Transcripts For CSPAN2 Capitol Hill Hearings 20130824

Reaffirmed in the fall of 19 44 tat ambition of the western allies to go to berlin. Then he changed his mind in march in part march of 1945 in part because the russians were virtually on the doorstep of berlin. The russians beginning in january of 1945 amassed several million troopses that were going fall on berlin. The british were still 200 miles from berlin. And a decisions that already been made about how germany in general and berlin specifically would be divided up after the war. They would be partitioned with zones for the russian, the british, the americans, and the french and the same would happen with berlin. And eisenhower came to believe, he was encouraged by roosevelt to avoid conflict with the russians. He dime believe that it was pointless to tens of thousand of casualties racing to berlin when the russians were already virtually inside the city limits of berlin. And so he changed his mind. He directed his armies toward dress din toward the southeast. I think it was the right decision. The wish british were not happy and churchill believed there was an effort to push to berlin. I think 70 years later the decision hold up. Host who is with washington guest he was an ss soldier. It a lieutenant cornel. He was the spit the point of the sphere of the attack that began on 1944. His task was to lead an column through the American Defense and get to the muse river. And helpture bridges across the muse. Then they were going to proceed on. A huge port. Piper spoke english and french. He had two brothers who were killed in the war. Very intelligent. Utterly ruthless. What we find with his column, first of the all, they are finding adulties from the get go. The time table is disrupted. Things are moving slower than theyre supposed to be moving. He comes near the village in belgium. Theres an American Unit traveling by truck. His forces happen to fall on the unit. They shoot up the convoy. American soldierses who survived the initial counter are taken in to a field and mas considered. There more than 80 who were shot to death. Others get away. The word of the mass cur gets around quickly. It begins a cycle reprisal. There are no orders to be given. He never makes it to the muse. He gets close but not quite. He doesnt have the combat power. Hes running out of fuel. He manages with a 1500 or so men. To get back, hes tried for war crime and sentenced to death along scores of others involved. It was a tainted procedure. The confessions that had been extractedded from the defendants were considered to be under judicial review to be proper. The death someone was lifted. The life sign was commuted. He served ten years in prison then let out of prison. He became a salesmen for the motor company. He was in charge of american sails, if you can believe it. He was murdered in the early 70s. It he had a house in eastern france. The house it was arson. His burned body was found the case was never solved it remains unsolved. There were few tears shed. Host after the war he sold cars to americans and had a house in france. Guest yeah. Host do we tend overvalue our contribution to the allied effort and undervalue of the ussr . Guest i think we do. I think thats a good point. I try toik mat point whenever i can that soviets did mo of the killing, bleeding, die for the alliance. They had 26 million die during the war. Unimaginable for us. I think there is a tendency frequently to overlook the soviet contribution. Of course, the world war ii immediately turnses to a cold war and the soviets become the adversary. Theres little profit in acknowledging the soviet role when thed aer adversary during the cold war. I think seventy years after the fact it should if not for the russians the war certainly wouldnt have been won as quickly as it was. And for every russian soldier that died. It was one american soldier that didnt have to die. Host steve is in california. Hi, steve. Caller hi. Thank you for writing it. My question about it it was just answered. So im going go off on to the [inaudible] and ask about the political pressure in the u. S. Congress to stop the war after the 100 hours in iraq. How big effect was that . I remember it very vividly and listening nancy pelosi rant about the continuing war. Was that a factor in the ending of it. Guest thank you for your question. Indont think it was. I dont think congress had anything to do with it. The decision was made in the pentagon. It was made specifically with colin powell. Obviously with the concurrence of his civilian masters. He called general swors and said were at the 100hour mark and kicked them out of kuwait. We asked hem to fulfill the terms of the congressional and the United Nations authorizations. What do you think about ending it . How was concerned that eventually there would be a backlash that the television familiars in particular would be seen of carjack age carnage of the socalled highway of death. None of those were on its before the decision was made. He was aware. I dont think nancy pelosi or anybody in congress had a thing to do with it. Host thomas a world world war ii veteran in richmond, virginia. You are on booktv with rick atkinson. Caller thank you very much. For telling the story. Its very profound, it was my privilege to visit the American Cemetery the beach of normandy one time with the next door neighborhood congressional medal of honor. There are two medal of honor winners in this cemetery. One being general roosevelt, junior. I enjoyed those comments. I want to point out the only two there and the brave site arent easy to find with the gold markings on them. Guest thank you, sir. Host thomas, what was your service in world war ii . Caller i was both in the marines in college and a transport in the pacific. But we got [inaudible] host thank you, sir. Guest thank you, thank you for the question. Host weve had some callers calling in about rape and Sexual Assault in the military. In the gun of last light you write about this a little bit you have figures here i want to share with some viewers. 443 death penalties were imposed on g. I. Most for murder or rape. Is severely disproportionate number fell on black soldier often after dubious due process. 70 executions took place in europe including several public hanging. Guest yeah. And one execution of disversion. A private which i write about at some length. I think you find in general that the racism that was prevalent in many institutions, the United States 1940s could be found in the armed forces, and that disproportionate punishment that was out to american black soldiers was something that rem reflected prejudice toward them and the lack of counsel they often did not receive. And, you know, its extends all the way to the death penalty. I dont remember the number of black american soldier. It was disproportionate. Host just a little bit more. The German Military issued 50,000 military death sentences in world war ii with half or more carried out. 21,000 soldiers would discert from the u. S. Army during the war. Less than half had been caught by the late 1940s. Do you have any idea where they are . . Guest i dont know where they are. Yeah, paris, in particular was a haven for the guys on the lam or guys with shady business. Eddy, i just mentioned he was the kid from detroit who was drafted. He had the virtue of writing to his wife every day while he was in the service. He ended up being sent to the 28th infantry division, deserted out immediately. Was hanging out with the canada unit for awhile. He was court marble marbled. He refused the offer to basically have the sentence set aside if he would go back to combat. He said ill desert again. His appeal came to eisenhower in 19 e at the darkest time. Eisenhower was not in a forgiving mood. Unfortunately for him, eisenhower affirmed the death sentence, and eisenhower said that his unit, the 28th division was to carry out the execution. I described how he is transported by mp, military policeman, were the 28th division was and firing squad was set up. I think he believed to the very end that he was going to be the sentence would be commuted. It was not. They shot him dead. The Division Commander was a guy named norm who was at omaha beach. The the worse of all the battle. He was in the battle of the bulge when shot to pieces in lucks m berg and he said the worst fifteen minutes of his life were the fifteen minutes occur the execution. They left a hallow feeling in the heart of everyone who witnessed it or participated in any way. Host bill lynch tweet, thank you for the story. A 061 kansas city, missouri. He said he was a draftee there in the 1960. What is he referring to . Guest hes referring to its the end of the book, and i found a document more than 400 pages written right after the war, it describes the operation of the Quarter Master effect bureau re. And the effect bureau was set up at 601 to handle to effect of the american debt. It began in february of 18942 of the first month of the war as a small operation fewer than a doesnt people, and grew to more than 1,000 people worked in the con for converted warehouse. What would happen is rail box cards pull up next to the warehouse, and foot lockers and other containers with the effect of the dead from six continent would be hoisted by elevator up to the tenth floor. Then by Assembly Line conveyer belt down to the seventh floor inspectors along the line would go through the effects and take out pornography, ammunition, letters from a girlfriend you didnt want the widow to see. And other things that were inappropriate for one reason or another. They would all be repacked. As it was happening in a large room adjacent to the Assembly Line. They were banging out 70,000 a month by 1945. Dear sir, dear madam. We have your dead sons stuff. Where shall we send it . Its an extraordinary scene. And the, you know, the inspectors found all kinds of things, tobacco sack full of diamonds, italian accord began, a shungen head. All the things that soldiers can and accumulate. They found many diaries. Thousand of diaries in the effect. They were collected there. And i quote from the diary of one young lieutenant who is killed at the end. The gist what he has written in diary a last letter home. Hes wounded and hes taking couple of times to die. Its a letter my dearest sweet, father, mother, sister. What he writes is i can understand why god is taking my life if he wants to. What cannot understand is why hes making me suffer. Thats the gist of the question that so many have to ask about world war ii and the suffering of war in general. That is what 601 hard avenue is about. Host smithfield, virginia. Good afternoon. Caller thank you for taking my call. We read your other two books in the trilogy. We have been very interested. My fatherinlaw, a member of the 26th infantry, was at the forest and the surrender of [inaudible] its interesting a modern historian giving more credit particularly to the forest. I would like to know your comments. Guest thank you for their. John is one of the great soldiers of would war ii. How many silver stars . Seven or eight. I write about the forest extensively. Its one of the most appalling bit of combat in world war ii. And i have all almost an entire chapter devoted to it. What you find there is very deafen, not far on the western edge of germany. And a decision is made to throw one division after another in to the herman forest. Ty write specifically about the 28th division. I mentioned the general. There were more than five divisions that fought there. It went well for none of them. Including the first division, and the cornel was there for them. So i write about the forest. Its not a pretty picture. And, you know, with me in africa with us for the innovation in sicily. I dont write about him a lot but i admire him. Host tom emails in at the beginning of world war ii mark clark was locked upon as sort of a golden boy. Was he a bad a general as portrayed now . Guest i dont think so. I dont portray him. Hes a dominant figure particularly the second half of it. Hes west point class of 1917. He knows eisenhower from their time at west point together. Hes two classes ahead of him. He shows up in north africa having a little combat experience. He was wounded in world war i unlike eisenhower have no combat experience from world war i. Hes a difficult man to live. He tends to be impurist. Hes a bit selfabsorbed. Hes ambitious. He has a their for publicity that is beyond belief. What you find when you get to italy where clark is the commander