Presidential candidate Jasmine Sherman: Green Party is silencing Jill Stein opponents

An Oregon party official uninvited presidential candidate Jasmine Sherman from speaking to Green Party members in February. And Oregon isn’t the only state where candidates say they’ve been silenced by Green Party officials. Jasmine suggests people look at what happened in California, Kansas, Massachusetts, Alaska, and Arizona. On March 28:

Jasmine Sherman (2024 Presidential candidate): The Green Party has an issue, and I’ll be candid about that. The Green Party has an issue with—A lot of the people who are in the the Green Party were originally Democrats who got mad at the Democrats, and they’ve never actually wanted to win. The desire has been to push the Democrats further left. And the reason I say that they’ve never wanted to win is based on the fact that their model isn’t for winning, right?

[00:00:47] Jill Stein is a candidate that they all know, and really love, right? But there’s no such thing as fifth time’s a charm. She has consistently lost every race that she has run. The Green Party would go further if they stopped talking about their 5% legacy, and actually started talking about how they want to make change. And they don’t.

[00:01:08] But that is the Green Party. It is full of racist people, and they’re not worried about helping. That’s why they keep putting Jill up there, right there. They love to collect the donations. They love to be on all these boards. But they do not actually want to make change. And I’m encountering that along the way.

[00:01:27] John Q: The Jill Stein campaign has acknowledged an Oregon official made an error by uninviting Jasmine Sherman from Oregon’s February convention. Oregon Green Party official Nathalie Paravicini uninvited Jasmine from the convention. When challenged, Nathalie wrote, ‘I got wrong info, apologies, will correct.’ But three days later, without re-inviting Jasmine, Nathalie followed up by writing, ‘Feel free to further complain to the Black caucus as much as you want… I will really no longer reply.’

[00:01:58] Jasmine Sherman (2024 Presidential candidate): The worst part is, in Nathalie’s email to me, she was like, ‘You can continue to cry to the Black Caucus if you want to.’ But I was following the procedure when it comes to dispute resolution. And I never wrote a single word to Nathalie because she said, ‘Never write me again.’

[00:02:14] So when she wrote that half-assed apology, I didn’t respond, because in writing she said never write her again. And it wasn’t a genuine or sincere apology at all. She literally said, We’re going to start treating you differently. That was in writing.

[00:02:30] I wasn’t surprised. People who are bigots are going to continue to be bigots. I was more than willing to come to Oregon. I’ve had people who have told me they’ve joined the local Green Party so they could support me, only to be told, ‘Oh, Jasmine has dropped out, only Jill Stein is our candidate.’ And that’s not true. There is still an election. I actually want to help people. My responsibility is to get on all 50 states’ ballots. The Stein campaign is not interested in that.

[00:02:56] John Q: Jasmine said Oregon isn’t alone. They’ve been shut out of the process in other states too.

[00:03:02] Jasmine Sherman (2024 Presidential candidate): California wouldn’t even let us on the ballot, period. They allow Jill Stein to be on the ballot after the deadline, the only candidate. So that tells you that they’re not for democracy. They’re not for equitable behavior.

[00:03:17] We also had a similar situation in other states, like, this is a consistent thing where it’s supposed to be open to everyone. But it’s not, right? Like, they won’t give out the emails. They won’t distribute it to people. So, a lot of people didn’t know I was running. And they do themselves a disservice because the Green Party claims to be different from Republicans and the Democrats, but then they go ahead and exemplify those racist behaviors.

[00:03:42] So I just want you to see the way Green Party people speak. This guy, his name is ‘Green Party of the U.S. Co-Founder.’ This is how the national party speaks to me. I’m saying, ‘I feel like I’ve been transparent about, about the Green Party isn’t even trying to run a fair race.’ And this person said, ‘You’re not trying to build a party at all.’ ‘No, I’m trying to win an election. Building a party doesn’t give people housing, healthcare, and education.’ And so there is a very big difference. They’re trying to make a party. I’m trying to help people.

[00:04:18] And then he called me angry. And anyone who understands dog whistles knows that that’s a racist trope. And so I responded with, ‘That is a microaggression. There is nothing angry about what I said, but there is something racist about what you said.’

[00:04:33] And that goes again to what I’m saying about the Green Party, right? Their goal isn’t to do the things that they’re telling people. I’m going to share this email with you as well. This is from the media committee.

