Transcripts For CSPAN Dealing With Police Police Brutality

make your own choices, or should washingtonres in make those decisions? to talking about your right self-defense. it should be your choice, you're right. y votedsman brale against your right. nra political victory fund is responsible for the content of this advertising. ernst promises shut down the department of education, wa students. >> [indiscernible] ernst, promises for them, too extreme for us. >> we will have live coverage of that debate sunday at 6:00 eastern, 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. the family research council is having its values voters summit with remarks from rand paul. he tweeted out his speech, and you can read it at www.c-span.org. also at the event, rick santorum, sarah palin, bobby jindal. you can see live coverage of the value voters summit this afternoon on c-span2. the congressional black caucus holds its annual legislative conference. this afternoon, a discussion on police and race. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] it looks like they are not quite ready to start, at their annual legislative conference. a couple of the guests still not yet in the room. this afternoon, we will bring you that discussion on police and race as it gets underway. now a discussion on poverty on this morning's "washington journal. host: new numbers on poverty in the united states. 2013 the census bureau says 45 million americans lived under the poverty line, which is 14.5% of the population -- host: numbers on poverty in the united states. 2013 the census bureau says 45 million americans lived under the poverty line, which is 14.5% of the population. for historical purposes, you can see other years. 2012, 15%. 47 million people. 2007, 12.5% of the population in poverty. 1959, 40 million people. over 1/5 of americans lived in poverty. robert doar of the american enterprise institute, when you see that number, 14.5% of the population in poverty, what is your reaction? guest: discouraged and disappointed. we are worse than we were in 2007. and significantly worse than we were in 2000. we reached cut of a trough, and we have gone backwards since then. it is disappointing and we have to rethink what we are doing and examine how we got away from what we were doing that was successful in the late 1990's. host: olivia golden, center for law and social policy? guest: we had a reduction last year and we had a reduction in child poverty. so we roughly addressed the blitz from the recession and got close to 2007, but that is not an acceptable level. we still have one in five young adults beginning their careers, ages 18 to 24, and because we know a lot about the lifelong consequences of poverty in those years, i think we have to take really seriously what we do next. which, for me, has a lot to do with the economy, low wage work, and challenges that families face. host: you talked about 2000, a good economic year for the united states -- you think that poverty levels would go down. guest: that is true, but there was much more focus into getting people into employment as rapidly as possible. now i think we are more focused on providing assistance, which is good, but can distract from the objective of getting people into employment point. we are five years from the recession. we're not back to where we were in 2007. we are a long way from where we were in 2000. host: i have a different analysis -- national for the office, and a half of alpha ph alpha, i would like to thank you for attending this afternoon. we will go ahead and get things started. the discussion needs to be had in our communities. i'm am excited. are you guys excited? good. the first person, he was elected from nevada's fourth congressional district in 2012. he is the first african american color to serve in nevada's delegation. he represents one of the most diverse districts in the country. he has served in nevada's state senate, and the 2008 became nevada's youngest state senate majority leader. he serves on the finance committee and the committee on government reform. join me in welcoming congressman steven horsford. afternoon. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> i know we were out late, now, but we're here now. it is great to be here. thank you, josh, to the brothers alphi.hi out far i am so pleased to have this dynamic panel and fellow fraternity brother moderating this panel as well. i would like to give a couple of opening remarks because as everyone knows, we are here in large part because of an event that occurred on august 9 in ferguson, missouri, when a young, unarmed boy who had just graduated high school and who literally was weeks away from enrolling in college had his life taken from him in an unnecessary event and tragic event. i had the honor of attending michael brown's funeral at the request of one of my colleagues who represents that area, and i attended to pay my respects to the family and to the community, but also to be part of this national conversation about what we can do to improve the relationshipice and what each one of us can do to make sure that we know our right, and that is what this panel is all about. during the funeral, one of the young man who spoke on behalf of michael brown -- he was a friend of his -- said that michael brown wanted the world to know his name. this tragic, unfortunate, and unnecessary event in the circumstances following that tragic event, the fact that we had literally law enforcement agencies in ferguson having the militarizing force in a community and turned it could equipmenturned against citizens who were expressing their first-amendment right to protest, we have to use that tragic event as an opportunity now to have this larger discussion, and that is what this panel is all about today. to ask for your help and support, because there are members of congress who are working hard and have been working hard to try to address these issues well before the in ferguson, event before even trayvon martin. i sponsored the universal respect act, which is one opportunity for us to enact meaningful change. woulda bill that require a comprehensive review of law enforcement policies across the country in order to eliminate or seizures that result in racial profiling. the legislation would amend the homeland security act to require that recipients of federal law enforcement grants and training facilities do not engage in racial profiling and that they cannot prove that, then they would be at risk of receiving funds from the department of homeland security. this is a companion bill to racialsman conyers' end profiling act that could aid similar thing with the department of justice grants. we need your help. we need you to push other members of congress to support this legislation. every member of the congressional but caucus -- thesecaucus supports measures. many of our colleagues do as well. but we need others to contact your local congressional member and to ask them to sign on to these bills and help bring them to a vote in the house, because the only way that we are going to change these dynamics is by that support those changes. so as we continue to mourn the loss of michael brown and others who were tragically taken away from us, we must use our energy and our grassroots organizations to call for change. these types of local discussions such as the one we are having today is where real solutions can deform and shaped by the is finallyand it important that we as american citizens know our rights, know that we are protected by the constitution, and fight for our dignity against brutal actions by certain law enforcement agencies, and i want to say this -- enforcement% of law officers and agencies do their jobs respectfully and professionally. but there are those instances where officers are not following those standards, and they need to be held accountable. and so while we support those men and women who serve and protect us, we also want to hold those accountable who are not doing their job in the manner in which they are called upon. and so i want to again thank the alpha forf alpha phi this panel and the discussion we're going to hear next. thank you for bringing your voice to these issues, and each one of you brings your own perspectives, so thank you very much for participating and for all of you being here today. have a great day. [applause] >> now we will get this conversation started. i would like to introduce someone who you all may know. he is an actor and author of two books.