I went to a wonderful Bernie Sanders rally in downtown San Antonio this morning

[virtualobserver]

It was a small spur of the moment rally, that was not on berniesanders.com

It was a Latinos for Bernie Sanders/ SA for Sanders rally set up in response to Joaquin Castro's recent comment that among other things, indicated that Bernie had not visited Texas.

I guess we have to blame the "media blackout" as the reason that Rep. Castro was unaware of the large rallies that Bernie had in Houston and Dallas.


Rick Treviño, founder of SA 4 Sanders gave a rousing speech to begin the rally. He should immediately go into politics based on what I saw today.

A woman who works as a nurse in the Rio Grande Valley gave a passionate speech on health care and also on the need to pay teachers a better wage.

Another man also from the Valley gave an excellent speech on education, and made a point about student debt
that is not often discussed. His point that because of the oppressive debt that students are left with after graduation,
following their dream is not an option. A salary capable of paying off that debt has to be the only consideration.

Another speaker talked about the disgusting rhetoric of Republicans (especially Trump) surrounding immigrants.

They were all eloquent and very passionate. They were just citizens and they were truly amazing.

It was a privilege to attend this rally with these wonderful people.

[LWolf]

1. This is good to hear.

I hope Texans are pointing Rep. Castro's error out to him.

[virtualobserver]

4. Some are, but with his brother on Hillary's potential VP list, he is listening to other voices.

[PatrickforO]

2. It would be SO good if TX went blue!

It can if we can get the vote out.

[virtualobserver]

6. It would. Transitioning from people like Ralph Yarborough and Ann Richards

to the current horror show toay with Cruz, Cornyn, Abbott etc. has turned the state into a national embarrassment.

[Unknown Beatle]

20. I've been telling people this for years,

and it usually falls on deaf ears, Texas republicans are stealing elections.

Wendy Davis was and is hugely popular in Texas while Greg Abbott is not, but Abbott won anyway, funny that.

In 1994, Democratic Governor Ann Richards lost her bid for re-election against Republican George W. Bush, ending an era in which Democrats controlled the governorship all but eight of the past 120 years. Republicans have held the governorship ever since. In 1998, Bush won re-election in a landslide victory, with Republicans sweeping to victory in all the statewide races. - Wikipedia

Ann Richards was a hugely popular governor, but the PTB were already grooming bush 2 for president. The Texas elections have been stolen ever since, and with the advent of electronic voting machines, it made it a lot easier to control the outcome of elections.

Throw in some other factors, redistricting, voter id laws, disenfranchisement and there you have it, total control by the GOP.

Texas was a bright blue until state republicans figured how to illegally screw the populace with the vote, and they succeeded beyond their fucked up expectations.

[Skink]

27. Where was this and is it still going on

[ananda]

31. Yeah, those e-slates are very problematic, I think.

..

[jwirr]

32. One of the ways that is used to suppress voters -

a method of checking voter lists to see who is not eligible to vote - was first used in Texas.

It goes through voter lists especially in Democratic strongholds and finds a name of a felon who cannot vote and then proceeds to eliminate all voters with that name. Florida used that method in 2000. Many states are now using it.

[azmom]

3. Si se puede

Juntos con Bernie Sanders!

[virtualobserver]

10. indeed

[Helen Borg]

25. The intense red, makes my eyes bleed a bit :)

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Yesterday some poster named BooScout claimed this was a rally of frothing whites come to insult

the glorious leader of the Latino peoples, Joaquin Castro. The framing was so incredibly different from the facts presented here by an actual participant.

Thank you for attending and for reporting back. I love San Antonio!

[virtualobserver]

7. The rally was about 90% latino.....

It was the best rally that I have ever been to.

Everyone involved was speaking from their heart.

[TBF]

15. I have been a huge fan of his brother Julian -

but that is going to change if these two don't use their brains and figure out which candidate is really for the people.

[jwirr]

35. Yes, I haven't said it before but I had thought of one

of them for VP with Bernie. My reasons: They are from different areas of the country, a Hispanic VP would represent one of the ethnic groups who are being oppressed in this country right now, I happen to like Julian.

[TBF]

39. Julian's amazing & I know he met with Hillary long ago

I believe it was in Dec. 2013 - the photo was on his facebook page. But if these two were really smart they'd realize they could be VP or Presidential candidates on their own. Either the DNC is pressuring one or both of them, or Joaquin is not nearly as smart as I thought he was.

[jwirr]

43. Yes, they should just let it be known that Julian wants

to be the VP. Either candidate would do well to chose him.