[00:04:46] ‘Dear colleagues, per our democratically decided upon PCSC requirements, which most thought were too low, given the information we have on hand, neither Jasmine Sherman nor Jorge Zavala have met the requirements. I formally request that until the post-January 1 recognition qualifications are met, that the PCSC ask the webmaster to remove these two candidates from the website as ‘qualified.’ It is potentially misleading to the public and is in contravention to our rules.’

[00:05:20] Note, this does not mean that these candidates do not meet the qualifications, but we don’t have the documentation as such. Now, when you go to qualify, we had to submit our records. Our accounting department submitted every single name because it’s a requirement from the federal government. This gentleman didn’t ask for those things. He just said no one gave them to him. If the Federal Election Commission doesn’t have a problem with the way I’m reporting it, why does the guy from the media committee who wants us removed?

[00:05:49] Do you realize since the Free and Equal debate, I have raised $20,000 additional dollars, right? Now do you realize that out of all the people running for president, I am number 10, out of the thousands of people who are running for president of the United States. My base are young people. But the Green Party has no desire to actually run candidates that win. At all.

[00:06:11] I wrote back to the media committee: ‘Instead of directly contacting us for the necessary documents, which we possess and have maintained in compliance with all the required standards, despite significant opposition from numerous Democrats presenting as Greens, we have observed a departure from democratic processes. The shift appears to facilitate ongoing sycophant conduct, rather than uphold transparent and equitable candidate recognition practices.’

[00:06:36] I got no response. I’m still on that website though.

[00:06:39] You haven’t heard about Kansas. Kansas had an election and only seven people got to participate. Daví was upset the night that they found out Kansas didn’t let him know how it went down. So he wrote a very passionate letter explaining how he felt. They only had seven people participate in this Kansas election. Seven. And Jill Stein got all the votes for all the seven people that made the state party.

[00:07:05] John Q: The Daví campaign confirmed receiving email from Jill Stein’s campaign manager which said, ‘I have no idea why your name was not on the Kansas ballot. If there needs to be investigation and answers then let there be.’

[00:07:19] The number of deciders in Massachusetts was also said to be very small.

[00:07:25] Jasmine Sherman (2024 Presidential candidate): Massachusetts, only 33 people’s things were accepted. The only reason Jill is currently winning, it’s because seven people show up, 33 votes are counted. It isn’t because she’s actually who people want.

[00:07:36] So what’s disappointing for me is there are a bunch of events that the Green Party asked us to go. Jill does not have to attend them. She, if she attends, she doesn’t have to stay for them.

[00:07:46] My issue with the Green Party, though, is instead of recognizing what they have in younger candidates like myself and Daví, you know, like, it takes a lot to be, to get as far as I have gotten with nothing, right? Like, the Green Party hasn’t given me a dime, but I was able to put together a team. We were able to get it to the Free and Equal Debate. We were able to win that debate. Jill Stein did not win. No one is talking about Jill Stein from that debate. We have been successfully attending all of these rallies across the country.

[00:08:13] Could you imagine what we could do, if I got a fair shot, like an equitable shot, like if I had not been uninvited from Oregon, right? I still want to speak to people in Oregon, but I don’t feel like I will get a fair election in Oregon. The people who are trying to run for lower offices are not getting a fair election in Oregon.

[00:08:34] It has been disheartening because I’ve told people, ‘You need to join the Green Party!’ And younger people are like, ‘I trusted you and this isn’t a safe place for us.’ We have an issue where people are very against being trans, right, within the Green Party. How can I tell gay, trans, young people this is a safe place for you when it’s not? When it’s just a place where Democrats have moved to and decided that they want to be ‘Democrat Lite.’

[00:08:59] You should look into what happened in Arizona as well.

[00:09:02] I use this teaching moment for myself and my staff: Political parties are not your identity. They are a vehicle to get people whose values align with yours elected. It should not be about a legacy. It should not be about stability. If Jill Stein got hit by a car tomorrow, unfortunately, I’m not trying to wish that on her, but what would they do? Because they would then have to look at me. Right? Or they would just say we’re not doing it anymore.

[00:09:29] But I was not expecting this from the Green Party. I was not expecting it to be a system where people knew that the Green Party was full of racists, but because they’re full of racists, they just ask the Black members to keep their secrets, right? They just ask them, ‘Don’t tell anybody. I know, I’m sorry,’ privately, but they treat people bad and people are aware of it.

[00:09:50] And there is an email where the Stein campaign has refused to debate us.

[00:09:55] John Q: That email was from the Alaska Green Party. Quoting from that email:

[00:10:01] Jasmine Sherman (2024 Presidential candidate): ‘Jill is snubbing the state party, violating the values of grassroots democracy by refusing to recognize the sovereignty of the state’s party, and is instead paying to have her name on the ballot in Alaska as an independent.’

