Visiting NC, candidate Tom Steyer says housing conditions reveal ‘cruelty’ to the poor
Conditions at McDougald Terrace in Durham are an example of systematic “cruelty” that has to be addressed by the U.S. government and its leaders, Democratic presidential hopeful Tom Steyer said.
Steyer, a billionaire turned champion of Democratic causes, visited the Triangle this weekend including the public housing complex where residents have evacuated after carbon monoxide concerns, and where at least two children have died from causes that haven’t so far been publicly identified.
“I went to McDougald Terrace to actually see what was going on,” he said Sunday. “To talk to some of the people who there, some of the people who lived there and some of the people are leading the movement to repair those projects.”
During his stay in the Triangle, he also visited NC Central University School of Law and the Women’s Center of Wake County, and held a public Q&A in Raleigh.
He finished his tour in Goldsboro, participating in a forum about poverty after listening to a sermon from the Rev. William Barber II, pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church, former state NAACP president and leader of the Poor People’s Campaign.
Barber’s church also hosted Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg last month, and he’s invited all candidates running for president, including Donald Trump, to attend his service.
Attended Barber’s church service
In his sermon, Barber said God gets “sick and tired” of political and social violence waged against the poor, and that those who do not follow God’s vision of justice will face his judgment.
“We need to hear that public policy ... can be weaponized to hurt entire communities and groups of people,” he said.
People are suffering, Steyer said. There are children hungry without enough to eat, people dying without health care and workers without a livable wage, he said. And it’s not a “fluke.”
“Starving the government” by reducing taxes on wealthy Americans and big corporations is what’s keeping Americans from succeeding, he said.
“What I see is cruelty,” Steyer said. “I see people suffering needlessly. What Bishop Barber calls violence I call cruelty. Intentional cruelty for money. Broad spread, unbearable, and I am running for president to basically take back the government for the people.”
During the forum, Steyer was asked about immigration, health care and increasing the minimum wage, among other topics.
On Iowa debate stage
Steyer, who has risen in recent polls of early voting states South Carolina and Nevada after spending heavily on advertising there, will be one of six Democratic candidates on the stage for next week’s debate in Iowa. Campaigning after years as an investor and backing Democratic causes, he’s not a career politician like the five candidates who will share the stage with him, he said.
“I am different from everybody else,” he said. “… I have no allegiance to the system. I have allegiance to the people.”
Steyer has primarily focused on the effects of climate change and other environmental issues. In 2012 he founded NextGen America, which spent $230 million supporting Democratic candidates in recent elections, according to The Washington Post.
“Corporations have bought the government,” Steyer said in a media briefing Sunday. “We are not getting anything we want until we take it back. I am an outsider who has been doing that for 10 years successfully.”
North Carolina’s primary is set for March 3, part of a group of states that make up “Super Tuesday,” and early voting begins Feb. 13.
This story was originally published January 12, 2020 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Visiting NC, candidate Tom Steyer says housing conditions reveal ‘cruelty’ to the poor."
