Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one of the most prominent and outspoken progressives in the Democratic Party, will have just one minute to deliver remarks at the virtual Democratic National Convention next week.
The lawmaker’s address will be 60 seconds long, her spokesperson told HuffPost. She’s scheduled to speak on Tuesday. She will prerecord the address from her base in New York and write it herself with the blessing of the Democratic National Committee, according to Business Insider, which first reported the news.
Ocasio-Cortez eloquently acknowledged the limited time slot, tweeting a poem by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, “I have only just a minute.” The late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) recited it during his first floor speech to Congress in 1996.
“I only have a minute.
Sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, I did not choose it,
But I know that I must use it.
Give account if I abuse it.
Suffer, if I lose it.
Only a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.”
- Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
(and recited by Elijah Cummings) 💜 ▻https://t.co/ul9CE7NriV
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 12, 2020
The convention, where presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is slated to formally accept his presidential nomination, will be a dramatically scaled-back version of an event that typically draws tens of thousands of people to mark the start of the general election campaign. (...)