Transcripts For CSPAN2 Former President Obama Holds Town Hall On Racial Justice Police Reform 20240712

So that it recognizes the humanity and the dignity of every person. This town hall that we are having today as part of an ongoing my brothers Keeper Alliance town whole series in my brothers keepers will was launched by president obama in 2014 after trayvon martin. The president launched it in the east room of the white house calling on america and everybody to do whatever they could in their power to make sure young men of color knew that they mattered into reduce the systemic barriers that stand in their way and make sure every young person has every opportunity to reach their dreams. Today the work of my brothers keeper continues at the my brothers Keeper Alliance at the Obama Foundation. Where we lead a network of 250 communities and a massive call to action to mayors and other folks in communities across the country, this is to build and have clear pathways of opportunity. We are excited to have president obama sharing his viewpoints today but also gathered a panel of local and National Experts who are fighting on the ground and who have been fighting this fight for many years. Before we start our program today, i want to acknowledge the lives of george, breanna and ahmad and far to others by taking a 30 minute second at 32nd moment of silence in order to remember those lives and reflect. Please join me in a moment of silence. We speak their names and hold them in our heart and its weather memory that we move ahead in action. It is my pleasure to start where we should always start with the future. With the young man that i had the pleasure to meet when we were at the by brothers keeper ohio conference where there was an incredible statewide network of my brothers keeper in ohio, this young man lewis away with incredible words, plan graduated from Fort Hays High School in columbus, ohio in may of 2020, he was a straight a student member of the National Honor society and the student council. Patrick will attend the Ohio State University in the fall and plans to major in criminal justice and criminology. It is my pleasure to introduce this brilliant bright young man, our future. Hello ladies and gentlemen, i am 18 years old and plan to attend the Ohio State University. This is 2020 quarantine killing. And they ask, how do black boys write about their city. How do we know streets if we dont know uncracked sidewalk, they ask, how did these black boys know anything about their city. How the buildings are sitting on corners where brothers bodies are still learning how to rot. They are placed in the grass where families could not afford to bury their loved ones and reminds my brothers and i that we are anything else and we call those corners playgrounds. We call those corners the killing field, we call our bodies bullets even if we were never named in the right direction, we call the remnants of our mothers family, we make a catalog of prayer at a broken hand, we pray for our family tree to use our hands to dig the graves that we cannot afford, we are farmers of broken bodies, we have never known city or comfort or any city, we use our feet to walk street pay by sunlight and are shadows if they meant to choose the skin. We make a catalyst on body and we eat with her eyes closed, we taste like medicine, always conflicted between being black and being peaceful. I wish god could have given us a choice. For years, we have been told that there is something that we need to scrub off this body as if this dirt could go away to make you realize how easily it can cook in the sun and how weve been turning on each other for a slice of the pie, we dont know the city with her grandmothers and we shouldve got a house or a bed when it was first built or first settled or first taken from the indians where our god believes in the same beginning, we dont know home, we know our generations of people can use these legs and run miles on into the night. And with the remnants of the stars, we will forever search in our footsteps, we dont know home, we know running and we know this lien has never been ours, we know how to folder ourselves into nothing, we know are slaves in this soil somehow we know how to make these hands useful, where the farmers of every lumbar elution, no country was built without a dead body, this country was dragged and hung up in america, the land of the free and home of the brave, we fought and died for that slogan right beside our white brothers, doesnt that make us were something, tonight i write is the language of the unheard. I want to take a second to think the Obama Foundation who give me a great opportunity to spread the message. Now it is my honor to introduce to you a man who needs no introduction. He is the founder of the my brothers keeper program, he is the father, lawyer, lecturer, Community Organizer and so much more, born and raised in honolulu hawaii, he is the man who changed america forever, it is none other than the 44th president of the United States of America President barack obama. Thank you, that was unbelievable. And we could not have been prouder, you are a hard act to follow. I cannot wait to see all the great things that you will be doing in the future, good afternoon everybody, all the participants in panelist, let me start by just acknowledging that we have seen in the last several weeks, last few months of the kinds of epic changes and events in our country is anything ive seen in my lifetime, i am now a lot older, im going to be 59 soon. And then we begin by acknowledging although all of us have been feeling pain, uncertainty, disruption, some folks have been feeling more than others. Most of all the pain thats been experienced by the families and george and rihanna and ahmaud into many others to mention. Those that we thought about during a moment of silence. Into those families who have been directly affected by tragedy, please know that michelle and i in the nation agree with you, hold you in our prayers, we are committed to the fight of creating a more just nation in memory of your sons and daughters. We cant forget even for confronting the particular act of violence that led to those laws, our nation and the world is in the midst of a Global Pandemic that is exposed with their Healthcare System, but also the treatment in a conflict that exist in our Healthcare System with an unequal investment, the biases that have led to a disproportionate number of infections of loss of life in communities of color. In a lot of ways whats happened over the last several weeks is challenges, and in the United States, there would be outcomes not just of the immediate moment in time but a result of a long history. Of slavery and jim crow and redlining and institutionalized racism that not too often have been with the original sin of our society. And in some ways as tragic as these past few weeks have been