Clinton spoke to a gathering of black leaders, including Sharpton, sponsored by the National Urban League at its Wall Street offices.
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That point has been repeated by established civil rights leader who are backing Clinton and hotly disputed by Sanders’ supporters.
Sharpton stressed again Tuesday that the groups are concerned that issues affecting black communities will leave the White House with the Obamas next January.
The proposal – aimed at stemming the “school-to-prison pipeline – will cap off a day where the 2016 presidential candidate sought to rally support from African-American voters ahead of Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday and South Carolina’s primary later this month”.
The Reverend Al Sharpton, one of the country’s best-known civil-rights activists, also joined the NY meeting, and joked warmly with Clinton in the corridors afterward, suggesting to gathered reporters that he had told her who he would endorse.
“Wow”, she said, recognizing the power of the cough over her ability to deliver her speech.
“Secretary Clinton demonstrated an ease and familiarity with numerous issues we discussed this morning”, Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said after the series of meetings.
Opinion polls show Clinton with a strong lead over Sanders in SC, where blacks are likely to make up more than half the voters in the state’s Democratic primary on February 27. He sat down with Sharpton last week at Sylvia’s in Harlem. He also emphasized that support of black voters must be earned.
When Clinton was finally able to say a word without a cough, she made a decision to partially quote Dr. Martin Luther King.
The crowd cheered often, even chanting her name when Clinton’s voice began to fail and she took a break to grab a throat lozenge and drink water. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, said, “we must know where all of the candidates are”.
To address “generations of underinvestment and neglect” in African American communities, Clinton said she will raise taxes on “every millionaire and billionaire in America”.
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Later on Tuesday, Clinton, a former United States senator from New York, gave a speech in the historically black New York City neighbourhood of Harlem on breaking down the barriers that black families face.
