Transcripts For CSPAN3 Road To The White House 2020 NAACP Convention In Detroit 20240714

And, to be here at a time of historic importance to the screw. Because you have just called for the impeachment of donald trump. I read the mullah report the day it came out. I read it into the afternoon and into the night and into the next morning. When i got to the end, i do not stick my finger in the air and asked about the politics. I did not hesitate. I read it, i knew what it said. And, i concluded first, that this is a man who has broken the law, and he should be impeached. And i said so on that very day. I come to you at a moment of great crisis in this country. A crisis that it times, when america is working better and better and better and better. For a thinner and thinner slice. While it leaves everyone else behind. The central question of my lifes work has been, what is happening to working families in america . Why is the road getting so much rockier and so much steeper . In for families of color, even rockier and even steeper . And, the answer is, it is no accident. Race was right at the heart of this issue. Look around. Hate crimes are on the rise. The black white wealth gap continues to increase. Voting rights are under attack. 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. I will take it at the end, okay . Based on change. Because here is the important part. We have got to make change in this country, lot not little changes around the edge. Big, structural change. That is why i am in this fight. All right. So, you talk about washington in your opening statement. So, whats happening at the moment, Robert Mueller is on the hot seat. Yup. He said the president is not been exonerated and obstruction of justice. Thats all. So, read the mullah report. And it makes three central points. The first one is that a hostile, Foreign Government attacked her 2016 election for the purpose of helping then candidate donald trump. Those 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 obstruct justice. We have to make clear, no one is above the law. Not even the president of the United States. It is time to bring in charges against him. This is my question. The naacp approved the resolution for the articles of impeachment. What say you about that . Particularly as nancy pelosi, speaker of the house, is not for impeachment right now . I understand that there are people, who for political reasons, say it is not where we want to be. But, my view, some things are above politics. And one of them is our constitutional responsibility. To do what is right. And the responsibility of the congress of the United States of america, when a president breaks the law, is to bring impeachment charges against that president. My view is, whether it would pass the senate or not, i have for this argument, this is a moment in history, and every Single Person in congress should be called on to vote and then to live with that vote for the rest of their lives. The Campaign Slogan is, i have a plan for that. It didnt start out that way. Well, okay. No, there are just a lot of plans. A lot of things we need to do. So, what is your plan to bridge the economic disparity for black and brown americans, areas of Home Ownership and access to capital . All right. Let me do these. I have a plan. Yeah. To build about 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, for workingclass americans, for the working poor, the poor poor , for the homeless. For people with disabilities, for seniors that want to age in place. It would reduce rent overall by about 10 . Theres about 1. 5 million new jobs that cant be sent over to china or someplace else. But a part of this housing plan looks at why we have so much disparity in this country. And it is because of redlining. At a time generation after generation, the federal government subsidized housing purchases for white people. While it discriminated against housing purchases for African Americans. And, that shows up in intergenerational wealth. So, my proposal, not only builds new Housing Units, helps refurbish all of her housing in america, and bring down housing costs, but specifically, sets money aside to say that is formerly redlined areas, or places where people watch their homes during the housing crash, that focused on families of color in communities of color. We are going to do First Time Buyer assistance, and get more africanamericans into homeownership. Thats how you make a difference. And since you asked about entrepreneurship as well. We have an entrepreneurship gap in america. Right now, whites are about twice as likely to be able to start a successful small business. As africanamericans. And the principal reason for that, not because people dont have good ideas, not because they dont work hard. It is because they dont have capital. They dont have the cash to get started. I am not talking about loans. You got to be paying back loans from the beginning. They dont have capital, in part traced back to redlining. And the problems we have got in creating a black white wealth gap. So got a plan for that. Will take about 7 billion to close that gap. But, i propose a fund, and i got it fully paid for, just like my housing plan. To take 7 billion, and make it available for equity for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs who are getting started. Entrepreneurs who want to build their businesses. These are the upfront investments that often make the big difference between whether a business can succeed or fail. One other part, this 7 billion fund is going to be administered by people of color. By women, by people who are usually shot out of the Investment Decisions. We know that people making Investment Decisions tend to put 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. That sounds great. Good. But at the end of the day, how are you going to pay for . Ive got pay for on this. Tell me. Im ready. Whats your plan . Ive got a plan for that. The wealth tax. It is time for america to put a wealth tax in place. This is a two cent tax on the top 1 10 of 1 of fortunes in this country. Your first 50 million, free