Cardi B has had talks with presidential candidates in the past and she recently flexed her political muscles again when she joined Joe Biden for an ELLE Magazine interview. The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate took part in a wide-ranging conversation with the music star and activist about the issues that matter most to her.
To begin the Zoom interview, Biden told Cardi B that they could relate – his daughter called him “Joey B” growing up. After Cardi greeted Ashden’s daughter, Ashley, the interview took a serious turn.
Biden asked Cardi B about the issues that interest her in these elections, and her list was extensive. The rapper, whose real name is Belcalis Almánzar, first said she wanted President Trump out, citing his handling of the coronavirus pandemic as one problem.
“And also what I want is free Medicare,” she said. “It’s important to have it for free [health care] for see what is happening right now. Of course, I think we need free college. And I want black people to stop killing and no justice for that. I’m tired of it. I’m sick of it. “
She said she wants “laws that are fair to Black citizens and that are also fair to police officers. If you kill someone who has no weapon on them, you go to jail. You know what “If I kill someone, I do. I have to go to jail. You also have to go to jail. That’s what I want.”
Biden responded by saying, “There’s no reason why we can not have all of this,” and he stressed the importance of presidents taking responsibility, leveling with the American people and telling the truth.
Biden asked young voters to turn out and vote, saying that if more 18- to 24-year-olds had voted in 2016, Hillary Clinton would have been president in place of Donald Trump.
“The mood matters,” Biden said. “That’s why you keep talking to people about the need to vote. Your generation can own what happens in the next election. They can change things dramatically when they come up and vote.”
During the Zoom conversation, the two reunited with their parents. Biden, who is 77, notes he had four children and five grandchildren. Cardi B, who is 27, has a 2-year-old daughter with her husband, fellow rapper Offset.
She raised concerns about the lack of programs for children after school, saying that programs she grew up with are now disappearing from her neighborhood.
“I’m the guy who put those programs into after school,” Biden said. “I could get $ 20 billion [for] more boys ‘and girls’ clubs. “He blamed the loss of such programs on people who do not want to pay taxes to support them.
Biden also told Cardi B one of the things he admires most about her “is that you keep talking about what I call equity – decency, honesty, and treating people with respect.”
“John Lewis“
Cardi B said the question of change is simple: “I feel like Black people, we do not ask for sympathy, we do not ask for charity – we just ask for equality. We ask for honesty, and we ask for justice. That is everything. I feel that everything people ask is interpreted in a very different way. No, it’s simple: We just want justice. We want to feel like America. “
Biden praised the younger generation, saying they were the “smartest, best educated, least biased and most involved generation in history.”
“See what they see now with this president. He promotes hatred, prejudice, racism. Talk about protecting the Confederate flag when Mississippi takes it off its flag,” Biden said. “This is all about the game of making people hate each other. Because that’s how he wins, by sharing us. Your generation is changing it.”
Cardi B said prejudice is dangerous and “could be the beginning of a civil war.”
“Everyone just wants the best for themselves, their future, the future of their children. I do not want that [have] to tell my kids, ‘You have to go to the store carefully. Just wear a hoodie. Please do not stop. “We do not want that,” she said.
Earlier in the primary season, Cardi B was a frontrunner fan of Bernie Sanders, but when Biden once rose to the top of the Democratic field, she came out and signed him.
In addition to child care and health care, Cardi B said one of the issues she’s most focused on – and one her fans are concerned about – is the need for free college. The rapper opened up about her own education and the struggle to transition from high school to college.
“I come from New York, and if you’re in high school or high school, they give you a free MetroCard for you to get to your school, and they gave me free lunch,” she said. “When I was in college, I didn’t come anymore [free] transport. So I had to get a job because I needed $ 5 every day to go from Washington Heights to Chambers Street. And I had to feed myself. “
The rapper said some days she had to wait until she got home to eat because she could have lunch. “I was hungry, and I felt so discouraged,” she said. “That I just feel that this is so important, to fund students while they are in college.”
Biden told Cardi B that if he is elected president, he will put pressure on families who make less than $ 125,000 to receive free education. When the rapper asked if that would actually happen, the candidate said, “Absolutely, positively.”
“Just check me out; I’ve never broken my word. Never in my life,” Biden said.
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