in is difficult and scary and uncertain as theyve been, they have also been an Incredible Opportunity for people to be awaken to some of these underlying trends. They offer an opportunity for us to all Work Together to tackle this to take them out into change america and make it live up to its highest ideas. And part of what made me is so many young people had been galvanized inactivated in motivated and mobilized. Because historically so much of our partners that we made in society has been because of young people, doctor king was a young man when he got involved. The leaders of the feminist movement where young people, the leaders of movement where young people in the leaders of the environmental in the country were to make sure that the Lgbtq Community finally had a voice and was represented for young people and sometimes i feel despair i just see whats happening with young people throughout the country and the talent and the voice and the sophistication and it feels as if this country is going to get better. I want to speak directly to the young men and women of color of this country. Whose plan is so eloquently described and witnessed too much violence into much depth. And too often some of the violence has come from folks who were supposed to be serving and protecting you. I want to you to know that you matter in your lives matter, your dreams matter and when i go home and i look at the faces of my daughters sasha and melia and i look at my nephews and need nieces, it deserves to flourish in thrive and you should be able to learn and make mistakes and live a life of joy without having to worry words could happen when you walk to the store or go for a jog or drive down the street were working in a park. And i hope that you also feel hopeful even if you may feel angry. Because you have the power to make things better and you have helped to make the entire country feel as if this is something thats gotta change, youve communicated a sense of urgency that is powerful and transformative of anything that ive seen in recent years. I want to acknowledge the folks in Law Enforcement that share the goals of reimagining. There are folks out there who took their oath to serve your communities and your countries and its a tough job but i know youre just as outraged in the recent weeks as many other protesters. We are grateful for the vast majority of you who protect and serve, ive been heartened to see those in Law Enforcement who recognize, let me march along with these protesters, let me stand sidebyside and recognize that i want to be part of the solution. Ensure strength and volunteered and engaged in listen because youre a vital part of the conversation and changes going to require everybodys participation. I created a task force on 21st century of policing in the wake of the tragic killing of michael brown, that task force which included Law Enforcement and Community Leaders and activist was charged to develop a very specific set of recommendations to strengthen public trust and foster better working relationships between Law Enforcement communities that they are supposed to protect even if they are continue to promote effective crime reduction. In that report showcased a range of solutions that they were proven and based on data and research into include Community Policing and collect better data and reporting and identify and do something about how the police were trying and reforms to force the police to deploy in ways that include safety rather than tragedy. That read port demonstrated some that is critical, most of the reforms that are needed to prevent the violence and injustice that weve seen take place at the local level, the reform has to take place in more than 19000 american municipalities, more than 18000 local enforcement jurisdictions. As activist and citizens raise their voices, we need to be clear where change is going to happen. And how we can bring about the change. It is mayors and county executives that appoint most Police Chiefs and bargaining agreements and that determines Police Practices and local communities. If the district attorneys and state attorneys that decide whether or not to investigate and charge those involved in Police Misconduct. Those are all elected divisions in some places there is Community Review hold with conduct and they may be elected as well, the bottom line ive been hearing a little bit of chatter in the internet about voting versus protest. Politics and participation versus civil disobedience and direct action. This is not an either or, this is real change, we both have to highlight a problem and make people empower uncomfortable but we also have to translate that into Practical Solutions and laws that can be implemented and we can monitor and make sure we are following up. Very quickly, let me just close with a couple of specific things, what can we do . Number one, we know there are specific evidencebased reforms and if we put in place today, we build trust to save lives, would not show an increase in crime, those are included in the 21st century in the report and you can find on obama. Org. Number two, a lot of mayors and local elected officials that have supported the Task Force Report have been the ones you not following. Today im urging every mayor, in this country to review your force policies with your communities and commit to report unplanned reforms. What are the specific steps you can take. I should add by the way, the original Task Force Report was done several years ago since the time we collect the data in part because we implemented the reform ideas. We now have more information and more data as to what works, and innovations in color of change in others that are out there highlighting what the data shows, what works, what doesnt in terms of reducing incidents in Police Misconduct and violence, lets go ahead and start implementing those. We need mayors, county executives and others were in position of power to say this is a priority, this is a specific response. Number three, every city in this country should be of my brothers Keeper Community. We have 250 cities, counties, tribal nations working to boys and young men of color and programs of policy reform in Public Partnership and go to your website and get working with that because it can make a difference. And let me just close by saying this. I have heard some people say that you have a pandemic and then you have these protest, this reminds people of the 60s and the chaos and the discord in the distrust throughout the country, i have to tell you although i was very young when you had ryans in protest in the nation and back in the 60s. I know enough about the history to say there is Something Different here. You look at those protest and that was a farmer representative crosssection of america in the streets peacefully protesting and who felt moved to do something because of the injustice that they had to