Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Hillary Clinton Will Make Us All Proud
Last edited Thu Feb 25, 2016, 02:25 PM - Edit history (1)
by James Clyburn
In recent months, things have been a little tense in my household. I’ve been getting pressure from several of the women in my family to get behind the candidate who could be our first woman president.
Although their sentiments were heartfelt, as assistant Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the only Democrat in the South Carolina congressional delegation, my head told me that I owed it to the S.C. Democratic Party and my constituents not to do anything that might jeopardize our “First in the South Democratic Primary” status.
But my heart and my head have converged, and last Friday I made public my support for Hillary Clinton. I honestly believe Hillary will fight to protect and preserve the progress we have made under President Barack Obama.
In the early 1970s, my job in the office of Gov. John West took me to some of the most remote corners of South Carolina. I didn’t know it at the time, but Hillary wasn’t far away. She had just graduated law school, and instead of going to a big law firm, she worked with Marian Wright Edelman – a native of Bennettsville – and the Children’s Defense Fund, coming to South Carolina to investigate the conditions juvenile offenders faced while incarcerated in adult prisons.
Her efforts helped change the system, so young people who made mistakes would have a better chance for the second chance they deserved. She even went to Alabama to expose segregation in schools and started a legal aid program at the University of Arkansas.
Since then, much has changed. But not all those changes have been for the better. Today, in South Carolina, many of our students and teachers spend their days in dilapidated classrooms and using malfunctioning restrooms. Health disparities in communities of color are worse than ever. Many diseases – including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, certain types of cancer and infant mortality – more severely impact minority communities and kill African-Americans at much higher rates than their white counterparts.
Our state is still scarred with too many pockets of poverty and the I-95 corridor is not our only “Corridor of Shame.” In rural areas, many poor and minority residents have been neglected for decades and are struggling against nearly impossible odds trying to pull themselves out of poverty.
Hillary agrees this is not right and has gone on for too long. That’s why her campaign has repeatedly shone a spotlight on cities like Flint, Michigan, and towns like Denmark, S.C. – places where African-Americans have faced neglect and indifference for generations. Last week, she went to Harlem, New York, and spoke out against the systemic racism that still exists in our society. She challenged white Americans to interrogate their own privilege and perspectives, in a way that I’ve never heard a public figure do before.
She has matched her words with concrete plans, including a serious strategy for creating jobs in struggling communities. Her “Breaking Every Barrier” agenda will invest $125 billion in jobs, infrastructure and housing, specifically in places where people have been left out and left behind. It’s a strategy modeled on my own 10-20-30 plan (direct at least 10 percent of investment to places where 20 percent or more of people have lived in poverty for more than 30 years). This formula was tested in the “Recovery Act” and it worked beautifully. In making higher education more affordable, she will not jeopardize the stability and viability of HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities).
Disparities in wealth, jobs, education, health care and access to justice cut across racial and ethnic lines in profound ways. We can’t put all our faith and efforts in just one solution.
Hillary agrees we need to rein in the excesses of Wall Street, but she also understands that alone won’t solve the problems of systemic racism. It won’t fix deteriorating schools, or cure chronic disease, or reduce rampant gun violence. For those problems, we need different solutions. We need a presidential candidate who has been fighting to make progress against all these issues for her entire career.
Although the problems we face sometimes seem insurmountable, progress is still possible. Just look at the 18 million people who can afford to see a doctor, thanks to Obamacare. Look at the millions of Americans who have found new jobs since the Great Recession and the record- setting sales in the automobile industry, thanks to President Obama’s policies. Hillary Clinton will build upon Obama’s tremendous record of economic growth and progress.
Hillary Clinton is a fighter, and she’ll keep fighting for what’s right. With her in the White House, my spouse, daughters and granddaughters will have a reason to be proud, and so will yours. We all will.
Sixth District Congressman James Clyburn is assistant Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.
read: http://thetandd.com/news/clinton-will-make-all-proud/article_75993407-8ab1-5db8-91f4-2092ec543e8a.html
Gabriel Debenedetti @gdebenedetti 3h3 hours ago
Just in: @HillaryClinton is up with this :30 ad featuring Jim @Clyburn for the South Carolina home-stretch
98 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Response to sister_rosa_refried (Reply #1)
Response to bigtree (Original post)
She will be a great president, for all of us.
How a positive post about Clinton brings the "swarm" in to trash and bash? Do they work in shifts to make sure the never miss anything? 
I asked an honest question and you gave me an honest answer. 
"She ... will ... be ... president ... to ... all ..."
I'd say it's much smarter to go after an architect of the mass incarceration system than an activist who has stood up for their community for decades.
It was done quietly and civilly and brilliantly. Very effective. Even down to having a new and relevant hashtag for it right on the bottom corner of her sign. (#WhichHillary)
Ashley Williams, A+ for excellent protesting skills.
I'm just watching to see what happens next as this information highlighted in her protest percolates out through the community. Should be very interesting. It's already off to a good start, on hashtag #WhichHillary . There's also #IAmNotYourFirewall #BackToTheIssues and #NotWithHer .
