Intersections: Calls for change in the midst of change
Last week, after standing in line for a while, I crowded into the Alex Theatre with hundreds of other people for a chance to see Sen. Bernie Sanders in person.
Originally meant to be held at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, the event organized by Vroman’s bookstore was moved to the Alex Theatre as more tickets and comedian Sarah Silverman were added.
Sanders was there to discuss his book “Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In,” and many Southern Californians —some of whom had probably stepped foot in Glendale for the first time —could not resist the chance to see the man who might have become president at a time when another man many thought would not actually did.
But Sanders was more than a presidential candidate. He represented a movement, which would to steer the country from what it had become to the values that many had forgotten.
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His campaign was seen as “fringe” by the media, but what he inspired gave many hope across the country in ways that no one would have imagined. He won 22 states and attracted millions to his meetings.
I realize these are the exact same sentiments which managed to get Donald Trump elected. But unlike Trump, whose main interest is really himself, Sanders wasn’t just for the people. He was the people. He spoke about human-rights issues, minorities, empowering tribal nations. He said healthcare was a right, not a privilege, and that every single person in the country should be able to access healthcare regardless of income.
He wanted to make college tuition not just debt free, but free overall. His stance on issues ranging from immigration and housing to corruption and racial justice resonated with many.
And for the crowd at the Alex Theatre, it was an opportunity to see what could have been. Sanders was joined by Silverman, who received a few hearty boos from the crowd after calling “Bernie or Bust” supporters “ridiculous” during the Democratic National Convention because they were not yet backing Hillary Clinton. Someone even shouted, “You’re ridiculous,” back to her.
He spoke about the very specific pain the country was in, a pain that Trump managed to tap into, which ultimately ended up getting him elected.
“What he touched on in many, many parts of this country is a pain and a level of despair that you never, ever see on television,” Sanders said.
He reiterated that in spite of the current outcome, most Americans supported issues such as clean air and water and equal pay for women, among many of the other platforms on which he ran. He criticized the Democratic party for failing to connect with people, too.
He made a strong case for the active engagement of millions in the country, saying that voting every two or four years is just not enough. And this was the crux of the evening — that people need to be more active now than ever, they need to stay informed now more than ever, that there was no room for error when it came to staying “woke” as many people younger than me say these days.
I sat in the balcony, trying to read the faces of the people around me as he talked. There were some signs of despair in the crowd, and clearly Silverman was feeling the same given the way she humorously framed her questions. But I don’t think it would be a far stretch to say that people went home to create a plan for being more involved in their communities than ever before.
Mostly, the night instilled hope — if temporary — that people do have the power to make something out of nothing, that movements can make a difference and that destinies can change, if they’re allowed to.
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LIANA AGHAJANIAN is a Los Angeles-based journalist whose work has appeared in L.A. Weekly, Paste magazine, New America Media, Eurasianet and The Atlantic. She may be reached at liana.agh@gmail.com.