Transcripts For CSPAN2 Road To The White House 2020 NAACP Convention In Detroit 20240714

Importance for this group because you just called for the impeachment of donald trump. [cheers and applause] i read the Mueller Report debate came up. I went into the afternoon and into the night and into the next morning. When i got to the end, i did not stick my finger in the air and ask about politics. I did not hesitate. I read it. I knew what it said and i concluded, first, that this is a man who is broken the law, and you should be impeached. And i said so on that very day. [applause] i come to you at a moment of great crisis insa this country,a crisis at the time when americans working better and better and better for a thinner and thinner slice at the top, while it leaves everyone else behind. The central question of my life work has been, whats happening to working families in america . Why is the road getting so much rockier and so much steeper . And for families of color, even rockier and even steeper . And answer is, its no accident. Race lies right at the heart of this issue. Look around us. He cranked on the rise. The blackwhite wealth gap continues to increase. Voting rights are under. None of that is an accident. We live in an america where the plan of the president of the United States is to turn people, working people, against working people. Let me just finish. Ill take it at the end, okay . Based on change. Because heres the important part. We have got to make change in this country, not little changes rounded edge. Big, structural change, thats why im in this fight. [applause] all right. So you talked about washington in your opening statement. Whats happening at the moment Robert Mueller is on the hot seat. Yes. He said the president is not exonerated of obstruction of justice. [cheers and applause] sarid the Mueller Report and it makes three central points so read the first one is a hostile Foreign Government attacked our 2016 election for the purpose of helping then candidate donald trump. Footnotes, documents clearly lays this out. Part two, then candidate donald trump welcomed that help. And then part three, once the federal government started investigating that attack, now President Donald Trump did everything he could to abstract justice. We have to make clear, no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States. [applause] it is time to bring impeachment charges against him. That goes to my next question. The naacp approved a resolution for the articles of impeachment against what see about that, particular magical as he cane f house is not for a peaceful right now . I understand that there people who for political reasons say its not what we want to be, but my view, something above politics. [applause] and one of them is our Constitutional Responsibilities to do what is right, and the responsibility of the congress of the United States of america, when he president breaks the law, is to bring impeachment charges against that president. [applause]w. Let me do these. I have a plan, yeah. [laughter] 3. 2 million new Housing Units in this country. The federal government has backed out of doing that, we need to do this. This would be housing for middleclass americans, workingclass americans, working poor, the poorpoor, the homeless, the people with disabilities, for seniors that want to age and it would reduce rent overall by about 10 , produce, about 1. 5 million new jobs that cant be sent over to china orr some place else, but a part of this housing plan looks at why we have so much disparity in this country and its because of lining. At a time generation after generation, the federaldl government subsidized housing purchases for white people while it discriminated against housing purchases for African Americans. And that shows up in generational wall. My proposal not only build Housing Units, bring down housing costs but specifically sets money aside to say that redline areas or places where people watch their homes during see housing crash that focused on families of color and communities of color, firsttime buyer assistance and get more African Americans in the home ownership, thats how you make a difference. [cheers and applause] since you requested about entrepreneurship as well. We have entrepreneurship gap in america. Right now whites are about twice as likely to be able to start a successful Small Business as African Americans and the principal reason for that is not because they dont have interesting ideas, they dont have the capital, im not talking about loans, you have to be paying back loans from the beginning, you dont have capital in part traces back to redlining and the problems weve got in creating a wealth gap. I have a plan for that. Okay. Itll take 7 billion to close the gap but i propose a fund and ive got fully paid for it just like my housing plans to take 7 billion and make it aiailable for equity for entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs Getting Started and want to build the businesses, these are the up front investments that make the big difference whether a business can succeed or fail, one other part, the 7 billiondollar fund is going to be administered by people of e color, by women, by people who are usually shut out of the investment decision. We know that people making Investment Decisions tend to pick people who look just like them, so instead of having a bunch of white guys run this, we are going to make this an Investment Fund that looks like the people who need a chance to be able to build their own businesses. [applause] that sounds great, at the end of the day who is going to pay for this . Ive got a plan for that. Its time for america to put wealth tax in place. [cheers and applause] this is a 2cent tax on the tops tenth of 1 , i know youre relaxing now, for your 50 million and first dollar, yo to pitch in 2 cents and 2 cents for every dollar after that. That reduces enough money, think about this to provide universal child care for every baby in this country age 0 to 5. Universal prek for every 3yearold and 4yearold in this country, raise it is wages of every Child Care Worker and preschool teacher, the professional levels they deserve. We are in closing statements. For buying Technical School and Fouryear College for every one of our kids, put 50 billion into historically black colleges and universities, cancel Student Loan Debt for 95 of those who got them. [cheers and applause] and put 7 billion into my entrepreneurship fund. [cheers and applause] thank you. Thank you. Ur now we have closing remarks, it went by fast. We need to make change in this country not just to get rid of donald trump and get back to things were, a country like donald trump has serious problems. [cheers and applause] and we need to make big structural change, we need to have the courage to attack head on the problems that infect this country and we need to make those changes. Here is how i see it, yeah, ive got a lot of plans but if you want to get something done, you better have a plan for it. [cheers and applause] [laughter] we have 40 seconds left, anything else you want to add . I want you to know this, my daddy ended up as a janitor, i had a dream all of my life and that was to be a Public School teacher but no chance to go to college because my family didnt have the money, my big chance was in life was a commuter college that back then cost 50 a semester, i have lived opportunity and i am committed down to my toes that every child in this country will have opportunity. Thats why im in this fight for presidency. [cheers and applause] thank you so much. Thank you so much. [cheers and applause] hello, senator booker. Good to be back in detroit. My family held from this city, this is where my momma was born and this in many ways was the start of the american dream. We have an existential crisis in the country which is the presidency of donald trump whipping our nation apart. We have to make sure that we win this next election and we know there has been no Great Movement for social change, political change or economic change in this country without African American community being part of that transformation. Ch[applause] and we must have leaders that dont just come to our communities and ask us for their vote, but that know our communities, are engaged in our communities and partner with our communities because if we do not have that, we will not win, i i believe the election has to be not just about what we are against but what we are for and weve got to articulate a vision that is inclusive of all of america because we know in communities like mine where i was a mayor of newark, new jersey, we know that the challenges we have did not begin with donald trump and beating him is not enough. Beating donald trump is a floor, it is not the ceiling, gets us out of the valley but does not get us to the mountain top and when it comes to issues of systematic economic disempowerment and issues of gun violenceto or attacks on Public Education, we must be ready to bring a fight not just to the to actually getting transformative things done from washington to our community, thank you very much. All right. As active senatorially ask you the same question, Robert Mueller is in washington. Yes. He said the president is not exonerated from obstruction of justice, what say you about that . Well, you read the Mueller Report and you see quite clearly that he spells out behavior, instructing people to lie and cover things up, report is enough of indication that the house of representatives should begin impeachment proceedings against this president. [cheers and applause] and i am proud that the ncaap today resolve that we should do just that, but, again, this is a congress right now thats divided, a senate thats controlled by the republicans, but we ultimately must be prepared to do if congress fail, remember, the power of the people is greater than the people in power. And we need to be ready to beat donald trump soundly in 2020 elections and thats why im running for president. [cheers and applause] a new deal reports i know you know newton new jersey, what would you do the president of newark and other cities if elected president . We inherited a Newark New Jersey Police Department with decades long challenges with accountability, decade long challenges with transparency and we ended up working with the aclu to create National Standard setting accountability measures, Police Accountability is critical, we saw this most recently with eric gardner and what happened with him and federal level failing to do what was necessary, you cant have faithstrong communities unless you have an accountable Police Department that has legitimate connection to our communities and so Police Accountability is essential and so already, this is not what im going to do as president of the United States, already ive introduced legislation to begin to hold the police around the country accountable, force them to toproduce information includingn uses of force and Police Involved shooting and so as president of the United States e im going make sure that we he a plan for broadbase criminal Justice Reform because we have gotten to a distraught present, we now have more African Americans under criminal supervisiontt than all the slavs in 1850, we have a system thats deeply biased along racial lie and that is from policing to incarceration to even the opportunities that come from reentry, this is a system of mass incarceration that im demmed determined to tear