While campaigning in Iowa, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat down with BuzzFeed’s Another Round, a podcast on race and pop culture, to discuss Black Lives Matter and reparations in a lengthy interview.
As a part of the rapid-fire question round, host Tracy Clayton jokingly asked Clinton if she would be getting a reparation check.
Clinton used the question to pivot to her campaign platform of expanding opportunities.
“I’ll tell you what, I think we need to make many more investments in everything from pre-school education to affordable housing, that’s my form of trying to give people the chance to be empowered, to make the most out of their god-given potential,” Clinton said. “I’ll try to get the system to change.”
Clinton also talked about how she doesn’t want young or budding activists to be discouraged by the sometimes slow pace of change.
“I so admire their passion and their intensity in reacting to what is a terrible, continuing systemic problem of race and justice in America,” Clinton said, referring to the Black Lives Matter movement. “There’s no doubt in my mind they’ve galvanized opinion across the country and they have given real energy to try to get some changes quickly made like the president’s policing commission has recommended.”
She didn’t want anyone to “walk away from the hard work it takes” to make changes “because we need them, we need their voices, we need their activism.”
“I’ve seen, myself, a lot of change has happened. And it matters. The Civil Rights Acts mattered, the Voting Rights Act mattered. But what I think people have learned is there is no way progress continues if there isn’t constant pressure,” Clinton said.
Listen the full interview, from BuzzFeed, below:
What a terrible question. Essentially, “Will you be paying me if I vote for you?” Even in jest, the potential for opposition use was overwhelming. HRC was smart to pivot away.
“I think we need to make many more investments in everything from pre-school education to affordable housing”
what so many kind hearted, well intentioned liberals fail to understand is that all the investment in the world, although a start, means nothing so long as mostly black, sometimes brown school children are disciplined more harshly for the same behavior as their white counterparts.
All of the investment in the world means nothing as long as mostly black sometimes brown school children are assumed to be of inferior intelligence, and thus incapable of a rigorous academic workload, denying them the opportunity to be challenged in a meaningful way.
All of the investment in the world means nothing so long as mostly black, sometimes brown adults are steered towards subprime loans, if they can get a home loan.
“I’ll try to get the system to change.”
It’s not the system, it’s the actors within the system.
This is why the Black Lives Matters movement is necessary, because Black people know what’s best for Black people; it’s just a matter of getting courageous black people in positions to make a difference
Part of the “investment” would be in changing the things you mention.
Oh well, there you go! Don’t vote for Hillary, cause Trump will be SUCH a better actor in the system.
This post is essentially the right wing response to a shooting that we have seen all week. “Nothing we can do will stop it, so lets do nothing”.
Is that really what “Black Lives Matter” means? I had not understood it to be an affirmative action program.