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Community members at Green Party presidential candidate Dr Jill Stein’s Q&A Forum.
Nonprofit organizations Al Hub and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) co-hosted a Q&A forum on Wednesday, Oct. 16, featuring Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein. Held at an office building in Orland Park, located at 16101 S. 108th Avenue, the event showcased the Green Party’s focus on community-driven activism, branding itself as a “People Power Party.” Although Dr. Stein is not officially on the ballot for the 2025 election, attendees were informed that she could be written in as a candidate.
“The forum was very community-driven,” said Thaer Alkiswani, an Al Hub member. “We organized it with volunteers, spreading the word through social media and word of mouth.” Attendees were asked to register and submit questions for Stein in advance, allowing for a more focused discussion on critical issues.
Al Hub’s mission centers on empowering the diaspora through education, community collaboration, and restorative justice. The organization aims to enhance critical thinking and foster social cohesion by integrating diverse perspectives and well-being. Similarly, SJP is a student organization committed to the justice and self-determination of the
Palestinian people. Both organizations share a dedication to advocacy, education, and community building with a strong focus on social justice.
About 200 people gathered for Stein’s suburban campaign stop. Much of the discussion centered on clarifying the Green Party’s positions; Stein addressed questions on healthcare, military spending, and foreign policy. She said that her activism began from “a desperation to end genocide, empire, and assaults on human rights and international law.”
During the 90-minute discussion, Stein also reflected on her experiences during the Vietnam War, explaining how both the Democratic and Republican parties “carried out a genocidal war where millions of dark-skinned people were murdered for economic domination.” This, she said, was a turning point that ignited her political activism.
First running for office in 2002, Stein conveyed her disdain for mainstream politics: “What I discovered is that there’s such a hunger for politics that isn’t bought and paid for, for politics that doesn’t smell like a rat. I consider myself an anti-politician. I despise what politicians stand for and what our political system represents.”
As a trained physician, Stein shared how concerns over public health pushed her into the political arena. “I saw our health crumbling with new epidemics of cancer,” she said. Despite her efforts to address issues such as food deserts, housing, and poverty at the community level, she realized political representatives were failing the public. “A bill would pass, but with one word changed from ‘shall’ to maybe ‘may do something,’ and five years of work would go down the drain. That’s when I decided to run for office with the Green Party to fight back.”
Now, in her third presidential bid, Stein emphasized the Green Party’s grassroots nature, noting that the party relies on small-donor campaigns. “If you’re going to fight the empire—empire as in imperialism—without taking bribes from big corporations, you need to be a small-donor campaign. Corporations don’t waste money on us because they can’t buy our influence,” Stein said. “We’re a political party by and for the people. What we say is what we do. We don’t betray our supporters because that’s all we have.”
Stein underscored her commitment to progressive policies, including her campaign promises to cut the U.S. military budget in half, end the war in Gaza, and improve access to quality healthcare.
“We’re committed to healthcare as a human right because we’re not funded by big pharma. Over the past two decades, we’ve won more than 1,500 seats in local offices,” said Stein.
Stein concluded by expressing her solidarity with the Muslim American community, acknowledging the shared experiences of oppression. “In this race, I’ve been uplifted and inspired by how much we have in common. The Muslim American community, in particular, has had a front-row seat to the abuses of the empire. You know what it means to be victims of an empire abroad and at home. We must dismantle the empire.”
“The empire is on its last legs, much like the apartheid state of Israel,” said Stein.
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Green Party presidential candidate Dr.Jill Stein, Q&A with community members in Orland Park.