of the fifth army, is a man who cares about his soldiers, attendive to their welfare, personally brave unlike some of the stories told about him. And yet insubordinate at times particularly dealing with the british. Make certain decisions that are indefensible about pressing on to rome. And i find personally that hes a mixed bag. You can see mark clark as somebody able to handle 23,000 American Battle deaths in italy. Not everyone is put on this earth able to handle it kind of pressure. Hes a guy that can deal with the pressure of heavy curability. On the other hand, hes a man who is clearly got flaws as a commander. Eisenhower begins to see that clarks compulsiveness about personal is something that eisenhower has difficulties with . In handling. I think my portrait of clark is more sympathetic than most. Yet i think he you have to see him as a nuanced character whose got a different facet to the personality and generalship. Host from the day of battle, regarding the fall of rome you write, at 6 a. M. On tuesday june 6th. Its they didnt even let us from the newspaper headline for the fall of rome for one day. Guest you have to be a little sympathetic to that. They have been fighting in italy. The next thing you know, he captures rome. He didnt do it very gracefully. He didnt permit the british. He disobeys orders in going rome failing to cut off retreating germans. Jet june 4,1944 two dais later it becomes a back water. Host robert, world war ii veteran, new york city. Please go ahead with your question or comment. Caller [inaudible] did you support going to the war . Guest does the immediate have a responsibility . Is that the question. Did i support the going it to the iraq you twawbt the 2003 innovation. I did not, personally. I was with then Major General david petraeus, commander of the 101st airborne division. I was an reporter with the Washington Post for the 10st. I can tell you general petraeus had doubts about it as did many others in the military. Wondering whether the containment ran the course. Whether it was the best option or presip use. I had anxiety about it, personally. I think in receipt does the media have responsibility . Sure. Haas thats what free prez is about. Ask the most pertinent, most difficult questions relating to the largest issue of our national life. Theres no larger issue than war and peace. I think we, i would include myself, didnt do particularly well before that 2003 innovation of asking the hard question whether in fact there were weapons of mass destruction, whether Saddam Hussein really had intent to do ill to others. I dont think we did particularly well as a institution. Theres a lot of soul searching in the ten years since then. It should continue. I think ask any question like that is entirely appropriate. Host in the company of soldiers, a chronicle of combat came out in 2004 about mr. Atkinsons experience embedding with the 101st army during the iraq war. From the gun and last light, berliners received an extra allocation of crisis are a shon to commemorate hitlers birthday. The pound of bacon or sausage, a half of pound a rice and coffee. They pommeled the city for much of the day. And citizens quote, with these rations we shall now astoned heaven one woman told her husband. A postage stamp of issued. With a cancellation imprint that read, quote, we are defending europe against foth stamp and slogan seemed a regime not known for the wry humor. You write in april in berlin, almost 4,000 suicide would be reported in berlin. An ss reported that the demand for poison, pistol, or ere pa or it a 16yearold girl and she shot her two sons and herself and slit her daughters throat. One teacher hanged herself; she was a nazi. Yeah. The final month in berlin and many german cities had a quality to it where the impulse coming down around. They are under obsessive bombardment in berlin. They know the receive yet armies are at the door. They know the war is lost. Many have suffered personal losses with soldiers who have been killed or family members who died in the bombings. And its awful. You can feel sympathy, i think, for germans even if you have a disdain for the larger quilt and responsibility for the war. Host jim in greenville, south carolina, jim, youre on booktv with rick atkinson. Caller mr. Atkinson, good morning. Ive read the first two of your trilogy, and im reading the third. I will thank you for this. I read a number of books on world war xii, and there seems to be one major American General who seems to be usefully ig as a subject of book by historians of that period. Almost to the point of disdain. He only appears in the narrative of other historians books including your own, and the only book i can remember about him was his own book, soldier story within the early 1960. As you know, im speaking of omar bradley. After reading your book, i think i have an opinion as to why. You the historian and i would like to know what you think about that. Host well, jim, first of all, what do you think . Why do you they is . Kristin i think he seems to be incompetent at some point. I think that he seem to be sub born on the original plan of battle rather than shifting to strategy as circumstances change. He also seems to be this is just a point character. But he also probably causes a big of a in the way he handles roosevelt, jr. And general [inaudible] host thank you, i think we got the point. Guest thank you, jim. I dont think you can think i ignore omar bradley. Good lord, ive been writing about him for three volumes now. Hes a large player. Look in the index. There are many pages devoted to omar bradley. I think your analysis of him is pretty much in line with mine. I believe that you see omar bradley, who is a west point classmate and friend of dwight horizon hours show up in north africa in the spring of 1943, he takes over second corp. He does pretty well in that. He has not been in combat before like eisenhower. This is world war ii combat action. Pretty good at it. In sizely he commands second core again. I think he shows some capability as a core commander. The next thing we know he leaves sicely and goes back to england to prepare for the innovation of normandy. He commands an army the major American Force in normandy. He commands a army group which is two or more army. He commands the Largest Armed force that the u. S. Army put overseas. I think he is promoted beyond his natural level of competence. Used to be call the peter principle. Its hard not to feel a little sorry for him. Its a steep learning curve. He outlived almost everybody et. Cetera from that generation. And consequently had a large role in shaping his own reputation and shaping the narrative of postwar. He was the consult assistant on the movie that came out in 1970. Consequently, what you see with omar bradley the benefit of longevity. He managed to help shape our general belief that he was a hero as a general in a very competent general. I dont feel that is entirely accurate. I certainly write to that effect. At the end of world war ii, the european theater. He writes what churchill called the american prod gi of organization had shifted 18 million to bees of war stuff to europe. Equivalent to the cargo of 4600 liberty ship or 1381,000 rail cars. To footwear in sizes 2a to 22ee. U. S. Munitions plants turned out 40 billion round of small ammunition and 56 grenade day. They fired 500 million machine gun bullets in 23 million artillery rounds, quote, im letting the american taxpayer take this hill one gunner declared. Nobody disagreed. By 1945 the u. S. Built two thirtdz of all ship afloat and making half of all manufactured goods in the world. The enemy was crushed by brilliance, fire power, possibility, mechanical app attitude, that produced much, much more of nearly everything than germany could. Tom in las vegas, good afternoon. Caller good afternoon, thank you for taking my call. Its a privilege to speak to you, mr. Atkinson. I read the first two volume. Im on the third volume. Im retired chaplain for thirty years. 63 to 93. In world war ii i was a boy scout collecting rubber and [inaudible] for the korean war i was in the seminary for eight years and felt a responsibility to my country. So i went in to the chaplain. I have a question. Theres no mention of chaplain in the first two volume. In the third volume, i know of one chaplain personally who the prayer for good weather. Was captured and put against to a face the firing squad. The german officer was raised by nones not raised but educate. He pulled him out of the line. Then that German Company was overrun. So the chaplain was pulled back in to with his unit. My question i know you do a lot of research. And a lot of thing so you to leave out. Did you run across any contribution of chaplains pro or con toward the war effort . Host thank you, sir. Guest thank you for the call and the question. Yeah, of course. And i do write about chaplains. I write about the chaplain who wrote the prayer for good weather, as you mentioned. Theres a chape lynn, hes a rabbi i write about the chaplain in the current book, for example. Chaplains are important to combat units then and now. They are part of the morale structure of the army. Its a place for soldiers to find solid of one sort of other. Chaplains are act as counselors and confidant. I dont write about chaplain corp. Much because as you say, there are things so you to leave out. Thats one of the thing for the most part that gets left out. I do touch on it and try to acknowledge their contribution. Host we have a few minutes left with our guest. George is a veteran world world war ii veteran in deer born, heights, michigan. Caller thank you for taking my call. Im 87 years old. I was 19 years old when i flew 35 missions with the eighth air force during world war for. We used to fly over [inaudible] in the netherlands there day in and day out we fly over montgomerys line there. All we could see smoke screen. If we had targets in various part of germany sometimes we have to hit the secondary target because patton had already been gotten there. Also ive read a little bit on andy roon any. I havent heard you mention him. Ive read some of his books. He had quite a disdain for the famous author, anyway. And thats about all. I would like your comment on what ive just asked. Thank you. Guest well, thanks. I dont know if i refer to andy roony. I use his book. I read his book about particularly being a sergeant, i think, in world war ii, and i think its sited in cited in the note of this one. Hes not a character because, again, you have to leave certain things out. He didnt make the cut. Thirty five missions with the eighth air force thats a pretty significant contribution. I alluded to earlier to the mortality rate of guys flying the kind of missions you were flying, and to make it through missions and get home to live to 2013 to bear witness and tell us about it is really extraordinary. I really thank you for that call. Host more facts and figures from rick atkinsons reporting. This is the provision that traveled with win ton churchill. It included 144 bottle of whiskey, 144 of sherry, 144 gin. , you know, part of the narrative writers task is figure out where the stuff is. And the case of manifests like this, i show up an begin looking through files. See what i can come up with. Host michael in alabama. You are on with rick atkinson. Caller its a pleasure to meet you by phone for the first time even though i havent read any of your books. Warfare history is something i dont care all that much about, but hopefully you can give a good answer that i hope washington acts fast enough can prevent wars in the future. Its about the financial and underlying cause of war. For instance, in italy, between 1918 and 22 i really dont know news lee knee arose to power. I imagine for years he must have wiggled the way up by forming alliances and accusing others to be traitors. Stalinstyle and gadhafi. I know italy had a low standard of living before 1814. Host michael, where are you going with this . Caller well, there are other examples of japan 1930 after the stock market crash i read thats what call the mill tarrist to rise to power. Host i think we got the point. Thank you for your call. Did you understand what he was talking . Guest i think the gist of what hes saying, yeah, there are underlying causes for nations to go to war whether they are political, economic, or economic and political. Yes, if you look at the end of the war you recognize that the seeds of world war ii were planted there and all the rest of european history