South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg released a plan to pitch to African American voters in an attempt to shore up his support for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
The 37-year-old presidential hopeful has called his policy package “The Douglass Plan,” named after the abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass, and has pitched it as a “Marshall Plan” for America. The plan is billed as a move to create “a comprehensive and intentional dismantling of racist structures and systems.”
“Inspired by American hero Frederick Douglass and comparable in scale to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II, the Douglass Plan dismantles old systems and structures that inhibit prosperity and builds new ones that will unlock the collective potential of Black America,” the opening of the plan states.
Buttigieg proposes massive expenditures on healthcare and schools, along with committing to lower incarceration rates by 50%.
The plan would enact “Health Equity Zones” that would target black communities to “address high-priority health disparities.”
The mayor also promises to increase funding to Historically Black Colleges and Universities by $25 billion.
“We will act to end the hyper-criminalization and mass incarceration of Black Americans and we will undo the prison-industrial complex,” Buttigieg said in the plan.
I’m proud to share with you the Douglass Plan, our proposal for comprehensively and intentionally dismantling racist structures and systems, fueled by an investment of unprecedented scale in the freedom and self-determination of Black Americans: https://t.co/J35lpGfAry
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) July 11, 2019
If we don’t tackle racial injustice in my lifetime, it will upend the American Project in my lifetime. If the Marshall Plan could rebuild Europe, I believe the Douglass Plan could renew America. Text DOUGLASS to 25859 to learn more and join our call for restorative justice.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) July 11, 2019
He said the “Douglass Plan” was created in addition to his promise to support a commission to study reparations.
Buttigieg has been struggling to gain traction with African American voters. A recent poll from CNN showed Buttigieg polling at 0% among African American voters.
The mayor has been embroiled in a controversy in South Bend over a police officer shooting and killing a black man.
Activists and former city officials have demanded his resignation over what they say is an inadequate response to the situation. Buttigieg has on multiple occasions faced angry protesters on his visits back home over the situation.
Buttigieg is in fifth place and polling at 5% in the Democratic presidential primary, according to RealClearPolitics.
