Burlington Town Hall Featuring Bernie Sanders Draws New American Crowd

POSTED BY KYMELYA SARI ON SUN, SEP 16, 2018 AT 8:13 PM

Excerpt:

The gathering at the Old North End Community Center specifically targeted New Americans and was intended to teach them the nuts and bolts of voting; to inspire them to become politically engaged and to give them an opportunity to make their concerns known to Sanders. It attracted a crowd of about 150 people, most of whom were members of the Burmese, Bhutanese, Iraqi, Somali and Sudanese communities.

Staffers from the Burlington School District, Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program and the Association of Africans Living in Vermont were among those in attendance. State Sen. Chris Pearson (P/D-Chittenden) and Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive/Democrat, also mingled at the event. Both politicians are seeking reelection this November.

The event kicked off with an introduction from Sandrine Kibuey, the associate director of Chittenden Community Action at the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity. A former asylee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kibuey shared her own immigration story before urging attendees to go to the polls and hold elected officials accountable.

Quoting civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., City Councilor Ali Dieng (D/P-Ward 7) told the crowd that "silence is betrayal.'' He urged the crowd to step up and run for office. Dieng said he's part of a network of New American leaders who will send candidates to run in future state legislative, mayoral and congressional races. He went on to introduce Sanders as the "most progressive senator of our time" who fights for "the most vulnerable."



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