Before she hosts her official Super Tuesday event in Miami tonight, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton participated in the Tom Joyner Morning Show roundtable with News One’s Roland Martin, Reverend Al Sharpton, CNN’s Don Lemon and Jacque Reid, along with TJMS hosts Tom Joyner, J. Anthony Brown and Sybil Wilkes.
Click the link above to hear the entire interview or read the transcript below:
ROLAND MARTIN, NEWS ONE: Black women launch businesses at a faster rate than any other group in America. Yet in 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that $23.9 billion dollars in small business loans were handed out and Black folks only got $385 million. We got 8.2% in the last year of Bush, we’ve gotten less than 2% during Barack Obama’s [presidency.] What is your plan to ensure Black people have the capital to start and grow their businesses?
I’ve been talking about this on the campaign trail, because you’re absolutely right. The fastest growing segment of small businesses are African-American women-owned small business and minority small businesses overall. They are forming and they are trying to grow. And young people. Because young people of any background are struggling, because they are not getting the help they need. I’m going to put pressure on traditional lending institutions like banks, to pay more attention to the opportunities posed by small business overall, and in particular, minority small businesses.
I’m going to do what I did when I was a Senator from New York. We’re going to have conferences around the country, helping small businesses understand how they can compete for the federal government’s business. We’re going to have lessons in how you do procurement, so that more small businesses can be on the list and can be participating. Finally, I’m going to do more to encourage more of the new kinds of lending – online and elsewhere to really focus on minority-owned small business, with particular attention to women-owned small business. I want to be a small business president. Two-thirds or more of the jobs in America come from small businesses. So my job is to raise incomes and bring more good jobs [and that] requires us to do more to support small businesses.
REV. AL SHARPTON: The 15 states that face new voting procedures for the first time this year (they were voted on last year but came into effect this year) has seriously been an impediment to a lot of our rights to vote, disproportionately in African-American and Latino communities. It’s a fight that Eric Holder as Attorney General, and then Loretta Lynch, has challenged in several states.
It’s a fight that was also married to the Supreme Court weakening the Voting Rights Act. If elected president, what kind of Attorney General will you appoint that will be committed to voting rights of people that have been disenfranchised, and if you have one or two Supreme Court justice nominees, will you choose someone that is committed to voting rights in a way that is different from this present Court setup?
The answer to that, Rev. Al, is a big resounding ‘Yes’ to both. I’m very proud that Eric Holder has endorsed me – he campaigned for me in South Carolina – because I have the highest regard for him. I think the work that he, and now Attorney General Loretta Lynch, have done to take on the absolutely indefensible efforts to limit the vote, have to be continued. I will do whatever it takes, both with who I’d like to be Attorney General because I think both Attorney Generals Holder and Lynch are pretty good models of what we need, but also working with outside groups to support efforts to make sure people are registered.
I met a 102-year-old woman in Sumter, South Carolina who went to register to vote and they asked her for her birth certificate. And she just looked at me and smiled and said ‘I haven’t seen my birth certificate in 50 years!’ I don’t know what part of democracy these people are afraid of, but we’re going to go right at that. The same with Supreme Court justices; I strongly support President Barack Obama’s constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court Justice to replace Justice Scalia. I find it absolutely appalling that the Senate has said they refused to even consider it. I’m going to appoint Supreme Court justices, if I have the chance, who care more about a person’s right to vote than billionaire’s right to buy an election. This is going to be a really high priority for me.
DON LEMON, CNN:
It’s Super Tuesday. How are you feeling? Are you strong?
I’m feeling good, but it really depends upon whose come out to vote. We’re in a critical point in this election and I hope all of our listeners in the Super Tuesday states will come out to vote. We’ve gotta protect President Obama’s progress; there’s so much at sake. That’s why Democrats need to be out there in strength. Even I find what the Republicans are saying absolutely frightening. We’ve got to elect a Democratic president, right?
You seem to have stopped talking about Sanders on the campaign trial. Are you so confident that you’re going to win that you’re now focused on the general election?
