Searched during a traffic stop compared to white motorists. Africanamericans are twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with police. 13 and this is an extraordinary figure, and i think not an accident. 13 of africanamerican men have lost the right to vote due to felony convictions. Cant vote. Cant participate in the Democratic Political process. In my view we need major changes in criminal justice in america and as president of the United States i promise you my Justice Department will be vigorous in fighting all forms of discrimination in every area of our life not only in police matters, but in housing and credit, in every area that impacts minority populations. Across our nation as all of you know and we see almost every day, too many africanamericans and other minorities find themselves subjected to a system that treats citizens who have not committed crimes as if they were criminals. A growing number of communities throughout this country do not trust the police and police have become disconnected from the communities they are sworn to protect. When i was mayor of burlingtoner have mobt, the largest city in the state one of the things that we did, and i believe this very strongly is we move toward community policing. Community policing means that police are part of the community not seen as oppressors in the community and that is the direction that weve got to move. Sandra bland, Michael Brown raqia boyd freddie gray, tam irrice samuel debose. We know their names and each of them died unarmed at the hands of Police Officers or in police custody. Let us all be very clear, vile sxeps brute ence and brutality of any kind particularly at the hands of Law Enforcement sworn to protect and serve their communities is unacceptable and must not be tolerated. [ applause ] we must reform our criminal justice system, black lives do matter and we must value black lives. [ applause ] we must move away from the militarization of police forces. Youve all seen on tv this heavy duty equipment. It looks like theyre invading the city. True. Its like theyre going to war and that is not the signal that Police Departments should be sending around this country. The police should be part of the community and not an oppressor force. We need a Justice Department which takes the lead in working with states and localities to train Police Officers. Force should be the last resort not the first resort. For people who have committed crimes that have landed them in jail, there needs to be a path back to prison. The recidivism rate is extremely high. We send them to jail and they have no jobs and they have no housing and we are just shocked when they end up in jail. We must end the incarceration of nonviolent Young Americans who do not pose a serious threat to our society. It is an International Embarrassment that we have more people in jail than any other country. It is an be onobscenity that we stigmatize so many Young Americans with a criminal record for smoking marijuana but oddly enough not one major wall street executive has been prosecuted for causing the nearcollapse of our entire economy. [ applause ] doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me. [ applause ] we need to end prisons for profit. [ applause ] i do not want corporations making money and more money based on how many people we lock up. The measure of serious and effective Law Enforcement should not be how many people go to jail, but how many people we can keep out of jail. We need to invest in drug courts and medical and Mental Health intervention. Mental health, what an issue. So many of our people in jail are dealing with Mental Health issues and i can tell you as a senator i get calls and i think others do as well. My brother, i worry about what hes going to do to himself or other people. We searched for affordable Mental Health care and we cant find it. Thats a story going on all over america, and that is a story that has to change. [ applause ] furthermore, we have to take a hard look and the tragedy last month and South Carolina reminds me of that so strongly that there are still those who seek to terrorize and they are terrorists, the Africanamerican Community with violence and intimidation. Some of us thought that that had ended 50 years ago, but it hasnt. We need to make sure that federal resources are available to crack down on the illegal activities of hate groups. There are hundreds of groups in this country whose sole reason for existence is hatred of africanamericans, hatred of immigrants hatred of jews and hatred of catholics. That has got to end and the federal government must be active in ending that. [ applause ] so brothers and sisters thank you very much for allowing me to be with you and to share some ideas, and let me conclude maybe in the tone that i began. [ laughter ] and that is that these are very very difficult days. No question about it, but i believe that if we stand together as a people if we dont let people divide us by race gender, Sexual Orientation or what country we were born in if we stand together, if we have the courage to take on those people today whose greed is destroying america if we do that there is nothing that we cannot accomplish, and i am confident that the urban league will be in the forefront of that struggle. Thank you so much. [ applause ] senator Bernie Sanders. Thank you very much, senator. Three quick questions and the National Urban league will promulgate a question