When I arrived on campus at 12:00pm on March 21, I thought I was arriving early. The doors of UNC’s Bank of Colorado Arena would open in a few minutes, so I parked in the South Hall lot, expecting to speed-walk towards the Rec Center and breeze into the arena. I was met with a mile-long line that curved around Candelaria, took a spin around McKee, and double-looped down by Harrison. According to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Twitter (it would be inappropriate to call it X, right?), the Fighting Oligarchy rally in Greeley had amassed a crowd of 11,300 attendees.
In hindsight, I have no clue why I expected to make it in. Both Sen. Sanders and guest speaker Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) are household names. The day before, a crowd of 15,000 greeted the two in Tempe, Arizona, and they would speak to a record crowd of 34,000 in Denver’s Civic Center Park later that day. I failed to consider that my 3-minute drive to West Campus and knowledge of campus parking lots gave me little advantage against the thousands who traveled in from Denver, Wyoming, and beyond.
Why Bernie and AOC are Fighting Oligarchy Across America
What I really should have remembered is that I’m not the only one craving a message. There are so many words to describe the faults in our political climate that pinning one down feels like an impossible task. Figuring out the best course of action seems no easier. How can you craft a cohesive defense when something new takes the headlines each day? How can you bring people together behind a common cause when there are dozens of causes to fight? There are no easy answers to these questions, and I found myself fearing there were no answers at all.
Then, news coverage of President Trump’s inauguration in January provided a perfectly shareable screencap: the three richest men in the world seated in front of Trump’s cabinet picks. The word oligarchy quickly entered the common lexicon, and it felt like an answer. Could fighting oligarchy be what brings us together?
In late February, Bernie embarked on the coast-to-coast Fighting Oligarchy tour (subtitled “Where We Go From Here”), a series of rallies advocating against oligarchy and for democracy. It’s no surprise that Bernie rose as a major voice against oligarchy; wealth inequality was a cornerstone of his 2016 presidential campaign, and he positioned himself as an advocate for the working class. The image of tech giants taking a prominent seat in our government was startling to see and something Bernie was primed to address. When he announced he would be speaking in Greeley alongside AOC, I knew I had to go, and I wasn’t the only one.
UNC’s 4,000-capacity arena filled up before 12:15 p.m., but I managed to secure a spot relatively close to the large screen in front of the Rec. There were people everywhere. Once the grass area had filled, they took to engulfing Michener’s balcony, observing out of the third-floor windows, climbing trees, and perching on top of dumpsters. It seemed there was no limit to the lengths people would go to see Bernie and AOC, even on a screen, and the people surrounding me eagerly chatted while we awaited their arrival. Seeing me scribbling furiously in my notebook, a man next to me asked if I was a reporter.
“Things like this don’t happen often,” he said. “Not in Greeley,” I replied.
Why Greeley Gained Momentum for Bernie’s Cause
The choice to hold the rally in Greeley was a response to Weld County Representative Gabe Evans, whose refusal to host in-person town halls had attracted criticism from Coloradans.
“I hear that you have a representative who has not done a town hall,” AOC said early in her speech, raising thunderous boos from in and outside of the arena. “If this is the best that you all are getting, I think you deserve better.”
The high attendance at the rally seems to speak to the people of Weld County’s desire to feel not just represented but heard.
It was pretty startling to see Bernie and AOC, two people who previously existed only in my retweets, speaking directly beneath the UNC banner I see every day. They each devoted the larger part of their speeches to the talking points that have driven their campaigns for years: affordable healthcare, free tuition (which I thought deserved more applause, considering our immediate surroundings), the climate crisis, and above all, the looming threat of oligarchy in America. These all received major applause—and when Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were name-dropped, massive boos—not only from me, but from the crowd at large. (Watch the full recorded livestream on Sanders’ YouTube channel.)
My favorite moment from the rally was during AOC’s speech. As she was wrapping up, Ocasio-Cortez called on us to turn to our neighbors in the crowd and greet someone we didn’t know before. As I was part of the overflow crowd outside, this call to action created a lot of opportunity, and everyone took to shaking hands, waving, and chuckling together at the shared awkwardness. As AOC put it, “[we] need to take care of each other on our worst days and share the successes of our best…. That’s how we’re going to do it. Not from the top, but block-by-block.”
That moment of profound community was what I took home. I have felt somewhat lost since election night, when I had the displeasure of experiencing 2016 déjà vu of my preteen years. Every day since, checking my news apps has brought a new wave of unwelcome anxiety about the state of our nation and uncertainty about the direction we are headed. Sharing a moment with a crowd of people who took the opportunity to stand against political corruption was a welcome refresher in a moment of tumult. It served as a reminder that no matter how isolated or polarized we feel, as a nation or as individuals, there are so many people who want to take a stand. Not for any one political party, but for each other.
“They got the money,” Bernie said after he and AOC emerged from the arena to greet the overflow crowd. “But we got the people.”