Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Clinton stump for Hillary in Los Angeles

LINCOLN HEIGHTS >> Basketball legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Earvin “Magic” Johnson joined former President Bill Clinton Sunday for a three-stop tour of Losu2009Angeles to urge voters to send Hillary Clinton to the White House.

The sports greats and the 42nd president visited supporters and phone bank callers in East Losu2009Angeles, Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights with their message.

“We’re here because were’ going to help elect the next president of the United States, and her name is Hillary Clinton,” Johnson said to a roar of applause at the Plaza de la Raza Cultural Center for the Arts in Lincoln Heights.

“Kareem and I believe in her, how smart she is, her vision for the country, her agenda for the country, bringing us all together, bringing America back working again,” Johnson said. “She believes in the middle class and making sure even the poor people can rise up to the middle class. That’s what it’s all about. Education, that’s what it’s all about.”

Abdul-Jabbar said Hillary Clinton’s ideas are in need right now in the nation.

“Mrs. Clinton really has an idea, a concrete idea, on how to improve the educational system so that it works for people who have core issues, poverty issues,” he said. “The whole idea of single-parent homes. The whole idea of chronic unemployment affecting so many of our communities: We need some concrete ideas that can deal with those issues, and Mrs. Clinton has some ideas.”

“We’re going to be able to talk about these things in an intelligent way, to get something done, which is what all of you have been waiting for,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

Other dignitaries who stopped by the event in Lincolnu2009Heights to show support for Hillary Clinton’s campaign included Losu2009Angeles Supervisor Hilda Solis, State Sen.u2009Kevin de Leon, D-Losu2009Angeles, Losu2009Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and others.

Bill Clinton told the audience that his wife had the best ideas for the nation, citing her plans to reduce student debt, reduce the incarceration of nonviolent criminals, embrace diversity and other campaign priorities.

“ … but the most important thing is what’s behind the ideas, and can you do anything about them? And what’s behind those ideas is: That our diversity is a blessing, not a curse; that what we have in common is more important than our interesting differences; that it’s better to build an economy for the future than pretend to people you can recover one that’s gone and not coming back; that America never stopped being great because it never stopped changing,” he said.

“So when someone says they’re going to ‘Make America Great Again,’ they’re basically promising to take it back to the good old days,” Bill Clinton said. “I have to things to say about that. One is, for half of the people in this country, they weren’t so good, depending on what color you were, whether you were gay or straight …”

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“Second, you can’t undo the economic changes, you have to build on them and make them our friend,” he said.

“So are you for diversity or division? Are you for the future or the past? And how you want to deal with the rest of the world, with bridges or walls,” the ex-president said.

“We need to build a future of shared prosperity, not recover a past that did not exist.”