down and we have a system, better to treat you better if youre rich and guilty than poor and innocent. I will be the president that brings that finally to be. [applause] so senator booker, you brought up eric gardner, if you happen to bee mayor of new york city or eric gardner in your district, would you have thought the charges against the officer that fatally choked eric gardner . So we live in a country now where we see the things happening on video tape that our clear to our eyes, eric gardner was selling loose cigarettes and suddenly put into a choke hold and killed, so, yes, i would have brought charges but this is what we have to understand, for every video that we see theres thousands of incidents that we dont, for every name that we know, there are thousands of others that we dont know. Critical key for the next president is to have a department of justice, not like this president who is pulling back investigations and consent decrees on Police Departments, we need to have a department of justice thats actively working to stop the oppression of poor communities, minority communities and the uses of force that are unacceptable in a nation with our values. All right, this is 400th anniversary of slaves coming to this nation. You brought up africa a minute ago, why does africa matter to this country . You know, look, we are a nation that is a part of a larger planet and so from issues of Climate Change to issues of dealing with our economic securities as nation, africa is a continent of extraordinary value, not just in the work of the people but in the larger global context and what you see now is a competition on the planet earth between authoritarian regimes and free democracy. I was going in, the head of the senate in Africa Committee and i was going, flying to africa with republican, Bipartisan Group to talk to the new leader of zimbabwe to push him to have free and Fair Elections and as we were landing, new leader landing from china where china was saying to him, we dont care about your values, we dont care about free and Fair Elections, we want to be able to extract your industry, extract your minerals, this is the competition thats going on and what the president is doing right now is he called african countries fold countries, isolating our nation from other nations in the world including our allies, it is time for the United States to lead again and be leading force of light, justice and democracy, not an isolated nation turning its back on allies and allowing totalitarian and authoritarian government to have slaves. In last minute of q a, top ngsues of veterans nation are mental health, homelessness, unem ploi. , unemployment, how do you plan . We have seen with a nation that comes with enough money to send people overseas often to wars and engagements we shouldnt be in, billions of taxpayer money going there but when they come home we plea poverty and not have the resources to provide for them when they come home. [applause] National Anthem ends with the home of the brave. Understand that we need to have. System, housing system that works and especially veterans are coming home with are coming home with invisible challenges, we need to show that we are a nation of courageous empathy and we are a nation of love, that all of our students, veterans, lowincome folks, all of our citizens, in closing, i appreciate you doing this. Thank you, sir. I am tired of watching president ial elections in the past, folks arent speaking to theg realities of issues of African Americans and to see issues like housing, economic empowerment, health care disparity, even disparities and accessho to capital because the Fastest Growing group ofhe entrepreneurs in america are africanamerican women. [applause] i will be a president that will beat donald trump first and arforemost by inspiring a critil element of our coalition africanamerican voters turnout but i will make surest just as a United States senator when i got to the senate and saw that there were not African Americans fairly represented on Senate Committee or Judiciary Committee to make sure that we as African Americans are at the table when decisions are being made about our community and even more than that to make sure that we focus on the Critical Issues where you see right now unfair disparities in our nation, disparities in income, disparities in opportunity, disparities in education. We will never be the nation we say we are of liberty and justice for all unless we begin to lead as a nation that invests in all of our communities. I want to say this, finally 28 seconds. This is the most important election of our lifetime and and we and africanamerican communities will determine the destiny of our nation, we are too critical of a campaign, and so as your candidate, i will make sure that when we come to communities like detroit we just dont talk to people but we invest in those communities, we elevate leadership in these communities and make sure that ultimately the victory is shared like every community in our country, thank you very much. Thank you, senator. [applause] cory booker. Two down, 8 more to go, are you getting information that youre not getting in any other places, now candidate number 3. Beto orourke. [speaking in spanish] on this very day july 24th, 95 years in my hometown of el paso, texas, there you go. Doctor walked in fire station number 5, polling location, showed up with poll tax receipt and attempted to vote and was turned away because of color of their skin, year before 1923 tech created the allwhite democratic primary, but dr. Nixon who started the first branch of the ncaap in the state of texas in el paso took his case to the Supreme Court twice and through his courage and his persistence and patience he integrated our democracy, at least took the first step in texas and in 1944, almost 20 years to the day he walked back in to fire station number 5 and proudly cast his ballot. [cheers and applause] thats only to the leadership of this organization and it was the inspiration for our Campaign Last year in texas, where we encountered a state that previously had ranked 50th in voter turnout, not because we love our democracy any less than you do here in michigan, but we were literally drawn that way based on your race, your ethnicity, your country of national origin, you were drawn out of Congressional District to diminish the power of your votes for the likelihood that we would hear your voice but transcend that we went to every single one of 254 counties of texas, showed up for everybody and won more votes than any democrat had in the history of the state of texas. [cheers and applause] that is how we are running this campaign today, that is how we will defeat donald trump, bringing everyone in, take nothing one for granted and that is how in january of 2021 we will bring this great divided country back together again. Time for questions. Lets have a seat. Lets visit. Yes. Lets visit. [laughter] do you favor full restoration of Voting Rights especially section 5 requiring free clearance of election changes . Yes. If we had that stacy abrams would be the governor of the state of georgia right now. [cheers and applause] we would not have racist voter id laws in my home state of texas in addition to that racial gerrymandering right now in texas you can use your license to carry a firearm to prove who you but you cannot use your student id at Texas University and we will follow the lead of secretary of state benson and state of michigan, sameday Voter Registration automatic Voter Registration and ending gerrymandering and no more Political Action committees or corporations contribute to go federal candidates or office holders, we we will get our democracy back for everyone. What is your plan to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, Lengthy Research . We will sign into all medicare for america which means if you dont have insurance today, youre automatically enrolled in medicare, if youre insufficiently ensured we will enroll you as well, if you have employersponsored health care you like it, you keep it, it would allow us to make prescription drugs affordable for everyone and we will also use the purchasing power as leverage for medicare to bring down, negotiate down the price of prescription drugs, in addition, we will allow you to go right over the border in canada and buy from canada, european union, japan, other countries selling medication at far lower price with the same highlevel of quality, so allowing you to buy overseas, allowing medicare to negotiate down the price and guarantying universal highquality care for every american, that makes widication and Health Care Affordable for all. How would you safeguard if you buy drugs from another country that dont necessarily have same regulations and glien, that are here . I used canada and european union, we willth ensure that they meet strict standards that we have here in the United States, the problem is you and i as taxpayers in the country invested in the drugs that are being sold back to us at the highest prices on the face of the planet today, research and development, clinical trials, the fact that we purchase them befor medicare and medicare, tri care and va beneficiaries, lets use that leverage to bring down the costs and then in addition lets allow some competition from the other countries as long as we are satisfied that they are maintaining same or better level of quality. Agenda for Lgbt Community . Ensure that we allow every single american to live to their full potential n. The state like mine in texas where you can be fired based on Sexual Orientation or denied ability to adopt a child out of faster care system that has 30,000 children today because of Sexual Orientation, we sign into law the equality act, guaranties the full civil rights of every single american, we overturn the transgender ban, we follow the lead of people like janice who i met who told me about the fact that you have so many transwoman of color who are being killed in this country without the necessary followup or pursuit of justice, the resources necessary for those Police Departments and the das to stop this epidemic of crime against transwoman of color, we want to make sure that everyone is safe in their own communities and everyone is free to live up to their full potential. What is your plan to eradicate or w lower student lon debt . Lets do this, lets stop digging the hole in the first placete and first 2 years of Higher Education are absolutely for every american. How do you pay for that . I will tell you but i want to give you one more idea on this. Okay. Second, lets make sure that for 4year degree it is debtfree for lowerincome and middleincome americans and those who are holding outstanding Student Loan Debt right now, we areea going to radically restructure the Public Service Debt Forgiveness program if youre willing to serve as Public School educator, we will whiep clean your debt and focus on the children in front of you in the classroom and pay for it by making sure that everyone pays their fair share in this country, take a Corporate Tax rate that was dropped from 35 to 21 back up to 28 , generates hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade, more than enough resources to invest in the future and career of fellow americans and also to ensure that for those who do not purse Higher Education that we elevate the roles of unions and allow people to enter apprenticeship debt free, learning skill or trade that would