Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s (D-South Bend) presidential campaign took him to Indianapolis Friday, to speak to the local chapter of the NAACP.
Buttigieg tried to make his message resonate with a group of voters that hasn’t supported him strongly in his bid for the White House.
Asked by reporters before his speech about his struggle to attract black voter support, Buttigieg said he needs to continue to communicate his so-called “Douglass Plan” to combat racial injustice.
“Voters are still sorting through their choices," Buttigieg says. "I think we’re talking about voters who have felt abused by one party and taken for granted by the other. And we’re talking about voters who haven’t always been reached out to where they are.”
Buttigieg’s speech emphasized the need to confront systemic racism with targeted policies, on everything from health care disparities to school segregation to income inequality.
“If we do not tackle the problem of racial inequity in our lifetime, it will wreck the American project in my lifetime,” Buttigieg says.
His message didn’t resonate with everyone – one attendee was escorted out after loudly voicing his disagreement. And Black Lives Matter activists protested outside the event.
Contact Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
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