Improving the Quality of Black Lives

Tom has a track record of fighting for the right to learn, the right to clean air and water, the right to health care, the right to earn a living wage, and the right to an equal vote for all and making the American Dream a reality for all, including Black Americans.

For far too long, the majority of African American families have been shut out of the American Dream and prosperity. The ugly legacy of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and legalized institutional racism made it far too easy for African Americans to be left behind. The wealth gap between African American and white families is astounding and an abomination.

As a wealthy, white man Tom recognizes the privileges afforded him and people like him. But they should not be privileges, but rights accessible to all. Tom has a track record of fighting for the right to learn, the right to clean air and water, the right to health care, the right to earn a living wage, and the right to an equal vote for all and making the American Dream a reality for all, including Black Americans.

On Health Care

Tom recognizes the dire racial inequalities in the healthcare system and their impact on black women and girls especially.

Tom will build on Obamacare, ensure its landmark protections, create a strong public option, and break the stranglehold insurance and health care companies have over the economy.

He will require cultural competency training for medical providers to address common breaches in care delivery toward black men and women and ensure federal funding for research for diseases affecting the black community.

On the Right to Vote

It is imperative that African Americans freely exercise their right to vote. Many have died fighting for the right to vote and the Republican Party continues to disenfranchise voters of color — and particularly black voters — through voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other actions that limit access.

Tom has a long track record of engaging with young people and expanding voting rights. In 2018, the organization he founded, NextGen America, ran a $1 million program called Black Lives Rising to increase turnout among young black voters in six key states. Working in collaboration with Color of Change PAC, WokeVote, and Black Futures Lab, the effort registered over 2,000 young black students in Michigan alone.

On Reparations

For 400 years, this country has built a racist system of profits made on the backs of enslaved black bodies. Tom supports reparations for slavery to address this legalized discrimination and unfairness and will create a Commission on Race — not to do more talking, but to take action.

On Criminal Justice Reform

America’s criminal justice system perpetuates a system of mass incarceration and punishment, not rehabilitation and restorative justice for people of color. Black communities have been decimated by aggressive policing and mass incarceration.

Tom will work to end cash bail, reduce the prison population, stop the prison pipeline, legalize marijuana, expunge past records, eliminate private prisons, restructure parole and probation, promote better-policing methods and training to reduce police brutality, and increase resources for public defenders and community intervention programs.

On the Economy

Economic power rests with the American people, not big corporations. Endemic poverty is a daily experience for far too many Americans, many of whom are African Americans.

A Steyer administration will build an economy that creates wealth and prosperity for the working families of this country, and finally, put people over profits. Tom will advocate for a basic standard of living for the most vulnerable with the resources to live a safe, healthy life. He will also fight for access to capital for black businesses and for all who call America home. 

On Housing

America’s history of racist housing policies has willfully kept African Americans from accessing the wealth-generating opportunity that homeownership brings. These racist policies have permeated everything from school quality to intergenerational stability. Tom pledges to address racial inequities head-on.

In 2007, Kat and Tom founded Beneficial State Bank, a non-profit community bank in Oakland, CA, loaning money affordably to working people and projects that improve the quality of lives within local communities and build wealth.

On the Rise of White Supremacy

Some politicians have also stoked the flames of white supremacy, with racist and bigoted rhetoric, putting our country’s black, brown, and religious minority communities at deadly risk.

Tom will fight to pass the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act and Disarm Hate Act, fund DHS programs on domestic terrorism, including groups designated as white supremacists, and issue an annual public report on domestic terrorism.

On Education

Tom believes that every American, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income bracket, has the right to quality education.

Tom’s administration will work to reinvigorate our public schools with increased resources by tripling Title 1 funding to close the education achievement gap, improve school facilities, increase teacher pay and professional development.

To ensure equal access to learning opportunities and resources, Tom will institute programs to attract and retain effective and diverse educators and fund more teacher preparation centers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).

On HBCUs 

HBCUs make America better, smarter, and more successful, and we must do more to protect their ability to educate for generations to come.

As president, Tom will invest $125 billion in HBCUs over the next 10 years for infrastructure and technology upgrades, student and faculty support, building endowment capacity, and HBCU Centers of Innovation, among other initiatives.

On Environmental Justice

Environmental justice is at the core of Tom’s climate plan. Environmental pollution disproportionately impacts communities of color, leaving significant impacts on health, wealth, and wellbeing. African-American communities experience higher infant, mother and group mortality rates, and suffer from higher rates of environmental health impacts like asthma, developmental disorders, and cancer. Clean air and clean water should be a right for every American.

Under Tom’s Justice-Centered Climate Plan, each community will identify what they need most where they live, and his administration will issue $250 billion in new bonds to invest those community-determined projects. This investment will mobilize hundreds of billions more in order to support projects and jobs such as sustainable housing and building upgrades, clean energy generation and storage, urban greening, and clean transportation systems in the places they are needed most.

Tom will level the playing field and ensure that all Americans have a pathway to prosperity. We cannot legislate hate and bigotry from hearts and minds, but we can ensure we rid institutional racism from our government.  That is not who we are. Our government must be of, by, and for the people.