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The internet had a field day with the awkward preview of Mary J. Blige’s interview with Hillary Clinton. But now, we really want to put you on to the fact that the whole interview is here and it’s nowhere near as uncomfortable as that clip suggested.
The Democratic presidential nominee and The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul sat down for the first episode of her Beats 1 show, The 411 with Mary J. Blige, and talked about faith, family and politics. And some of the questions weren’t even sung.
Though gender equality has clearly been a part of her campaign — it kind of has to be as the first woman nominated for president by a major political party — Clinton has rarely been as explicit with how she views her candidacy’s role in that struggle as she is in this interview.
“One of the reasons I’m so proud to be running for president is I want to break that highest and hardest glass ceiling,” Clinton said. “It’s not that I think every little boy and every little girl is going to run for president. Obviously, that’s not going to happen. But I want every little girl and every little boy to feel like there are no barriers in America…The American Dream is big enough for everybody.”
Clinton also had a message for the people who have looked at their choices this election and decided to opt out of the whole voting process. After saying that she was “sorry they felt that way,” Clinton laid down a history lesson in the hopes of getting disaffected citizens to vote.
“You are basically abdicating the most important right that any citizen has, that people fought and died to extend. First to all men, because it used to be just white men with property, then to black men — and that had to be enforced and we’re still fighting that battle — then to women,” she said. “For goodness sake, think of all the people who came before who recognized the critical importance of people voting.”
If that historical perspective didn’t work, Clinton dropped another note that plays to the “other people are trash” feelings of the cynical. “If you don’t vote, you leave the field to people who don’t agree with you on anything,” she said.
Blige’s BLM song is just as awkward as it seemed in the preview clip, but it does steer the conversation in a meaningful direction.
“African-American parents have to sit their children down and deliver the message that you just sang. ‘Be careful,’ ” Clinton responded. “I particularly want white people to understand what that’s like and to be a part of the solution.”
Check out the whole interview up top.
