Pete Buttigieg is trying to attract more Black voters to his campaign – his first step is the “Douglas Plan,” named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
The 18-page plan lays out what Buttigieg promises to do if elected president. It includes investing $25 billion in historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, and directing $10 billion toward black entrepreneurs.
Buttigieg is fighting for more Black votes after recent tense moments in South Bend, Indiana, where he is mayor, when a Black man was fatally shot by a white South Bend police officer.
According to a Quinnipiac poll published July 2 and conducted after the first presidential debates, Buttigieg received 0% of the Black vote.
Related Article: Black Man Killed by Police in South Bend, Pete Buttigieg Marches with Protestors
He says that this plan will address racial inequality and systemic racism against Black Americans because it is a “comprehensive and intentional dismantling of racist structures and systems combined with an equally intentional and affirmative investment of unprecedented scale in the freedom and self-determination of Black Americans.”
The Douglas Plan would:
- Address health disparities in black communities
- Advocate for criminal justice reform by legalizing marijuana and expunging some past convictions
- Expand access to voting
- Eliminate racial gerrymandering
- Increase federal funding to Title I schools
- Preserve Black history with increased funding to the arts and protection of cultural sites
- Eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing
- Abolish the death penalty
- Improve housing conditions for Black Americans
Buttigieg’s plan would be on top of reparations.
“I think [the Douglass Plan] does not take the place of the conversation around reparations,” he said. “I also support passing H.R. 40. I would sign it, which would create a commission to look at reparations. But I do think that this is also restorative, in the same way that reparations is intended to be,” Buttigieg said in an interview with NPR.
