At National Convention of State Americans Elect Parties, Bestselling Authors/Activists Sister Souljah and Tao Lin Meet with Arizona Americans Elect Party Leaders, Hail Party as "America's Hipster/Hip-Hop Party"

NEW YORK, June 1 --

The national Convention of State Americans Elect Parties continued today, with speeches by Americans Elect Corporation leaders Peter Ackerman and Khalil Byrd, and addresses by bestselling author/activists Sister Souljah and Tao Lin, who afterward met with leaders of the Arizona Americans Elect Party and proclaimed the state party "America's Hipster/Hip-Hop Party."

The convention is the first organized meeting of leaders of the Americans Elect Party in the dozen states where the political party will be on the ballot in 2014 -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin -- along with representatives of other unofficial Americans Elect state political parties.

The morning's events featured a talk by Peter Ackerman and Khalil Byrd on the future of the Americans Elect movement and the political parties spawned by their 2012 effort to find a presidential candidate through an online primary, which ended inconclusively.  Tomorrow New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent who has been suggested as a past and future presidential candidate of Americans Elect, will give the keynote address.

In the afternoon, leaders of the Arizona Americans Elect Party, as delegates to the national convention, took part in various workshops.  Rabbi Elana de Carvajal, Pima County co-chair, moderated a panel discussion entitled "Poverty, Property and Immigration," and Maricopa County co-chair Jaden Parascandola led a workshop, "Paths Toward Utopia," exploring how the Americans Elect Party can organize at the polls and in the streets in order to work toward a society free of all forms of social domination.

After inspiring speeches by Sister Souljah, author of such best-selling novels as Midnight: A Gangster's Love Story, The Coldest Winter Ever, and A Deeper Love Inside: the Porsche Santiaga Story, and by Tao Lin, author of the acclaimed novels Eeeee Eee Eeee, Richard Yates and the just-published Taipei, the two writer/activists met with Arizona Americans Elect Party leaders Trey Young, Irina Tereshkova and Buffy Lehman Auchincloss and called the state party, the one Americans Elect group to run candidates for Congress in 2012, "America's Hipster/Hip-Hop Party."

"This convention has been an exciting time for all of us in the Arizona Americans Elect Party as we prepare to run candidates for state and federal office in 2014," said party leader Trey Young.  "We're proud to accept the high praise and to learn from such brilliant thinkers as Sister Souljah and Tao Lin."

The Convention of State Americans Elect Parties will tonight host a party at the Westway nightclub in the far West Village and return for its final session tomorrow.