Of Lori Lightfoot come a trailblazer and an inspiration and congratulate her on joining the community of u. S. Mayors. [applause] im honored to be in the presence with james clyburn, who clearly has the kind of biblical favor upon him. At the fish fry he hosted a few days ago, they did not run out feedingeven after literally thousands of Democratic Candidates for president. Congratulations to you. [applause] if you leave this hotel and pick up Lakeshore Drive and take it down stony island to the sky way and the cross to the indiana toll road, after an hour and a half, you will come to my hometown, south bend. Our midwestern city in between the factories on the fields on the bend of the saint joe river. Diverse from day one, self bandsaw an industrial heyday 1960s and into the then, like so many cities of the socalled rust belt, we experienced crushing decline as the auto factories left. By 2011, the year iran for mayor, the National Press said we were one of americas dying cities. I ran for mayor saying the old economy would not come back but we would if we had the courage to reimagine our future. And i am proud to report you that now, south bend is back. More peoplegrowing, moving in that we have seen in a generation, thousands of new jobs, billions in investment. We are a good city, a proud city, and a growing city. We are also a city that has known its measure of pain especially recently. Mentioned, two weeks ago, a member of our community, a man named eric logan come a black man, lost his life at the hands of another member of our community, a white police officer. Our cities hurt has gone beyond the grief of the family that lost one of their own. Even as we wait for outside investigators to deliver their judgment on what took place, we have the pain that reminds us aroundr community lives a racial gulf were white and black residents experience every facet of life differently. This, my point to all the hard work weve done over seven years around things like Police Professionalism and accountability, things from bias and deescalation to changing our approach to officer recruitment, training, and promotion but events compel me to it knowledge that whatever we have done has not been nearly enough. As long as a traffic stop is a completely different experience for a black driver than a white driver, we know we have not done nearly enough. We know as long as police true ofnts, and this is my own, do not reflect the community they serve in their makeup, we have not done enough. We had a very emotional town hall meeting and one woman told me that her sevenyearold grandson is already learned to fear the police. She said thats not whats supposed to happen america or in indiana or anywhere in 2019 and shes right. And we accept responsibility, i accept responsibility for the work that is left to be for the work that is left to be done. So, in the wake of that tragedy, we have been building our partnerships with community and civil rights leaders, tearing down walls of mistrust, reassessing policing and oversight, redesigning training, reimagining recruiting, and transforming relationships. We are underway without right now. I believe in my plan and i believe in my citizens. And i believe we will come together to struggle and repair, and come out stronger in the process. [applause] this will be a painful process, not only for black residents who feel left behind and lied too far too many times, but for Law Enforcement community that is going to have to face some hard truths. Swornly, i warned newly in Police Officers that their work takes place in the shadow of systemic racism, and the union felt it was disparaging. I intended no disparagement. My point is that every police officer, every citizen, and every mayor lives within this shadow, which means everyone has to be part of the solution. When a white elected official or politician is confronted with racial concerns, pundits often go right to the political terms, white politician, black problems. To earned how im going the black vote in the polls 10 10more often how times more often than i am asked how my policies will actually benefit africanamericans. Its as if i am being asked how i will win instead of how i will deserve to win, because that is our focus. But this is deeper than politics. It is not just a police problem, my problem, or my cities problem. It is not just a black problem. It is an american problem and it requires nationwide solutions. [applause] i am running for president as mayor of an american city, admittedly, not a traditional move, but im doing that because we need National Politics to rediscover its local basis. Mostuse and reflect on our Urgent National needs. We are living in shadows of the past throughout the country and policing is only part of the story. Yes, the uniforms burdened by racism, but it goes far beyond that. Our Health Care System is burdened by racism. Black women are dying three times as often from maternal complications as white women. Is an andicago, there enormousisparity an disparity from one neighborhood to another. Housing is burdened by racism, the result of intentional policies local and national that segregated neighborhoods by race, and when they could no longer be enforced by law, they were enforced by bureaucracy and by intimidation. Our schools are burdened by racism, not just through the history that led to brown versus board, but in the fact that in the years since, our schools remain segregated. All American Life takes place under this shadow, not as a distant artifact, but as a burning reality that hurts everyone it touches. If we do not tackle the problems of racial inequality in my lifetime, i am convinced it will append the american product it will upend the american project in my lifetime. It brought our country to its knees once, and it could again. I believe this is not only a matter of justice but a matter of national survival. For some time, most of the policy debate around race has taken place under the polite assumption that if we simply delete racist policies and replace them with neutral policies, inequality will sort of work its way out of the system and take care of itself. It doesnt work that way, does it . Remedy, and injustice is not healed. It compounds. Since this is a business audience, i am going to take the liberty of discussing math and compound interest. That as leaders know dollar today, if we assume 5 interest, will double into two dollars and less than 20 years. By the same law of compounding, in 50 years, one dollar is 10. After 100 years, its more than , and after 150 years, its more than 1000. This is true of the value over the dollars saved. That means its also true of the value over time of a dollars stolen. Every dollar plundered 150 years victims 1000he dollars today. Each year we do not act, the bills grow larger and the costs cut deeper. What some are saying in politics, what