Continuing to dwell on her election loss, Hillary Clinton told the graduating class at Medgar Evers University Thursday that it was “pretty devastating, especially considering who I lost to.”
Though she did not mention him by name, the former presidential nominee slammed President Trump throughout her speech, railing against many of his policies, from the travel ban to voting rights.
Clinton urged the graduating class not to allow the government to regress on issues of civil rights that turn people against each other, and pointed to Trump’s “Muslim ban” as a “particularly egregious example.” Clinton reaffirmed that “yes it is a ban, as the president himself made quite clear this week.” Trump's use of the term "ban" contradicts his White House spokesman and lawyers' arguments that it is not a ban.
She also focused on voting rights and participation. “Look at the efforts to suppress the vote, the principal right that Medgar Evers fought and died for.”
She went on to blame the Justice Department for supporting “state efforts to make it more difficult for law abiding citizens, especially for black, poor, elderly and young to cast their ballots.”
Medgar Evers College, named after an African American civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1963, is part of the City University of New York system.
She urged graduated to follow in Evers’s example.
"Never let anyone silence your voice," Clinton said, adding later that one of the most important ways graduates can affect change is by voting.
“[R]egister immediately and vote in all elections,” she said. “All of the speaking out and protesting doesn’t mean much if you don’t help choose the elected officials who have the ability to shape your world.”