Hillary News & Views 2.23: FB Chat, Pledged Delegates, NV Latinas, Moms Impacted By Violence

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Tuesday February 23, 2016 · 4:03 AM PST

2016/02/23 · 04:03

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Today’s Hillary News & Views begins with Clinton’s Facebook chat from yesterday evening.

The Grio hosted the chat on their Facebook page. Here are Clinton’s answers to user’s question on a variety of topics.

Systemic racism and white privilege:

With South Carolina coming up, a lot of attention is being paid to the fight for black votes. But during your Harlem speech last week, you made a special note to call upon white Americans to be more humble and attentive to black concerns. How will you be continuing to engage white voters, specifically, on issues involving racial justice? — Jamil Smith

As I said in Harlem the other day, ending systemic racism requires contributions from all of us – especially those of us who haven’t experienced it ourselves. White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers that you face every day. We need to recognize our privilege and practice humility, rather than assume that our experiences are everyone’s experiences. So I’m going to keep spreading this message – and not just in front of African American audiences. I

’m going to keep talking to every kind of audience about this. Because it’s a vital national challenge and all of us have to step up. And I’m also going to keep pushing our “breaking every barrier” agenda across the country to make major new investments in communities of color that have been left out and left behind. As Cornell Brooks, the new head of the NAACP said the other day, none of this is a ‘they’ problem, it’s a ‘we’ problem.

Policing in America:

Madame Secretary, what,if anything, do you plan to do regarding the amount of police brutality facing black and brown communities? As the mother of three boys and wife to one very large black man, my concerns regarding this particular subject are very realistic. — Sarah Hopper Procope

Thank you, Sara. I can’t imagine what it must feel like for you every time your three boys and your husband go out the door. I want white Americans to try to understand the concerns that you’re expressing. It’s a kind of fear that many of us have never felt.

It’s outrageous that African American men are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms than white men found guilty of the same offenses. Can you imagine if the situation was reversed and white people faced that kind of injustice? Things would change very fast!

…We need to strengthen bonds of trust between communities and police by banning racial profiling, investing more resources in officer training, making body cameras available to every police department, and strengthening the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division that holds police departments accountable. And there are so many police departments out there who are doing this right, with officers who put their lives on the line everyday to keep us all safe – we should build on those best practices and apply them everywhere.

Job hiring:

Hillary I’m a supporter of you my question is , Now of days you need experience with jobs and jobs won’t hire you without it and people go to college but some jobs won’t hire you even with college background what would you do to change it? — Liz Noel Grevesen

That’s a great question, Liz. If you can’t find work, or if you’re stuck in a dead-end job, it can be really hard to imagine the future you want. So we need to work together to create more jobs, especially in communities that have been left out and left behind. We should focus on major new investments to create jobs for young people. We can support local small businesses and entrepreneurship – because that’s where most of the good new jobs of the future are going to come from – and those opportunities shouldn’t be limited by zip code. We can also invest more in infrastructure and transportation to connect people to where jobs actually are, and create even more jobs in the process.

And as we create new opportunities, we can do more to make sure that young people have the skills they need to succeed – like expanding job training and apprenticeships. We have to make government at every level a more effective partner in bringing together workers, labor, employers and training providers to prepare workers for good jobs. We need to make sure that incomes are rising again so that people can get ahead and stay ahead. That will be the centerpiece of my economic agenda.

At the core of these ideas is a simple concept. Every child in America should be able to live up to his or her God-given potential. An African American child should have the same chance as a white child. Opportunities should be available everywhere – cities, suburbs, and rural areas.

On prescription drugs and the Affordable Care Act, student loans, and personal attacks:

Krystle Disney asked three questions:

1) What specifically would you do to help me and others like me manage the high cost of prescription medication?

The Affordable Care Act has done so much to put health care within reach for millions of Americans – and we have to defend it – but we still have work to do to make it even better. It’s wrong that so many are still paying high out-of-pocket costs to get the health care they need – no one should have to choose between paying rent or paying for medication. We should stand up to the drug companies, cap how much you have to pay each month, go after predatory pricing, and finally, let Medicare negotiate for better prices. That’s just common sense!

2) For those of us who are paying off burdensome student loans already, is there anything you can or would do to help protect our finances under this burden?

So many students and graduates are in the spot you’re in. It’s important to remember that there are 40 million Americans holding student debt right now, so – while we absolutely need to make college more affordable, we also need to do more to help people with the debt they’ve already got. We need to help people refinance their student debt – that can save people thousands of dollars. And we should cap student loan repayment as a percentage of your income, so you never have to pay more than you can afford, and cap the number of years you have to pay it back. We’ll stop shady debt collectors from harassing you – even trying to get you arrested. And I’m proud to be the only candidate in this race with a real plan to support historically black colleges and universities.

