Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Lowhanging fruit and that face the movement became a victim of its own success because nationally people thought thats got everything they want. Racism still exists in american society. Shelby county notwithstanding and you know if you got the Civil Rights Act and people dont want to see the nuances of racism even in the 1980s when people were talking about south africa. People were like you should be focused on problems domestically so i think we can do many things and also people are naturally inclined to have certain causes that they care about. People are naturally going to focus more attention on some things than others and what you care about the most might not be what i care about the most but what i care about the most may not be what you care about the most and i think we should encourage people to take up their passion and cause not turn their noses up when somebody is doing Something Else because basically we can cover everything through a specialization. So many times a focus on having to be unified that we forget there are all kinds of problems at home and we talk about the issues its amazing when i look at the gary indiana agenda from the 1970s and then look at what has not been achieved on that agenda. When im imaging up in the Obama Administration i read parts of the Kerner Commission reporter might listen to the description from the 1960s i might as well be reading the New York Times today. Its funny theres this part of Amber Portwood Kenneth Clarke which helped brown versus board of education he says in the Kerner Commission report that he is reading accountable was happening in the 1960s in places like watts and newark and detroit and hes like this sounds like stuff ice debris read about in the 1920s to its funny, thats a thing people need to know, the struggles continue in the issues are actually still the same. We are still fighting some of the same battles so we have to figure out what is the right way to tackle these problems so 30 years from now something hasnt erupted again and people are like oh wow that sounds similar to what happened to 2014 and 2015. We have to figure out a way to end a cycle and what that means is we have to be directly grounded and think about context and think about what worked and didnt work so we didnt repeat the same mistakes in the future we also need to be broad taste because a lot of the stuff tends to be multipronged in terms of the sons of the problem. As we look at this new leadership or should it start come it start come in the home, in the schools, and the Community Come out with prominent leaders . To the point about all issues all the time eyes to talk about that all the time and tell people you have to be focused everywhere because we are losing on all fronts so there are things we should be doing that as we look at our history and from a Historical Perspective reconstruction, we didnt do that right. In the United States we didnt really fix the problem of people looking at africanamericans as the same so we continue to have that problem and i dont care if its policing, i dont care if its your job someone isnt giving an opportunity we are still having problems with the concept of loud people not eating as good as her being able to sit at the same table until we deal with that we will continue to have these issues in various phases. We may have a great mayor whos willing to have everyone at the table but we have a lot of elected officials that their whole cabinet and the people that walk around them look exactly like them. What is that about so we are really going to have to tackle race so we can have important conversations about Everything Else Health Disparities wealth disparities and the reason we dont have wealth has to do with what has happened since reconstruction and the fact that we want to buy houses we could not buy houses in certain areas, we couldnt have the values of our homes appreciated at the same rate as other people in this country and so before we can really tackle issues someone needs to be able to look at me as a black woman and see me for who i am and not what they assume that i am and when that happens then we can deal with Everything Else. I would just say what strikes me as odd is after 244 years of slavery, after 79 years of jim crow after 40 years of building an industrial prison complex the war on drugs, we are still having the same conversations about leadership. We are still having the same conversations about how we solve these problems and one of the titles that i own and ceo of las vegas urban at, im not a allowing my seem to have a conversation about a problem unless it comes with a solution and the truth of the matter is 50 years from now we will still be having this same conversation unless we decide we are going to solve the problems for ourselves and what that means is we are going to have leaders that are focused on different subject matters that are important to us to solve the problem that we are going to stop looking outward to the solution. The solution is within us. Each and everyone of us can solve these problems and until we own that we are going to have the same discussions and frankly i get tired of it. I get tired of having the same discussion over and over again knowing 50 years ago we were marching for jobs for justice and we just did it again. And can i just say one word we havent said and that is solutions is an important frame and the one thing we havent said is strategy. I agree theres not one front, there are multiple fronts and we have to fight have to fight them all but what we have seen throughout the years because we shouldnt talk as if we havent made any progress is that simply also wouldnt be true. We havent solve the problems that we have made progress. In fact we have to be aligned enough so that we come together on strategy at the right time. Martin luther king was not the whole movement that he was a strategist. He was not the only strategists. Barack obama has been a constant strategists. We have one form of leadership is that we should not forget if the leadership of strategy. Also if folks want strategy we also have to deal with their own issues of communication and especially some of the generational communicational issues we are having right now and what it means to be talking im laughing because i always end up with a new voice on a new panel but im 47 years old. So im just like well you all have put me there to keep me from my midlife crisis a little bit longer. Im still young, ive still got it. But there is the need for us to be able to have this kind of communication process with a Younger Generation and let it go all the way down with the generation that feels like they dont have space and they dont feel like they have a voice at the table. Thats a wonderful thing but there is some stuff they can learn from that old school. There are places at the table they can get to from the old school and there are lessons of the old school but they dont have to learn if we would just have some conversations but that hasnt two with ego and that has to do with issues of humility, that has to do with issues of platform and at least let these young cats know that i dont have to see them as a threat to me and what im doing is all about the same kind of a thing. We are going to have to grapple with some of that stuff as well if we are truly going to be effective and not just a generational stuff but the class stuff. We have to deal with the class stuff and honestly we will have to deal with some of these color is some stuff and her own 50 shades of grey, 50 shades of brown stuff. We are going to have to work through some of these conversational interpersonal issues so that we can actually be able to do the strategy and work through the solutions because we are not going to be a lot to do any of that if we are not talking to each other. [applause] we definitely want an opportunity for you all to end on solutions and strategies and resources but first we want to take two questions from the audience. We have a microphone right here in a microphone in the first aisle if you have any questions from the audience and while we are waiting for those people to line up by knowing your work with the school at emory u. Studied a lot of a thought of a postracial society. Its a postracial Society Possible . In theory its possible. Will it ever happen on earth . I dont want to sounds pessimistic to say wont happen in my lifetime but we need to be prepared that we might be setting up for future generations of first i have folks that have postracial in the title and thats a marketing ploy. I dont believe there is such a thing certainly not in 2007 in 2008 when the term was coined but what i was talking about there was in a certain cadre of black leadership that has to appear transcendent so the question is are they actually willing behind the scenes to take one for the team and lose an election to take a stand for issues of concern brats can americans and thats a huge tension within the Africanamerican Community about whether some people actually more selfish than they are community interested. I think we can have that debate Going Forward but when people try to present issues of afghan americans in broad strokes, i think the critique is out there about people trying to minimize the fact that blacks are disproportionately and unfairly targeted but if you want people to be able to run for statewide office in when National Office they are not going to run a president ial campaign arsenic campaign are Gubernatorial Campaign like they are running for naacp or urban league president. You have to have that we have to take that into account and they have a seat at the table just as much as somebody who is from a local community who is very grounded in their community and very grounded in black nationalism so we can have that type of dialogue. When we are thinking about what the postracial ideal looks like i would say if i can as a social scientist look at a black child or latino child in an asian child and control for class and predicted those kids will have the exact same life chances when they are 30 and 60 and 75 years old thats one i know we are finally postracial. Right now if you look at the Life Expectancy probability of graduating from high school probability of going to jail up ability of getting a College Degree does vary based on race so after we take class into account and after you take region into account and even when we take parental background into account although suggests that black in latino and native American Kids are far behind the eight ball compared to their white and asian peers. That is just because one black man got elected president come you notice there are only two in the senate. You have a black governor so there are lots of other places where we dont have that representation and we will have to work through that and we will have to work through