Black Americans are not a monolith — and neither is the Black experience.
There is no one-size-fits-all political policy for Black Americans. Income inequality and mass incarceration are important issues for the community — but they are not the only issues. We deserve a presidential candidate who understands this.
Hillary Clinton is that candidate.
As a senator from New York, Hillary worked hard to break down barriers nationwide. Just a few of the things she did: fought to eliminate sentencing disparities, fought to end racial profiling by police forces, worked to reform the juvenile justice system and help at-risk youth, defended programs to help create affordable housing, introduced a bill that would give grants to HBCUs, helped minority entrepreneurs get access to financing for their businesses, and worked to create a national pre-K program.
And that’s not even half of it. You can read the full list here.
Here are just 7 of the ways as president she will improve lives for Black families—beyond working against income inequality and reforming our criminal justice system.
1. Fight to make sure everyone can access reproductive rights
People (besides Hillary, who talks about this all the time) don’t bring this up often enough: Reproductive rights are an economic issue, and when access to abortion is cut off, women of color are hurt the most. Access to birth control and abortion are so important to the Black community. Hillary Clinton will do more than protect these rights, she’ll fight to expand them by doing things like repealing the Hyde to expand access to critical health services.
2. Get America’s gun problem under control
Guns are the leading cause of death for young Black men. Each year, more young Black men are killed from gun violence than die from the next nine leading causes of death—combined. Hillary will stand up to the gun lobby, and work to build on President Obama’s efforts to keep gun dealers from flooding our streets with illegal guns..
3. Make sure the environment we live in isn’t literally toxic
It’s 2016. We really shouldn’t need to still say that clean water is a basic human right. But we all saw what happened in Flint, and we all know that Flint is not alone. Black children are TWICE as likely to suffer from asthma. TWICE. Because the communities we live in are polluted without consequence. As president, Hillary will reduce air pollution, work to remove toxins (like lead) from the environment, fix our infrastructure, and clean up polluted toxic areas.
4. Support small business—specifically, small businesses owned by Black women
Black women are the fastest-growing group of women entrepreneurs, and Hillary will make sure that group continues to grow. Her policy focuses specifically on providing access to capital—which will help empower more Black women to start their own companies and become financially independent.
5. End violence against trans* women of color
Trans* women of color are disproportionately targeted by discrimination, harassment, and violence. In addition to working for LGBT equality across the board, Hillary will specifically address transgender violence by making it easier to report hate crimes accurately, training law enforcement officers to treat trans* women with fairness and respect, and directing the government to collect better data on crimes against trans* women, so that we can study and begin to stop this epidemic.
6. Invest in early childhood education
Our children cannot succeed in this world if they don’t get off to good start. Hillary will double our investment in Early Head Start and ensure that every single four year old in America has access to quality pre-K.
7. Put $25 billion into supporting HBCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions..
Do I even need to talk about why this is important? Our universities are in trouble, and many have been on the verge of closing for years. Hillary understands the importance of making sure that these institutions can survive and thrive, so that our children and grandchildren will be able to have the experience of attending a college that is filled with—and run by—people who look like them.
Hillary Clinton is truly committed to breaking down all of the barriers, big and small, that are holding us back. She’s been doing it for decades—I didn’t even get to talk about all of the work she did BEFORE becoming a senator. We deserve a president who understands that our community cares about more than income inequality and mass incarceration reform—Hillary Clinton will be that president.
If you want to learn more about Hillary’s racial justice plan, click here. If you want to REALLY learn more (like, read a 13 page fact sheet about how she’ll get it done) click here.
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