say. That did not exist back in the 1960s, the broad coalition, the recent surveys have shown that despite some protest having been barred by the actions of some a tiny minority that engaged in violence in despite the fact that a lot of attention and focus, despite of that the majority of americans think those protest were justified. That would not have existed 30, 40, 50 years ago. There is a change in mindset that is taking place. A greater recognition that we can do better. And that is not a consequence of speeches by politicians, that is not the result of spotlights in news articles, that is a direct result of the activities and organizing immobilization and engagement of so many young people across the country. Who put themselves on the line to make a difference. So i just have to say thank you to them for bringing about this moment in to make sure that we now follow the truth. Because at some point attention moves away. At some point protest start to dwindle in size. It is very important for us to take the momentum that has been created as a society and a country and say lets use this. All right, thank you everybody. I am proud of you guys. I know that we will be hearing from a bunch of people who have been on the front lines and know a lot more than i do about it. Im proud of you. Thank you, mr. President and for everybody that is watching the president decided he wanted to be a part of the conversation that will be led by britney with the attorney general and other leaders. Before we going to that section i want to reiterate the pledge that the president mentioned for mayors. If you are a mayor you can go to obama. Org and take the pledge and i want to announce that several mayors have said sign me up first and they have already taken the pledge, mayor de blasio of new york and mayor of chicago, mayor of d. C. , mayor of San Francisco and mayor of atlanta, all my brothers Keeper Community as well, if you go to that page and you can take the pledge and we will be posting all the cities in the mayors to take the pledge and within 90 days we will publicly report out who has taken the pledge of the work that is happening to create real lasting change in communities. It is now my pleasure to introduce a friend, an activist, educator, writer on abc and nbc contributor and of the ferguson uprising, cofounder campaign 0 in a policy platform to in violence of save the people. A previous issue with an appointed member of the Ferguson Commission and president obamas policing. Today campaign 0 of working ever cofounder launch the campaign 8 cannot wait, an Advocacy Campaign to push across america for policy that can reduce Police Violence by upwards of 70 . To moderate this conversation with president obama and her other incredible leaders please welcome brittany cunningham. Thank you so much michael and thank you president obama for gathering this conversation in this moment of intense grief but hopefully it sends purpose. We are here together to talk to have a family conversation and you may be watching this income here because you are experienced the grief and unique community in which to do that and youre hoping we can hold you up to the light. You may be here because you are guarded in the strength of your ancestry and you know that you come from people just like i do who did far more with far less and are sure that we can win in this moment and everyone after it. However, you have come here, we are glad that you are here because were here to get honest, to get clear and most important late to get to work. Even the hard need moments of hearing people raise their voices were the moments where Police Officers might take any that that momentary action might be true in systemic lasting change, so many brilliant voices that have been gathered as we listen and to better understand how we got to this moment and how we see the own power to get through, before we get started, i want to make sure to list of the names of the people who brought us here, it wasnt just the former president although were deeply grateful, george floyd, father minneapolis, rhianna taylor, lifesaving email t on the frontin frid ann indianapolis, tony, black trans man who loved life in tallahassee, florida and though it wasnt from an officers bullying, where having this conversation in the shadow of a mod are brie a son from georgia, two black trans women who were killed by this hatred that comes marginalized people in this country every single day. Frankly there are too many names to list because of the president has already said, we have been at this unfortunately for a long time, that means there is a lot of work to do and now we will get to do it. Attorney general holder, i want to start with you. I was raised to be an activist, frankly you asked my mom, this is only life ive ever known but i came into the work specifically of fighting against these violence as it relates to systemic racism in 2014 when mike brown was killed in ferguson missouri a few minutes for my own home. You came to ferguson and there were thousands of brave and mighty protesters just like the ones were seen outside right now, those pastors and organizers were on the ground in making the entire world pay attention. I want to know what you learned from those activities, what do you carry from those conversations in ferguson through the work that you then and that you will do now. It was good to see again, thank you president obama for convening us here today. I remember back in 2014, i remember meeting with the president , we were on vacation and talking about whether i should go to ferguson, i did not know how people would react to my presence but we made the determination that i would go, the thing that struck me the most is a few things that got me, there were young people who were there and unbelievably impressed and in a lot of way directing the actions that you saw on the street. You saw a community that was in english and there was a commonality with regard to the things that they were concerned about. I was really struck by the fact that people consistently talked about the way in which people of color were unfairly treated by the criminal Justice System. There was a genuine desire by people to make things better. It was not all about complaint, there was a genuine desire to work, to make things better. I left their heart by what i saw both in terms of the reaction that i got and people were extremely respectful and i had good dialogues while he was there but i also left with the notion if we invested some time in invested federal resources that we would be in a position using the great leaders that we met, the young people who we met to make life in ferguson better and use as an example of what was possible and the rest of the country. As the president reminded us, this is not about an either or question, one of my things to remind people as president obama has already done, this