ESSENCE FEST IS BRINGING SEVERAL 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NOMINEE HOPEFULS FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE LARGEST GATHERING OF BLACK WOMEN IN THE COUNTRY.
ESSENCE Fest is bringing several of the Democratic contenders for the 2020 Presidential candidate slot face-to-face with the largest gathering of Black women in the country.

Announced today, the 2019 ESSENCE Festival presented by Coca-Cola will host exclusive keynote conversations with five of the leading Democratic contenders in the 2020 Presidential race, including Senator Cory Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Senator Kamala Harris, Former Representative Beto O’Rourke and Senator Elizabeth Warren.

These live ‘Presidential Spotlight’ segments will take place on Saturday, July 6 and Sunday, July 7, 2019 on the ESSENCE Power Stage at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA. Following the candidates’ remarks, a question-and answer session with each will be led by Rev. Al Sharpton, ESSENCE CEO Michelle Ebanks and Essence Ventures Founder & Chair, Richelieu Dennis. The Q&A will feature questions generated directly from the ESSENCE community, which includes more than 24 million Black women.

The keynotes will be aired on MSNBC’s Politics Nation with Al Sharpton.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke visited Mexico on Sunday and listened to tearful immigrants say they fled Central American violence and turmoil to seek asylum in the U.S., but were turned away at the border.
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A fluent Spanish speaker, O’Rourke met around a table at a shelter with immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, some of whom wept as they told of being denied entry into the US while their asylum claims are processed. Many said they were terrified they’d be sent back to their home countries, where their lives had been threatened because of abusive spouses, street gang violence or drug smugglers.
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He blames those being forced to wait on “the Trump administration’s unlawful ‘Remain in Mexico’ program,” which has allowed the United States to return thousands of Central Americans to Mexican border cities as they wait to hear about their asylum claims. It is meant to reduce the attractiveness of US asylum requests that in the past had allowed claimants to remain in the US for years as their cases wound their way through the courts.

Praising his hometown as part of the world’s largest “binational” community with Juarez is a centerpiece of O’Rourke’s presidential campaign, and he released a sweeping immigration plan in May calling for providing millions of people in the country illegally with a “pathway” to US citizenship, while deploying thousands of lawyers to the border to help process asylum cases and earmarking $5 billion to improve living conditions in Central America.
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During the first presidential primary debate in Miami, last week, however, O’Rourke clashed with fellow Texan and presidential candidate Julian Castro, who chided the ex-congressman for not being willing to fully decriminalize crossing the US-Mexico border illegally.

O’Rourke has argued that doing so could result in drug- and people-smugglers being protected.

Castro, a former Obama administration housing chief and San Antonio mayor, told a Texas rally on Friday night that he had suddenly gone from long being outshined by O’Rourke on the campaign trail to becoming “THE Texan in this race.”

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is heading to Mexico on Sunday to meet with immigrants seeking U.S. asylum but “turned away” at the border.

In the former congressman’s first international trip as a White House hopeful, his campaign says O’Rourke will visit Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from his native El Paso, Texas, to meet with what it calls “individuals and families directly impacted by Donald Trump’s cruel and inhumane policies.”

O’Rourke hopes to “shed light on the desperate circumstances those who are seeking asylum and refuge are fleeing, and the conditions these families and individuals are forced to endure when they’ve been turned away from our borders.” That includes meeting with people and organizations providing immigrants care and assistance in Mexico.
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“In all of the debate around immigration, we can’t forget who it impacts most: the people traveling thousands of miles, fleeing the worst kind of violence and oppression,” O’Rourke said in a statement Saturday. “Turning away refugees, families and asylum seekers is not who we are as a country. But as long as Donald Trump is president — it will be.”

O’Rourke is also planning a rally Sunday outside the U.S. Border Patrol facility in nearby Clint, Texas, where immigrant children have reported being denied access to such basic amenities as showers, soap and toothbrushes. He previously visited centers holding immigrant children in Houston, and was one of many Democratic presidential candidates who traveled to one in Homestead, Florida, near the site of last week’s primary debates in Miami.

Democratic 2020 Presidential Primary Candidate Beto O’Rourke will speak at this year’s OZY Fest.

The Democratic candidate and former Congressman will speak at New York City’s Great Lawn of Manhattan’s Central Park at the fourth annual OZY Fest on Sunday, July 21st. O’Rourke will be joining Stacey Abrams and John Kasich as the festival’s political headliners

O’Rourke became one of the youngest members to ever sit on the El Paso City Council in 2005, and later became elected for U.S. Congress in 2012, taking on a 16-year incumbert. In Congress, he successfully enacted laws that improved access to health for all veterans, added urgent mental health resources for service members, and permanently protected thousands of acres of natural land. In 2017, he ran the largest grassroots 19-month campaign to represent all 28 million Texans in the U.S. Senate.

Hosted by OZY Media co-founder Carlos Watson and former Yankees all-star Alex Rodriguez, the two-day event will feature live music, conversation, comedy, and food from some of the world’s biggest and boldest thinkers. This year’s music performances include sets from John Legend, Miguel, Tove Lo, ARIZONA, Jazzy Amra, as well as comedy sets by Trevor Noah, Dulcé Sloan, and Ronny Chieng.

The festival emphasizes its “global marketplace”, and features a mix of world writers and leaders (Malcolm Gladwell, Deepak Chopra), filmmakers (Spike Lee), celebrity chefs (Padma Lakshmi, Rachael Ray, Marcus Samuelsson), TV personalities and social activists (Jameela Jamil), and industry-leading entrepreneurs (Mark Cuban, Cindy Eckert).

OZY Fest sets itself apart from the usual “music festival” label, fostering diverse discussions and a wide-sets of entertainment for all people to enjoy in the city that never sleeps. Last year’s festival attracted over 20,000 attendees, with OZY Fest 2019 looking bigger and better than ever before.