this means is the fact that some, and only ofe, but the fact that some this debt came about a long time ago doesnt make it better, it makes it worse. Theselicies that created inequities were put in place intentionally. That means its going to take intentional action to reverse those harms, bold and meaningful action that addresses not only the question of safety, but the question of prosperity. Knowing the two cannot be separated one from another. With reverend jackson when he said Police Reforms can only be meaningful if they happen in the context of a comprehensive policy. Needalso why i believe we to invest in the future of black america with a plan as ambitious as the Marshall Plan to rebuild europe after world war ii. We could call it the douglas plan. The values that motivate my campaign, freedom, security, democracy, these values will not be real for any of us until they are realized for all of us. Effort,ng to take extra candidly, particularly important that we hear this from any candidate who runs for office with the benefit and privileges of whiteness on his or her side. Lets talk about freedom in its truest sense. I want this to be the election when we finally break the spell that has many believing that freedom is a conservative value. Freedom is an American Value. With progressive implications. Cuttingfreedom entails access to health care. You are not free if you cannot start that Small Business because you are afraid of losing your health care. You are not free as a woman if your reproductive rights are being dictated by male politicians. [applause] free if you are not well educated, which is why the next president needs to appoint a secretary of education who believes in public education. [applause] free if not everyone who seeks to go to college can afford to go to college and everyone who goes to college cannot afford to make a good and we need to raise them in a wage. And of course we are not free if not everyone experiences justice from our justice system. Releasedrican can be from incarceration only to find in a paperworkd checkbox that boxes you out of housing and employment, all of us are worse off. I believe we can and must achieve a 50 reduction in incarceration in this country without an increase in crime. We can do it by legalizing marijuana and eliminating incarceration for simple drug possession. We can do it by abolishing andate federal prisons putting an end to the criminalization of poverty. You should not be locked up for being poor and no one should become rich by locking poor people up. In lets invest rehabilitation and reentry, haveing that americans access to health care, education, housing upon release so they can get back on their feet. That is an investment not only in them, but in all of us. All of us would be better off. And yes, we will do everything in our power to ensure that areare in countable accountable, with the department of justice that is reinvigorated and invested in civil rights. This is part of what 21stcentury freedom must look like. A question of economic freedom, not just freedom from, but freedom too. As important as criminal justice is, we have to outgrow a policy debate that sometimes reduces the black experience in our country to encounters with the justice system. Blackery mention of victimization in the justice system, we should be speaking of black empowerment in economics like we are discussing here today. For every discussion of black problems, there should be just as much discussion of black solutions. That is why this community is gathered here today. Those gathered here know that Economic Empowerment requires everything from a good start in widespreaded policy support for minority owned businesses. That does not always come true in our present reality. In south bend, that is why we have been investing in a new generation of entrepreneurs. We started early with digital literacy, access to technology, free wifi in community centers. Childhoodanded early care, lifted up Young Leaders tackling serious issues on our youth task force. We elevated the role of minority owned businesses in driving creation and established incubators in historically black neighborhoods. We invested in infrastructure, trained women and minority contractors. We rectify the disparity in our city purchasing from minority owned businesses because we know the numbers are not as good as we would like and we cannot reach ambitious targets until we face the truth, make a plan, and make good on our plan. We are committed to using the citys economic influence and taking a clear eyed look at how we can drive wealth generation. We have not solved our issues overnight, but we are taking constant action and making taking concrete action and making real movement. That is why i am proposing that the United States tripled the number of entrepreneurs from underserved areas, particularly those of color, within 10 years. This would create over 3 million jobs and 660 Million Dollars in new wealth in black communities around our country. I also propose we set up a federal fund. We know it can be done because there are programs in states like maryland that did this to coinvest in entrepreneurs of color, particularly in low income communities. We heard this morning about the ways access to capital are a barrier for what would be viable minority owned enterprises. Access to credit and invest in longterm growth. I am sure we can increase Small Businesses in black communities by 50 . And we know that the federal government could do better when it comes to its own contracting, which is why we will set a 25 ofof awarding federal business to minority and women owned firms. Freedom is more than freedom from. It is freedom to, and security is more than what i dealt with in my military uniform. It is economic security. That is National Security. Security is like freedom, one of those things conservatives talk about like they own it, but in the 21st century, Real Security is going to take a little more imagination than just putting up a wall from coast to coast. We have to talk about cybersecurity and election security, especially when hostile foreign actors are using Racial Division as a National Security vulnerability. It means if we are serious about security, we will name and confront a rising tide of violent White Nationalism taking lives at home and abroad. Climate naming disruption as the National Security challenge that it is. The impact is disproportionate on low income communities and communities of color. National security means ensuring that the Second Amendment cannot become a death sentence in suburban schools or on the streets of our cities because washington cannot deliver commonsense gun reform that the American People want. Determined that we break the spell that has people believing security as a conservative value, that freedom is a conservative value, and while we are at