Democratic National Convention Post-Mortem

Any political convention will bring protesters. However, those at the Democratic National Convention might very well take the prize for head-scratching, eye-popping and, most notably, nose-pinching moments. The convention brought some baffling, disturbing sights and spectacles that would make anyone ask, “Did that just really happen?”

Outside the convention freedom of speech protests mingled with the aroma of marijuana. Protesters, angry with the corruption of the Democratic National Committee, angry with wealth inequality, angry with….just about anything related to America, gathered in raucous, sneering, unbathed crowds demanding they have their voices heard. The largest faction consisted of Bernie Sanders’ supporters and they let everyone feel the burn in more ways than one cares to smell. While conversing with one of the protesters, he discussed his strategy of having crowd members consume beans so they could fart during their protests to “show how stinky the DNC is.”

Remember this the next time you hear a democrat elitist ridicule Trump supporters as uneducated. Another protester felt that Trump was a racist because he wanted to build a wall. When informed of the fact the wall was to be built to prevent those entering our country illegally who commit crimes that hurt or murder Americans, he felt “being against breaking the law is racist.” When asked to further elaborate, he continued, “If you’re against criminals, you’re a white privileged racist.” The source of this wealth of knowledge was a University of Pennsylvania graduate.

As the four days concluded, a question can be legitimately asked: Was a political convention in town or was the circus? Entertainers, glitz, glamour, balloons and spectacle on the inside, the clowns, jokers and freak shows on the outside.

Yet and still, one must wonder, how much did the insiders influence the putative outsiders?  Eric Holder sauntered past me during the Democratic National Convention. The irony of his presence was not lost on me. After all, Holder began his reign as Attorney General dropping the voter intimidation case against the Philadelphia chapter of the New Black Panthers. This would foreshadow how Holder would inject race into the Justice Department.

I asked the former Attorney General, “Mr. Holder, was there any particular reason you never investigated police shootings where whites were killed while preaching racial equality?” He scoffed at the question, smiled, shook his head and proceeded to the next photo op.

Chris Tremoglie is currently the Editor-in-Chief of The Vanguard, the student newspaper of the Community College of Philadelphia, from which this blog is excerpted. He will be attending the University of Pennsylvania this fall majoring in Russian.

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