the time when black people are not disproportionately pulled over by the cops and killed in being poorly educated and poorly fed and Getting Health Care treatment and other kinds of things. We still have a long way to go and we have a few questions. We only have a few minutes left so we will have to do a fire around. One person on the panel can answer and will go to the next person. My name is desmond johns. My question is targeted and mainly because i do understand black lives matter but im also asking cents we are in america everyone considered africanamerican, happen to be from haiti and a lot of people mainstream cs we are all black folks so in terms of all the distraction of haitian descent with folks being pretty much reallocated and deported in 1 million of them will be deported back to haiti because they dont want to after exploding us and taking everything we have got and what can be done . This is an incredibly important point because even what is blackness, the demographics of the country changed its true blackness is very complex because theres an african diaspora. I think this is incredibly important from a strategy perspective, how we understand our difference, experiences with shared problems and how we figure out the Strategic Alignment whereby we are supporting multiple struggles of people in the diaspora that fundamentally focuses on who we include here in the United States and how we include them. One of the things that we have done has been vocal in public about the fact that we think there is too much racism happening in the way haitians are being treated both in the Dominican Republic and what it means for National Policy and for immigration policy and how we create policies that demonstrate that we will be a welcoming place like creating municipal i. D. Cards that you can get ready you have citizenship, legal citizenship or not so you can get the benefits of services and programs from government and Nonprofit Institutions without making yourself honorable to immigration. Those are the kinds of things that i think are critical. The other thing thats important is for us to always remember that the struggle for Racial Justice has always been a global struggle and so i think probably an american context where we are used to thinking domestically and our educational system always emphasize something such as Pan Africanism so we understand there such a thing as global blackness and ethnicity matters within the study of africanamericans as a web for other groups. People who do sub ethnicities and looking at the variation in africanamerican studies we havent done that to the extent that we should did i think your point is really valid and it helps us to remember that lacmas is extremely diverse. They tell me we have time for one more question. My name is tiffany and i am representing buffalo Young Professionals. There is tension between the black church in different variations of lacmas presently and also because we are not seen in our local communities a lot of black Church Leader standing up on these his issues and sometimes it comes from a a very onesided space in terms of gender and class and sexuality and spirituality and all that. How can we as Young Professionals and gauge our local black churches and share with them our concerns in a way thats not only respectful but in ways that can help us to Work Together in terms so that we can still as young people see them as on the ground been fighting the fight . I think there are a couple of issues that you are having to deal with in that. One of the greater challenges even in the black church that you see not just in the black church, corporations etc. Is the challenge of what baby boomers have done for us and so because the great influx of ab bombers there is actually a log jam. Usually there is this kind of cyclical kind of handing over of leadership that then puts a younger crew in leadership or in a position for leadership so they are able to have better conversations with Younger Generations and thats not necessarily happening as smoothly because someone because folks the economy and folks cant retire. What i believe needs to happen are a couple of pieces. There are some respectful conversation that can happen and there are some conversations that can be respectful but but need to happen. The truth is there are some conversations because its your church too and the universal church, they have Church Global its your church as well and therefore theres a need for Younger Generation to step up and say this is mine too and so theres a need for this church to be relevant to all of our needs. Theres a need for this church to be relevant to the needs, that is nowhere in the world where folks can be getting killed in our community and not say anything about it and all you are doing is shouting about it on sundays. We cannot shop on sundays if we are being killed monday through saturday. Thats not going to be acceptable in we need you to be able to deal with the issues we are dealing with the in this community so i think the pressure needs to happen but you are saying it not just in church but if you look at black lives matter, black lives matter put an impression on everyone to change. These young folks put pressure on what traditional civil rights , pressure on everybody on elected officials to say you are going to start dealing with some of the stuff because this is some of the stuff we are dealing with so the same thing needs to happen in the church but it can happen in the church not in a way that say we cant stand you put in a way that says no, this is our church to and because its our church too than it needs to deal with and represent us and deal with the issues or we are going through. If i could just add know you cant, we are out of time but i will give you a chance to speak. We each have 20 seconds to give any strategies or resources you would like to offer our audience. Please traded keep it concise because we have to move for time. Solutions, do you think some of the solutions we are presenting here are biologic and we do need healing. Thats something we havent talked about, the healing and therapy as a community because there are so many traumas that have been happening on and on and on in the generations that we have not completely healed from. Thats not all that i wanted to say but i know we are short on time and i thank you. Thank you janaye. Randy. Is important we have intergenerational conversations that are candid and real and we stop relying on the fact that we have made progress and Start Talking about the fact that also we have a progress. There are serious ills that we need to address every day but sometimes we are too complacent and oh its better but well folks are dying so please join the movement. We have new professionals all over this event and they are willing to embrace you and to help you to do advocacy work as it relates to the national move forward. Thank you. The solution is to get involved. Theres a program put on by president clinton and president bush to identify the leaders to help solve the problems we are facing. I would encourage everyone every one of you to apply the program go to president ial leadership scholars or any leadership program. Dont just focus only on things that are familiar and comfortable to you. You have to make yourself a little bit uncomfortable and walk in areas where you are not used to walking because its going to take all of us whether it looks like me and you are not able to solve these problems. We have to make sure the policy stays on the table and not just protest. The master coalitions of black civics which is held training 200 or others but not just the usual suspects but regular brothers, some brothers who didnt have degrees and just arrange it or others but we trained them about what it meant and we trained them on issues and we trained them on policies and train them on what it meant to sit with senators and Congress People to deal with their issues. Even as we are protesting and pushing them and we have to be training those Young Brothers and sisters on how to engage with the other area of the strategy which is policy. I want to take an oldschool thing and make it new. We need to have Freedom Schools. I think these are important to coast there is a lot of history that people dont know and that hasnt been transmitted across generations announced the time for us to do that because people will be able to ply those historical lessons to what they see in the present day. Teaching how to be consumers of news to be sure you are regular consumer of news. Part of that is understanding the church question the churches that got involved in the Civil Rights Movement oftentimes people in the laity were convincing their pastors that they need to take a stand to infiltrating those organizations in making those leaders accountable to take a look stance on those issues issues and wants a dialogue starts when people are where the issues when people can in a common framework talk about racism and Structural Racism and what inequality looks like i think that will help verify which issues need to be targeted strategically and i think it will inspire people about how to generate ideas to create solutions that are needed to solve these problems. Policy, ditto. Voting, voting, voting. Those are my reselections. Very concise and i want to make sure you follow all of them and their organizations on social media and one other way to continue to continue to get involved. Shannon lanier the imm power. Com web site where you have all the statistics behind the state of black america the National Urban league put out. All great your resources to use to know your rights and know what you should and shouldnt do if you are stopped by the police and put in a situation so we skip around of applause to our amazing panel. We could talk for hours with him today. [applause] up more from the National Urban League Conference in ft. Lauderdale with a discussion on Voting Rights and criminal justice. We will hear from the reverend al sharpton, florida congressman Alcee Hastings and civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump who has represented the families of several unarmed black men who were killed at Police Officers. Our first speaker absolutely needs no introduction whatsoever he is known around the world and around the nation as an ever principle force against the injustice of any kind, be it social, political or racial. If there is a cause to be champions he is unafraid to bring it to the forefront to fight for what is right. He is a good friend. His organization the National Action network and the National Urban league have worked collaboratively on many many things together. As i said last night there are tree shakers and barer jelly makers and the reverend al sharpton is a tree shaker par excellence. Ladies and gentlemen please greet and welcome back to the National Urban league, the founder and