Dear Hillary:

I want to start by commending you for identifying specific issues when speaking about what’s plaguing Black America.

Your platform is well informed. So thank you for publicly acknowledging parts of the plight of African-Americans that often go ignored by many people in power. Addressing systemic racism and the greased rungs of the Black American ladder is a big first step, an important one. It’s also important that you requested to be held accountable — so few people have been held accountable for what we’ve endured.

In lieu of your request, I’ve got some concerns I believe you should address.

In your introduction, you talk about the Harlem evoked in the American imagination. This is a Black Harlem, a Harlem of culture makers, artists, and renaissance. This is a Harlem of the past. In reality, the Harlem today is gentrified, a new frontier for wealthy White people to settle into while displacing those who made it what it was. You have a high regard for Harlem. So what is your plan to preserve the legacy you laud?

Plus, gentrification is happening in every city. In my city, Philadelphia, shutdown schools are being converted into trendy pop up bars for our hippest residents. Black blight is becoming a playground for the privileged. How will you correct and challenge this? Is your plan to reduce blight in our neighborhoods a plan that builds and fosters spaces that benefit us? Or will it create and foster spaces that serve as incentive for newcomers who treat us like nuisances in our own neighborhoods to invest in their futures?

You mention a missing narrative in current political conversations, a narrative of a rising Black middle class.

But studies show that even the Black middle class has little financial security, that seven out of ten of the children of Black middle-class parents are likely to backslide in income brackets. We highlight crime and poverty when discussing what Black Americans need because we live in a society that is persistently pushing us towards it — and seeks to lock us in once we’re there. The lawyers, doctors, scientists, politicians — leaders of all walks of life — may not be able to lead their children into an equally prosperous future. Our legacies are severed. And so the plight of the poor Black American may be the plight of all of us, of all of our children— until they are secured, none of us are.

Furthermore, there is nothing inherently disgraceful about being impoverished — saying that our demographic makes up a large portion of the nation’s poor is nothing to be ashamed of. It speaks to a fundamental flaw in our system, not in our race, that must be addressed. Too often we are forced to validate ourselves on the basis of capitalistic progress, make ourselves appear respectable based upon our wealth or perceived contributions to America and its market, but we are worthy of human regard regardless of circumstance.

So it’s good that you call for empathy for the poor Black people of Flint.

Thank you for addressing the disparity in the treatment their government gave them as non-White and non-wealthy people. Thank you for addressing the neglect — that it went unchecked for so long, that the people there were vulnerable and undervalued by those meant to advocate for them. However, how will you hold politicians accountable for their communities before catastrophe hits? How will you regulate and ensure that they care about the well-being of their citizens? What, in your opinion, is a proper consequence for their negligence?

You spoke about the unemployment rate in Flint. You pose the solution of creating jobs, but what about discriminatory hiring practices? What about the inherent biases in those deciding whom gets the job? What about the study that says that those with Black sounding names are less likely to get hired than their White counterparts? What about the one that found that White people with a criminal background are more likely to get a callback than a Black person without one? What is your plan to address the insidious effects of racism that exist in implicit prejudice?

You mention that Black people are more likely to be denied a mortgage loan, and then move on to median household income. While median household income is important, you cannot confront the denial of mortgage loans without addressing the bias of the lender. This study from December notes that even when income is the same, the disparities in denial and acceptance remain. That mirrors your point that systemic racism is not merely a matter of economic inequality. How do you plan to eradicate what goes on in the heads of those in positions of power? How will you deal with the kind of quiet discrimination that is difficult to diagnose and easy to deny?

There is so much denial happening, Hillary.

It’s one of the great frustrations of being Black in America today. There has been — and there continues to be — so much wrong committed against us. And there are no apologies, no atonement, no amends. You mention that you’ve made mistakes, walked your own journey. You don’t mention at whose expense, who may have been laying in your path, gotten stepped on. You were First Lady in an era that sent 673,000 people to prison. That’s more than any preceding presidency. It also may be why Black unemployment dipped drastically — those in prison usually aren’t counted. If this is what you were referencing — one of your mistakes, part of your journey — there can be no moving forward without a clear acknowledgment of the damage done. While it was primarily your husband’s doing, and not necessarily yours, you endorsed it. You mention on your site all the things you did for racial justice as First Lady. You must hold yourself accountable for what you didn’t do, as well — for standing by while mass incarceration boomed.