3) On a personal level, you are the target both for Bernie supporters and Republicans. How do you stay grounded, focused, and positive when so many exaggerations, untruths, and ugly statements are directed your way?

Look, it’s not easy. I’m not going to pretend that all of the attacks and negativity don’t get to me, my friends, and many of my supporters. That’s when yoga – and/or a glass of wine! – come in handy. But I feel so strongly that we have to win this election, build on the progress President Obama has made, and go into the future breaking down all the barriers that are getting in people’s ways. So I learned a long time ago to take criticism seriously – you may learn something from it – but not personally. I’m also so grateful to all of my supporters who help push back against the misinformation online and spread the truth about what we’re trying to accomplish together.

LGBT Rights:

Secretary Clinton,
In Oklahoma a historic number of bills were introduced to limit the rights of LGBT Americans. The exact number is 26. This is one of the many problems that will not be solved through wealth redistribution. Will you raise awareness about this on the campaign trail? And what are your plans for taking this on? — Justin Plummer

Thanks, Justin. You’re right – we aren’t a single-issue country. We need to break down every barrier that holds Americans back, including the barriers of bigotry and discrimination.

Marriage equality was an important victory, but lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans are still fighting for full equality – and I’m going to keep fighting alongside you.

We need to fight back against attempts to roll back the progress we’ve made. In too many places, people can still be married on Sunday and be fired on Monday because of who they are or who they love.

We need to end the harmful practice of so-called “conversion therapy” – LGBT kids don’t need to be “cured” of anything.

And we need to take on the crisis of violence against transgender Americans, particular transgender women of color. LGBT Americans (and all Americans!) deserve to live their lives free from discrimination or violence. You can read more here: http://hrc.io/1XIV4Mp

And by the way, don’t forget to vote in the Oklahoma primary on March 1!

On her favorite episode of The Good Wife:

Secretary Clinton, what is your favorite episode of The Good Wife? — Aidyn Ureña

Great question, Aidyn. I’m a fan but I haven’t been able to see any episodes this season! I have them stacked up for when I get a chance to catch up. I love the show, and I really enjoy watching an accomplished woman lawyer married to a politician navigating life. And I’m very sad that this is the last season!

On the advice she’d give her younger self:

Secretary Clinton, what advice would you give to your younger self in college that you didn’t know then? — Sunny Kamath

You never know what’s going to happen in life. Get the best education you can, learn as much as you can about the world around you, and take opportunities as they come. And most of all, do what you love. Don’t take a job just for money – take a job because it’s meaningful. Find time for family. Find time for relationships. All of that adds up to a life that can provide a lot of satisfaction.

One of my favorite lines is, “I’ve loved and been loved. All the rest is background music.” I never would have understood what that meant when I was in college.

Clinton’s decisive win in Nevada put her back in the lead of the pledged delegate count.

Politico reports:

The final figures are in from the Nevada caucus, with the last unassigned delegate going to Hillary Clinton.

With the delegate--who came from the state's fourth Congressional district--pledged to Clinton, the final Nevada tally sits at 20 delegates for Clinton and 15 for Bernie Sanders, according to figures released by campaign the Clinton campaign.

The Nevada results put the race's overall delegate count thus far at for 52 Clinton and 51 for Sanders.

Melissa McEwan writes for Shakesville:

Per New York Times reporter Yamiche Alcindor, Sanders said today that "he is 'delighted' that Hillary Clinton has been adopting his message and starting to use the same language he does." And not just that! He also said Clinton "is copying his message so well that he saw an ad for her & thought it was an ad for him until the end."

So not only is Clinton so hapless that she needs an old white magical man to make her a decent candidate, but she's so ruthless that she will simply plagiarize that man to win.

Senator Sanders, this shit has to stop.

Because it is wrong. Factually and ethically.

Because this sort of misogynist messaging that casts a female candidate as an evil, Machiavellian liar (who is somehow simultaneously too weak to be a good candidate on her own) catches every woman in your rhetorical buckshot...

It's out of line from the get-go to deny a female candidate her agency; to take credit for anything and everything you will begrudgingly grant she's doing "right."

Sanders claims he isn't running a nasty campaign, but that's about as nasty as it gets.

While Sanders tries to take credit for Clinton's campaign, the media is running with the narrative that another man — Harry Reid — deserves the credit for Clinton’s Nevada victory. This not only plays into misogynist frameworks, but it also disappears the activism of the Nevada Latinas who delivered Clinton’s victory.