president of the National Action network reverend al sharpton. [applause] thank you. First of all good afternoon to the National Urban league. I am honored and happy to be here with my friend and colleague, president of the National Urban League Marc Morial who has done a great job in leading this organization and leading us around this country for the last decade or more in this capacity and even before that as mayor, give him a big hand, marc morial. [applause] as we meet at the convention this year we need to be clear that we are facing a dilemma that we have not seen in decades we are at the crossroads of real decisions that will impact and affect where this country and our community are going for the next halfcentury. You will hear tomorrow from some cabinets for president candidates for president and they have reduced so far this president ial race to a beauty contest and a sound bite contest and have not really gotten deeply into the issues that affect our communities. We are right now this week remembering 50 years ago when Lyndon Johnson signed the medicare bill. Next week 50 years since he signed the Voting Rights act where no one is discussing that if the wrong person with the wrong politics no matter what party gets into the white house who they will appoint to the Supreme Court me and what we have had for the last halfcentury. There are cases of affirmative action, Voting Rights, womens rights and other vital issues that will go in front of the Supreme Court. This is not about who is ahead in the polls, this is about who is going to stand for the things that the National Urban league and the Civil Rights Community forced into law a half a century ago. All of that is at stake in this election. We need more than a smile and a wave from the candidates. We need Firm Commitment to firm plans on what they are going to do about unemployment disproportionately in our community. What about the income inequality yes, but then you have inequality and then you have the government and our community because all unequal people in this country are not equally unequal. [applause] many in the Progressive Community have not addressed the racism involved in economic order. Then we have got to deal with education and the criminal Justice System. Just this morning charging a university of cincinnati policeman for murder, just a few weeks ago we dealt either hunters with a year since eric garner was choked to death by a new york city policeman on video and still nothing has happened in the Justice System to bring that cop to justice. Where are the president ial candidates on police, on economic inequality . Where are they on education . Where are they on the things that dr. King and Whitney Young and roy wilkins and Dorothy Height and others made law . We dont need to be entertained. We need to be engaged with real problems. [applause] we must begin to prepare now whether to National Urban league , the National Action network or the naacp as we are on the brink of a postobama era we have had for seven years a black president and the black first lady and a black first family. Whoever wins this election will be the first white in the history of this country to succeed a black president. We have never been there before. So we need to see who is the one that we feel is qualified to follow eight years of a president sent to us that will not turn around what he has begun. We dont intend that when the black family leaves the white house that black concerns leave the white house with them. So it is not enough for them to give us their best speech, their best line not only here but everywhere and for five minutes and debates. We want some direct issues. The bar is raised higher than its ever been raised before. After obama he will not get away with what you got away with before. We want the real deal. We have to become adjusted now to the white house dealing with things from Trayvon Martin Trayvon Martin two black Unemployment Rate he cant tell us anymore on the president ial level you cant deal with certain things. That model has been changed and we are not going to let it be changed again back to where we lose and where we did not continue a forward and progressive trend. The same must picture in the private sector. Because we all have a heart of gold in the clinical arena we are going to have to bear down even more and the naacp and all of us as partners in the private sector and tell them you have got to invest in the communities you have got to deal with not only jobs and training brett but procurement and contracts. Its not about civil rights organizations shaking it down. Its about you shaking down our communities every day. If you sell us your product and our cousins cant get contracts and their lawyers cant get contracts and our contents cant get contracts and other Service Industries cant get contracts you are shaking us down. We are going to stop the shakedown of the iran america. We will do business with those that do business with us or we are going to stop doing business. [applause] lastly we must make alliances with all of those that are willing and have demonstrated the ability to work shouldertoshoulder for our empowerment and equality along with ayers. There is a strong argument about who suffers the most, whether its asked or women or latinos. If you are in the hospital and you are on a ward you dont lie in bed comparing pain. You all try to get well together and demand the best health care and the best medical attention. We are not trying to compare who hurts the most. We are trying to find out how we all get well together and fight together and get the proper attention. [applause] so that path is clear, those that have led this organization over the centuries they will record that we are the generation that humbled the ball and dropped it and we lost the gains of 50 years ago because we were too busy being entertained doma being humored comic ego driven back by the deciding who will be out front rather than what we are in front of. Who is going to have the baton when the parade isnt going anywhere . Who cares who has the baton to a parade thats marching backwards . Its time to march forward. Its time to keep the agenda going straight. This is our time. This is the beginning of an air of. When the first white floor placed the first black president we have to make sure they understand that president obama is going home. We are not going anywhere. Thank you and god bless you. [applause] another frontline soldier recognized as one of the hardest working leaders in the social justice and Civil Rights Movement is none other than Melanie Campbell president and ceo of the National Coalition on civic participation in the convener of the black womens roundtable. Melanie is a great sister. She has got the unique ability to build powerful coalitions that ring Diverse People together for the common good and she has got more than 20 plus years of fighting for civil youth and womens rights. She is a true friend. She is a partner. She is an advocate. She is a friend of the National Urban league. Ladies and gentlemen, Melanie Campbell. [applause] good afternoon urban leaguers. Good afternoon urban leaguer is. I am always honored to join you and your president and ceo, my friend and brother from another mother, marc morial. Our Freedom Fighter for justice reverend al and this year i am so honored to have my mom who is 86 years young here with me. This is Janet Campbell and my big brother Isaac Campbell junior and my colleague tonya tyson. If they would just please stand. [applause] the lady in red. I am a native floridian and those who know me know i always talk about my great home in florida so i also want to welcome all of you here to my home state of florida. Urban leaguer is, we are one week away from the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights act. You heard reverend sharpton talk about it that was precipitated by the bloody sunday in selma alabama. It was signed into law by president Lyndon Johnson on august 6, 1965. Congress later amended the act five times to expand its protections and has always done it in a bipartisan manner. Two years ago the u. S. Supreme court gutted the law in the name of socalled states rights by striking down section 4 of the cra making it nearly impossible for the u. S. Justice department to do its job to protect our Voting Rights. Last month a Bipartisan Group of lawmakers led by democrats introduced legislation to remedy the Supreme Court action and introduce the Voting Rights act. In the meantime dozens of states have created their ear such as aggressive i. D. Laws, restrict did ours and in some cases restricted access to actual polling places. This is outrageous. So urban leaguers, now its time are you and i to act by contacting your congressional representatives in the house and demanding that they hold the hearing on Voting Rights in order to pass the Voting Rights advancement act. We need this new act to protect our Voting Rights in times of the 2016 president ial election. I know your theme for this years conference is save our cities, education jobs and justice. If we want to save our cities we need the vr aid to protect our votes. We know we have living proof our votes do count. Lest we forget that black voter turnout was the key vote for president obama in 2,002,012 to be the first africanamerican president of the United States. Lest we forget in 2012 black voter surprised surpassed the number of white voters with their first time in his 10 black women are the secret sauce leading the way for the black folks. [applause] and young black women led the way in 2012. The black womens roundtable and the black Voter Alliance in 2016 in partnership with the National Urban league and others because we all know its sisters vote and black youth vote great things happen. Lest we forget that if we want quality education for children we need a strong Voting Rights act to protect our voters. Lest we forget if we want quality jobs and end high black unemployment lead a strong Voting Rights act to protect our voters. Lest we forget if we believe that black lives matter and we want to end the senseless killing of our young black man, our women and children by Law Enforcement and vigilantes we need a strong Voting Rights act to protect our votes. Urban leaguers, you all know how i am. Please stand up. I know youve all had a long day and repeat after me. Now was the time for action. We cant allow anyone to block us from voting. And not on our watch. And say that again. Not on our watch. We wont go back. Now is the time to move forward to protect our rights to vote. Hashtags want to go alone but voting our power will do it. Thank you. [applause] thank you melanie and we are glad to have you on our side. Now, our moderator for todays Plenary Session also needs no introduction. He is acting on social media cumis the host of tv ones news one now and anchors the first daily Morning News Program in history