Me up white ministers that we know, and start talking. Makes us start praying. I dont know who to talk to about but i feel pain. Something i think, the potential for making change about the issues that predate this administration. You have the responsibility to address, and i think we are going to do a great job. Thank you. With we are here youink you for thank you for bringing these leaders together. The president spoke on his commitment to equality, equality of opportunity for every american. You know the president s record on Opportunity Zones and criminal Justice Reform and educational choice. We really believe this is the moment. Tragedy, that the we listen, we learn can we respond. I really thank you for creating this forum to do that. Bishop jackson thank you. Vp pence my prayer is that we hear,ation have ears to to listen to one another and open hearts. I would be grateful if you started us with a devotion. Bishop jackson thank you. Heavenly father, we ask that you lead us and guide us. Two of usf just agree, we would be able to mine darkness, see the blessing of god in an arena. Lord, let us have an agreement. Let us reason together and give wisdom to this administration, especially this Vice President and president , and scott turner, we thank you so much for what you are doing. Let this time be fruitful. Amen. You, thank you, bishop jackson. Thank you for a warm welcome to Hope Christian church. We gather at a challenging time in the life of our nation. As President Trump said in the rose garden, in this time we are determined as americans to move forward and move forward together. With a renewed commitment to equality and equality of opportunity for every american. When as a nation we mourn with those who mourn and grieve with those who grieve. Heartsrican peoples were broken to see the video that came from the streets of minneapolis. The death of george floyd was a tragedy. And we have said from the outset justice will be served and i want to assure all of you and those looking on that we have deployed full resources of the Justice Department to support the prosecution of those responsible to the fullest extent of the law. That it is clear that those images shocked the conscience of the nation. We have no tolerance for violence against any and visual in this country. No tolerance for police or jollity. No tolerance for writing in the street rioting in the streets, destruction of property or claiming of innocent lives including those of Law Enforcement. It is one of the reasons the president took the action this week, working with governors, to deploy resources and personnel to our streets. I am pleased to report in cities across the country we have quelled the violence. Peaceful road for testers to continue to let their voice be heard. We will always stand for the right of every american. To engage in peaceful protest, to seek redress of the government. Because of the efforts of Law Enforcement and other personnel, violenceoved past the that we saw in our streets and we will continue to do that. I am here today to talk about how we move forward. I am going to keep my remarks very brief because i am really here to listen. I had the greatest regard have the greatest regard for bishop jackson. He knows from the outset, we have worked to expand opportunities for every american including africanamericans. Struck, wepandemic were deeply inspired, that we had achieved the lowest Unemployment Rate ever recorded for africanamericans. We had expanded Opportunity Zones across the country that had generated 100 billion of investment into inner cities that have often been left behind. We passed a criminal justice which had the effect of setting right inequities that were in our Justice System for decades. In the midst of all of that, we fought hard to expand Educational Opportunities and allowing parents to choose where their children go to school. This is all in an effort to address what have been historic inequities in our africanamerican communities and many of the families in our cities. Way through this our focus nowon, is on healing. On how we heal america. We received encouraging news today. You may read about it in the paper in the morning that our economy is showing strong signs of healing. We want to follow the by listening and learning and putting into practice the things that will heal our land for every american, extent equality xtendportunity e equality of opportunity to every american. I thought it was fitting to come here to a place of worship. In the long struggle for equality in this country, people of faith have played the decisive role. The entire quest to end slavery emanated from the churches of this country, challenge the conscience of the nation. The Civil Rights Movement that happened when i was a little boy in columbus, indiana, i am told by those that were involved was driven out of the pews of this nation. I had the great privilege 10 years ago to take my wife and children to alabama. We walked across the bridge arm in arm with my friend john lewis. The day before we spent time in dr. Kings church. We met with many of the people that marched with dr. King. They said that before they marched, they prayed and they and had they sang, worship. I could not help but feel as our nation reels from the tragic death of george floyd, the place to start a conversation is in a aggregation. It has been vote wellspring of our National Unity and steady march towards a more perfect union. I want to thank you, the religious leaders who are here. Thank you for your ministries and willingness to set down. I am anxious to hear your