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Cory Booker rallies Democrats: 'We will rise'

By Eric DuVall
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey speaks on day one of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Booker rallied Democrats echoing the phrase of poet Maya Angelou: "we will rise." Photo by Pat Benic/UPI
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey speaks on day one of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Booker rallied Democrats echoing the phrase of poet Maya Angelou: "we will rise." Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo

PHILADELPHIA, July 25 (UPI) -- Saying "America, we will rise," New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker offered a powerful vision of Americans overcoming challenges large and small while addressing the Democratic convention on Monday.

Booker offered an implicit endorsement of Hillary Clinton, saying the brand if divisive politics practiced by Donald Trump stands at odds with great moments in American history where people came together to overcome national problems.

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"We are not a zero sum nation It is not you or me, it is not one America against another American. It is you and I, together, interdependent, interconnected with one single, interwoven destiny," Booker said. "When we show we are one nation, indivisible, that is when we are stronger. That is when we go from an already-great America to an even greater America."

Booker, who was said to be on Clinton's short list for a vice presidential nominee, told delegates she would lead a more united nation than Trump.

"When Trump spews insulting and demeaning views against our fellow Americans, I think of that poem by Maya Angelou: 'You may write me down in history with you bitter twisted lies. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still like dust I rise.

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"King pointed to the mountaintop; Kennedy pointed to the moon. From Seneca Falls to those who stood at Stonewall Inn, giants before us said with conviction, America, we will rise."

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