plays out ultimately. Thats undisputable. Host kenneth emails in my grandmother born in 1879 ha children. I remember pooring over disr poring over her scrapbook. I look forward to reading your latest. How much is the home front covered in your book. Guest not a lot. I break away periodically to come back here to the conferences held in washington in may of 1943 and take a series of snap snapshots. My books are basically set overseas in the war theater. Next call is scott in georgia. Youre on the air. I had a comment and a question. My comment i want to say thank you for your work. [inaudible] of a con innovation. And the past memorial day went to a park thrown by his son 3 at the time. I want to say thank you for your work. My question is i saw among the greatest influence or influences was your editor. What are some of the crucial ingredient for the editor. Guest thank you. I appreciate that. John, has been my editor and good friend since 1987. I think patience, a great sense of how to handle sometimes temperament tal author. I think a recognition of these things take time, and a friendship at the heart of the relationship. Host how often did fdr and churchill meet . Guest oh, gosh. Twice, tehran, washington, i dont remember the total number of times. There were hundreds of hours. Host and on the phone able to talk if guest they talked sometimes on the phone. Not often be they did. Host about three minutes left with our guest. Here is little bit from the book. The truth was worse. Not for decades it would be revealed that his Blood Pressure climbed from 128 82 to 260 over 150 in december of 18944. It in the past year he shed nearly thirty pounds. Cant eat. If august while giving a speech in washington state. He was periodically treated and injections of coding. The personal physician order as little as possible be revealed to roosevelt who took the pill without asking what they were and made fitful effort to have the daily smoking and drinking to ten cigarettes and one and a half cocktail. Glim south dakota. Your question or comment, please for rick atkinson. It helps if i push the button. Caller which actually is the fist book about world war ii. Im a journalist here. About two years ago, when my mother died. She had given me a packet of about 1,000 letters written between 1942 and 1954 which representative the correspondents of my participants during the years. My father enlisted at the age of 37. He served with the zen armor decision, and my i had the letters digitized. My question is where do you recommend as a repository for the letters . My father was a very good writer. He never spoke about the war, but his lerlts are letters are informative and especially insightful when it comes to the training leading up to their departure. Some of her letters do not survive. When he was in the front. His do. And ask a lot of questions. Ic they are potentially valuable. Host thank you, jim. Guest thank you, jim. Thank you for taking the time to preserve those letters. And there are a couple of good repositories. First one i would suggest you take a look at is the u. S. Army military History Institute in carlisle, pennsylvania. Its adjacent to the army war college. It is the place where unofficial records, official records go to the national archive. This is where letters, diary, and the like go. Your dads probe would fit perfectly in there. Among other things they organize their archive by unit. So your dads letters would be with the Seventh Division and other letters and diary and so on. From the seventh armor division. That sort of stuff, frankly, for historians like me is absolutely invaluable. And so i would encourage you to put at least copy of them there. They a pretty good website. Its part of the army history and education center. You can find them and see how to get in touch. Host unfortunately. We are out of time with rick atkinson. Here is a picture we didnt get to that somebody else featured in the book. As well as the Tuskegee Airmen are featured in his work. We didnt have a chance to get to either of those. Very quickly, six books. On the next washington journal looking at the cost of college and whether or not education is worth the money. After that author and professor clarence on the 50th anniversary on the march on washington. Your email, phone call, and tweet. Washington journal live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Early on, you know, we have okay we have the 16acre piece of land. We have to put something ton or maybe not. It was openended. What do we do with it . Everyone wanted a say in that. Very quickly leaders promised a public process to receive public input to generate a master plan. At the same time that was going on; however, like i said before you have larry the developer who won the lease to the office specie. Space. They believed in the importance of the commercial space that was destroyed. They want toed make sure Lower Manhattan remained a financial hub. They believed in order to remain they had to rebuild all of the commercial space. Elizabeth green span on the battle for ground zero. When you write a book, i mean, a lot can go wrong. Thats the way i approach the world. I have, i mean, im somewhatter rattic in my writing and reporting. A lot can go wrong in 110,000 words. Ive been pretty shocked by i guess if theres been criticism frommed in its been mostly in the area of how dare he . How dare an insider giveaway the secret handshake . How dare an insider talk about other insiders in a way that perhaps might not be in keeping with the codes we have in washington. And people asking me why are people uncomfortable here. I welcome it but i think its journalism. This is what we do. Booktvs book club returns next month with marks this town. Read the book and engage. As washington, d. C. , prepares to commemorate the they hosted a summit inside a rei redeem the dream. Youll hear from reverend jesse jackson, the naacp, and reverend al sharpton among others. [applause] [cheering and applause] [applause] good morning. Im delighted and thankful to god to be present with the family again today. I was blessed to have been here fifty years ago as a student at North Carolina. I just left jail for the second time. Kind of a badge of honor and responsibility of that season before given my moment to ask [inaudible] this is a march on washington memo in preparation for the march. The potential riot and disasters federal official feared the march on washington surgery in the hospital or counsel. Inspect front of washington held the Police Officer of 18hour overtime shift. Should have been a normal eight hour. Police plotted 17 potential disaster scenario. And planned a response to each one. A a National Guard would be stationed on every Street Corner in Downtown Washington to guard against looters. They employed 200 scout scars. Six motorcycles, 20 jeeps, several Police Officers and several cranes to move broken down or disabled buses. They were on the around the clock standby. They were evacuated from the district jail to create space for the disrupted protesters. National guardsmen were sworn in and given tech prayer power. The guard made made over 100 doctor and nurses available. Government offices were shut down, liquor sale were banned for the First Time Since prohibition. On the day of the march the District Of Columbia was placed on the marble marshall law. One of the peacetime military build up in america history. Bursting with activity. 4,000 strong task force prepared for the development. And fort meyer, [inaudible] fort mead 30 helicopters were flown in. And forth brag, North Carolina. Crews were placed on standby. They were to mingle with the crowd. Missing were police dog. They remain order the kennel on the order of kennedy for the image of birmingham. Washington canceled the long standing policy of allowing white officer to bar black policeman from the squad car. The official had the right of the Lincoln Memorial. [inaudible] to the loud speakers was to be cut off and dpowt the mayor prerecorded singing hes got the whole world in his hands. Thats the context of 1963. This was the nations capitol. The time the officials in washington were appointed none were elected. Questions raised during the season is where is the dream. The dream is not a static dream. The dream lives and evolves. The dream of 63 was to end bash rim and humiliation. From texas across to florida they couldnt use a single public toilet. Any of the great [inaudible] you had to go behind alleys to relieve the body. During that season, black soldiers had to [inaudible] military bases as a flag flew above them. At least they were white. Money was counterfeit. You couldnt buy ice cream. You couldnt remember the a room at the holiday inn. You couldnt take picture on the lawn of the state capitol. Will there were no black jurors in the south. Jurors come from voter pools. The jury said they knew the killer was guilty, but if he had been found guilty gone jail and the life was not worth a white man going jail. Live on the racial tear tierney in the name of democracy. Its the context of those times. We couldnt get the gps to go south. We to go places to knew. And so the first that speech was about addressing humiliation. When dr. King said four little children will be the youth at the park. We couldnt go to the zoo or the skating rink or the swimming pool. The speech had the currency that made it ring. It he gave a speech today about our dream would be to use the water fountain you would look at him like something was wrong. The context of that dream was absolute racial barbarism. And based upon that speech and those assassinations the whole climate faugh it was not here because she was beaten in mississippi. The shares sold the black inmate , either we be hurt horribly you. So 200 demonstrations around the country. A public accommodation bill. The right to vote. Chicago fair housing. The Poor Peoples Campaign to end the war in vietnam. Now that made the case. We took poverty from 32 percent down to 12 from under lyndon johnson. By the way, drained his pain that johnson had more background and civil rights. Only to become the most prolific solarized legislator in the history of our country. Only lincoln compares with lyndon johnson. Lyndon johnson was 64. The Voting Rights act of 65, day care, child care, workers feeding program, appellation, original counsel, all of that is lbj. Too seldom mentioned that major conventions of democrats today. No democratic record matches that of Lyndon Baines johnson. Now, i would make this appeal, and i do close, one is that the speech was always around this day. The high moment of the dream and the low moment of memphis. And in the last staff meeting it went Something Like this. Said to us, i had a migraine headache for four days. Maybe my time is up. Maybe have done as much as i can do. Maybe i should just quit. My friend is attacking me. My college classmates and Civil Rights Organization is attacking me and the press because i choose to address of the war end. I will speak again will be heard. They reacted this go to more house and become president and do some writing. He then said please dont talk that way. There is no peace. Let me finish. We all got very quiet. He then said, maybe i would fast to the point of death. My friends may have a strategic disagreements but we are still friends. And then we must go on to memphis all the way to washington and engage in civil disobedience. We put down the resurrected and shantytowns. The focus of the president it was about ending poverty and ending more. So the days challenges would be this. One, this, wednesday, false comparison. We need legislation and appropriation. What do we need now . We need a constitutional right to vote, not just a stage right to vote. [applause] what do we need now . We need a war on poverty. Thirtyone cities, its about 40 and 6 are above 50 . In new york black job misses joblessness is about 50 commission be stopped an employe, not stop and frisk. [applause] Student Loan Debt forgiveness. Student loan that. Todays dream, the civil rights commission, the conscious of our government. The day must be a bank to bailout those who lost their homes. [applause] restore housing lost because of bank 55 thievery. [applause] too much violence and too much war. We the continuation mark. Our agenda must correspond with the size of our problem. Thank you very much. [applause] [applause] thank you, reverend jackson, as always. It will hear more about the National Urban agenda, but something is working on for quite some