Justin now justice now justice now thank you for the amazing performance. How are you all doing . We are going to get this show started. Thank you all for joining us tod today. I want it get some chants going. So that those in power hear us loud and clear why were here today to stand for black women and for Racial Justice. All right . Black lives matter. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. Black women matter black women matter black women matter black women matter come on, i cant hear you all. Black women matter black women matter black women matter black women matter black women matter black lives matter black lives matter black lives matter black lives matter no justice. No peace. No justice. No peace. No racists, no justice. No racist. No justice. No peace. No racist. Black women are under attack what do we do . Stand up and fight back. When black women are under attack, what do we do. Fight back. When women are under attack, what do we do. When muslim women are under attack what do we do . Stand up fight back. When any of us are under attack. Stand up fight back. What do we do . Stand up, fight back. What do we do . Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. Stand up fight back. No justice. No peace. No justice. No peace. No justice. No peace. No justice. No peace. No justice. No peace. No justice. No peace. No justice. No kkk, no racist usa. No trump, no kkk, no racist usa. No trump no kkk, no racist usa. No trump, no kkk, no racist usa. No trump, no kkk, no racist. Usa. No trump, no kkk, no racist usa. No trump, no kkk, no racist usa. All right. What do we think about White Supremacy . Boo. Want them to hear us louder. What do we think about White Supremacy . Its got to go. And we see over the past year that White Supremacy is now sitting in the white house. Its been in the country since the very beginning, but today we see an administration that is intent on marginalizing our community, on taking our lives, taking our jobs, taking our health care and ignoring the unnatural disasters across the country and across the world, to the countries that are right in the caribbean and neighboring countries that are suffering all of these disasters that can be prevented with resources and support and funding. So what do we want . When do we want it. Now. What do we want . Justice. When do we want it . Now. Hey, hey, oh, oh, White Supremacy has got to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, white suppres supremacy has got to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, White Supremacy has got to go. Hey, hey, oh, oh, donald trump has got to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, donald trump has got to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, donald trump has got to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho got to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, Jeff Sessions has got to go. All right. One last time. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. Black women matter, black women matter. Black women matter. Black women matter. Black women matter. Black women matter. Black women matter. Black women matter. Black women matter. Black women matter. Black women matter. Black women matter. All right. Thank you. [cheers and applause] thank you very much, give a round of applause for that chanting. Hi im organizer for Racial Justice. We will have a real conversation about White Supremacy about our responsibility to have Uncomfortable Conversations. Without further ado let me go ahead and welcome to the stage the president of a foundation. Theresa younger. [applause] hello, hola. Are you all ready . Who walked . Who marched here . I didnt hear you. If you marched here like that, nobody heard you. Who marched here . Yeah. So first off, thank you. Second off, lets take one second to appreciate this amazing weather that we have, but recognize we have brothers and sisters in other parts of this country and down in the global south and down in puerto rico who cant be with us today, right . Just one second. Join me for one second as we send our love. All right. Lets get going here. Welcome to the march for Racial Justice. All right. Are we ready for this . We have some like amazing speakers and i cant even begin to tell you how excited i am for it, but before we get going i want to make sure we get started on the right and the left foot. As a nation, we are standing at a crossroads and i dont have to tell you all this because we know it, but in one direction we have a future thats riddled with scandal, peppered with disinformation and misinformation, and steeped in indifference. Is that the way we want to go . No. Its not. However, in the other direction, is a really rough road. It is going to be a hard one for us to handle. But is the road of hope and redempti redemption. It is the road of a future that actually respects us all. What im talking about is a road that actually access speak to power. This is not necessarily making us all feel warm and fuzzy. We have work to do and we cant let one person or five people or even 150 people make a determination of what we need to be doing in order to create a safe, free, and justice world for everybody. [cheers and applause] so lets just confront the law of White Supremacy that holds back all of us, black and brown, trans and rich and poor enlightened and blind. Lets understand that White Supremacy is not just those who carry torches down the road and those who feel emboldened to take off their hoods to march before us. White supremacist is entrenched in everything we do, the principle by which this country is developed on and now in the time in 2017 for us to say no more. What are we saying . No more. I dont think i heard you what are you saying . We need to take note that we are going to be having what i call Uncomfortable Conversations. If youre sitting and the water is rising, you move to a higher level, but if