politics

If there was ever a question of why Barack Obama was our forever POTUS, the #ObamaWasBetterAt gave us a reminder. On Tuesday morning, in response to Trump's racist tweet against four freshmen congressional representatives, the hashtag began as an attempt to remember when the president of the United States didn't throw around racist language on Twitter. After Trump called on four freshman congresswomen to "go back" and "fix the countries they come from," Twitter users took the opportunity to upload photos and list different things that former President Obama had going for him that President Trump just can't match up with.#ObamaWasBetterAt funny gifs pic.twitter.com/15lhY5AtLJ— 𝕊𝕙𝕠’ℕ𝕦𝕗𝕗 𝕁𝕣 (@Vnorman007) July 16, 2019Treating Melanie Trump with respect #ObamaWasBetterAt pic.twitter.com/HDfvHSIV2G— TIE (@TIE_Sama) July 16, 2019#ObamaWasBetterAt having drip💧, what other president you know wear a bomber jacket to a NBA game pic.twitter.com/BhFWWXRtDF— AH HA HA (@devinLeach12) July 16, 2019 #ObamaWasBetterAt Been a better father to all Country pic.twitter.com/zt2lKDKaNO— Andrew Richard (@AndrewR45572689) July 16, 2019#ObamaWasBetterAt being a role model that kids could look up to. pic.twitter.com/xWEzkuDdi2— John Norton (@DCJohnNorton) July 16, 2019#ObamaWasBetterAt showing respect to others. Sharing the stage with others instead of pushing them aside. pic.twitter.com/qgGlUZcLWN— Clark McGill (@cmacthebigmac1) July 16, 2019#ObamaWasBetterAt Hosting Champions pic.twitter.com/1kLjs6lKuW— #ObamaBestEver (@lordxmen2k) July 16, 2019#ObamaWasBetterAt choosing a classy life partner that was an exceptional representation of First Ladies pic.twitter.com/dfk7rhoIEx— Joshua Chenault (@joshuachenault1) July 16, 2019#ObamaWasBetterAt dropping the mic. pic.twitter.com/vBkMruJiLD— Marina (@aniramdzenitram) July 16, 2019#ObamaWasBetterAt leading this country 😉 pic.twitter.com/r1boSjHaTC— 🌹💋Basic bihh Alisha💋🌹 (@ElishaBenson4) July 16, 2019It goes to show that if you've noticed that things have changed in this country, you're not alone; everyone else has,...

Despite Trump's racist tweets about the four freshman congresswomen (aka The Squad) needing to "go back" and "fix" their countries, CNN's Jake Tapper pointed out that Representative Ilhan Omar has been a citizen of the United States longer than First Lady Melania Trump."[Omar] has been a U.S. citizen since she was a teenager," Tapper said. According to the Huffington Post, Omar became a citizen at the age of 17 after her family immigrated from Somalia, while Melania Trump became a citizen six years later at the age of 36, a year after she married Trump.Omar addressed Trump's racist attacks during Monday's episode of the Rachel Maddow Show.“This is a president who believes it is okay for him to think people who say something that will move this country forward should be deported,” Omar said. “He’s called on us to go back and fight corruption and fight these countries that have worse and inept leaders.”During her interview, Omar was sure to note that the phrase, "go back to your country," is typically only used against Black and Brown people in America.“Look, many of us, as I said today, when we are brown and black in this country, have been subjected to the old racist trope of ‘go back to where you came from,’” Omar said. “Whether it happens at a school playground or inside the hallway or someone shouting at you in the street, many of us have had our responses.”Trump's tweets were sent out Sunday and have since been denounced and fact-checked; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born in Bronx, New York; Omar became a Unites States citizen in 2000; Rep. Rashida Tlaib was born in Detroit, Michigan; and Rep. Ayanna Pressley was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, according to BBC. In his tweets, Trump told The Squad to fix corruption in whatever hometowns he believes they belong to. Omar had a response for that, too.“He is that president. He is corrupt. He is the worst president we have had. He is inept, and we are going to call him out for it. We are going to hold him accountable,” Omar said.Omar continues to be a strong supporter of President Trump's...