air which will seek your position on the agenda, can you commit to respond to that questionnaire . Absolutely. Number two millennials, young people are a big part of this organization and an important part of the electorate today. Any word youd like to say specifically about the role that they will play in your campaign and your administration or in the future of the nation . Well mark just the other day on wednesday night some of you may know we did something that was unprecedented and we had 3700 organizing meetings in every state in this country bringing out more than 100,000 people and you know what . Most of them were young people and i believe very strongly not only in terms of my campaign but in the future of this country that we have got to mobilize the idealism and the energy of young people and my campaign will do everything we can to make that happen. And an important part for the Africanamerican Community of the racial wealth gap. The income inequality gap has to do with the fact that our small entrepreneur africanamerican owned businesses are facing frozen credit markets and difficulty to grow. Talk about that in terms of how it fits into your thinking. Thank you for making that extremely important point. People cant succeed in Small Business unless they have accessible affordable credit. On the broader level one of the points that im making in this campaign is that wall street is an island unto itself more concerned about their own profits than making affordable loans to Small Business and potential homeowners and thats why i have called for the breaking up of the major Financial Institutions in this country which will in fact, increase credit for small and mediumsized businesses. Senator Bernie Sanders lets thank him for being here with us. Thank you very much. At the National Urban league. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, we will have our speaker. Dont go far. We will resume and return to your seats and lets give Bernie Sanders another round of applause and i want to thank urban league trustees and ceos and gilders young professionals, affiliate board leaders and affiliate staff. Lets give them a round of applause for all of their work. [ applause ] and jermaine once again. This has been a great morning, a great session and youve been just a wonderful crowd and lets give the representatives of the media a big hand for coming out and supporting by letting the American People see this forum today our final candidate hails from a family that is no stranger to the state of florida, to the white house or to american politics. Three generations of members of the bush family have served the federal government and two have held the oval office. Our next speaker is looking to win the trifecta and our next speaker has served as Sunshine State of florida, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the National Urban League Governor jeb bush. [ applause ] thank you all very much. I appreciate your hospitality and your excellent choice of the best state to hold your annual conference. [ applause ] im not biased or anything. The urban League Movement runs deeper with seven affiliates from tallahassee to Broward County and greater miami. If you were all hoping to find the most diverse dynamic, forwardlooking site to your convention you came to the right place and you are always welcome in florida. [ applause ] mark i especially thank you and the trustees for this very kind invitation. Im honored to be your guest. I am pleased to see other candidates here, as well. Secretary clinton, governor omalley, senator sanders and a good man who is bringing a lot of wisdom to the republican side, dr. Ben carson. By the way im glad hell make it into the top ten for next weeks debate. Before that things over we just might need a doctor. [ laughter ] just saying. For my part, im working hard every day for the vote and in politics, the best kind of support begins in friendship and fellowship. My florida 14s and partners in the urban league include some of the most formidable people that any of us know. Among them, a National Trustee education leader and great woman, julia johnson. Give her a round of applause. [ applause ] and a man who basically built this movement from the ground up in florida, my good friend t. Willard fair. [ applause ] fair came to this state for a Job Interview with a miami affiliate. As he tells the story and i quote, i dont know if they intended to hire me, but i intended to be hired. That was 55 years ago. And as weve all learned since, when fair intends for something to happen dont be too surprised when it does. Hes an unstoppable leader and im honored to call him my friend. After i lost my first election in 1994 i went through a period what some might call selfreflection. I refer to it as listening and learning. I converted to my wifes catholic faith. I went to family courthouses where there were cases of children abused and neglected and parents trying, but unable to meet their obligations because of barriers, Language Skills or otherwise that held them back. In my next campaign i visited 250 schools across florida. Many of them in lowincome communities. I also partnered with the urban league of greater miami and tall fair to do something that was new to me. Together we built the Liberty City Charter School and at that time there were no charters in florida. So we said, lets change the law. Lats go build the Charter School and lets start