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VOLUME 98 - NUMBER 20
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2019
TELEPHONE 919-682-2913 PRICE 50 CENTS
makes appeal to Deep
South black voters
By Kim Chandler
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Democratic presiden
tial candidate Bernie Sanders made an appeal May 20 to
black voters in the Deep South, stopping at a historically
African American church and calling health care a “hu
man right” that he equated to the civil rights movement.
Speaking before a racially diverse crowd at Mt. Zion
Church AME Church in Alabama’s capital, Sanders re
newed his calls for extending health care coverage to all
Americans and reducing student debt.
“Just as civil rights is a human right, health care is a
human right,” Sanders said to loud applause. The crowd
for his midday speech was about half white despite the
church’s deep ties to the civil rights movement.
Wrapping up a four-state Southern swing that includ
ed stops in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina,
the Vermont senator is working to strengthen his support
among black voters who comprise most ofthe Democrat
ic primary electorate in many Southern states.
Earlier in the day, Sanders toured nearby civil rights
sites and visited an impoverished area of the state where
residents struggle with adequate wastewater sanitation.
On Sunday, he held a rally in a park in downtown Bir
mingham.
Sanders said full-time workers should not “live in
poverty” in the wealthiest nation in the world and noted
that Alabama is one of the states with no minimum wage
above the federal minimum. He said the minimum wage
should be raised to $15.
Sanders also touted his recently unveiled K-12 educa
tion plan, saying education should become a national pri
ority.
“As a people, as Americans, we have got to say loud
ly and proudly that education is a major priority in this
country,” Sanders said.
In Montgomery, Sanders was greeted by a large and
enthusiastic crowd that chanted “Bernie!” with several
people interrupting his speech to shout, “We love you!”
Sanders has previously talked up his days as a civil
rights activist while a student at the University of Chi
cago. He has also visited Selma, Alabama, participating
in ceremonies marking the anniversary of Bloody Sun
day at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of one of the
most galvanizing moments in support of the 1965 Voting
Rights Act.
Jeanise Murry, a 49-year-old African American nurse
who heard Sanders speak Monday, said she likes some of
the things he mentioned but is still deciding which candi
date to support in 2020.
“It won’t be (President Donald) Trump,” Murry said.
North Carolina
university to
address racism
allegations
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) _ A North
Carolina university says it is forming a commis
sion to address allegations of racism.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports Wake For
est University President Nathan Hatch announced
in a letter posted this week the formation of the
President’s Commission on Race, Equity and
Community. The commission will include stu
dents, faculty, staff and community members.
The first meeting is scheduled for September.
Jose Villalba, vice president of diversity and
inclusion and chief diversity officer for Wake
Forest, says people have already contacted the
university requesting to be involved.
Robert F. Smith, left, laughs with David Thomas, center, and actress Angela Bassett at Morehouse College on
Sunday, May 19, 2019, in Atlanta. Smith, a billionaire technology investor and philanthropist, said he will pro- '
vide grants to wipe out the student debt of the entire graduating class at Morehouse College - an estimated $40
million. Smith, this year's commencement speaker, made the announcement Sunday morning while address
ing nearly 400 graduating seniors of the all-male historically black college in Atlanta. (Bo Emerson/Atlanta
Journal-Constitution via AP)
Speaker stuns 2019 Morehouse
grads, to pay off student debt
By Errin Haines Whack
A billionaire technology investor stunned the entire graduating class at Morehouse College when he announced
at their commencement Sunday that he would pay off their student loans — estimated at up to $40 million.
Robert F. Smith, this year’s commencement speaker, made the announcement while addressing nearly 400
graduating seniors of the all-male historically black college in Atlanta. Smith, who is black, is the Founder and
CEO of Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in software, data, and technology-driven compa
nies.
"On behalf of the eight generations of my family that have been in this country, we’re gonna put a little fuel
in your bus,” the investor and philanthropist told graduates in his morning address. "This is my class, 2019. And
my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans.”
The announcement immediately drew stunned looks from faculty and students alike. Then the graduates broke
into the biggest cheers of the morning and stood up, applauding. Morehouse said it is the single largest gift to the
college.
Though college officials could not provide an estimate of the exact amount owed by the current graduating
class, students graduate with an average debt of $30,000 to $40,000, said Terrance L. Dixon, vice president of
enrollment management.
Smith, who received an honorary doctorate from Morehouse during the ceremony, had already announced a
$1.5 million gift to the school.
Smith said he expected the recipients to "pay it forward” and said he hoped that "every class has the same
opportunity going forward.”
"Because we are enough to take care of our own community,” Smith said. "We are enough to ensure that we
have all the opportunities of the American dream. And we will show it to each other through our actions and
through our words and through our deeds.”
In the weeks before graduating from Morehouse on Sunday, 22-year-old finance major Aaron Mitchom drew
up a spreadsheet to calculate how long it would take him to pay back his $200,000 in student loans - 25 years at
half his monthly salary, per his calculations.
In an instant, that number vanished. Mitchom, sitting in the crowd, wept.
"I can delete that spreadsheet,” he said in an interview after the commencement. "I don’t have to live off of
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was shocked. My heart dropped. We all cried. In the moment it was like a
burden had been taken off.”
His mother, Tina Mitchom, was also shocked. Eight family members, including Mitchom’s 76-year-old grand
mother, took turns over four years co-signing on the loans that got him across the finish line.
"ft takes a village,” she said, "ft now means he can start paying it forward and start closing this gap a lot
sooner, giving back to the college and thinking about a succession plan” for his younger siblings.
Morehouse College president David A. Thomas said the gift would have a profound effect on the students’
futures.
"Many of my students are interested in going into teaching, for example, but leave with an amount of student
debt that makes that untenable,” Thomas said in an interview. "In some ways, it was a liberation gift for these
young men that just opened up their choices.”
Whack reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press writer Ben Nadler contributed to the report from Atlanta.
The school was in the spotlight after images
from old yearbooks showed students posing with
Confederate flags or in blackface. A racist Insta
gram post in March suggested Wake Forest build
a wall to separate it from Winston-Salem State
University, the city’s historically black university.
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