youre at the top of the hill, the rising water never touches you. This is about having Uncomfortable Conversations not just with people we know or dont know, its about asking a question. Just once or twice. Its going to be hard. Its going to be long. We actually have to call out what it is, racism, sexism, patriarchy. Now is the day and time, but i want to remind us, some of us think of Martin Luther king as having this we are all going to love and peace and respect each other and he was about love and peace and respect, but he was about speaking truth to power. He was about radical love so i want to call on the words of dr. Martin luther king, jr. Who called on us to radical love so many years ago. He said, i come here today to plead with you, believe in yourself and believe you are somebody. You are somebody. I drop to i talked to a group last night. Nobody else can do this for us. No document can do this for us. No lincolnion emancipation proclamation with to this for us. No johnsons civil rights bill can do this for us. If the negro is to be free, he must move down into the inner resources of his own soul and sign with a pen and ink of selfassertion personhood of its own emancipation proclamation. Dont let anybody take you personhood. Be proud of your heritage. We dont have anything to be ashamed of. Somebody told a lie one day. We know this lie. They couched it in language, they made everything black, ugly and evil. Look it up in your dictionaries and see the word synonymous for black. Its always something degrading, low, and sinister. Look at the word white, its always something pure, and high and clean. Well, we want you to use the right language today, we need to also remember to forgive. I want to get the language so right that everyone here will cry out, yes, im black, im proud of it. Im black, im beautiful. Ill say that again just so you understand because while the color of my skin may be black, i am divided like so many of us here. I am made up like so many of us here of native peoples and white peoples, but today i stand in front of you and i say yes, im black and im proud of it. I am black and i am beautiful. [cheers and applause] today cry out for radical love. This is the pathway forward. This is what you are going to hear today in word and song and poetry because it is why we march. We march for the liberation, for justice, for avoidable and unnecessary struggle to uproot White Supremacy and i want you to join me today as we commit to calling White Supremacy what it is when we see it and that we understand if we dont raise the question, nobody will do it for us, you know, we have to do this together. It is not about black people or indigenous communities about our trans folks or lbgt communities. This is us together. Turn to the person next to you, and turn to them and say i am in this with you. I didnt hear you, say i am in this with you. Now turn to a person you dont know and introduce yourself. Introduce yourself. We are community and i am in this with you. Know that we are in this together. We are going to stand here and sit here and we are going to be part of this moment together. Then were going to join everybody in whatever city they are in and we are going to do this together. How are we going to do this . Wait, i didnt hear you how are we going to do this. Together. Lets get started. Are you ready . Are you . Im going to wrap up one moment with my favorite quote and i said it this morning, if you were with us as we marched for black women. I will say to you all i want you to be the kind of woman or man, however you identify, when your feet hit the floor, oh, sh shes up. Lets get going. Are you ready for some of the speakers today . Im going to tell you, you sit in the end you get the reward. I wont tell you who it is. We will start off as strong as you can be. Start off with jay. Shes a board member of not your mascot and live indigenous okay. A writer, a speaker, an advocate, founder and ceo of a tribe and she is here with us today because we need to know where we stand. Johnnie jay come on up. [cheers and applaus. [cheers and applause] thank you all for being here today. There are people in this nation who dont understand why we are here. They dont understand why we cant turn a blind eye, why we cant leave well enough alone. Havent they given us enough . There are people who believe that we are causing division and hate for bringing awareness to the experiences and struggles of our communities. They believe that we need to be polite and sacrifice everything that we have, our languages, identity, spirituality, cultures and communities in order for us to be worthy of life, liberty and justice. But for those of us who walk and choose to love out loud and have disabilities and differences whatever they may be we know it doesnt matter how polite, it doesnt matter how educated or obedient or silence or how invisible we try to make ourselves. We are others. For those of us with brown and black skin, the consequences of being other are deadly because the color of our skin feel a fear so deep, people clutch their purses or shoot on sight. Murder, rape, imprisonment, slavery, genocide, inequality and injustice, thats why we are here because we need to assert that we will not be broken, defeated, eradicated. We do not raise our voices or fists with hatred or division in our heart we raise them with radical and revolutionary love. And that love is so strong that its called all of us here today regardless of our backgrounds, regardless of our differences because we have come here to restore an innate link back to our humanity because we were not born knowing how to hate or discriminate. We were not born believing the moral aptitude or worthiness of determined by the color of your skin, sexuality. Spirituality, wealth or community, we were taught and we are choosing to untangle ourselves from the web of colonization, the very foundation of this