No, I do still draw contrasts. I did four rallies yesterday, two in Massachusetts and two in Virginia, and I draw contrasts on things like college affordability and my plan to support Black colleges and universities. Some of the differences we have on healthcare – I’m going to defend the progress we’ve made under President Obama and I don’t think its wise to start another debate as my opponent has suggested.
But here’s the deal – every day that goes by hearing what the Republicans say as they engage in this insult-fest that has become their campaign, especially what you hear from Donald Trump, just says to me that stakes could not be higher. If I’m fortunate enough to be the Democratic nominee, the sooner the better, because the sooner we can turn our attention to what the Republicans stand for and what they’re saying and their bigotry, we’ve gotta get into it and we’ve gotta make sure that we don’t let that happen to our country.
JACQUE REID
From the violent, aggressive and too often deadly action of police toward African-Americans, to the negligence that lead the Flint water crisis, the incarceration pandemic, the lack of diversity and inclusiveness of #OscarsSoWhite, what’s going on at MSNBC, this nation has a race problem.
Despite clear efforts, President Obama is criticized for not doing enough for African-Americans, especially as an African-American, but many say his hands were tied by politics. You acknowledge that there’s a huge race problem in this country. You say you want to right the wrongs but how will you get around the politics to fix it?
I believe that the country has to confront the systemic racism that still is such a part of daily life for African-Americans. I spoke to that in a speech I gave in Harlem two weeks ago and laid out a lot of what I think has to be done. And it cuts across so many issues. There’s health care disparities. We’ve got to tackle those. African-Americans are more likely to be diabetic and die from breast cancer and HIV/AIDS and more likely to have asthma than white kids. Blacks are three times as more likely to be denied a mortgage.
There are things I can do to direct attention and action on that. We have to do more to direct resources to communities that have been left out and left behind. I want to build on some of the successful programs that my husband pioneered – [like] the New Market tax credit. I was in Sumter, South Carolina – they got a new factory because of the New Market tax credit that now employs a thousand people. We’ve got to get incomes rising and that means raising the minimum wage and making sure women get equal pay for the work they do.
Respectfully, people applaud and are excited about what you want to do, but will you be able to do it given the politics in Washington?
Yes, absolutely. Everything I just said about healthcare, about using the tools we already have, to go out and focus on communities that need extra investment, I can do that as president. I can also use some of the laws we already have on education to better focus resources on school districts that are predominantly serving low-income kids; kids of color who are not getting the education they need. There’s a lot we can do within the confines of presidential powers and executive orders, which I think President Obama has used very well.
I intend to use every tool at my disposal. Rich people, affluent people, successful people, don’t need a president as much as everyone else does. I want to be a president for the struggling and the striving, not just the successful. I’m going to have, as soon as I can get the Democratic nomination, if that is possible, I’m going to meet with people that can tear these barriers down. I had an excellent meeting – Rev. Sharpton was there, (former NAACP head) Marc Morial hosted, and we are going to look at the ideas that others have put forth, some of which require legislation and some that don’t, and we are going to put forth a concerted strategy to break down those barriers that hold people back.
SYBIL WILKES, TJMS: What is going to be the biggest difference between a Hillary Clinton administration and a Bill Clinton administration?
I think we’ve learned a lot since the 90’s and lessons from what doesn’t work. I’m not running for my husband’s third term and I’m not running for President Obama’s third term. But I deeply respect what both of those leaders did for our country. I’m going to try to do what I can to get jobs growing and incomes rising, as occurred in the 90’s.
I’m going to defend the Affordable Health Care Act and make sure it works for everybody to provide quality affordable healthcare and we also can try to break down the barriers to get a good education that President Obama has focused on, so we’re going to build on what works.
I want to knock down all the barriers that stand in the way of both America achieving its potential and individuals from achieving their potential. I’m anxious to get to work and roll up my sleeves and work in partnership with people who share my view that we’ve got to create more opportunities for people.
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