counsel and thoughts of how we how we canr land and bring the American People together. It will not be enough to heal our economy. We have got to heal that which divides by breaking down the barriers to opportunity to africanamericans and any american that has been left behind. I am anxious to gain your insights and i will carry them back to President Donald Trump and our entire administration. Today is just one of many positions that we will have here. And across the country in the days ahead. That with your study counsel and leadership and with gods grace, we will come through this challenging time. We will come together. I know we will move our nation forward just as we have always done. Thank you. I welcome your thoughts. Bishop jackson thank you, Vice President. It is an honor to have you here. As we are gathering, it is important for us to remember that we have government leaders as well as business leaders. Attempt toipartisan bring folks together in the wake death, george floyd. It is like his family has taken a place of a civil rights leader years ago, emmett till. Emmett till, when he was murdered in mississippi, and his body was put on display in the greater chicago, illinois area, the Civil Rights Movement began. His death was prophetic and symbolic of a time and season that change had to come. At that moment, whites and blacks came together to address civil rights issues. We found momentum. I think we are going to find momentum to see change in this season of time. But my father harry jackson, sr. , was threatened at gunpoint by a state trooper in florida in the 1950s. The guy discharged his weapon over my dads ear, temporarily deafening him. My dad decided to leave the south after he graduated from m university. My family was involved in signscs, bumper stickers, in the front yard. They were advocates because they thought voting was a sacred right. We were aware there had been longterm race issues. I am almost finished with my remarks. I think that minorities need to hear that they are valued, that the lives of people really matter. Abused in misused and the 1950s. It is not just George Floyds death alone. But it is representative of ofost a 400 year history challenges that we have had. This administration did not create this problem or background, but it has the opportunity to heal it. This opportunity is make our family feel together and stronger across minority realms and then keep the safety. I want to close with this analogy. The word picture is kind of like the story i used, in a book we are writing. It is this. Imagine a family going from cincinnati, where i was raised, back to our homeland in northern virginia. We got kids in the back, mom and dad in the car, we are riding together. We learn family history, we come together and grow up and become equal participants in the drives, excursions, etc. , the kids and the parents. Right now america is becoming a majority minority country. It will take about 20 years before the majority of americans are minorities, but it will happen soon. Younger, we have a majority of minority. Every family has got to feel loved and accepted. That is not the job of government. It is government, business and the church. We all got to do it together. So as a Family Member i close with this thought. Am i a fullfledged member of this family . Blacks, asianamericans, what they are asking of themselves, and then am i going to be safe entered for . We have got and cared for . My book is called the manifesto, but it is really a American Christian worldview. Lets get our values together so dream andindle kings dream that we be a part of a nation that gives glory to god. Thank you for coming. Those are my brief remarks. We want to turn it over to our great friends pat turner, who leads Opportunity Zones initiatives. Hello . Er is it on . Bishop jackson yeah, you are probably on. Thank you. Mr. Turner all right. How about that . Thank you, mr. Vice president. Thank you for your leadership in our country and also for your heart for the lord and for the American People. Thankonally think you you for that. Mr. Jackson, thank you for having us here. Pastorsf our guests and and friends, i am humbled to sit on the stage with you and consider and honor. As i was listening to the Vice President and the bishop speak about our country, where we have been, where we are going, i was sitting here and saying to midst ofn the everything that is happening, our Mission Remains the same. Our resolve remains resolute. Flamece is set like because we have the same spirit and the same mission. And the 320 million plus equal in this country matter. Everyone is important. Our mission is to serve the people of america prior to the covid pandemic. It goes for Opportunity Zones of a whitehave to honor house revitalization counsel. Prior to the pandemic we had traveled to over 60 cities in america. Many of youu have been involved with the Opportunity Zone initiative. We have seen partnered with federal resources, building Stakeholder Groups, in collaboration with faith leaders, education, community leaders, elected officials, transcending social economic, poverty doesnt have a party. It doesnt have a color. Poverty affects all of us either directly or indirectly read our of n is the eradication or indirectly. Our mission is the eradication of poverty. Workforce Development Inside the distressed communities of america and vulnerable communities. The president talks about the forgotten people. They are not forgotten anymore. Opportunity zones who are moving along, they are still moving. The president has included all of the