nation. We need to be una poll gettic about our experiences and thats what im going to do. Yesterday Walking Around the city, i realized im in the belly of the beast, in the city so steeped in antiindigeno antiindigenousty, where its okay to use a slur for indigenous people, its celebrated. Where the mockery of what our ancestors died for with no thought to the racism and harm theyre perpetuating. And this is the irony of watching Washington Redskins player take ago knee while wearing a jersey that represents racism and discrimination that we face as indigenous people. Now, some of you may think its just a name, just a mascot, we have bigger issues, but representation matters. And it impacts our realities, both social, education, professional, even our political realities. We are less than 2 of the u. S. Population, yet, we are the most likely to be killed by police and rates of homicide, sexual violence, encarnacion, suicide, poverty are anywhere from two to ten times the rates of National Averages of any ethnic group. Our women and girls are murdered and disappear, and just a few weeks ago, one of my aunts joined the numbers and those losses hit our community hard. [cheers and applause] and many believe that the progress made for and by other communities will trickle down to our communities. But thats not the reality. Because we are not asking whether or not justice is even possible on stolen lands. We are not working to envision what that will even look like. We are not working together. We do not know each other, we do not know how to communicate with each other, but were trying. Over the last year we saw that progress being made at standing rock. [cheers and applause] we saw people from all walks of life coming together to support one tribe. But that is just one tribe. There are over 567 mo more sovereign nations that are battling pipelines in their own lands, as well as other issues. We are facing the destruction of our lands and waters and also our communities. As we support the movement and communities working toward justice for their people, we ask that you continue to support us, that you continue to remember us, as we assert that we are still here as indigenous people. [cheers and applause] you know, one of the things that people that i really want people to understand is that we are less than 2 of the population. Our numbers are at 5 million among this entire u. S. Population. And people dont understand the significance of that. But what those numbers mean is that we have survived the maximum effort of one of the worlds greatest super powers. Were still here. And we ask that we support because we are in this together. And none of us are free until all of us are free. Thank you. [cheers and applause] see this isnt about us, this isnt about any one of us, this is about what we are doing for those we love, those whose shoulders we stand on and those who will come after us. Right . Right . That is what this is about. This is for the seven generations that will come after us. What world do we want to leave them. This next person, i shouldnt even have to introduce because you know her. And you know her because unfortunately she was faced with the tragedy that this country does to black and brown men on a daily basis. This is the mother of orlando ca castille, the founder of the relief fund. Gin me as we bring to the stage valerie castille. [cheers and applause] wow. Is this solidarity. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of you coming out. Now, this is what solidarity looks like. [cheers and applause] were all in this together. Each and every last one of you. We are here to support one another as we fight for justice. Im valerie, my son was filandro castille. Its been over 400 days when i last saw my son, when i last hugged my son, when i last kissed my son. When i last told my son that i loved him. My son was taken at a very early age under such horrific actions. My son did everything right. I did everything humanly possible to protect my kids. I said if you want to carry a weapon, go get your license. My son started working when he was 13 years old. And he was gainfully employed until he was ruthlessly murdered by the police. After all that, we did everything that we could, all the evidence they had, they had video from the dash cam in the car. They had audio and then they had the aftermath, which im sure a lot of you saw my son take his last breath. And in his last breath he did a dying declaration where he said, i wasnt reaching. He told the officer, he said, sir, i have a weapon in the car. And instead of him giving my son direct commands to stop moving, dont worry about the license, just put your hand where i can see them, he shot in that car with no regard for human life. He shot my son five times, five times and he was still strapped in his seat belt. My son knew what he needed to do when he got stopped by the police. At the age of 32 he started driving when he was 17. In those short amount of years, my son had been stopped 50 times. 50 times, my son had been stopped by the police. And he was only 32 years old. You do the math. That dont make no sense and they say theres no racial profiling. Theyre not stereotyping. You tell me what it is. These are some things that you need to ask yourself. Use your common sense. My son did everything right. He tried to protect the woman and the child by informing the officer that he had a weapon. The weapon was not shoot ready. It was not a bullet in the chamber. I mean, come on, i got a weapon in the car. Oh, wait a minute, let me get the gun out of my pants and let me cock it and then shoot. That dont make no sense, but my son lost his life, his lifeless body with bullets still protruding from his skin. Had to cut my son open trying to save his life. Because he was honest and he told the truth. Im still wondering where on this planet do you tell the truth and you be honest and you still be