something new and hopeful for people who shouldnt have to wait for a real opportunity and together we got it done. That first year, 90 black children in liberty city began the journey to success and the day that open was one of the happiest and proudest of my life. Through that listening and learning, what i found it were children who had the godgivenable to achieve, yet for reasons out of their hands, structural historic economic, they didnt have the same chance at success as their peers. Im indebted to tal and to many others around florida for that perspective. It made me a better person a better candidate in 1998 and a better governor for eight years that followed. That experience still shapes the way i see the deepseeded challenges facing people in urban communities today. I know there are unjust air barriers for opportunity and upward mobility in the country. Some we can see and others are unseen, but just as real. So many lives can come to nothing or come to grief when we ignore problems or failed to meet our own responsibilities and so many people could do so much better in life if we could come together and get a few big things right in government. I acted on that belief as governor of florida. Its a record ill gladly compare with anybody else in the field. Just for starters, leaders know there are plenty of tough calls we have to make so we should not be wasting time agonizing over the easy ones. So 14 years ago when the question was whether to keep the Confederate Flag on the grounds of the Florida State capital. I said no and put it in a museum where it belongs. [ applause ] another easy call was reaching out for talent wherever i found it for my cabinet and staff and state agencies and the courts. Look, youre not going to get good judgment in government when everybody comes from the same life experience. [ applause ] we increased the number of black for floridians, by 83 and the state use of minorityowned businesses tripled. You cant serve all the people unless you represent all the people and we did it. [ applause ] we did it with the most diverse appointments this state has ever seen. From my first day as governor until the last, respect was the rule and opportunity for all was the goal. In most lives opportunity is a hollow word unless youve got the dignity of a job and a paycheck. It becomes real when people are hiring and the economys growing and thats what we accomplished in florida. We got the state economy growing at 4. 4 a year. Average family incomes went up in every income group and we made florida the number one jobcreating state in the whole nation. We applied conservative principles and applied them favorably without waiting and we found with fewer obstacles imposed by govern am more people had the opportunity to have success and Adult Education and workforce training. We expanded our Community College system and made it more affordable for lowincome families. Florida in those years helped thousands more firstgeneration College Students make it all the way to graduation. We didnt lose sight of the ones who had missed their chance at a better life or maybe even lost their way and landed in jail. In florida, we didnt want to fill prisons with nonviolent offenders. So we expanded drug courts. They started here in florida and we expanded them all across the state and we created prevention programs. I took the view as i would as president that real justice in america has got to also include restorative justice. [ applause ] i opened the first faithbased, in the United States and hired exoffenders and we shouldnt be writing people off denying them a Second Chance for a life of meaning and many only ask to start again, to get back in the game and do it right and as a country we should say yes whenever we can. [ applause ] we also went after the real enemy that inflicts our cities, the smugglers, the drug cartels and the violent criminals that profit from the undoing of so many lives. We pass tough sentencing laws for gun crimes and ensured dangerous people were kept off our streets. As a result of all of this we brought Violent Crime in florida down to a 27year low and drug abuse way down as well. Social progress is always the story of widening the circle of opportunity. For that reason, i gave the challenge of School Reform everything i had as governor because if we fail at that responsibility, its a bitter loss. I believe in the right to rise in this country and a child is not rising if hes not reading. [ applause ] when i took Office Florida was near the bottom in student achievement. Almost half of all fourth graders were function alley illiterate and half of all High School Kids never even graduated so we overhauled the whole system, set clear standards and brought out the best in our great teachers. We insisted on testing and accountability. We created the first statewide private School Choice programs in america. We expanded high performing Charter Schools and we ended the insidious policy of social promotion in third grade, the practice of just passing unprepared kids along as if we didnt care because we did care and we should care. You dont show that by counting out anyones child. You give them all a chance and thats what we did in florida. [ applause ] a lot changed in those years, Graduation Rates went up by 50 . The number of black and hispanic students passing a. P. Exams increased four times over. We also became the leader in Early Childhood education and