allow you to command a living wage for rest of your life. Wow. Finish the sentence, the biggest misconception about me is . Perhaps the biggest misconception about me given where we are in the polls today is that our chances have narrowed and diminished in this race, but i want to tell you when i first ran for congress in 2012, we also ran against the incumbents and we ran against the odds, no one gave us a snowballs chance in houston of being successful in that race, but believing in the people of our community and the great supporters, volunteers, friend and family, we knocked on thousands of doors, listened to our fellow el pasoans and won the race and congress delivered constituents, though we were in the minority every single day of thee 6 years that we were there, in texas taking on ted cruz and not only winning more votes than any democrat before us butco winning independents for the first time, half a million republicans and electing two new members of Congress Help to go flip the house of representatives and 17 African American women to judicial positions in harris county, changing the face of criminal justice in that community, so we have been a long shot before, counted down before but with persistence and courage i know we can come through and serve the great country. Now your closing. One last thought on el paso. [laughter] you will forgive my pride in my hometown but a lot to be proud of and i will tell you another person who inspires me, selma white in 1954 graduated from the all black douglas high school, attempted to enroll in Texas Western college and, again, because of the color of her skin were turned away. Enlisted the aid of ncaap, a known attorney Thurgood Thurgood Marshall not only her persistence and courage allowed her to attend Texas Western college, it integrated Higher Education throughout the state of texas and it struck down the segregation clause in our state constitution. That is why we are going to make sure as the inheritors of her sacrifice and her service and her struggle that we invest in true equality and equity and education for every single american, we are going to start a half trillion dollar permanent education fundse for equity and excellence, we are going to make sure that we address the disparities in Public Education funding for communities of color 23 billion a year, we will make sure that we invest in minority serving institutions, historically black colleges and universities to train the next generation of teachers because while funding is important, its also just as important that the teachers in that classroom look like the students in front of them. [cheers and applause] we will make sure that we live up to the full potential and promise of this country, it is an honor to run, to serve you and i ask for your help and your support in the Great Mission ahead. Ve thank you so much for having a shot here today. [speaking in spanish] thank you very much. Thank you so much, sir, thank you so much. De nada. Di gracia. Gracias. [laughter] i can do that too. [laughter] are you gaining the needed information from the candidates . Its important and now they call him mayor pete, mayor Pete Buttigieg, welcome. Candidate number 4. [cheers and applause] mayor Pete Buttigieg thank you so much, opening remarks, thank you, opening remarks, sir. Great, i will be brief, my name is Pete Buttigieg, im the mayor of south bend, indiana, im running for president and im thankful for the opportunity to be here. Im thankful to president johnson and to thery ncaaap leadership for everything that you do to make our country a more just place. Joi also want to recognize the possible michael patent, president ng of south bend chaptr where im a subscribing member. Ive been reminded that theres some other others soily do my best for ncaap because the mission is so important, running for president because i think america is running out of time. I am worried that even now we may bee underreacting to the situation that we are in. It is not just the racism and the corruption thats emanating from this white house, it is the conditions that made a white house like this possible. You dont even get a president e ke this, president like this doesnt come with oval office if everything is going along well in the country, thats why we will not and cannot win if our message as Democratic Party is we will go back to normal. Er [applause] my generation experience that normal doesnt work, being business end of Climate Change, business end of economy where we may be first generation in American History to do worst than our parents if nothing changes. But i dont need to tell black americans about why the old normal isnt going to work. It is the crisis of our time. White supremacy brought this nation to its knee once, i believe systematic racism is the thing that could unravel the american project if we do not confront it. It is why i propose with as much ambition went in the marshal plan to rebuild europe, we undertake a douglas plan im already out of time . Yeah. We will talk about it in the q a. [laughter] Police Abuses in south bend have been around your neck recently, how do you address Police Abuses that arise in the nation . Let me tell you about the journey south bend had been on, when i took on we had no recognizable promotion or accountability system for promotions in the department, we couldnt even find and publish numbers on cases involving use of force so we started doing that, we elevated accountability, i sought to it that the board that makes decisions about hiring and firing officers in our city had minority representation and elevated the accountability and we undertook number of measures so there were greater policece policability accountability s president im determine to have had department of justice that support cities doing the right thing and compels Police Departments to do the right thing because as long as theres a wall of mistrust between communities of color and Police Departments, everyone is worse off. And i will tell you, under president obama we had resources in the department of justice, things like collaborative Reform Service process that would help us undertake the reforms, needless to say the department of justice in this administration has not shown a lot of interest in supporting cities trying to move the ball forward when it comes to Police Accountability, police use of force and eliminating Racial Discrimination from the Justice System. Does not reflect diversity of america f elected president how would you construct racial makeup . I would point to the diversity of the administration that we have built in south bend by appointing people who reflect our community, weve not only had better representation but we made better decisions and that sees upon itself. I will give you an example, i pointed the first African American female Corporation Council in the history of the city and she went onto build the department of law fore us, for eme city, that was one of the most diverse and excellent in our administration, so when she moved onto become the first African American magistrate in the county, she had a successor who is also African American, we are building a team that will reflect the diversity, both country and party that we seek to represent and of the administration that i seek todi serve and i consider extremely important. How long is that building going take . Its underway right now and we will publish numbers that will demonstrate the diversity of our team. Okay. People want to know. What is the balance to raising the minimum wage without raising they have told us that it would be consumed without inflation, its just not true, we areco better off when therea higher minimum wage and the house of representatives lastio week passed a 15dollar minimum wage and because we were talking about the president s racist attack on four congresswoman, i fear that not enough attention went to what those congresswoman were working on including minimum wage increase, we have to be able to do both. Name and con front racist behavior and have spotlight onss our agenda thats making People Better off especially Something Like the minimum wage that disproportionately benefits americans of color but makes the whole country better off and we have to make sure that theres a political penalty when Senate Republicans block measure fromic being considered when it goes from house to the senate. [applause] what is your plan to eradicate Student Loan Debt . This one is personal for us, we have 6 figure Student Loan Debt. I married a teacher and im glad i did but we are living with a lot of debt. Thats why we need to expand opportunities, first of all to make more affordable on front end, pressing states to make college moreof affordable and we can deliver Debt Free College for low and middle income students. We can also on the back end have a more generous Public Service loanog Forgiveness Program and when it comes to the for profit colleges, by the way target veterans, people of color, they have basically turned the department of education into predatory lender and when we ae looking to eradicate we are looking at debt by colleges who did not deliver for their students, last thing that i want to mention as important as it is to make college more affordable, we haveed to make it more affordable to not go to college in this country and that is one of the reasons why the work thats been done on the minimum wage is so important because you should be able to afford to live well as working american whether you have a College Degree or not. [applause] in the time remaining, what is your black agenda . So if you want the 45minute version i would urge you and read about the douglas plan, in short it is this. We have learned the hard way. Cat if you take a racist structure or policy and you replace it with a neutral one, that is not enough to deliver justice inequality because harm compound. In the same way that the dollar saved compounds through the years because of interest the same thing is true of dollar stolen and if we want to truly make america whole, make america equal and we need to work across every area in which white americans and black americans living in different country, in Health Supporting Health Equity and requiring medical workforces do not discount the pain of a black female patient, for example, which helps to explain by mortality is higher more black women, in education it means massively expanding to title 1 ones and supporting minority serving institutions that are training the doctors, the lawyers and the president s of tomorrow. Home ownership, funding a new version of 21st Century Community homestead act that will help people stay in their own neighborhoods by funding them to acquire properties in neighbor that is have been historically redline because we need to stabilize the neighborhoods. When it comes to criminal justice, we need to cut and we can do it without, because incargses are happening at state level doesnt mean the federal government can lead on this, by eliminating mandatory minimums by supporting alternatives and by ending incarceration as respond to drug possession, establishing clemency and we can and must do that in our time. We have to undertake so criminal Justice System is actually serving up justice. These are some of the elements of our douglas plan which i contend the most comprehensive yet offered by 2020 candidate to tackle systematic racism and serve black america. We are taking the message everywhere and