The Toots and the Maytals song Revolution blasted from a few speakers as students filed into the amphitheater where Bernie Sanders’ campaign rally was held at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Thursday. Though a handful of nonrevolutionary songs were included, the rest of the playlist was perhaps a little too on the nose. The song choice suggested that whoever was responsible for the playlist simply Googled “songs about revolution” and went with the first 15 or so songs that popped up.
The gates of the Bell Tower Amphitheater were flung open around 4 p.m., and by then there was a line that stretched for several blocks. Most of the 2,528 people who eventually made it in were students, but a fair number of faculty and local residents showed up too, and the audience was filled by both the young and old (but still young relative to Bernie). Some were a little too excited to see Bernie. When Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s fame walked toward the stage to kick things off, several fans started cheering and one screamed “there he is!” mistaking the equally balding, white-haired, bespectacled Cohen for Sanders.
Cohen, Danny Glover, a few other campaign surrogates, and a UNC a cappella group received warm applause and cheers even though none of them were the reason people showed up. There were a few notable moments among the warm-up acts. For example, Cohen, was apparently concerned that people would forget he was the Ben of Ben & Jerry’s, so he kept awkwardly shoehorning ice cream into his speech. “Ice cream is good,” he said at one point, “but a president who believes in justice for all flavors, that is euphoric.”
Another speaker, Phillip Agnew, gave an extended metaphor in which he said 2020 was knocking at our door and something about how it was warm and nice and had universal healthcare inside and how “[2020] puts her ear to the door and wonders if she’ll be let in. She wonders if somebody will say ‘you’re welcome here.’” Cheers subsided during this part of Agnew’s talk, probably, one imagines, because nobody knew what on earth he was talking about. Isn’t 2020 inevitable? What would it mean to not “let 2020 in” in this scenario? Why is 2020 a woman? Wouldn’t it make more sense for 2020 to be the house and for us trying to get in?
Later on, noted academic Adolph Reed told the crowd that the upcoming election “is the fight, not just of your lives, but this is the fight of my life.” Reed, born in 1947, has lived through the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the War on Terror, and the Civil Rights movement.
At long last, it was Bernie time. He climbed onstage to rapturous applause as “Power to the People” by John Lennon played in the background. The youthful college students around the stage provided a mean contrast to Bernie’s age, making him seem even older than usual. Sanders is no spring chicken, and at 78 years old he does himself no favors by wearing a slightly baggy suit with no tie while surrounded by youngsters.
“So let me get to the point,” Bernie said after thanking his surrogates, “tell you what you already know. I’m here in Chapel Hill to ask for your support to win the primary here in North Carolina.”
The audience responded with loud cheers.
“I am here to ask for your help to win the Democratic nomination.”
Louder cheers.
“And I am here to ask for your help to enable us to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country.”
EVEN LOUDER CHEERS.
Sanders later indicated he was, in fact, referring to President Trump, not, as you may have initially thought, Woodrow Wilson, who re-segregated the federal government, censored journalists with abandon, and kept political prisoner; nor President Franklin Roosevelt, who picked right back up from Wilson on censorship and locked up Japanese-Americans in camps; nor Andrew Jackson, who was responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of Native Americans; nor, for that matter, any one of the presidents under whom slavery continued and flourished.
Bernie went on to hit all his classics: guaranteeing free college, student debt forgiveness, and universal healthcare; raising the minimum wage, closing the wage gap, and ending climate change.
On the topic of climate change, Bernie went after Trump hard, exclaiming that “he thinks that climate change is a hoax.”
The audience booed loudly.
“I think,” Bernie continued, “that Donald Trump is a hoax!”
What that means exactly is not clear—is Bernie suggesting Trump doesn’t exist?—but it sounded insulting to Trump, so the crowd cheered it anyway.
Bernie addressed some more of his platform planks: abortion protections, immigration reform, increased gun control, campaign finance reform. Sanders may be old, even older than the positively geriatric Joe Biden, but his finger is on the political pulse of the young like no other candidate. The students ate up everything he had to say, reflecting Sanders’ domination of the age group in the 2016 Democratic primary election.
Toward the end of his speech, Bernie (mis)quoted Nelson Mandela to explain why he was still campaigning despite all that was stacked against him. “Everything seems impossible,” Bernie said, “until it is done.” The wording may be slightly inaccurate, but the sentiment is the same. But despite Mandela’s optimism, oftentimes things seem impossible because they actually are: flying pigs, reviving the dead, a coherent argument coming from Jacob Wohl, and, well, Bernie in the White House. Sheer optimism can’t overcome a lack of voter support.
Alec Dent is a freelance writer and graduate of the UNC Chapel Hill School of Media and Journalism.
