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:
