2020 Democrat Pete Buttigieg was picked apart online after a resurfaced clip from 2011 revealed that he thought low-income children do not have someone in their family who values education.
While running to be South Bend, Indiana’s mayor in 2011, Buttigieg said that children from poor families “needed to see evidence” that getting a good education would benefit them because they are not surrounded by people who value education.
“The kids need to see evidence that education’s gonna work for them,” Buttigieg said. “Because you’re motivated because you believe that at the end of your educational process, there’s a reward. There’s a stable life. There’s a job.”
Buttigieg added, “And there are a lot of kids, especially the lower-income minority neighborhoods who literally just haven’t seen it work. There isn’t somebody they know personally who testifies to the value of education.”
“Kids” from “lower income, minority neighborhoods” don’t have “someone they know personally who testifies to the value of education.” – Pete Buttigieg, 2011 South Bend Mayoral Candidate #MayorPete #PeteForAmerica #Pete2020 #Buttigieg2020 #Buttigieg pic.twitter.com/sd1bZDLoG8
— Resist Programming ? (@RzstProgramming) November 24, 2019
He was blasted on social media for his remarks, with many Twitter users claiming that his attitude toward low-income areas in America could be why he struggles to earn support from black voters.
Raise your hand if:
You grew up in a lower income, minority neighborhood, and your community valued education.
You grew up in a lower income, minority neighborhood, and your family valued education.
You grew up in a lower income, minority neighborhood, and you value education. https://t.co/BbAxiQsLvD
— Meena Harris (@meenaharris) November 24, 2019
This plays to a stereotype.
It isn’t that there aren’t ppl around who value education.
Instead sometimes there aren’t ppl in one’s immediate family who have navigated things in our educational system that aren’t intuitive — e.g., applying for financial aid (filing out FAFSA). https://t.co/dHIJBbdIRs
— Joaquin Castro (@Castro4Congress) November 25, 2019
We’re about to find out how someone can get less than 0% of the Black vote. https://t.co/UcPX4BPaE9
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) November 25, 2019
Pete is really angling to get his black support into the negatives https://t.co/wQD5gjoTP6
— ?Dante Atkins? (@DanteAtkins) November 24, 2019
In a column for The Root, Buttigieg was called a “lying motherf—er” for the remarks. The author, Michael Harriot, claimed the mayor’s statements prove he doesn’t actually want to help black Americans.
“It proves men like him are more willing to perpetuate the fantastic narrative of negro neighborhoods needing more role models and briefcase-carriers than make the people in power stare into the sun and see the blinding light of racism,” Harriot wrote. “Get-along moderates would rather make shit up out of whole cloth than wade into the waters of reality. Pete Buttigieg doesn’t want to change anything. He just wants to be something.”
Buttigieg, 37, graduated from Harvard University. He also studied at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. His father, Joseph Buttigieg, was a professor of literature at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend.