we still are today. Among minority children florida saw the greatest gains anywhere in the United States and what does that show . It shows that every child could learn no matter their race, no matter their background no matter where they live. I know this can be done. The debate is changing and old orthodoxies are falling away but we can never forget that longterm reform doesnt help a child right now years of learning are years that are lost forever. I think of the kids in washington, d. C. Who received opportunity scholarships and a couple thousand boys and girls almost all of them black have been given a chance to leave the worst schools and go to the best, yet every year the unions and the politicians want to shut this program down because they dont like parental choice. Period. Well, heres the deal. This is what i believe. I believe every parent should have choices. Every school should have high standards and High Expectations and the federal government should have nothing to do with setting them. Washington should support reform and provide resources especially where the need is greatest but building knowledge and shaping character is the job of principles teachers and most particularly parents. Thats where the power should belong. When president obama says that, quote, for too long weve been blind to the way past injustices continue to shape the present. He is speaking the truth. [ applause ] but we should be just as candid about our failures of addressing the injustices of a more recent origin. In our cities, weve got so many people that have never known anything, but poverty. So many young adults with no vision of a life beyond a life they know. Its a tragedy for them and such a loss to our country because every one of them has a godgiven purpose to live out and godgiven talents that this world needs. Every one of them was also promised at least one big break in life in the form of a Public School to help them learn what they are and what they can do. For millions its a false promise as technology advances, the first wrong of the ladder is getting higher and higher and higher. If we dont create an Education System that allows young people to reach it were setting them up for a lifetime of failure. So you and i have to call this situation what it is the worst inequality in America Today and the source of so many other inequalities. I want to work with the urban League Movement to end this injustice once and for all. [ applause ] for half a century this nation has pursued the war on poverty and Government Programs funded with millions of taxpayer dollars, this decadeslong effort while well inch telephononed has been a losing one and theyve been counted in the millions who have never had a chance at work whose families fell victim to drugs and violence in the crushing of the spirit. One of the best antipoverty programs is a Strong Family led by two committed parents. As the family breaks down so does opportunity. Poverty among dualparent families is about 7 . Among families with single mothers, its about 35 . The reason is simple. Its a lot tougher to raise a family alone. Too many kids are growing up without their dad. Fathers who are absent in their childs life need to step up and take responsibility and its incumbent on us [ applause ] its incumbent on us to insert the societal efforts that can turn the tide in the breakdown of fatherhood in america, but for many that is not an option and theres no tougher job in the world than being a single mom. [ applause ] soy so as governor of florida, i doubled efforts to collect Child Support payments and we increase collections by 90 and the children were better off because of that. [ applause ] together, with a quality education and a Family Support system ending the cycle of poverty requires access to jobs. Ive set a goal that will define my economic agenda should i become president. I do not for one moment accept the supposed new normal of anemic 2 growth. I believe were ready in america to achieve annual Economic Growth of 4 and a lot rides on the difference and the difference is Pretty Simple to state. The new normal is more businesses going under rather than starting up. 4 growth is a true revival of the private sector and 19 million new jobs. The new normal is the static present for struggling cities. 4 growth is more enterprise in urban areas, more people moving in, a higher tax base and more revenues. In other words, a better chance to save our cities. We can do this as a country. We can grow at a pace that lifts up everybody and theres no excuse for not trying. Big, audacious goals are Second Nature to the men and women of the urban league. That spirit is most needed when things break down as we know they do in anger and violence. Weve seen that yet again this year when all these issues ive discussed make it harder and harder for people to imagine a hopeful future and then its easy to see why theres anger and disillusionment. Trust in our vital institutions is at historic lows and its up to all of us to work diligently to rebuild that trust. That happens one person at a time, one politician at a time. One Police Officer at a time, one Community Leader at a time. It begins with respect dialogue and the courage to reach out in peace and those were exactly the qualities we saw two of your affiliate president s and michael and j. Howard henderson of baltimore. [ applause ] these good men were tested and they showed us the way. Strength