Three years ago, she was just a common woman, a single mom of four children, hopeless about the horrific living conditions in her state. Now she is a Democratic primary winner from West Virginia and will contest for Senate in November.
And all of this happened from that one encounter she had with Bernie Sanders in 2017.
A video of Bernie Sanders has surfaced from 2017, and now it has started going viral across platforms. In this video, he is seen talking a woman and hugging her, saying “I don’t want to overpromise.”
Although the video has been going viral all over the social media, this news is absent from mainstream media, do you want to know why?
Bernie Sanders helped her in 2017
In the video, she is telling Bernie Sanders about how coal industries have overpowered the people’s lives and ruined it. How the people in her city are suffering without water, without healthcare – having forced to breathe in polluted air, drinking poisoned water, dying due to several forms of cancer and lung diseases.
A heartbroken Paula hugs Bernie and says she wants to run for Senate.
Bernie hugs her back, takes her contact details, and says “someone will call you.”
Here’s the full video:
Who is Paula Jean Swearengin?
Now, she is in the news because she has won the Democratic primary of 2020, and now she’ll be contesting for Senate in November.
Her journey from a distraught and despaired woman to a powerful political candidate and soon-to-be Senator is really inspiring.
Born into a family of coal miners, Paula Jean Swearengin grew up in tough heartbreaking conditions. Most people in her state were dying of black lung disease and various forms of cancer that were caused by the coal mines. Her grandparents and several uncles died due to black lung disease, while many of her neighbours and friends died because they couldn’t afford cancer treatment.
Mountains of West Virginia are blown to pieces
Coal mines here engage in what is called mountaintop removal mining, which means they scrape off the entire mountains to clear the way for the mines. The fallout of dust, ash, and carbon from these open mines flows into the air and destroys their lungs. The same particles trickle down to nearby rivers and poison the water. Most people from here don’t even get clean water to drink.
Growing up, Paula Jean Swearengin vowed to fight back against the corporations polluting her home and killing people.
She said, “No one will have to beg for a glass of clean water.”
“If another country came in here, blew up our mountains and poisoned our water, we’d go to war. But when industry does it, we don’t do anything.”
What does she want to do for the people?
Her policies include a Green New Deal, Medicare For All healthcare plan, $15 minimum wage, and tuition-free public college, and she supports the legalization of weed.
In the democratic primary of 2018, she ran against US Senator Joe Manchin but she lost the election. Joe Manchin just had too much money as he was supported by the coal companies and several corporate lobbies.
Netflix has a documentary on her, AOC, and two other women, you can watch it here:
In January 2019, Netflix released an award-winning documentary called Knock Down the House, which featured four most inspiring women in progressive politics – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin.
The documentary covers the period up to 2018, where everyone else lost their primary elections except AOC who won the election with a landslide.
And now, she has won without any corporate funding – to the surprise of everyone
After her Democratic primary win of 2020, she will stand against Republican candidate Shelley Moore Capito.
“West Virginians are done waiting for politicians to do the right thing. The people of this state are ready to return our government to one of, by, and for the people.”
She says her focus will be on providing clean air and water for people, preserving the natural resources, establishing clean energy sources, tackling the drug problem, investing in education via free college, and Medicare for all.
“No one person or election will solve the systemic injustices that plague our society,” said Swearengin. “But, together, we can stand in solidarity with the cause.”
“When we unite our fight for justice, we can accomplish our goals. We can end systemic racism. We can guarantee healthcare as a human right. We can ensure every person has clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.”
She has also pledged her support to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Featured Image Courtesy: Common Media