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There was also a lot of youth and young adult participation
at this year's convention. Education, jobs and justice were
also major topics of discussion.
The highlight of the convention was the presidential
candidates forum. There are 484 candidates running for
President with 21 to 24 front runners. The top 21 were
invited to the forum and five accepted the invitation.
Donald Trump did not respond and Ohio Governor John Kasich
declined. Here are the talking points of the five
candidates.
Dr. Ben Carson, Republican, retired neurosurgeon and former
Detroiter who was raised in poverty in Boston, says he is
not opposed to the safety nets like welfare for people who
really need them for a limited time in life. He wants to
create jobs using import and export tax money. He would
prefer to call racist white people ignorant rather than
racist. He feels he is misunderstood about his views and
beliefs.
Hillary Clinton, Democrat and former U.S. Secretary of
State, spoke on the erosion of voting rights,
unequal educational opportunities, the need to increase
minority-owned businesses and the lack of police justice.
She talked about the fact that white Americans need to do
more personal introspection about their views on race. She
used a lot of statistics to discuss the national gaps
between whites and blacks.
Martin O’Malley, Democrat, is a former Baltimore mayor. He
spent most of his time discussing the need for prison
reform, alternatives to jail for small-time drug offenders,
voting rights for felons, too many routine traffic stops and
the need to grow for minority-owned businesses. He also
would change the sentencing guidelines for minor drug
offenses.
Bernie Sanders, Democrat and Vermont U.S. Senator, spoke on
the statistics of the few wealthy people in this country and
how they influence most political decisions. He also talked
about police injustice and the need for prison reform. He
wants greater employment opportunities made available for
ex-offenders. He also wants college tuition to be free. He
feels educators should have higher salaries to attract
better people into the field. He was very outspoken about
the power structure of this country. He wants an increase in
mental health services.
Jab Bush, Republican and former governor of Florida,
supports charter schools and schools of choice. He wants to
increase community colleges as well as early childhood
education. He wants to establish faith-bases prisons as he
did in Florida. He wants stronger child support laws. He
supports the concept of minor drug offenders going into
treatment instead of prison. He wants an increase in
minority-owned businesses but he does not see a need for the
certification process of minority-owned businesses.
The National Urban League will be sending a questionnaire on
urban issues to all of the candidates and the answers will
be published. |
