#IamwithNina Sanders supporters, including Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover protest suppression at DNC
Sanders supporters including Susan Sarandon and Dany Glover rallied to express their frustration after former Ohio Senator Nina Turner, an outspoken advocate for the Vermont senator, was denied the honor of being one of his nominators at the last minute.
Nina Turner’s absence on Tuesday did not go without notice. The one time Ohio senator explained to NBC, “I was supposed to be one of the nominators for Senator Sanders, along with Congresswoman Tusli and at the last minute was told I could not do that.”
“Senator Sanders told me that himself for reasons that I will not comment on,” she added.
Earlier claims that she had had her credentials revoked were later proven false by Nina herself in an NBC interview. That does not mean she feels any better about the last minute bump, however. She said, “I’ve been nothing but gracious, you know, I was a hard fighter for my candidate, you know. So it was pretty hurtful.”
“It was just really unfortunate, especially on a night when African-American women were all on that stage and talking about giving that voice to women. And then Senator Sanders had to give me the bad news.”
While the facts surrounding the snub are still murky, many Sanders supports have not held back from expressing their building frustrations. A protest took place in the media tent along with a press conference involving many Nina Turner supporters.
Deborah Burger, President of National Nurses United, told reporters, “We had a bond with [Nina] and we felt she was a good spokesperson.” She continued on to say, “We would actually like to make sure that the Bernie Sanders supporters are respected and not retaliated against for the support of their candidate.”
Susan Sarandon, a strong Sanders supporter, along with Danny Glover and Rosario Dawson, shut down the press tent in an impromptu press conference. “They can’t silence us forever,” said Sarandon, adding “Yes, they have adopted a progressive platform, but they have taken the voice away.”
She also expressed concern with the Democratic Party in light of the WikiLeaks release that made 21,000 emails from the Democratic Party available to the public. “How can the Democratic party unite after it silenced one of its most beloved surrogates?” She asked rhetorically, “The answer to that is, I don’t know.”
On Tuesday, the actor announced that she was “done with the Democratic Party,” but Jill Stein shouldn’t hold her breath waiting for her endorsement. “I’m waiting for Hillary to convince me; there’s plenty of time to come around on TPP and all the other things like fracking,” she told RT.
Talking to RT, Richard Schiff from the West Wing echoed her statements, saying “I will support a candidate even if I don’t think they have a chance to keep their voice in the race as long as possible.” However, he has no issues with Sanders not cinching the VP nomination, saying that he can do more good in the Senate.
Sanders Delegate Werner Lange had some choice words for the DNC, telling Sputnik it “was not a convention at all. This was a coronation,” while adding that “Bernie delegates were just here as props to give the facade of democracy.”
Good thing they have four more years to work on changing the system!