and clear. I know youre relaxing now. For your 50 millionth and first dollar, youve got to pitch in to sense. And two cents for every dollar after that. That produces enough money, think about this, the provide universal childcare for every baby in this country 805. Universal prek for every 3 yearold and 4yearold in this country. Raise the wages of every childcare worker in an preschool teacher at at a professional level they deserve. Now are closing statement. Provide Technical School Community College and Fouryear College for everyone of our kids. Put 50 billion into historically black colleges and universities. Cancel Student Loan Debts for 95 of those who have got them. And, put 7 billion into my entrepreneurship fund. I thank you. Thank you. Now we have closing remarks. Went by fast, closing remarks. We need to make change in this country. Not just to get rid of donald trump and go back to the way things were. A country that elects a man like donald trump has serious problems. And, we need to make big, structural change. We need to have the courage to attack head on the problems that affects this country and we need to make those changes. Heres how i see it. Ive got a lot of plans. But if you want to get something done, you have better have a plan for that. Have you got a plan for . We have 41 seconds left. Ever anything else you want to add . I want you to know this. My daddy ended up as a janitor. I have a dream all 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 in life was a commuter college, the 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 president. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. First canada on the forum, senator elizabeth form. Elizabeth warren. All right. One down. Nine more to go. Okay just came out on the stage. Cory booker, senator booker. Hello, senator booker. How are you . Good morning everybody. You now have two minutes with an opening statement. I just want to say how good it is to be back here in detroit. My family hails from the city. This is where my mama was born. And, this, in many ways, was the start of our american dream. We have an existential crisis in this country, which is, the president see of donald trump ripping 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 africanamerican communities being a part of that transformation. And, we must have leaders that dont just come to our community and asked us for their vote. But that no our communities, are engaged in our communities, and partner with our communities. Because if we do not have that, we will not win. I believe this election has to be, not just about what we are against, but about what we are for. And, we have got to articulate a vision that is inclusive of all of america. Because, we know in communities like mine, where i was the mayor of newark, new jersey, we know that the challenges we had did not begin with donald trump. And beating him is not enough. Beating donald trump is a floor, it is not the ceiling. It gets us out of the valley. But it does not get us through the mountain top. And when it comes to issues, of systematic economic disempowerment, when it comes to issues of gun violence, or tax on Public Education, we must be ready to bring a fight, not just to the election, but to actually getting transformative things done from washington to our communities. Thank you very much. All right. So, as an acting senator, im going to ask you the same question. Robert mueller is in washington. He said the president is not exonerated on excel obstruction of justice. What say you about that . Well, you read the Mueller Report and you see quite clearly, that he spelled out behaviors obstruct, instructing people to lie and cover things up. That report is enough of an indication that the house of representatives should begin impeachment proceedings against his president. And i am proud that the naacp, today, resolved that we should do just that. But again, this is a congress right now that is divided. The senate is controlled by the republicans. We ultimately must be prepared to do, to teach you. Remember, the power of the people is greater than the people in power. And, we need to be ready to be donald trump soundly in the 2020 elections. And that is why im running for president. All right. So, a new doj report shows, and i know you know about this report. New jersey has a worse record on police you are that city. What would you do as president to fix the issues of newark and other cities like newark if elected president . We inherited in newark, new jersey, Police Department the decades long challenges. With accountability, decade long challenges with transparency. And we ended up working with the aclu to create national standardsetting accountability measures. Accountability is critical. We saw that most recently with eric garner. And what happened with him and the doj here on the federal level, failing to do what we believe is necessary. You cant house safe, Strong Communities unless you have an accountable Police Department that has legitimate connection to our communities. And so, Police Accountability is essential. So, already, this is not what im going to do as president of the United States. Already, i introduced legislation to begin to hold Police Department around our country accountable to force them to produce information on uses of force and Police Involved shootings. As president of the United States, im going to make sure that we have a plan for broad based criminal justice reform. Because, we have gotten to a distraught we now have more africanamericans under criminal supervision that all the slaves in 1850. We have a system that is deeply biased along racial lines. And that is from policing to incarceration, to even the opportunity to come from reentry. This is a system amassing corporation that i am determined to tear down. We have a system in america that is not like Brian Stevenson says, when he says we have a system to treat you better if youre rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent. We will have a system that reflects our values. And i will be the president that