By Walter Varda.
Assyrian Democrats of the Bay Area (ADBA) participated in and sponsored the annual “All Dems” picnic held by the Silicon Valley Working Blue Democratic Club on Saturday, August 28th, 2021 at Emma Prusch Farm Park in San Jose, California.
It was around 100 degrees, the Air Quality Index (AQI) was around 160 and yet a number of dedicated individuals turned up to pass on their political messages and promote their readiness for public office. This was Assyrian Democrats of the Bay Area’s first attendance at an organized Democratic meeting, Silicon Valley Working Blue Democratic Club’s All Dems Picnic and a good learning experience.
Free lunch was provided to all of attendees and after lunch, the candidates introduced themselves and talked about their political messages. After the speeches and lunch, many of the candidates approached our table being the most populated to introduce themselves and to gain our support. They gave out business cards and volunteered to attend our meetings in order to introduce themselves to our club members.
Claudia Rossi, RN running for the Supervisor, told us about her concern for the farmworkers and how they are developing sugar-related illnesses due to the oversupply of highly sugared refreshments to the farmworkers in order to get that “little bit of extra from them” without consideration of any impact on their health. Rob Rennie, Vice Mayor of Los Gatos and candidate for Santa Clara County Supervisor, District One Justin Lardinois is running for San José City Council to fight for families and small businesses and to ensure future generations will have the opportunities that he had.
Among the speakers, there was a young Afghani woman having been placed in care after her father’s murder in New York, thankful for the social safety network that saved her and brought her to where she is now. Also Raul Peralez, currently a San Jose Councilmember running for the position of San Jose Mayor. Raul’s main goals are to work on reducing homelessness and finding housing solutions for those who are already on the streets.
We hope that after each public attendance at a political party meeting we’ll be more prepared to pass on our message and gain more recognition for our members.
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