- five my apologies. the most important thing is that this brother is truly invested in empowering his community. he has a passion or empowering young people. to inspire them to manifest their destiny can and he is bringing his foundation to the d c area to expand upon that, so if you would join me in working on a person that i have to pleasure of calling my fraternity brother, mr. hill h arper. >> thank you, everybody. this is a very important panel, and i know it is a friday afternoon at around 3:00 at the time the folks at a little sleepy. but this is a panel where we need everyone to be engaged. this is a panel that is about life and death. i takebout issues that extremely seriously, and first of all, i want to say i want to dedicate this panel to the late chuck stone, who was renowned for using his column in "the philadelphia times" to combat police brutality. yet more than 75 black men turn themselves into him first in efforts to not have them beaten by the police. he would take their photos, and if they showed up with scars or bruises after they were turned over to the police, he read about it in the newspaper the next day, and he chronicled this. he is someone who chose to hold others accountable, and that is in part what we are going to talk about today in this panel. often times i find that panels and meander and we talk about things and we hear people say, you know what we need to do, we need to do this, i want this panel to focus on what i am going to do, what you are going to do them and who are we going to choose to hold accountable, and what steps we will take a terms of our energy to do that. out, most of these panelists are holding individuals, will, and i want to do a quick rundown. the more extensive bios are in the programs on the seats, so let's introduce folks. my brother ahmad is cofounder leader and policy director. while growing up in a brutal military occupation, he developed an interest in social justice. ixt week have charles -- if say your name incorrectly, just wave your name to the people -- charles bell. he recently became the face of international media coverage surrounding his august 2014 wrongful arrest by local law enforcement agencies where he was arrested and held on $100,000 bond, and denied immediate access to an attorney. next we have ruby sales, founder and executive director of the .pirit house project with spiritual maturity, spirit house has stood at the forefront in breaking the silence on state-sanctioned murders of black folks by white police. it has documented more than 1000 of these cases. have c.c. battles. she is a higher educational professional who is national -- who is passionate about youth engagement. she serves as the core nader for the campus vote project where she works with colleges and universities. have there'll parks -- darryl park. he and his lara form -- law firm have this thing was themselves --successful the giddy -- successful litigators. ivory, a veteran washington area journalists, media executive. secular -- was a executive director of -- he is a director for the national association of black journalists. i have good news for you all to the palace for it my brother is not the moderator of the panel. i am, which means you get to talk. that is good. we areto tell you where going so folks have a roadmap of what we are trying to achieve so we are coordinate. i want to break this panel down into five steps. first, i want to start with a that. i want us to lay out a that we are talking about so we at least have data from which to frame a discussion. i want to go to the micro areas each is more of a personal relationship to this issue. then i want to doug about macro, the bigger areas, which will need policy. then i want to open it up to the audience, audience questions. and then i went to and with -- end with action. first, let's go with data. i want to go to ruby sales. i spoke on a panel this week about equity in education with young black men, and it was detailed and laid out very eloquently how much data there is around education and government, keeping data about education. while researching this panel, i found no government agency is currently tracking the killing of african-american males. and so spirit house project has been tracking state-sanctioned murders of black boys and men. talk about some of those numbers, and not all of these are making national headlines. >> thank you very much for the opportunity to be a part of this absolutely urgent conversation, thei hope that as we end conversation, we will have a broader understanding of why we should act. want to first of all say to you that i want to start my conversation quickly with a song that was written in 1963 when three men were murdered in the society. it was written by ernie's johnson -- by bernice regan. we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. until the killing of black brothers and sons is as important as the killing of white mothers' sons, we will not believe in freedom until it comes. as we think about those words stay, the thing i must say to all honesty and urgency, that this is not merely about black men. on the an assault african-american community and that the discourse must be expanded to include the lives of our sisters and our mothers. but women are being killed. they're being raped. melissa williams in cleveland, ohio, was writing in the car with her boyfriend rick they were chased by 59 police cars itsfired 137 rounds of all into the car dash of bullets into the car, killing both of them. we have a case of the young woman in detroit, michigan, who was killed by a swat team who entered her house. years old. we have 93 --year-old in texas who was killed by police. this is a crisis that is not confined to gender. spirit house has documented since 2007 when i became interested in this issue after reading a small little story about an african-american man from 17 years old in mississippi, billy joe johnson, who died suspiciously in the hands of the deputy sheriff on a dark road in mississippi. it turns out that he had scholarships to multiple schools. he was an athlete. it turns out that he was shot and was let to lie in the street for seven hours. mr. and mrs. johnson will not allow to see their son as he lay in the street. mrs. johnson passed out. so when we see what happened to michael brown, we understand showed us that michael brown is the tip of a larger iceberg, that racked bodies are not valued in the society. we live in what i call an age of disposability of culture of capitalist technocracy where and a few people matter inspire a culture of violence, where black bodies are the the lowestarry currency in society. so when we look at michael brown the guy who was just killed in ohio, we begin to detect a real pattern that the assault is on the african-american community. i know that black men are being killed, larger than all other numbers, but like women are being killed, in larger numbers than all of their women. until we can frame a discourse reality thatts the the entire black community is being profiled, to be black is to be a suspect, to be black is considered to be a criminal, to be black is -- means that you're not safe in american society. and in those 1000 murders that we have catalogued, there are several things that you need to know. >> i was sucking right now, because i want to stay focused right now on data -- i want to stay focused right now. inappreciate your comments that space and about this issue in general. i would like to open it up to the rest of the panel to share any data that they believe is relevant to this discussion. anyone? summit,e seven-year this is from "usa today" and ian , the and like hill said travesty of this is that these statistics are not really kept. independent media organizations have to go and talk to the fbi and peace these things together -- and piece these things together. 2012, two times a week a white cop tilde never whitein american -- a a cop killed an african-american. of black men or black people under age 21 were the victims in these shootings appeared to 8.7% of white people. weree cases that complained about war drew media attention, of the 26,000 has keptts that the fbi track of, only 2000 -- up t of 26,000 -- only 2000 were considered excessive. that is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. >> one data point, i was asked , and i went down there. i spent four days in ferguson. as i was kind of getting through things and looking at my own data points, the one that stuck in to me the most was that 2013, in the municipality of ferguson, missouri, there were 1500 arrest warrants issued per 1000 citizens. break down want to what an arrest warrant is cut it is issued by a judge after some type of penalty or ticketing of an individual. the to make their court arrestnce, so an warrant is issued. when you think about that, in one year, 1500 arrest warrants per 1000 people, you're talking about a municipality that is basically creating their whole income and budget off of writing tickets have aggressively, picking up people, an institutional mandate that i am going to grant these citizens, and the poorest among them, i am going to find them, get them -- fine them, to get them, and when to do not show up and pay their fine, i will issue an arrest warrant. i was astounded by that. astounded by that. any other comments from the vis data? a >> i just want to add, it reiterate what the brother here says, that the malcolm x grassroots report tells us that every 28 hours a black man, woman, or child is killed by white police, security guard, or vigilante. >> so i want to take it a little bit more personal. i want to go to charles bell first, and i would like to hear from all the panelists on this. this is really about what are some of your personal encounters -- what have been some of your personal counters with the police come and, charles, will you run down what happened with you, give us in detail, another panelists, i would've to hear you talk about whether when you were young or even now, some of your personal encounters with police. >> for me, for 51 years i was able to stay on the right side of the law. i have never been stopped or arrested, handcuffed, put in a car, any of that stuff. and i thought i was going to happen, i never thought it was going to happen just walking down the street. i was walking down the street, was mistakenly identified for the wrong tall, bald, black man who had just served as an accomplice to robbing a bank, armed robbery of a bank out in los angeles. -- i sat on the curb in handcuffs for 45 minutes, taken -- not really told why. i was told it was a bank robbery and i matched a description. that is what i was told. i was then taken to the station where i was figure printed, booked, denied access to making a phone call, was not told i was beingt arrested for, and was told by the booking officer when i made a comment, this is a bad dream, she said to me, yes, this is a serious crime that you have committed. of theughout the end night, i was released six