brings that finally to be. So, senator booker, you brought up eric. If you happen to be mayor of new york city, was eric garner working your district . Would you have sought for charges against the officer that fatally choked eric garner . So, we live in a country now where we see these things happening on videotape that are clear to our eyes. Eric garner was selling loose cigarettes. And yet, he was suddenly put into a chokehold and killed. So, yes. I wouldve brought charges. But this is what we have to understand. For every video that we see, there are thousands of incidents that we dont. For every name that we know, there are thousands of others that we dont know. The critical key for the next president is to have a department of justice, not like this president , who was pulling back investigations and consent decrees on Police Departments, we need to have a department of justice that is 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. This is the 400th anniversary of slaves coming to this nation. And you brought up africa a minute ago. What is africa mattered in this country . You know, look. We are a nation that is a part of a larger planet. So, for issues of climate change, to issues of dealing with our Economic Security is a 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, i would be head in the senate of the democrats on the africa committee. And i was going, flying to africa with the republican and a Bipartisan Group to talk to the new leader of zimbabwe to push and have free and fair elections. And as we were landing, mn goggle, the new leader was landing from china were china was saying to him, we dont care about your values. We dont care about free and fair elections. We just want to be able to extract your industry. Extract your minerals. This is the kind of competition that is going on. America has a role in the world. What this president is doing right now, is he calls african countries, s whole countries. He is isolating our nation from other nations in the world, including our allies. It is time for the United States to lead again, and be a leading force of light, of justice and democracy. Not an isolated nation turning its back on its allies and allowing totalitarian and authoritarian governments to have sway. And a lastminute of q a, our nations veterans mental health, Homelessness Services and unemployment. How do you plan to bridge the divide that is crippled the department of Veterans Affairs . Look, we see a nation that seems to come up with enough money to send people overseas, often to lurid engagements we shouldnt be in. Trillions of dollars of taxpayer money going there. But when they come home, we breed poverty and not have the resources to provide for them when they come home. I mean, we are literally a nation that sings in our national anthem, it ends with we are the home of the brave. But yet our veterans are disproportionately homeless. As president of the United States, i will step up to our obligations and understand that we need to have a healthcare system, a va system, a housing system that works. Especially as our veterans are coming home with invisible challenges. We need to show that we are a nation of courageous empathy. That we are a nation of love, that all of our citizens, veterans, lowincome folks, all of our citizens there. So in closing. I appreciate you doing this. Thank you, sir. I am tired of watching president ial elections in the past, where folks arent speaking to the realities of issues of africanamericans. And, to see issues like housing , economic empowerment, healthcare disparity, even disparities in access to capital because the Fastest Growing group of entrepreneurs in america are africanamerican women. I will be a president that will beat donald trump first and foremost by inspiring a critical element of our coalition, which is African American voters to turn out. But i will make sure, just like a United States senator, when i got to the senate and saw that there were not African Americans fairly represented on senate staff, or even on committees like the judiciary committee, to make sure that we, as africanamericans are at the table when decisions are being made about our communities. And even more than that, to make sure that we focus on the Critical Issues where you see right now, unfair disparity in our nation. Disparities in income. Disparities an 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 invest in all of our communities. And i want to say this, finally. 28 seconds. This is the most important election of our lifetimes. And, we, and africanamerican communities will determine the destiny of our nation. We are too critical of a campaign. 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 by every community in our country. Thank you very much. Thank you senator. Candidate cory booker. Senator cory booker. 2 down an 8 more to go. Are you getting needed information . Youre not hearing in other places . All right. And now, candidate number 3. Beto orourke. [ applause ] hello, sir. How are you . Im fine. Youre very tall. Oh, you can address you have two minutes to do it. Good morning. When sts. On this very day, july 24 95 years ago in my hometown of el paso, texas, there you go. Dr. Lawrence nixon walked in the fire station number 5, his polling location. He showed up with his poll tax receipt, and attempted to vote. And was turned away because of the color of his skin. The year before, 1923, created the allwhite democratic primary. Dr. Nixon, who had started the first branch of the naacp in the state of texas in el paso, took his case to the Supreme Court twice. And through his courage and his persistence and his patients, he integrated our democracy. He took the first step in texas, and in 1944, almost 20 years to the day, he walked back into fire station number 5 , and probably cast his ballot. That is owing to the tenacity on the leadership of this organization. And it was the inspiration for our Campaign Last year in texas, where we encountered the state that previously had ranked fifth the a thin voter turnout. Not because we love our democracy