THIS is how you challenge your party constructively

[EffieBlack]

One Of The Democratic Stars Of 2018 Sharply Rebuked Her Party In A Private Meeting

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/darrensands/one-of-the-democratic-stars-of-2018-sharply-rebuked-her?__twitter_impression=true

Ayanna Pressley, the Representative-elect from Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District, offered a sharp rebuke of the Democratic Party in front of the party’s biggest donors Tuesday, saying that she discovered a “mandate for hope” over the course her efforts to unseat an entrenched Democratic incumbent and campaigning for insurgent candidates around the country.

The Boston Democrat told donors gathered for a Democratic National Committee fundraising meeting in Washington that the 2018 election cycle had “altered the course of history,” and that Democrats need to ask themselves “if we are simply content with making history, or if want to commit ourselves to working together to make a lasting, transformative change.”

Pressley, who beat 10-term incumbent Democrat Rep. Michael Capuano in a September primary, told Democratic donors that the party needs to figure out how best to support women candidates of color, like herself and other newly elected members of Congress, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar.
...
The address was perhaps the most poignant of any from a litany of Democratic speakers at the Tuesday meeting, several people who were in attendance said. Pressley, who is already making her presence felt on Capitol Hill, touched on the importance of having close proximity to marginalized and vulnerable communities and offered a vision of a party that puts the needs of those communities at the forefront of the agenda.
...
Pressley offered a concise vision for the future of the Democratic Party. She told donors that she had conducted a hearing on gun violence the previous evening and brought a message from a young person to the floor, one that the Democratic Party has grappled with for a generation: “Do black lives only matter in election years when our votes are at stake?”

[flyingfysh]

1. I wanted Capuano to stay in the job, but we should have been able to have both

It would have been better if she had been able to oust Lynch in the primary instead. But the gerrymandered Boston-area districts made that impossible; it seems that the district lines probably protected Lynch. After all, Massachusetts is the home of the original Gerrymander (I believe it was named after Eldridge Gerry). A cartoon of the time showed a map of a district which resembled a long salamander or lizard, with eyes and claws added.

Capuano always impressed me as a tireless worker for our interests. There was nothing flashy about him, but he got things done. I just hope she keeps up his record of accomplishment. I can't recall any votes of positions of his that I disagreed with, and I read all of his email newsletters very closely.

One of those accomplishments is occurring behind my house right now. The state is extending the Boston subway system (the "T&quot , and it runs right behind my house. A new station will be a very short distance from my house. Sometimes work continues through the night, but we don't mind. We know what we will be getting.