Dr. Lenora Fulani spoke on the topic of Power, Poverty and Democracy at the National Conference of Independents in New York City on March 18, 2017.

Jacqueline Salit's latest oped responds to Sen. Sander's remarks on MSNBC that the "Democrats will not succeed unless it attracts many, many millions of independents." Salit tells both the political backstory and points to an actionable future for this claim, calling for the building of a coalition of outsiders.

Remarks delivered by Jacqueline Salit, convener of "Crossroads for An Independent America", the Ninth Biennial National Conference of Independents.

"Everyone should be talking to Dr. Lenora Fulani. Who is Dr. Lenora Fulani? I just discovered her myself. In 1988, Dr. Lenora Fulani ran for president. She’s an African-American woman and she ran for president in 1988. She was on every state ballot, 50 state ballots. The Green Party in 2016 did not get on every state ballot. What I’m saying is that she knows it’s possible. Why do I have to wait until 2017 to learn about someone who did this in 1988? Everyone’s telling me it’s impossible but here’s a black woman in 1988 who did this. We all pretend like Hillary Clinton was the first, but here’s a black woman who did this. She’s still alive, people. She should be in every single interview right now. I think what I’m saying, is, there are people out there who we can learn from, but again, notice she didn’t just stay on the left. She worked with Left and Right, and Lefts hated her for that. Again, there’re these people who’ve been ostracized, but who they hold wisdom, and we need to start tapping into it."