[Beartracks]

26. No doubt they all showed up in their Volvos, too!

==================

[SunSeeker]

34. Please provide the link for your callout. TIA. nt

[Left coast liberal]

8. This is what is looks like when people become engaged and get off the couch!

Feeling the Bern!

[Capn Sunshine]

14. Now to translate this engagement to actual votes.

That's the hard part. I'm pretty sure they will figure this out, but so far the Sanders campaign is off to a very slow start. I've complained about this elsewhere. Did you see anyone collecting names or registering voters in the crowd? That would be a very positive sign.

[Ed Suspicious]

16. What on earth makes you think this engagement won't translate to votes? It's weird to think

people will spend their weekend rallying for a candidate, but then they'll just inexplicably decide against voting.

[magical thyme]

17. thank you for your concern.

"the Sanders campaign is off to a very slow start. I've complained about this elsewhere."

You do realize Bernie's campaign had signed up over 100,000 volunteers as of weeks ago, right? But do keep complaining...elsewhere.

[Capn Sunshine]

19. You're welcome

please do not misinterpret this ( this is DU after all) but volunteers , unless they are given specific directives for action, are just more bodies at the party. It's time to get this shit real.

As a former Obama staffer in 2007, I can tell you the point we were at at this stage of the primaries, the Sanders campaign has a million miles to go to get to that same place.

Don't bitch at the messenger, GOYA and go help

[WillyT]

9. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[JDPriestly]

11. Thanks. Joaquin Castro is not paying attention.

Bad sign. DNC sign.

[virtualobserver]

13. He is not....

but he may eventually.

[Babel_17]

33. He's made his bets and it's to his advantage to feign ignorance

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/23510.Upton_Sinclair

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
― Upton Sinclair, I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked

[beam me up scottie]

12. Thanks for posting about the rally!

I saw a few pics on twitter but it's great to hear from a DUer who was there.

[appalachiablue]

18. Wonderful! Very glad to hear about this rally, thanks for the post.

As to Castro's ignorance, Bernie's two major Texas campaign rallies in July were attended by thousands and reported in local news like the Texas Tribune. It's not possible that it was missed.



https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-draws-thousands-to-texas-rallies/

[SoapBox]

21. K & R

Thanks for this information!

Go Bernie! Go Berners!

[Autumn]

22. I am very much liking this Rick Treviño. I hope to hear a lot more from him.

Tec

[virtualobserver]

24. If you had seen him in person this morning, you would have been so impressed.

here is a video of him from a couple weeks ago

[Autumn]

29. Castro should hang his head in shame, This man is what a Latino leader should be.

[virtualobserver]

30. here is a video of a nurse who drove up from the Rio Grande Valley

this is from the rally.....

&feature=youtu.be

[artislife]

44. I shared this on my Seattle for Bernie FB group

We need to connect to the country and support each other as we raise pockets of Sanders support!

[virtualobserver]

45. very cool

That rally improved the state of my heart. Do you know a lot of Bernie supporters where you live?

[artislife]

42. Whoops, at 4:09 he mentioned signing up

There goes the bodies at a party meme.


Latinos know how to do outreach.

[Marty McGraw]

46. .

[moondust]

23. Very cool.

[Duval]

28. Good to know. Thanks!

[sabrina 1]

36. Someone should send Castro a few photos of Bernie's visit to Texas, in July.

?t=1437384900

[jwirr]

37. Is Texas a caucus state? If so we need to find a way

to get people to the caucuses. To let them know when they are being held and where.

During the Labor Day Parade I stopped the marchers to ask if they had a .com address and one of the marchers held back to explain to me how to contact them, welcomed me at any time and said if I got my name on the site that they would be sending out emails to remind us when and where to attend.

I did not go to the free lunch at the Labor Temple so I do not know if they had a table there or not. Hopefully they were getting more people signed up there.

[virtualobserver]

40. Texas is primary and caucus and both parts are important (and fun)

There will have to be a lot of calls and emails.....

[Iwillnevergiveup]

38. It's people like you

reporting up close on Bernie events that keep the FeeltheBern momentum going!
Thanks for posting.

K&R

[riversedge]

41. About 100 Supporters of Bernie Sanders gather for Labor Day rally

Looks like the local news covered the gathering.


http://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/supporters-bernie-sanders-gather-labor-day-rally-15743.shtml#.Ve8XrJeYExI



Supporters of Bernie Sanders gather for Labor Day rally
Updated: Monday, September 7 2015, 08:59 PM CDT




Supporters of Bernie Sanders gather for Labor Day rally story image


SAN ANTONIO- About 100 people gathered at the Federal Building on Cesar Chavez Boulevard Monday in support of Bernie Sanders for President.

The Latinos for Bernie Labor Day Rally was hosted by the group SA for Sanders.