urge you to watch me talk about systematic racism not only when im speaking to mostly black audiences but when im speaking to mostly white audiences. [cheers and applause]am as urban mayor of diverse city i have encountered the limits and pressure of our last nationwide of systems and structures that make it possible for everyone to succeed. Itof took intention to create te kinds of inequalities we are living through right now. It will therefore take intentions and resources to reverse inequalities and im determined to do that because if we do not tackle systematic racism in any lifetime im convinced that it will unravel the american project in my lifetime. I am committed to deliver and i trust that you will see me both in proposals and the way we run campaign, live up to that commitment all the way to nomination and the white house, thank you for what you, do thank you for having me. [cheers and applause] Pete Buttigieg, thank you so much, mr. Mayor, thank you so much. [cheers and applause] canned date number 4, Pete Buttigieg. All right, as we ourer next candidate Julian Castro. Candidate number 5. [cheers and applause] hello, sir. How are you . The microphone is on you. I was asking for a microphone and the microphone is on me. Shows we are losing our minds right now, thank you very much, april, president of the chairman, good morning. Good morning. It is wonderful to be with yall here at the ncaap convention in detroit. Im Julian Castro and im s nning for president because i believe that we need new energy with a new vision for the future of our country because i believe that we need a country where everybody counts, where everybody has a place at the table and over the last 6 months ive been articulating a vision for the future of our country where we become in the 21st century the smartest, the healthiest, the fairest and the most prosperous nation on earth and i havent been afraid to bet bold and fearless in the face of a president who is the biggest identity politician that come along in the last 50 years trying to divide us along racial and ethnic and religious line. I want for the United States to be a place where no matter the color of your skin, your background, how muchci money you have or dont have, youre able to fully realize your dreams. I come from a family with an immigrant grandmother and mothet who were part of mexican Civil Rights Movement was a hail raiser when she was young, that understand that its not enough for us to just talk about progress, we actually have to work to make it, thats what i did as mayor of san antonio to try and transform the east side of the city into one that had more prosperity for the People Living there, thats what i did as secretary at housing in open development passing the most groundbreaking rule, fair housing and we could further desegregate communities across this country and thats what i will do when im elected to the president of the United States and i look forward to a conversation about that, thank you very much. [applause] time for q a. Secretary castro, you were the first candidate in this round of president ial candidates to come out with a black agenda, why . Because i think its important that especially the black community that too often times has been discriminated against, left behind, i saw this growing up in san antonio and i did the same thing as mayor, first thing i did in san antonio i began working with leaders on the east side of the city to try and make sure that we had opportunity everywhere in san antonio, so ive chosen to go to flint, first candidate to go to flint, we need to put forward resources to eliminate lead as Major Public Health threat. I was the first and i think only so far candidate to put forward a Police Reform plan because we saw just a few days ago with the case of eric gardner too often times especially young black man in this country that youre treated differently in the hands of police and my Police Reform plan would create more accountability and transparency by Setting National use of force standards that says that you an officer has to exhaust all other reasonable alternatives before they use legal force. It would [applause] it would also demilitarized our policee. Because weve been giving the military weapons for our Police Equipment and its creating over aggressiveness, i would work with congress to do away with racial profiling, stop and frisk and also Education Plan says that we should not have cops in schools that are enforcing discipline because too often time they are enforcing it in a bias way especially against young plan member and im proud to have an agenda that i believe is resinating with black community because its substantive and based on the work that ive done before. The Trump Administration has reduced on preventing White National terrorism, how did would you change as president . Well, i would go on another direction. We have seen the rise of White Nationalism and identity politics of the at right that the president focusing and Building Political career on, thats whats happening in america today, to be clear about it. I would make sure that the department of justice is focused on rooting that out and prosecuting individuals who engage in that type of activity, whether its lowlevel criminal activity or more serious criminal activity and taking it seriously throughout the administration. Do you support antilynching law . Of course, i would, of course i would. We see too often times even now in the United States crimes that should be categorized as hate crimes may not be treated that way, i want to ensure that they are and that we take all of these crimes as seriously as they should be taken. You have those who move out, how would you balance the dynamic of fixing up communities, fixing infrastructure, Building Communities that also help, lowincome . Ic you have to do two things, first of all, as hud secretary, housing secretary i visited a lot of places, new orleans, here in detroit, flint, a number of other communities and i actually have heard two things, ive heard from people number 1 a lot of people who grew up in neighborhoods thatd sometimes those neighborhoods have been looked down upon but they say this is where im proud, i want to be able to stay in my neighborhood, i want to be a part of, you know, becoming a neighborhood that has better drainage and better amenities, and one part has to make people be able to stay in those neighborhoods if they want to stay in there, that means programs that are focused on ensuring that the rising cost of rent dont move people out, working with local governments so that they can buffer people against that, the other part of it, though, for folks that want to move into other neighborhoods that theyve been locked out of traditionally, at hud we were working through affirmatively putting fair housing to ensure that people could actually move into those neighborhoods too because yall know too often times people are still blocked based on the color of their skin from being able to live in certain places, we need to fix that too, so the way that i look at that is you need to get give people options and thatser what i would be focused on on housing program. You mentioned flint, michigan, flint is not alone, many places where water is unsafe to drink, how much of a priority would that play in your administration if you became president to fix the problem not just only make the levels accept able but to fix the problem so i would put forward a plan to make sure that lead is no longer a Major Public Health threat that includes money for infrastructure like the infrastructure issue that we saw in flint and especially when target communities, vulnerable communities that have often been left behind and the thing is that we need to put resources into it, this is not an issue unat local governments or state governments are going to be able to solve on their own, so my plan does that puts billions of dollars in alleviating that issue. Part of the answer is that we will have to raise taxes and begin by repealing and replacing the trump tax cuts, i think for the last 40 years [applause] for the last 40 years we have been asking more and more of people who are middleclass and poor and less and less people doing very well and people at the top and raise the top close theax rate and loopholes that lobbyist over the years and special interest have worked into the tax code, i would look for creative ways to raise revenue, for instance, the attional trust fund funded with transaction fee on fannie mae and freddie mac, every time theres a transaction, little money goes into a fund thats aimed atfo creating housing for extremely lowincome individuals basically individuals that make lessbi than 30 of the area medn income in a community, those are the kinds of creative ways that i would look at more revenues so that we can do what we need to do to ensure that everybody can prosper in our country. And now your closing, sir. Thank you, april, and i know what its like to grow up and to struggle, to grow up in a singleparent household, im a proud product of Public Schools ofi texas [cheers and applause] and i also know what its like to be able to achieve my dreams, to get to go to collegea and to law school and be the first in my family to be a professional as an attorney and thats what i want for every Single Person in this country, that we are able to make sure that everybody is able to get a good education, that theyre able to reach their dreams, that theyres able to provide for their families, pay the rent, to prosper in our nation and what we are facing now is a president that wants to take us backwards, i dont want to make america nything again, i dont want to go backward, i want to go forward, i want to make us better than we have ever been in the future. [cheers and applause] that of course, includes the black community in america that too often has been left behind, i know that when i was a city uncouncilman, hud secretary, ie worked directly with the black community to ensure that everybody can prosper and i want you to know that if im elected president , that i will work in the same way with you to ensure that you and your family can prosper too, gracias, thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Secretary Julian Castro. [applause] canned candidate number 5, now making way to candidate atmber 6, senator bernie sanders. [cheers and applause] hello, sir, how are you . Good, how are you . Good to see you, 2 minutes of opening statement. I dont have to tell anybody in this room that we are living in an unprecedented moment in American History. We have a president who is a racist, a president who is a pathological liar. [cheers and applause] and a president who is trying to divide the American People up based on their color of their skin, where they were born or their religion. Now, trump may be crazy, he may be a racist but he is not stupid. [laughter] he is doing what demagogues have always done and that is to pick up on minorities, to divide people in order to gain power. The and dote in my my to what trump is doing is exactly the opposite of what our campaign is about. Its bringing people together, black and white and latino, Asian American and native american around an agenda that works for all of us not just the 1 . And when we talk about medicare for all as a human right, we also talk about the disparities in the health care system. We talk about the need for more black doctors and nurses. [cheers and applause] and