distressed communities including Opportunity Zones. Focus on access to health care, to focus on the expansion of broadband for telehealth and Distance Learning for kids across our nation, they will have access to the best teachers because we have Virtual Learning online. With the cares act, we saw the president and Vice President and availabletion make resources, 2 billion to go to our Community Health centers. About 28 Million People inside of distressed communities at our centers. Also covid tests for those who cant afford it. 4retary carson and hud, billion to help with homelessness. So on and so forth. Ppe and money being set aside for minority lending institutions, for those businesses to thrive and build and recover. Because as the Vice President said before, we are about action and outcomes. We are about results, shortterm and longterm. The heart is longterm sustainability. For the recovery of this pandemic, the sustainability is even now more important. Your voices have always been important. Your influence has always been important. Even now today is greater because many of you because of what god has called you to see, every Stakeholder Group comes in and out of sanctuaries and churches, ministries and foundations and your voice is so important. We are here to listen to you, to see how you have been impacted. Advice and wisdom for us, as the Vice President said, so we can partner with you together to be a blessing to our country. And i stand ready along with the Vice President and the president and the entire administration and team to serve you so those who come behind us will be blessed. Generations to follow us will be blessed because of what we do today because everybody in this country is so valuable. And i thank god for his grace. Even through all the anger and pain we feel, gods greece grace is sufficient. I will hush and we will get on because we want to hear from all of you. We will get to that portion of our time together to hear from you. Bishop jackson thank you. Vp pence thank you, scott. I would love to just hear from all of you about your experience. Maybe we can start on this side. You have got a microphone handy. Acknowledge some people, members of your church and from the community who are here. Thank you. Honored that he would be here. You would be here. Members of the media are certainly welcome to stay. I would like them to hear counsel. Introduce yourself. Cook. E is damion i am a servant here at Hope Christian church and also a professional in the addiction and Behavioral Health field. I am here today and i am appreciative of the opportunity to speak my piece. I was a little concerned because hearing of this be some type of opportunity to garner votes, a photo op, because at the end of the day, there is a discussion that has to be had. Is theve that discussion voice of a young, the voice of the youth the young, the voice of the youth. I think they have not been a knowledge. When i say that been acknowledged. When i was listening to you speak, and we appreciate any of the answers you have made. However it loses value in the eyes of the youth if there needs are not being addressed their needs are not being addressed. The movement is to black lives. We understand human life is valuable. Everybody is enraged because it seems to be blacks who have been going viral after being murdered. We see these images, and these are blacks. We want that to be not just understood, but actually stand with us. What is happening is a division, as you see. You have the black lives matter movement, and then you have what they call allies, everyone else. You have the administration and mag up. Maga. It should not be that way. We are not listening to each other. You mentioned the rioting. 100 the looting, unacceptable. It is illegal. What was happening is the abuse they have been taking is illegal. Right . They are saying my rights and me, so is not protecting why should i abide by yours . Is reapingthe nation what they sow. It is breaking my heart to see this. I would like to see direction in this movement. I love the opportunity to speak with leadership and the church having a voice. We all know dr. King and his movement and we talk about it constantly. It was a corporate anointing that new that movement. Knew that movement. The church will have to be responsible for shepherding the people, and the relationship has to be open with leadership. These kids are angry. They are not sure what to do with that anger. Actually what the endgame may be other than they want to be heard and they want justice and they want it today. The leaders need to unite. Im not saying bishop jackson. Ive saying all of the pastors that have linked big platforms need to stand up and be visible because we will follow i will be quiet in a second. It is great to have these big inspiringd their words on their posts, facebook and instagram, but the people that really need to hear it to be honest with you, they are not following their page. So at the end of the day, we need the Church Present, not just al sharpton. We need the Church Present and need to know the church and state are in line because at the end of the day our allegiance as the church is to god and his people. So the division comes with the church, if you are not serving the people, you have a problem with the church because that is our job. God, need that movement of we need to know that we have power in the spiritual realm. We need to know that, so we have to be unified in doing that. Because people are lost. The grounds are here for that. This is a time for revival. They are hungry for it, but we have to stand up and unite. Vp pence thank you. Thank you. Mr. Turner as we facilitate the meeting and as we move along we want to make sure everybody gets an opportunity to speak. If we could be mindful of that time and take a couple minutes to give your remarks and then moved to the next guest, that would be very helpful so that everyone can get an opportunity because we want to hear from all who are involved. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. Foremost a son of god. I am a father. In my professional life, im the director of graduate programs and industry partnerships and a tenured officer at Howard University here in our nations capital. Capital. Ns it is an honor to extend comments in this situation. We could spend the entirety talking about a lot of stuff and who did what wrong. But these are times that require leadership. For a leader forced first and heemost to get following, must have part. If leaders dont get the word of the people, we would be unable to truly move things forward. I will begin their first and foremost. Secondly anyone can riot and be upset, but we have to approach this from a position of love. We have to be able to love the individuals who have been mistreated or maltreated for an extended time. If we are unable to put ourselves in their shoes than we would not be able to leave there from a position of less. , for yourself up by your bootstraps. Many of these guys dont have boots. We need to be real. What is taking place did not happen last night. Processeen a persistent over the years and generations. We have an opportunity today to bring about bold solutions. Hbcu. N hcv you make them funded twice. We get ahead of our class. Make those Schools Centers of excellence. Start with howard. Fund it, start set clear goals for entrepreneurship to come out from these and to truee that we are getting resources in place. We need to have open play on these conversations, was just go at it, but we have to understand each other. Understand each other from a position of love. I will stop there but thank you for the opportunity to open,bute, and i am willing and able to contribute in more ways than one. This should not be just a conversation for today but an ongoing process. Vp pence thank you, and great words. Howard university is one of our. Reat hbcus the president reflected this morning, we were proud to make funding for hbcus permanent. When you talk about the youth passion anddid with sincerity and you speak about the role of education, we really, this is i have worked for more than a generation on the principle we are to be allowing innercity families choose where their children go private orwhether parochial. We have doubled the d. C. School as we talkram, and education, ith and want you to know we want fresh ideas about how we can improve the education for our minority kids, to give them the opportunity. To be able to rise up. And prosper in this economy. Thank you. One thing, 10 seconds. Howas got some ideas about to strategically advanced st in hbcus it may be we need to make a few of them really worldclass and do that one by one instead of taking limited resources and spread them too far apart. Up moree he will write about that. Vp pence i welcome that. We love howard and diversity. What a great university. What a great school. They are fortunate to have it. It is a pleasure to be here, sir. Hank you for having us my name is derek mccoy. I have been working with came from this place here, Hope Christian church, but at the same time we have been able to work with pastors around the country and had a voice in key issues impacting the country. All of that being said, being asked this simple question about what can you take away, there is points i said let me write down ive have been reading the letter from the birmingham jail recently. One of the excerpts which is indicative of where we are today the small piece at beginning of the letter that talks about there comes a time when the cup of endurance begins to run low. Are i think is at the place around the country that their endurance is running low because we go after it again. Who is to say while we are sitting here another incident doesnt happen and all of a sudden it happens again . That is what begins to mitigate the endurance for a lot of people in terms of i want to see change. I applaud the efforts of the Opportunity Zones and the administration. Where you have and to date and the criminal Justice Reform which so many people dont even understand or know about. I tried to be an advocate to help them understand these are the advancements that have been made. Twog a dad and a father of boys similar to the age of Ahmaud Arbery who was running in the street, and you understand i have to have conversations. We have had conversations about the truth of you cant go anywhere everywhere. Dont go running around by yourself. Make sure you check in and that you come home. Because i am concerned to make sure they come home. Knowing my own history of being in the south where my parents, my dad was raised, i would sit down and having to run from pickup trucks because they would jump out. My cousin would say run. Is ast as we could run fast as we could be safe. I understand that. I have chosen by the grace of god to try not to grow up with the lens of bitterness and forgiveness. We look through these to change our vision. I think for the church we have to be agents that help people change their vision and perspective about the grace, the love of god and everything about it but really change and exchange this. I will try and be short and exchange our ethnicity for our christianity. Some people will be in an uproar about that but if you understand, it is important for kids to feel safe, our sons to come home, families to be safe. When you are looking at the standards around our country, maybe it is time for criminal Justice Reform 2. 