and Jersey takes center stage on night three of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Senator Cory Booker and Congressman Andy Kim both had prominent speaking slots in the evening's lineup Booker is a co-chair for the convention and had several opportunities to talk to the crowd gathering in the session then serving as an MC by introducing other speakers he used his moments on stage to criticize Donald Trump and pay homage to the late Congressman Bill pascarell then energized the crowd in a speech where he talked about Hope leading the audience in chance of I believe in America I believe in America where we share common ground and common cause and one common Destiny and let me tell you if you believe in America if you love in America then you will work for America and when we work together when we stand together when we organize together when we vote together I will tell you this when we fight we win Andy Kim who's running for the seat now vacated by Bob Menendez used his speech to talk about the January 6th Insurrection at the capital where he was famously photographed cleaning up glass and other debris in the capital rotunda the day after the riots Kim urged Democrats to heal America for the Next Generation what I learned on January 6 is that all of us all of us are caretakers for our great Republic we can heal this country but only if we try many of you are doing your part through your voices and your votes always remember this chaos that we see it doesn't have to be this way among the other speakers were parents of an Israeli American hostage who was kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7th attack putting the Israel Hamas war on the Forefront of delegates Minds for the 30 uncommitted delegates attending the war is the key reason for their presence as they work to include a call for a ceasefire in Gaza to be part of the DNC platform well one of those delegates is Ahmad Awad from New Jersey who joins me now from Chicago Ahmad thank you for taking a few minutes let me start with this news that you and the fellow uncommitted delegates received which is that the folks at the DNC have denied your request to have an American Palestinian speak to the convention absolutely so around 800m yesterday evening as I was inside the United Center um at the DNC I received word from the co-founder of the ununited uncommitted movement abas alawiya that the DNC has rejected our request to have a Palestinian American speaker um highlight the Palestinian uh cause on the dnc's main stage so I mean talk to me about the reaction there and how you all are processing that because it seems anyway at least from those of us at home that many of the demands requests that the uncommitted delegates have made have gone unmet you know it was very disturbing to say the least um it's disgusting when you have uh the Democratic party continue to highlight that they are the party of inclusion that all are welcome in the party and we are under one big tent so when we were informed that a Palestinian American Voice will not be allowed at the DNC we were extremely angered by this decision and in response myself as well as many of the other delegates we decided that we're going to step outside of the vention and there was a sit in that has began yesterday at 8:00 p.m. and it's still ongoing to this moment and the request is simple we are asking for a simple request of a few minutes to be able to discuss the Palestinian cause in the Palestinian suffering that has been ongoing for the past 10 months in front of the public on the DNC stage and unfortunately they have made their voices loud and clear that they do not believe that Palestinian voices should be heard and so what do you see and what do the your fellow uncommitted delegates see as your role now that that decision has been made um kamla Harris is poised to accept the party's nomination and um there was a family parents of an American Israeli hostage uh who spoke last night what do you see as your role being there at this point our role is still remaining the same we're calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gazza we are calling for an arms embargo on Israel not another bomb sent to support netanyahu's genocidal campaign in Gaza it is time for the Democratic party to change their policy and adopt a policy which the vast majority of Democrats the vast majority of Americans support and that is for in arms embargo not another bom to kill innocent Palestinian children these demands these requests that have been being made if if they're going unmet and unheard do you feel like then maybe the convention was not the right Avenue to try to get at this just given how it's played out so far no I don't believe so I think that this is the correct Avenue and I believe that we are going to remain steadfast in our commitment to making our voic is heard we're going to continue to demand that the Harris campaign uh adopt a policy shift and adopt policy change no more empty words we need action there's 70 days remaining until the election and I can tell you that myself as well as the other delegates that are here that are uncommitted delegates we want to support the Democratic party moving into November but until we see vice president Harris and the Democratic party adopt positions that are uh felt and and and are near and dear to the hearts of many within the party and are supported by the vast majority of the democratic party um we're going to continue just to voice our concerns and voice our opinions and uh see how the next couple of months go leading up to the November election Ahmad Awad is an uncommitted delegate from New Jersey one of two uh from New Jersey one of 30 total at the DNC thanks so much for joining us thank you very much Brianna I appreciate the platform