to focus on news and analysis of policy, entertainment sports and culture from an explicitly africanamerican perspective. Ladies and gentlemen roland martin. [applause] c how are we doing . Thats it . You just had lunch or something . I literally just got off of the plane and im here for two hours and i have to fly to l. A. Thats how we do it to before we start where the houston people . If you aint from houston you dont get a shoutout. The hometown eyes gets the shout out. Certainly glad to be here in martin thank you so much. Can we set the ground rules . I didnt fly here to waste my time regurgitating the problem. Our panel is talking about solutions, talking about what we need to achieve, how we are going to achieve that on some of these issues and more importantly when we come here and gather next year we should be able to look back and say this is what we have accomplished as opposed to having the same conversation year after year. That is of no interest to me whatsoever so lets get right to it. I want to bring out our panel. First up an attorney in florida he wanted to congratulate him and newlyelected sworn in present National Bar Association Benjamin Crump. [applause] next up michael p. Mcmillan presidency of the urban league of metropolitan st. Louis. [applause] Karen Freeman wilson mayor of gary indiana. [applause] last but not least is reverend Jamal Harrison bryant pastor and founder of the Temple Baltimore maryland. [applause] if you were tweeting use the hashtag save our cities and so i want to get right into it they where talking about Police Accountability criminal justice as well as voting. I want to do is voting last and i want to get right to criminal justice and Police Accountability. Remember the rise in 2001 of many folks forget that there were 15 black men who were killed in cincinnati over. Naca five years. You have heard the prosecutor say without body cameras we would not be having that conversation and he would not have been indicted. So whether you are hearing i want to start with you and your city to your Police Officers have body cameras and of the state of indiana is there a drive to make sure every Law Enforcement agency have oddly cameras to protect them but also the public . The first thing is that we are starting a trial with body cameras but i want to disabuse us of the notion that body cameras are the beall and endall. Its a piece of technology that can be used but you have to draw back to recruitment. You have to make sure the right people arent the bus. You have to deal with the disciplinary issues. You have to deal with how you train Police Officers did he escalate situations, to look at individuals who are being as human beings. Soon after reason i want to start with the cameras is there so much attention placed on it and thats something for the folks sitting here when they go back home there has to be something they are pushing and driving in order to get done. We have seen it in los angeles and we have seen it in houston. What is the trial . Is that a handful of folks . Describes a trial in your city. What we are looking to do is to put body cameras on each Police Officer who is on duty but the thing about body cameras is that you cant just put 20 or 30, you have to have the full equipment. You have to be able to store the tapes and do all of that and thats a policy proposition. The good news is that the Justice Department has put the money out that will allow a number of departments to do that gary is one of them that is applying to do that but there has to be more. The federal money covers 50,000 and there are 100,000 Law Enforcement officers in america. South carolinas pushing for more proper to deal. Pastor bryant we saw vetoed a body cameras bill and is now back on. Again thats one of those issues as part of Police Accountability and criminal Justice Reform that people can latch onto them and they go back home and say at least to start make sure this happens. I am avidly for it and was on the panel for the mayor of baltimore to explore whether or not we needed it. I am an attorney and in one of the earlier sessions they said if you dont recorded it didnt happen. The first time in the 21st century that a white officer was arrested for killing a black person was the incident with walter scott in north charleston. We are 13 african africanamericans and 13 of the u. S. Population by 37 of those who are killed by the police. Think about what would have happened because they had a false report when it came to walter scott in charleston south carolina. The officer lied as well. Again but it goes back to why the body cameras are so needed and necessary. Would we then know the name of sandra bland if it were not for these cameras so the cameras are so critical and so important so we have got to lift up the veil behind the wizard of oz and make our Police Officers know that they are accountable. Is a defense attorney in the sub rights attorney to reality as we have now talked in the past eight or nine months for cops indicted. The most consistent thing about those four cases all caught on video. We no longer have a situation where its the cops word versus the victim because we know in america but cops word is always going to win out. Sydney absolutely rolling. What is so critical of having these body cameras is so many gears the standard least narrative was in line with what the law and america said. All the cop had to say was i in was in fear for my life. I thought he was reaching for a gun and if he says that the court has to accepted as correct. They cant challenge it unless you have overriding evidence to contradict the Standard Police narrative. What he says in his mind is subject and believed if he thought he was in fear so they say black men are the most fearful people in america if you believe the media so all they had to say even 12yearold tamir rice, trayvon they say he looked like a grownup. You have all these scenarios where they have it in their mind that we are dangerous our children are dangerous so we are justified in using deadly force but with these body cameras come with the cell phone videos and these dash cam video said continues to contradict the Standard Police narrative over and over. Alicia thomas in the Los Angeles Police department for the first time in a long time i can remember you had a cop get convicted and the judge gave the maximum because it was captured on video. The officer kicked her and her female seven times and choked her and she died in their custody. Had she not died in their custody you would believe it was just business as usual but when she died and that video surfaced it was the video. I can think him a great lawyer but without the video you note they didnt charge them with manslaughter but that was the First Time Since oscar grant that they convicted a Police Officer in california and remember oscar grant, the gal only got six months. At least he got three years so we are make in progress. Talking about accountability and changing the rules and want to remind folks what happened in st. Louis. You had a young man mentally disturbed takes a couple of Energy Drinks out of the store. They call the police and they say hes mentally disturbed. The cops rollup and when we showed it on tv once it literally was 16 seconds am the moment the door opened when the cops arrived that he was dead was nine shots. Bystanders captured it on the video and he literally he literally stepped like this and nine shots were fired. The law in missouri has it where if theres a certain amount of distance between you and the perpetrator a cop can fire at you with deadly force. The cop was back on the street the next day. Role and that was another disgrace that happened weeks after Michael Brown was killed and what it points out to us is the fact that as you mentioned earlier so often the narrative that comes from the police that does not have a camera associated. A bystanders captured that video. We literally saw the entire thing. Two minutes before the cops arrived. Which police chief was told what he initially reported to the media turned out not to be the case. Going back to body cameras one of the things we need to add to the equation is an independent Monitoring Agency on the film acquired through these cameras because too often lies have been told. Even in st. Louis people as said my camera is broken or it is malfunctioning or we dont have the tape. We didnt independent entity to be able to get that video to prove what is really happen. You saw what happened in chicago. You have an independent review word and a fired brother is a 23yearold cop because he recommended a officers be disciplined and that was the socalled independent Police Review board as well. There are folks who are working in individual cities and there are so many things that can be under the banner of Police Accountability. If there was one thing you want to charge with leaving here to fight for to enact what would it be . I think the valuable you touched on a review board and added to that going back to an old model is having police live in the community that they oversee. I keep saying it over and over again. If you want to be a cop in the city you have to live in the city. Absolutely that would be a start. When you consider in baltimore 40 of our officers dont live in the city and i think when you have a neighborhood understanding the Police Officers, knows who lives where these are not the enemy but citizens on patrol at the begin working in tandem and of requirement across the country is number one you have a civilian review review board a number two require that officers live in the city that they serve anyone else . I would say the independence, so often when you have incidents involving Police Officers its reviewed by other Police Officers. To have an independent review either through the Prosecutors Office brief and special prosecutors is helpful in something thats really important in communities but you know i wanted to stay right here because what we saw last year with eric gardner we had all of these folks calling for president obama in congress to do that but the reality is what people understand is these are state cases. The federal government does not have jurisdiction to create a special prosecutor to oversee a state case so we saw right now the officer and charlotte who shot and killed jonathan farrell. The police chief there said he was charged with manslaughter. Farrell was in a car accident call for help. He knocked on some doors and he thought he was trying to break in and the cops arrived. He ran to the cops for help. Three officers on the scene, one white into black the white officer fires 10 shots and killed him. The first grand jury failed to indict in the state attorney general indicted in this trial starts on monday so one of the things is you have toreate whether executive action like we saw in new york where the governor created executive order or an independent