murdered by the police. Come on, somebody help me out right now. My son did everything right. He had an honest job. The only thing was whats wrong in his life, he was harassed by the police until they ultimately killed him. You got to understand the area that my son was travelling in, everybody in the state of minnesota knew dont go down lawton. You go out of your way, blocks out of the way just not to pass through that little area because of the prejudice. We are going to call a spade a spade. Quit playing, you know it and then you keep saying its not. It is. Racism is alive. Its alive all over. Your nextdoor neighbor, you know, right about now, in the culture that were living in, you know, i always knew there was a silent war on black people, and people of color, but now its not silent no more. They doing it out in the open and then for a person to tell you your video dont mean sh you got video, audio and it dont mean sh that, the police said. And pulled over a white woman, they pulled over, and he said what are you scared of, we just kill black people. You saw it on facebook, he said that, thats what it is because thats what he believes. Thats what he believes, because racism is alive. They have infiltrated the government, the jails, the police department. White supremacists is all over the place and showing it even more. I mean, now days, you cant even walk down the street some white person, oh, n they doing it all the time. I mean, i game here to speak from my heart and let you know how dissatisfied i was with the verdict because they had they had everything that they needed and they had everything they needed for a conviction and they didnt. They didnt, and i still dont understand how that happened. You had everything you needed, god gave you everything you needed right there, my son, right there in the car seat belted in his car, the dash cam going and him talking, having a conversation with my son and then he just killed him. You got everything. You had everything and nothing was still done. There is no accountability when it comes to the police. Absolutel absolutely the police. Absolutely. My son was crucified in that car. His hair the seat belt was the cross and t the bullets was the nails and had the car was his coffin. And they let that man got off with no accountability, youve got free rein to kill and it wasnt three weeks later they shot and killed justine damon. It will be interesting how that plays out. It will be interesting. Im coming to you from my heart and i want everybody to be careful out there because you just dont know. You just dont know. I love my son. I miss him every day. And it could be you, you, you, your father, your brother, your sister, your cousin. It could be either one of you guys because of no accountability. And what i want to see is taking away their get out of jail free card. I was in fear for my life. I was in fear for my life. [applause] we need to get rid of that get out of jail free card because once you do that, that was just the next officers call before he pulls the trigger and use deadly force. Right now, im working, you know, on police reform, im working with some of the Police Officers in minnesota and im working with a lot of people there that are writing up proposals and different laws, holding these officers accountable for their actions. [applaus [applause]. We have to stand tall. We have to stick together. We have to stay unified. [applause] i told you where in for trees, didnt i . That, that is radical love. When were talking radical love, were talking about truth, and it doesnt make us feel good all the time. So let me introduce our next speaker who is all about truth, and that truth doesnt always make us feel good issue somebody who doesnt get by. She doesnt wait for things to come to her. She makes him happy. She is a former executive director of the Arab American Association in new york. Shes one of the organizers of the 2017 womens march. Help me welcome linda sarsour. [cheers and applause] how is everybody doing today . I dont know why but i dont believe you. How is everybody doing today . [cheers and applause] im here today because when black women lead, i follow. It was a black woman who taught us that we must love and protect one another. It was a black woman who taught us that we cant have a single issue struggle because we dont live single issue lives. It was a black woman who taught us when one of us is not free, none of us are free. It was a black aboriginal women from australia who inspired my activism through her words. And she said if you have come here to help me, youre wasting your time. But if you come here because you believe that your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together. [applause] it was also 94 of the black women electorate who did not vote for donald trump. [cheers and applause] black women know whats up. I trust black women. [applause] black women matter. My black muslim sisters matter. When we work towards the world where black women matter and black people matter, then all of our lives matter. When black peoples lives dont matter, none of your lives matter. I want to make something very clear, and this bothers me a little bit. Trump did not introduce racism to us. He did not introduce misogyny or sexism to us. He did not introduce homophobia or transphobia or islamophobia. Donald trump is just the symptom of what this country has been plagued with since the days of its founding. [applause] i want to make Something Else that is clear and use this as a teaching moment. Lets get the word into sexuality straight. Intersectionality is not about black people and white people and asian people organizing together. Thats not what intersectionality is. Intersectionality is the intersections of the oppression that we can dismantle racism without dismantling islamophobia, xenophobia and antisemitism. That is what intersectionality is all about. [applause] when