0. It is a lot of effort to go into the first one. When you start looking at how can we standardize policies around the training efforts with these Law Enforcement efforts and these individuals so that there is not mistakes that happened so abruptly. The challenge with the george floyd, as one governmental leader said, there are multiple cases like this happening right now. One governor said, i got half a dozen of these cases i got to think about. It is not just the george floyd or Michael Brown or the other people who have gone this tragic route. It is the repetition of that. Maybe it is a way there could be federalized standards in the Training System and the way we theeople into process recruitment process and understanding how do we know where they are after that . There is a lot of conversations. It is one of those things they are concerned and they want to make sure, and this is an honest thing, there has to be a way that even if i was with the president , i would say the same thing, you have got to take a step back. It is not what you say, it is how you say it. We got to figure out how we say things and the tone of where it comes from. We are in a place where america is listening and we have to have the right tone. If we get it wrong, so what, change it, fix it, figure it out so that we can have tuning of the ears to the people that need to hear these things going on in our communities. Thank you. Wonderful insights. Those boys are blessed to have you as a dad, i can tell. Appreciate your thoughtful comments. We really do. Why dont we swing around this way and please introduce yourself and we welcome your thoughts . Clinton. E is bishop my thought about this is there needs to be more training for Law Enforcement. Police officer for 13 years. One of the things i know that was lacked was there was training on paper but not actual training. People come in, Police Officers that have been in the military and they have all types of issues. They are quick to hide them. They have they come in with a shape,n their face, top but mentally they are disturbed. That theysonally dont hold them accountable enough. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that is not right. Say a lot of policies are in place, then i carry it out. Officers, they are under stress right now. I am not defending anybody. For me it is not color. God created us all. Beust believe there needs to more training and accountability with the training. Dont give me the training. In 2020 you dont have the funds from the training. 21 comes, there is no funds for the training. , my mind isyears all over the place, i just came back from war, now i go off and you want to hold me accountable for what has taken place. I believe there should be more above thelity held, Law Enforcement. It should be hands on, not just dr. Hans. I believe a lot of things are in place for writing but the accountability for what has been put in place, there is no time. Manpower which brings more work hours on the Police Officer, firefighters, anybody else, which brings stress and your home fall apart and you go into work with a smile on your face and everybody saying you ok. In your thought process and your mind, you are still having flashbacks of things he went through years ago. You went through years ago. If we deal with that issue before it is an issue, it would be better. Before someone is killed, there was a past or history of that person before it got to that point. We want to deal with it because a life has been taken when it should have been dealt with before then. Vp pence thank you. Sherrod. , bishop my uncle was actually a Police Officer in chicago, illinois for 25 years. I appreciate your thoughts. I know we all appreciate the job that men and women in Law Enforcement to every day and that do every day and the challenges they face. We will take back your thoughts because there is no tolerance for what we saw on that street, those four officers. And there never should be. But i appreciate your being here, bishop, more than i can say. We have with us dr. Michael kim. This is joan jim. I would joan kim. I would welcome your thoughts. Tell us your story. I will tell you in one of the roles the president has given me to lead the Coronavirus Task force, we have been surging resources particularly to our community communities, as people deal with the coronavirus. One of the heartbreaking aspects of the rioting and looting we just passed through in cities across the country is many pharmacies that were providing coronavirus testing and pharmacies and clinics that are principally served minority communities were put upon. Im sorry for what you have been through. But tell us your story and any other thoughts. President ou, mr. Vice. Thank you for listening to us. My wife and i, we are both children of immigrant parents who came here to live the american dream. We have been provided with that american dream. We have gone through the Public School systems. I went to the university of maryland, graduated from Howard University college of pharmacy. We both have been made we have been able to raise our six children. The best that we can. Build businesses. Four independent pharmacies in washington, dc. We are there to help, to serve the community and do whatever we can. We started doing, we started offering covid19 testing