Vivek Ramaswamy Has Pointed Message for Black Americans, Youths
Tyler O'Neil /
MILWAUKEE—Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy spoke directly to groups of Americans often considered liberal and Democratic: blacks, immigrants, millennials, and Gen Z.
Speaking to the Republican National Convention at the Fiserve Forum in Milwaukee, he said he wanted to deliver a message the media didn’t want these Americans to hear.
“Our message to black Americans is this: The media has tried to convince you for decades that Republicans don’t care about your neighborhoods, but we do,” entrepreneur-author Ramaswamy said. “We want for you what we want for every American: safe neighborhoods, clean streets, good jobs, a better life for your children, and a justice system that treats everyone equally, regardless of your skin color, and regardless of your political beliefs.”
He also addressed immigrants.
“Our message to every legal immigrant is this: You’re like my parents,” Ramaswamy said. “You deserve the opportunity to secure a better life for your children in America.”
“But our message to illegal immigrants is also this: We will return you to your country of origin, not because you’re all bad people, but because you broke the law, and the United States of America was founded on the rule of law,” he declared.
The former presidential candidate then turned to young Americans; namely, members of the millennial generation and Gen Z.
“Our message to millennials, speaking as one myself (yes, it’s true): Our government sold us a false bill of goods with the Iraq War and the 2008 financial crisis, bloating up our national debt that falls on our generation’s shoulders, telling us that if we took out college loans, we’d somehow get a head start on the American dream, when it hasn’t worked out that way,” Ramaswamy, 38, said.
Yet he also urged his fellow millennials, “We can’t just be cynical about our country because the United States of America is the last, best hope that we have, and we deserve a better class of politician, one that actually tells us the truth, even if it comes with some mean tweets from time to time.”
“Our message to Gen Z is this: You’re going to be the generation that actually saves this country,” Ramaswamy added.
“You want to be a rebel, you want to be a hippie, you want to stick it to the man?” he asked. “Show up on your college campus and try calling yourself a conservative. Say you want to get married, have kids, teach them to believe in God and pledge allegiance to our country.”
“Fear has been infectious in this country, but courage can be contagious, too,” the former candidate concluded. “That, too, is what it means to be an American.”
Ramaswamy also quipped, “I achieved the impossible, which is that most of you actually know how to say my name right.”