By Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting your community, Milwaukee. And what a community it is. One of the best parts of campaigning for Hillary Clinton is the great folks I get to meet along the way: I met your business owners, I met your students, and countless others whose stories inspire me every day to keep pushing along to make history and elect Hillary Clinton as our next president because she believes that we are stronger together.
As a former Congressional Black Caucus Chairman, I spend a lot of time encouraging our community to turn out to vote. And this year, the stakes could not be higher for African-Americans. We must choose a president who will not only protect President Obama’s legacy, but also serve as a partner in solving some of our biggest issues: education, building an economy that works for everyone and not just those at the top, civil and voting rights, and criminal justice reform just to name a few.
Hillary has shown me that she cares about us – and last week’s convention reinforced that she is listening to us. We heard from the Mothers of the Movement, including Dontre Hamilton’s mother Maria. We heard from our graceful First Lady Michelle Obama, President Obama, my colleague Rep. Gwen Moore, and more who agree that we trust Hillary Clinton.
Republicans only offered a caricature of Hillary Clinton but after this week the American people now know the Hillary I know and the values that motivate her to do all the good she can for all the people she can.
That’s why we’ve got to get out and vote, Milwaukee. Before these conventions began, the Clinton campaign announced a nationwide goal involving volunteers, organizers, and Hillary Clinton, to register and commit to vote more than 3 million voters to be a part of this campaign. I met a number of those organizers this weekend and they are excited about getting us to the polls. And it’s crucial that we do.
I think about the folks who struggled before us in order to make the privilege of voting available to us. There would be no Black Caucus but for the black men and women who fought and died that we might have an opportunity to gather in Washington and represent our communities. We must honor them by registering and exercising that right faithfully.
When I stopped by the Milwaukee Democratic coordinated campaign office on 2701 Martin Luther King Blvd, I saw folks young and old who share that same belief. You should stop in to and witness the miraculous diversity of our party, united behind electing Democrats up and down the ticket this November. I urge you to register to vote, exercise that right, and get as many of your friends to do the same. And if you get involved in the process, you may just get as inspired as I do about what’s possible in this great country of ours.