we say we march for Racial Justice, we march for black women and for all black people every single one of them. We march for 11 million undocumented immigrants, not some of them, not daca recipient. All every skill less one of. When we say we march for Racial Justice we so loud and clear black and brown refugees i welcome here in this country. We say no muslim ban ever. We march because health care is a human right and my body is my choice. [applause] i was at or before trump and i will not be intimidated or silenced by cowardly White Supremacists and racists here i will beer after trump. The goal is not just to impeach one man but a dismantlement of systems that have press people of color for far too long. [applause] it is cool to be at a march and feel inspired to be here, but the real work happens in the communities that you come from. I stay that to my White Sisters and brothers who are here. I welcome you here. I love when youre with us and amongst us in solidarity but real solidarity is about changing the minds and hearts of the people that told us to put [applause] so i will end by saying if youre ever looking for me, if you want to know where i am at, ill be out here unapologetically muslim, unapologetically palestinian following black women to justice. [cheers and applause] iraq. Thats the definition of bad ass. How many have we had already . Weve had a few. I want to introduce you to some more than. Are you ready . Yes, you are. So let me bring up the cofounder of this very march were all at today. Shes a facilitator, and educator, and artist. Help a welcome davis. [applause] on your today to show you what radical love means. This is my father. [applause] race of the roof for my daddy. Sixes ago my father was robbed and assaulted by police. And for the past years he has been battling to receive justice from the nypd and from the new city court system. And the federal court system. This is the man who has loved me my entire life, who drove me to school from when i was four to when i was 18, when i was embarrassed by him. This is amanda told me i could do and be anything i wanted. This is the man who is always pushed me to be my greatest and hes the reason im standing here and talking to you like i am right now. [applause] and the love he has shown me my entire life, my entire life, when i watched what he went through, which i watched what he is still going through. I said to myself, what can your love do . What can your love do and show him that he is heard come he is seen and it doesnt matter what these courts for this Justice System thanks. Theres a space for him in this country. What is your love going to do to create that space . To create the country that he deserves to live in. That creates the country that my children, that my brother and my niece and my nephew and my mother, we all deserve to live in that come i deserve to live in. Everyone here has an opportunity to contribute, to love radically fear because im telling you right now this is what my love is. Created the space with beautiful people, to say were not going to tolerate this anymore. And so i believe in the power to love each other and to see each other and to fight for each other. And to heal with each other and succeed together in this country. I believe we can see each others histories and languages, and see the expanse of our family hood. As we are a family, and solidarity and intersectionality and sister linda said it right. This is all of us fighting together. [applause] black lives matter. And so i want to extend our hearts and our hands to brooklyn, to flint, to standing rock, to pine ridge, to los angeles and houston, to new orleans, to pompano beach. Thats when my dad is from. To puerto rico, two u. S. Virgin islands, to the black, brown, indigenous islands of straight, white, gay, poor, undocumented, disable, able, muslim, hindu, buddhist, brother, sister, mother, father, lover and loved ones i see you. We see you. I believe you. I love you through action. You deserve to spend your days in dignity and to the pursuit of happiness. Thats what is written in this constitution and our country. You deserve i country and the government and the system that respects your right and thats what were fighting for. Thank you. [cheers and applause] im just so glad to be here. I have no idea that i would be standing before this many people. You know, when the night i was robbed, they take me to the back of the store and robbed me. One lady stayed. Everybody run. Everybody took off because they thought the cop was like him what theyre doing. I just dont understand it. Im just so glad to beer and to share this story with you. I just dont, i had no idea, right now im going to have to take a knee. [applause] yes. Yes. Thank you. Were going to keep the borrowing from quite introduce you to two women who i have privy of really knowing well. At the ms. Foundation we make small grants to women and women of color led organizations throughout this country. To of our grantee partners, two of our partners in this work are with us today and they were the organizers of the black womens march earlier today. Let me just introduce you to farah tanis who is the cofounder and executive director of the black womens blueprint and Monica Simpson who is executive director of sister song. [cheers and applause] hello, family. Hello, family. You know, i need to be on the stage today. I didnt have to march today. Neither did you. But we did despite the risks to ourselves, to our bodies, you are tired feet leading up to this Great National mall. We did this as an army of black women, an army of gender, gender nonconforming, an army of all women, an army of women of color, an army of allies, an army of men here to break every chain. We stand here for those hardly ever invoked on such these types of stages, all the girls, the sisters left in back alleys, in heaps on the bedroom or living room floors. You know the