Bernie Sanders supporters caution Hillary Clinton to push for change in party
Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton made history as the first woman selected to lead a major U.S. political party at the Democratic National Convention.
But she and the Democrats have had a wild ride for the past few days. The release of thousands of hacked e-mails, exposing the Democratic National Committee's hostility towards Bernie Sanders, raised the temperature on an already boiling relationship between Clinton and Sanders supporters.
Heavy-hitters, including President Barack Obama, spoke at the convention to try to convince Sanders's die-hard fans to support Clinton. But did it work?
To Bernie Sanders supporter Zareena Grewal, Hillary Clinton's speech last night "took the high road" and was "gracious."
Grewal is a Yale professor of American Studies and Religious Studies and tells The Current's Laura Lynch that she felt Clinton sounded "far more progressive" than expected.
"What concerns me is that people are taking the Bernie Sanders camp for granted because what the Hillary Clinton camp needs is not simply people who were going to vote for Bernie Sanders to vote for Hillary Clinton — what they need is missionaries."
"A bunch of depressed Bernie Sanders voters is not enough," says Grewal.
Ricky L. Jones, a professor of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville, is also a Bernie Sanders supporter. He tells Lynch that he will now vote for Hillary.
"I think it's very important that we don't just see Hillary Clinton as an individual, [but that] we see Hillary Clinton as representative of a system that simply does not work for a good percentage of people, and something needs to be done about that."
Jones hopes that Clinton will take on Sanders's quest for change in the lead up to the November vote.
"What I saw Bernie Sanders as being, and I still do see him as being, is really a person who was a tribune of the people, whereas Hillary Clinton is more of a transactional politician."
"But the question moving forward is: coming out of this primary season, can she make some alterations to speak more to the Sanders ethic that really sees this need of change?" says Jones.
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Willow Smith.