[00:10:14] John Q: We’ve asked the Kansas, Massachusetts, and Arizona Greens for details about their endorsement and voting procedures and the number of participating voters. The Alaska Greens confirmed that Jill Stein refused to debate with Jasmine Sherman, citing several principled reasons for doing so. We’ve asked if Jill Stein would speak up for open debate, or encourage state Greens to feature more than one presidential candidate. The Jill Stein campaign has not yet responded.

[00:10:43] Jasmine Sherman (2024 Presidential candidate): Jill doesn’t want to win. I’ll go on record as saying: I do not appreciate any candidate that is stealing from people with no intentions to do the job. That’s why you only hear her talking about 5%. 5%. Every dollar that is taken by a candidate that does not want to win is theft, in my opinion. That’s someone that is grifting.

[00:11:04] Now, D.C., West Virginia, in certain states you can’t file again if you lose your party’s nomination. So we just decided we’re not going to trust the Green Party and we’re going to do it under the Unicorn Party. West Virginia told us they wanted to meet with us. They were like, ‘Oh, can you help us? Can you help us organize an event about how third-party candidates need equal airtime? Jill Stein doesn’t want to be on independent Green Party ballot, she wants to work with the affiliated Green Party. She told me if I can raise $10K for her, then she would come and meet with us.’

[00:11:38] So my response to that: ‘If you choose to enable this behavior, I can’t stop you, but I do think this is part of the hypocrisy in the Green Party. You have bad actors.’ You see what I’m saying?

[00:11:48] I made a comment in the New Yorker, and they quoted it. People assume Jill Stein’s the obvious nominee when she’s not, but life isn’t fair, and I’m Black, and I’m fat, and I’m queer, I don’t have time to try to do what they’re doing and run for president. So for right now, my goal is on winning. My goal is on winning my race.

[00:12:10] I’ve had an influx of 256 people apply since Feb. 29. We’ve gotten 30 of them onboarded. I have ballot access that I need to fundraise the $300K for, to make sure I’m on every state ballot.

[00:12:23] Complaining about Jill Stein is something I definitely want to do. I take pleasure in it, right? But my focus is on winning.

[00:12:29] We have a lot of money to raise. We have a short amount of time to raise it. And it wouldn’t cost us this much if the Green Party was actually running a fair election. When we talk about keeping money out of elections and money out of politics, I am the only candidate that I have seen actually walking the walk that I talk.

[00:12:45] If you are someone that wants to donate in a more traditional way, please go to JasmineSherman.com, and the ‘Donate’ is right at the top. It takes you to PayPal. You can donate via the CashApp, $JasmineSherman2024, dollar sign up front.

[00:12:59] Last summer, me and several of the people that work here, on a hot bus, no insulation, selling fried chicken to fundraise for this campaign. We haven’t just been begging for money. We’re living our values, and we’re trying to really change the world.

[00:13:14] The constitution was supposed to be rewritten every 20 years. And because people were lazy and focused on bigotry, it didn’t happen. I, and several other people in my generation and after us, have been entered into a social contract that we didn’t agree to. It does not work for me. It doesn’t serve me. So why perpetuate it? Let’s reset. Yes, we need a constitutional convention that offers protections and the quality to basic human life. 100% I would be calling for a constitutional convention.

[00:13:42] We spend a lot of tax money overseas to give other people their basic human needs. My fastest summation is: Let’s cut the check off from other people and keep the money here stateside.

[00:13:53] Keeping money stateside gives us the ability to lower taxes, remove property taxes, give every American housing. Provide them with quality health care. We spent $4.5 trillion in 2022 on healthcare when it’s only $3 trillion to give every American universal healthcare, good quality, including your dental, your vision, and putting it in a mixed walkable neighborhood.

[00:14:15] I’m running a very simple campaign. It’s about giving Americans a real quality at thriving. The goal is: Let’s reset.

[00:14:23] John Q: Jasmine Sherman may get a chance to speak in Oregon, after all. A group of Oregon Greens has stepped forward to protest what they call ‘growing authoritarianism’ within the party. They’re organizing a nominating convention, tentatively scheduled for April 28, and they promise that Jill Stein will not be the only candidate invited.

For more, see their website at OregonGreenParty.com.

UPDATE (April 3, 2024): The Arizona Green Party said 34 voters participated in their presidential preference election, described the status of the organization, and shared communications with presidential candidates Daví and Jasmine Sherman.