Actors March to Keep Sanders’ Revolution Going

The idea that you could take a pipeline that a white community rejected and put it through a brown and Native community is blatantly racial," - Shailene Woodley
Actress Shailene Woodley spoke out against the Dakota Access Pipeline at a rally this weekend in Los Angeles. (Barry E. Levine)

Suzanne Potter
California News Service

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Actress Shailene Woodley, best known for her role in the “Divergent” movies, spoke at a march on Hollywood Boulevard on Saturday, rallying hundreds of progressive advocates to defend causes championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The “Enough is Enough” march was the first event for the group Californians for Progress, which evolved from the L.A. office of the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign. March co-organizer Michelle Manos said the thousands of people who were drawn to Sanders’ cause will now harness that enthusiasm to push for change on a range of issues.

“People need to stay involved. We’re still here. You should still be here,” Manos said. “This revolution is not over, it’s just getting started and everyone needs to be involved.”

The group is supporting several California ballot initiatives: one to repeal the death penalty and another calling on Congress to pass an amendment to the Constitution that would overturn the Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision on campaign finance.

But Woodley was there to protest the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline, which would carry 400,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the Dakotas through Iowa to connect with a pipeline in Illinois.

Local tribes have been fighting the half-finished, multibillion-dollar, 1,100 mile project, arguing that the risk of a spill is too great. Manos said it is a matter of environmental justice.

“The idea that you could take a pipeline that a white community rejected and put it through a brown and Native community is blatantly racial,” she said. “And then to violate the treaties and sacred lands is absolutely egregious.”

Californians for Progress is also working to defeat the Trans Pacific Partnership, saying it would be bad for working people and for the environment. Actor Kendrick Sampson, best known for the show “How to Get Away With Murder,” also spoke at the event.

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