is not about policy or protest, this is about policy and protest. That we know with doctor king and so many others throughout history that is taught us that protest is what the policy that we can get past, similarly were in a longterm game in a shortterm gain, while were dealing with radical imagination what Public Safety can look like beyond belief in our communities, we have to make sure that people are safe now in your role as attorney general, you did a lot of that work in addressing People Safety right now. Can you tell us what you learned that was instructed for this moment particularly as you engaged in practice investigation and once it situation like this the happening communities and once we saw the operating that we did all over the country when you were still in office. I think one of the key things that people have to understand is that there is not attention between justice and having fair treatment in Public Safety. You can keep people safe and also have a better more equitable criminal Justice System. Im not going to get to boastful for the first time in 40 years during the obama administration, we reduce the number of people who are incarcerated in the federal system and also lowered the crime rate, again there is not that tension, you can make things better in terms of community and Police Relationships and keep people safe at the same time. What we tried to do is come up with ways in which we could look at what we thought were the problems in the criminal Justice System into how policing was done and address those and involve the community in those efforts and engage Law Enforcement in those efforts, bring them together in a form so they could get to know each other, understand how difficult it is to be a Police Officer and understand how communities of color have had to deal with unfair Law Enforcement practices over the years, bring people together when it was through the kinds of meetings we were able to form the policy that led to the 21st century proposals and the other thing bringing pattern and practice investigations and using the power that we had in the civil rights statue that we were able to enforce. It was for me the highlight of my time as attorney general, it was given the opportunity to get into communities to effect positive change to bring an established relationship between people in Law Enforcement and people and communities of color, that was in some ways that are most proud of and it laid the foundation for future work. I will always emphasizes, young people, thats our audience here today, young people were critically involved in all the work that we did started out ferguson another parts of the country. I want to ask you one more question before i move on to our next speaker, at campaign 0 we live in a world where the police dont kill people, so many of us are trying to engage in imagination to wear communities look like even beyond police and looking at a moment where we dont have traditional systems because our communities are so healthy from the ground up. When you think about your most radical dream for what is possible in your most radical imagination for where we can get to as a community and as a people, what . That is an interesting one. I guess my dream that we would get to a place where people are judged on their individual deeds, the individual characteristics and that we dont stereotype people. That is not only with regard to how we deal with things in the criminal Justice System, we make a mistake if we think the criminal Justice System exists separate and apart from the greater society. The issues that we face in the criminal Justice System in inappropriate of force a whole range of things, those grow out of the same kinds of problems that we see in the larger society. We have to deal with problems that are more systemic and more societywide if we want to deal with being effective with bringing about change in the criminal Justice System. I would hope we get to a place with discrimination is no longer a factor in the lives of people of color. That theater treatment would be something that would be expected, stereotype warning slavery in the notion in order to enslave people, you have to think that they were in some ways different. Some ways in theory. Those attitudes may not be as explicit as they once were. P, pre. That it is what everybody is owed. Thank you so much. I want to move now to the council and from the city of minneapolis where so much of this is censored. Its ground zero in so many ways and home to george floyd and his family. I have questions but first i want to know how is you are doing and what is going on on the ground in minneapolis. Peacefully protesting when he was hit with a rubber bullet and we have seen so many images of that kind of unnecessary confrontation and its coming from minneapolis so how is the home team doing and what do we need outside of minneapolis to understand about what is going on on the ground . Thank you for having me and thank you for that question. I just want to start off by saying i am here today because of the strength of my ancestors and boulders that came before me. On the ground in minneapolis, folks are globalizing on a scale that we have never seen before and a Diverse Coalition of folks emerging demanding justice not only for George Floyd Patel the city its residents. What we are seeing right now from the folks on the ground in minneapolis and across the country. Its the stove on in the community and every single level of government and i will just add i myself as a transgender man lived firsthand both dutch, that i have to carry around experiencing and witnessing the sanctioned violence and who survived slavery. Seeing all of this what is interesting about the fact that all of this has been ground zero in minneapolis is we are incredibly progressive city. Between white and black folks in the entire country across every indicator qualityoflife. So this has been boiling under the surface. Ive been in office now for two and a half years and within my first two years i had to deal with three officer involved shooting deaths including one that was a suicide. But, from those doesnt just dissipate because the legal system deems it justified. Its overall the data that we are starting to see, over policing the criminalization hasnt kept the community safer. In fact people getting caught in the criminal Justice System and disenfranchising black and brown folks pushing us for this to the margin due to the criminal history and triggering the cycle that is often passed inter generationally so what we are seeing on the ground is saying enough is enough. Our system is obviously broken and its time for a new system of Public Safety in the cities. We have heard from folks that believe the solution is simply adding more Police Officers and weve also heard from folks that want to advocate for incremental change. Even though the