There is something about really big buildings, like standing beneath the Montana sky, that awes me a bit and makes me feel small. The Convention hall was massively big, with huge ceilings and people, people, and more people and paraphernalia. I didn’t even make it into the hall before I’d been papered with stickers. End the war now, Support the Young Democrats, etc. Each issue, committee, and or politician had a table and several volunteers to proselytize. It was very overwhelming. It took me a minute to find the people from my district, but then I saw my Precinct Officer. We all sat together. The convention was structured much like every other part of the caucus I’ve been to this far, only on a much bigger scale. We sat by district facing a huge stage with a red, white, and blue back drop. There were four microphones set up behind the first seating section just as two had been in the gym at the last meeting, but this was no gym and there were so many people and so many signs and cameras and so much energy all focused in one direction.
Some Spokane naval officers presented the flag, during which time we all stood. Then Julia Keefe in her perfectly pure alto sang the star spangled banner…and I caught myself feeling very patriotic. I didn’t say the pledge, but I held my hand over my heart and I thought about it. I thought about what it would be like to say the pledge and mean it, to feel that way about my country. And I wanted to for the first time in a long time.
It reminded me of what my Dad said about going to the Episcopal Church for the first time. He grew up in the segregated south, so when he went to that church, it was the first time he’d even been allowed to sit in the same place with white people and drink from the same cup. He said he knew that what they were doing was illegal and that everything he’d been taught told him he was wrong to be there, but he wanted to be a part of it. And that’s kind of how I felt. Who could believe that so many white people would actually support a black man for president?
It was one thing to see it on TV when Barack Obama won Iowa, but entirely another to be in a astro-dome sized space, surrounded by people, the majority of them old and white, who were practically feverish in their delight to support Barack Obama. I felt like I was witnessing history happening in real time, because people are going to look back at this election and say it marked a new era in America. A shift in consciousness is occurring. Now, recognizing this shift doesn’t mean that I think our work here is done...on the contrary, I feel like now we might finally be at the beginning of something. I felt a connection to other Americans that I haven’t felt or wanted to feel in a long time.
It was a friendly gathering. Every single black person I passed stopped to say hello. Many of them wanted to know where I was from and what I was about. We chatted and exchanged cards. Anyone else wearing Barack paraphernalia would look down and see my delegate credentials and smile or say hello. Though I came as an alternate, I was officially seated as a delegate. This was, of course, a process. After the formalities, we did a quick credentials report that revealed over 1000 delegates were present and seated and that all the alternates present would be seated as there were many absent delegates.
This kind of pissed me off. Looking back at that long day we spent in the gym of some high school in North Seattle, there were about 220 women alone, not to mention 240 something men who gave 30 second speeches asking to be delegates. Of those only 41 (20 women and 21 men) were chosen to be delegates and there were 10 alternates. I was alternate # 3 and I went to everything. Those people who were chosen to be delegates broke their commitment to the process...but I couldn’t be too pissed, cause after all, I did get seated, which meant I got to vote. I do love voting. But first there were speeches. We heard from Chris Gregoire who has really impressed me with her accomplishments as Governor in terms of finance and in terms of providing health care for children. We also heard from Brad Owen, the Lt Governor who ran the meeting, George Fearing, Jim McIntire,Chris Marr, Kristine Reeves, and several others.
Our keynote speaker was supposed to be John Kerry, but he had to attend the funeral of yet another soldier who had been killed in Iraq, so we had Jr. Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota. She had that Midwestern charm and accent. I liked her honesty. It make me think about what it would be like to be in politics. Lots of meetings I suppose. I used to think it would be great, but bureaucracy frustrates me and for the life of me I’ll never understand how, if the Democrats have been having these conventions for years and years, it could possibly be so poorly organized.
The speeches were good, though kind of repetitive. The main theme was UNITY. We must unite behind Barack Obama. We must come together as democrats to create the space for change. There was barely any mention of Hillary except for late in the afternoon when a Hillary delegate got on the mic and as a point of personal privilege gave a diatribe on how he didn't like the way Clinton was being characterized in the convention. At this point we were all kind of looking at each other in confusion because no one had really said anything about her, and what had been said was complimentary. Then he went on to say that Hillary could still be the nominee and he was going to support her to the very end. Live in denial much?
After that, we elected electors (I ran, but didn't win) and then we worked on ratifying the platform and selecting people to nominate for all the big offices. This process took a very, very long time. I was astounded that at this level we would have the same confusion and disorganization. We have to do better in the future. That's all there is to it. There has to be a better way of doing things. I appreciate that everyone is given a voice. I appreciate that anyone can make suggestions or motions, but there has to be a system that allows us to actually accomplish things in a timely manner. We were there forever and didn't even get to the matter of selecting the at large delegates.
After the meeting was adjourned, there was an additional meeting of the Black Democratic Caucus, an organization I didn't know existed until 5 minutes before the end of the meeting. This was actually really interesting. We met in a small room off of the registration area. There was no microphone and we were all standing or seated around a table where several elders had gathered. I looked around and was kind of surprised. Despite the powerful presence of the Young Democrats at the convention (they were there to pass a resolution allowing them a greater voice...which we never got to given the disorganization), not to mention the fact that Barack Obama's campaign has been very successful in reaching new voters and youth of all races, as I was looking around the room, I could count on my hands the number of under 30 black folk. Mostly the room was filled with older black people, many of whom were sporting "Grandmama for Obama shirts". They were in wheel chairs or on canes. It was actually very cool to be in the presence of veteran democrats. They gave us all an interesting perspective on the process and a breadth of history.
Perhaps most impressive was the appearance of Rosa Franklin, first and only black woman senator in the state of Washington. You had to strain to hear her with no microphone, but it was worth the effort. She is amazing! And I felt honored to hear her talk about what it has been like to be an active democrat for this long. She talked about wanting more youth involvement and more unity among black democrats. She pointed out that of all the speakers we saw and all the candidates running, none were black. She also pointed out that there is not a single black person on the platform committee. I have to admit it, I got inspired. I felt compelled to act, so I signed my name to the email list. Hopefully they will follow through and contact me, but I refrained from volunteering for the planning committee because I already feel over extended, but I do want to be more active, especially with amazing people willing and ready to mentor me. Maybe I will volunteer to be on the platform committee next time.
1 comment:
Great report. I was there for a short time but had to leave. Sounds like I missed quite a bit.
Thanks
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