Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by The Honorable Bakari Sellers

PHILADELPHIA, July 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- I join you tonight just a kid from Denmark, South Carolina – where we have three stop lights and a blinking light – to stand here at this crossroad in our nation's history as proof that anything is possible.

I join you tonight born out of struggle, a product of the Civil Rights Movement, the son of Gwendolyn Sellers and Cleveland Sellers, who missed the birth of his oldest child, my sister, because he was in prison for fighting for what he believed in. They taught me not only the words of Frederick Douglass, "Without struggle there is no progress," but also the words of our state motto: Dum Spiro Spero – While I breathe, I hope.

I am a product of their struggle, a product of that hope – and I'm not the only one.

The truth is that every single one of us is a product of struggle. Our lives were made possible through struggle and hope.

And now – more than ever – as Democrats we must continue to embrace our history, recognizing that the party of Barack Obama was first the party of Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. That before there was Hillary Clinton, there was Shirley Chisholm. That once we fought just to be seated, but now I stand before you – unbowed, unbroken, and unafraid.

That's what America is – an unlikely story of struggle and hope that joins us together as we dare to march forward – and Hillary Clinton knows that because she's been part of it her entire life.

Throughout her life, Hillary Clinton has stood for the best of who we are. But she can't do it alone. She needs us – all of us – to stand together.

So STAND UP if you believe working families deserve affordable healthcare, good schools, and a living wage.

STAND UP if you're ready to close the loopholes in our gun laws and pass commonsense reforms.

STAND UP if you're ready to keep our communities and our cops safe, and end the structural racism that keeps sending our kids to prison instead of college.

STAND UP for Black Lives Matter.

STAND UP for progress.

STAND UP for justice.

Stand up if you know, like I know, that we're Stronger Together.

Media contact:
[email protected]  
Phone: 215-398-5252

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160420/357779LOGO

SOURCE 2016 Democratic National Convention Committee

Related Links

http://www.demconvention.com