voices are winning because the city has seen for the past three nights that we have the ability to keep ourselves safe and community safe. We are seeing largescale protests on the media right now. The riots in minneapolis, we see that but historically the black community in minneapolis where i represent, we have been dealing with rightwing and white supremacist groups burning down black owned businesses. So we come together and now it is time to systematize the strategy. And the way that the system particularly in practice you and your community because of a critical part of the conversation and we cannot allow it to be a race. Second, i want to acknowledge and agree with everything that you said about the fact that we can continue to save lives. Imagine this beyond our traditional system and figure out how we build up Strong Communities from the ground up. That is what i really want to ask about. As an elected official, you are playing a role but also have a radical imagination about what is practical. We know that the budgets and that sbc divesting on housing and jobs and the things that keep people well and their needs met. So, how are you thinking about the demands that are coming directly from that and enacting the most imaginative role although they should just be the things people receive, how are you thinking about enacting those things and where does minneapolis have to go to ensure a that everybody there isnt just any liberal city . Thats right. Thank you for framing it that way. So, when i talk about the work that needs to be done, what they are seeing is that a lot of Reform Efforts that have been implemented, we have tremendous leadership from our former minneapolis mayor who came into the office unabashedly demanding and appointed the First Woman Police chief who was the first lgb police chief. Then she appointed the first black chief whose visit was aspiring what we would all like to see what the police say that even when all of that works, many officers have been in an old open revolt against these efforts by the Police Federation so when we take a step back and look at the big picture about what it means to keep the community safe, we have to be thinking about it from a different paradigm. We know that its rooted in founded on white supremacy, and so as we are trying to do this work of reforming the Police Culture and institutions of the Police Overall we have to get serious about investing in the new alternative systems of Public Safety that are rooted in injustice and our community. We have a paradigm for this. Its the Public Health approach of Public Safety. So thinking about it as a disease that spreads, a contingency spread interpersonally and inter generationally. So, there are evidencebased strategies in minneapolis we have been working very closely with John Jay College as well as the National Network for the communities as well as the cities united we been working together to institutionalize this opportunity. Ive been a tireless advocate for violence prevention and intervention efforts. We created through the City Ordinance and now we institutionalize things in the system, but that only goes so far. We need money to go into that and that is where the budget and moral document comes in. Theres always political will. Its almost 200 million a and we approved weekapproved a budgf 1. 6 billion. I had to fight relentlessly to get 50,000 for a Domestic Violence Intervention Program strategy for us to implement, despite the fact that in minneapolis the number one reason for 91 911 initiated the police calls for services because of domestic assaults. We are not successfully getting to the roots of these issues. So having a systemic institutionalized. With the prevention intervention even moving further upstream about housing, jobs, employment, training, education, thinking about all of that. That is what true comprehensive Public Safety is and we have to start thinking about what does it look like to have a future without police and what would it look like for us to not need police and then to work backward from there . I used to be a teacher comes about or planning from Everything Possible is my favorite thing to do. I am so glad you helped root is in the process and action towards that. So there are things that have to happen in the shortterm and policies that have to change into investments that have to be made as you move towards those longterm goals, but as i close with you, i want to ask you what should we all be understanding, those that dont live in minneapolis, about what the grassroots demand far as we are making our voices heard and attempting to be supportive of what is happening on the ground, what should we be looking up inn the shortterm and the longterm and everything in between to get to that place of comprehensive Community Safety that has been included not just culture that the investment. First i would say i also was a teacher, special Education Teacher on the south side of chicago, so backward planning is a good thing. We just need for folks to keep an eye on us and to be able to pull this accountable because there is some real momentum here. The way that we solve this problem if we just added more police, that will solve the problem, or if we implement a specific reform diversifying the Police Department, the antibias training, this sort of reforms, then we will see the outcome. But we need to dig even deeper and we are seeing a groundswell of demand that is what we are seeing right now. These folks are the ones that are transformation oriented and so in minneapolis, the public into the political will or very concentrated at this point in the transformational change and theyve also changed who is in the elected office. Im actually not. A lot of folks dont realize this, my sister is also on the mind beneath the Minneapolis City Council and she is a powerhouse organizer. So that really opens up the possibility that we all worked together. I would say we are starting to dive into it. The states, the Minnesota Department of human rights has opened up an investigation into the Police Department for the last ten years for systemic racial discrimination. So, i would say what we need right now is for folks outside of minneapolis to keep an eye on whats going on and also to invest in the organizations on the ground doing this work for years and years and to also push the communities they make their voices heard. That is one of the biggest things i hear most from folks that just simply want more police. Ive been labeled soft on crime because the fact that i advocate for a comprehensive approach to Public Safety. So we need folks who believe in the transformational change in what the communities think and for folks voices to be heard. Weve already begun to see the scenes of so many transformations right there in your hometown due to the leadership of yours and so many others. We saw the first