Secretary Hillary Clinton is getting real about how she plans to address concerns important to the African-American community, should she be elected President of the United States this November.
In a recent interview on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Clinton spoke in detail about some of her plans to ensure that the issues facing African-Americans are accurately assessed.
While admitting that she’s fully aware she has much farther to go to gain the trust of the many who are skeptical of the motives behind her bid for the White House, the former first lady says she’s up for the challenge.
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“I’m well aware that I still have work to do and I’m very committed to continuing to traveling across the country to talk about and hear from young African-Americans about the struggles that they face daily. Our campaign has hired a number of people, both at our headquarters and organizers on and off campus that are also having conversations about what’s at stake in this election. And I also have a lot of sympathy, because think about what this millennial generation has faced. They entered the workforce during one the worst recessions in our nation’s history.”
Asked by journalist and political commentator Roland Martin to identify three issues –apart from criminal justice reform– that are central to her campaign and affect Black voters, Secretary Clinton spoke about provisions for better paying jobs, affordable education and student loan debt relief.
“What I’m focusing on is more good-paying jobs, I want to make college affordable and that is a plan that I’ve been talking about and working toward since I got into this campaign” she said. “I also want to help everybody with student debt and that’s a very high proportion of African-American young people with a B.A., that come out with student debt. We’re going to really help that get paid down and paid off so people can get on with their life.”
Clinton expanded further on the topic, getting specific about her plans to increase funding and opportunities for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, before touching on planned initiatives to directly benefit Black women. “I’m committed to helping historically Black colleges and universities – in fact, I have a specific fund of $25 billion dollars that will really upgrade and support and provide financial assistance for young people, because I think the HBCU’s are incredibly important in providing a pathway into the future,” she continued.
“We’re going to make sure that we deal with criminal justice reform, address gun violence and have a positive agenda to get wages up. Not only national minimum wage, but equal pay for women, helping small businesses, especially young people who want to be entrepreneurs.”
The Democratic Presidential Nominee also discussed several other issues relevant to the Black community and her presidency in general, including the aftermath of Colin Kaepernick’s protest, Colin Powell’s recently-leaked private e-mails and the possibility of nominating the first Black woman in history to the Supreme Court.
Read the full interview here.