end infant mortality rate in black community 2 and a half times than the white community. When we talk about wealth and income inequality, we talk about the absurdity ofsu white familis owning 10 times more than black families. Time for questions, sir. Et cetera. [laughter] [cheers and applause] thank you, sir. Senator sanders, you are not a supporter of reparations for descendants of african slaves, 40 acres and a mule, then president Abraham Lincoln supported the military order, promise that was not kept, knowing this, how do you correct this wrong or do you think you have to . Ppwell, i support what congressman of South Carolina has talked about and thats 102030 legislation, we have massive levels of poverty, too much unemployment, not enough Educational Opportunity and communities that are polluted and our kids are getting sick, so what we are talking about is putting a massive amount of money into the stressed communities often African American and latino communities, so end absurdity of the the of ine fities inequities that currently exist. I understand the issue and im on board that the legislation would study the issue. Here is my deal, the Congress Gives africanamerican communities communities 20dollar checks, thank you that took care of slavery, we dont have or to worry about anythg else. I want to rebuild the communities in america. Thank you for that explanation. Do [applause]. Sometimes we ignore that issue. My answer to your question is may be radical and that unlike the president of the United States i happen to believe in democracy and in human rights. I believe we should reach out to try to End International conflict and not simply send billions of dollars in arms to country all over the world. Rn instead of feeling the arms race maybe we rebuild america and rebuild our infrastructure and create millions of jobs right here. I will ask you again. Do you have a plan for africa, cuba or haiti . s picture, i do. We had normal to poetic relations and ive been to cuba for example on several occasions and want to see trade opened up with the people of cubaan and i want to see the United States do everything it can to address the very serious problem in africa and again, instead of putting money into weapons and destruction the United States should be the world and putting money into schools, education and environmental protections. [applause] did you get a chance before you came out on stage to watch is happening on capitol hill . Did you see the mueller testimony . I have not. What about the fact that he feels the president is not exonerated from obstruction of justice . Thats what he wrote in his report and is not exonerated. Look, we know for a fact that the president did everything he could to obstruct the mueller investigation. He told people not to testify until people to fire mueller and other people in the investigation so im not shocked about what he said. [inaudible] what is your formula to bridge the chasm without hurting the disadvantaged . Interpretation . Yes, sir. We have a major crisis in the country in terms of affordable housing. Its not just that we have half a Million People seeping out on the streets today and millions of people spending 40, 50, 60 of their limited incomes on housing but what we will tell the developers you cannot come in and build expensive condominiums and drive workingclass people who have lived in those communities their entire life. [cheering and applause] what we need to do is change the priorities of america and no more tax breaks for billionaires and no more [cheering and applause] we will invest in healthcare, education, needs of our children and the needs of our senior citizens. This is the richest country in history of the world and 40 Million People should not be living in poverty in half a million and should not be homeless. [cheering and applause] senator sanders, we talked about immigration earlier so how do you bring back humanity in this immigration process on the southern border . [laughter] hard to talk when im sitting down. Would you like to stand with me . Look, thank you, the United States is about many things but it is not about snatching babies from the arms of their mothers. It is not about putting children into cages and it is not about separating families. We need obviously, comprehensive image for graham reform and a humane policy at the border which understands that if a mother and child travel 1000 miles on foot to escape violence they are not criminals and have to be treated humanely. [applause] in our last minute would you bring back [inaudible] . Yes. Look, let me conclude, if i might, by saying this we are the wealthiest country in history of the world. We need to do what every other country guarantee health care to all people as they write. We need to make public colleges and universities tuition free. We need to cancel student debt. We need to adequately fund hjc use. We need an unprecedented Grassroots Movement that tells the 1 they cannot have it all and that this country belongs to all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributors. Okay, now you are enclosing. [laughter] okay. Let me close in this way. This is the most dangerous time in the modern history of our country. We have a president who thanks he can win reelection i fomenting hatred and divisiveness and our job is to do directly the opposite and we need a president ial campaign which energizes and excites the American People which rings young people out in unprecedented numbers. [applause] i know the naacp, your great organization, is working hard on that and we will work with you. We went with a voter turnout is high. We will take on Voter Suppression from one end of this country to the other. I believe as president i will implement a simple process if you are 18 years of age in america you are eligible to vo vote, and of discussion. [cheering and applause] this is not a moment to throw up our hands in despair and this is a moment to take on racism, sexism, homophobia and this is a moment to go forward and create the kind of nation that we all know we can become. Thank you all very much. Thank you naacp for all you do your mac. Senator bernie sanders. Candidate number six. [applause] are you gaining information today you mac or an informed decision at the ballot . Next, candidate number seven and 101101. You have two minutes. Hello naacp. Its always fun to follow bernie sanders. Let me tell you about me. You might not know me as well. I am the daughter of the heartland and grew up in minnesota and the granddaughter of an iron or minor who worked 1500 feet his whole life. He saved money in a coffee can to the my debt to college. My dad became a newspaperman. My mom grew up in milwaukee and came to minnesota and taught second grade until she was 70 years old. I stand before you today is the granddaughter of an iron or minor and the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman as the first woman elected to the United States senate from the state of minnesota and a candidate for president of the United States. That is what this country is about. Its something the naacp has stood up for every single day of its existence. No matter where you come from in a matter who you are, no matter the color of your skin, no matter where you worship or who you love that you should be able to succeed in the United States of america. That is what you stand for. And today when we are seeing an unprecedented hearing in washington you may have seen me in the kavanaugh hearings when i fought for justice and today as we are seeing another hearing we are reminded of something you have always stood for and donald trump better be listening. That in america, as someone once said, the law is king. The king is not the law. It is time for donald trump to stop the racism and to lead the white house and we must have change in america and i stand for Economic Opportunity and i stand for Voting Rights and something i have fought for it dearly and i stand for a better america for all of us. Thank you for having me. Time for questions. What is your black agenda . Okay. She asked for my black agenda. First of all i think we will not have a black agenda if we dont allow black people to vote. When you think about what just happened in georgia this last election with the secretary of state who was running for governor withheld 58000 Voter Registrations because they do not have hyphens and if you wouldve not been allowed to do that stacy abrams would be governor of georgia right now. My agenda would be to reauthorize the Voting Rights act and to make sure that i carry the bill that senator sanders just marriage mentioned to register to vote when they turn 18 years old and i would make sure we stop the Voter Suppression and the second part of it is Economic Opportunity and its a simple idea that we know whats happened in this country and there are not equal resources and that we look at our Public Schools we see a situation my daughter was four years in school that was nearly 90 free and reduced lunch. I thought what happened to those kids in the school because they would come and be hungry and be getting into the vending machines to try to get food to go home. We have a president right now the just yesterday tried to cut, as you know, food stamps. He announced that after giving trillions of dollars a big weight is for the wealthy people. My agenda is make sure were investing in kits from Early Childhood on. Investing in our Public Schools and making college but more affordable and making sure people can retire which really hits the Africanamerican Community heart. You just brought up the issue of food stamps. Its always going for something for low income americans. When you guarantee that that would not happen if you are president of the United States . Mac yes. Explain. Ive been on the agriculture committees to get to the senate and i was a state that metro major metropolitan area. [inaudible conversations] i have a lot of experience and worked on these farm bills and stood up for that will not have kids do wellin school if they dont get Good Nutrition and they will not be able to succeed if they are not able to learn. You been criticized for not having a toptier staff that reflects the diversity of america. Is it a fair criticism and why or why not. The diversity of my staff . Well, first of all, our staff the diversity numbers are way above what my status and i worked really hard on that and go back to when i was county attorney and looking at for other people and some of my top people are now judges and i worked with them and work with them recommended them for judges in my state director went on to be africanamerican City Attorney in st. Paul, minnesota and proud of our record of diversity and i think that you can have a president who does not understand that their cabinet and leadership in judges they appoint reflect the community and include a major africanamerican leadership. You did not want direct payment corporations and going back to the current comments about 40 acres and a mule that president lincoln supported it and promised [inaudible] understanding that what do you believe should happen mac. I am on senator booker two of jackson lees belt which is an important bill. It has to be a priority for our country. As you know, thats a major bill out there. From there i think you look at the recommendations from the commission and decide what to do. One of the most interesting things out there is what representative clyburn has been