hours later once i asked the fbi agents and the detectives, clearly, you guys have reviewed the videotape at the bank and saw that it was not me. maybe it looked like me, but here are features you may have missed. i was told they had not reviewed the videotape. so after spending six hours in there and at my request, i reviewed the videotape, in five minutes i was released. i was released and given a slip of paper that said i was just detained, i was not arrested, it was a detention certificate. personally for me, i felt while i had escaped 51 years of being arrested, it was not being reduced to just being detained until i later found out a week later that there was an arrest record for me on the internet at the lapd shares department. sheriff's department. when i asked about my actions, my whole set of actions surrounding that and how it can affect each and every one of you, each and every one of us. would like to comment. i was raised in miami, florida. i do not know if anybody is here from miami. miami police officers are not necessarily to folks who look like me. yeah, at all. an interesting, i have a similar story. i have not told many folks. i was detained as well at the time. i was in grad school. just finished my application to become a gubernatorial fellow. my boyfriend at the time was driving. they told us over. license, andr his asked for my license, even passenger.s the i was, why do you need my license? i knew what to say. i gave the lady my license, and she told me there is a warrant out for your restaurant and i said from what? she said, well, that you have a suspended license, but when i ran your license, it does not say suspended, so i am confused. so i said, so what you're telling me? i do not know, i just have to take you in. long story short, similar to your store, it was a system error, and they told me, no, you do not have an arrest record. fault.my bad, their they did find out i to go through this expungement process for something that was a system error. i can agree with that. in terms of a call to action, piece we forget about is mobilizing and communities. one of the things in terms if you are not part of the solution, you're part of the problem, that is why i work with a campus project, and i am having about educating our young people. the reason why a lot of folks, especially law enforcement officers that are in these high positions do not take it seriously, because they know they cannot lose their job. not really matter. i'm still going to be here regardless of what i wanted to. it is little pieces like what kind of training are these having, al qaeda protocol, or kind of interactions are you allowed to have with citizens. we are not part of the conversation because we are not seen as viable because we do not exercise our right to vote. that is important. ,ext i would like to say is being in miami, i am pulled over lot even if i am not speaking. you have the right to be smart, and one of the things i was telling my friend here is that i with myalk constitution, but when i am pulled over it is on my lap. i am not just this brown face that you see in the media. i know my rights in real life. so i think enough -- another part of our conversation is we have the right to play smart and know what to do. note, what is an individual obligated to do when approach by police? what are they obligated to do, and how should an individual act and what are some of the things that your clients have done that is the right thing and what are some of the clients have done that are the wrong thing? >> i was listening to the previous speaker from miami comanche was saying she used to be a smart driver. last week i got stopped in georgia. i answered the questions, signed the ticket, and move on is what i tell you. [laughter] -- [applause] the time to get smart is fud then. legal tidbit. in the state of georgia, they have a real good law that says if you are driving less than 15 yous over the speed limit, can just pay the fine and it does not count against your license. so the big fight i was about to put on, is about money for them. so give them a little money. it was -- i'm not going to the county divided. you all go in. i have not. you do not fight them on the side of the road. our policymakers point police chiefs, right, so they hired goons, get rid of the elected officials. we hire sheriffs who hired goons sometimes. get rid of the sheriffs. you have a way to influence this. one thing we did that i thought was great. a kid was killed at a boot camp up in florida, and although i i was proud- of what happened in the case. there was an e-mail where the .rosecutor was actually new he sent an e-mail saying that we were going to work this out and take care of this for you all. he had to resign. and so you can force some action in some situations. group toead of our resign was major. i will never forget the day that bushlled jeb bush and jeb accepted his resignation and he was gone, because of what happened in that case. compare that to the local sheriff down there who we butted heads with, who did not give up power. he fought and continues to fight. so there is a way to get the solutions, all of it. one thing i will say is when you have issues with the departments, never fight on the side of the road. you cannot beat them in the controlled environment. don't even try, right? no, sir, no, sir. figured out i would've put him, i will not suit you and -- we are not going to have small talk. also, you never know. sometimes i have at times where i was speeding, and my over 90, and talked the trooper out of the ticket. at other times, back in georgia again, they have a local currency that people in law write tickets not to them. i do not know that, so i started talking and i laid out my bar acense out in my wallet, and south georgia redneck said we would like to look out for our law enforcement people. and that included me. i was glad it did on that did. -- on that day. be nice, and nobody likes to be smart, so be careful about that, because so often -- it is a.g. saidlike the when he talked about the mike bryant case, about how mad he was on the side of the road on the new jersey turnpike when he got stopped. all of us get mad when we get stopped, ok? you have to keep your cool, because i will tell you some of the worst tickets i've done on the side of the road was by a black alabama street trooper -- state trooper, and we do the road a lot, and some of us traveled by car. as a potential for a lot of interaction there. it comes in all shapes and forms of sizes. when you think about dream defenders and what you do with individuals, young people, what are some of the things that you teach and what is your own personal relationship? >> thank you. n -brought a stack of these --- c.c. brought a stack of these cards from the aclu, and these are awesome. dream defenders participate in what is known as direct action, civil disobedience, and so our folks are often prepared to be arrested. we feel that folks should know their rights, so i would encourage their rights to get the aclu website and check this out i figured out, or c.c. has a stack of them and you can kindly of get some of them after the panel. we make sure they are prepared for anything, but also knowing that knowing your rights does not always protect you. we know for a fact that michael may he rest in power could have recited the constitution to officer darren wilson and he still may not be with us today. he knows that knowing rights is empowering, but it is not the end all be all solution. i will touch briefly a bit on touched onr parks how you respond to some officers. i was pulled over speeding by a state trooper when i was rushing back to law school to a course, any officer asked what i was speeding, i said i was in a rush to get the criminal law, or something like that, he said we need a lot of people on our side to help us administer justice. knowing full well that i never had any intention of being a prosecutor, i was like, you are right, and i look forward to that they cannot one day to save the state of florida. but just hitting on brother parks' point, you know your rights, but you live to fight another day. so, yes, sir, here you are, here's my license. i do not understand why being pulled over, but i am complying with you, and you live to fight another day. yet a litigator good attitude and court system and one day you can maybe see justice. we know that this often the case . i would leave it at that. i think the dream defenders are willing to go that way. we are willing to get arrested for what we believe in. some are in the crowd right there. i'm sure you have seen them plastered in mugshots across the country. it is something we believe in. we will lay our lives on the line for others because some of the others are not able, have not had the privilege to be able to sacrifice in this manner. many have sacrificed previously, and we would do our part. >> thank you for the sacrifices you have made. a personal story for me, and i am sure we can go around and have stories recounted. i was in alabama trying through -- to a talk in montgomery, was in a rental car, added that with him and the trooper pulled me over. you, i have a degree with honors from harvard law school. he said i want you to step back into my vehicle. and i could not for the life of me remember if he could ask me to do that with no probable cause. in other words, he pulled me over for a speeding ticket. he had all the rights he could. he was welcome to write me a ticket. but asked me to sit in the back of his vehicle, i felt that was beyond the pale. yet i cannot remember or did not know whether i could refuse that request, lawfully refused that because i did not know what his game was great i did not know if he wanted to put