[applause] marc say save our cities. I dont hear you. Say save our cities. Save our cities. Marc education. Education marc jobs. Jobs. Marc justice. Justice. Marc good morning. I am so proud to see all of you. You are a wonderful audience. We want to thank everyone who is here at the Fort LauderdaleBroward County convention center. I also want to thank all who may be watching from home, their office, on mobile devices all over the world and the nation. The National Urban league is center stage on this morning july 31, 2015. Now on behalf of the National Urban league, the urban League Movement and our hosts, im proud to welcome you to the 2016 president ial candidates plenary. This is a very special event because it is the first time in this election cycle that candidates from both the democratic and republican parties have come together on one stage. The presence here today of these candidates represents an outreach hand, an important signal that they take our issues, our communities and each and every one of you very seriously. Now as the nations largest civil rights, urban advocacy and social justice conference, i also believe their presence here speaks volumes. I would like to state for the record that the National Urban league welcomed all the declared candidates to address us today and share their plans for saving our cities. As each of you know, the National Urban league is a Nonpartisan Organization and does not endorse any Political Party or candidate. As a nonpartisan 501c3 organization, the National Urban league extended an invitation to any 2016 president ial candidate who either appeared in a reputable Public Opinion poll such as gallup, rasmussen or others, or who reached out and contacted us before july 1. You might be surprised but according to the federal election commission, there are so far at least 484 individuals who are vying for the president ial election. You could run for president , too. [laughter] seriously, even the National UrbanLeague Conference is not big enough to provide a stage for 484 candidates to have a fair opportunity to speak. If we could, what could we possibly learn from such a circus . All we ask from these candidates is they work with us in a timely fashion to coordinate their appearance at this private event. We are grateful to them that they did just that and made our community and our concerns a priority. In addition to the candidates who will address us today, the following candidates were invited, but had to decline due to scheduling conflicts senator rand paul of kentucky. Senator marco rubio of florida. Former senator jim webb of virginia. Former arkansas governor mike huckabee. Senator Lindsey Graham of south carolina. Louisiana governor bobby jindal. Ohio governor john kasich. The following candidates were invited, but never responded in any way to our invitation. [laughter] we believe in transparency. [laughter] [applause] those candidates are former hewlettpackard ceo carly fiorina, former new york governor george pataki, former senator Rick Santorum of pennsylvania, former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee new jersey governor chris christie, and new York Real Estate tycoon donald trump. [laughter] and perhaps we will hear from them in the future. We are here because we want to listen to the candidates plans to save our cities. And, in preparation for today, we gave the candidates a little homework. We shared with them some of our very best ideas to saving american cities. Each of the candidates received the 21st century agenda for jobs and freedom which is endorsed by 60 civil rights and social justice organizations put together in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. That document and that agenda identifies five urgent domestic goals for the nation. Economic parity for africanamericans. Equity in educational opportunities. Protection and defense of Voting Rights. Elimination of Health Care Disparity and comprehensive criminal Justice System reform. We also shared with the candidates our 10 point plan for Police Reform and accountability which includes recommendations such as mandatory body cameras and dashboard cameras and a comprehensive overhaul of police hirings and training practices because we are here to save our cities and not just ourselves. In memory of our brothers and sisters such as michael brown, eric garner, tamir rice, sandra bland and so many others, we will say their names because their lives matter and we say black lives matter because every life matters. [applause] and you know that while Police Tactics may have been the spark that ignited explosions in places like ferguson and baltimore, poverty, hopelessness and joblessness are the tinder the kerosene. It is now time that we come together as a nation and demand reform not only in criminal justice and in policing, but also in economics and in education. These issues are inextricably intertwined. The National UrbanLeague Movement will be working with the next president to implement reform that is meaningful, that can help us all create a better, a stronger, a more equitable and a more inclusive america. This morning, we look forward to hearing from each candidate and after a few words from our chairman, michael neidorff, we will be off to the races and our program will be underway. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again. I ask you to please join me in welcoming michael neidorff, chairman of the board of trustees of the National Urban league. [applause] michael good morning. Im not a candidate. [laughter] i want to thank you for continuing to welcome me in this organization as marc has tso eloquently stated, todays plenary is one of the most important sessions. There are currently 22 major candidates who have officially declared their candidacy. 