Unprecedented: Stories from the 2024 DNC examines the experiences and perspectives of Massachusetts attendees and others at the 2024 DNC in Chicago, Illinois. The third day had the theme "A Fight for Our Freedoms."
David Perez Hurley and Sylvia Lagos, delegates from Dallas, Texas
“This is my first DNC. We knew it, coming in, it was going to be Joe Biden,” said David. “But now that Kamala is coming in and she'll be, hopefully, we pray that she will be our 47th president of the United States. So that energizes all of us. Gives me goosebumps just even thinking about it.”
"I believe that reproductive rights are on the line, and I think that we need someone that understands that," said Sylvia. "I don't think we need a man telling us what to do with our body. It is our body. And like our Gov. Waltz said, mind your own damn business."
"Abortion, LGBTQ rights and human rights and freedom that covers the big old umbrella, " David said. "Those are what we're looking for. And hopefully we will get an immigration bill passed."
“My outlook on all this is we're not going back,” said Sylvia. “The train is moving and we're hopping on and we're moving forward. And this is our time. And it's our time to build on what has, you know, happened before. So it's time to move forward, get people to the polls. Everyone has a duty, a civic duty to go to the polls and vote because someone died and someone fought for your right to vote. Don't take it for granted.”
Justin Cohen, lead organizer of Dads for Kamala, from Brooklyn, New York
“Dads and dad is an identity that a lot of us share, but isn't often organized in electoral politics. We thought, especially given the contrast in this election, that it was important to own and to discuss masculinity and manhood in a way that was sort of compatible with democratic values, that was compatible with care, that's compatible with investing in families and maternal health and maternal health and all these things.
"Donald Trump and JD Vance stand for a version of manhood where you, like, yell about everything but stand for nothing. And I think the Harris-Walz version of manhood is an empathetic, compassionate, caring one that situates itself within a broader spectrum of identities. And that is the future. And Vance and Trump represent the past.
"I'm a dad, and I have two kids. They're half Jewish and half Iranian. This is probably the only place in the world that is truly safe for them, and I feel like that's at stake."
Deepti Suri, yoga therapist and women’s rights advocate from Bolingbrook, Illinois
“When I moved here as an immigrant, I had a health issue. My fetus had died and they would not clean me. I almost died. And I didn't realize that here a woman can die. No hospital will take you because they have their own religious beliefs. And I was shocked that the religious beliefs trump over the life of a woman. And I became an activist for women's rights. And who champions the women's right, not Republicans and Democrats.
"Oh my God, a woman of color to be nominated by everybody of America, like every race, every ethnicity, every nationality. The roll call yesterday, everybody endorsed a woman of color, half Indian, half African. It's unprecedented. Like, forget about being a woman, but coming from a minority and where she comes from, like immigrants can come and their kids can do whatever they want. And this convention has made it happen. This is extremely unprecedented. It's, like, unheard of. It doesn't happen anywhere else in the world. That's great. So it's the beauty of America."