In the interview, Paul, a likely 2016 GOP presidential contender, defended his minority rights record. “My conception of justice is that there have been many times in our history when we have done things unfairly to Japanese Americans, to black Americans,” Paul said. “I still think that the justice system does not treat African Americans fairly in regard to non-violent drug crime, with regard to felonies being on your record.” The Kentucky Republican pointed to legislation he’s worked on to reform drug sentences that disproportionately affect black men, and a bill he has in the works to reform the prison system. “I think if you haven’t committed a crime in a certain period of time, you should be able to get your rights back,” Paul said. “So many African Americans, particularly young males, make mistakes as kids, and I don’t think they should be punished for the rest of their lives. So we’ll keep speaking out on these issues and we’ll see what happens.” President Obama won 93 percent of the black vote in 2012, but Paul argued blacks should be a natural Republican constituency. “There are millions and millions of African Americans who go to church and who are, in many ways, religiously conservative,” he said. “We need to ask them what would it take to get people in your congregation to consider voting for a Republican? Because one of the ironies is that if you go into any African American church in Chicago or any big city, they’re predominately social conservative.” “If you were to poll African Americans just on issues without party, you would find that they are actually sympathetic to Republican issues on many fronts, but aren’t voting Republican,” he added. “I think some of it is because they sense either hostility or a lack of kinship or a lack of empathy coming from Republicans.” Read more: thehill/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/313421-paul-i-wont-shrink-away-from-minority-outreach#ixzz2aGDzv5CE Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 19:04:02 +0000
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