Denison, Iowa (CNN) Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday that he understands the criticism he has received for comments he made in 2011 about the challenges facing minority communities in education.

During a 2011 public television broadcast while he was a candidate for mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Buttigieg said children "need to see evidence that education is going to work for them ... and there are a lot of kids, especially in the lower income, minority neighborhoods, who literally just haven't seen it work. There isn't somebody they know personally who testifies the value of education." Those comments, which resurfaced on social media this week, drew sharp criticism online, including in an essay by Michael Harriot titled "Pete Buttigieg is a lying MF" published on the African American-oriented website The Root.

"What I said in that comment before I became mayor does not reflect the totality of my understanding then, and certainly now, about the obstacles that students of color face in our system today," Buttigieg told CNN at a campaign stop in Denison, Iowa. "I believe I was speaking about the need for mentorship and the need for career pathways, but the problem is to the extent that that feels like it's validating a narrative that sometimes blames the victim for the consequences of systemic racism, I understand why he [Harriot] was upset and I understand the perspective and largely agree."

Buttigieg said he had spoken with Harriot.

"Well, I reached out to the author, and while I, obviously, I think that some of the characterization of me personally is unfair, I do understand the concern," Buttigieg said.

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