A year after popular vote winner Hillary Clinton made history and accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, the Human Rights Campaign has released an inspiring video message reuniting some of the 2016 Democratic National Convention speakers who also made history.
Featured in the video are anti-gun violence advocate—and a “Mother of the Movement”—Lucia McBath, Gold Star father Khizr Khan, HRC’s Sarah McBride, immigrant daughter Karla Ortiz, disability rights advocate Anastasia Somoza, and Dreamer Astrid Silva. McBride was the first openly transgender person in U.S. history to address a major party convention, while Silva was the first Dreamer to do so.
The speakers note that while we’ve seen devastating setbacks that have, among many things, threatened our health care, tried to ban Muslims and refugees from entering the U.S., and seen hardworking immigrant families torn apart, Americans continue to resist and to fight—and it’s something we must continue.
"In the year since the convention, as we've traveled around the country, we've seen that the America on that stage lives on. Every generation is defined not by the height of our walls,” say Silva and Ortiz, who is the daughter of undocumented immigrants, “but by the bridges we build, and we must decide what our chapter in the history books will be."
“In the year since the convention, the Human Rights Campaign has joined with our members, supporters, and organizational partners to stand up against hate in all of its forms,” states the press release.
“The vision of America presented on stage at last year’s Democratic convention lives on in the everyday activists and advocates marching, calling, writing, and speaking out across the country. From responding to attacks on transgender troops to protesting heartless attempts to rip health care away from millions of Americans, we have seen the power of our voices and continue to know that we remain stronger together.”