ones im talking about. This is to those left in building hallways, staircases, backroom parties, basement garage is. We stand up for those of survived Sexual Assault and any other form of violation along the continuum of the categories of violence reserved for females and women identified people, and especially our transidentifiedd sisters. We represent a multitude of generations of Women Weaving the pieces of our lives back together. We are seeking justice for the afflicted, and others. We are here as the march for black women in unity with the march for Racial Justice. We are here on journeys of feeling that we hear as well write a narrative and so reclaiming our bodies and our cells, and our space within the Racial Justice movement. In the script of invisibility we will not let ourselves be shaped around how this country sees us. We will not let ourselves be shaped around how this country treats us. We will rise triumphant. We can be free if you are here. No devil and how can stop you from being free. [applause] good afternoon, good people. I said good afternoon good people. I know its been a long day but we stuck us in energy, right . I said good afternoon, yall. [shouting] today i stand before you not just as executive director of sister song, duchess of what the national cochairs for the march for black women but as an art activist, a singer, songwriter. And music is been the heartbeat of our movement. Our activists have a unique skill at taking complex social justice issues and transforming them so we can see the issues, here the issues and feel the issues. This was people to action. The High Priestess of soul said it is an artists duty to reflect the times. In honor of the march for black women i want to honor sister samoanslegacy. Choose one of the greatest inspirations for me as a black woman and an artist and she was definitely unapologetically black. She wrote a song that is typified the lives of black women in the united states. We are not a monolith. We come from different places. We all have different stories but we all seek freedom, justice, liberation and reparations. My people today i offer you for women. My skin is black. My arms are long my hair is woolly and my back is strong. Strong enough to take the pain inflicted again and again what do they call me . [applause] at 5 00 we want to invite the march for Racial Justice to dine with us at the university of the district of columbia, 4200 connecticut Avenue Northwest are we invite you all to break bread, lets lock arms together like w weve been doing so youe all invited. Well be eating at around 7 30 30, 8 00. See you then. [applause] how many dropped a tear on that one . Music says a lot. So lets give it up one more time for monica. [applause] thank you, monica. So some names you will know, some names you dont, some names you should. In fact, all names you should. I met this young woman just a few minutes ago, and i already know, if i can get a chance to hang with on doing that. Help me welcome to the stage the political director of our revolution at an immigration activist, erika andiola. [applause] i told her i was going to say it wrong. Come on up. How do i follow that . First of all i want to thank everybody for being here. I know its been a tiring, tiring it months. For many of us it is been eight months of resistance. To some of us its a been a lifetime of resistance. So thank you for being here. You know, just the other day i was listening to the news and i was watching everything that, the white house and the other sort saying about the players taking and yet the football games. And how unamerican that was and how disrespectful that was. And i remembered when i was 11 and i just coming to this country across the border with my mother and my siblings. Without speaking hardly any english i would be in the classroom standing up, kind to say the pledge of allegiance anyway i could. And i tried and a tried tried because i thought that was a way to be an american or try to be accepted. But no matter how hard i tried to be accepted and to be an american and to be called an american, i still get called illegal. No matter how hard i try still have to figure out how to help my brother pays his tuition because hes a document. No matter how hard i try i still i do see my own mother being taken for my own house in handcuffs. Not taken. She was literally kidnapped by ice from my own house. No matter how much i tried i still get calls to my undocumented brothers and sisters telling me that their loved ones are being taken. What do i do . There any Detention Center a been there for months for doing nothing. No matter how much i try and how many dreamers and Daca Recipients have tried, they still take our freaking daca away. So you know what i tell the president hepresident at a time e around the said that was disrespectful . I dont care what you say. I am an american. [cheers and applause] i may not be a citizen, i might not have legal status but i am an american because you know what it means to be an american and what it means to love this country . It means you are recognizing you remember the history of this nation. Means you recognize and you know that this nation was built on the back of native american stick to be an american means that you know and you understand that this land was built on the back of african slaves. [applause] to be an american you know and you understand that if you are not native to this nation and if you were not brought here by force, you came from immigrants. [applause] somebody who sees whats happening in the nation and do something about it. And you know we can do . We can start with calling it what it is, everything that is happening right now with the undocumented community, with a black committee, with the muslim committee, with people of color, everything is about whites, its a White Supremacy come not just in the white house, duchess in the building behind