examiner or independent prosecutor. You have to go to the state to have a law change. I want folks to know the federal government cant do that. Has to be a state change not a federal change. When i was referring to the special prosecutor was talking about from the state level because as a former attorney general understand it many cases in many states you do have the ability to create that but even at the local level, local prosecutors can request special prosecutors in certain instances. So the power is there. Its a matter of really pushing for, requesting insisting on it but the other thing whirlwind is if we treat this as a one fixed problem than we will consistently we have got to deal with this in a conference of way. Its about race, its about job creation, its about education, its about Police Accountability and certainly its about having a multifaceted movement, government and business. In any city where we have seen problems occur it has been wholly disrupted so even if you say that you are not moved by compassion and i think we all should he, you should be moved by the fact that this is your business in that community. And the reason i am trying to individually identified things to work on is because i think what happens is whenever we have comprehensive conversations we wait for there to be comprehensive deals to focus on as to post to saying what they grab the lowhanging fruit to. The good news now is that we have some documents. We got this from the u. S. Conference of mayors. It does have the 21st century president ial task force they came out that even if you look at the consent decrees have come out of cleveland and other places that is something that community is, that the urban league throughout the country cam pulled down offline and say to their police chief, to their mayors, to their leadership is our least department and alignment . Roland i think that we all focus erroneously i think sometimes on the Police Officer. They are the low man on the totem pole and we talk about criminal justice and i say to the urban leaguers out there really what we have got to look at is the top of the criminal Justice System what happens in the courts. These grand jury proceedings in the secret or seedings where the prosecutor gets grand jury consent 99. 9 of the time but everything they want except when when is dead on the ground and they say we cant get a true bill to indict the officer. There has to be grand jury reform and we have to really look at it roland. We have to think about it. When they had the 50th anniversary of selma we were talking with congressman john lewis ended attorney fred gray and my heroes in the Civil Rights Movement and Michael Brown of ferguson had just happened and they were talking about selma and ferguson. They said 50 years ago when we were crossing independence bridge it wasnt the kkk who attacked us and beat the hello out of us, it was the Police Officers in 50 years later they are still doing it and the reason they are allowed to do this because the Community Stakeholders are allowing them to do it. The power of less than to do it. If we stop allowing them to do it then it will stop rated. Which allows us to go into this whole issue of voting because there is a direct connection between how we vote, who we vote for and seeing these changes. Michael i want to go to you first, prosecutor st. Louis, one of the most egregious legal actions i ever seen with the Michael Brown dealings, he has been elected repeatedly. He is a democrat. Black folks keep voting. The governor of missouri jay nixon on a democrat. The president praised him for his work. I dont understand why but the point im making is i know the urban league is nonpartisan but im being very clear here, the reality is if you look at the d. A. In brooklyn the reason the cop who killed kyle gurley who was killed in it darkened hallway would have a black d. A. The reasoning had more than 30 people who were free friend jethro life imprisonment in texas is because Craig Watkins was the d. A. Of Dallas County africanamericans put in place a group to retest cases that were controversial. 30 people were freed. He lost his reelection in november. The point there is what do you tell folks here to say yes you can fight for the changes but if we fall for a dr and r and that person is not doing the job than we are still losing because the prosecutor is the one who is deciding at the end of the day who is going to get indicted and he was not rated. There is no question subset subset no question roland we have done a bad job in voting when you talk about the commitment to the Africanamerican Community is vocalized on the radar bases but when you have concrete results sometimes you dont see those results and its been disappointing. In terms of ferguson when you look at the government itself we only had one member of the city council that was africanamerican by mike round died. Luckily we have now gotten to a point where we have half but it shouldnt have had to take such a huge tragedy to elect to more people to the city council. We are getting to the point where we are educating the bummer but we have a lot more work to do because our vote in many cases have been taken for granted rated system that 90 of the Africanamerican Community is going to vote democratic and some people can come by and pat us on the head every two, four or six years and we will be fine. That no longer should be acceptable. The other is you are not registered to vote and you wont be called to jury duty and again one of those things in terms of what folks can work on lets be honest how many have you have gotten a jury summons and all you say is dan. [laughter] its true, its true. So i believe you talk about what can folks do i believe what the National Urban League Chapter should do is when they go back to figure out creating campaigns making it clear that serving on a jury is part of black lives matter. [applause] if i can chime in on that roland. Thats so important because you know how heartbreaking it is when you walk in that courtroom and you see some black potential jurist and they proceed to do everything in their godly power to get out of jury duty and they could make all the difference in the world to. White folks do it too but there are enough of us in the courtroom in the first place. Ive got to say this because in a lot of ways trayvon brought a lot of these matters to light he they are working on a book about trayvon and roland you went to mall where they are. You all know that they had at least 30 black people who they sent the menagerie out to perform potential jury service and 74 of them came up with reasons why they could not serve on jury duty. Just imagine if in the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin roland you had more people that could understand despite the rossi did his best efforts to try to defend the honor and value of a young black mans life which was a fish out of water expense for them because they were so used to prosecuting them but those black people that intensely got out of jury duty. We made history so its up to us. Jamal reverend jackson talk about this when you send ferguson and talking to a group of young people who were mad and he said you want to see the cops get charged . He said are you registered . No. You cant vote on the jury. Part of the issue is that goes to this notion of voting is we have to recognize when you dont know you dont know and a lot of folks simply dont know the process and i believe this is where urban League Chapter has to say wait a minute you have got to have Voter Education and put it in a way that, and maybe the campaign of folks who served on a jury and stickers that say ive voted how about i served on a jury . [applause] i think thats right on point. Im an alumnus of the naacp is where i got my start and we began on three prongs we have to bring back which was Voter Education, Voter Registration and get out the vote. We have to remind people why they are voting. The other part is so necessary as we have to mature as a people that we are not just voting for black faces if they dont have a black agenda and i think we have to get beyond symbolic people to say we have got a black states attorney or black if d. C. Is Chocolate City then we are fudged village. Black states attorney black commission we still wont have black economic development. Going into this president ial cycle we have to ask what it is and i have stolen it from you and the only reason im saying give me a credit because you are here and i think the 17 people running for the Republican Party six for the democratic what are we asking for and going to this election have got to go clear on what her ask isnt wealthy urban league is nonpartisan i won want us to be mindful of the fact that the lack of electorate elected to the presidency twice. If we didnt get out to vote there would not be a black family in the white house and i say that to say here we are now at this next cycle and there is no black hearse mom the ticket. We arent being entertained anywhere for cabinet positions that we cant just give our lunch away without having some mandate and some requirement of what we are looking for. Again i am focused on what is tangible and what is real. You heard melanie, you heard reverend sharpton. They were talking about the issue of voting. Naacp august 1 to starting their 800mile journey for justice. I had cornel brooks the ceo on my show today and i said you are going to arrive in d. C. September 15 i said that the question i have is are we going to drop 500 to 1000 people on capitol hill every day until the reactor is Voting Rights act . This is where organization comes in and the question that i have and what you have to answer is chapters one you are right they cant endorse but they can be involved in the issues. You believe that individual urban leaguer chapters should be right now asking the question who are the members of congress from our city and our area and we are going to hit their congressional offices every week and demand how they are going to vote when it comes to Voting Rights act because you dont have to always come to d. C. You should be making some noise in your respective cities. You all can pick up on that. Datasets with a datasets with the case and in fact i want to go back to what reverend bryant said because over the last four to five years they have almost tried to frighten civic organizations outside of the naacp the urban league and the sororities and the churches. You are involved in actions that may jeopardize your nonprofit status. Its not about who is supporting a candidate. Its really about the issues and they should involve not just in Voter Registration, thats the first step you have to get people to participate. You have to clarify the issues it can galvanize people so its important or the urban league for the naacp for the sorority, for the fraternities not only to be involved but not to be run