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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Visits Howard; Discusses Democratic Agenda

By Kamilah Tom and Sabrina Shanghie, NewsVision and Breon Perry, Howard University News Service

Washington D.C.- Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi discussed a myriad of issues such as the rigidness of party lines, the importance of having a Black History Month, and the House Democrats’ plans for the 116th Congress in the latest series of the 2018-2019 Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy Lecture Series on Wednesday at Howard University.  

Political strategist Donna Brazile hosted the discussion with Pelosi who returned to Howard for the first time since 2007, coinciding with the last time she was elected Speaker of the House.

Before the event, Pelosi spoke about the importance of party identification to young people for the upcoming primaries and general election.

“I do believe that for young people, identification with party is less of a motivator than it might have been for my generation. I’m very proud to be a Democrat and I see it as a party that really wants to lift people up. I see a big distinction with the Congress and the White House of what our goals are. Having said that, young people are really attracted more to issues than values, we have to show how that is connected to the party.”

In response to a question about reparations, Pelosi agreed with the notion that African Americans should be repaid and issued her support for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act.

Pelosi, dressed in orange, which represents gun violence prevention spoke about the passing the first gun control measure in 10 years, H.R 8, which had passed in the House the same day.

“Today we’re passing H.R. 8 it’s about gun violence prevention, and many young people are not only interested in this issue, but they made a difference on the issue.”