21 of whom were invited here. Yet only five are here to share the tenants of their platform. Lets just say the others were busy campaigning. As the ceo of an organization that shares a constituency with the urban League Movement, im especially interested in hearing what these candidates have to say. To me, it is ok for republicans and democrats to stand across the aisle and have differing perspectives on how to accomplish goals of government that are best for all americans but it is not ok to ignore the disenfranchised communities for any reason. Urban leaguers represents a hardworking families like the ones who built this country. They are mostly the background and the next president would do well to remember that. Lets all listen with open minds and ears. I know that is what i will be doing and hope you will as well. Thank you and bring back marc. [applause] marc well said. We are fortunate to have you as the leader of our team. At this time, i would like to acknowledge pepsico our sponsor for this plenary. To deliver a brief welcome please join me in greeting tony west, executive Vice President of General Affairs and corporate secretary of pepsico. Lets take a look at what pepsi is doing. Pepsico 22 billion brand and 50 years of delighting consumers when it matters most. Fun times with friends. Movements that bring communities together. A company that has repeatedly adapted, always with an eye towards the future. Helping new nourishment. A company you love and trust. Among the worlds most ethical companies. More than a company, a community of families. This is pepsico. [applause] tony thank you. Good morning, National Urban league. Thank you, National Urban league, on behalf of of our our ceo pepsico. Thank you marc, for inviting us. We are here to talk about an important, timely topic the future of our cities and how we will Work Together to build a better, stronger, more equitable america for our children and for each other. Every four years, we have this great opportunity to engage in a National Conversation with those who will be our leaders about where this nation is and where we are going. About how we will prepare our young people to compete and win in a global marketplace. About how we will tackle the disproportionately high Unemployment Rate among people of color especially young africanamerican men. And how we can harness the talents, the potential of this country to propel ourselves into a future better than our past. For the National Urban league, this is not a new conversation. These issues have been front and center. The country listens. That is why when you call on president ial candidates, they show up, or they should show up. It is no surprise that the National Urban league is pressing this agenda, but why pepsico . Why us . We are located in cities and countries, cities and towns throughout this country. We are an integral part of the community. What we know as pepsico is if the communities in which we operate do not succeed, we dont succeed because we are all in this together, all of us. Teachers and parents activists and policymakers, business and labor all of us are in this together. And each one of us will rise when all of us are lifted. At pepsico, we call this corporate philosophy performance with purpose. It is a corporate philosophy that says we must be a value added not just to our shareholders in the short term but we must be a value added to all the shareholders in the ecosystem we are a part of. That is why we have invested in young people. Over 16 million in a program that boosts High School Graduation and college which regulationrates among africanamericans and young latino youth. By 2020, we will have served over 100,000 students. We have invested 1. 3 million every single year in minority and women owned businesses as part of our program. A lot of you stepped up to answer president obamas call by being a Founding Member of my brothers keeper which is something that will make a difference. Each of us rises when all of us are lifted. On behalf of pepsico, i want to thank all of you for being a part of this important important National Conversation. Thank you. [applause] marc thank you tony. We are off to the races. It is now time to get to the reason we are here. Ladies and gentlemen our first speaker and president ial candidate is an author and retired neurosurgeon. A little more than 10 years ago the National Urban league honored dr. Ben carson for his incredibly important work in the field of neurosurgery. Please welcome president ial candidate dr. Ben carson. [applause] dr. Carson thank you very much. We are absolutely delighted to be here. Of course, urban league is so important for what it has done historically. Im very cognizant of the many people who work so hard, including Whitney Young. In fact, im delighted that the Whitney Young award is going to benjamin. Im inordinately proud of enormously proud of him. Individuals like him and myself would never have been able to accomplish what we did without the blood, sweat and tears of so many people who have sacrificed. No one will ever know who they are, but it was their foundation that really provided the freedom for us to do what we do. That is something that Everyone Needs to always keep in mind. I remember as a nineyearold sitting on the steps in the ghetto in boston having moved from detroit after my mother who was one of 24 children had moved to detroit from rural tennessee and discovered my father was a bigamist. That led to a divorce and we went to boston to live in dire