Yesterday eight Democratic candidates for the Presidency participated in the She The People forum. They were Corey Booker, Julian Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. The main topic of discussion was, “Why should women of color vote for you?” Some did better than others.
Some 2,000 women, almost all of them women of color, gathered here Wednesday for the “She the People” forum, where they pressed Democrats running for president on how they propose to help support their communities.
The gathering aimed to address “the unfinished business of women of color,” Aimee Allison, founder of She the People and organizer of the event, told ThinkProgress.
“The exciting thing is to be able to highlight women of color… as drivers of a progressive future,” Allison said. She said that one of the goals is to ensure that, unlike in past elections, the interests and needs of women voters of color are given full consideration by the candidates running in 2020.
“We certainly weren’t acknowledged or highlighted in 2016, and we’re not allowing that to happen again,” Allison said.
The eight Democratic contenders at the event, held at Texas Southern University, were Sens. Cory Booker (NJ), Amy Klobuchar (MN), Kamala Harris (CA), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Bernie Sanders (VT), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (TX), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI), and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro.
One by one, the candidates fielded questions from Allison, MSNBC host JoyAnn Reid, and members of the audience on voting rights, climate change, sexual violence, education, health care, and other issues. Each candidate’s interview ended with the same question: “Why should women of color vote for you?”….
Inserted from <Think Progress>
Thought two candidates did poorly. I don’t think they even took Tulsi Gabbard seriously. Bernie Sanders jumped into his standard talking points without addressing their questions. He talked about the 1960s. They wanted to discuss now Their irritation was obvious. Five candidates did well enough to be warmly received, Especially Kamala Harris. One, stood out above the rest, Elizabeth Warren. She alone answered their questions with well planned solutions. They knew she was well prepared and liked it.
That’s my take on it. Here it is in it’s entirety, so you can decide for yourselves. But be warned. The video is three hours long.
What say you?
RESIST!!
13 Responses to “She The People”
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I don’t have three hours to watch, but your analysis is very believable, and I expect I would agree.
We would never have been able to achieve what was achieved in 2018 without women of color, which essentially means that we owe our lives to women of color. And we must not forget that, going forward, we will achieve nothing without them. But (with the caveat that of course no group is homogenous, and that’s a good thing) I can’t think of a group I’d rather owe my life to. Trustworthy, intelligent, and effective. I’m very glad they did this.
Very nicely said.
W/out even watching this yet, I certainly agree to what Joanne eloquently wrote. W/watch in bits & pieces….
Thanks, Tom for posting this.
I’m glad to see so many people enthusiastic about kicking tRump’s orange arse out of the Oval Office, but the Democrats need to remember that too many rings around Rosie won’t get Rosie a ring. We need to get behind just a handful of true Progressives, and then just one. Right now Elizabeth Warren and Kamama Harris look good to me, although I am not writing off Bernie Sanders.
There is little doubt in my mind that Sen. Warren is the wonkiest Democrat running – and I mean that in a very positive way.
She does her homework, is always prepared and has put together solid policy positions.
I would LOVE to see her debate Twitler – she’d tear him to shreds. Then again, so did Hillary – three straight times! And yet here we are in a never-ending Constitutional crisis.
*sigh*
interesting views. I was at the Padres baseball game yesterday and missed seeing it or any news regarding it. Appreciate your analysis, TC.
There’s still so much more to continue comings in the future months. I will be looking forward to to it all.
I like the idea of having such group, and their putting on such a discussion! Warren is certainly the wonkiest, as No-Name states. Sorry to hear that Bernie came with a pre-arranged agenda from which he did not roam.
With Biden in the race, as of today, wonder how he would’ve made out. I’m leaning toward a Biden-Beto ticket.
Taking your word for it, TomCat, as I don’t have three hours to spare for the video.
I hope women of colour vote with both their hearts and their heads; with that I mean that they do not necessarily vote for a woman of colour, but for the best candidate. In our household that would be Elizabeth Warren, but that is as seen from afar. We do understand her somewhat scholarly approach may be off-putting for some. However, demographics show that the Democratic voter is well-educated and female, so hopefully Liz will rise in the polls after each of these well-prepared and on-topic talks.
I did listen to the entire discussion and agree with your analysis. Gabbord? Who is that? Bernie I liked but there was a question which had to be asked several times because he went off track. There appeared to be some excitement around Beto and Kamala Harris, but by far, Elizabeth Warren received a tumultuous reception and was very obviously well prepared.
I would love to see a debate between the vermin that inhabits the WH and Elizabeth Warren. He would get the shellacking of a life time but I also know that he would call her Pocahontas and be predatory as he was with Clinton.
Gabbard is from Hawai’i. She has some left wing views (she’s too far left for me on anti-war -I don’t believe in ever getting into one, but if we have done so with allies whom we will leave high and dry if we drop out, I don’t think dropping out is the right thing to do. She does,) and she has some right wing views (she speaks and votes against LGBT rights.) Oddly, she’s a veteran herself, and a current member of the Hawaii National Guard.. In the spirit of not attacking candidates, I will only say that I don’t see her forming a broad democratic coalition.
Thanks all. Hugs. I would not have had three hours to devote entorelt to it, but I listened while doing other things.
That is exactly what I did . . . it’s called multi tasking. Obviously, you were getting in touch with your feminine side! We’re multi taskers by necessity!
So are people who are half-blind and write blogs.