Democratic National Convention: Day 2
A popular topic this year is the election for the next President of the United States. This year's election seems to be the most intense and most important election year to date. This year I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to cover the DNC through Motivos Magazine.
I am not here to display my personal views on the election but rather share my experience about my first day and how YOU can become aware and educated to make an informed decision on who you want as President.
[pictured above Kendrick Sampson at Youth Council Meeting]
Today was a VERY busy day! This morning I started off at a media briefing near Penn's Landing with Steve "Buzz" Thomma. This briefing included special guests like Congressman Xavier Becerra, a representative of California's 34th congressional district. He spoke to an intimate crowd of people. He introduced himself and gave his thoughts on this election.
After the briefing, I headed over to the Convention center in downtown Philadelphia to attend an NDN (News Democrat Network) event. At this event, I got to hear Ben Ray Lujan speak. He spoke about taking back the majority and how we need to get people engaged in voting to turn this election around. I also heard Scott Goodstein talk about the power of social media and the impact it has on political campaigning.
The NDN event was very long with a compilation of various speakers but I unfortuantely had to leave to go get my State ID. And you're probably thinking, what? But yes, I did in fact, get my State ID during the convention, I was told that I would need this to enter the Wells Fargo Center. It took two hours of my life and a lot of patience. I actually didn't end up needing it to enter the center, *sigh* but nonetheless I need my State ID anyway so it wasn't a complete waste of time.
After the DMV, I headed back to the convention center and attended a Youth Council meeting. There was a panel in which topics like policy and having a political voice. At this meeting, a special guest Kendrick Sampson, an esteemed actor, graced the stage. He spoke about being a Bernie surrogate and about he toured New York and California talking to college students about Bernie.
[pictured on right Samila Amany a Bernie delegate from California]
Later that day I got to go to the Wells Fargo Center. I was fortunate enough to have a Hall pass, which gets you into the arena. Being in the Wells Fargo Center is such a unique experience. With so many people of interest at this security was heightened to an all-time high. There was secret service, local police, state police and heavily armed police.
I got to the convention center just in time for roll call. All the states varied in their support in Senator Sanders and Secretary Hillary. As we know Secretary Hillary Clinton is now the nominee for president of the United States.
With Motivos Magazine we were only given four credentials, so two hall and two perimeter. Two of us went into the hall and the other went into a media tent that was outside. Three quarters through roll cal we decided we should check up. We go outside into the media tent right when a protest is going on. Just to clear up it took us a while to find the media tent.
Apparently, after Hillary was nominated Bernie Delegates marched out of the arena. Some got organized and broke into the media tent. When I arrived there were a slew of people sat on the floor with banners negatively portraying messages about Hillary Clinton. The general consensus was that the ideology of Bernie Sanders is what we should be striving for. Also many protesters wanted to voice their opinions about the DNC stealing the election. This definitely was the highlight of the night.
All in all day 2 was a success! If you want to be more informed about the upcoming election and if you're a democrat I encourage you to check out these websites.
Two down, one more to go!
(I took a day off to organize all the information I've gotten
and to try to cohesively write a good article)
Live ~Laugh~Love
