Paige Bold
Contributing Writer
pbold1@murraystate.edu
Kentucky’s democratic primary is quickly approaching on June 23 and the Sunrise Movement Murray hub endorsed senate candidate Charles Booker with a banner drop on campus.
On Saturday, June 13, the organization participated in the banner drop as a part of a series of drops happening for Charles Booker at different universities across Kentucky. Others universities that participated include University of Kentucky, Bowling Green State University and Western Kentucky University.
The Sunrise Movement in Murray decided to drop the banner off the campus bridge on Chestnut street because of its high visibility. Ashlen Grubbs, junior from LaRue County, started the Sunrise Movement in Murray. Grubbs said they planned the drop for Murray State because of Murray State’s past slogan.
“The drop was done specifically in Murray because our slogan is ‘Opportunity Afforded,’ so I think that Booker’s vision will really resonate with a lot of Murray State students,” Grubbs said. “That’s why we wanted Murray to know that there’s a candidate running for U.S. Senate who is standing with us and standing up for them.”
Grubbs also said she thinks Booker is the right candidate for Murray State students because of his policy plans regarding student debt and education.
“He supports student loan forgiveness and is fighting to expand public education to include a 4-year Bachelor’s degree,” Grubbs said. “This would provide students from less wealthy backgrounds to expand their education in order to fight back against college price tags becoming increasingly unattainable for low-income families.”
Grubbs said she personally got involved with Booker’s campaign because of his vision for Kentucky including his plans regarding healthcare.
“I have a large amount of medical debt from some hospitalizations I had when I was 18, and one of Booker’s core values is affordable healthcare,” Grubbs said. “He always says ‘Nobody deserves to die just because they don’t have money in their pocket’ and that message really shows me how much Booker really does know what Kentuckians want.”
Grubbs said the goal of the banner drop was to increase name recognition for Booker since he is using a grassroots campaign. Booker has raised over seven million dollars for his campaign.
“We basically wanted to show that even though McGrath might have the money and support from outside of Kentucky, actual Kentuckians are only doing big actions like this for Booker because he’s a candidate we can get excited about,” Grubbs said.
Grubbs said the banner was created by four members of the organization and three helped make the drop happen.
“We are just a small team in a larger Murray hub, which is just one of four Kentucky hubs who were a part of this project on the state-wide level,” Grubbs said.
There are plans for more events like this in the future for this organization. Grubbs also said that this was the second banner dropped in Murray this summer.
Jordyn Krueger, junior from LaRue County, is a member of the organization.
“I always get this really big wave of adrenaline when I drop banners since it feels so good to be doing something that I know a lot of people will see and wonder about that supports Booker,” Krueger said.
The Sunrise Murray hub does several other events on the local, state and national level such as phone banking, Sunrise School, webinars/trainings and other art actions. They hope to do a chalk-out and potentially some other art actions over the next months.
Those interested in joining the hub or the art team can contact Grubbs at (270) 491-0705.