doing which is investing in impoverished and underserved communities and looking at that in a broader way and thats another way you can ramp that up beyond what he has done. What is the importance of an hpc to you and what would you do to ensure its longevity and i did not hear the first one. What is the avoidance of an hpc, history by college, i know i just did not hear you i was able to visit recently historically black colleges that are centerpieces of every american and we must cap keep them funny. I met with their leadership all times. We must keep those on the bigger issue of college in this country and that is that its become harder and harder for people to be able to go to college and thats why i support making sure the money goes where the money should be and that is with the people that needed the most. I favor doubling the program and increasing the eligibility for those programs make it Community College free and then making it easier for people to pay back their loans. On issue of policing i want to bring up the recent case of eric garner but what are your thoughts about what happened . Should up the police ever been charged . That is for the Justice System to decide and i know it went through a number of attorney generals but i thought that what happened was a fair and if you could let me answer i thought it was an outrageous situation. I watch that video and it tears your heart out to see what happened. I think, in a broader sense, we have to make the decision on how we will deal with a criminal Justice System that is or has very strong problems with raci racism. We have to admit this, not Justice System is racist and go from there. What do i think we need to do . Number one, make sure body cameras are the law. Number two, have i diverse police force and number three, dont just rely on investigations to be done by internal prosecutors in the office that handled the case. People should be looking at the cases with police medication could come from and we dont always use the grander system to make the prosecutor make the decisions herself. Senator about what is the biggest misconception about [inaudible] sure, the biggest misconception of me may be that i get things done in washington in the past over 100 bills were then the lead democrat but somehow it means that youre not old enough and i think my ideas are bold. For decades we tried to take on the pharmaceutical companies to bring down the cost of prescription drugs and that has failed. We tried to do things when we tried to make Affordable College and it failed. And need someone bold to continue on this march and were working sidebyside with the naacp and you are the welders that have shortened that justice and that is what we must do to beat donald trump. Thank you. I want to thank all of you and i start with what happened the day and that inauguration, that start david look at what happened the next day millions of people marched across this country. They do not just put their blanket over her head and say what went wrong but marched. You go to the next day when 6000 women signed up to run for office. This is the march that we are on and then you go to day ten where, at that airport all over the country, after the president put out that mean spirited muslim ban what happened . People spontaneously showed up at airports all across this country and marched and objected. You go through to the summer when they tried to repeal obamacare . And try to take away peoples right to protect themselves from getting thrown off their insurance for preexisting conditions and what happened . The democrats united we were joined by three republicans and we won. That is because we will not march to justice. You go into the fall when we elect people in races in virginia and new jersey when in the state of alabama where no one ever thought it possible in a victory against racism we stood out for dignity and doug jones won that seat in the senate in the state of alabama. Thats what happened because of all of you. You go and see those kids marching after parkland and did not just march but voted. It brings us to the mid term where we elected the most Diverse Group of candidates we have ever had, literally 50 years after the first africanamerican woman was elected to congress we elected 20 to the house of representatives. You did that and that is the mark we were on and that will take us to 2020. Thank you very much for having me today. Thank you for your good work. Thank you so much. Senator amy klobuchar. Candidate number seven. We are rolling through this. Weve got candidate number eight, candidate number eight. Vice president joe biden. Here he is. [cheering and applause] hello, mr. Vice president. Happy to be here again. Good to be home. Okay, two minutes and you can sit or stand or do whatever you want to do. Well, within reason. [laughter] wow. Am i supposed to Say Something right now . Two minutes. Time is running out. Its good to be back ive had a chance to be with you all my whole career and you got me started. You got me started back in delaware and im a lifetime member and got involved early on when i got back from law school. My city was in flames because of doctor king being assassinated and became a public defender and working with the naacp then and now. There is no expression and you all probably to the stands. Im still dancing with you. The fact of the matter is theres a lot at stake. Were in a battle for the soul of the country right now. We have a president who has done everything to divide us and split us apart and this is not who we are are as a nation. We never really lived up to the notion we the people where we hold these truths to be selfevident and we never abandon them before but this president has abandoned them. The single most important thing to do for all i want to do for terminal Justice Reform to education to whole range of issues from Global Warming on is nothing happens unless we defeat donald trump. Flat out. Number two, it seems to me that we also want to make sure that were in a position where we havn to any of the problems that exist in the systemic racism. I did a lot of work in detroit and 26 seconds left the president put me in charge to get detroit back on its feet. I was able to cherry pick the best demonstration and became an adult with the problems and one of the things we found out is that there is nothing the community cannot do given half a chance. Thats what this is about. Im happy to answer questions and i will get off. Come on over here, mr. Vice president. [applause] former Vice President biden, last time i saw you was 2017 we received honorary doctorates together and morgan state university. Thats right. I got to be the speaker. And with that what is the importance to you . Hbcus and what would you do if you made president of the United States . Everyone has to understand its on the audience to understand this but ive been deeply involved in hbcus since the beginning of my career Delaware State University is the hbc you best one in the countr country yall get in trouble now. I know that. I know, i know. All kidding aside thats why i got started. I wouldve been elected senator. [laughter] i wont get elected president without them but i would got elected senator because i got engaged early on in the Civil Rights Movement in my state. I started off in the black churches and we go from there to desegregate movie theaters and i was no great leader but just kid who worked in the east side and in College Getting support from Delaware State Universitys so they were put in place because of systemic racism. That is why they are there. I think we have an obligation in tough Economic Times right now and that is why the president and i when we were in office we spent a lot of time and money bringing programs to hbcus and i think we should spending 500 overtime to deal with them just for redoing infinity colleges. Youre on the clock and we have a lot more questions for you. You launched your new criminal justice plan and can you explain your evolution system of 1994 by the way, lets get it straight that within that 1994 crime bill was written we had a gigantic epidemic in america of violence. Particularly in africanamerican trinities. Jesse and i disagreed in this but in my community the notion was it was overwhelmingly supported by the black caucus and the United States senate by and large, the majority supported it. Majority supported it in black mayors supported it. Here is the deal, what happened as we lost the election two years later and were not able every image and we have now a systemic problem with too many africanamericans in jail right now. I think we should shift the focus from what were doing in terms of incarceration to rehabilitation. I think we should be in a situation for anyone convicted of a crime and those goes before the drug courts i set up we should fund for a Million Dollars a year and i dont think anyone should go to jail because of a drug crime and i dont think unless there a major seller or dealer. The fact of the matter is we should be having in Prison Education programs in prison. I really mean it. The whole idea when we let someone out at present we want them to be engaged in the community, not just 25 and a bus ticket but they should be entitled to housing pell grants and everything will think including restoring the right to vote. Its about getting them back and engaged in the community. Much more but only a little bit of time. Is your time in the obama and menstruation [inaudible] is not a crutch. Ask president obama. I did not need a crutch as trump says he dragged me off the [inaudible] but look, the fact of the matter is this is not a continuation of our administration but there are new problems for new problems we faced different than the one we faced at the time. The fact of the matter is hes a close friend and im proud to have served with him and i might add that if he thought it was good enough for me and they did a significant background check with me i think that would be they would not have picked me if the accusations about mean [inaudible] on civil rights was correct. [applause] if elected president , [inaudible] how would you handle the course correction . Real quickly. Dreamers would automatically be american citizens. They are already american citizens number one. Number two, we need rational Border Security. We should do that with modern technology and we have not been the walls and doing what were doing now. Thirdly, the border we would need more judges for asylum. I would lift muslim fan and do a whole range of things but here is the deal. We have 11 million undocumented in the United States that i would provide a path to citizenship it on the day elected if you choose to elect me on day one i would do major reform of the entire immigration system because that is what it has made us who we are. [applause] in 400 years since the first slaves were brought from africa what would be your africa policy and talk about the disparity between haiti and cuba and how would you fix that when it comes to asylum speakers seekers . I would provide asylum from both seekers. We did a Major Initiative in africanamerican countries or african countries and the point is people dont understand its a burgeoning continent that provides for a credible opportunity for the world and the people in those communities and that is why i visited almost every african country and the point is its not a charity case but about going with them and we should be there in china