black woman suing Vice President at the university of minnesota get them to stop contracting with the police force there. Resolve is a Public School that followed suit. From a former teacher to former teacher im always like this its about time that we actually make schools safe for all young people. Thank you so much not just for this conversation up your continued courage and action and the role that you are playing. Im going to come lastly to my good friend and partner in this work with the president of color for change. You are always thinking so critically about how we ensure that the local conversation that the councilman cunningham talked about are upheld th at the natil level and that everyone is doing their part, and i always say we build teams and thats how we get the work done in the communities and that is exactly the work color of change does come it gives us an opportunity to be on the team. So how are you thinking about making sure people understand what their role is on the team. What is the spectrum of demand is that you all are exploring and pushing as you do this work . Thank you, first of all. Its great to be on this conversation and back doing work with my brother brothers keepe. What i would say to the public is over the last eight months just a loan over 5 Million People have taken action with color of change. Facts, petitions, making phone calls from showing up for rallies. Thats important because people are going to be able to translate the moment to the ability to actually change the rules. Sometimes those are the rules of the policy and other times they are unwritten rules of culture and i want to talk about both and why we have to channel strategic action. No individual alone is going to work to change in all the ways that impact our society. It will find the crack so we need to figure out how are we shoring up the system. So when their pretend side we are focused on how to give people something clear to do, pushing for a justice and recognizing that weve got to move people up the ladder of engagement. When it comes to policing, there is so much that happens at the local level but the others talked about. Pushing to change the local practice and there is a difference between these practices. Sometimes we change the law but they also have to people that it could change those that implement it. Weve got to think about all the ways in which money from the federal level incentivizes and this incentivizes the action. Part of what we try to do is put people in those strategic things to do and build up the energy and help businesses thrive for people. A couple of years ago to challenge Police Violence we cannot against district attorneys and state attorneys and we would show up with ten petitions or 10,000 or 100,000. They were not nervous about disappointing the community. So we recognized we had to help them better understand. There is more energy because they could operate without the public pressure. These are executive levels that have a large amount of powerful actors in the criminal justice is based so weve built a National Database of and work with folks in hollywood to develop and describe the role of district attorneys from everyday people so people understand how district attorneys operate. We worked across the movement to get folks from big organizations and local grassroots organizations the clear demands we could take to get people talking about treating kids. With the increasing transparency all these states are critically important for the longterm. We have to change the role of prosecutors and change the way that the public thinks of the criminal justice. The its steadily went down in the country but according to everyone else we have a gap between profession and reality and that makes it harder when we are trying to do the things talked about in the Police Budget and all the things we know and communities that have reduced the need for Law Enforcement. The images that make us believe that Violent Crime is right around the window we had to build a program and through our efforts we worked to do a whole study on the mtv show and now we are working to push hi and chane the content and storytelling. One of the things we looked at his oldies shows that are covered in cities like chicago and new york, very diverse and you look at the writers rooms, they are all white folks connected to their community. This wouldve impact of the images that they are portraying, constantly putting black statements on the criminal Justice System. A magical world where black and brown people exist, but racism doesnt. We have to really work to sort of change that as a part of that activism into work we have to do because we are moving into a place where the narrative changes are not for us to achieve a. We have to change the story. Far too often we tell a story about the black community as being vulnerable. Theyve been targeted and have had a history of the being under a basket and all those things are not about being vulnerable to. If we work to change the story we can accomplish more. I have a question for you because i know we have to wrap up now. People keep asking me the question and maybe you can give me some tips. Is this moment a game changer, weve been in this for a while now and others longer than that. But is this moment a Seismic Shift in whats possible where we see ourselves right now . I think that its a great question because we want things that are quick and easy and progress and justice is aimed easy. Think about the selection point the possibility for the huge leap forward in on the Police Interaction they recognize that because the movement is minimized. The major Financial Company where they have consequences for an employee that is something racist. Its a way we wouldnt have imagined doing that we recognize what weve done along the way and the way that they have shifted what can be possible. We have been a game changer. The game has continued to change. And we continue to get this pushback either as an absolute result. Make no mistake it doesnt mean progress is a Straight Line but i want folks that are coming into this movement did not come into it thinking they [inaudible] but theyve got to put on their armor and join us. Then add their creativity and interest to what we are doing. We have been winning into so much of the reaction we are seeing is the result of the progress. Precisely. The pushback wouldnt be so great if the progress wasnt real. We are the game changer. Thank you so much. You know, we have heard in this conversation social change is for changing the communities in having the kinandhaving the kine deserve. Its hard work but its absolutely necessary. To imagine what it is possible and then to go work for it and not just dream it and we also have to be incisive enough to make sure people are safe and whole and healthy now. Black people deserve to live because we are human and