off with the first sign were the first article that says all these nonprofit organizations are engaged in the illegal activity. I want to say weigh in piggyback on my sister. This is a time that all of our entity should be nonprofit and are the people are catching the spirit of our organization. We are not making a profit trader think there has to be something that gets us to the place where we understand we have to have the freedom to say what we need to say how we need to say it when we need to say it without the fear we are going to lose corporate sponsorship. If in fact its about the advancement of our people we need to form our own packs. We need to be able to do some things that puts us in a different place rather than just the horrified welfare society. So urban leaguer chapters from virginia stand up. Virginia. Bob goodlatte republican is the chair Bob Goodlatte is the chair of the house judiciary committee. Anything with the Voting Rights act is going to go through his committee. Anything on criminal Justice Reform goes through his committee. You all should be organizing folks going to his congressional offices in virginia and making it clear to him and giving him every single day hitting him every single weekend saying you need to act. He is from virginia. You all have some homework. You all can sit down now. Ben you want to make a comment. We are talking about getting ready for the 2016 election. There are people who are diametrically opposite also getting ready. No, no they are getting ready. It started eight years ago. And understand and i agree they are passing all kinds of laws to disenfranchise our community to stop the souls to the polls, to stop the irving voting to make voter i. D. To put Police Officers at the voting polls to intimidate us and to stop us from voting. Just one person been in that backroom. Just one person. Now we have six hours was to have 12 but one africanamerican who has the courage to say im going to answer every question that they have and im going to be there and im going to be back in that room and go there, that makes all the difference in the world because your vote really do count when youre interdict duty. Michael i wanted to add one thing in addition to voting we need to volunteer we need to get out and we need to contribute to them. We need to get funded by corporations and unions, and then turn right around until all those people that donated money to them or were not going to be bothered by your interest now. Thats living in a fantasy. Right. And the reality is people who give large contributions to elected officials are always going to have access to those elected officials. We need to contribute to people and give our time, talent and treasure to have our own independent officials for our stand for our beliefs. This is what im expecting, mark and your staff and have you all send video of you protesting a meeting with these folks locally and to send to me, you have to understand, its my show i dont have to ask anybody, heres my 00point, if we dont actually mobilize ourselves, whos going to do it . So we should be able to utilize our outlets and let me say this here will look at our apparatus, these are the nationally syndicated morning show that target black people. Tom joyner, steve harvey, doug banks, the reverend sharpton show, i have a show, show, im leaving out a couple of other people, these shows blanket black america so if we are not utilizing our apparatus then we are wasting our resources. Again, i expect to be sending us videos, meeting with soandso, and our chapter here comes up were not putting the pressure you have to understand when it comes to the Voting Rights and representation, and he only has 14 republicans who have found we have to be applying the pressure to them and saying when it came to loretta lynch. Cochran was on the side voting for loretta lynch, and we went to his office and they wouldnt meet with us, we said we aint leaving. They finally found five minutes and when he came in, he is like 90 for some years old i dont know if you heard me or not, i put on my show, i will looked in his eyes and said let me be clear, you aint here for black people because you gonna move that tea party person but i expect you to vote for loretta lynch. He said i understand, i hear you, you, you know he voted for loretta lynch, im not saying thats the reason but somebody black had to look amended eyes and say i expect you to vote that way. If we dont show up to demand him to vote that way then hes going to do what he wants. Were going to go to question now i dont have a problem cutting you off, i want it tight, concise, if you go along with that im cutting you off. Im going to summarize your question okay, five people here nobody else get in line. Im going to start here, go. Im a blogger, my question is how do we bridge the gap for young people, Millennials Millennials to more established organizations such as the naacp, the National Urban league that we have here, especially in miamidade . Jamaal. I think we keep looking for a ceremony where people would just hand over the baton, i think every revolution that is happened in the history of the world, young people have always done it. So if they dont pass you the torch, get a pack of matches. I think its up to us to really take this movement that is taking place right now from ferguson to baltimore to cleveland, is young people. You dont need permission, sign your own permission slip and just do it, i think we learn for the elders but you cant wait on him. And from a heart historical standpoint they met at the university and thats how things are created, they didnt ask for permission, in, in fact doctor king wanted to control them and they said no were going to remain independent. So naacp has a youth division, jamals point is stop waiting. And also mobilize and organize, and also say this and i need you you to make this as well, all you melitta lineals need to cut out this bs with we dont have leaders. Let me be real clear you cannot change a system by saying its going to be a collective thing, even snitch had a high arc. My name is nicole, i am president of the young professional organization, my question is what strategies do you recommend on how we can identify corporate structures who dont have our interest and support particular politicians . Such as . Such as politicians that may be here tomorrow. Who wants it. I can answer it,. I think when you look at corporate structures and how they interact with the communities maltin bowl levels. Reverend sharpton was here early and talked about something significant, we support these major institutions and then you see in many cases they dont have African Americans as board of directors, managers, a procurement policy where people get contracts and they dont have a charitable and Civic Engagement support for the African American community. Those are the sit things that roland was talking about getting information out in all of the different media sources that need to be known in the community so we will stop supporting these companies. We give them the same money that they in turn will not give to us. That is what we need to change for information and dialogue across the country. You cant be satisfied because you gave 50000 for an event, follow me here because if you look at the pay structure of some of your corporate folks, folks that are making high salaries they have the capacity to be able to give it back to the organization more of what the corporation gay. Were happy for a check for a table at a banquet as opposed to the larger check, the other piece here is black folks must be real silent and prayed to reverend jackson about silicone valley, he is forcing dramatic change when he announced a 300 milliondollar initiative when he talked about hiring minorities because of the pressure. Some bought a share in each company and that gave them the right to go talk to the shareholders, some of us, the same thing so part of his deal with politicians and how we force change, not being happy with buying a table be more concerned about a number of people that are there and go back april 3, 1968 and listen to mlks mountaintop speech, not mountaintop speech, not the end, the whole 43 minutes. He talked about economic boycotts, trust me its there. High my question is i wanted to bring the conversation younger, theres a huge disconnect with millennials ands and Ground Movement and the importance of local movement and voting for local elections after trave on dade died here came Governor Scott again so how do we bridge that gap but currently and curriculum system k through 12, we dont have africanamerican history that really speaks, theres a huge disconnect with the importance of that so how do we bring it down to some younger . I think its important that we understand how every elected officer impacts us individually as ultimately thats what people are motivated by. You talk about curriculum, who determines that curriculum . Its not really the teacher, its not even the principal, its the school board. Or state school board. One of the easiest offices to run for in most communities is that elected School Board Position so that is something a millennial can actually run for and young people could galvanize behind and really make a difference, because then you are having the conversation and youre having it from a position of power. And the first thing is without lectionary salts, republicans getting control of texas, it used to be in all Democratic State with politicians, how they take over texas they first took over the state school board of education. Malcolm x said we are the only oppressed people who allow aro press to educate our children. If all of this education happens on black History Month and our children only know doctor king we are in trouble. We have have to do something all year long, instituted in our local chapters of our urban league, in our black church so we dont just celebrate blackness in february because in august were still going to be black. Ill give you two things, one is im a huge believer in and i dont care if anybody in this room disagree, you literally have schools across the country black folks will be originated to school children, if youre youre going to read the book, 1865 to 1930, we actually created school choice, the reason why is because we took officers and put it in the state constitution. It amazes me how were run around here and say were not down with charters because were fighting against our own advancement, thats most ridiculous thing ive ever heard my life. The last thing is its all Freedom Schools. I ask you why folks educate our kids you just have to go to the childrens fun and cities childrens fun we did it through jim crow, used to be called sunday school in some places as well, you can create a Freedom School. You dont have dont have to ask anybody for permission, we have all these churches, who here is a pastor, stand up. Do