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Gottinger writes: "Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ilhan Omar drew an energetic crowd of over 10,000 people for a very special night Sunday evening in Minneapolis."

Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar at the Bernie Sanders rally at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. (photo: Evan Frost/MPR News)
Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar at the Bernie Sanders rally at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. (photo: Evan Frost/MPR News)

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Over 10,000 Rally With Bernie and Ilhan Omar in Minneapolis

By Paul Gottinger, Reader Supported News

04 November 19

 

enator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ilhan Omar drew an energetic crowd of over 10,000 people for a very special night Sunday evening in Minneapolis. The event was originally planned for a smaller venue, but it was moved to the University of Minnesota’s basketball stadium after thousands expressed interest in attending. At the event, Omar officially gave Sanders her endorsement for president. 

The night included a number of Minnesotan musical guests, including rapper Brother Ali and the late Prince’s band, New Power Generation.

Sanders 2020 campaign co-chair Nina Turner took the stage early and delivered a powerful speech on Bernie’s commitment to justice. Senator Turner reminded the crowd that Bernie Sanders is the most progressive presidential candidate in the Democratic primary field. 

In her speech, Turner quoted the words of former Texas representative Barbara Jordan: “What the people want is very simple. They want an America as good as its promise.”

She continued, “When we have a leader like Bernard Sanders who’s willing to stand up to the special interests and say enough is enough, who’s somebody who didn’t just start this journey because he’s running for president, but is somebody who’s been on this journey for a long time.

“We have in Senator Sanders somebody whose only special interests are people, like the people in this room, right here, right now.”

Turner ended her speech saying, “We have one champion, who has proven himself decade after decade after decade … with the courage, the consistency, the commitment, with the heart and the soul to do right by the people of this nation, and his name is Bernard Sanders.” 

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison – who backed Bernie in the last Democratic primary and was previously the deputy chair of the DNC – followed Nina Turner, saying, “I dream of an America where the President of the United States extols the great virtues of the union movement. I dream of an America where you might just see the president on a picket line.”

Representative Omar came to the stage to thunderous applause. Despite the attempts by the corporate media, Trump, and even members of her own party to make her out to be a monster, she is very popular in her home district.

In her speech, Omar compared the pressure she has faced since taking office to Sanders’s time in Washington, where for decades he has refused to give in to the demands of the corporate wing of the Democratic Party. 

Omar talked about universal human rights, ending family separation, working toward a more humane immigration policy, addressing climate change, and ending trade deals that only benefit corporations.

Regarding Trump’s Muslim ban and his war against immigrant families, she said, “None of us are going back! We’re staying!”

“We can’t achieve any of these goals if we don’t build a movement that is representative of all of our aspirations, all of our pain, and all of our shared trauma. That is why we must build a mass movement of the working class that transcends, age, gender, and background,” she said.

“I am beyond honored and excited for a President who will fight against western imperialism and fight for a just world. I am excited for President Bernie Sanders.”

Bernie Sanders took the stage to yet another round of enormous applause and introduced his wife Jane as the next First Lady. 

Sanders enthralled the crowd with his vision for a more just, more egalitarian, more democratic America. 

“The insurance companies and the drug companies and the healthcare industry made over a hundred billion dollars in profit. Well, they’d better spend that money quickly, because that profiteering is going to end,” he said. 

Sanders belted out his refrain that a diverse coalition of Americans must all come together to build a movement to fight against the wealthy elite and for the interests of working people. 

“They can spend all the money they want on TV ads, and they can buy all the think tanks that they want, lying about what Medicare for All is, but at the end of the day, history is on our side, we will pass Medicare for All.”

“If Congress, against my vote, can bail out the crooks on Wall Street, if Congress could give hundreds of billions in tax breaks and subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, if Congress can vote to spend more money on the military than the next ten nations combined, if Trump and his friends can give over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the one percent and large corporations, then we can cancel all student debt in America. And we can pay for it by imposing a modest tax on Wall Street speculation.” 

Sanders took time to draw attention to the policy work he and Omar have been working on in Congress to create tuition-free college, eliminate all student debt, eliminate hunger in America, and implement a Green New Deal.

He said, “My question now for you, and it’s the fundamental question not just for you, but for the American people, are we as a people willing to fight for each other? Are you willing to fight for your immigrant neighbors even if you are native-born? Are you willing to stand up and fight back against hatred and bigotry even if it’s not directed at you? Are you willing to fight for a future generation of people, who aren’t even born yet, so that they can live on a planet that is healthy and habitable?”

At around nine o’clock, the rally wrapped up and Senator Bernie Sanders left the stage to one final round of roaring applause. 


Paul Gottinger is a staff reporter at RSN whose work focuses on the Middle East and the arms industry. He can be reached on Twitter @paulgottinger or via email.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

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