time. Someone else, one of the most powerful women in politics today. She has a reputation for being a fearless offender of children, women, people of color and the poor as well. A elected in 2012 terror 12th term in the house of representatives. More than 70 percent of the vote is a bed. She served in the 43rd Congressional District in california and also serves as a Ranking Member of the House Committee on financial services. I have seen her at events like this over the years. And get some time, public to the side. She is one of the voices as a member of the media. Why dont we hear this voice more often . We your so many people on television. Dawn on me, she makes sense. Thats why we dont hear as much these days. This is a voice i am so proud to hear today. Help me welcome to the stage congresswoman maxine waters. [applause] well, good morning, everyone. Thank you, t. J. , for your very kind introduction. I would like to thank the urban league and Harry Johnson of the Memorial Foundation for inviting me to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the march on washington with all of you. I am honored to be here today among the distinguished panelists, the attorney, dr. Charles haight jr. , reverend jackson, Attorney Benjamin Crump and ms. Sabrina. As we observe the important anniversary of the 1963 march on washington for jobs and freedom, i am reminded of the civil rights leaders and heroes and the sacrifices that were made. Let us honor the legacy of those leaders, the remarkable, tireless, articulate, and courageous dr. Martin luther king jr. My colleague, congressman john lewis who was beaten and could have lost his life in the struggle for justice. And that talented and committed rev. Jesse jackson who will boldly continue the struggle and dared to run for president of the United States. There were armed with the strength character, selfdetermination, and the power of nonviolence. Its really advance the cause of justice, and we honor the more than 250,000 men, women, and children who came here to our Nations Capital to march and to denounce racism, to demand the right to vote, and to take a stand for jobs and justice and an end to discrimination. The year 1963 is noted in American History for nonviolent demonstrations and unprecedented civil unrest. Nationwide outrage was sparked by Media Coverage of the Police Actions throughout the deep south where attack dogs and fire hoses were turned against protesters. We can never forget the violent actions of 1963, like the assassination of medgar evers to spend years staring down the face of racism in mississippi. On september 15th of that year the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in birmingham, alabama killing several people. The march on washington was indeed a defining moment of the Civil Rights Movement. Fact how packed with a vote ck more closer than they had ever been before to the recognition of our constitutional right. Now while we gather here to commemorate the march on washington, we must use our time and energy, not only for the leaders of the Civilrights Movement, but to understand the roles we must play to revitalize the struggle for the protection of our people and justice for all. Many of the same issues we faced in the 50s and 60s remain with us today. In june the Supreme Court and the slick, calculated, dastardly decision to keep us from voting, to keep us from the voting booth was determined as determined by the highest court of our land, the Supreme Court that we have come to understand that we cannot count on to protect our rights or to respect the constitution that supposedly guarantees our rights or to respect the constitution that is supposed to be for naught some people, but all of the people. Now we have the right wing republican is that theyre pushing restrictive voter i. D. Legislation in states around the country that will make it more difficult for us to make our voices heard. As of august 682 restricted voting bills have been introduced in 31 states. North carolina has gone crazy. It is passed legislation to require certain kinds of id, restrict early voting end to end sunday registration. The latest bill is a bill that was signed into law earlier this month by North Carolina governor pat mccourt lee. This extreme law attempts to prohibit parents of College Students from climbing them as dependents when they file their taxes if the students are registered to vote anywhere other than the parents home. Under the new law those same students would be required to provide all lee and a government issued photo. The Supreme Court has caused the congress of the United States to deal with the question on voter rights enforcement. In 2006 congress reauthorize the Voting Rights act on a bipartisan basis, making that determination that section four and five would not only be relevant, but essential to protecting all americans right to vote. Now congress has a moral obligation to undo the wrongheaded decision of the Supreme Court and to ensure the Justice Department has the tools to clearly identify voter obstruction and enforce voter rights. Let us use this time to not only identify the issues which threaten our freedom and equality, but let us boldly and courageously draw line in the sand. Let us speak up and show up. Let us not be intimidated by those who would accuse us of just playing the race card. Long have we been intimidated by those who say thats all we talk about his race. We must not apologize for demanding fairness. [applause] and we must respond to them by saying loudly and clearly, im not playing the race card. Im playing the equality card. Im playing the fairness card. Im playing the justice card. So after all of copper that was featured by marching, declaring, congratulating, and media sound bite, we must, again, organized a march, support legislation, hold town hall meetings, dominate these talk shows, and file lawsuits. Let us not let us stop thinking, somebody else is going to do this for us. We must do this for ourselves and our children. There are many devastating issues confronting our people. While i cannot identify all of these issues in the minutes that i have been allotted, i would like to concentrate on a few and help us to understand our and concentrate on a few of the evils of injustice and help us to create change. The most degrading of these evils is dominating the conversation and all of our communities. And that is racial profiling. If you are africanamerican, you cannot help but be el raged at the racial profiling that is occurring in practically every region of this country and into many states. The poster city for racial profiling is new york city where mayor bloomberg and Police Commissioner ray kelly insist on vigorously defending their stop and frisk policy, which is demeaning and demoralizing to and for our black men and is creating this respect and even hatred for the officers carrying out these policies. Racial profiling does not make our neighbor is any safer, and the lawful condoning of the harassment of our young people is having a devastating impact on our communities as a whole. African american men continue to be stopped by police exponentially hired. More likely carry weapons and contraband. Racial profiling is a national disgrace. If you are as insulted as i am and feel the sense of carmen disgrace that the families and the victims feel you must respond to the work of Sabrina Fulton, Sabrina Fulton has founded the martin foundation. This courageous woman who was with us today was thrust into the limelight during a time of personal tragedy, but she carried out her duties and with the pain and great pulleys and hopes that another family will not experience what her family endured. So lets stop waiting on somebody else to make their contributions to this foundation and other efforts that we need to solve these problems. Lets stop being stingy. Lets dig in our pockets. Lets give some money. Lets help support our own causes. This is so very important. The goal of this foundation is to increase awareness of racial profiling and the dismantling of the stand your ground laws of florida and any other state with such laws. We cannot continue to have these incidents where our young black males, like foster grant, jordan davis and sadly too many others. Neighborhood watch with the. [applause] and no regard for our lives. What can we all do . We have to get active. We have got to attend these Police Commissioner meetings, get on the agenda and report what youre seeing in your community. If he ever witness racial profiling by lawenforcement officers because the record the officers badge number of Police Unit Number and record him. Send your documentation to the congressional black caucus, the naacp, the urban league. Our children are being criminalize with zero tolerance policies and our schools. This policy means that too often theyre preparing our students for jail cells and not college classrooms. Just last year many across the nation were shocked to hear as sallie should johnson, i concur and students in georgia, handcuffed, arrested, and hauled to the local Police Station for throwing a temper tantrum interclass. Need i talk about that or the suspensions and expulsions. Three times as likely to be suspended at three and half times as likely to be expelled as white peers. Nearly 50 percent of africanamerican males do not graduate from high School Command these young people give up hope that society will ever treat them fairly and that they can never make something of themselves. The streets are waiting to claim our youth when society does not give them the opportunity. What can you do . Pay attention to what is going on. Joined the pga, volunteer. Learn what is going on. Attend school board meetings, give yourself permission to participate. Speaking of education, there is a critical problem that is currently occurring in the student loan process. I want you to listen. Have you heard of something called apparent plus program . Plus loans, would you may not have heard a lot about. I brought with me today for all of you copies of two letters that have been sent to the department of education secretary arnie duncan. One from the cdc in another from president of abcaeleven h pc you demanding that something be done about this fiasco. In october of 2011 the department of education decided to strictly enforce the terms under what is called adverse Credit History instead of looking at a Credit History of africans for 90 days or over 90 days. Now being considered over five years. So if your family is in foreclosure or is just 90 days late on the cellphone payment or has any other kind of minor financial infraction, their children will be penalized and not be allowed to access the Steven Parent plus loan. In the fall of 2012 more than 14,616 students at historic black colleges and universities were denied loans by the department of education. This loss of additional funds will deny thousands the upper tennessee to attend college and continue to doom our community to lowpaying jobs. We can reverse this. We need to pick up those letters i brought with me today. Learn more about the criteria change for these parents plus loans. Dont just pick up the letters and not do anything. I need all of you to join and mail or facts a letter to president obama. The eligibility criteria. Thousands of students have already had to abruptly leave school with no clear path to return a. Without a College Education and children will not have careers are good jobs. Another serious issue in our community is the high incarceration rate of our africanamerican men. Our prisons are full of both state and federal, filled with African American men. The statistics of damning. They now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2 million in cursory population. Africanamericans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of white. There is nothing worse than these mandatory minimum sentences that were enacted in 1986 at the height of the public outcry over crack cocaine following the tragic death of College Basketball star. Congress acted hastily and without sufficient hearing or research, and it acted hardline and antidrug. We continue to work on this. A few modifications of been made. For the last 20 years ive worked to raise the awareness and travel across the country to educate communities about cocaine, sentencing disparities, and mandatory minimum sentences. I have also consistently introduced legislation in congress that would reverse the effect of mandatory minimum prison sentences. Last week was