to love as Martin Luther king called it, always shows the way and sometimes as is in charleston last month it shines as a true light in the darkness. In the community of that city we found such grace, such purity of heart, such heroic goodness and such boundless mercy all gathered up in one story. Wed like to think that charles torns response to evil told the world something good and right about this nation and our people and it surely did, yet even more that congregation of believers and that city gave witness to the character that built a movement and inspires it to this day. I will endeavor to live up to the goodness of charleston and work with you to better our communities where as your neighbor or as your president. I know there are great and lasting things we can achieve together. Maybe only together to keep america faithful to its ideals of equality and justice for all. Your support in that effort is something i will work every day to earn. I welcome your friendship, and i ask for your vote. God bless you all and thank you for the invitation. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, governor bush one more time. [ applause ] governor, we at the National Urban league will promulgate. Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your seats. Ive got three questions and then an announcement about the schedule for today. Were going to promulgate a questionnaire. Im in. Youre in young people the new generation and millennials and the next one is Small Business africanamericanowned businesses, frozen credit markets and lack of opportunity and what you do about that . As it relates to the millennials, if you think about it the people in their 20s have really not gotten a great deal in the last few Years College attainment rates are lower today than our generation. Youre younger than me. My generation. Thank you. [ laughter ] but its remarkable. We basically flat line the College Attainment levels. We measure fouryear degrees in terms of attainment in six years. Student loans have grown exponentially, but Graduation Rates havent risen and so young people are stuck with debt. The job market growing at 2 is not creating the first wrung on the ladder for young people. Our government is obsolete and millennials are frustrated with that because theyre much more tech savvy and were not growing at a rate that lifts people up. In fact, obamacare is designed to be effective for young people to be mandated and to be in exchanges as Healthy People and take care of people our age who may not be potentially as healthy. Having not gotten a great deal youre in great shape. The point is that you have to have you cant have a society where the next generation has less opportunities than we had and one of the ways you do that [ applause ] one of the ways you do that as it relates to africanamericanowned business is to use the power of government. Look we had a tough fight with a program called one florida. It was very controversial, but we ended up because we turned it into a leadership model. Instead of saying well have a bunch of people counting certifying businesses i pretty much know youre a black man. You pretty much know im a white guy, right . I dont need to spend a lot of quality time going through that so we turn all of these bureaucrats and certifiers and compliance officers, we turn them into marketing arms for businesses and the amount of increase in procurement for blackowned businesses and hispanicowned businesses and womenowned businesses grew exponentially 400 . So government can play a very useful role in providing opportunities for people that otherwise may make it possible to sustain the business and then expand out. So i think thats a useful place for us to operate, as well. The final thing id say is that the access to credit issue has been made worse by the most complicated financial regulatory system, and ill tell you its the too big to fail challenge is real, and i think increasing Capital Requirements for banks that have accumulated more assets today postcrash than precrash, but what the problem is the same rules apply to small bankses and Community Banks and banks embedded in the communities both urban and rural and the net result is they cant sustain their business because they have to hire the same compliance officers as j. P. Morgan does and trust me j. P. Morgan has the scale. So if were going to be serious about making sure that the next generation of entrepreneurs gets capital, we better protect our Community Banks from going out of business. Thank you, governor. Ladies and gentlemen, governor jeb bush and hell be live. Ladies and gentlemen, just as he begins to work the rope line, lunch will start at 12 30 instead of 12 00. Work shops will go from 11 00 to 12 15. Please note the change. Heres a look at whats ahead in congress. The u. S. House continues its august district work period. The chamber will have pro forma sessions every three days, legislative work resumes september 8th. The senates back to work today at 2 00 p. M. Eastern. We expect work on a bill to defund planned parenthood. Live coverage of the house on cspan and the senates on cspan2. The republican president ial candidates are in manchester New Hampshire for the first president ial forum today at 7 00 p. M. Eastern and cspans road to the white house is providing live coverage on cspan cspan radio and cspan. Org and the New Hampshire
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