any less than you do here. In michigan. But, we were literally drawn based on your race, your the city, your country of national origin, you are drawn out of a Congressional District to diminish the power of your votes, or the likelihood that we would hear your voices, but to transcend that, we went to every single one of over 254 counties of texas, showed up for everybody, and one more votes than any democrat had in the history of the state of texas. That is how we are running this campaign today. That is how we will defeat donald trump writing nobody out. Bringing everyone in, taking no one for granted. And that is how, in january 2021, we will bring this great, divided country back together again. Thank you all for helping. Lets visit. Yes. Yes. Lets visit. We will savor full restoration of the Voting Rights act, especially section 5 requiring preclearance elementary changes. Yes. If we had that, stacy abrams would be the governor of the state of georgia right now. 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 are at the ballot box, but you cannot use your student id at Texas Southern university to prove who you are at the ballot box. And the Voting Rights act removes those barriers, and were going to follow the lead of secretary of state benson and the state of michigan. Sameday voter registration. Automatic voter registration. Ending gerrymandering and no more Political Action committees or corporations contributing to federal candidates or officeholders. Were going to get our democracy back for everyone. What is your plan to reduce the cost of prescription drugs the prices builtin in part lengthy research. Were going to sign into law, medicare for america, which means that if you dont have insurance today, youre automatically enrolled in medicare. If youre insufficiently insured, we will enroll you as well. If you have employersponsored insurance and you like it, you can keep it. It will allow us to make prescription drugs of portable for everyone. 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 here in canada, and by from canada, the European Union, japan, other countries selling medications at a far lower price , with the same high level of quality. So, allowing you to buy overseas, allowing medicare to negotiate down the price and guaranteeing universal, high quality care for every american. That makes medication and healthcare affordable for all. So, how will you safeguard, if you buy drugs from another country, that dont necessarily have the same regulations and guidelines that are here . We will ensure, thats why i use canada and the European Union as examples. We will ensure that they meet the same, strict standards that we have here in the United States. The problem is, you and i, as taxpayers in this country, invested in the drugs that are being sold back to us at the highest prices on the face of the planet today. The research and development, the clinical trials, the fact that we purchase them for medicare and medicaid, tricare and va beneficiaries. Lets use that leverage to bring down the cost and in addition, lets allow some competition from these other countries, as long as we are satisfied that they are maintaining the same or a better level of quality. What is your agenda for the lgbt community. I want to make sure that we allow every single american to live to their full potential. That means, in a state like mine in texas, where you can be fired based on his sexual orientation, where you can be denied the ability to adopt a child out of the foster care system that has 30,000 children today, because of your sexual orientation. That we sign into law, the equality act. That guarantees the full civil rights of every single american. We overturn the transgender band. We follow the lead of people like denise poindexter, whom i met here in detroit, who told me about the fact that you have so many trans women of color, who are being killed in this country without the necessary followup or pursuit of justice , the resources necessary, for those Police Departments in the das to stop this epidemic of crime against trans women of color. We want to make sure that everyone is safe in their own communities, and everyone is free to live up to the full potential. What is your plan to eradicate or lower Student Loan Debt . Lets do this. Lets stop digging the hole in the first place. Ensure that the first two years of Higher Education are absolutely free for every american. Had you pay for that . I will tell you, but i want to give you one more idea on this. Second, lets make sure that for a fouryear degree, it is debtfree for lower income and middle income americans, and those who are holding outstanding Student Loan Debt right now, we are going to radically restructure the Public Service Debt Forgiveness program. If youre willing to serve as a Public School educator, we will wipe clean your debt so you can focus on those children in front of you in the classroom. And we will 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 . It generates hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. More than enough resources to invest in the future and the careers of our fellow americans. And also, to ensure that for those who do not pursue Higher Education, that we elevate the roles of unions and allow people to enter apprenticeships debtfree, learning a skill or a trade, that will allow you to command a living wage for the rest of your life. Well. I want you to 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 incumbent, 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 these great supporters and volunteers, friends and family, we knocked on thousands of doors. Listen to our fellow el pasoens and one that race. And then delivered for our constituents, though we were in the minority, every single day of the six years we were there. In texas, taking on ted cruz, and not only winning more votes but winning independence for the first time in decades. Winning half 1 million republicans, and electing to new members of congress, helping to flip the house of representatives, and 17 African American women judicial