black people deserve much more from america for lots of reasons but in part because we often see we know for sure we deserve to thrive. We need justice and does doctor cornell west says justice is what love looks like in public. Make sure love is living out loud in public. I see your face. Ive seen that face many times before. You are itching to ask a question. So i will close and hand it off to you. Listen, ive just been enjoying hearing all the wisdom thats been spread by so many others. I want to first of all if eric holder is price and attorney general. He rebuilt a Civil Rights Division within the Justice Department and was consistently on the ground working with communities, listening to communities and coming up with Practical Solutions to try to make things better. I couldnt be more proud of him. Blown away by philippe and all the good work hes doing. A consistent fouryear for change, you know, he was part of the conversations we have after ferguson and you know i think youre all that. So as i listened, i am feeling once again, inspired. And what has particularly inspired me is the degree to which folks are thinking strategically, practically and in a very detailed level about where are the places you can make change and what are the Practical Solutions backed up by research and data that allows us to create communities that are safe and just. See fed bond of them in africa and that is possible is one of the things that has been raised the fact that we dont have the capacity to eradicate 400 years of racism in one fell swoop i hope people dont feel like nothing is going to happen and once we figure this out as ive been known to quote doctor king all of you have bent it over the last four or five, six, ten years and we have seen the fruits of those labors and the degree of awareness that is out there. Think about some of the people that had unequivocally spoken out against the what happened in minneapolis. The. That isnt something that was happening five or six years ago. Hes been on the right side of this issue for quite some time. The human gender that the campaign put forth it cant wait. We talked about the 21st century Task Force Report. 81 of the things the campaign is promoting is for a lot of people that are watching they may be surprised some of these things are practical and could be implemented quickly. The show stranglehold soon to say that just isnt what we do. You dont need that to effectively restrain someone. It requires first a warning before pulling out a weapon and exhausting those actions a duty of other officers to intervene so they can just stand there and watch the justice happen to. Establishing and requiring all to be recorded and i want to be clear together those can reduce Police Violence but upwards of 70 percent doesnt stand in competition because we know these things can happen immediately without any executive order all we need is to have the political will and stand to say i will go and change the tonight but alone tomorrow. So do that now and then continue to work because we will continue to keep up the pressure, i can promise you that, to make sure that they are getting the Public Safety solutions that are communitybased and oriented and far beyond anything we are experiencing right now. These are not in competition with imagination. These are necessary steps we need to keep people safe as we do the hard work of making sure that we get [inaudible] thats great. And let me just point out in my opening remarks i said sometimes tension is posed between political progress. Police are an example of why you have to participate politically because protesting and making demand having somebody on the city council can follow up and in the room when the budgets are made and advising mayors on how they were going to negotiate the next contract. You need those folks to ultimately deliver the goods and i am constantly mindful of the fact that this is not a either or thing and there are so many ways all of which are necessary to make a difference. When we were talking about the cultural element of this, i think somebody mentioned to him just having a so the wall is important and on the other hand im human, heres my thing. Heres the story that you need to understand about our background and community. How do we break down stereotypes that is the work of a lot of people. Some are going to be on the streets protesting and running for office. During this week we picked up and read the fire next time. Its scary to see how James Baldwin lays out the reality 50 years ago that sounds like it was written yesterday. Thats activism and work and participation. I worry sometimes that as we debate strategies, people start thinking there is one way of doing this. We all have a role to play. But more specifically, we are practical in the shortterm as well as visionaries in the longterm, the better off we are going to be. But with that, im going to be quiet now because you dont need to hear from [inaudible] but i want to say how much i appreciate all of you. And im assuming that the conversation is going to [inaudible] let me think britney for the masterful moderation and wisdom and hard work. Im now going to turn over to the Deputy Director for the network and partnership at the right brothers Keeper Alliance to take a couple of questions from the community. So not everyone watching has an opportunity to ask questions but the communities do, so that is another reason you should come in. So, nicole was going to pose a couple of questions that we will get you out of here by 6 30. We realize we have been on for a while but we will be sending resources and weve created a group to continue the conversation there as well. So, let me bring you on for those questions. Thank you. Really powerful conversation, tons of great questions. If we dont get to your questions, do not worry. Im going to take the first question from our young people. This question mr. Councilman cunningham. How has the medias portrayal of the frequent violent riots in minneapolis affected your effort to promote the work of protesters, activists and elected officials pushing towards a self sustaining Public Safety system . Thank you for that question. So, the media portrayal of hyper focusing on the violent protests where the violence and rioting happening during the protest really pulled away from what is actually happening, the real story of the trauma and pain ann and the reason folks are out on the ground doing the work, why we are traumatized as a community, why we are doing this Work Together. So, the media is looking for the sensational authority and talking about the approach to Public Safety isnt that sexy. So its easier to pick whats happening right now to make that news would be. Those that have demand in a vision that is distracting and takes away from their voice and centering those that have been on the ground nonstop for years in some cases