Former U.S Attorney General Loretta Lynch addressed a convocation of students at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Thursday, urging the student body to take a leadership role amid “dark times.”
Lynch, the first African-American woman to serve as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, said it was her first time in Arkansas. She opened her remarks by recounting the university’s founding at the first public college for African-Americans in the state.
Her speech quickly turned toward the political, touching on anti-immigrant sentiments, new barriers to voting and the everyday harassment of African-Americans caught on cellphone cameras, which she described as a rebirth of problems confronted by previous generations.
Though she never mentioned President Donald Trump by name, she invoked his administration by recounting recent news stories and said “our leaders in Washington have lost their minds.”
Racism, she said, was lurking behind the administration’s rollback of many policies enacted by President Barack Obama, Lynch’s former boss.
“Don’t ever doubt that is the root of what’s going on today,” Lynch said.
To confront those changes, Lynch urged the students to “raise your voices,” by writing congressman, op-eds, books and getting involved in public service. Most of all, she told the audience to vote and encourage others do so as well.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.