Warren addressing the crowd during her speech. Photo by Sidney Rodriguez.
Recently, many people gathered to hear Senator Elizabeth Warren speak here at the Malden High School. People from all across the metropolitan area filled up every seat in the Jenkins Auditorium. Some resorted to the balcony to still be apart of this important event.
Along with Elizabeth Warren, United States Congresswoman Katherine Clark was also present at the event. Clark when introducing Warren, touched upon Warren’s motives with the people on immigration, taxation, Wall Street, and education. The phrase “she stands for us” resonated with the large crowd.
With much expectation, when Senator Warren finally graced the stage she was greeted with a standing ovation from the whole audience. In addition, her first topic was President Trump, in particular, her experience in going to his inauguration and why she did so. She expressed “‘when it’s late in the evening, [she’s] tired…[she’s] in the office and [she’s] aggravated, she [closes] [her] and [she] [leans] back and [sees] Donald Trump getting sworn in as President of the United States and [she’s] back!”.
Warren’s drive sparked by the reality of the United States, also had a positive impact on a vast majority of Americans. When coming back to Boston during the Women’s March, she questioned “What are we going to do when the Republicans have the House, the Republicans have the Senate…Our only chance is people raising their voices. Our only chance is developing an army”. As she watched people gather in the Boston Commons; women, men, some with children, who were “very good looking”. She remembered how she saw a little girl holding a sign that read “I fight like a girl” and in that particular moment Elizabeth Warren said “that’s where our army is”.
Apart from the optimistic side of Americans are doing, she told a story about how her family was going to lose their home. She remembered her mother sobbing while repeating to herself “We are not going to lose this house. We are not going to lose this house”. Once her mother got a minimum wage job she was able to save their family. However, Warren’s main point was that a minimum wage job back then could support a family, which she stated that is sadly not the case now.
Warren’s views on DACA:
“America made a promise to 800,000 young people: you came here, through no fault of your own, you’re here, come out of the shadows, be vetted, and then you have a chance, a chance to go to school, a chance to get a job, a chance to join the military, a chance to be woven fully into the life of America.”
Warren’s views on GOP tax Bill:
“They’re not there for the working poor. This tax bill is all about giveaways to the richest and the most powerful in this country. This is all about subsidizing jobs overseas. This tax bill says that if you want to invest right here in Malden you’ll be taxed at one level, if you want to build that factory somewhere in Europe, somewhere in Asia, you’ll be taxed at a lower level. It’s staggering, it’s staggering, the impact on working people.”
Warren’s emphasizes the importance of Medicaid through an experience she had:
“I was in Washington while people showed up to protest on the Capitol steps, while moms who had babies with special needs brought along breathing equipment and special feeding tubes so they could show senators in the United States Congress, this is the face of Medicaid.”
