SPECIAL EDITION: RALLY COVERAGE
On Saturday, November 2nd, some fellow members of Roanoke College’s Young Democrats Club and I attended an event created as a counterrally to former President Donald Trump’s rally in Salem’s Civic Center. The event was organized by our club, the Salem City Democratic Committee, the Roanoke City Democratic Committee, the Roanoke County Democratic Committee, the Montgomery County VA Democrats, the Democratic Committee of Botetourt, and the Roanoke Valley Democratic Women. It was held at the L. H. Hamlar Event Center with a packed house.
An anonymous attendee said “The attendance was very good considering the organizers worked to pull this together at the last minute. We had over a hundred people there with some local news media showing up so I’d say it was a very successful event.”
Speaking on the five speeches given, the attendee said “We made sure to get right to the point and get to the meat and potatoes so to speak, we emphasized the key differences policy-wise between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. One key difference is one respects democracy and the rule of law and one that doesn’t. I used the example of January 6th to show how Trump is willing to do whatever is necessary to win. A lot of the speakers spoke on unity and worked to inspire people to inspire others to phone bank and canvas afterward.”
“In all of the different speeches, the crowd reacted best when a clear point was made on what’s really at stake. Every time that a right or a particular belief was said the crowd got riled up because that’s what they believe in.” “As a democrat I felt like it was my responsibility to promote democratic policies and help uplift other democrats. I really wanted to go to inspire people and feel energetic about this event and really invested in voting themselves, but especially in inspiring others to go out and vote. We started with 100 people at the event and I hope that each of them inspires two others to get 300 or more.”
“I mean there’s a lot of issues that I care about, but I think the biggest one that democrats have failed to emphasize properly is democracy. All of the social policies that Harris promotes are dependent on whether or not we have a democratic government. And my ability to choose a candidate that aligns with my values is dependent on having a democratic system of government. Guaranteeing that we have elections and that our government will not be further politicized is what’s fundamentally most important to me.”
“The issue of abortion is personal to me because I remember hearing about how my grandmother’s sister, in the 1950s, wasraped and she had to get a ‘coat hanger abortion’ so to speak at a local hospital. My grandmother picked her up and as they were leaving the doctor told them they were never there and they could never come back. She almost bled to death in the bathtub because they didn’t properly suture her up so they had to apply a lot of bandages. The way that Republicans approach this really irks me because if you’re forcing women to carry to term, why don’t you pass legislation that rapidly improves the foster care system, provides women with significantly more benefits for medical issues, and requires employers to allow women three months of maternity leave?”
“Donald Trump’s whole platform is looking to pass solutions to current problems when you should be looking to the future, finding new ideas, and bringing in new talent. We’re living in 2024, let’s then move and live in 2025 not 1955.” The anonymous attendee’s final note is “If you don’t like the candidates, instead of just not voting and participating in your constitutionally-given right, why don’t you run for office? As a young person, why don’t you run? Start with local offices and get involved, that’s what I hope I can inspire young people to do.”
Juniper Rogers, Section Editor