me in the back and then claim that i did something that i do not do. or if it would be better for me to sit there, so i'm thinking to early in the morning. probably 6:00 the morning. and the highway is deserted. so i'm thinking about, ok, now, you're supposed to be smart brother. you're supposed to know something. -- got this law to agree. law degree. what what they hear? i decided to sit in the back of a car. got out of my car, fine, got in the back of his vehicle. he shuts the door, and i cannot open the door. he will have to let me out if i'm getting out of the back of the car. and he proceeds to lecture me about why and how he is writing this to get and what i can do to fight this ticket. me toot think he expected interact within the way that i did. and i ultimately invited him to my speech in montgomery, which he refused to attend. and i asked him if he knew about some of the wonderful civil rights leaders that have worked this very highway and out he is in service of them. he did not appreciate that much, but i said it is a very nice way. i felt like i had to get him back a little bit. [laughter] so i took my ticket and went on. but i say that story to say that even if you think that you're educated owner something, you can be asked to do something or put in situations individually by individuals of so-called authority, please officers, etc., and you may not know what to do or how to do it. one have any comment about that? >> got to be careful about a little get back. love, undermy job i the federal rules, you get to sue the police individually. , bringing themem into the deposition, a camera in and answered the question about everything, right? they do not like it. i mean, and it is not racial, because one of our associates did an incredible job working down a drug detective in jacksonville. he just busted out of the room. he thought he had the right to leave. his lawyer had to go back and get him and bring you back in there for three more hours. i want to move to the macro with the policy area and the perfect person to help us move in that congressman bobby scott, sigh would like to invite congressman scott up to the andum to bring remarks, after that we will kick into the macro discussion or policy discussion. congressman bobby scott? [applause] >> thank you very much, and thank you for helping us in a lot of different areas. you have testified before the youth activity prevention, early intervention approach, to require people who mess up, he can get caught up into a bidding war, how much time they're going to serve. a little proactive approach a thought more sense. i want to thank you for coming to testify. ly for a longdarr time. national bar association, and -profilee whole high candidates. my own paternity -- fraternity, keeping them on the right track and has been a theme for over 100 years. the national association of black journalists and i want to thank you for bringing us together so we can discuss the activities behind knowing your rights. one of the problems we have, that just came to light in ferguson, is that the police did not fall out of the sky. they were hired in a democratic process, and if people did not vote, then you have a disconnect between the police and law community. and the people have to exercise their votes. alpha phi alpha has that as one ss their themes, a votele people is a hopeless people. that has been their theme for a number of years. the president and former president of the fraternity are here. to the extent we can focus on making sure we participate in a democratic process and make sure the right people are elected, so the right people are selecting the law enforcement officials, that will go a long way to solving these problems. i thank you for all you do and using your celebrity status to help in a number of different ways, crime prevention, early intervention being just one of a few. thank you very much. >> thank you, congressman. ruby, i know you want to say something. go on. >> first of all, i think i was in ferguson for two weeks, and then i was back for another two weeks, and we have a teach-in any revival, social justice revival. we all have stories to tell, but what young people do not understand is why is this happening to them. what is the landscape that has generated these assaults against them that they feel are unwarranted? i believe in order to organize successfully, one has to understand the context for the fight. aning is and essential -- essential part of participatory must ask, but one the question, what happens when the pentagon, since 1990, has been giving weapons to police departments under the auspices of a war on drugs and those weapons have been aimed its way and the african-american community? we have some serious questions to ask about what was going on and why did we not know that, and why is it that we allowed those things to happen and what can we do to change that? when police department are armed by the federal government, the pentagon, you're moving away from democracy, to a totalitarian state, to armed state police. i am going to say some things that people have not been saying. i think it is very important for us like people to understand that we are living in a society where colored people are 2/3 of the majority, no longer the majority, and what we are experiencing, whether the military industrial competition, whether it is shoot, being killed in the streets, are being killed with capital punishment, those are means of social control. it is a means of maintaining white supremacy in the 2/3 colored world. we need to be -- we are living in a age of the southern strategy, and these are all issues that we should be very aware of. at least we are land to go to the slaughter without hundred -- lambs going to the slaughter. we are dealing with pernicious issues today of power, domination, and control. young people are feeling very powerless. young people do not understand what have they done to generate this, and they are very upset with all the people who keep telling them to vote without understanding that voting is one aspect of participatory democracy, but it is important to be educated to understand who you are and in the world and how in ann manage to struggle intelligent and smart way. it is more than police training. these guys are trained to profile. these guys are trained with those massive weapons of distraction. in compton, california, when school at security guards had ak-47's for the students there. we need to really come out of this fog and be honest and ask some very serious questions about why are we where we are today. organizecan we do to and change the policy, how do we deal with stand your ground? >> thank you, as a segue into this, i wanted you -- [applause] thank you. mediahat suck about the as we move toward -- let's talk about the media. what has been the media portrayal of black men, and what -- whatt nest syndrome does that message sent to him and how can media be used to combat totality, and what is the most effective way to get information to the media as well? --i think >> pull the mike kosher to you. >> -- closer to you. >> first of all, the thing i think that needs to be explained in terms of the media is that we are not all created equal, ok? bad reporterse and editors, just like there are bad doctors and nurses. and bad police officers. unfortunately, in this country, it kind of runs the gamut from podunk little towns that have really poor media operations to really big media companies who do bad jobs. unfortunately, for us, i think the narrative of the black have been highlighted perhaps more than successes of the community. the thing that jumps out at me from reading about all of these cases and watching the video of rrendouse in this -- ho situations with the police, these cuts are terrified. they're absolutely terrified of andg black boys, black men girls. this is true. but they are terrified of us. and i wonder -- i am scratching my head, tried to figure out, when does that start, where they see us as the enemy, the absolute enemy? in the barber shop this morning, we were passing cell phones around, everybody was looking at the case down in south carolina a few weeks back. have you guys seen this, he pulled over the gas station and a cop shoots him simply because he was doing what he was told. it was absolutely crazy that these sorts of things are happening. just mind-boggling. to answer your question, hill, about the role of the media, imagine life in these united states, imagine life in prison, ferguson,- in missouri, if cnn, was not on the ground, "the washington post," imagine how that case would've gotten swept under the rug, just another black boy shot down in the street. if these reporters were not out there with their cell phones or cameras, with their radio mikes, newspaper pads, and covering this story, you know, the civil rights movement, when you talk about the genesis and kind of that was the civil rights movement, it really did until good white folks saw on tv the fire hoses and the german shepherds being released on these innocent, poor black folks. and in a lot of ways, this is kind of what we are seeing right now. protection, isf what i would like to call it, this movement of protection of andlity of us having regaining and continuing to live with dignity in this society, which is obsessed with guns, like ruby said, and this whole going to take all of us, but the media is going to play a very key role in this. citizens,en you see as people who were not in immediate, when you see or hear of injustice, the cup the telephone, -- pick up the telephone. fire off an e-mail. make it your business to have three or four reporters' names in your contacts so that you can text message them. and some newspapers and some digital journalism