A new contender for New York’s congressional seat has stepped forward, and she’s coming for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Originally from Jamaica and an active New York businesswoman, Republican Scherie Murray launched her congressional campaign on Wednesday. In a Fox News phone interview, Murray, who fiercely opposes Ocasio-Cortez’s position on the economy and health care, said she’s ready to improve New York. “There is a crisis in Queens, and it’s called AOC,” she told Fox News. “Instead of focusing on us, she’s focusing on being famous. Mainly rolling back progress and authoring the job-killing Green New Deal and killing the Amazon New York deal.” Murray is one of five Republicans looking to take over the congressional position, and no New York Democrats have announced campaigns. While the new candidate looks to work across the aisle in her campaign video, she said she considers herself a Trump supporter. “Do I think the president is a racist? No. But I want to get back to the core of why we’re even talking about this —there is a crisis at our border,” Murray said when asked about Trump’s recent war of words with Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democratic Congress members. Murray has her work cut out for her; according to USA Today, she unsuccessfully ran in a special election for the New York Assembly seat in 2015, losing by over 85%. The GOP primary takes place in June...

The 2020 Democratic presidential contenders recently descended on Miami for the first primary debates, though the vast field only scratched the surface in discussing our society’s systemic inequities and injustices in a real way. While the fact that the deck is stacked against millions of Americans is already part of many candidates’ rhetoric, we must get beyond just the slick, poll-tested talking points. The pain is particularly felt in Black communities that are asked to make due with nothing. From housing and employment discrimination, to the state of public education and disparities in maternal healthcare, our society has failed millions of people across this country. Our young men are treated like a commodity in the broken criminal justice system. We must eliminate laws that place Black and brown people in jail for petty crimes and do nothing more than clog the system.When it comes to education, we’ve stripped access to opportunity away from our kids, and as both a product of public schools and a former educator, this hits particularly close to home. State and federal lawmakers take away funding for neighborhood public schools and after-school programs. Meanwhile, the political will to tackle gun violence and make our schools and communities safer is nonexistent.In May, Florida’s legislative session concluded, and once again, injected the Sunshine State into the center of the national conversation. The Republican majority passed a controversial law to arm teachers, putting students in harm’s way. As the bill gained steam in the legislature, I introduced an amendment to require any educators undergo implicit bias training, knowing full well the potentially harmful consequences of this bill for students of color. The amendment was not even given a vote. The same happens everyday in state legislatures nationwide and in Washington. The very discussion of how we can empower and create opportunity for all Americans is considered “off limits.”For how long will we ask our people to just accept the obstacles placed before us? By perpetuating the barriers facing African Americans, we’ve told millions of young girls and boys that their futures don’t matter. We’ve told the brave men and women of color who have served our country with dignity and honor that they are not worthy of employment or housing when they return. We’ve told Black entrepreneurs that their bold ideas are worth less. We’ve told mothers that their lives or those of their children are not valued. It will take deep structural change to shift course. It will be up to each of us to demand as much.State Representative Shevrin Jones represents Florida's 101st House District, which includes several communities in Broward County, and is Executive Director of Florida Reading Corps, a former AP Chemistry teacher, and Founder of LEAD Nation, one of South Florida’s top youth organizations for leadership development...

