BERNIE BACKERS HEAR SANDERS IN NAPERVILLE
1 Sen. Bernie Sanders knows his supporters are disappointed with the results of the election, but Friday night he encouraged more than 3,000 of them in Naperville to stay hopeful and move forward.
“I ask all of you, in whatever capacity you’re comfortable with, get involved,” he said during a stop on his book tour at North Central College. “There are people in this room who can, who should be thinking about running for the school board, for city council, for state legislator.”
“Democracy is not a spectator sport,” he said. “Don’t look around and say, ‘ Why isn’t he doing it, why isn’t she doing it?’ Get involved yourself.”
The event was held by Anderson’s Bookshops to promote Sanders’ new book, “Our Revolution.”
“You could sense the feeling in the room that this is a man who inspires them and wants to get them engaged in whatever world they’re in,” said bookshop owner Becky Anderson. “Looking out at this audience, there were so many young people here, and that’s the future.”
North Central College spokeswoman Melissa Ramirez Cooper said an es- timated 400 North Central students were able to attend the sold- out public event.
“As an academic institution, we welcome freedom of speech, we welcome civic discourse, and this is just another opportunity for us to exercise that,” she said.
Nicole Harmon, a high school senior from Downers Grove, came to the event hoping she would get one of the several hundred random copies of the book signed by Sanders.
Harmon’s eyes widened when she flipped a few pages in and saw his signature printed neatly in blue. She jumped with joy and gave her friend a high- five.
“I was actually looking for it as a sign to go into political science myself,” she said with a smile. “Now I know what I’m going to major in!”
— Jessica Cilella