WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry says black families should hold Democrats accountable for decades of what he says are unsuccessful anti-poverty programs.
The former Texas governor gave a speech Thursday in Washington that focused on race.
Perry says it’s Republicans who “are truly offering black Americans the hope of a better life.”
Perry is the latest White House hopeful to weigh in on the racial divide – an issue that’s emerged as a central theme in the 2016 campaign.
He’s promoting policies aimed at African-Americans, including education reform and sentencing laws that keep nonviolent drug offenders out of prison.
Perry is among the dozen-plus Republican candidates running for president.
No Republican has won more than 15 percent of the black vote in a presidential election since 1960.