MiAngel Cody had seen enough of the criminal justice system. As a capital investigator, she listened to the stories of those headed for death row, and after working as a corporate lawyer and a state-federal defender, MiAngel Cody decided to look for new ways to use the legal system to dismantle mass incarceration. So Cody created The Decarceration Collective, a federal criminal defense firm that works to release people sentenced to life in prison on drug charges.According to the Sentencing Project, people with drug charges make up one-third of those serving life sentences in federal prison. The U.S. Sentencing Commission states that people with drug charges can be sentenced to life if they are caught with a large number of drugs. However, "large quantities" under federal law can be as small as 1 kilogram of a drug substance.Not interested in fighting for those who were “innocent,” Cody joined forces with Brittany Barnett’s Buried Alive Project to bring home those sentenced to die in prison. “It started with, like, a text message one night, and we were like, 'We should see how many people we can get free,'” Cody says. From there, the duo created spreadsheets of all of the people who had been admitted into district courtrooms throughout the country. They began reaching out to those with federal life sentences for drug offenses and gave them a survey to gather information about their case. Seventeen people were released under their #90DaysOfFreedom campaign, where they used the newly passed law, The First Step Act, to gain their freedom. In their new Third Strike Campaign, Cody centers the stories of formerly and currently incarcerated folks who received life sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, specifically highlighting those affected by the notorious Three Strikes Law, a law that gives mandatory minimum life sentences to those who have been convicted three times with nonviolent drug offenses. When The First Step Act was passed last December, it included a provision that made The Fair Sentencing Act retroactive, a law that gave mandatory minimum sentences to eliminate the inequality of crack cocaine and powder cocaine cases. No longer subjected to mandatory minimum sentences, people with cocaine charges were able to receive reductions in their sentences or an early release.One of the folks freed by MiAngel Cody was Albert Reed, Jr., who shares his experience of incarceration through the Third Strike Campaign. When Reed received a life sentence for a drug-related “crime”, he was determined to get out of prison. He applied for clemency and was denied under the Obama administration. The rejection for his freedom shook him to his core. A year after his rejection, Reed received a survey, sent it back with his information, and was released from prison under Cody’s legal representation. Cody used The First Step Act to her advantage as a way to litigate his release.In addition to cocaine offenses, The First Step Act also reduced the mandatory minimum sentence for non-cocaine drug offenses from life to 25 years, but it was not made retroactive, meaning those who have already been sentenced to life imprisonment for non-cocaine drug offenses, such as marijuana possession, won’t have their sentenced reversed. Now, Cody is going back to free the rest, particularly those that The First Step Act did not consider.“There are a whole bunch of people who are still sitting in prison today under yesterday’s law. And that’s really the point of the Third Strike Campaign. It’s to say if it’s unfair going forward, then it’s unfair looking back, particularly when we’re talking about black bodies being imprisoned,” Cody says. As for Reed, he can now move forward. He is now reunited with his family and is still rebuilding his connection to his community by working with a basketball camp and a cleaning company. He has dreams of getting into real estate to develop some affordable housing in his neighborhood.“Anything’s possible after this year. I say to myself every day, 'Why not dream big? Because you blessed, and all you had to do is think it, and you can bring it into...

The four freshman congresswomen known as "The Squad" — Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — held a news conference on Monday, responding to President Trump's racist comments.In a series of tweets on Sunday, responding to the women's political stances, the president instructed the representatives to "go back" and "fix" the countries they came from. He said this despite the majority of the congresswomen being American-born citizens, or citizens nonetheless — Ocasio-Cortez was born in Bronx, New York, Ilhan Omar became a Unites States citizen in 2000, Rashida Tlaib was born in Detroit, Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley was born in Cincinnati, according to BBC. "So interesting to see 'progressive' Democrat congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful nation on earth, how our government is to be run.Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements," Trump tweeted.....it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019Following the tweets, the four women came together to say America was a country for everyone, and shared concerns Trump was trying to change that."When I was a little girl, my father took me to the reflecting pool [in Washington, D.C.]. He had me look at the Washington Monument, at the Capitol, [and] had me look at the entirety of the capital of our great country. He pointed to all of it and said, ‘This belongs to all of us. This belongs to you, and it belongs to me," Ocasio-Cortez said at Monday's news conference.What I want to tell children across the country is no matter what the president says, this country belongs to you, and it belongs to everyone,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. With the discussion escalating on both sides of the aisle Massachusetts representative Ayanna Pressley called on the American people to become members of the squad themselves."Our squad is big," Pressley said. "Our squad includes any person committed to building a more equitable and just world." View this post on Instagram She’s not going anywhere 👏🏾 Rep @AyannaPressley, along with the rest of minority congresswomen labeled as #TheSquad, clapped back at President Trump’s recent bigoted attack on Twitter with a vengeance 👊🏿 In her response, the representative stated that she will not “take the bait” on his attacks, and urges her peers to continue to speak out against injustices occurring within the nation. Keep fighting, Ayanna!A post shared by Blavity : Politics (@blavitypolitics) on Jul 15, 2019 at 4:32pm PDT Trump's tweets made more apparent the division between the Republican and Democratic Party — Dems were more vocal in denouncing Trump's statements, and there was a noticeable silence from the Republicans. Those Republicans who were questioned appeared hesitant to answer questions on the matter."I certainly feel a number of these new members of Congress have views not consistent with my experience and not consistent with building a strong America," Romney said to a journalist. "At the same time, I recognize the president has a unique and noble calling to unite all Americans, regardless of our creeds or race or place of our national origin; and I think in that case, the president fell far short."When specifically asked if the tweets were racist, Romney simply responded saying, "That's all I got folks." Though, The Squad is not alone. Many presidential candidates have also come to their defense, including former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden claimed America had never had a more racist president."There has never been a President in American history who has been so openly racist and divisive as this man," Biden said to The Hill.Biden recently called The Squad a group of "smart"...

