Aaron Bowersock
– Artist’s Website –
Thursday morning, the final day of the Democratic National Convention, I woke up believing the day would be uneventful… because I really don’t know anything, you guys.
I got a late start because, well, every night at the DNC in Philadelphia lasted until about 3am. The friends I stayed with at an Air B&B were long gone, on their way to a wedding in California, (put a pin in that state, we’re coming back to it), and I was busy writing up the previous day’s recap.
A vigilant twitter friend notified me to an event called, “One Nation Now: Winning the Fight Against Racism and Greed,” featuring Nina Turner, Rosario Dawson, Shailene Woodley, and more. Y’know, Bernie’s heavy hitters.
I headed to city-center to drop my stuff off at my new place for the night- a good friend’s cousin was gracious enough to let me stay for my final night of my Philadelphia trip. With my backpack with built-in charger (and two extra battery packs, camera, and selfie stick) I was ready to head to the Pennsylvania Convention Center to stream the event. It was about a 12 minute walk- so pretty easy. Plus- I got to see some amazing architecture!
I found the correct entrance, but was immediately denied because of my backpack. Bummer.
Thanks to my good friend, @i_am_thechange, I got to watch the livestream, anyway, from a Starbucks down the block.
I waited. I waited. I waited for my friends to come downstairs. I went to the bathroom and then I waited. When the session finally let out, we decided to get some pho.
The six of us sat in this restaurant, making uninspired small talk about the ingredients in Vietnamese meat loaf, when Rachel, aka RaRa got a notification that her friend inside the Convention was livestreaming on Facebook.
Eden McFadden was a Bernie delegate from California and was reporting on our hard-earned delegates being denied their seats within the convention. Hillary Clinton’s campaign had hired seat fillers to ensure the audience, when shown to home viewers, always looked excited! But Thursday they had something different in mind.
Eden reported that these seat fillers had now reserved seats a full two hours before the delegates were instructed to arrive, and if a seat filler claims a seat, a delegate no longer had the right to it.
We knew we had to act right then, using whatever platform and voice we had. Six of us in a pho restaurant desperately trying to get the truth out, amidst a fascist media stranglehold.
Stay Tuned……………………………