• Penn State hosts Green Party candidates

Four Green Party candidates in the upcoming national and state elections spoke via Zoom to Penn State students and State College residents in the Sparks Building on Friday, advocating to “Vote Green.”

Among the speakers were Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Butch Ware, U.S. Senate candidate Leila Hazou, Attorney General candidate Richard Weiss and founder of advocacy group Young Black and Aware, Leteria Bailey.

Daily Collegian
By Jade D’Agostino
November 1, 2024

The event lasted over three hours and opened with emcee Sajay Samuel, a professor in the Smeal College of Business, thanking the audience of around 25 people for their time. Unaffiliated with the organizers of the event, Samuel said he took this position out of passion.

“I got involved with Green Party politics about a year ago, around the question of Gaza, and so I've helped to pass the ceasefire resolution in State College,” Samuel said. “One thing leads to another, and I find myself helping to spread the word.”

According to its website, the Green Party consists of “grassroots activists, environmentalists, advocates for social justice, nonviolent resisters and regular citizens who’ve had enough of corporate-dominated politics.”

Weiss spoke first, promising to advocate for the disadvantaged if elected. When speaking of the upcoming presidential election, the PA Attorney General candidate said “genocide is on the ballot,” referring to the ongoing conflict since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

Weiss addressed public concern that the Green Party is taking away votes from the Democratic side, resulting in a more controversial election.

"The people who voted green in past elections would not have voted Democrat. So we are not taking votes from Democrats,” Weiss said.

Douglas Mason, an attendee and supporter of the Green Party since 1984, said it's the only message out there that has sustainability and long-term viability as the final goal.

“If we lose the planet, we've lost everything,” Mason said. “And I have a great-granddaughter I care deeply about, and if we don't speak up for them, now, who's going to speak up for them?”

Ware shared his advice to Penn State students.

“My message to the young voters at Penn State is to first of all vote, even if you are not somebody that thinks you're going to vote for the Green Party…what this democracy needs is the engagement of young voters,” Ware said.

Kenisha Brown, president of Penn State Black Caucus, said that the Green Party of Centre County asked the organization to help fulfill the vision for this event.

After the event, Brown, a fourth-year studying communication arts and sciences, said she learned a lot.

“I learned that there are evident harms within this two-party system and if we continue to perpetuate and settle for the system that is given to us, it is going to, as Butch Ware said, cause the fall of the American empire,” Brown said.

Samuel said that he advises young voters not to get their news solely through social media.

“I teach in the university so I hear the kids getting new sources from social media which give you pictures but not stories, you need to find other news stories,” Samuel said. “You get a better understanding of the circumstances we're living in.”