As Hillary Clinton makes her final push in South Carolina ahead of the state’s critical Saturday Democratic primary, she’s getting some help from five African-American mothers whose children were victims of gun violence or died in police custody.
{mosads}The mothers — Maria Hamilton, the mother of Dontre Hamilton; Lucia McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis; Geneva Reed-Veal, the mother of Sandra Bland; Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin; and Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner — have been crisscrossing the Palmetto State for Clinton, visiting churches and community groups with Clinton’s messaging around ending gun violence and fixing our broken law-enforcement system.
These mothers, individually and together, have a compelling story to tell about an American Dream that — for them and their families — has turned into a complete American nightmare. These mothers will be effective. They will be instrumental in turning out middle-aged African-Americans in record numbers for Clinton.
These mothers and their stories will bring people to tears because their pain is real and palpable, but will their stories translate to youth voters? Will their stories convince millennials, the same age as their children should be, to vote for the former secretary of State?
So far, Clinton has had a rough time trying to convince millennial voters (ages 18 to 35) that she is the best choice. The Clinton campaign is suffering from what some would call “a baby boomer mindset.”
For the first time in American History, an entire generation of citizens is more indebted, less employed and poorer than preceding generations. And that generation is the millennial generation, a group that has been voting for Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) in record numbers.
Many out there would want you to believe that our generation is voting for Sanders because he is promising us more “free stuff” then Clinton. And those same individuals would also tell you that we are a generation of lazy, self-absorbed, spoiled brats. But they are wrong.
Young people are voting for Sanders because he is appealing to their aspirations. In the eyes of millennials, his campaign’s call for a political revolution is exactly what the doctor ordered to get this nation back on track.
The excitement around a political revolution is derived from an economic tragedy written prior to the birth of millennial generation. Unlike their parents and grandparents, baby boomers created policies and economic realities that have paralyzed the future of what could be our nation’s next greatest generation.
The Great Recession was no accident; it was created by years of entitled thinking at the hands of baby boomers. They engaged expensive foreign wars; they tripled the national debt. They opted for tax cuts on their stock gains over long-term investment in America’s infrastructure. They built more jailhouses and fewer schoolhouses. They passed harsh bankruptcy laws pegging millennials to their student loan debt till death due them part. And they have refused to raise the minimum wage, pushing more and more young working families into poverty.
So yes, millennials are extremely frustrated. They voted for hope and change in 2008, and they still have a lot of hope, but are lacking in the change department. President Obama has been a great advocate for their issues, but his baby booming buddies in Congress have pretty much left these voters for dead.
The Sanders campaign seems to be the only candidate in the field to appeal to what millennial voters are looking for: transformative, long-lasting change that will restore access to an American Dream that has been weighed down by regressive and awful policies created over the past 30 years.
But let’s be real: While vigorous and aspirational in nature, the Sanders campaign isn’t quite ready for prime-time, and Clinton’s is.
Over the next couple weeks, millennials should continue to watch and push Clinton to make herself more inspirational. For the Democrats and the Clinton campaign, the time for debating the nuance of policy is over. Now is the time to truly engage voters ages 18 to 35 and ask the critical question: What can the party do to right the wrongs of the baby boomer generation? That conversation should start in the Palmetto State, with millennial voters who have bore witness to a church massacre at Mother Emmanuel, the untimely death of Walter Scott, and an out-of-school control officer assaulting a young black girl for using her cellphone.
Fowler is the host of the nationally syndicated radio program “The Richard Fowler Show,” which can also be viewed on YouTube as an affiliate of The Young Turks network. He appears regularly on Fox News, MSNBC and C-SPAN. He is also a senior fellow for the New Leaders Council. Follow him on Twitter @RichardAFowler.