Posted on January 22, 2019

Kirsten Gillibrand: White Women Must Bear Burden of Fighting Racism Alongside People of Color

Jillian Jorgensen, New York Daily News, January 21, 2019

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand took her new presidential campaign to Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in Harlem for Martin Luther King Day — saying white women needed to be part of the fight against institutional racism in the United States.

“It cannot be left to people of color alone. It is wrong to ask men and women of color to bear these burdens every single day, the same fights over and over again,” said Gillibrand, who launched an exploratory campaign last week. “White women like me must bear part of this burden and commit to amplifying your voices.”

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Gillibrand rattled off a series of startling statistics — that black women are 12 times more likely to die in childbirth in New York than white women; that black or brown men are ten times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites.

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