Arkansas has never elected an African American to represent them in Congress. This is might just be the year to break that record. Jonathan Dunkley, graduate of the Philander Smith College and the Clinton School for Public Service (University of Arkansas) is running for Congress and can be the change agent that breaks that sad streak.
Dunkley came to me a few weeks ago and asked if I would help him in his campaign. I grilled him, I don’t jump on wagons very easily — especially since I have been really working hard to increase the visibility of women in politics and there is a woman running in the same race. Here is the reason I was taken by his effort — he was brutally honest with me about why he wanted to run.
Jonathan isn’t a politician, he was satisfied helping kids in his mentoring program and doing work in Belize with college students from around the country (by work I mean helping college students see a piece of the world that isn’t pretty and perfect so they wouldn’t be so insulated from reality) but his daughter gave him a rude awakening. She had asked him what he was doing to make the world a better place and when he told her what he was doing she said “that isn’t enough — Trump is our president”.
His daughter is 9. It isn’t right that a 9 year old is anxiety ridden about the man in the White House. So after much thought and a little research he decided he needed to do something more.
Debt-Free College or Trade School — Jonathan’s primary platform is about the economy. We don’t need to be giving tax cuts and cutting the social safety net. We need to be insuring our kids don’t graduate from college or trade school with the same amount of debt our parents had when they bought their first house.
Para-military weapons don’t belong in the hands of the public — they belong with trained professionals, our military and our public safety officers.
Health Care is a right not a benefit — we have expanded Medicaid in Arkansas now lets work on expanding Medicare for everyone. It works and can only get better if we increase the pool.
These are just a few of the issues that drive him. I will soon do a question and answer session so folks can get an idea of who Jonathan is.
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* Author’s Note — Typo’s are there purely for your entertainment and the justification of my 7th grade English teacher who said I would never be a writer.