is in their full bore and russians are in their fullbore and we should be engaged. That is why i got so deeply involved in the Antiapartheid Movement when reagan was president. We have to demonstrate who we are as a nation and that is why barack focused on, african countries in order to bring not just them along but us along with them. Great Economic Opportunities for both of us met mr. Vice president , what about haiti and cuba . I would provide for the access to the United States of america for those people who are seeking refuge and seeking refuge as asylum. No different i find no difference you got time for your closing. Okay. Folks, look. He wants to stay. I do want to stay. Am used to coming here. Folks, look, we have an opportunity to change the landscape of what is going on in america. For the first thing we have to do is get rid of donald trump but we have to understand that this is about whether the Africanamerican Community as well depends on how well america does. Im not being solicitous. Im being deadly earnest. We have to make sure that we challenge and thats why i triple fund for title i schools and not a thing and it kid in African American cant learn that a white kid and a Rich Community cant learn. We should challenge people in the site we have preschool and free for three, four or five euros. People from poor communities go to school at three, four or five have a 50 chance more to graduate from high school and being engaged in profitable undertakings. We should make Trinity College free. By the way, thats only 60. [inaudible] cutting in half the cost of college and we should be supporting hbcus because they are the rock fed of where people get started here. The other thing is, on the environment, if you look at the environment and people are killed by the environment are people in poor communities like in my city where the smokestacks are dropping on them in the flooding on them and we are not paying nearly as much attention and all the way back to 1986 [inaudible] i introduced the First Initiative that made a difference in terms of Climate Change. We must focus on the road in flint and should replace all those bites. What is the matter with us . South carolina, we have the capacity to do all of this i got six seconds left. Let me say i love you and look me over but i need your help. Thank you. [cheering and applause] Vice President joe biden. Former Vice President joe biden. [cheering and applause] information is power. This is how you fight. All right, so, whats the sloga. Candidate number eights, former Vice President joe biden. Candidate number nine. Kamala harris. [cheering and applause] hello, senator. How are you . Greetings, good morning naacp. Good morning. Good morning. I first want to thank everyone here for the leadership you provide every day. I have only two minutes so i want to say this but we all stand on broad shoulders of those who came before us about the good fight and the way i think about this moment in time is that they passed us a baton in the relay race and the question will be what we do with the moment that we have . What i know is that the folks in this room are leading on all of those things we know we must fight for. Education, housing, economics, wealth and security tonight will tell you that as president of the United States those will, as they have always been, will be my priorities. I know this isnt inflection moment in history of our country and moment in time where we are being required to look in the mirror and ask a question and the question being who are we . What we know naacp is we are better than this. This is a moment in time when we must fight for the best of who we are and fight we will. This is not a new fight for us. We are up to this fight. We know how to fight to the good fight when its about fighting for equality and fairness and justice. We know this fight. I come from a family of fighters. My parents were active in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. My sister and i grew up around a bunch of adults spent time marching and shouting about this thing called justice. It is why Thurgood Marshall Charles Hamilton houston and all of those broad shoulders upon whom we stand but that could fight with the baton we have and i will tell you i prepared to fight for the america we believe in. We have always been we have always believed in what can be [inaudible] all right, senator take questions imac did you watch tv . No, i do not. I was on a plane. But i heard about it. What do you think mueller said today . Well, from what i gather he said everything he said in that report and it is that there is no exoneration and what that report reads and says that there are ten clear separate incidences of obstruction of justice and that the only reason there was not an indictment returned was because of a memo in the United States barman of justice that says a sitting president cannot be indicted. We know what we do that but the problem where we are and i believe the need therefore for mueller to testify today was that the intervening pact between that investigation and report was the current attorney general of the United States misleading the American People. That needed to be cleared up. I will tell you having run the second largest barman of justice in the United States which was the California Department of justice i am very clear that there are outline incidents of instruction of justice and no matter what this current attorney general and the president of the United States is try to say to the American People they are smart enough to know what is and what is not truth. So, your job is prosecutor i want to ask you about a few highprofile cases and how you would handle them if elected president. Would you charge the officer accused of the choking check of your carter . I was with eric on his mother yesterday and i will tell you that we spent a great deal of time together and first of all part of what is wrong with what happened and also the way this happens every day in america is we have to honor the grief of the mother and give her the dignity she deserves. The second problem with that case is that everyone i think knows this in the United States department of justice and the Civil Rights Division made a recommendation that that case be charged but the attorney genera in the obama years. But the current attorney general said went to the Eastern District of new york and bypass the recommendations of the Civil Rights Division of the United States to barman of justice. Under my and ministration the Civil Rights Division of the united barman of justice will have priority in terms of laying and what these cases should be. Furthermore, furthermore, in a Harris Administration will require independent investigation of these cases. To ensure that there is justice, unimpeded by bias or prior relationships. I will ask you another legal issue. As president how would you handle [inaudible] case in sweden . How will you use your powers to make sure misuse of power does not happen and that this case will stay in the state department and not go to the white house . Listen, there is no question that this white house has been playing politics it has to end. This president i want to back up for a second. I have fought president is just fought predators when they were praying on the homeowners of the United States pushing those loans and rubberstamping foreclosures which particularly helped hurt by families in america. I took on those things and have taken on the predators that have been the pharmaceutical companies in the Big Oil Companies that have preyed on consumers preyed on seniors. I will tell you something. We have a predator looking in the white house. And the thing you got to know the thing you have to know is that it is the nature of predators in their instinct and their nature to prey on those they perceive to be vulnerable. To prey on those they perceive to be weak. To prey on those who are in need of help, often desperate for help. The other thing about predators, they are cowards. They are cowards. [applause] [inaudible] there is a rap sheet and when you look at the facts that this president said he was going to come in and help working families and pass a tax bill that help the corporations and top 1 of america talk about how he said he would come in and help working families and end with healthcare but has tried with everything he has to get rid of obamacare. Look at the fact that this is a president with special policies that event about putting babies in cages at the border in the name of Border Security when in fact, its a human rights abuse being committed by the United States government. We have got to take this case on against donald trump and expose it for what it is. Is saying its another piece on the rap sheet of donald tru trump. Yes. Say it loud. Yes. [laughter] i wanted the folks to hear. Say it loud. Say that again. Im black and im proud to mac. [cheering and applause] how does your new, justice plan answer the failed war on drugs collateral consequences . On a number of levels. We just with jerry nadler who is the head of Judiciary Committee in the house in the United States congress we just rolled out what i intend to do that is not only about decriminalizing and legalizing marijuana but also what we need to do to ensure that this industry check this out, the legalization of marijuana has happened in my state of california the state of 40 Million People at happen in colorado and many other states is that people are making a lot of money right now. People are making a lot of money off this new industry. But, heres the irony and what is wrong about it. Those young men and women who for years were selling it on the street and are now balanced for life have been excluded from the industry and now people are making a lot of money doing the exact same thing. 