Subject: MUST READ: High Point Enterprise: Andrew Barnhill: Clinton’s message resonates with millennials
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2015 09:28:34 -0500
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*High Point Enterprise: Guest Column: Clinton’s message resonates with
millennials
<http://www.hpenews.com/opinion/x1707095788/Guest-Column-Clinton-s-message-resonates-with-millennials>*

By Andrew Barnhill

February 20, 2015 11:47 p.m. EST

Long before she served as a United States senator, Hillary Clinton’s
commitment to public service took root inside the walls of her childhood
Methodist church. As a high school student in Illinois, Clinton began to
learn that faith must be lived out through a lens of social justice and
human rights.

Upon first hearing Martin Luther King Jr. when he visited Chicago in 1962,
Clinton began to see the social and racial struggles that were taking
places throughout the United States. As a minister trained in both law and
theology, I see in Secretary Clinton a fighter for the marginalized, a
voice for the struggling, and a comforter for the overburdened.

Secretary Clinton has also come to be one of our nation’s greatest
advocates for my generation, the millennials. As senator, Hillary Clinton
fought to expand college affordability by introducing legislation to boost
awareness of student financial aid through outreach programs. She also
fought to restore the Bush administration’s cuts to Pell Grants, and
co-sponsored legislation to establish centers on college campuses to assist
veterans.

I have the distinct privilege of serving as the State Director of New
Leaders Council, which works to recruit, train and promote the progressive
entrepreneurs of tomorrow — trendsetters, elected officials and civically
engaged leaders in business and industry who will shape the future
landscape of our state. Over and over again, I find millennials who are
craving to be led by authentic public voices not afraid to share the faith
that spurs them to social action. The millennials I know see beyond the
polarizing reality that has defined faithful discourse for much of the 20th
century. They see another way, a way that Secretary Clinton understands.

North Carolina is a state where people are not afraid to share their faith,
and strive to reclaim the victories of the civil rights leaders who guided
us forward. Here in North Carolina, however, we have experienced
significant challenges to progress. Cuts to our university system, cuts to
our public schools, and cuts to healthcare access have defined the past
several years of legislative action. Secretary Clinton understands these
challenges, but more importantly, she understands how to work with people
of faith, including a new generation of leaders, as we seek to restore a
commitment to justice and equal opportunity right here at home.

*Andrew Barnhill is the State Director of New Leaders Council-North
Carolina. He is the youngest member of the Executive Council of the North
Carolina Democratic Party.*