Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein spoke Thursday night at the Naglee Park home of Karen and Richard Ajluni, an event attended by more than 30 persons, amongst which the local Palestinian American community was well represented. She was introduced by longtime nonprofit executive Ajluni, who cited the ongoing deaths of children in the current Middle East war and said that the two-party system would not change unless voters had the courage to walk away. Stein, sporting a black-and-white kaffiyeh draped around her neck, launched a blistering attack on the Democratic Party, accusing its leaders of selling out to large corporations and oil companies by failing to adequately address the climate crisis, suppressing progressive voices and complicity in what she repetitively described as a genocide.

Let’s raise our expectations and demand more. Let’s make the Green New Deal a transformative reality at last.