conditions in harris county. Changing the face of criminal justice in that community. So, we have been a long shot before. Counted down before, but through our persistence and our courage, i know that we can come through for the American People and serve this great country. Now your closing. One last thought on el paso. And you will forgive my pride in my hometown, but there is a lot to be proud of. And i will tell you another person who inspires me. Thelma white. In 1954, graduated from the allblack douglas high school. Attempted to enroll in Texas Western college. And again, because of the color of her skin, was turned away. She enlisted the aid of the naacp in texas, a littleknown attorney named thurgood marshall. And they took that case to the federal bench of re thomason. And not only did her persistence and courage and the decision and that federal court allow 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 truly quality and equity in education for every single american. We are going to start a half trillion dollar Permanent Education Fund for equity and excellence. We are going to make sure that we address the disparity in Public Education funding for communities of color. 23 billion per year. Were going to make sure that we invest in minority serving institutions, historically black colleges and universities, to train the next generations of teachers. Because while funding is important, it is also just as important that the teachers in that classroom look like the students in front of them. We are going to 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. Thank you so much for having us out here today. Thank you very much. Candidate number 3, beta orourke. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you so much. I can do that too. Are you gaining the needed information from these candidates . It is important. And now, they call him mayor pete. Mayor pete buttigieg. Welcome. Candidate number 4. [ applause ] mayor pete buttigieg. Thank you very much. Your opening remarks, sir. Right. I will be brief. My name is pete buttigieg. I am the major of south bend indiana. Running for president. And i am thankful for the opportunity to be here. I am thankful to president johnson and to the naacp leadership for everything that you do to make our country a more just place. I also want to recognize the poss michael patton, the president of iran south in chapter where i am a subscribing silverlight member. I have been reminded there are some other levels, so im going to do my best for the naacp. 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 be under reacting to the situation that we are in. And it is not just the racism and the corruption that is emanating from this white house. It is the conditions that made a white house like this possible. You dont even get a president like this. President like this doesnt even come within cheating distance of the oval office if everything is going along okay in our country. And that is why we will not and cannot win if our message of the Democratic Party as it were just gonna go back to normal. My generation experienced why normal doesnt work. Being on the business end of climate change. Being on the business end of an economy where we may be the first generation in American History to do worse in our parents, if nothing changes. But, i dont need to tell black americans about why the old normal wasnt going to work. It is the crisis of our time. White supremacy brought this nation to its knees once. I believe that systemic racism is something that could unravel the american project if we do not confront it. It is why i propose that with as much ambition as went into the Marshall Plan that rebuilt europe after world war ii, we undertake a douglas plan. Well have to talk about in the q a. Thank you for having me. Mayor pete, if you will, Police Involved abuses in south and have been an albatross around your neck recently. Please tell us how you would, as president , fixes and other Police Abuses that arise in this nation. I will tell you about, the journey south bend has been on. When i took office, 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 saw to it that the board that makes decisions about hiring and firing officers in our city had minority representation and elevated the level of accountability. And, we undertook a number of measures so that there was greater Police Accountability and better relations. We are still on that journey, and it is not done. As president , i am determined to have a department of justice that supports cities doing the right thing, and compels Police Departments to do the right thing. Because, as long as there is 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 a collaborative Reform Service process that would help us. Undertake these reforms. Needless to say, the department of justice and 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. You passed your staff does not is elected president , how would you just the racial makeup of your cabinet and staff . I would point to, first of all, the diversity of the administration that we have built in south bend. By appointing people who reflect our community. We must not only have better representation, but we made better decisions. And, that feeds upon itself. I will give you an example. I pointed the first African American female Corporation Counsel in the history of the city. And, she went on to build the department of law for us. For the city. That was one of the most diverse and excellent in our ministration. So, when she moved on to become the first africanamerican magistrate judge in our county, she had a successor from within the department, also African American, who has in turn gone on to be the first African American female head of the Bar Association in our county. We are building a Campaign Team rapidly as we speak. And we are building a team that will reflect the diversity both in the country on the parties that we seek to represent and the administration that i seek to serve and i consider it extremely important. How long is that building a take . Its underway right now. And