pleased with attorney general holders announcement that federal prosecutors were no longer pursuing mandatory minimum prison sentences in cases involving low levels of nonviolent drug offenders the. They can come in and change the policy. Mandatory drug sentences have broken communities and destroyed lives. It will require legislation in congress to remove these fails sentencing policies from the federal code for goods. Thats why i will again reintroduce the major drug traffickers prosecution act. Again, this is another call to action. And need you to write your legislatures, the Sentencing Commission and the president. Dont just sit here and shake your head and say what a shame and do nothing. Share with your friends on facebook and twitter followers. Now that i did not have the opportunity to talk about discrimination in housing, foreclosures and our community, lingering high Unemployment Rates of africanamericans which at 12 and a half and the huge rate even higher at 41 and a half. That did not talk about the Health Disparities in our community, about what theyre calling obamacare to read you need to learn about obamacare before the open enrollment begins in october. And also have a fine of the tea party in their attempts to repeal it. [applause] enclosure, i fight all of these things that are real issues that impact the lives of our people every day. We must be committed to bring about change. What drove more than 250,000 Americans Still Lincoln Memorial 50 years ago . It was because they had the courage of their conviction and they had the sense of the power to bring about change. They created the agenda. They demanded change. The question is, do you feel a sense of determination and power to overcome the harm and disparities that continue to haunt us, or are we simply victims of an unfair system that denied us our ability to have a decent and fair existence . Well, i dont think so. Its up to all of us. My reason for being here this weekend is not simply to sing we shall overcome but to repeal and to organize and to follow the leaders like those made such tremendous sacrifices. Ladies and gentlemen, we must do this because there are those who have new tactics and clever strategy is to limit our power and participation and undermine a decent quality of life in an effort to control and maintain their power. I think that we all to have the courage of our convictions, and we are prepared to do this work. This weekend we will be reminded of what we can do and what we should do. They told me i had four minutes to speak, but i did not come from california [applause] overnight, five and a halfhour trip to talk for four minutes. I held that i have done something to inspire you and to in very you and to have you get up every morning and say were going to win this fight. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, that generally from california. Give it up. A champion for justice. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, let me take this up originally to welcome all of you officially to this drum majors for just a celebration. I want to thank Harry Johnson, the president of the Memorial Foundation for collaborating with the urban league on this. Please stand, Harry Johnson. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, Harry Johnson has a very Important Role in the construction of a monolithic and monument. One more time, Harry Johnson. At this point we are going to the outline for you to answer the very important question of why we march mount and what next. Let me, first of all, set the stage by saying since last december approximately 60 leaders of civil rights, human rights, and social justice organizations have met two times in person and a number of times over the telephone to prepare an agenda for policy, priority. The convening of those some 60 leaders took place. I was proud to be one of four containers of those meetings. The others i would like to introduce at this time. First, the dynamic president of the National Association for the advancement of colored people, benjamin taught. [applause] for a long time he fought for Voting Rights and Civic Engagement the presidency of the National Coalition for black civic participation and a container of the black womens roundtable, melanie campbell. And a long time fighter for freedom, justice, and the quality and now the host of politics nation, our very good friend, the hon. Rev. Al sharpton. [applause] and i would like to also ask another one of our leaders who were part of our convening of come out today to please join us all of the other leaders who were part of this. I ask that you give them a warm round of applause. [applause] we are gathering in washington d. C. To commemorate and continue. This fight for freedom specifically jobs and freedom which began 50 years ago gathered for the march on washington. In this time of celebration many have asked and rightfully so why we came here. Is it just in celebration . And we say, it is not just in celebration. It is a clear and conscious effort. They asked in 2013 were still marching. Consider this, the africanamerican Unemployment Rate has hovered at twice the rate of unemployment amongst white workers in good times and bad. Black Household Income remains less than twothirds the income of white households. The widest disparity of wealth reveals the median black Household Net Worth is 5 that of the white house will not work. Access to quality education for communities of color is shrinking Voting Rights, a crown jewel of the Civilrights Movement are under attack from the nations highest court where enshrined on the interior. Now we, in gathering, realize that for all of the challenges facing us that over the years we have coalesced on issues, whether it be Voting Rights, criminal justice, or economic power. Also coalesced around legislation, round demonstrations, round mobilization. We have coalesced. I think this generation has worked more closely gather as a team. [applause] one december river and sharpton and melanie and been denied held a latenight conference call. We asked ourselves, the election was that over. What could we do next that would be different . What can be the next web impact . What can we do next to chart a course to confront the great difficulties that we faced . We decided that we would convene. We invited 100 liters of wellknown National Organizations to join us in a convening of the capital hilton hotel. What resulted from that for our gathering was a communique which outlined five Priority Areas. Not a man you, not a comprehensive list, not an effort to confront every single issue that might be out here for five Priority Areas, and that communicate identifies these five Priority Areas and its use of economic parity for African Americans. Promote equity in educational opportunity, protect and defend democracy and Voting Rights, promote a healthier nation by eliminating health care disparity, and achieve comprehensive criminaljustice systems reform. That communique was signed by some 60 plus leaders and then we went to work. We went to work over months to try to assemble, if you will, a plan. And we are proud today to announce the 21st century agenda for jobs and freedom. [applause] and this agenda [applause] by no means to present this as a complete agenda. It presents itself as a stake in the ground, as a foundation, as a statement of both principle and policy specifics. And each and every one of this year has embraced this agenda with the hope that others, organizational leaders, social justice, civil rights, labor, small business, other individuals will embrace this agenda and will work with us as we take to stretch nice about this implementation. Why is this different . Is different because candidly we have allowed the sometimes inaccurate perception that we cannot unify our forces to get in the way. You all know that. And we decided that instead of joining the course of cynics and complainers that we would create a new course and that would be a chorus of unity, corporation, and collaboration. Everybody has an agenda. The nra has an agenda. The chamber of commerce has an agenda. The concrete manufacturers have an agenda. It is time for us to embrace the idea that in this age 50 years after the march on washington, we must go forth from this march with a commitment to a continuation of around an agenda , not simply to march from marching purposes, not to demonstrate for demonstrations purpose. In 1963 when randolph convened that great march and pull together a Large Coalition of religious civil rights and labor leaders, there were marchers goals. There were marchers demands. There was a definitive mine said to create a climate for the passage of a civilrights act of Voting Rights act, a fair housing act. They were successful. There were successful. So today we stand in a spirit of that time in these times to recognize as far as we have come the work ahead is daunting. We cannot have a march simply for commemorative purposes. We must have a continuation. [applause] let me say to each and every one of you, i would like to call on three of my colleagues and then from media that may have questions we will be over on the side so that the program can continue. I want to thank each and every one of those here on the stage in minium. It was important that we convene the agenda that we released is a confirmation, an amalgamation, a stitching and knitting together of policy proposals and ideas that come from a wide range of people who are on this stage. So thank you so much of them. Let us go in this order. First of will hear from ben, then melanie, the rev. Sharpton. [applause] joined on the stage by so many is that i admire so much. We had people on the state to spend their lives working primarily to enhance smallbusiness is and protect the environment or to of make sure that your families are broken up and sent to prison together we are one black family we come together in these tough times again and again and we win. We dont talk enough. I have been inspired. I know the the state of living in right now, the more leaves, past the. Translator to. Pasch and safety laws. We passed early voting amid a lawyer sameday registration. Abolish the death penalty. That is what black leaders working with that grand coalition, labor, womens rights communities, thats what we have done in one state in one year. Yes, we are fighting with all our might in places like North Carolina. We will win there because we have one there before. Thats right. [applause] just yesterday we won a victory in new york city. We had to fight the richest man in the city, a media mogul and the mayor. That was just one person. [applause] and we past racial profiling legislation with teeth for the first time because the family of mr. Martian stood up. [applause] the million heady march but also because some of us going back. Rodney king. Never stopped fighting. We kept fighting until we won because that at the end of the day is what makes black leaders in this country so transformational. The leader of the naacp, i can tell you the secret. The best batting average of any civic organization. We turn them into victories and we do that by saying that if we will win that only asking when. The answer is always the same. We will win when we win because were willing to fight. [applause] as i close my remarks the march of the jobs and freedom, the naacp, for 103 years them primarily been the jobs organization. And there are many issues, education, unemployment that have a lot to do with minimizing freedom, but theres nothing that minimizes freedom more than the mass incarceration of people of color and poor people of all colors in this country stood with the sun so many issues. It is right now and to many regions of this country republican governors have been more willing to partner with us and downsizing prisons and democratic governors. That has to change. The baby clear, the civilRights Community in georgia has worked with republicans to push through reforms that promise to downsize georgias prison system. Texas is now pass so many laws. The prison system that theyre planning to shut down the first person ever. We have no permanent friends. We have no permanent enemies. We only have permanent interests , and im here today to say that the Civil Rights Community of the day is focused on a permanent interest. Winning victories in democratic dominated states. We remember. We intend to stand here as a movement having to talk less about continuation. All battles and then handed down tests. More about commemoration. We put