for decades so i want to make sure that ive been all over the media and fortunate folks have been reaching out all over the world, and i keep hammering home Everyone Wants to talk about the riots and the violence but i always redirect it back to is it possible for us to build alternative Safety Systems it requires political will and investment and its what is important that we have messengers that have the platforms and the bully pulpit to have those platforms to be able to speak that and no if nor the media to distract us from that point of this justice. Thank you, councilman, well said. The next question i think any of our panelists can take this, what advice can you give to offer protesters demand and Police Accountability and less brutal practices while supporting and maintaining the broader public folks have been asking how do we change these Accountability Measures while also confronting the Police Unions that have invested in the non elected officials . Im going to take a stab at something. When i was in the state legislature back in illinois, the we passed one of the first, if not the first laws dealing with racial profiling and traffic stops and there was no way to get that passed without the support of the primary organization of the Police Unions. The argument i was able to make to them was a Police Officers are going to be safer if there is Greater Trust and less tension and they will be able to do their jobs better if they have the data that is collected and clear and Police Chiefs will be able to manage their forces more effectively and they will be less distracted by things that dont require an armed response and they can refocus attention in ways that are good for them as well as the community. It took a long time to make that argument, and im sure there are rankandfile members who didnt believe it, but after we passed it, we started being able to collect data on that issue and we were able to get them to go a long. Now, how responsive will this be in any circumstance it will go city by city. And its not easy but i guess the point i am making a i do think there is Police Leadership that recognizes the need for change, but change in culture is hard and sometimes the dynamics are different. And sometimes we need to close ranks even though we know that they are messed up. Finding ways to listen and recognize that they have a tough job but also incest that this is what we need to do, we are going to do it and we will work with you to figure out how to do it we should have a dialogue to find out what specific things are a problem, what is it that you think is a problem when you force people to articulate what it is that have been outlined a lot of times you have to engage in a conversation and i think it is possible to get that done. At the end of the day that if you donthough ifyou dont havel pressure to do it, then its always without pressure and thats why its important both for the protest and four followup to a. This question comes from doctor jim bostic in yonkers, new york. To think the panelists and the question how do we affect the generational differences and age and history between the Younger Generation and those of us have been in this fight for many decades to respect the ideas and approaches dealing with the institutional racism in the communities and do not diminish the role and the will of either. Im going to have to call it here. This will be the last question and im going to ask one of the panelists to take that and try to get a 92nd response while you are thinking of your response i want to say how grateful we are. Who would like to take that question with a Quick Response . I would say this. There is the need for young people to work with people like myself who have some ears behind them. It cannot be the determinant arrogance of age. There is wisdom through the lived experience and idealism young people possess in abundance. It is a combination of idealism and experience but i think the most effective movement. People who are older have to understand the younger people have always been in the forefront of positive change. The Founding Fathers were really young people, the federalist was washington, only 44yearsold. And Richard Pryor used to say you dont see in many old fools so young people need to understand that as well. You dont hav get to be 60 to 7, 80yearsold without having navigated a whole series of things thats worthwhile and you have things as a young person you might want to test and theories you want to try. Older people can say ive experienced this and this is why it isnt going to work. It is a combination of the two and a lack of areas that can create a coalition that can be successful. Thank you mr. Attorney general. Before we wrap up on an, any fil words . Just keep working and stay hopeful. As i said, this is a moment, and weve had moments like this before, where people are paying attention to, and that doesnt mean that everything will get solved, so dont get disheartened because it is a marathon, not a sprint, but the fact that people are paying attention provides an opportunity to educate, activate, globalize and act. And i hope that we are able to see this moment. The. And i hope all of the young people that have been inspired and engaged and involved keep at this because that is ultimately what is going to create the kind of country that we want to. This country was founded on protests. Its called the American Revolution and every step of progress in the country, every expansion, every expression of our deepest ideals has been one effort that made the status quo. And we should all be thankful to the folks that are willing in a peaceful disciplined way to be out there. If you are looking for places to donate or resources to a excited to provide Technical Assistance for you as you think about those policies as well as our broader public networks. So if it is just the beginning of the conversation we will continue in many different ways and also be on the lookout for the next town hall. Thank you mr. President and attorney general and councilman cunningham, thank you to all of our communities for the extraordinary work that you do every day and thank you to all of our young men and women for everything that you do not just to be the future, but to be the change today. Have a great day, everybody. A hearing on protecting Voting Rights during the corona virus pandemic that house judiciary constitution civil rights and Civil Liberties heard from Stacey Abrams the secretary of state i want to start this section with a prayer. We find are ourselves in trying times in the country. Those that are sick heal them and those that have lost loved ones give them hope and faith and flawless. And those that have lost their jobs or their wellbeing, dont have nutrition or opportunities to take care of their family, keep them safe, we will get through this, times will be better. And to the