Chris: Kennedy Family Values

Robert,

My uncle once wrote in a Presidential Executive Order that government contractors should “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” 

He recognized the institutional and cultural barriers that many minorities faced at the time when trying to obtain employment, and how those barriers affected their upward mobility. 

Today, President Trump and Jeff Sessions are attacking affirmative action and falsely alleging that these policies that work to help disadvantaged students discriminate against white students. 

 

That is ridiculous. Trump’s false narrative is a slap in the face to higher education and students.

 

The university systems still greatly favor wealthy students. We see that plainly with the revelation that Trump’s son-in-law was able to attend an Ivy League university because his family handed the university a large check. 

 

We cannot let Trump and Sessions continue to attack what makes our country great: diversity and opportunity. 

 

As a former trustee at the University of Illinois, I saw first hand how minority and economically disadvantaged students face many challenges to accessing education. Make a $5 contribution now as a show of support for ensuring that all students have the opportunity and access to education. Your contribution will send a message to Trump and Sessions that we will not let them attack a policy that has helped so many students who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to get a better education.

 

People who come from disadvantaged backgrounds deserve our help. Poverty is not simply the absence of money. It’s a whole constellation of pressure points that crush even the strongest characters. We need ways to help people out of poverty. Creating barriers is not one of them.

 

Students who face institutional and cultural barriers to education should be helped -- not pushed away. As governor, I will take that experience and work to ensure that higher education is accessible to all students, not just the wealthy. Trump and Sessions are violating the tenets of the American ideal. They want to bring back a structural barrier to success for students. We will not go back.

 

Together, I know we can move all of our students in Illinois, not just the most privileged ones, forward for a better, more diverse future.

 

Thank you,
Chris

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