By Nicole Erwin
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-736847.mp3
Memphis, TN – The new U.S. Representative for the Tennessee 9th Congressional District must be African-American, according to 9th District candidate Dr. Isaac Richmond. The 9th District is a majority African-American.
"I'm saying, let's take it back from what I consider middle-class, bourgeois leadership in the black community that has no relationship at all to the masses and the hard-core, underclass community. We need to take it back from that," Richmond said in an interview with Nicole Irwin in Memphis.
"This race for the 9th Congressional District is a referdum on African-American leadership," he said.
Richmond said the most important issues to him are education, poverty and crime.
"We need to institute a method of learning in the classroom that addresses the needs of African-American children who suffer from the problems of identity [and] low self-esteem," Richmond said.
Richmond's campaign is focusing on voter turnout, the candidate said.
"We're running a purely ground campaign. Our goal is to pass out at least 25 to 35 thousand fliers. We're doing an information campaign to try to educate the people about what it is that we feel they ought to be doing in this campaign," Richmond said.
"The goal of our campaign is to bring about a change in the consciousness of the voters of the 9th Congressional District," he added.
The Tennessee state primary takes place August 7.