now, the cool thing about digital journalism, even though it has eaten a bunch of our newspaper jobs, is that at the ends of stories on the net, the reporters will put their e-mail addresses. and you have access to that. so it is very important that we establish a rapport and relationship in these communities with the media so that we can help get the word out. that a way, you're saying there is an opportunity or responsibility of the citizenry to self-journal and police. >> absolutely. >> major media to not show up the ferguson until a few days later. we know that. major media is run by some of the same folks that put in these policies in place to continue to hold us down. on the other end of that, is an opportunity. social media has been demonized, bastardized. we know all the negatives about social media. the fact of the matter is people on the ground in ferguson and provide their voice to social media, and if we are not listening to the voices of the affected communities, we are then listening to nobody. i would like to highlight the fact that social media has given us a new day and a new day and age where we can each pull out our cell phone or camera phone and can document exactly what happened during week until the true story of what is going on in ferguson before cnn decides it is important enough to them to show up, and we have to commute do that amplify the voices of youth who are doing that. i want to add that. >> i absolutely agree with that. >> the other part that you see in the michael brown cases, in those law enforcement agencies come and with prosecutors around the country, they all have sophisticated public information offices who participate in how and what they want to deal with certain situations. in michael brown, the prosecutor decided that he was not going to charge. two, two important things happened. we have found in our prior to this that is very important at to alignsome cases with the fbi on the department of justice. in doing so, similar with what you had with trayvon and michael brown, they had the capacity. a meeting sitting in with two fbi agents from the st. louis field office in the next day they have 40 agents on the ground during the job area -- doing their job. i don't know if you followed the johnson case in georgia -- >> quick question. since you been practicing over different administration didn't different people in power, do you believe it's the case and the peopleag in power now in the administration? would you believe the response to be different if it was a different administration? >> for sure. i must say it's a blessing, to start with president obama, and with attorney general holder. it was quite clear that washington had taken a vested interest in the case and, two, sitting u.s. attorneys wherever they may be domiciled in the country had some interaction from washington whether it's the civil rights division or from the executive suite. it's meant to the world in these cases. one day i'm sitting in st. louis and two agents in a meeting they have the ability next day where there are 40 agents. i'm not saying it's a good idea but it does get justice quicker. the dynamics of it, i was glad they got smart. the fbi decided to go to community college and let people talk positively whatever they wanted to talk about with ferguson, michael brown. when someone comes to knock on your personal house door and whether or not you are going to talk to them. i'm glad the department of justice figured that out. one of the issues we were confronted with was it was clear they wanted the story to die down. when you saw michael brown's autopsy come out and the diagram that came out was the one we wanted to come out and we used our resources to direct that story ended up beating page one on "the new york times" monday morning and set the agenda for the country that day. this, lawyers are equipped with things that other people are not equipped with. then we get have access to things in use within the rules things that benefit our clients. we believe our client story needed to be told in the way that it was told and it will be. or 25ve got about 20 minutes left. all outo get to you there., let's try to make all of our comments as concise as possible. >> you said something about how "they don't know us," and the key piece is building relationships with law enforcement officers and elected officials. that's how they get to know us but they don't know us as individuals. something we did in florida was called bridging the gap conversation. we brought juan forstmann officers together to talk about issues and what we found out was that there was a disconnect socially and they did not understand some of the things that were happening, thus the reason they were scared. in terms of the direct action piece, i would charge everyone to get to know your barn enforcement officers. have conversations and connect that human piece. we are talking about community-based policing. one response we here all the time for the lack of diversity and lack of community-based policing, they say we would love to hire black folks from the community, but nobody ever applies. can is there something we do to hold these departments to task either insist on community-based or police officers who actually live in the community as part of a job requirement and/or creating an environment where individuals in the community would want to actually join the force? does anyone have a comment on that? first of all, getting to know police is one thing but racial profiling is systemic and it violates civil rights. police does not eradicate systemic issues. what eradicate sit is citizen ision -- what eradicate's it citizen action. might know police over here but that does not mean the systemic evil or injustice disappeared. we've got to be very honest. we are dealing with systemic issues and they are not arsenal defects of individual cops. all over theing is country. finally, about the media, we've been here before during lynching when black people were criminalized as a means of justifying. in the 1990's, they began a campaign in this country to propagandize the negative image of black people. ronald reagan came up with the welfare queen mother who would rather have crack then feed her children. by the time we got to where we thatoday, the worlds think black people comes for a culture of violence, a culture of deadbeat fathers, unloving constituteerefore we a clear and present danger to society and most especially to the security of white people. and that's why we can be killed and nobody bats an eye. reasons that we have to begin to move beyond the get very,motions and very pragmatic and clear about less weare dealing with sacrifice our children to another 100 years of lynching. [applause] >> thank you, ruby. if you have a question, lineup and high in the microphone. i want to be very clear, a question, please. makes all the difference in the world when we know our local law enforcement to the extent that they know the people. simple situations get worked out there versus downtown and on the scene. i cannot emphasize it enough. i think i have all the experience in my neighborhood where this one black cop i knew was running around with a white rookie who did not know the neighborhood. the cop knew me and i was walking and he stopped. he parked his car and we talked. he introduced the other officer. it's familiarity with people in the area versus around writing around in his car. that means the world to policing. >> my name is ron. in northity councilman new jersey for eight years. can someone address real solutions? the appointment of federal monitors over these towns that exhibited police brutality and secondly, the use and creation of civilian or citizen review boards with subpoena power. it took six years but finally working with the aclu, myself leading as a council person we finally got the government to send in a monitor for police brutality issues dating back to the riots, the rebellion of 1967 and finally after 47 years, we got a federal appointment named in july. there are several citizen review boards across the nation but they usually do not work because they do not have subpoena power. there is no muscle behind the hustle. someone to talk about practical, pragmatic real solutions to break up the institution -- it's not black or white of the blue. it's the institution that makes all of those who participate part of the same culture and the same accountability measures. i'm an advocate for said this and review boards. when you start to see internal affairs or the local prosecutor's office trying to investigate brutality, it normally doesn't turn out too well. there was a great comment made in florida where we had republican governors who appointed the special prosecutors. in missouri, we have a democratic governor who refused to step in and appoint a special prosecutor. on a lot of times, local politicians forget that some people think nationally to see the broad landscape. see a bit of heart that we the governor of missouri not stepping up and doing the right thing where you have a local police officer put in charge by the local prosecutor's office knowing every case that comes out of that department is prosecuted by that office into the problem. >> go ahead. i'm all for living with dignity and so were my forefathers. my name is michelle and i write for phenomenal woman magazine published in the cleveland, ohio, area. the student to participated in sit in, those campaigns, they were trained on how to respond in those situations. organizationr some to provide training to our community on this modern-day racial profiling civil rights issue? inn our children are sitting the back of the car and mom is arrested on the side of the road, handcuffed, and it looks like she's