ourselves out of business. The area is 50 years after the i have a dream speech. Too much business left. Lets get on. Lets remember that we are beating. We are winning. In those places where is seen starkest and hardest right now, we have when there before and will again. Thank you and god bless. [applause] thank you. Thank you. Coalition. Their standing with this. So well of like is to also think the National Coalition on black civics. Board members standing with me today. If we didnt know why, we know after the Supreme Court decision. So even early on of over the course of the 2012 election, go as far back as the 2000 election. Bush still the election in 2000. [applause] my home state. A lifelong fight. Those who believe that only a small place with have. The court to that is Voting Rights. If you want to make sure that the rich keep getting richer, Voting Rights. If you want to make sure on the privilege of the best education, go Voting Rights. The listing go on and on. So we had to focus on Voting Rights. And i also want to think in coalition spirit, cheryl. Everybody on the stage here knows we have to continue the fight. A fight in the court, a fight in the congress. We can pass the loss. And so we know the the march on washington, we have jones, freedom, peace. We can do what we need to do. And then move want to open for questions that just because of the document, but looking 50 years out women who wear there in 1963. The present Women Leaders of the day, and then we spend some time doing some strategy. What was the number one issue that came out of all of its . Voting rights. And so we know that the end of the day its not just a responsibility all the other issues. Shes over there and they have Voting Rights on the agenda. The end of the day were going to do what we need to do. Thank you. [applause] certainly to all that i gathered on stage and those that have been convening with us around this agenda, late last year Martin Luther king the third and i convened a meeting of National Action network in washington. Melanie and others were in the meeting where we talked about having a National Action to realize the dream. That march would take place tomorrow. That march is taking place because 50 years after his father and or wilkins and the naacp in Whitney Young have very relieved. John lewis and others came together. We are still confronted with some of the same problems and then new problems. You do not act like protest is Something Like a hit record to you go with whats hot. Fleer not in the business of seeing with the polls sarah out. Were in the business of turning around the polls. We are double unemployed as new as 50 years ago. Fifty years ago. Fifty years later theyre going with bogus photo id los. Fifty years later we cant get a job bill through congress. People are asking me why we are marching. The issue is why it to the wait till now . We should be marching more. No one challenges. With the ones the top american out to march. Two types of leaders. Transactional and transformer if. Transformational leaders raise the issues and change the climate of a talk show on msn bc. And i go every day to 30 rockefeller plaza. Until then there to oppose the work in this building. Theres l. Roper who gives the temperature. Al sharpton exchanges the temperature. [applause] tomorrow were going to turn the lights on jobs on justice. Standard round stop and frisk. And trade on margin and the federal civil right to go home that day. Standard brand gave his assailant the right to claim something. Leave the whole speech and you will understand why were here and why were doing what were doing. This document is a comprehensive. Find somebody that something but we need is one critic. Let me tell you, this is the time. This agenda, the consensus of views. Tens of thousands. We will was said 50 years ago. Traumatized we put the pressure on until they do. Them one given the street. [applause] we respect each others roles. When they looked tomorrow some will say, yeah, but those folks are representative of dry bones. They dont vote enough. Theyre not selective enough and what they do with the money. The of want to know that when is it you saw the value dry bones contain the first thing he did was realize how before you can make a body live, you have to reconnect the body. So this of that the foot bone had to be reconnected to the ankle bone. Of after their reconnected the body. The reason we have not made the progress we need is we have been to disconnected. Weve been too worried about who would get the credit rather than fighting the fight. It wants to give credit . Three been worried about Photo Opportunities rather than use the opportunity. Weve been worried about who is going to make the news rather than what is the story. Reconnect the bones. The urban league, National Action that work, National Civic participation, Legal Defense fund, advance the project, committee on lawyers and civil rights. If we would just get connected and children was see the connection. And they will then get in line. Our communities will see the connection. Its time for of the dry bones to be reconnected. Can they live . Yes, they can. But will be marching tomorrow. [applause] river and al sharpton. Ladies and gentlemen, lets give everyone on the stage a big round of applause. They want to thank everyone. We also want to thank her sisters. We have been working closely with them on Immigration Reform because one thing we know is that there are many from the African Diaspora who need Immigration Reform. Let me thank each and every one of you for coming. This program will continue. Members of the media who have questions, we have a press for all. The program will continue. This will be further available on the website from all of the organizations who were year. Thank you for being a part. Remain with us. We look forward to seeing you on the mall tomorrow as we march. Thank you. [applause] and National Urban League President who you just saw is just one of the people expected to participate at tomorrows rally at the Lincoln Memorial in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. Other speakers includes Martin Luther king the third, attorney general eric holder, and rev. Al sharpton. Lets begin with a very wellknown american novelist. What brought you to the march on washington . More concretely i felt there was no reason for me not to bese involved. The most significant and informed and noted demonstration to free americans. Up until very recently like most americans i have expressed my support of civil rights laws and by talking about it at cocktail parties. Again, like Many Americans this summer, i could no longer pay only lip service to a cause that was so largely right and in that time that is so uoene amy now. American history tv marks the 50th anniversary of the march on washington with historic and contemporary round table discussions, archival film, a visit to the National Portrait gallery, the a performance and firsthand accounts of the day. It starts at 1 00 p. M. Eastern, part of American History tv. More now from the National Urban league redeem the dream summit in washington d. C. Joining others in talking about issues like voter rights and stand your ground lost. This is a little more than 50 minutes. [applause] good morning. Thank you very much for that introduction. Let me say at the outset that i now know exactly how the next speaker after dr. Martin mr. Cain at the march mustve felt. I said ten, i have to follow rev. Al sharpton. Its just not right. Come on in. Im honored to be here. Can we please recognize. I get friend and the president s i know that the dimension. Have had occasion to talk with his parents on a couple of occasions now. We keep them in our thoughts and in our prayers. As the president has said and certainly as a kid from was fairly, any one of us could have been mr. Martin. We have the right to be where we are, to walk down the street, and not have somebody chasing after us and then talk about you may be a threat. He was not doing anything. The jury may have found him not guilty, but he certainly was not innocents. And so we need to stay focused on that particular issue. I was six years old back then. Mom and dad would not let me go out. Agon upper kennedy to do and work on many of the things that dr. King talked about that day and is trying to put into place. For bringing us together. The legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. Let me also say, we were pleased and proud to has to your conference. They is nite you back to the ciy of brotherly love and sisterly afspeaction. The greatest single demonstration for freedom, justice, and equality in the history of the United States of america. 250,000 people filled the streets his dream our stories, the legacy of the march on washington. You can see a number of other venues. These are archival photos and footage, video footage that tells the incredible story of what happened leading up to and on that day. Stood at the top of the Lincoln Memorial stairs and shared his cell for a better america and the dream for equality. While there may have killed the dreamer, then certainly not kill the dream. We are living the dream, putting it and taking actions each and every day all across america. Public servants and advocates and religious leaders and engage citizens continue to fight against the injustice of every day inequality to create solutions for ssionial and educational and economic problems that continue to play your community and many others across america. This 21st century agenda for nationbs and justice, this agens an agenda for america. Let me talk about it as it afspeacts p home town and my state in pennsylvania. Our governor unlike some others, has refused to expand medicaid leavingnd sent thousands and thousands more across penns. Le senia with the heaakeh care because of a political fight and a lack of understanding of what this bill can do and what president obamas work on the Affordable Care act can mean for americans all across the United States. Fighting about samesex marriage. Why are we so worried about two of the people of . Building prisons and we shoo wd be building schools. When we is nest in education you get less incarceration. So these are the challenges that we face. Talk about voter i. D. Its a big issue in the state of pennsy of unfortunately again minyas supporting these efforts to dissmemorde a disrupt or cause coso susion with the polling ple no one should be taking action to this wave folks. We need to take action to encourage folks to be engaged. So these are some of the challenges that we face back home in philadelphia and pennsylvania. In the 50 years since the march on washington suddenly america has changed. 1963 who would have imagined that a black man, an africanamerican man would be president of the United States of america. That may have been a dream, but im not sure anyone was thinking their lifetime. It has happened. Hundreds of thousant su of other elected officiano , certainly myself included would not be in office today but for that march and the actions of civil rights advocates all across the United States of america. Rio a deep dthe rt of gratitudeo those marchers. Where would we be without the Civil Rights Movement and that march on washington in 1963 . John f. Kenned n, malcolm, martn with the king, robert kennedy. So many did so much. With the decade of crisis in in it was ano o a decade of freedom and rights. The question i have come to ask p se t and others from time to time 50 years later, are we ready to lead and fclow . There were many leaders at that time, but they also needed folks to fclow them and push on for our rights. 