“A Safe and Healthy Buffalo,” A Safe and Healthy World

@ASoulAFire @JaniceOCG @MMFlint hosted @Indiawaltonbflo on Rumble with Michael Moore on the important race she was running for mayor of Buffalo, NY.  Her loss is our loss, but she remains a beacon of hope.  Join Thursdays, 8 pm ET, from 1/13/22, “If America Fails?:  The Coming Tyranny.”

Democratic Socialist India Walton may have been defeated in the recent election in her bid to become mayor of Buffalo, NY, but the issues she represents remain.  Unfortunately, she did not have sufficient support from the Democratic Party, and I wonder if the Democrats truly grasp the depth of the fascistic threat we face in this country.

Strong, clear, committed leaders like Walton are desperately needed at the local level and throughout the system to hold the line on the forces threatening to upend American democracy.  If we continue to discard the very few people with the vision and courage to fight for a humane way of life, there will be none to blame but the man in the mirror when the coffin on democracy in America is closed.

Here Michael Moore uses his platform to show support for Walton’s candidacy, and as always, encourage good people to run for political office.  From this vantage, it is a reminder of what we all lost when Walton was defeated. 

Walton shares the issues and events, like the murder of George Floyd and local response to the global pandemic that motivated her to take on the incumbent; as well as the encouragement and support she found for her candidacy outside her community in a Clubhouse chatroom.

“I’ve seen the conditions in certain parts of my city deteriorate unnecessarily,” Walton said, as the political novice went on to run a successful grassroots campaign during the primary.  Her opponent had money, name recognition, old school Democratic Party apparatus and Republican support, she said, so Walton knew winning the November 2nd election would be a long shot.

Still, she was motivated because “Communities do better when the people are less poor overall, and there are some truths about humanity that we’ve allowed capitalism to take away from us…”  Her campaign supported “access to affordable healthcare, housing and quality education” and said “Buffalo being the third poorest city of its size in the country…should be focusing on how to tackle poverty…and not how we use police and punishment as a way to make people conform when we’re not giving them the resources necessary to keep crime down.”  Walton’s campaign slogan, “A Safe and Healthy Buffalo,” focused attention on poverty reduction and social determinants of health, affordable housing, as well as support for small businesses, the environment, immigrants and a quality standard of living.

“I personally think that your success…will be a beacon of hope and inspiration to all those other nurses and teachers and people who are not big, famous political names, but are just good people, hard workers, decent, standing for all the right things…”

Michael Moore

“I personally think that your success…will be a beacon of hope and inspiration to all those other nurses and teachers and people who are not big, famous political names, but are just good people, hard workers, decent, standing for all the right things…” said Michael Moore.  Walton responded:  “…I hope that we will inspire someone to step out and have the courage to do it, and know that all over the country we are coming together to support one another and we don’t have to feel alone in our pursuit of justice and equity…Envision the world you want to live in and then pursue it…I think the number one way that we begin to win for people who are on this side of the fight, is by finding our people, getting our people together, and keeping them together – and then you make a really strategic plan and you execute it.”

“…I hope that we will inspire someone to step out and have the courage to do it, and know that all over the country we are coming together to support one another and we don’t have to feel alone in our pursuit of justice and equity…Envision the world you want to live in and then pursue it…”

India Walton

Moore’s conclusion:  “We don’t have many large cities that have someone like India who are going to be running them with her politics, her values, and her courage, to stand up for these things…”

Despite her defeat in the General Election, India Walton’s strong, clear, compassionate voice remains a beacon of hope for us all and lights a path toward a better world.  Be inspired.  — LMO

“India Walton shocked the political world and upset the establishment by running against and defeating a four-term incumbent Democratic Mayor of Buffalo this past June in the Democratic primary. She’s a nurse, a union organizer, a single mother, and she will become the first socialist mayor of a major American city since 1960 if she wins the general election in November.

“The political establishment in Buffalo is not taking this lightly. So, while she should be coasting to a victory in November because Buffalo is overwhelmingly Democratic, she has a very difficult opponent, backed by Trump people – Byron Brown, the guy she just defeated in the primary.

“This is such an important race — all the issues we are facing all over the country — Covid-19, the police state, the prison industrial complex, economic inequality, climate, and sexual violence — they all play a role in this race. And India Walton’s a thoughtful and forceful candidate and leader we should get behind to take care of these issues that plague us all.”  — Rumble with Michael Moore

LISTEN TO | Ep. 214: Why Buffalo Matters. Why India Walton Matters. Why Democratic Socialism Matters. (w/ India Walton) | Rumble with Michael Moore | 10/7/2021