being roughed up -- >> we got the question. >> how are the children supposed to know how to respond? they are crying and trying to run towards mommy. i'm just saying get back in the car because i don't want to see with a broadcast on television nightly anymore. organizationh an called the dream defenders. last summer we conducted a 31-day sit in and of governor rick scott's office and we are thoroughly immersed in civil disobedience, training, organizing our youth. we are only in the state of florida at this moment. from the dream defender's perspective we would love for these wildfires to spring up all across the country. community needs their own leaders. if anyone needs the dream defenders support him a we would love to be there. public yourke information about how to go about approaching him being arrested, etc. we utilize the aclu know your rights docket that we do have toolkits on our website, dreamdefenders.org. e-mail us, we would love to support you in your efforts to lead your community. members of families who have experienced the murder of their loved ones and we are working with them so they can become organizers and their own communities and train young people and themselves how to respond in this urgent crisis that we are facing. afternoon. my name is walter and i'm a member of the fraternity alpha phi alpha. my question or comment goes to the young lady -- with your name again? cici. >> and how also we have an organization called project but our chapter has incorporated a legal component to that. lawyers, attorneys come in to speak with the high school students. in last time this occurred columbia, maryland, i was so impressed by the amount of questions and the depth of the questions that the students had to the one attorney who was there. we're planning on doing it again. solutions,ing about how we could possibly cut down on the murders and arrests. it gives with that teenager. -- it addressing it begins with that teenager. fraternity's organization but every other organization that goes into a high school. >> i'm a delta so i'm very familiar with project alpha. >> very good. >> law enforcement officers are less likely to arrest someone that they know so it doesn't break down the construct of folks operating in a broken system. i commend you on all the work that you're doing. >> we have time for one final question then i will bring in someone for final remarks. >> i'm with the spirit house project from atlanta. of you have talked about constitutional rights. you carry the book. we've distributed it to our interns, other things like that. about this very conservative supreme court we have that's changing constitutional rights. i would appreciate it if you all would speak to sometimes the confusing laws that are happening that have to do with the elimination of the right to remain silent so when police officers question you you do not have that right anymore. instead of being presumed innocent, you are now presumed notty and this issue of knocking when people with search warrants come to your door because a lot of the cases we find police just walk in without warrants and have shot people indiscriminately and later just say -- whoops, wrong address. how do we educate the people about the changes going on in the supreme court? you cannot refer to the book anymore because they are changing the laws so quickly. how do we let people know? how do we tell our young brothers and sisters when you get out of the car you don't have to say this or do you have to say this? >> anyone? makingirst starts with sure our children are better educated. in a better educated citizen is able to respond to some of the situations better. a stronger, better, solid education in general. want to go down the line and ask for closing remarks. please keep them concise. what are the last things you want people to hear from you. we will start with you on the end and come down this way. need to tell your story. you have social media. tell your story. that's important. it got 40,000 shares. you've got to then decide if you're going to take action. are you going to complain or are you going to do something about it? i got arrested and ended up with an arrest record i should not have had. a lot of people don't know they still have an arrest record. you all to please sign the petition. i've been meeting with legislators in talking with the department of justice. we are trying to change legislation and introduce new bills to various houses. thatf. kennedy said everyone, one person can make a difference and everyone should try. those are my three words for you guys. think, organize. bring to everything that you do the context. hindsight. what is the history of this problem? how does this impact what's going on today and what are we seeing? foresight to solve the issues. that's what i would say. build the movement predicated on reality, not vanity. the biggest vacuum in the black community today is an information vacuum. the beauty to me of the civil rights era was we had meaningful conversations with one another mattered in our lives. education in terms of how not to down, howwn -- beat to register to vote. we still need those conversations more than ever. spread that information out there. go to the aclu website. it's very easy to find. in big giant letters, what to do if you are stopped by the police. can you videotape or photograph the police? it is in very plain language. share that with your friends, your relatives, your children so we can protect ourselves. desensitized by the media. sometimes us educated folks are so disconnected. it's only the trayvon martin's or the michael brown's. panel,an see from this it happens to educated folks as well so i don't want you to be disconnected from the issues. i would challenge you to do things in your local community. i personally believe that having relationships are critical to us as a community. vote. that's the bottom-line issue. it does not stop with voting but education. to know one law enforcement officer and bring three peoples to the polls with them. that's an easy takeaway and an action. >> we need to organize. the system is not broken. it was designed to act the way it is acting. it has been implemented to dehumanize us for hundreds of years. unless we organize and we all get agitated, we all get angry, we continue to get the same treatment. i? what lamarr just said. education. people don't pick on people who can beat them. they pick on people who they think they can control. out of thatkes you situation and it empowers you. this in closing for myself. when i went down to ferguson, my heart was heavy and i started looking at what the grand jury down there was looking at. on one level, they could bring back a charge of murder in the first degree. on the other hand it would be negligent manslaughter, homicide . really break that down and from my legal background, you look at something like a negligent homicide and you start to hear creating atalk about careless, willful ignorance of a deathion where probable or extreme harm could occur. it broke my heart. i realized under that statute i'm just as responsible for the death of michael brown as officer wilson. many of us have colluded in being a willfully ignorant and carelessly absent even though we know there is an institutional atmosphere that will create a probable death or extreme bodily harm in these communities. yet we stand by and collude to do nothing. you should be charged, i should be charged, we should be charged. if we don't stop carelessly being ignorant and stop being willfully involved, then we are all at fault. on that note, i would like to welcome alpha phi alpha general president tillman to close us out. [applause] good afternoon. all, i would like to thank the panelists for your poppel insights on this issue. i had an opportunity as well to attend michael brown's funeral. real quick, i personally was affected by the fact that this young man was shot. why? president of a national organization, one of the first s say are, areer we going to have a statement? we did make a contribution to michael brown's funeral. are one of those who made a contribution because i wanted the family to know that they were thrust into a situation they did not ask for. now they are just another set of tour of people who know their son was killed unjustly. i was affected by that. i wanted to do a small part. i had an opportunity to meet with the family and indicate to them that your son's death will not be in vain. that's why we're here today. i would like to think the national association of black journalists for cosponsoring this. i would like to thank the dream defenders for cosponsoring this. we know it takes more than just sitting on a workshop to talk about the issues. when we go back to our respect to states and cities it's about doing this in our local communities. i'm from new orleans, louisiana. one of the first things i learned is you don't speed. all, don't speed. the second thing is you do not agitate. the position to be in power when you are being pulled over by a police officer. you are in a position of why are you being pulled over in the first place? being from the breezy and that you learned three things -- -- being from louisiana you learned three things -- yes, sir; no, sir; i don't understand. i want to make sure you are giving me the right questions to i understand and here is my credit card. these are the things i learned growing up in new orleans. we are here today because we know we have to take this information back. we have to engage back in our respective locations. this year is another important vote. who are going to be voting for when president obama is out of office? i don't see anyone black coming behind him. we may be voting for a woman. who knows? obama will president be leaving office. are we prepared for what's next? that's why we stand here to push a national program calling a vote list people as a hopeless people. a a voteless people is hopeless people. we vote every election. for being here as a part of this important conversation. it's not going to stop. we will continue to speak but most importantly, we must vote. we must not just register to vote but vote. every time and in every weather condition. sometimes we are afraid of the rain. i will turn it back over to the monitor. [applause] >> i really appreciate you being here. josh, do you want to make the final,? -- final comment? >> go have fun tonight. . will be at the park tell them hill harper personally invited you. [laughter] if anyone accidentally took a white iphone 5 plugged into the back of the room, would you please return it to the front? a white -- yellow! a yellow iphone 5. please return it over here at the table beside the room. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> here's a look at the primetime schedule. remarks on the dangers of isis. on c-span 2, the tv on -- " qaeda in the taliban. programs on the u.s. presidency in decision-making. the debate between republican bruce braley and joni ernst. here's a look at some of the recent ads in iowa. i'm bruce braley and i approve this message. >> is joni ernst too extreme? >> i do not support a federal minimum wage. >> what does she think is right for iowa? iowans can survive on $15,000 a year. extreme ideas, wrong for iowa. i really know what care about? i care about protecting social security's for seniors like my mom and dad, good schools, good paying jobs, health care we can afford when we need it. and i approve this message because i will go to washington as a mom, a soldier, and someone who really cares about the iowa we leave our children. i cannot think of anything more >> i'mnt than that area talking about your right to self-defense. you should be able to choose the firearm that's right for you. it should be your choice, you're right. braley voteditten against your rights. defend your right to self-defense -- congressman braley voted against your rights. ernst promises to shut down the department of education herding iowa students, abolishing the epa. that is why extremists eric palin and the billionaire koch brothers want her in washington. palin andsts sarah the koch brothers. >> current polling has listed this iowa senate race as a tossup. you can see their first debate sunday at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. her campaign 2014 debate coverage continues live on c-span. tuesday night, the final texas governors debate between state senator democrat wendy davis in state attorney general republican greg abbott. then the oklahoma governors debate the between incumbent governor mary fallin and democrat joe dorman. watch the nebraska governor debate between chuck hass brooke and pete ricketts -- chuck hassebrook. more than 100 debate for the control of congress. congressional the black caucus foundation annual conference to hear remarks from outgoing attorney general eric holder. he announced he was stepping down after serving as head of the justice department for close to six years. this is 25 minutes. >> good morning. thank you all so much for being here. we know it's early on a friday morning. we want to start. we know we will be joined by many other people but we want to get started to respect your time. i'm congresswoman marcia fudge. this is the brain trust that i am honored to post today. this has been hosted by mel watt for almost 20 years. now that he is the head of fhfa director let's give mel watt's a handy for keeping this going for all these years. [applause] i want to recognize some students that are here who were first in line. [applause] cesar chavez public charter school for public policy. [applause] nearly half a century after the voting rights act, we must ensure to make sure everyone has the right to a free and fair vote. today, you will hear from some of the challenges we face including suppressive state legislation and supreme court decisions like shelby v hold their which overturned the section five of the voting rights act. ohio, the state of republican led assembly attempted to limit early voting. we know that early voting contributed significantly to the election of president obama in 2000 date and his reelection. ultimately, conservatives in ohio were not successful in restricting the amount of early voting days largely because of the efficacy of local and state officials and the efforts of individuals from the naacp and the advancement process. ruled the ohio legislation violated the voting rights act of 1965. for those of you watching the live stream or following the live tweets and to all of you here in washington dc, we must combat ill advised conservative led state legislation by encouraging every eligible person you know to vote. every seat in the house of representatives and more than the control of the senate are at stake in this election. we cannot let those who try to suppress our voices win. i cannot stress enough how important this november election is and that is why i will personally be traveling. you can do your part. frederick douglas said power concedes nothing without demand. never did and it never will. find out just what people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the justice and wrongs that will be imposed upon them. it is my pleasure and my honor to have the united states attorney general eric holder as our featured speaker this morning. attorney general holder has a long and distinguished career in law. he has been nominated to positions by three different presidents. 1988, president reagan nominated him as an associate justice of the district of columbia. in 1997, president clinton named him to be the first african-american to serve as deputy attorney general. lastly he was nominated by president barack obama as the 82nd attorney general of the united states. we want to protect the security rights and interests of all americans. please join me in welcoming u.s. attorney general a eric holder. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you and good morning. thank you, congresswoman fudge, for those kind words. thank you all not only for that warm welcome but for your steadfast friendship over the years. we have a lot of members here who has been friends both in times good and bad. we've been great partners on the many critical challenges that we have all faced together. their to thank them for tireless efforts today and everyday on the half of those who the law protects in empowers. i have been privileged to work with my work is attorney general which has not ended. let's make that clear. it has not ended. [applause] i woke up today and i was still the attorney general of the united states. [laughter] i am deeply proud of all that we have achieved together. although my time at the justice department will draw to a close , i want youg months to know that my commitment to this work will never waver. i have no intention of letting up. i have no intention of slowing down. i am honored to discuss our ongoing efforts with you once again today. i'm as proud as ever to stand dedicated public servants, public advocate, and leaders in our fight for equal rights and justice. like to thank the congressional black caucus organization for organizing this event and for your decades of service in our struggle to secure the civil rights of everyone in this country. many years ago -- i will not tell you exactly when, but many years ago during my first days here in washington, i had an opportunity to attend my first congressional black caucus dinner with my aunt. i did not have my own place. i did not own a television set. of the bedson one that she had. i was a young lawyer. that was a long time ago. the president was not lincoln for those of you thinking that. it was not that long ago. my experience at that first dinner was in many ways a foundational experience for me. i have been consistently inspired by the caucus leadership from education , health care, economic development and our efforts to address racial disparities and reform criminal justice, you have done critical work to bring stakeholders together to advocate for understanding. it marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark civil rights act of 1964 which president lyndon johnson signed into law to codify long overdue protections for all americans. in the decades since then thanks to leaders like you, we have remained remarkable and expanding opportunity, overturning legal discrimination and expanding access for every eligible citizen. is laudableprogress and all of this is worth celebrating. there can be no question as we gather here in 2014, there is a great deal of work that remains to be done. not only to defend those advances but to expand on the process of our forbearers and continue the march that they so courageously began. over the past six years, my colleagues and i have proven that and at every labels -- at every level of the department of justice and the barack obama administration that we are firmly committed to doing our part. as part of the smart on crime initiative, we have implemented important reforms and evidence-based strategies to make the criminal justice system both more fair and more effective. national initiative for building community trust and justice which i announced earlier this month, we are mistrustto eliminate into builds from relationships between law enforcement officers and the communities that they serve so that we can diffuse tensions that cymer just under the surface in too many cities and towns across our great country into often give rise to tragic events like those that