225 2f1 will we are working together and acting in concert, that is how were going to get not only js. Ws but freedom. Freedom from pss terty, crime, homelessness and hunger and also the freedom to be great in this country. That is what we must be about. That has to be the living legacy. I will leave you with one last thought. When no progress is not easy. It certainly is not fast. Positive change does happen. Dr. King said it best in montushmery. The a mi of a moral universe as long but had been stood justice. The stand that mount. Man of mss tinmarch but we are g to make progress and we Work Together, walk together and most imte rtane amy that we act toger. Good bless you, god keep you. Let us keep this tree in alive. Thank you. [applause] thanks, mr. Mayor. It is my pleasure to bring to the states next a lady i kinda fell in love with a couple of months aush in chicaush. She is a prominent leader in civil and human Rights Community shyou,s actmemorlly the presides executive director of the National Lawyers committee for civil rights under law. The last event of an author of real cecily around. Theyf microphone. This woman will be heard no matter where she is. You will understand. Please welcome to the stage. [applause] good afternoon. What a pleasure it is to be here with you. We have so much to talk about. You have heard from a number of the speakers already about the Voting Rights act, but im going to bring it back. I want to talk more about what we have to do. Since 1963 in the easte, b of te white house with pri sete lawyes in the fight for racial equality and racial justice, the ll ais s co leaittee for civil rights has been a strong and proud partner of the National Urban league and the u san league movement. We have worked hand in hand for quality, empowerment, and justice. From the beginning the Civilrights Movement has been dependent ityon his ll ais ars. Think about fred gray standing of their and offending rosa ityong bs ls. Wbying lesll ll ais ar to dr. Martin luther king. In the back rooms working through the legal strategy, filling the system, knocking on the courthouse doors, tracking down judges at all hours and unusmemorl places to get signats on orders that protected the rights of the protesters and al earantee the enforcement of laws and prevented the execution of ui onstitutional ones. Lets talk about what else happened. Thurgood marshall had to hide when he would go into various communities. He had to fear for his life. When we opened our oone wice in mississippi and 1955, hours got jailed by judges to get angry that they were there talking about civil rights. People had to fear for their lives one evening. One of our ll ais ars had to lie and sleep all night in a cane field because there were kkk methe sters warising around tryo you see our struggle is an interval part of this mss tthe. We as ll ais ars had to bring hr skills not just our pocketbook of. Free ll ais aring skills to be s power as possible in this fight. So lets think about it. Sii e the march on washington we have made a lot of progress. As everyone has been talking rmoulso we have a long waiting o because theres so many forces working against us. Remethe ster, in 2011i came to e National Urban league and talked about the voter sitypression tht was going on in this country. And we talked about in 2012i came back and talked about the new sl a how the end groan ad we now have 40 states that were trying to restrict the rights of voters. I told you that they counted on their raw political powers to muscle through these awfld y, l aful loss, voter i. D. , cutting back early voting, cutting back anything they could do, trying to repress did voters, trying to repress latino voters, telling people that you couldhe phone. All of this nonsense. And i tcd you that they were counting on the fact that we could not fight it. They were counting on the fact that we would be too disorganized and this in a fight. There were counting on the fact that people would not even know was going on thengo what i tcd you . It did not count on one thing they did not count on us. You see they forusht about us. The forget rmout who we are as people, and they forgot the we are able to rthe uthe uber the e and the fortiin that it took to walk across the bridge or you can look up and see down at the end of the foot of the bridge those officers with their batons. We are fired up and ready to go. But after our victory in november last year, the Supreme Court said, we are on the aside. Now they have got to fight with us with the issue of the affordable Voting Rights act there is no longer the law of the way and so with the department of justice had stopped racial discriminatory practices could not be used because they remember we used this law to stop some ministates from enforcing the voters suppression. What do we have to do now . Is one thing to talk about the problems another thing to talk about actions. What we will have to do is realize as soon as the Supreme Court the issues there decision by june 25th, that very night , North Carolina, mississippi, alaba ma, every but defected with a new Voter Suppression law law, become the worst date for Voting Rights. They thought this would stop us. But do you know, what . We have a lot of tools and our tool kit, a dedication, guidance, all kinds of other things coming in fact, todays ago, a former secretary of state colin powell had a republican beating in the devereux just walked off the stage said he did his party and state the injustice to fight the Voter Suppression law. He said this lot is contrary yet he told then instead of restricting Voting Rights but to make it acceptable for all americans. He told them it would hurt the party. He did not play it is the same garett that the attorney general holder had because what did he do . Just yesterday attorney general holder announced against the state of texas and he asked the court with voter i. D. Lot. To talk about the voting rates have hall of the 14th and 15th amendment to the United States constitution. That is the spirit of the arco that day are. And then a couple weeks ago coming back under section five with the state of texas so it must be clear. Remember that voter i. D. Law along with other civil rights groups, estimated it would have knocked out 800,000 voters. So that lawsuit was incredibly important but we cannot just leave it up to the powerful voice of colin powell. Were all part of the Voting Rights fight we will be champions and not only do we but we have to make a whole family get our children to understand why they went to be part of the Voting Rights camp go to everybody and talk to them to be Voting Rights champions pullout the recorders or whenever for the pens i need you to help was on Voter Education because we have to do is the local jurisdictions. People are calling us that theyre trying to purge voters about hall theres so emboldened to knockout the Voting Rights to do crazy stuff we need you to help us by telling us when you hear of something if it doesnt smell right. If it . Like a duck we want you to call us at 18666878683, 1866ourvo te. Even if you are not sure, call us. It will tell you what kind of changes to lookout for look at those that might impact. Visit is an educational peace passing around to everybody that you know,. Get the word out make sure people know how to prevent discrimination from recurring. So with the redistricting gerrymandering law that we know all of these things we need to threaten the right to know. Call your congress people. If you havent ready, what do you need to tell them . They must as soon as possible avenue Voting Rights act. To restore the critical mechanisms that we need. The third thing we will have field hearings in every one of the states in congress can pass they will need these call us if you want information and i want you to text you know, of the smart phone or the mobile device text these words Voting Rights to 313131. Then you will be on the text of alert system then we can tell you about the developments, what is going on in your area about one critical thing as you look back on 50 years we can see dr. Kings dream is still hurting for fruition. Were still marching for jobs constantly trying to make progress at the same time but we must be true to the legacy and inheritance of those who marched 50 years ago that could not gather in the hotel in washington d. C. Who did not have the technology or the tools that we had our who could that imagine having a black president or black attorney general. They did not turn back and we cannot either. We are so blessed because god is on our side. Were so blessed to be here together. Were so blessed to have leadership together we will keep moving forward when it comes to fight for justice. We cannot and we will not, we shall not be moved in our struggles that it is a reality. Thank you so much. [applause] i told you. [laughter] when she was walking down the steps she said that was my low voice. [laughter] it is always a pleasure to hear her speak. But you will recognize the name and maybe the face with the work they she does she is the head of the Largest National civilrights in the u. S. Ahead of National Council and what she did was along with their partners they worked a and registered for that election, as some two to thousand new hispanic voters so please give a warm welcome. [applause] hello. Thank you all and i especially want to think there durbin began this president , my good friend and a great leader comrade mike has been a terrific leader in unifier. I am honored to be here to join you this morning it is my profound honor to be with you to celebrate one of the greatest moments in American History. Like all of you, im here because of dr. King. His words in his actions were an inspiration to many of us in the hispanic community. Cesar chavez was inspired to take up the mantle of dr. Kings nonviolence for the struggle of farmworkers rights. I would note it has also touched my organization, said National Council of the largest Hispanic Advocacy Group in the nation. And it was a source of inspiration as my mentor began his own Civil Rights Movement for the latino. Attack dr. King is a beloved icon in the Latino Community because history was universal. Inclusive in his dream is still our dream. In preparing for this week i had the opportunity to read some of the great speeches that he gave and his words. I continue to be in all of what his vision was and how visionary he was. Almost before anyone else he saw of the Common Threads and he envisioned a time when all communities were working together on behalf of all of us. In fact, although they never had the chance to meet in person the we have communicated frequently at the height of the cesar chavez first fast, dr. King sent him a telegram that became a treasured possession for the farm workers leader that you referenced throughout the rest of his life. In that telegram dr. King stated as a and brothers in the fight for equality i extend the hand of fellowship and good will and continuing success to you and your members. He said, our separate struggles are one, a struggle for freedom, for dignity, and humanity. Dr. Kings recognition we are all on the same path striving for this same thing is what guidance us today. We have worked hard in recent years and strengthen our ties to the Africanamerican Community and i cherish our partnerships with the National Urban league and the naacp, National Action network in with many other civilrights organizations. I take great pride in the work we have accomplished together to help families keep their homes for foreclosure advocating for Health Care Reform are helping to create 21st century jobs and to suppress the vote in silence in the work we have done together with comprehensive Immigration Reform because tomorrow when we march we will be marching for jobs and justice i dont think we can have a true justice while a levin Million People live in the shadows while young people through no fault of their own have contributed to study and work to be denied access to that american dream. So all of these issues it is far greater than what divides us and meet we must remember in unity there is power because wherever sharpton talked about is true to be connected among africanamericans and other communities as well because in that unity there is power to advance our common agenda and with that we can move mountains. [applause] thank you. Thank you. [applause] to come in in get settled a somebody is trying to come here you will hear from the parents of Trayvon Martin. Bay are backstage waiting to come now to address you. Especially to know that they were here for that let them know to come in. But right now it is my pleasure to introduce a good friend of mine. Everybody says theyre a good friend. My wife and i only invited 35 people to our wedding and this young lady was there she made the cut and a former colleague at cnn so we got close theyre sorting she is a good friend. Officials the the director of Strategic Marketing at cnn i will give you a brief about a new documentary she will be unveiling but please give her a hand ms. Taylor. [applause] good morning. On behalf of cnn we are so honored to be here as part of the National Urban league charged to redeems a dream. As this nation prepares to reflect upon the 50th anniversary of the historic march on washington with the coverage of the new documentary that captures the first hand