you have a Freedom School . You can start one beginning tomorrow, do, do you have a Freedom School . You do, how long have you had it . Youve had a Freedom School for 20 years so heres whats going to happen, has to sit down when the program over you all see him, look at him dont look at me, when the program over the two of you go meet with him and talk to him about how you run your Freedom School and then you all can start tomorrow. Next question. I told you we got much time, i have have a plane to catch. So much like the lgb tq community and the Hispanic Media has immigration in st. Louis are starting to have it Municipal Court reform that just Africanamerican Community against violations against what they get penalized severely, can you identify other key issues, specific issues that you can share with individuals in this room that will be direct action, i think the theme of the report is so general. I would say that earlier reverend brian talked about requiring Law Enforcement to live in the communities. In most states that is a state law, in the state of indiana says they just have to live in contiguous counties. When you get out of gary comments rule. So you can imagine what some of the officers think, so to specifically advocate at the state, local local level for officers to be required to live in communities or at least allow it to be a part of the city chart. Thats one were out of time, we we have one question go. Im joe allen the question is since the right to vote is the constitutional right. Actually its not there is no affirmative right to vote in the United States constitution, it doesnt exist. Well there is no affirmative right to vote at all in the constitution, if you go back to the bush gore decision there is no it says you cannot be discriminated against, theres no affirmative right to vote is one of the reasons why in ohio theyre trying to get a voting right that puts it in the state constitution as opposed to the better but go ahead with your question. I was wondering about prisoner and experts in hers not been allowed to vote and be in the night that right question mark. Florida you have the governor who signed executive order but thats not law, some states are trying to make those changes. President obama got 170,000 votes for ex offenders that Charlie Crist that he signed executive order and thats how he got florida, because its always a tossup its simply your your governor making an executive order. Is the other piece, when it comes to criminal Justice Reform republicans are better on this issue than some democrats thats what im saying forget the d and do you stand on the issue. How can the National League as a Nonpartisan Organization support public officials. You can is a 5o1c3 you cant support candidates you can support issues. So can Michael Mcmillan clarify on how to offset that because we have an achilles heel as i see it. One thing you can do is create a 5o1c for that will run would allow you for you to run ads. I will know what you can do as an individual you can violent tear, vote and donate. I would just say money is key, not just saying that because im elected, as black folks, we give time and that we dont give anything else, but it is simple it is essential that we have our voice heard by writing a check to candidate. What question. How much training does Police Officer in your community receive on how to assist those with Mental Health issues, engage in those with Mental Health issues question work. We actually have a Great Program where Police Officers receive two days of training relative to millet health, theres also a Mental Health court, theres a new unit that allows Police Officers to take people who they believe have mental problems to that issue, but one of the things we have been very strong on his deescalation. Trying to get Police Officers to understand that yep you got the gun and the badge, that means that you really have the power and you dont have to use any of that. Ive been going around encouraging Police Officers instead of saying theyre going to be the peacekeepers in the partners in the community they need to be that peacemakers when they come to a situation and thats where they have to think. They have to think like that they think im going to make you do something we need to think about making it peaceful, everybody. In st. Louis when he talked about mr. Powell, there is a problem that we had, he had Mental Illness and was dead within 16 seconds, so we obviously have a lot more work to do in terms of training in our department. The City Department is a very large on, ferguson is small, it has it has to be done across this nation. Final comment is that its comprehensive, their blueprints out there but it has to be Community Driven and thats a role that notch is the urban league but all of our communitybased organizations. Resist, and organize and pray. If you felt a sense of urgency when it comes to how ive been proceeding in this panel its because im sick and tired of us having gatherings where we talk, where we discussed, but then we dont talk about what real action plan is. Heres what happen if you look at whats in play here theres at least 15 to 20 different key things that you can do leaving here. Heres what im going to suggest to mark and his staff, next year, first while they should take all of the ideas that came out of this discussion and email them to every single one of you. Then allow you to decide is a chapter, what are you going to focus on and when you come back here next year report on what you did. It is a waste of time to talk about what we need to work on and then dont come back with, you know what we discussed at last year, we heard it and then we implemented it, and so it has to be there. So all be happy to come back to have a discussion on what you accomplished, but im not coming back to have another discussion on what we need to do. Freedom schools, the two of you all, stand up, come on out here, you all stand up and you talk right now. I am only about us getting stuff done if no time for talk its time for us to get to work. Thank you. Today donald trump of the town hall meeting where hell take questions from the audience its in hampton New Hampshire at 7 00 p. M. Eastern live on our companion network cspan. Tonight at eight eastern on cspan to its book tv in prime time with president ial candidates on their recent books. First former governor huckabee, ad nine ben carson on his book one nation, what we can all do to save americas future. At ten at 10 00 p. M. With eastern senator marco rubio with american dreams. At 10 25 p. M. Eastern we hear from a democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton talking about her book, hard choices. Book tv is in prime time each week night starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Cspan is in des moines for the iowa state fair and wrote to white house coverage of president ial candidates. Our life coverages on cspan came, cspan radio and cspan. Org at the candidates walk the fairgrounds and speak at the registers soapbox. Saturday Rick Santorum at noon, Lincoln Chafee at 1230 and Bernie Sanders at 3 00 p. M. Sunday afternoon, ben carson at five and George Pataki at 530. Taking you on the road to the white house. So far this year the cspan city store along with our cable affiliates have visited over a dozen cities across the country revealing their unique history and literary life, this weekend we will showcase some of the places we have been in 2015. One day when i have had nine hours, he told me to pull over on the tarmac when i landed and he started getting out of the airplane and he told me it was time for me to take it around by myself. When i took off that time, when i got up to about 500 feet where im supposed to level off, when i started to push forward to level off it came off my hand, so i my seatbelt off and i left the throttle wide open, i laid across the front seat and i started pushing forward on the front stick it started lowering the nose of the airplane. So then i climbed over into the front seat but i made a fairly smooth landing and he said what the hell are you doing in the front seat . And i just pointed to that stick which is like a stick you provide the airplane with and it was on the floorboard and when he saw that he said not you know you have the right stuff to be a pilot. That was before john glenn had the right stuff. And what happened on the morning of january 16, 1965 that cause the worst military aviation disaster in kansas history . The problem was that morning it was about 11 outside, the man arrived at the base well before 8 00 a. M. , they prepped it and checked it and at 9 27 a. M. They depart. They leave the runway with 31,000 gallons of jet fuel and three minutes into the flight the pilot calls made a, and never heard from again. The plane crash crash occurred on january 16, 1965 and it was early that morning around 9 30 a. M. The plane went down in wichita, the northeast end of wichita and a crash landed in a section of wichita that was typically referred to as the Africanamerican Community. 97 of the 7 of the africanamericans were living in that section and were talking of 500foot high iron ball and goes for blocks. Homes are destroyed, destruction is everywhere and ultimately 30 lives are lost. There is no history there that 30 lives were talk taken there theres no memorial and this is one of the worst natural disasters in the States History theres not more on it. Sunday afternoon at 2 00 p. M. American history tv on cspan three. The house judiciary subcommittee on crime recently held a hearing on the growing problem on heroin addiction, witnesses included head of the White House Office of drug control policy and the acting Deputy Administration of the Drug Administration workforce. The subcommittee will be in order without objection the chair will be authorized to declare recesses this morning at anytime. We welcome our Witnesses Today. Our nation faces a profound challenge with the growing heroin epidemic, last year the number of heroine related deaths in milwaukee county, wisconsin grew by 72 . Superior northwestern wisconsin suffered six overdoses and six days this past february. Clearly this is a problem that does not discriminate by race, or class and transcends geography. Earlier this year the White House Office of the National Drug control policy released the 2013 Drug Overdose fatality data. From the senators of Disease Control and prevention, the data shows that while drug desk for prescription opioids have been stable since 2012, the mortality rate associated with hair when increased by 39 by more than triple the levels in 2012. That represents the third year in a row that the number of heroine test has increased nationwide. This past week and the wheat Washington Post reported a family a maid that child in nearly one second to heroine laced within opiate, 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Its been responsible