at our Community Testing sites. There is only three pharmacies inside the district district of columbia that are testing other than the ones run by the city. We are proud of it. Atpence were you testing all of your locations . Three out of four locations. Vp pence thank you. You are welcome. It is heartbreaking, what happened saturday night. We get a call from the Alarm Company somewhere around midnight, alarms going off. C and two ofto d our pharmacies were broken into. We boarded up the windows the best we could at that time. Alarm goest, another off, too 30 in the morning and that was the 2 30 in the morning and that was crazy because another was broken into. Calls from to back, the Alarm Company letting us know another location was broken into. We are pulling up our affiliate andideo surveillance watching this happen, mobs of people flooding into the pharmacies, taking whatever they want. Obviously they are taking as many drugs as they can. They are not even taking what we call the good stuff. They are grabbing anything off the shelves. Tylenol, aspirins, hopefully they will get well, but you know. [laughter] sunday,as saturday, monday night happens again, two of our locations get analyzed. One of them gets a uhaul van driven through the wall. Another location, a mob of 20 guys brush rush in after breaking the windows. Then we were praying and hoping for tuesday night to be quiet. It did not end up that way. 4 30 in the morning another group tried to break in, but we had a lot of boards of. They were not able boards up. They were not able to get in. Praise god for that. By the end of it, tuesday night, we got a night, a restful nights sleep somewhat. It has been terrible. Situation,this whole there is a lot of people i could. Ell you are very evil and bad these are just obviously they are criminals, but i dont see them as evil. What i see is there is evil and good. People by nature are not born evil, but they are influenced by evil. During this whole process my wife and i are praying. This verse from romans 12 21 keeps coming to me. Do not allow evil to conquer you but conquer evil by doing good. We need to do more good, shine the light on what the good is that is happening. The media has a tendency to that the light on the evil is happening. It is more dramatic and newsworthy. In my industry, in the pharmacy industry, we have what we call the pbms. That is our evil. I applaud President Trump i think he is the first president to shine a light on the ppms coming into the pharmacies. He provided Community Pharmacists with a light of hope that maybe something will drain this monopoly down to allow pharmacies to survive. But the other evils in this world are taking the light away from that. We just need to continue to shine the light on the evils that are happening throughout the u. S. , throughout the world to continue to do good and highlight the good everyone is doing. Vp pence you said since tuesday night. It has been quiet . Of no sleep. S by tuesday, we cant think straight. But we have seen a lot of support from the community, our customers. We have ancients who patients who are on welfare. I had a patient say, you have my debit card on file. I want you to pay for the store. I said, i dont need your money. I will take your heart. They feel like we are a part of their family. 1867. E been there since the store has seen so many things go through. I think at one point rosa parks was one of our customers. Claim to fame. We have a lot of people that have raised families in that neighborhood, coming in and out of the pharmacy, and it breaks their hearts. Pharmacists, we put our heads down and eat the loss. People break in, we go in and clean up and serve our customers with a smiling face. This disheartening, but opportunity to speak up and say we are hurting and want to be there to serve our communities, there are easier ways to make money than be a Community Pharmacists. But we truly love what we do and we want to be able to survive this, and we will. Our community will try to paint murals onharmacy the windows. Artists will come together and draw pictures and make it not look so scary to the neighbors. Thank you for your support. Vp pence thank you. It is, as i said earlier, we will always defend the right of every american to engage in peaceful protest. Part of this story has been seeing businesses. Serveve the community you , being so profoundly impacted by the looting and writing. Rioting. Overcome evil with good. I think dr. King reminded us more than once you cant drive out darkness with darkness. You drive out darkness with light. Thank you for signing that. It has been remarkable everything you have been through. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer 1 cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house and Supreme Court and Public Policy events. You can watch all of the Public Affairs programming on television, online or listen on our free radio app and be a part of the conversation through washington daily program. Cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. White housep in the rose garden and then joe biden at delaware state university. After that, joe morrow, the palooka reporter for the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina this gusting the political impact of the Republican National convention moving from charlotte. At the whiteday house, president drumheller white house with reporters on the u. S. Economy, ongoing protests around america and the coronavirus. This is an hour. Delmon, thed president of United States accompanied by the Vice President of the United States