we will publish numbers that will demonstrate the diversity of our team. Okay. You want to know. What is the balance from amazing wheezing the minimum wage without raising the cost of products . The reality is every time they have told us raising the minimum wage would be consumed by inflation, and it is just not true. We are better off when there is a higher minimum wage. And, in the house of representatives last week passed the 15 minimum wage. And, because we were talking about the president s racist attacks on for congresswomen, i fear that not enough attention went to what this those congresswomen were working on, including the minimum wage increases. You gotta be able to do both. We have got to be able to name and confront racist behavior by this president. And, have a spotlight on our agenda that is making People Better off. Special Something Like the minimum wage, that disproportionately benefits americans of color, that makes the whole country better off, and we have got to make sure that there is a political penalty when Senate Republicans blocked this measure from being considered when it goes from house to the senate. What is your plan to eradicate or lower Student Loan Debt . This one is personal for us. We got sixfigure Student Loan Debt. I married a teacher. And, i am glad it did. But, we are living with a lot of debt. Its why we need to expand opportunities, first of all, to make it more affordable on the front and. Expanding programs, pressing states to make college more affordable, and we can deliver Debt Free College for low and middle income students. We can also on the backend, have a more generous Public Service loan forgiveness program. And when it comes to these for profit colleges, which by the way, target veterans, and people of color, they have basically turned the department of education into a predatory lender. So, when we are looking at eradicating that, we should begin with the debt run out by the colleges that did not deliver for their students. Last thing i want to mention is that as important as it is to make college more affordable, we have to make it more affordable to not go to college in this country. And, that is one of the reasons why the work that is being done on the minimum wage is so important. Because you should be able to afford to live well, as a working american, whether you have a College Degree or not. And in the and in the time remaining, what is your black agenda . So, if you want the 45 minute version, i would urge you to go to. Com and read about the douglas plan. But in short it is this. We have learned the hard way as a country, that if you take a racist structure or policy, and you replace it with a neutral one, that is not enough to deliver justice and equality, because haarms compound. In the same way that a dollar saved compounds through the years because of interest. The same thing is true of the dollars stolen. And if we want to truly make america whole, make america equal, then we need to work across every area in which black americans and white americans might as well be living in a different country. And health, that means supporting Health Equity zones. In training and requiring that medical workforces do not discount the pain of a black female patient, for example, which helps to explain my Maternal Mortality is higher for black women. In education, it means massively expanding access to title i funds in supporting the hbcus that minority Training Institutions that are training the doctors and the lawyers and the president s. And homeownership, it means funding a new version of a 21stcentury Community Homestead act that would help people stay in their own neighborhoods that are rapidly gentrifying, by funding them to acquire properties and neighborhoods that have been historically redlined. Because we need to stabilize those neighborhoods. When it comes to criminal justice, we need to cut, and we can do this without crime building a. We need to cut incarceration by 50 . And, reported to the process. Were running out of time. Just very quickly. Just because a lot of the incarceration is happening at the state level, doesnt meet the federal government cant lead on it. By illuminating mandatory minimums. By supporting internal alternatives to incarceration. By ending incarceration as a response to drug possession, by establishing a Clemency Commission that does lead the way from the federal site. We can and must do this in our time. Among many other measures, we have to undertake, so that the criminal Justice System is actually serving of justice. These are some of the elements of our douglas plan, which i contend is the most comprehensive yet offered by a 2020 candidate to tackle systemic racism and serve black america. 120 closing. All right. Again, there is a lot more details to these proposals that i hope you will take time to familiarize yourself with. By going to pete for america. Com and learning about our message. We are taking this message everywhere. And i also invite you to watch me talk about systemic racism, not only when i am speaking to mostly black audiences. But when i am speaking to mostly white audiences. [ applause ] as an urban mayor of a diverse city, seeking to do the right thing, i have also encountered the limits and the pressures from our lack nationwide, of systems and structures that make it possible for everyone to succeed. If intention to create the kinds of inequalities we are living through right now. Will therefore take intentions and resources to reverse those inequalities. And i am determined to do that. Because if we do not tackle systemic racism in my lifetime, i am 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 our proposals, and in the way that we run this campaign. Live up to that commitment all the way to the nomination and to the white house. Thank you for what you do and thank you for having me. Pete buttigieg. Thank you so much pair mayor. Thank you so much. Candidate number 4. Pete buttigieg. All right. As we, our next candidate. Candidate number 5. [ applause ] hello, sir. How are you . Yes. Your mike is on. I was asking