Immigration raids are not exclusive to the Trump administration; undocumented people in this country have long feared the threat of ICE raids since the department's conception.Both the department and its subsequent raids started under George W. Bush’s administration and expanded under Barack Obama’s presidency. Now, with Trump, who has followed through on his campaign promise of being aggressive toward the immigrant community, ICE raids are sparking fear in undocumented communities, as it’s being reported that the Department of Homeland Security will conduct raids beginning on Sunday. These raids serve two purposes. One is to arrest and detain those who are undocumented, and the other is to create an element of chaos and fear in undocumented communities. As with the administration's child separation policy, the point is to deter migrants and refugees from coming into the country. It’s important to remember when we hear about these egregious immigration policies that it is Congress who funds ICE, and by continuing to fund the Department of Homeland Security, they continue to fund these ICE raids by default. It is pertinent to do more than just be angry; there are various steps of action we can take to support those who are undocumented.Here are four things you can do to support undocumented people during threats of raids.  1. See something, say something. It’s reported that the raids will be taking place in ten major cities: New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, Miami, San Francisco, New Orleans and Baltimore. If you will be in one of these cities during a possible raid, make sure to document and share when you see ICE vehicles and a raid occurring. It is best to film or take a picture because often false information is spread to add to the element of chaos. When sharing a picture or video, make sure to also include the location and time that ICE was spotted. This can help those who could be threatened by an ICE raid to avoid arrest and deportation. 2. Don’t allow them in. Unless they have a warrant with a specific person's name on it, ICE agents do not have the right to enter private property. This means if you’re a business and ICE is trying to come in to arrest one of your employees, you can refuse to let them in by keeping your doors locked. This applies to undocumented people, too; you don’t have to let ICE in your home without seeing a warrant with your name on it signed from a judge. Here is an ACLU guide that explains more about what your rights are when it comes to ICE. 3. Donate to immigrant-focused bail bonds. There are organizations who focus primarily on bailing out people who have been arrested due to immigration status. Here’s a list from the National Bail Fund Network on a list of organizations you can donate to: National: Freedom for Immigrants, Haitian Immigrant Bond Assistance Project, LGBTQ Freedom Fund, RAICES Bond FundArizona: Pima Monthly Meeting Immigration Bond FundCalifornia: Bay Area Immigration Bond Fund, Immigrant Families Defense Fund, Orange County Justice Fund, Borderlands Get Free Fund, Al Otro Lado - Vida Libre Bond FundColorado: Immigrant Freedom Fund of ColoradoConnecticut: Immigrant Bail FundIowa: Eastern Iowa Community Bond ProjectMassachusetts: Beyond Bail & Legal Defense FundMichigan: Kent County I-Bond for our Neighbor's Defense FundMinnesota: Minnesota Freedom FundNevada: Las Vegas Bond Family Unity Bond Fund at Arriba Workers CenterNew Hampshire: NH Conference UCC Immigrant & Refugee Support GroupNew York: LIFE Bond Fund, New York Immigrant Freedom FundOhio: 3R Fund for ImmigrantsTexas: Fronterizo Fianza Fund, Hutto Community Deportation Defense & Bond Fund, RAICES Texas Bond FundVermont: Vermont Freedom Bail FundVirginia: Cville Immigrant Fond FundWashington: Fair Fight Immigrant Bond Fund4. Vote out your representative if they support threatening policies toward the undocumented community.Whether it’s the national or local level, your representative has a direct impact on immigration policies. Whether it’s sharing driver license information with ICE or voting to increase funding to the border wall, if you’re not happy with this country's policies, vote the people out who are creating them. The immigration crisis in this country is manufactured. How is a country built on colonization and genocide able to decide who is allowed to become a citizen or not? War and imperialism, in many instances where the U.S. has benefitted, play a role in why people desire to migrate to this country in the first place. Climate change and its impact on natural resources will also play a factor in the near future. It is up to us as individuals to stand up against the inhumanity that is being imposed on people in this country. The treatment of undocumented people in this country is horrendous, and like the prison industrial complex, the criminalizing of people based on citizenship must also be destroyed. Until then, we must work to support and help protect those who are at the greatest...