account of those who were there to witness history. Lets take a look. Spin that the march on washington was the defining moment in American History. It was all america. They put a face on america and this nation that nobody ever saw before. In 1963, at 23 years old the president was deeply concerned what was happening he wanted to know what could be done he said mr. President we are going to march on washington. I got a call they are going to do it. That it is time. It will be a crescendo. But to awaken my sensibilities. He made a speech and everybody elses. Ywis one of the most unforgettable sites of my life. Sometimes they go to where we stood 50 years ago and reflect back. And i am the only ones still around. He said you did a good job. You did a good job. You did a good job. Any said to dr. King, you had a dream. [applause] day que. It free beers tonight on cnn at 10 00 p. M. Please tune in. Thank you. [applause] now how can we be a country of a black man to the white house but not of black boys told from the store . We have been dealing with that from quite some time that came into stark reality in a major way with the story of Trayvon Martin. It makes no sense that young man is dead. There is no reason for that. You watched, like i did and i was watching every single moment of that trial. Old ways every day and listen to testimony but i always kept my eyes on his parents sitting in that court room. I have no idea how they did it. To connect with them for the first time i have not seen them since the verdict but the strength you have shown has been unbelievable. [applause] they have continued to do that. They have been thrust into this spotlight of a National Conversation about race that i assure you they wish they had no part of right now. But now they feel they have this duty 50 years from now they dont want another Trayvon Martin or another one tomorrow but work needs to be done so if you can come to their knowledge of the cofounders of the Trayvon Martin foundation the parents of course, sabrina and tracy along with his brother in a the family attorney. [applause] [applause] [applause] fate q. Thank tj holmes we cannot thank you enough for that gracious introduction. I am the attorney the represents Trayvon Martin is family. You have heard a lot of speeches this morning so we will not talk long but we just wanted to come a end to repeat what sabrina in tracy have already said and they will tell you as only they can say it with such dignity and grace in the face of this horrible and terrible tragedy. Sabrina told me after the devastating verdict, and it was devastating, it broke all of our hearts but she said this will not define trayvon. We will define his legacy. [applause] so as we come to join the National Urban league to has been so supportive and all the chapters in the urban league supporting from day one, we ask you all to help us define the of legacy of Trayvon Martin. We need you to do that not simply by marching but we need to have you act in have every betty go to the change did toward the position petition to sign the Trayvon Martin and intimate to this the in your crowd laws. When you signed that petition automatically goes to every governor of the 26 steam in your ground states. There will be a new phenomenon in 2014 Midterm Election it will be called the Trayvon Martin brodeur because that is how we will have his legacy. They say we wish we were on that jury so we can have the vote to the verdict i say if you still have a vote that is historic because something that has not been done in the last decade. Not Virginia Tech for sandy hook order in colorado at the theater to the stand your ground laws could be historic with the fact that the first time in over a decade we may have saved some legislation to counteract this proliferation of the culture laws passed all over america. Sis would be a better legacys so his parents will know that his death was not in vain. [applause] of lastly, before we let you hear from saboorian and tracy, it is not passed on the us the relevance of what happened 50 years ago. The fact that and it still was the sacrificial lamb to help spark the movement of the civilrights act of 1964 t. Ted was killed in 1955 and it took almost a decade to get those laws changed. We hindustans it will be a long and hard journey to get the Trayvon Martin amendment passed in the 26 states but we know from the emmett till mother with dignity a lot like these two individuals to the left of me that with your help coming a and the grace of god, we will get these laws passed it will not happen to anybody elses child and tracy and sabrina will bill even though it was very, very negative one happened to their child, a guide can make something positive come out of something negative. I give you saboorian it and tracy and sabrina stand your ground [applause] let me start off to say trust and the lord with all your heart, of the not on to your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. He shall direct your path. It does not say maybe maybe, possibly, it says it says shall. Absolutely he will direct hour past but we have to believe in him proverbs three, five com and six that is my favorite bible verse. I sit every day and i wanted to share it with you so youll have something to hold onto. Losing trayvon was absolutely devastating. But its as if think about the love, i think about the possible gains. What are they . Just to be here amongst you, just to be here to let and people to let me know that they are with us and supporting us. That is what gives us the fuel to keep going. We have the drive because just like trayvon, i assure you have children children, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews that you have to care about as well. And it is very difficult to stomach the fact that trayvon was not committing any crime, but on his way home from the store. How many of your teenagers go to the store . That is how close it will hit home. That is my message. Dont wait. Dont wait until it is at your front door. Dont wait until something happens to your child, your knees, your nephew cover your grandson or granddaughter or godson. Dont wage. This is the time to act now. This is the time to get involved. Dont just say i support the foundation, i support the family and think theyre doing a great job. That is good but it passed to be more than that. We created through the negative energy when youre disappointed. It is negative energy when you have a loss we took that naked of energy and that is what we used to create the Trayvon Martin foundation. That is where our time is going, to try as best we can to help another family that goes through the same loss that we go through. That is what we decided to do with our time, to give back because we were blessed to have a law firm that gave us direction, we were blessed to have people from all over the United States states, different countries, we were blessed to have those people stay with us and say i am Trayvon Martin but we have to think about those that are killed or murdered or the injustice going on and and try to help them as well. [applause] we want people to know in general you have a right to walken peace regardless of your race or the color of your skin. [applause] you have a right as a teenager or a human being to walk not worry about someone following you were doing something to you a and you end up deceased. God bless you all and thank you for your time. [applause] good morning. Good morning. It is certainly an honor and a pleasure to be here among all of you on this commemoratives the 50th anniversary this week of the march on washington. But be mindful were all so counting , it has been 544 days since the loss of trayvon. Just like this is historic historic, we want to put our tragic incident to become historic for all people by and letting the country know that we will continue tuesday and as parents not only for our kids but all of our kids to fight for justice for all of the kids. That is one of our main goals. I think it is imperative that we sit down as individuals as godfearing people as a nation and to come together to rewrite the manuscript and how to be a good parent and how to instill in our children you dont have to be afraid to walk out to get candy from the store. [applause] this issue is not only in the black community but all of our communities. The only way we will solve the issue as we Work Together, we have to Work Together the matter what race or creed or religion but as a nation of people to start to understand each other and we feel as though our fight is your fight were just biding for simple justice for all of our children. Thank you. [applause] we would encourage you to go on our web site that is trayvon not Trayvon Martin foundation. Org and a few of the objectives of the foundation is to started entering program for youth toward Educational Program to educate our kids, our communities all the laws and how they apply equally to us and to understand the law period. Before this incident happened, i never heard of stand your ground. In so many other people across the country had not heard of it. We need to start understanding how they affect us we can only educate ourselves on things that we take for granted in our everyday lives. Life is very precious. It is a blessing to wake up each morning to put on your shoes and socks but 544 days i never thought i would be here talking about my son being deceased. Every day from here on out from february 26, 2012 and we continue to count, i took for granted he would be here and he would bury me. So as parents rigo fathom the idea to bury our children. We need to start taking that to heart to give your kid a of every day to show your child that you love him whether he is an adult. [applause] thank you. [applause] this index has the economy has improved in the deficit has gone down and it has dropped at the fastest rate of six years. I will repeat that because a lot of people think if you ask the average person what is happening with the deficit bill tj holmes is going up. The deficit has been cut in half since 2009 and is on the down were trajectory. In going down faster than any time since world war ii. So we dont have a problem in terms of the spending on education or research and development that we do have a longterm problem that has to do with the health care program, medicare and medicaid but the good news is partly because of obamacare cost as gone down, that Health Care Inflation has gone down to the smallest rate we have seen in a long time. We start to get Health Care Costs under control, we will still have to make modifications with longterm entitlement programs for those people ready for retirement but we dont have the urgent deficit crisis. In the crisis we have is the one manufactured in washington and it is ideological. The basic notion is we should not be helping people get health care or health being kids who cannot help themselves and whose parents were under resources we should not help them to get over a cup. Some of the proposals we have seen or even deeper cuts in programs like head start, education support, even deeper cuts of basic science and research. That is like to be penny wise and pound foolish or to eat your corn seed. Because if we are not maintaining our Technology Technological edge or not upgrading roads, bridges, infrastructu re, all the things we can afford to do right now and should be to put people to work right now, if we dont do those thin in 20 years from now we will fall further behind. When we get back to washington, when Congress Gets back, they will be a major debate in the same one over the last two years but the difference is now the death the deficit is already coming down but we need to think how we grow the economy so we create a growing and thriving middleclass for people who are willing to work hard to get to the middle class. My position is we can have a budget that is sensible that doesnt spend on programs that dont work but does spend wisely on those that will help ordinary people succeed. I want to see the pitcher. I am frustrated when i see the local and state journalism with what is happening on the ground because the National Journalism is not as good if you dont have the local journalism. When i do is watching you reading local and state stories at that level to figure out how with bubbles up to the national level. If people are dawn of the ground to do that work then i think National Journalism suffers quite a bit. I hope they figure out a way to keep that sustainable to keep those people in place