134 closing. Part of what im proposing is that they be first in line to get those jobs and the if they are convicted it not prevent them from having access to an industry where they can support themselves and their families. [cheering and applause] senator, one minute to close. There is so much to talk about an invite everyone to look at our website www. Harris. Org. We have a number of proposals and part of what im prepared to do is deal with the issue of homeownership and closing the racial wealth gap in the United States. I want to talk specifically about this because its long overdue. Theres a history from backward world war ii for people were coming back from war and the United Government said will help build a new middle class and gave all these promotions and money to these returning veterans but black veterans were excluded. Look at the history of redlining were people in detroit were excluded from homeownership which is the greatest sources of wealth for any family in america and look at the foreclosure crisis that disproportionately impacted black families. Im prepared to put 100 billion of federal money into focusing on families living in red mining districts and to focus on families living in subsidized housing to help with downpayments from homeownership and two trains the Credit History process that when you pay a phone bill on time and pay your utility bill on time and pay your rent on time that will be measured as evidence of financial responsibility thank you naacp. Thank you, senator. [cheering and applause] senator, harris, candidate number nine. Were down to our final candidate. Do you feel empowered . Do know more what you knew before you think this will help you make a decision at the polls . At last and final candidate candidate number ten a republican who joined up against President Donald Trump built while spread lets welcome bill wells. Candidate number ten. Hello, sir. How are you . I am fine but you have two minutes, governor or an opening statement. Good morning, everybody. Im bill wells and already running against donald trump and the public in primaries. [cheering and applause] lets get one thing out of the way at the beginning. Donald trump is a raging racist, okay . Hes a complete and thorough going racist. He made that choice as a choice along time ago when he was engaged in the housing business in new york with his father and famously said, we have ways of keeping people like them out of our projects referring, of course, to people of color and convicted of that. That apple did not fall far from the tree. He made that choice and out the Republican Party in washington and the National Reporting party has a choice and a lot of them like to think that its a Political Choice but it is not a Political Choice and is a model choice. [applause] unless the Republican Party in washington expressly rejects the racism of donald trump they will come to be universally viewed as the party of racism in america. I dont propose to stand idly by and let that happen in so, i look forward to working closely with the naacp as president on issues near and dear to me such as education, opportunity in the inner cities, school of choice, charter schools, equalizing funding across School Districts of the innercity minority districts so they dont get the short end of the stick as historically they have on criminal Justice Reform, where a black person is four times as likely to get arrested for possession of marijuana as a white or four times as likely to get a jail sentence in the jail sentences are four times as long as for a white person and that they 64 one disparity. We will work on that. Thank you. Time for questions. Governor weld, particularly as you are in the president s party did you watch mueller this morning talking about the president is not exonerated from obstruction of justice and what are your thoughts . Animals did not need to watch bob. He was my deputy in the Justice Department and have known him forever and read every word of the Mueller Report and one of more than 1000 former federal prosecutors who signed a document saying yeah, the ten examples of obstruction that mueller sites make out the elements of the offense of obstruction of justice under 18 u. S. Code section 1512 thats 1000 prosecutors, career people by and large. The bonus support makes the vivid picture of a law and one man crime wave as i have ever seen that he orders people to destroy documents, to lie and they say i cant do that it would be a lie and he says what your point. The man is a moral leper and has no clue. No compass. Should donald trump be impeached . I think the house should start impeachment inquiries and that does not you take a vote tomorrow but it worked on the nixon impeachment in the house was eightten months and that was a much less complex investigation that would be required for mr. Trump. What people dont understand is that the president were to be impeached in the house and investigation 48ten months, they devote to send it over to the senate the senate do not take a vote the next day. The house appoints eight people to go manage the prosecution and thats another six months. By the time that would be concluded the election would be over. The fear of donald trump getting acquitted by a totally partisan vote in september of 2020 and saying exonerated again as a basis fear. Issues of equality are being folded into the abortion debate. Where do you stand on the medicaid issue and abortion . Ive been prochoice since the first day i was in politics on the abortion issue. [cheering and applause] i intend is a part of my coalition to appeal to all women to vote for me in the primary against mr. Trump and hes associated with the atrocious legislation recently coming out of alabama and georgia which treats women as carriers and chattel. Its unthinkable and mr. Trump and the public and National Party to be content to sit still for that and its unconscionable. Medicaid was the other yes, how medicaid and abortion are now playing out in this yeah, i cannot vote for the Hyde Amendment and i thank you got to have fairness so all women have equal access to reproductive freedom. Global warming affects us all particularly in minority america. Beyond rejoining the paris accord [inaudible] i think Climate Change is a major issue that mr. Trump has a oneword platform for it, folks. Not done anything to lower the co2 levels in the polar ice caps will mount melt and all mountain glaciers on the world will melt and have repetitions of katrina in this country which impact negatively upon communities of color and disproportionately and you asked earlier about haiti and the problem in haiti the reason so many people were killed in the earthquake down there was construction. In addition to humanitarian aid that the island of hispaniola right on the line for earthquakes and we need to go down there and help haiti rebuild, not just humanitarian aid. [applause] you want to pull in haiti. How much would it cost . Haiti is in need in the poorest country in the western hemisphere. I know that but to put portal france back on the feet would be a drop in the bucket. Not just portauprince but no, i understand but the drop in the bucket for what people spent every year. Id also like to say to govern is to choose and its a matter of priorities. When you have a humanitarian situation like that it will happen again crying out for assistance and i would pull a lever and say thats my priori priority. Thats all you have to do is president of the United States. So, talking about the infrastructure of haiti helping the people but what about asylu . Cuban asylumseekers come to the u. S. And haitian seekers are sent back a. Thats ludicrous. You have to equalize that but i do think we should be kind to cuba. I would go back to the obama policy and open that up. Tourism and Economic Cooperation is the way to go. Then he would not has only asylumseekers all right. Okay. Why does africa matter to the United States and what would be your africa policy . I spent a good time over the last ten years in africa and its the continent of the future, if you will. Maybe this is the pacific country in africa is the content of the future but there are many misunderstandings. People think its all dirt poor but there are a lot of african countries with compound annual growth rate of ten, 12, 60 of people dont know that people like donald trump who dont know anything about anything referred to im going to use a french word the dumb jump used, not me, refer to quote a bunch of sh it whole countries. Thats not a french word. [laughter] oh, i thought it was. His policy is upside down, inside out and id third been a lot of countries there and some have been rewarding and south africa and i was over there and met with great friends with [inaudible] who gave me the south african side and other more difficult democratic republic of congo but it breaks your heart and one thing i was engaged in over there was teaching people out in the country to do some substance since farming is a flush and burn. Subsistence and go year after year and the people there never want to do that because it meant they could be found by the gangs that would come to kill them. Seventeen seconds, q a. You heard me ask about reparations and what are your thoughts . Preparations for the past . For the past atrocity of slavery. Well, i would put some on the income inequality scale and i think a lot has to be done there and i think a lot has to be do done, justice for the senator booker has a plan to get 70000 people out of prison from the marijuana days and i would go with that. Thats where i would go first. Thank you but its been a pleasure and our time is done but you can close. Like i say, im bill weld and run it against donald trump in the primaries and [cheering and applause] my message to the people to whom i will be speaking and by the way, i will not try to convert the public and National Party or the republican minis and they are already locked up with trump and have their organizations but im speaking to another efferent coalition and speaking to plenty else who will get murdered by the debt and murdered by Climate Change and speaking to women everywhere and i think we need to broaden the electorate of people who will vote in the primary and i am saying to people you can vote against donald trump twice if you come in and vote in the Republican Party that is a vote for me and coming right out of the doldrums hide and will we get him. There have been five president s in modern times have run for reelection and been challenged within their own party and a primary and all five of them lost. The other five times there was no primary and those president s one. Truman, johnson, ford, carter and george bush 41 all lost because of a primary and george bush 41 lost when pat buchanan got only 37 of the vote in the New Hampshire primary which i plan to win so if everyone gets together in votes to the extent you can to see your way clear in the Republic Party we can send a strong two word message to Donald J Trump as he packs his golf clubs and that is, youre fired. [cheering and applause] governor, thank you. Thank you so much. There you have it. President ial candidates, the choice is yours, go to the polls. What does the naacp say . When you fight, you win. When you fight, you win. The bottom line is this is a tool you have in the toolbox and if you are going to the polls you are going to the polls with that, thank you so much. Over and out. Tonight on the communicators. Ohio representative the Ranking Member on the house energy and commerce subcommittee on medications and technology. He talks about race and actions taken by the Government Regarding the tech industry. We think of the 50 billion robo calls made every year in this country its going to hopefully provide the americans citizens out there and its important because for people to say [inaudible] its also the top issue that the fcc and the ftc receive every year about robo calls. Watch the communicators tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Tonight on cspan vaping and the youth epidemic. Congress is investigating the issues. We started apm with proponents of vaping that kids do not associate vaping and julian its like kleenex or bandaids and there have been articles written about this in studies written and i know because my son and i have commented on those stories. Kids think they are [inaudible] they dont think the vaping are using e cigarettes but think they are [inaudible] at 9 50 the ceo of jewel labs a manufacturer of e cigarettes spirit we dont want any underage consumers using this product and we need to Work Together to make sure that no underage consumers use this product. Its terrible for our business and terrible for Public Health and terrible for our reputation. Now this is good stuff. Watch tonight on cspan, online on cspan. Org or listen wherever you are with the pre cspan radio app. A live look at the u. S. Capitol where the u. S. Senate is about to gavel in for business. Senate members to date will debate three beetle override resolutions regarding the blocking of certain arms sales to saudi arabia