Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein delivers her speech during the Green Party rally at the Old South Church. PHOTO BY BRIAN SONG/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
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An enthusiastic crowd of over 200 gathered in Old South Church in Boston, near Copley Square, Sunday afternoon to express support for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.
Attendees participated in several chants, such as “This is what democracy looks like,” “Go Green in 2016” and “Go Jill” throughout the rally.
Stein started the rally by pointing out Massachusetts’ longtime reputation as a Democratic state.
“It’s great to see Massachusetts rising up strongly and breaking this strangle hold of a one-party state that Massachusetts has been for so long,” Stein said during the rally, “A one-party state that pretends to be the progressive, democratic solution, but it is not a solution as we know in so many ways.”
Stein criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for their behaviors in the election, calling them, respectively, a “sexual predator” and the “queen of corruption.”
“Right now, those two parties have basically merged into one party because the Republicans have fallen apart and the Democrats have split; [they] have basically gotten together as one big happy, corporate political party,” Stein said during the rally. “They can have each other, but the American people are dying for another option. We are that option.”
Among those speaking at the rally were co-chairs of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts David Gerry and Darlene Elias, and Green-Rainbow Party candidates for State Representative Danny Factor and Charlene DiCalogero.
Elias spoke about her early experiences with Green-Rainbow Party, especially the struggles she’s had in her life and how the party helped her with them.
“The Green Party was very instrumental in helping me,” Elias said at the rally. “As a Puerto Rican Latino woman who grew up in the projects in the hood in South Holyoke to gain a voice and to chant and to advocate for my people in Holyoke who happened to be disenfranchised and marginalized and who don’t have any voting power.”
Rally attendees said they support Stein because she promotes ideals that other candidates do or do not fully commit to, and said third-party candidates offer a better option for people unhappy with the two candidates from major parties.
Lindie Ngobeni, 27, of Jamaica Plain, said third parties are the voice of various demographics, but they have been behind the shadows of two major political parties.
“What I see happen constantly is that if we’re not setting our own agenda, you kind of end up with what you see right now on the debate stage,” she said before the rally. “Our issues won’t be talked about, and it’s actually really important to have third parties for that reason — to actually have these issues be talked about.”
Steven Lord, 36, of Allston, said the Green Party’s causes are worth fighting for, but not many people know the third parties well.
“Jill represents things I’ve always connected with, and I’ve followed the Green Party, and I know they’re on the front lines of all these various protest movements,” he said. “Voting for her at least helps her get backing funds that then the Green Party can then become a bigger alternative [party].”
Michael Pascucci, 33, of Dorchester, said those on the fringes of political extremes have been worried about voting third party, though third parties represent what they truly believe in.
“For many, many years, those of us on the left fringes have been told we have to wait and wait and wait because we can’t risk splitting the vote,” he said. “But, that is really a politics of fear because it counts on us not really understanding how the electoral college works.”