for a microphone and the microphone is on the. Losing our minds right now. Thank you very much able. Your president to the chairman good morning. It is wonderful to be with you all here at the Naacp Convention in detroit. I am holy on castro. I am running 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 of the table. And, over the last six months, i have been articulating a vision for the future of our country where we become, and the 21st century, the smartest, the healthiest, the fairest and the most prosperous nation on earth. And i have not been afraid to be bold and fearless in the face of a president who is the biggest identity politician to come along in the last 50 years. Trying to divide us along racial and ethnic and religious lines. I want for the United States to be a place where no matter the color of your skin or your background, how much money you have or dont have, that you are able to fully realize your dreams. I come from a family with an immigrant grandmother and a mother who is part of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement with a raiser when she was young. That understands that it is 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 to transform the east side of the city into one that had more prosperity for the People Living there. Thats what i did as secretary of housing and urban development. Passing the most groundbreaking rules on the housing. We can further desegregate. Communities across this country. And that is what i will do if i am elected president of the United States. And i look forward to a conversation today about that. Thank you very much. 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, has been left behind. I saw this growing up in san antonio, and he did the same thing as mayor. The first thing i did in san antonio, was i began working with leaders on the east side of the city to try to make sure that we had opportunity everywhere in san antonio. So, i have chosen to go to flint. Was the first candidate to go to flint, and to say, that we need to put forward resources to eliminate lead as a 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 garner, that too often times, if you are especially a young black man, and this country, that you are treated differently at the hands of police. My Police Reform plan would create more accountability and transparency by setting a national use of force standard that says, an officer has to exhaust all other reasonable alternative before the use lethal force. It would it would also demilitarized our police. Because we have been giving these military weapons to our police, equipment. And it is creating over aggressiveness. I will work with congress to do away with racial pole profiling, stop and frisk. And also, my Education Plan says that we should not have cops in schools that are enforcing discipline. Because too often times, they are enforcing it in a biased way. Especially against young black men. So, i am proud to have an agenda that i believe is resonating with the black community because it is substantive. And it is based on the work that i have done before. The Trump Administration has reduced focusing on monitoring and preventing white nationalists how would you change that is president . I would go in the other direction. What we see is that, clearly, look at all of these incidents that are happening out there. Right . We have seen the rise of white nationalism, and its identity politics of the allwhite that the president is stoking. That he is building his political career on, right . That is what is happening in america today. Just to be clear about it. So, 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 it is lowlevel criminal activity or more serious criminal activity. And, taking it seriously throughout the administration. And the president , he the antilynching law. Modernday example is that of. Of course i would. We see that 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. The gentrification fight. Is huge. You have those who profit off of it and those who lose out. How would you balance the dynamics of fixing the communities, fixing infrastructure, Building Communities that, but also, helping the low income. I think you have to do two things. First of all, you know, 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 heard two things. I heard from people, number 1, a lot of people who grew up in neighborhoods that sometimes those neighborhoods up and looked down upon, but they say, this is where im from. I want to be able to say, stay in my neighborhood. I want to be a part of, you know, it becoming a neighborhood that has better streets and drainage and better amenities. But i want to be able to stay here. So called one part of her policy has to make it, 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, is for folks that want to move into other neighborhoods, that they have been locked out of traditionally, and hud, we were working to affirmatively for housing to ensure that people could actually move into those neighborhoods, too. Because you will know that too often times, people are still blocked, based on the color of their skin, for being able to live in certain places. We need to fix that, too. To the way that i look at that is, you need to give people options based on what they want to do. And that is what i would be focused on in my Housing Program is president. You just mentioned flint, michigan. Flint is not alone. There are many cities across this nation with the water is unsafe to drink. How much of a priority wed that play in your administration if you became president . To fix that problem, not just to make the level acceptable, but to fix the problem . So, infrastructure change. I put forward a plan to make sure that led is no longer a Major Public Health threat that includes money for infrastructure like the infrastructure issue that we saw in flint. And especially with target communities that are 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 that local governments or state governments are going to be able to solve on their own. So, my plan does that. It puts