And while on the subject of mass incarceration and citizens returning to society, another policy lingering from your time as First Lady is a major problem. You cannot talk about the long-term unemployment faced by returning citizens and the incentives to recommit crime as a result without talking about the policy pioneered by your husband forbidding felons from receiving government assistance. Not only do employers turn their backs on former prisoners, the government does as well. If you are genuinely concerned about reform for returning citizens, a first priority must be the revocation of this policy. I am one of those children of the 90s who grew up in a home broken by incarceration — and as an adult I have witnessed the obstacles that reinforce destitution in returning citizens. It is imperative that you correct the crises you were complicit in creating.

A noteworthy contribution is your plan to eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline.

Most admirable is your criticism of law enforcement in predominantly Black schools and the statement that schools should be a safe space for children. Many Black people do not feel safe in the presence of police. You mention rebuilding trust between the two communities by increasing exposure, and fostering positive interaction.

I have two concerns about this.

First, you can’t rebuild something that didn’t exist before. Police brutality, racial profiling, abuse of power, and indiscriminate arresting has always existed. The mistrust has deep roots. There is increased attention on the issue currently, which is good, but to say that there was a time when Black people felt that they could trust the police is inaccurate.

Second, instilling trust will not come from increased exposure. The mistrust comes from an imbalance of power, and a history of abusing that power. Black people do not want to spend time in the company of those who have the ability to end their lives with impunity and have historically and contemporarily done so at disturbing rates. No, not all cops are racist, or violent, or brimming with hate, but the ones that are certainly exist, and to expect Black people to take their chances on such a grave possibility is to ask them to risk too much. The anxiety, the fear, the trauma of living with a new reminder almost every week that you can be murdered without much consequence is an issue that can’t be mended by simply focusing on the officers who don’t kill. Police want to be trusted. Black people want to exist in peace. Trust can be rebuilt by accountability, not exposure. There has been no accountability, and no shortage of interaction.

Back to schools, though. You mentioned increasing fiscal support for counselors and social workers, so that students can get real help instead of being labeled as problem students. This is really important. There’s also a huge issue of bias in perception between how mental illness is perceived in Black kids and White ones. Still, fiscal support could make a huge difference. Here in Philadelphia, there is a severe deficit in counselors, one school even citing 1 counselor for over 1,800 students. Many Black students live traumatic realities, and fall through the cracks with no real support. I appreciate your plan to amend this issue.

But I need to talk to you now about who I didn’t see much of a plan for.

You spoke about Black women briefly, your plans for them financially, but as you’ve said, it goes deeper than economic disparity. What about issues regarding healthcare? Black women are treated at an alarmingly low standard. What about reproductive justice, domestic violence? What Black women leaders are you seeking counsel from? Who is informing you on our concerns at the intersection of womanhood and Blackness?

And what about Black LGBTQ people? I noticed they’re in your full plan but went unmentioned in your speech. You say that you want all men and women to be treated as equals — what about people that are neither, non-binary? They are among our most marginalized. They face some of the highest rates of disparity. They should be at the top of your list of concerns. Who is advising you on how to properly advocate for them?

And do you have plans to facilitate accessibility for disabled Black people? Particularly, impoverished disabled Black people? There are neighborhoods in my city where government workers spray pesticide on the weeds growing between cracks in the sidewalk. A wealthy woman calls and complains when graffiti springs up — and the city comes to remove it within an hour. These are the neighborhoods that have elevators at the el-train stations. These are the neighborhoods with money, the White ones. In poor Black parts of the city, there are no elevators, and the stations are underground or three flights of stairs above the sidewalk. If you are in a wheelchair in these parts of the city you have limited options for transportation. What is your plan to make America an accessible place for those often overlooked, those of us merging Blackness with other margins?

Hillary, systemic racism is as old as America.

I applaud you for taking it on — so many politicians have evaded it entirely, or fed it, making a monster of a mess. There’s been progress, but the progress is not enough. I’m not free. I still fear for the future of my son in a country where so many cards are stacked against him. Like you, I believe we can reverse this downward trajectory, can change the future for the better. I need to believe that, I depend on that faith. I don’t know that the gestures you’ve listed are enough, yet — they don’t change the anti-blackness of many in positions of power. They don’t reconcile the centuries of trauma compounding in the bodies of Black Americans. But they are certainly a start. Addressing it is a start. Accountability is a start. And discourse is a start. May the discourse carry on.