The percentage of qualified voters in the audience who voted for Obama last November was probably higher than 93%, the percent of African American votes Obama got overall. So when Rand Paul addressed them on April 10, 2013, they listened politely.
They sat mostly silent as he tried to open with a little humor. But the more he talked, the more of an impact he had. The speech along with the Q&As can be found at this C-Span link. It's worth a listen.
But if you only have a few minutes to spare, skip to the 17:45 mark and listen to the story he told. Partial transcript by me:
Republicans are often miscast as uncaring and condemning kids who make bad choices. I for one plan to change that. We're working with Democratic Senators to make sure that kids who have made bad decisions, such as non-violent possession of drugs are not imprisoned for lengthy sentences. I'm working to see that first time offenders are put into counseling and not imprisoned with hardened criminals. We should not take away anyone's future over one mistake.
Let me tell you the story of two young men. Both of them made mistakes. Both of them were said to have used illegal drugs. One of them was white from a privileged background. He had important friends, an important father and an important grandfather. You know, the kind of family universities name dorms after. This family had more money than you could count. Drugs or no drugs, his family could buy justice if he needed it.
The other man also used illegal drugs, but he was of mixed race and from a single parent household. With little money. He didn't have important friends or a wealthy father.
Now you may think I'm gonna tell you a story about racism in American with the rich white kid gets off and the black kid goes to jail. It could be, and often is. But that's not this story. In this story both young men were extraordinarily lucky. Both young men were not caught using illegal drugs, and they weren't imprisoned. Instead they went on to become presidents of the United States.
Barack Obama and George Bush were lucky.
A story with a surprise ending. That got a big laugh. More:
We should not have laws that ruin the lives of young men and women who have committed no violence. That's why I've introduced a bill to repeal mandatory minimum sentences.
That got applause.
He went on to explain that the history of African American repression, like Jim Crow laws, arose from government sanctioned racism. He reiterated that big oppressive government has long been the enemy of freedom and encouraged the audience members to embrace the Republican message.
Maybe some of them will. Click here to watch/listen to the whole thing.
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