During a short but hard-hitting speech to African-American leaders Saturday, President Barack Obama pushed for "greater focus on helping black women who are more likely to be stuck in minimum wage jobs, have higher rates of illness and face higher rates of incarceration than other women," according to the Washington Post.
He made the statement at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 45th Annual Legislative Conference Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., where he delivered a talk that was "aimed directly at black women," the Post writes.
Black women are "one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituencies and consistently vote at higher rates in national elections than any other demographic group," writes the news outlet.
While praising recent efforts to put a black woman's image on the $10 bill, he said the symbolic measure falls short of what is actually needed, according to the Post: "We've got to make sure they are getting some ten dollar bills, that they are getting paid properly."
He also acknowledged Democratic presidential candidate and front-runner Hillary Clinton, his former secretary of state, who was in the audience, calling her "outstanding." He "noted that she [Clinton] could relate to first lady Michelle Obama's concerns over the pay gap that women face compared to their male counterparts," the report says.
He also spent a portion of the speech "making the case for criminal justice reform, which has become a core part of his agenda during his remaining days in office," the report says.
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