Quick dispatch from Netroots-Chicago
Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones related his experience with being expelled from the state House, reinstated by constituents, and returning to the state Capitol to encounter the white men who voted to expel him.
“I walked in with the energy that they are in the ‘find out’ portion of our movement,” Jones said to applause.
Later, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made a surprise appearance with Jones. Jackson announced his retirement from leadership of Rainbow PUSH (NPR):
He announced in 2017 that he had begun outpatient care for Parkinson’s disease two years earlier. In early 2021, he had gallbladder surgery and later that year was treated for COVID-19 including a stint at a physical therapy-focused facility. He was hospitalized again in November 2021 for a fall that caused a head injury.
Before another tornado blew through town last night, a few notables under 35 found each other at Netroots Nation. Jones, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, NC Democrats’ state chair Anderson Clayton, David Hogg (A March For Our Lives) and other young activists shared dinner. Networking is why we come. It’s how we build out the movement.
Annie Wu, AAPI Victory Fund creative director, did a little compare-and-contrast on Twitter with a more well-heeled celebrity confab in Idaho.