Actor and author Hill Harper stepped in a political role in Free Speech Alley on Friday morning as he rallied for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in the Louisiana presidential primary this Saturday.
Harper made previous stops in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire in support of Obama and was invited to the University by organizations such as Tigers for Obama, Black Student Union and the Association of Black Communicators.
Harper has acted in shows such as “CSI: New York” and “The Sopranos” and authored a book entitled “Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny.”
He attended Brown University and went on to Harvard Law School where he met Obama. Harper also owns a hotel in New Orleans.
“[Harper] has known [Obama] for 20 years,” said Elizabeth Weiner, a public relations senior and volunteer for the Obama campaign. “He went to Harvard law school with him, and he just really believes in him.”
The actor related his personal experiences with Obama to students and called for students to contribute their time to campaigning and voting for Obama.
He told one student that Obama contributed to his book despite his busy schedule and called for students to donate their time despite obligations.
“I’ve known Hillary for about four years,” Harper said. “She is a great person, but the problem is, for many years, she has taken federal lobbyists’ money and continues to take their money.”
Harper said Obama is a more formidable candidate than Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton because he has always been a public servant and does not make “back door deals” for endorsements.
“Barack and [Republican presidential candidate Mike] Huckabee are the only two candidates that aren’t multi-millionaires,” Harper said. “I know you’ve heard about Hillary writing a $5 million check to her campaign fund. Well Barack couldn’t do that if he wanted to. We rely on endorsements from people who really love Barack, not people who want deals.”
G. Denise Dupree, a political science freshman, heard about Harper’s appearance when she logged onto Facebook.com that morning. Some students, like Dupree, wanted to know what advantages Obama’s presidency would hold for them.
“[Obama] is big into education because he was born relatively poor and used education to come up,” Harper said. “He still isn’t really wealthy, but he has always been a public servant. He is the education president.”
Dupree said she felt especially motivated by Harper’s words.
Harper said Louisiana is important to Obama now because of race-baiting by the Hillary campaign, which will make it difficult for Obama to win in Ohio and Texas.
“We need a huge victory here,” Harper said. “It has to be a 65 to 70 percent win.”
—-Contact Megan Williams at [email protected].