for a rash of overdoses and deaths across the country. In fact a batch that kill someone often attracts addicts to eight because they think it will bring a great high. That is why earlier this year i introduce hr 953, the comprehensive Addiction Recovery act of 2015. This legislation would thousand 15. This legislation would take a number of important steps to combat the heroin epidemic. For example it would adjust prescription opiates and heroin by requiring the department of health and Human Services to convene a task force to develop a plan for Pain Management and does prescribing different drugs and sharing those with authorities. It also authorizes grants to provide for alternatives for incarceration of veterans as well as though individuals with a Substance Abuse disorder, Mental Illness, or both. Finally it would give priority to awarding grants to those states that provide civil Liability Protection for First Responders health professionals, and family members, administrating to counter act opiate overdose. Ive also introduced the bipartisan criminal Justice Reform act and the safe justice act. This legislation prevents drug and Substance Abuse treatment programs over harsher sentences. Approximately 60 of prisoners have substance addiction disorders and only 11 receive treatment, receive treatment, its no wonder why recidivism rates are as high as they are. We cant simply incarcerate ourselves out of this. The bill would authorize the use of medication assisted treatment for the treatment of heroine and opiates in the federal bureau of prisons finally the safe justice act would offer training to federal Law Enforcement officials to help them better identify and respond to individuals with drug and Substance Abuse issues. I look forward to hearing from the Witnesses Today about additional approaches to curb this epidemic and at this time i will yield to the woman from california who is the Ranking Member of this subcommittee today. Thank you mr. Chair. Today hearings concerns find the best needs to respond to the use of heroine in this country which is proving to be more deadly than the past. This right the efforts of our lawenforcement dea, the volume of heroine coming into this country continues to rise. Every year we have increased drugs coming in from the border, from 2008 to 2012 they notice a 282 increase along americans borders, the rate of state and local Law Enforcement continue to rise as well, the current level of heroine use is widely available. Its cheaper to choir and it has no geographical boundary. Over 600,000 americans use heroin to combat or compound health risks that opposes. The heroine sold today is more potent and deadly than ever before. Death to overdues has risen significantly over the last several years. The last year of 20138257 people died of a heroin overdose 57 people died of a heroin overdose an additional 16000 died from opiates. Heroin overdoses in the u. S. Have nearly tripled since 2010 and 2013 according to the cdc. Death from heroine now exceed traffic deaths in the u. S. We need to realize were dealing with a Public Health crisis. Where does this great man come from most experts agree that prior to the increase of heroine most people became pissed prescriptive to opiates. Heroine of users it started as abusers of painkillers. Five to 10 per day, purse prescription opiates cost about 80 per day. For those are ready addicted to opiate Prescription Drugs, heroine becomes an attractive option. In response, many states are implementing drug treatment programs for those addictions to both Prescription Drugs and heroine, we need some approaches are new programs for better oversights for prescription medications. Many Police Departments across the country are employing the use of the drug for heroine overdose to reduce death, there are now hundreds of Police Departments in 29 states that stockett and administer this drug. If this is now credited for saving the lives of over 10000 americans since 1996. Please departments are also working with prosecutor offices to create programs to divert users to Treatment Facilities rather than court, detention facilities in prison. This effort supports a more permanent solution to the Health Crisis we face area it reduces crime rates and the expenses of incarceration while allowing courts and Police Departments to allocate resources it best suited. As proposals we would do well to consider a life as response to drug use, incarceration forced approach, our focus should be to eliminate impediments to those in need, reduce harm caused by heroine and educate our citizens to prevent substance addiction. I look forward to the discussion of this problem, the best way. I would like to submit for the record, a letter from the drug policy. Without objection the record will be so. I recognize the chairman for his opening statement. Thank you chairman im pleased to be here today at this important hearing and to examine the growing epidemic of parent abuse in our nation. Over the past several months we have seen an alarming increase in the availability and use of heroine. This is is not surprisingly profound and tragic consequences, every day it seems brings new stories of Overdose Deaths occurring across the country including in my district, in january january there have been 11 heroine related overdose in the row novell resulting in nine deaths. Earlier this year the Washington Post said the legalization of highgrade merit wanna to consumers has led mexican drug cartels to increase the amount of hair when an math across the mexican border. In 2009 heroine seizures over the border have nearly tripled as Law Enforcement seemed over 2100 grams of mexican heroine alone. The reality is that should so try no one, Drug Trafficking is a profitable business but run by criminals were interested in money. Given the increasing availability of marijuana in the United States and the ongoing epidemic, drug traffickers have decided to cash in on the misery of american citizens. Additionally which is three times the number 2012. Tragically that number is expected to rise theres an estimated 10 million americans who are currently addicted to prescription opiates including vicodin, oxycontin and percocet. Once someone is addicted to prescription opiate of the need to satisfy that addiction outweighs the stigma attached to a heroin use. Additionally, its easier to pay 10 for does a heroine then 80 for oxycodone tablet. Its no exaggeration to say heroin use has reached epidemic levels across this nation, including in my home state of virginia. It is not an urban or rule problem but an american Public Health and safety problem. However despite the increase of heroin and meth production, despite the ongoing math epidemic the Obama Administration has continued to shirk its duty to protect this nations from dangerous narcotics. I firmly believe any solution to the heroine epidemic must have three parts, one discouraging the use of this dangerous, highly addictive drug to providing appropriate treatment to attics. And three ensuring lawenforcement pursues the criminals who bring this poison into our community. I will look for to the testimony today read. Today we have, without objection, all members Opening Statements will appear the record at this point. We have a distinguished panel today and i will begin by swearing in our witnesses a before them. If you would please all rise. Deuce solemnly swear that the testimony youre about to give the subcommittee is the whole truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you got . Let the record reflect that all of the witnesses responded in the affirmative. The gentleman. The gentleman from virginia, mr. Forbes has a distinguished witness and i will allow him to introduce the attorney at this point and then i will introduce the next three witnesses. Thank you chairman, as he mentioned one of our Witnesses Today is nancy par who served as the Commonwealth Attorney since first being elected in 2005. During her ten years of service she has implemented new programs and promoting Community Outreach in addition to carrying out the traditional role of a Prosecutors Office. Her programs include seven girls empowerment conferences, for boys conferences, five playing on the right team best alternatives. Prior to her current role she was a prosecutor for ten years and before that worked in chesapeake since 1994. For six of those he or she served as a special assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District of virginia. In addition to her Public Service she is member of many boards in organizations and volunteers are times to charitable organizations including Commonwealth Attorney Service Council where she was chairman 2014 to 2015, state crime commission, gov. s task force Governors Task force on Prescription Drug and heroine abuse, justice reinvestment workgroup, board of correction education, Virginia State bar council, board of governors for criminal law section of the Virginia State bar, virginias state child fatality review team, Domestic Violence advisory committee, boys and girls clubs, and the womens club of south norfolk. She is a graduate from university of virginia with high distinction and law at the university of richmond. Thank you for accepting our invitation today and i look for to hearing your testimony as you share about the efforts youre champing. At that. Thank you mr. Court. First mr. Michael botticellis director of the National Drug control policy work he has served since november 2012. Previously he served as director of the bureau Substance Abuse services at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, he has a bachelor of arts and a masters in education from st. Lawrence university. Mr. Jack riley is the acting Deputy Administration of the drug in Fort Smith Administration he is the highest ranking Career Special agents at the dea. Prior to his appointment as chief of operations, he served in many other leadership positions during his distinguished career with the dea. He received a bachelor of of science degree in criminal justice from Bradley University and a masters degree in Public Health administration from the university of illinois. Ms. Angela pacheco was the first woman elected to the first judicial attorneys office. Her legal career has consisted of criminal prosecution in which he has tried a number of highprofile cases prior to comment and a tourney she worked as a social worker for 13 years in northern new mexico. She received a bachelor of arts in social work and her doctorate from Hamline University of law. I would ask each of you to summarize your testimony without objection, the witness statements will be entered into the record in their entirety. You have something with a red, yellow, yellow, green light in front of each of you, i assume you know what all of that means. Mr. Botticelli you are first. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. Particular the rise