Sanders’ Asian supporters disrupt event at convention

As a speaker was being introduced at an Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Caucus event on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Monday, a handful of people in the audience started shouting:

“If the election is rigged, shouldn’t we stand up?”

“Unite humanity, not the Democratic Party!” “Hillary for prison!” The five chanters were holding a large blue “Asian American Pacific Islanders for Bernie” banner as the AAPI Caucus was holding a briefing to talk about Democratic Party strategy.

Their protest was met with silence, and the speaker continued with the introduction as if nothing had happened, but immediately after the chanting died down, reporters swarmed to the Bernie supporters, paying little attention to the main event.

One of the Bernie supporters, Kenneth Mejia, a 25-year-old Filipino-American Congressional candidate from Los Angeles, said that thousands were in Philadelphia rooting for Sanders.

“We want to be here, making some noise, telling the Democratic Party that we don’t want Hillary,” he said. “There’s 100,000 people out here for Bernie, but there’s not 100,000 people out here for Hillary. Nobody’s rallying for Hillary. We’re out here with the numbers and we want to make a statement.”

Joan Mao, who started the pro-Bernie chanting, said that she had been volunteering for the Sanders campaign since March. She first learned about him after taking a quiz online to see which candidate best fit the issues she cared about most.

“Hillary only cares about rich people. That’s all she cares about,” she said.

Mao said that if Sanders is not on the ballot, she will be placing her vote for Jill Stein, presumptive nominee for the Green Party.

“This election is about humanity. It’s not about unifying parties, because both parties are corrupt. They both take the same money from the same corporations,” she said.

“It’s about us being human beings taking care of others, making sure other people’s kids don’t get sick from drinking water that’s fracked or water that’s used to water our produce in California,” Mao said.

Mao said the emails leaked over the weekend about the Democratic National Committee undermining Sanders and favoring Hillary Clinton were the reason she and other Sanders supporters were at the convention.

“We knew the election was rigged,” she said. “Everybody thought we were conspiracy theorists, and lo and behold, WikiLeaks proved that we are not conspiracy theorists. It was rigged.”

“The Democratic Party preaches about the way the Republican Party is going to take away our civil voting rights, how they’re going to destroy the Constitution, but look at the primaries. We see the Clinton campaign colluding with the DNC, with the media to rig this election,” said Mao, who said she is from Los Angeles and “not a millennial”, when asked her age.

AMY HE / CHINA DAILY Asian-American supporters of Bernie Sanders at an AAPI Democratic leaders event t the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The supporters started chanting pro-Bernie slogans in between speaker comments.