At a "Fight Oligarchy" town hall in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, Democratic nominee for NYC Mayor spoke about how he has been influenced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
00:29What an honor it is to be here with you today.
00:33Can we hear a round of applause for Luis?
00:45And a round of applause for incredible elected officials that we have here from the city,
00:50the state, the federal level who are here with us tonight.
00:58And for Brooklyn College?
01:07And when I sit next to Senator Sanders, I always have to ask, is labor in the house?
01:16Is PSC CUNY in the house?
01:26I cannot begin my remarks this evening without first acknowledging PSC CUNY and the incredible members that we have here.
01:35And the fact that no faculty member should be disciplined for supporting Palestinian human rights.
01:48And I want to thank PSC CUNY for standing alongside their rank and file.
02:07And it is an honor to be here alongside Senator Sanders.
02:16Senator Bernie Sanders.
02:23And it is an honor to be here alongside Senator Sanders.
02:29Senator Bernie Sanders.
02:31And I just want to share what Bernie has meant to me.
02:46It was Bernie's campaign for the presidency in 2016 that gave me the language of democratic socialism to describe my politics.
03:04And it was Bernie's campaign on October 19th, 2019.
03:13That was the first political event of my campaign for state assembly.
03:19Now, that was unbeknownst to Bernie and his team.
03:23We were canvassing the line to get into his rally.
03:26We were asking for $1, $5, $10, emails, whatever we could.
03:33And we did that and we walked inside to this rally.
03:37And I remember the electrifying feeling we felt of a campaign reborn and a movement reborn alongside every single borough of this city.
03:49And when Bernie walked out to Back in Black by ACDC, those who were there remember, we felt as if possibility was a fact of life.
04:02And his campaign continued to inspire so many of us.
04:07And as I ran for state assembly for the many months beyond that, we continued to look to him and his campaign and his vision as the compass for the work that we wanted to do in electoral politics.
04:21And we knew that while everyday New Yorkers did not care very much for a New York State assembly race, that if we just had a watch party for a Bernie debate, we could finally get them.
04:38We could just get them if we said it was about Bernie.
04:42And I share this because I know that for so many here, it is a similar story.
04:51It is a similar story of seeing yourself in a movement, in a campaign, in a politics that you were told for so long was impossible to find.
Be the first to comment