This op-ed was submitted from a member of our enthusiastic community of readers. If you’re interested in sharing your opinion on any cultural, political or personal topic, create an account here and check out our how-to post to learn more.African Americans and young people are at the forefront of an unrecognized movement of Americans in a political re-alignment that rejects both political parties and is largely unseen by mainstream media. The media projects the roiling political divides in the country as ideological battles between adherents of right versus left politics on issues such as border security vs. decriminalization of illegal immigration, or Medicare for all vs. private health insurance. But the real divide in the country is between the establishment elites of both parties and the growing base of Americans who are identifying as independents.The ideological divide within two party politics covers over the broad common needs and aspirations of millions of people. It misses a more fundamental and unifying aim of people, young and old, people of color and white to reject long entrenched two party control in favor of bottom up democracy. The American people in large majorities are crying out for a new politic and so is the African American community.The desire for change in Black communities in particular can be seen in their changing relationship to the Democratic Party. A new survey of 30,000 Black voters finds that Black communities feel ignored by Democrats. The Black Census Project found that even though Black respondents reported high levels of civic engagement, “a majority of them said they don’t feel like politicians or political parties care about them. Nearly a fifth of respondents said they view the Democratic Party unfavorably, and 52% of respondents — more than 16,000 people — said that "politicians do not care about Black people or their interests."The recent debate confrontation of former Vice President Joe Biden by Senator Kamala Harris over Biden’s anti-busing postion exposes a contradiction in the Democratic Party’s relationship with the Black community. That contradiction is the old party’s racist playbook of seeking the votes of whites by signals of an anti-black position.  This is what Bill Clinton was doing in 1992 when he made his speech criticizing Sister Souljah at Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Convention. He later oversaw the execution of a mentally challenged Black man, Ricky Ray Rector, in order to bolster his “tough on crime” credentials.Such racial and ideological manipulation by politicians has prompted many Blacks to reject both parties. 35% of African Americans under age 40 are independents. Also 41% of Hispanic voters are independents. In some states such as New Mexico, up to 20% of Native American voters are independents. At least half of all millennials are independents.The steady growth of political independence has been occurring over the last 30 years and is across the board. 42% percent of all American voters now identify as independents, more voters than who identify as Democrats (29%) or Republicans (26%).There is a coming together of Americans across partisan divides in the passage of political reforms in recent state elections in the face of strong opposition from the state legislatures.In 2016 Colorado voters passed an initiative, which was opposed by many elected officials, to open the primaries to independents. In Florida last year, more people voted for the initiative to restore voting rights to those formerly incarcerated as felons than for any candidate on the ballot.Giving equal voting rights to independents is key to allowing their diverse voices to be fully expressed in our political process. The initiative for reform has always come first not from the parties, but from the people. This year is the 150th anniversary of the 1869 congressional passage of the 15th Amendment, giving Black men the right to vote. 50 years later, the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote was passed. It was made possible by the women’s suffrage movement.In 1965 it was not the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party that produced the Voting Rights Act. It was ordinary people who responded to Dr. King and came to Selma from all over the country, many who gave the last full measure of devotion. It was Jimmie Lee Jackson from Marian, Alabama. It was Viola Liuzzo from Detroit, Michigan. It was young people like James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner who were part of Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1964.This summer in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, independents are petitioning for equal voting rights and to pass the open primaries legislation that is working its way through the Pennsylvania legislature. Now in the light of history, we the people are declaring our independence.Dr. Jessie Fields is a Harlem-based medical doctor and board member of Independent Voting and Open...