it, its time to remind america that god does not belong to any political party. If we really want to walk in the way our faith tradition teaches us, we might want to pay more attention to the command of scripture that says i was hungry and you fed me, i was a prisoner and you visited me. That should be our northstar whether you are religious or not. Now for any of these issues to be tackled, we have to address one more American Value the guts talked about a lot button that gets talked about a lot but addressed, democracy. Are we democratic enough . I dont think we are a democracy of some people are systematically restricted from voting because one party has decided they will be better off if fewer people vote. When a state like North Carolina targeted black voters with what one court described as surgical precision. We need to make it easier, not harder, to vote. That means reforms like automatic voter registration, expanding the bite expanding voting by mail, and making elections a national holiday. For the felons who have been denied a vote, lets restore their right to vote without fees, hoops, or what they are doing in florida which amounts to a modern day poll tax. We need to reform a Supreme Court that is looking more and more political by the day. To move from a time where districts are drawn so that politicians choose their voters instead of the other way around. And we might just want to start picking our nations leader by counting up all the votes and giving it a person who got the most. [applause] your vote in illinois and my vote in indiana would count more if we did this. So, we know we have a long way to go. In my community and in our country. To understand the ways in which the political abstractions has shout in our everyday lives, to outgnize that not hash in our everyday lives, to recognize that not only is politics local, it is personal to everyone of us. On the anniversary of the emancipation proclamation, James Baldwin wrote to his nephew that celebrating 100 years of freedom 100 years too soon. What are we going to say in 2063 . 100 years after baldwin wrote that, 100 years after dr. King shared his dream . Will we or will we not have tackled those inequities before it is too late . 2063 is not that far off. In fact, its closer to today than 1963. We are nearer to that date then we are to the civil rights march. God willing, i will be around to see it. I would be in my early 80s. So im asking myself what my kids might say to me about these moments we are living in right now. In 2063, those now in grade school on the westside, south end, or south end of chicago will be in their professional prime. When i meet them at the tables they are sponsoring at this breakfast, i want to have a good answer about what we did in 2022 get ready for 2063. 2020 two get ready for 2063. This week, we are celebrating the birthday of a country we founded withry slavery not as a feature to the side but as such a fundamental element that it could not be extricated without a civil war. A country that is still two different places for people who are black and people who are white. The lives and livelihoods of millions of people, not distant descendents, but people alive this minute, depend on whether we resolve this in our country. I am conscious of standing in a room where the leaders from a generation with the leaders deliverederation that unbelievable advances and did so at an unbelievable cost. Now i am conscious of the task before my generation, and im determined that that generation, the most diverse yet in American History, be the one to fully deliver on dr. Kings dream, that we might live and celebrate the fourth of july fundamentally free from the bitter ironies that led Frederick Douglass to ask what a holiday like that even meant to someone like him. Look back and say that in these years now, we lead our nation on a better path and the ugliness we saw around us was nothing but the death throes of bigotry and intolerance, rearing its head one last time, but no match for the moral people, no committed match for the action of those ,ho saw, before it was too late that now was our last best chance at a more perfect union. And acted to make it so. I am here to do my part to act to make it so, and i hope you will join me in that effort. Thank you very much. I will see you on the trail. [applause] thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Announcer join us later this afternoon when Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg discusses her life, her work, and her focus on gender equality with two former law clerks, followed by a Panel Discussion about her legal career, live at 530 p. M. Eastern on cspan two. Later tonight, beto orourke attends a house party in ames, iowa. Live road to the white house p. M. Here on 30 cspan. Thursday, President Trump will be speaking at the fourth of July Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial and washington, d. C. That will be live on cspan. You can also stream our coverage live on cspan. Org or listen free with the cspan radio app. A cold war historian, and historian of communism, different ideology and so forth, and a friend of mine emailed me and said why do you want to tackle this issue . Marriage and family. You are jumping into the culture war. Do you really want to do this . Author penn kundera will be our guest on indepth, sunday. His latest book is the divine. An about ronaldn reagan, george w. Bush, and hillary clinton. Join us with your phone calls, tweets, and questions. Watch indepth, life sunday from noon to 2 p. M. Eastern on the tv. Indepth to watch next month with author lee edwards. Watch book tv every weekend on cspan2. The cspan cities tour is exploring the american story. And americantv history tv on the road in cooperation with our spectrum cable partners. This weekend, we take you to montanas second largest city in the western part of the state and the heart of the northern rocky mountains. We see bears all the time, particularly in the fall. Things between animals and humans is at a crucial moment when we have to decide how much space we are going to make for wild animals. For this andturday other offerings, and on sunday cspan3s American History tv. Started in 1939. Parachute into wildfires where its inaccessible to other firefighting resources. We are jumping wildfires in the wilderness and keeping things from becoming massive wildfires. The cspan cities tour, exploring the american story every first and third weekend each month as we take book tv and American History tv on the road. There has been discussion about an appearance before congress. Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report. It contains our findings and analysis, and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself. The report is my testimony. I would not provide information
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