Are Democrats Having Their Tea Party Moment? – Vanity Fair

Alabama: Joe L. Reed, 77

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Im wearing a Kuspuk; its a traditional Alaskan jacket that they wear in the wintertime, so we made a summer version. Its held up in the heatits cotton and has this beautiful bric-brac trim. Its gorgeous.

Ironic that youre wearing this jacket when youre from a state thats the most impacted by climate change.

Exactly, I know. Our summers have gotten hotter and hotter every year. Weve gotten less and less snow. A couple weeks ago, Fairbanks, Alaska was hotter than New York City. I dont remember exactly how hot it was, but it was, like, mid-90s.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Theres a lot of excitement this election. Arizona is a battleground state. Its always been leaning red, but its starting to turn around. We have an exciting race where our very own congresswoman Ann KirkpatrickCongressional District 1, from the Navajo nationis running against the highest-ranking Republican in the Senate, John McCain. We are mobilizing throughout Arizona; all of the delegates here are pushing many of our Democratic candidates to win.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Hes not acceptable. Hes not even acceptable to people in his own party. People who find him unacceptable, they should come with us.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

That was very good for Bernie to do, but some of his people . . . I dont know if you saw our delegation, but there are a lot of rows missing. Three rows. Im not supposed to really dwell on that, because they said that the medias going to try to make a big deal of it.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Theyre using this platform to talk about the issues that we just talked about, because there are hundreds of Flints across the country. And if we dont pay attention to these issues in terms of infrastructure, water quality, and environmental injustices, all of these places will experience what Flint is going through.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Im with the NAACP, and Im here as a delegate for Hillary Clinton. One of the strong issues in Mississippi is the Confederate flag, because we feel like it symbolizes hate. Its currently part of the state flag, and we are of the opinion that the flag should be changed, or if its being flown, it should be taken down. I was happy to find that that position was taken here. There was a demonstration to have that flag taken down here in Philadelphia, and it was successful here, and that flag was taken down. Were trying to get the flag down in the state of Mississippi, and were hoping to get that conversation to the national forefront.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

I am very much alarmed, as are all of the Native [American] delegates, and most of the delegates from around the country. [Trumps] use of very racist terminology, especially with his reference to our women, bothers all of us. It bothers me, particularly. And I am going to work hard to defeat this bully, harder than I have ever worked, in any campaign over many years. Interestingly enough, this is my eighth national convention. I have been here every convention since 198835 to 40 nightsand I have never been as moved as what I saw last night, and I have never had more resolve than I have right now about defeating this bully Donald Trump. Indian Country has to take our rightful place in this process, and we have to complement the efforts of the Democratic party, and we have to get the job done.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Shes my wife. Im a superdelegate.

Can I assume that youre a Hillary supporter?

Ive been supporting Hillary since 2008, and Im still supporting her.

Whats it like being married to Jeanne Shaheen?

Well, youre going to have to ask her what its like being married to Bill Shaheen! Im kidding. Weve been married 47 years. Its been great.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

I have worked for the election of every Democratic president since Lyndon B. Johnson. This is my fourth national convention.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

I was very inspired by what Bernie Sanders was talking about, and when I was of age to be a delegate, I was very inspired and decided to run.

Have you decided to support Hillary?

Yes I have. I prefer Bernie, but Im still a democrat at the end of the day, so Ill support whoever the Democratic nominee is.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

They know that. Totally know that. As a matter of fact, Utah is now being looked at as a swing state. And the reason is, its because of Trump. Though a lot more of the Republican people are looking toward the Libertarian candidate, and somevery fewlooking toward Jill Stein. There are a few months before the actual election, in which people are going to analyze, really, who more represents their values. And I think that Hillary, by being more religiousand they are a religious statewill appeal more to the Mormon base.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Do you think Bernies contributions to the race have brought people into the Hillary fold?

Oh absolutely. Hes brought a lot of things up in the issues. We brought em up, and we put a lot of them in the platform. Not all of them, but we got 90 percent, so Im happy.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Read more:
Are Democrats Having Their Tea Party Moment? - Vanity Fair

Related Posts

Comments are closed.