billions of dollars into alleviating that issue. How can you pay for without raising taxes . I think the part of the answer is at work and have to raise taxes. And, we are going to begin by feeling and replacing the trump tax cuts. I think for the last 40 years, for the last 40 years, we have been asking more and more people who are middleclass and working poor and poor and less and less of people that are doing very well, and people at the very top. So, i would raise the top marginal tax rate. I would close the loopholes that lobbyists over the years, special interest, have worked into the tax code. I would look for creative ways to raise revenue. For instance, the National Housing trust fund is funded with a transaction fee on fannie mae and freddie mac. Every time theres a transaction, a little bit of money goes into a fund that is aimed at creating housing for extremely lowincome individuals. Basically, individuals that make less than 30 of the area Median Income in the community. Those of the kinds of creative ways that i would look at more revenue, so we could 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 the struggle. To grow up in a singleparent household. I am a proud product of the Public Schools of texas. [ applause ] and i also know what it is like to be able to achieve my dreams and get to go to college and to law school and be the first in my family to be a professional as an attorney. And, that is 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 they are able to reach their dreams. That they are able to provide for the family. To pay the rent, to prosper in our nation. And what we are facing now is a president that wants to take us backward. I dont want to make america anything 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. And that, of course, that of course includes the black community in america that has too often been left behind. I know that. When i was a city councilman, when i was a mayor, when i was hud secretary, i worked directly with the black community to try and ensure that everybody can prosper. And i want you to know, that if i am elected president , that i will work in the same way with you, to ensure that you and your family can prosper, too. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Secretary hooley and julian castro. Candidate number 5. Now we are making way for candidate number 6. Senator bernie sanders. [ applause ] hello, sir. How are you . Good to see your. Two minutes of an 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. And, a president who is trying to divide the American People up based on the color of their skin , where they were born, or the religion. Now, trump may be crazy. He may be a racist, but he is not stupid. He is doing what demagogues have always done. And that is to pick on minorities, that divide people up in order to gain power. The antidote, in my view, to what trump is doing, is exactly the opposite. And what our campaign is about. Is bringing people together. A black and white and latino. Asian american and native american. 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 healthcare system. We talk about the need for more black doctors and nurses. And in the absurdity of infant mortality rates in the black community. 2. 5 times in the white community. Will talk about wealth and income inequality, we talk about the absurdity of white families owning 10 times more than black families. Time for questions, sir. Etc. [ applause ] senator sanders. You are not a supporter of reparations for descendents of african slave. Other three slowed shows that promised president Abraham Lincoln supported the military order. Yet the promise was not kept. Knowing this, how do you correct this wrong . Or do you think you have to . I support what congressman jim clyburn of South Carolina has talked about. And that is a 102030 legislation which recognizes that as a result of the legacy of slavery, 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 distressed communities often African American and latino communities. So, we end the absurdity of the kinds of inequities that currently exist. Here is my fear about reparations. And i understand, and i am on board the legislation to study the issue. Heres my deal. The Congress Gives African American community 20,000 check and says thank you. That took care of slavery. We dont have to worry about anything more. I think thats wrong. I want to build, rebuild, the distressed communities in america. Thank you for that explanation. What would be your plan for africa, cuba, and haiti . And then when it comes to haiti and cuba, there are different policies for asylumseekers from those nations. How would you fix that . We need copperheads of immigration reform, clearly. And that deals not only with the latino community, but with the African Community as well. Sometimes we that issue. My answer to your question is maybe radical. And that unlike the president of the United States, i happen to believe in democracy and in human rights. And i believe that we should reach out to try to End International conflict, and not simply send billions of dollars in arms to countries all over the world. Instead of fueling the arms race, maybe we rebuild america. We rebuild our infrastructure, create millions of jobs right here. But im going to ask you again. Do you have a plan for africa, cuba, or haiti . Sure i do. That is that we have normal diplomatic relations. I have been to cuba, for example, on several occasions. I want to see trade opened up with the people of cuba. I want to see the United States to everything that it can to adjust the very serious problem in africa. And that again, instead of putting money into weapons of destruction, the United States should lead the world in putting money into schools, education, and environmental protection. Did you get a chance before you came out on stage, resource will come to order. I want to apologize for being tardy. Im trying to be in a few places at once. Thanks for your patience. Throughout the rest, water is essential to everything we do. The infrastructure took centuries to build