poverty with her older sister and brotherinlaw. I was sitting on the stairs looking through the building across the street which all the windows were broken. There was a sunbeam and it made me think about my future. I remember thinking i will probably never live to be beyond 25 years of age because of what i saw around me. Both of my older cousins were killed. I have seen people lying on the street with Bullet Wounds and stab wounds. It seemed like a pretty dismal place. The fact of the matter is with all that going on, america is a place of dreams. My mother had a dream of education. She had never been able to get much education herself. She worked very hard. Two three or three jobs at a time, getting back after midnight, scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets. She did not want to be on welfare. She did not like the concept of being dependent on other people. And, she worked long and hard. She occasionally accepted some aid, but was able to stay off for the most part. That is not to say that i this like people on welfare. There is a nasty rumor going on that carson wants to get rid of all welfare programs and all safety nets for people even though he must have benefited from them. The people who say that kind of stuff have an agenda and they are trying to undermine and divide people. I have no desire to get rid of safety nets for people who need them. I have a strong desire however to provide a ladder to get people out of dependency so they become part of the fabric of america. That is what we need to be talking about. We dont need necessarily to be dependent. We have to understand what true compassion is really about. There are those who came along claiming to be very compassionate and they will eradicate poverty. There is a war on poverty. We have spent a lot of money since that started in the 1960s. Over 19 trillion. What has been the result of that . 10 times more people on food stamps. More welfare, more poverty, more incarceration, out of wedlock births everything that was supposed to get better is not only worse, it is much worse. And, i think there is a reason why god gave us brains, so we could actually analyze things. We have two choices. When we make a decision to do something and it does not work, you can say, maybe we should try Something Else or you can say lets do more of it. And i think quite frankly, it is better to use that brain to think about what things do work the other way around. You know, we need to be looking at the Economic Situation of this country and how do we get to jumpstart it to give people courage and hope again . There has been a lot of change, but not a lot of hope. We need to bring real hope. How do we do that . One thing i have noticed spending decades in Corporate America is we have a lot of corporate money overseas. Some people take that to mean american corporations are horrible and greedy and unpatriotic. Our secretary of treasury said American Companies who do business overseas to escape the high taxes here are unpatriotic. You know what that indicates . A basic misunderstanding of our system. People do not go into business to support the government. If you are smart you create an atmosphere that is conducive to that making money here. Of course, you do much better if they are making money here because you get more revenue and you are able to do more things. That is the way it works. We have this strange mentality that has taken root where, lets just say, you have a tax system where you have a 10 tax rate ba. The guy makes 10 billion and pays 1 billion. A guy pays 10 and pays one dollar. Some people say that is not fair because the guy still has 9 billion left. We have to take more of his money. The problem with that kind of thinking, which is called socialism by the way, is that you now dont have as much money as the guy with 10 billion so next year you will put in less than 1 billion. More importantly, he will take what he does have and try to hide it somewhere. The american system that made us a great nation and catapulted us to the pinnacle of the world at a different philosophy. It said that guy just put in 1 billion. Lets create a system that encourages entrepreneurial risktaking in Capital Investment so next year he could make 20 million and put 2 billion in. That is what expands the pot. That is what causes real growth to occur. They are people who try to demonize that and they try to say, no, that is the wrong idea. The ideal is utopia where nobody has to worry about anything from cradle to grave. We will take care of all of their needs. Many people have tried that. The problem is it always ends up looking the same way. Small group of elite at the top, a rapidly diminishing middle class and a vastly extended expanded dependent class. That is not what we need to do. What we need to be thinking about is those corporations over there have got over 2 trillion of assets, not money over there which they do not bring back because they dont want to pay a 35 tax rate. They are asking what can they do . What if we were smart enough to say we will declare a sixmonth hiatus where they can bring that money back without paying any taxes and 10 of it has to be used to create jobs for Unemployed People and people on welfare. You want to talk about the stimulus that does not cost american taxpayers a penny and has an enormous effect there you have it. Those are the kinds of things we need to be thinking about. A lot of people, when i was growing up, concentrated on racism. A lot of racism and it will keep you from being able to do things. There was racism, no question about it. And there still is and there always will be. There will be tomor