AOC responds to apparent Democratic party convention speech snub: 'Eternity is in it'
Firebrand lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at an alleged snub by the Democratic party after being given just 60 seconds to deliver a speech a next week’s convention.
AOC responded on Twitter by posting the poem ‘I have only just a minute’, written by the late Dr Benjamin E. Mays, an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader.
“I only have a minute,” the poem reads. “Forced upon me, I did not choose it, But I know that I must use it.”
AOC’s message appears to be that she intends to make full use of her convention speech – regardless of long she has been given.
“Give account if I abuse it. Suffer if I lose it. Only a tiny little minute, But eternity is in it.”
Dr Mays poem was also recited by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, when he first entered the House in 1996, having won election to Maryland’s 7th congressional district in 1996.
AOC’s pre-recorded one minute clip is set to be aired on Tuesday. This year’s Democratic convention was scheduled to take place in Milwaukee but will be held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Other Democrats have been asked to address the convention live via video link, leading to accusations that the Democrat party hierarchy is attempting to stifle the New Yorker.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, and Pete Buttigieg, former presidential contender and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, have been asked to speak live.
“I only have a minute.
Sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, I did not choose it,
But I know that I must use it.
Give account if I abuse it.
Suffer, if I lose it.
Only a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.”
- Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
(and recited by Elijah Cummings) 💜 https://t.co/ul9CE7NriV— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC)
The four-day online convention will begin on Monday and include speeches by former president Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Hilary Clinton among others.
“What a slap to the progressive wing,” one Twitter user wrote. “It’s a constant spite of us [sic]. They think we will cower and peter [out]. They are wrong.
“We ain’t going anywhere. With @AOC as our leader we’re just getting started. Now that the squad was re-elected we are ready to rumble in the halls of Congress.”
AOC backed Bernie Sanders over Joe Biden in the Democratic nomination race for president.
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