Former Republican Representative Mia Love has jumped on the President Donald Trump bandwagon and is calling for Democrats to take accountability for the president’s racist comments. In an interview on CNN with Fredricka Whitfield, Love said the congresswomen of color, who were the subject of Trump’s latest derogatory tweets, should “take the high road.”“I think the American people, including me, we’re getting so tired of the back and forth,” she said. “I just want to say we have to remember what their jobs are.”The former Utah representative also pointed out that while she does not excuse Trump’s behavior, both sides should take accountability for the exchange. “I’ve got three children that are watching adults behave poorly. And then we go out and we tell people, hey, these kids shouldn’t be bullying each other. They shouldn’t be doing the things that they’re doing that’s causing all sorts of suicides in schools and yet members of Congress and the president of the United States aren’t the best example.”Last week, Trump targeted Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar in a xenophobic tweet, suggesting "they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."Many on social media have clapped back at Trump, using #TrumpIsARacist and #RacistInChief. Republicans have mostly remained silent regarding the president’s most recent Twitter tirade. Blatant racist. Blatant rapist. Blatant sexist. Blatant idiot. His words paraphrase and sum up my experience growing up in America as a black woman. He’s just the face of ingrained racism that was ALWAYS here. America’s skeletons are unveiled right through this man! https://t.co/hCnmQAE2Ae— Ari Lennox (@AriLennox) July 15, 2019Trump Greatest Hits Vol 1 - Black people come from s-hole countries - Birtherism - Exonerated 5 still guilty - Mexicans are rapists - Immigrants are invaders - Islam hates us - Muslim Ban - Immigrant kids detained + separated - Congresswomen go back home#TrumpIsARacist.— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) July 14, 2019Love, who is the daughter of Haitian immigrants, said the president’s rhetoric is not inclusive of all Americans. “I think he has to be more presidential. When you are the president of the United States, you represent all Americans, even those that you don't like very much.”Still, social media criticized Love for not explicitly calling out Trump’s tweet for what it was: racist.  Mia Love: “I’m not making any excuses for Trump." Also Mia Love: pic.twitter.com/IG28zM2LDy— Clay Cane (@claycane) July 15, 2019Mia Love keeps missing the point. They’re asking her if trump’s tweets were racist and she says; “he’s not racist” (that wasn’t question); that she doesn’t like the words and they don’t affect her because she knows who she is. #CNN— lisa franklin (@lisa__franklin) July 15, 2019@FrankBruni and his facial expressions during the Mia Love interview on @CNN was PRICELESS!! Thank you for calling her out!! @realDonaldTrump is a RACIST!! Pure and Simple!! #RacistInChief #ImpeachDonaldTrumpNOW— Lori Setley (@LoSetley) July 15,...

Sunday, Democratic presidential nominee Beto O'Rourke published evidence he and his wife, Amy, were descendants of slave owners. Prior to submission of documentation by The Guardian, O'Rourke said he had no knowledge of his ancestral ties to enslavement.“Amy and I sat down and talked through this,” O’Rourke said to The Guardian. “How Andrew [His grandmother's great-grandfather] was able, through his descendants, to pass on the benefits of owning other human beings. And ultimately I and my children are beneficiaries of that.”O'Rourke, who has already come out in support for reparations, said the documentation showed him his personal connection to the building of a prejudiced system."They were able to build wealth on the backs and sweat of others; wealth they would then be able to pass down to their children, and their children’s children," O'Rourke wrote of his ancestors on Medium. "In some way, and in some form, that advantage would pass through to me and my children." The former representative's announcement comes after South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced plans targeting issues affecting black people. A group of proposals he is naming the "Douglass Plan," after Frederick Douglass who covered criminal justice, health care, and economics.Similar to Buttigieg's campaign strategies, O'Rourke equally has plans for the black community, to attain the black vote. Plans such as those for police accountability, equal pay, creating capital to minority and women-owned businesses, and expunging arrest records for nonviolent drug crimes."We all need to know our own story as it relates to the national story, much as I am learning mine," O'Rourke wrote. "It is only then, I believe, we can take the necessary steps to repair the damage done, and stop visiting this injustice on the generations that follow...