Pete Buttigieg in National Public Radio

On Civil Rights: Douglass Plan: tackle racial inequality with funding & laws

[Responding to a police shooting in Buttigieg's hometown of South Bend Indiana, where a white police officer shot a black man, Mayor Buttigieg said], "If you're a white candidate, it is twice as important for you to be talking about racial inequity and not just describing the problem but actually talking about what we're going to do about it." Buttigieg told NPR his "Douglass Plan" aims to establish a $10 billion fund for black entrepreneurs over five years, invest $25 billion in historically black colleges, legalize marijuana, expunge past drug convictions, reduce the prison population by half and pass a new Voting Rights Act to further empower the federal government to ensure voting access. His campaign says it is equal in scale to the Marshall Plan, which used the equivalent of approximately $100 billion at current value to rebuild Europe after World War II. Buttigieg says the program would be enacted alongside potential direct reparations for slavery, not in place of it. Source: NPR Morning Edition, "Election 2020: Opening Arguments" Jul 11, 2019

On Civil Rights: Racial inequality compounds, which is why it is persistent

We need to intentionally invest in health, in home ownership, in entrepreneurship, in access to democracy, in economic empowerment. If we don't do these things, we shouldn't be surprised that racial inequality persists because inequalities compound. Just like a dollar saved, a dollar stolen also compounds. And I think that helps to explain the persistent racial inequality that we have in our national life today. Source: NPR Morning Edition, "Election 2020: Opening Arguments" Jul 11, 2019

On Civil Rights: White America needs to face roots of systemic racism

I think we'll know we're getting somewhere when this is not regarded as some specialty issue that candidates of color talk about or that we only talk about when addressing voters of color. This is a conversation that, frankly, white America needs to have too, because white America needs to face the roots of these inequities and the fact of systemic racism all around us. It's the air we breathe. Source: NPR Morning Edition: Election 2020 Special Series Jul 11, 2019

On Crime: Supports constitutional ban on death penalty

The death penalty has been one of many examples where racial discrimination has played out. It's time to join the ranks of nations that have put the ugliness of capital punishment behind them. And while I'm pleased to see states taking this step, and I believe the federal government can and should take this step, too, at the end of the day it is the kind of thing that deserves to be in our Constitution. Source: NPR Morning Edition, "Election 2020: Opening Arguments" Jul 11, 2019

On Government Reform: Amendments among "most elegant features" of Constitution

The mayor supports a constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty and intends to expand the Supreme Court and eradicate the Electoral College. "I don't know where we got the idea that it's impossible to do these things," he said. "This is a country that changed the Constitution so you couldn't buy a drink and then changed its mind and changed it back. Are you really telling me that we are incapable of using one of the most elegant features of our constitutional system?" Source: NPR Morning Edition: Election 2020 Special Series Jul 11, 2019

The above quotations are from National Public Radio election coverage. Click here for other excerpts from National Public Radio election coverage. Click here for other excerpts by Pete Buttigieg. Click here for a profile of Pete Buttigieg.
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