BuzzFeed reports:

The Nevada organizing director for the Clinton campaign was incensed. Staffers for Sanders’ campaign were going around saying that their campaign had cracked the code on Hispanic voters, after Sanders won the majority of precincts where Iowa’s small Hispanic population lives.

So, on a conference call with the Clinton campaign’s organizers in his state, Neri literally read the words of Erika Andiola, a top Sanders staffer and well-known activist. He told them sarcastically that the Sanders plan was to win the state by parachuting into Nevada just two weeks before and “talking to people.”

And then he told them: I want you to go out one extra hour knocking on doors tonight.

Two weeks later, Hillary Clinton won Nevada in a close but decisive win — the product of a 10-month organizing effort led by two Obama campaign veterans and 22 full-time staffers, one that entailed 1,100 one-on-one meetings with constituencies ranging from Latinos and Native Americans to rural Nevadans and veterans, all by last summer, and before Sanders had even hired a single staffer in the state.

Before Hillary Clinton took the stage to give her victory speech on Saturday, she was introduced not by one of the high-profile Latino surrogates the campaign sent to Nevada in the final days, but by Emmy Ruiz, the state director.

“From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all my field organizers who have worked so hard and our precinct captains who knocked on doors in 120-degree weather and when it was 15 degrees in Reno and everywhere in between,” she said, through tears.

The media just noticed that Clinton’s pushing for a public option, but misses the bigger story: that she may have figured out a way to get one without needing Congressional approval.

Check this out:

Hillary has never given up on the fight for universal coverage—and she won’t stop now. Building on the Affordable Care Act to expand coverage for millions of Americans, Hillary will:

Continue to support a “public option”—and work to build on the Affordable Care Act to make it possible. As she did in her 2008 campaign health plan, and consistently since then, Hillary supports a “public option” to reduce costs and broaden the choices of insurance coverage for every American. To make immediate progress toward that goal, Hillary will work with interested governors, using current flexibility under the Affordable Care Act, to empower states to establish a public option choice.

Clinton’s powerful coalition of mothers impacted by violence is making an impact on the campaign trail.

The Guardian reports:

“Our children have become sacrifices to this movement,” said Lucia McBath, whose son, Jordan Davis, was just 17 when he was shot dead by a middle-aged white man in the parking lot of a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida, in November 2012.

“We are the mothers of this civil rights movement, today, here and now.”

Seated next to McBath, at a wooden table by the altar, was Geneva Reed Veal. Her daughter, Sandra Bland, was found hanged in a jail cell three days after being pulled over for a minor traffic violation in Houston last July. Gwen Carr was nearby – her son, Eric Garner, died after a New York police officer placed him in a chokehold while he gasped “I can’t breathe”. Maria Hamilton’s son, Dontre Hamilton, was shot 14 times by a white police officer at Milwaukee’s Red Arrow Park in April 2014.

“We are in a club [in which] the dues are so high to pay to be involved,” Reed Veal said of the women seated next to her. “You would never, ever want to be in this club voluntarily.”

Late last year, in Chicago, Clinton organized what became known as a “meeting of the mothers”. She held a private conversation with these women and others who lost children to gun violence or policing incidents.

“She was actually listening and taking notes,” said Gwen Carr. “I was watching this and thinking to myself, she’s really listening.”

Hamilton, who said she was not a particularly political person before her son’s death, agreed that the Chicago summit was powerful. Then came the follow-up.

“Three months [after the meeting], I received a package in the mail with the policies that [Clinton] planned on enforcing for police reform and mass incarceration,” Hamilton said.

That Clinton had reached out personally and then followed up on her word was especially important to Hamilton. She said neither the Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, nor local officials reached out to her after a police officer killed her son. Hamilton recently joined Clinton as a guest at the Democratic debate in Milwaukee.

Reed-Veal said she was a Clinton supporter long before the death of her daughter, but like the others she was impressed that someone as busy as the Democratic hopeful would repeatedly make time for her.

“My father would roll over in his grave knowing that his [grandchild] had died under the same terms that he had fought to eradicate all those years before,” McBath said. “I have come full circle now. This is my work.”

The meetings, of which several more are planned, can be painful, the women said. Reliving the circumstances of their children’s deaths is just one of the many sacrifices they have made in the hope that other mothers will not come to know their pain.

“It’s too late for my son,” Carr said. “But if there’s another child out there that can be saved I will do this for the rest of my life.”

Crossposted at HillaryHQ, an independent, progressive blog committed to the electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States.

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