic National Convention site and clashed with police Tuesday after Hillary Clinton won the party’s presidential nomination.
Despite Sanders’ calls for them to support Clinton, thousands of activists have taken to the streets during the convention this week to voice support for the liberal Vermont U.S. senator and his progressive agenda.
Moments after Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party, a large group of Sanders delegates and supporters exited the Philadelphia convention hall to hold a sit-in inside a media tent. Some had their mouths taped shut. A few spontaneously sang the chorus of the folk song “This Land is Your Land,” and a banner read “we the people.” They said they were holding a peaceful protest to complain about being shut out by the Democratic Party.
“This was not a convention. This was a four-day Hillary party. And we weren’t welcome,” said Liz Maratea, a New Jersey delegate. “We were treated like lepers.”
In the streets outside, Sanders supporters who had spent the day protesting began facing off with police. Protesters began scaling 8-foot walls blocking off the secure zone around the arena parking lot.
Unmoved by Sanders’ plea for party unity, the protesters chanted “Bernie or bust!”
“We all have this unrealistic dream that democracy is alive in America,” said Debra Dilks, of Boonville, Mo., who wasn’t sure she’ll vote in November. “Hillary didn’t get the nomination. The nomination was stolen.”
The crowd consisted of an assortment of protesters espousing a variety of causes, but mostly Sanders supporters and other Clinton foes on the left. College student Cory James said he expects the Democratic Party to split over the nomination.
“I suspect we are witnessing an event that will fundamentally change American politics,” said James, of Flint, Mich..
Earlier in the day, participants at a rally near City Hall charged that Clinton had cheated Sanders out of the nomination, and they said they weren’t swayed by his Monday plea to his supporters to fall in line behind Clinton for the good of the country.
“He persuaded no one to vote for Hillary,” said Greg Gregg, a 69-year-old retired nurse from Salem, Ore. He said he intends to vote in November for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, quoting the turn-of-the-last-century socialist labor leader Eugene Debs as saying, “I’d rather vote for what I want and lose than what I don’t want and win.”
The bitterness between the Vermont senator’s supporters and Clinton’s seemed to grow worse over the past few days after a trove of hacked emails showed officials at the Democratic National Committee played favorites during the primaries and worked to undermine Sanders’ campaign.
Black Men for Bernie founder Bruce Carter said Monday’s speeches from Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren did not persuade him to support Clinton.
“They really agitate people more every time they stand up and do the Hillary Clinton, hoo-rah hoo-rah,” he said.
Carter, a Dallas resident, said he doesn’t fear a Donald Trump presidency.
“I’ve lived under nine white presidents in my lifetime.” With temperatures climbing again toward the mid-90s, Chris Scully, a 28-year-old an engineer from Troy, N.Y., held a “Jill Before Hill” sign outside City Hall and said he opposes Clinton because of her war record as secretary of state.
As Scully spoke, a passerby called out: “That’s a vote for Trump!”
In a separate protest, this one against police brutality and racial injustice, about 500 people marched down Broad Street to City Hall. Protest leader Erica Mines told the crowd it was an “anti-police rally.”