Grijalva Speaks Truth to Power ... a Retrospective

Season 3, Episode 6 of a View from the Left Side -- Grijalva Speaks Truth to Power ... a Retrospective -- is a tribute to former Southern Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, who passed away after a battle with cancer on March 13, 2025. 

Time Stamps
 | Introduction: Raul and Me  | 00:29
 | Union Roots  | 02:04
 | Background on Today's Speeches  | 04:26
 | Raul's Words in 2011 Foreshadow 2025  | 05:02
 | Raul Introducing Bernie in 2015  | 06:58
 | Raul at the Vigil for Democracy in 2022  | 07:15
 | Raul at Stop Abortion Bans Rally in 2022  | 07:38
 | Segment 1: PDA Tucson Organizing Meeting, February 22, 2011  | 08:20
 | Segment 2: Bernie at Reid Park, October 9, 2015  | 24:16
 | Segment 3: Vigil for Democracy, January 6, 2022  | 35:25
 | Segment 4: Stop Abortion Bans Rally, May 14, 2022  | 45:28
 | Closing  | 50:08

This podcast features four of Grijalva's speeches that I videotaped over the years. 

• Segment 1. Progressive Democrats of America Tucson Chapter Organizing Meeting on February 22, 2011. The video in this segment has never been published. It was shot in February 2011, just a few months after the Tea Party victories in November 2010, a few weeks after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot at the Safeway Shopping Center in Tucson, Arizona and one year after Citizens United SCOTUS case. Three hundred progressives answered a tiny Tucson Weekly newspaper ad to hear about PDA and progressive activism. It was an exhilarating evening. In talking about the proposed Tea Party budget cuts and tax breaks for the rich, Grijalva foreshadows the struggles we have today. The 2010 election was the first one influenced by the SCOTUS decision that corporations are people and money is speech. Twenty-five years later, the richest man in the world bought the presidency for $270 million in campaign donations. The billionaires are in charge. Grijalva warned us in 2011.
  
  
• Segment 2. Senator Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign Rally in Reid Park on October 9, 2015. Bernie drew 1000s of people in a rally  in Reid Park in Tucson, Arizona on a lovely fall evening. Grijalva endorsed Bernie for president. This segment is Grijalva's introduction of Bernie. To see all of the videos from that evening, go to my PamelaPowersTucsonProgressive YouTube channel. (I shot a lot of footage that night. It's all broken up by speaker and for Bernie by topic because he talked for like 90 minutes. My camera battery ran out. Bernie's 2015 speeches are inspiring.)
  
  
• Segment 3. Vigil for Democracy on January 6, 2022. One year after the January 6, 2021 Insurrection at the US Capitol, about 100 Tucsonans gathered at the cancer survivors memorial at Reid Park in Tucson, Arizona for a candlelight vigil and thoughtful speeches from local elected officials. This segment is Grijalva's speech. (Forgive the shaky video, I handed my smart phone to a friend, while I waited in line to speak.) You can view all of the speeches from the Vigil for Democracy on this YouTube channel. There is also a podcast. 
  
  
• Segment 4. Stop Abortion Bans Rally in Tucson. May 14, 2022. A few weeks before Roe v Wade was struck down by t