you but its White Supremacy on all levels of government. It is White Supremacy that has continued to oppress our communities and we have to call it what it is. [applause] and today i stand here to ask you to not just come to a rally but to continue to stand up for black lives. To continue to stand up to make sure that we are protecting native american lands. That we protecting the water that they been fighting so hard to protect. That will stand up for our brothers and sisters in puerto rico who right now are fighting so hard to be able to just tell us that they need help. After so many years of colonization. I ask you today to please remember that in a couple of months, 800,000 people like myself who have daca are going to lose our work permit. We are not only going to be able to work but also the government has every single piece of information about us and our families. So i ask you to please remember to make a call, do Anything Possible to be able to give a message to congress that this is the time to fix this problem, to pass the dream act and be able to keep us and our families in this nation. [applause] and i want to end, i want to end with something that we do and a lot of our immigrant organizing circles. I want to end with the unity march and want to end with icing at the end i might not be saying of right but are developing a brothers sisters used to say this with hugo chavez and the union, in the movement, its that means one right, one folder i want us to do this because i want is for member that when they come after one of us, theyre coming after all of us and this is how it starts. Thank you all so much. [applause] all right. I did with us because were coming up on time. Who wouldve thought that happened . Help me welcome up marissa alexander. [applause] this is about taking action. Good afternoon, everybody. You may know me from jacksonville, florida. So instead of being a prison serving 20 years day for day on a minimum mandatory sentence, im here with you all in washington, d. C. ,. [applause] and i just want to thank all the people that organize to get me here. So now im starting my own nonprofit Justice Project to be part of this effort and this movement. [applause] so as i think about it i did three years in prison, two years on house arrest before i was able to complete my sins. In that entire time i thought about all that was going on, and i could see it from the inside. So now that im on the outside, its my moral obligation, my obligation to the people that supported me, its my obligation to women, black women, my children, your children to stand here and be a part of this movement. I want to say that it dont believe we are subject of women having taken advantage of. We are systematically and intentionally and brutally being preyed upon. By the real super predators. We must know the difference. Im going to call it what it is. You can say White Supremacy. Im going to say super predators. That term was use lucida while ago but let me explain something to you. Its a condition of the consents that puts one in a favorable or superior position. We are not a circumstance and we are not a situation. We are human. [applause] predators is a person or a group that ruthlessly exploits others. So what does that sound like to you . Millions of Peoples Health coverage, systematically mass incarcerated people and made profit on it. Thats the real predator. It doesnt change the value of who i am and make me any less of value. Just like when you go to the car lot and you see a car has the same amount of mileage, same car, same everything but its a different color, you wouldnt let them sell you that car just because the colors different. Let me tell you this. I wouldnt expect that in any area or any aspect of your life that we would accept the same thing about our dna. Did you hear what i said . We would not expect the same thing about our dna. [applause] i want to thank everybody who brought me here, black womens blueprint, survived and punished and free and so many other grassroot areas and groups. Now im here to stand before you and thank you for having me. [applause] sorry about that but ive usually been right here when were ready to start. Welcome reverend galen, local pastor at faith strategies. He helped organize the charlottesville to d. C. March. [applause] an afternoon everyone. It was an incredible march through my city washington d. C. That is the last remaining colony on the mainland of the united states. Being a colony on the mainland of the united states, our heart goes out to another colony called puerto rico and the people suffering today because of the ineptness of this government to serve the people of puerto rico. [applause] you dont realize we really dont have Voting Rights in washington d. C. That people in that building behind us are able to impose any kind of law they see fit on the citizens of the district of columbia. Let me point out something. Thats the house that was built by the hands and backs of slaves. The white house that sits behind us is a house that was built by slaves. Where the archives sit, that was an Auction Block where they sold off slaves. What im trying to point out is slavery is the foundation of america. It was founded upon slavery. Slaves enrich this country so folks can enjoy White Privilege today. It is because of the labor of slaves, my ancestors, those who went before me. When we call our black lives matter, its because historically black lives have never mattered in this country and to the people of this country. When we say black women matter, its because black women have never mattered to this country or the history of this country. When we deal with Police Shootings and killings, the killings of stalin here in washington d. C. , unarmed and killed, never missed a paycheck and never had to go off the force or alonzo smith who was killed by special police and no one has been held accountable or just a