After Cancellation, Sanders Vows to Hold WV Town Hall 'In The Streets'
Published on
Monday, February 13, 2017
by
Common Dreams <http://www.commondreams.org/>
After Cancellation, Sanders Vows to Hold WV Town Hall 'In The Streets'
As the former presidential candidate continues to draw thousands in red
states, officials pulled the plug on Monday speech in impoverished McDowell
County, West Virginia
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
<http://www.commondreams.org/author/lauren-mccauley-staff-writer>
Description: Se. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to a sold out audience in
Charleston, West Virginia on Sunday night. (Photo: F. Brian
Ferguson/Gazette-Mail)
Se. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to a sold out audience in Charleston, West
Virginia on Sunday night. (Photo: F. Brian Ferguson/Gazette-Mail)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he will not be "intimidated" from speaking
in West Virginia's McDowell County, "one of the poorest areas in one of our
poorest states," after officials pulled the plug on a Monday town hall
event.
"If anyone in West Virginia government thinks that I will be intimidated
from going to McDowell County, West Virginia, to hold a town meeting, they
are dead wrong," declared Sanders in a Facebook post
<https://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders/photos/a.91485152907.84764.91241879
07/10155632616817908/?type=3&theater> on Sunday after the state's National
Guard announced the meeting, which was slated to be aired on MSNBC's "All In
with Chris Hayes," would not be able to take place at the Welch National
Guard Armory two days before it was scheduled to occur.
"If they don't allow us to use the local armory, we'll find another
building. If we can't find another building, we'll hold the meeting out in
the streets," vowed the Vermont independent. "That town meeting will be
held. Poverty in America will be discussed. Solutions will be found."
Hundreds of people had already signed up to attend the event, Sanders said
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/12/bernie-sanders-
cries-foul-over-canceled-town-hall-meeting-in-west-virginia/?utm_term=.d8b7c
05b74d4> .
On a speaking tour to promote his new book and highlight some of the most
economically distressed areas of the country, the progressive champion and
former presidential candidate continues to draw massive crowds in some of
the most conservative corners.
An upcoming speech in Topeka, Kansas on Feb. 25th had to be moved
<http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article132303819.html> to a
larger venue after more than 1,500 tickets were sold in one week.
In the West Virginia state capital of Charleston, where U.S. President
Donald Trump won
<http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/west-virginia> 57 percent of
the vote, Sanders addressed a crowd of over 2,000 people on Sunday evening.
According to
<http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-politics/20170212/bernie-sanders-to-charl
eston-crowd-stand-up-and-fight> the Charleston Gazette-Mail, "Sanders
challenged the people of West Virginia to resist any efforts by President
Donald Trump to become an authoritarian and undermine the country's court
system."
"What he is doing is what demagogues have always done, and that is to pick
on minorities and try to divide this country up," Sanders said. "What a real
statesman attempts to do-what good government is about-is bringing people
together to improve life for all."
Sanders also reiterated
<http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/01/10/sanders-launches-ourfirststand-
protect-healthcare-trump-future> his vow
<http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/12/07/hands-medicare-sanders-other-la
wmakers-call-out-trumps-promises> to hold Trump accountable for his
campaign pledges not to slash Social Security or government healthcare
programs and said he would continue to draw attention to the plight of
poverty in the United States.
In McDowell County, where more than half the population lives beneath the
poverty line, residents have the lowest life expectancy in the nation and
drug addiction is at an epidemic rate. During his Sunday speech, Sanders
said he was "enormously impressed by the dignity and courage of the people
there who stood up and talked about the issues and talked about a new
future" when he visited during his presidential primary campaign
<http://www.inquisitr.com/3070281/bernie-sanders-talks-poverty-in-mcdowell-c
ounty-west-virginia/> .
During the presidential election, Trump won 74.1 percent in McDowell County,
six months after Sanders won the Democratic primary
<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/west-virginia-democratic-primary-2016
-222974> there with 55.2 percent of the vote.
Both Trump's faux-populism and Sanders plan for a dramatic economic
overhaul, which included infrastructure investments, healthcare-for-all, and
free college tuition, resonated with residents of the impoverished and
largely forgotten community.
"If you think we are not going back to McDowell County, you are very
mistaken," Sanders again promised Sunday evening.
According to a statement provided to the Gazette-Mail from the state's
Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, the approval for Monday's
event was revoked by officials on Friday after "it became apparent that it
would run afoul of [Department of Defense] and State Armory Board policy"
which forbids "the use of military facilities for political and election
events and specifically includes town hall meetings as an example of such
activities."
That decision prompted protesters to descend on the governor's mansion on
Sunday afternoon. According to the Gazette-Mail, "the group of approximately
25 people chanted and held signs more than an hour."
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