captured our national attention just last month in ferguson, missouri. ofond these efforts, as part my brothers keeper initiative, we are working together to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color to ensure that all young people can reach their full potential. in fact, i can announce today that we stand poised to take this work to a new level and to complement our data-driven approach under smarter crime and my brothers keeper by launching a new smart on juvenile justice initiative which will promote systemwide reforms and bolster our efforts to end racial and ethnic disparities. [applause] under this new initiative, three states, georgia, hawaii, and kentucky are working with the pew charitable trust public safety performance project to provide alternatives, community-based options, and other reforms aimed at reducing recidivism, decreasing correctional spending, and improving public safety all while reducing the number of youths who come into contact with the criminal justice system. i support this work and i'm pleased to announce the office awardingle justice is funding to the crime and justice institute to provide training and technical assistance that will help these three states implement important policy changes. in addition, we are awarding more than $1 million to the w haywood burns institute and development services group to reduce racial and ethnic disparities through the juvenile justice system. it's time to focus on the juveniles. [applause] with a third set aren't smart on juvenile justice awards, we are supporting comprehensive training for juvenile justice prosecutors to appoint them with the very latest information on forensic science, adolescent development, neurosciences, and the prosecution of sexual assault cases. i think these are promising new steps that will help to advance this very important work and in many cases work that is life-changing, work in our juvenile justice arena. these are to the heart of what we are and who we aspire to be both as a nation and a people. as this group has rightly recognized over the years and as you reaffirmed today by convening this very critical for the challenges we face are more fundamental, more complex, more urgent than the need to preserve what president johnson once called the most basic right to which every american is entitled, the right to vote. as you are discussing through the unrelenting efforts of the ,ustice civil rights division we are acting aggressively to american canvery ensure his or her right to participate in the democratic process. unencumbered by necessary restrictions that discourage, discriminate, or disenfranchise and the name of a problem that does not exist. we are advancing this fight as we speak along a number of fronts and communities across the nation. this work has been a top priority since the moment i took office nearly six years ago. shownk these efforts significant promise. just this week, a federal appeals court in cincinnati held that point it's challenging the changes to its in-person early voting rules likely would be able to prove that this changes are unconstitutional. the outcome was a milestone in efforts to protect voting rights even after the supreme court's deeply misguided, flawed, unwise decision in shelby county. [applause] the justice department filed an amicus brief supporting those who brought this challenge under section two of the voting rights act. it means that early voting can begin in ohio on tuesday just as it had in prior election cycles. separately, in wisconsin we are carefully monitoring changes to that state's voter identification laws. although we were disappointed by the actions and allow the law to go into effect, we look forward to reviewing the court's reasoning when it issues an opinion. n taxes, we are currently waiting on the state redistricting maps which were found by federal court to be drawn with discriminatory intent. they lack the requisite identification to register. in a case pending in north carolina, the fourth circuit heard oral arguments in a challenge to that states voter id measure. we joined several groups last year in challenging that law and although we did not prevail at the preliminary injunction phase, we believe the evidence at trial next summer will show a violation of the voting rights act. [applause] of course, these are only the most recent and most visible actions of the justice department to protect voting rights of every eligible american. earlier this week, the department helped secure a victory in a case brought to ensure that the voting rights of anska natives obtaining order that effectively overhauled the entire election system to make sure that all information is translated into native languages and every village in the region is covered and that official election pamphlets will be translated in writing. this landmark result is emblematic of our continuing broad-based expanded access and against disenfranchisement whenever and wherever it plays out. as we look forward to the future of this work and seek new ways to advance this struggle, the justice department remains determined to use every tool at our disposal to secure the rights of every citizen. we will continue this fight until all americans have equal access to the ballot ochsner matter who they are or where they live. we will continue our efforts until all americans share the same opportunities for engagement in the democratic process and we will continue to tok to groups like the cbc advance the voting rights amendments and to continue efforts until all americans can make their voices heard in the halls of the federal government. when i talk about all who want to be heard in the halls of the federal government, i am including the more than 600,000 me, live ino, like the district of columbia -- [applause] who live in the district of columbia and still no have no voting representation in congress. we pay our taxes. we die in the army. we have a great representative. we do not have voting rights. it's long past time for every citizen to be afforded his or her full responsibilities as well as our full rights. [applause] in the months ahead, as we prepare for the upcoming elections, leaders from the civil rights division voting section will be coordinating with civil rights organizations, u.s. attorneys, and others to dispatch federal election monitors to polling places around the country just as we do during every election season. we are not stopping because of shelby county. our people will be in the field. we will never waver and never rest in our determination to ensure the integrity and impartiality of this vital process. despite the myriad of challenges that lie before us and the long march that still stretches out ahead, i am confident that with the passionate advocates in this lasting dedication of justice department officials across america and the advocacy and engagement of public servants like all of you together, we will carry on the fight for equality. we will build upon the progress that has led us to this moment. we will extend the legacy of the proud record of achievement that has been entrusted to each of us by generations that have gone before. is the imperative that has driven me over the last six years and it will continue to shape our steps forward. i want to thank you all once again for your partnership in your leadership of these important efforts. i look forward to everything that we will do together, everything that we will achieve together in the months and years what my pather will be, no matter where i will be, this promising journey will continue. our cause is just. our mission is clear. our history propels us to let us act together to make our nation and union more perfect. thank you. [applause] >> here is a look at our primetime schedule on the c-span networks. starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern, remarks from iraq's president at the u n general assembly on the dangers of isis. on c-span 2, book tv with books taliban.da and the on c-span 3, american history tv with programs on the u.s. presidency in decision-making. louisiana congressman john fleming on the airstrike campaign against isis in iraq and syria. after that, nevada representative steven horsford on issues related to campaign 2014 and president obama's management of efforts in the middle east. lessor calls, facebook comments and tweets -- plus your calls. journal" live at 7:00 a.m. in c-span. we heard remarks earlier from several speakers including kentucky senator rand paul. here is a look now. like he isident acts a king ignoring the constitution and he arrogantly says if congress will not act then i must. not the words of a great leader. these are the words that sound more like the exclamations of an autocrat. the face of war, the president is just as arrogant. instead of coming to congress he illegally acts on his own. we are faced with a crisis that does require action. i am one who is hesitant to be involved in the civil wars in the middle east. isis is now a threat to our consulate, our embassy in baghdad. , but we should act within the rule of law. the constitution says only congress may declare war, yet this president has in libya and this week in syria committed our sons and daughters to a war not authorized by congress. had i been president, i would have called for a joint session of congress. i would have laid out the threat. [applause] requestedve congressional authority to respond as the constitution dictates. by failing to follow the constitution, this president missed a chance to unite the nation. he missed a chance to galvanize the country. a missed the chance to become great american leader. how did we stray so far from the constitution? how do we find our way back to the traditions of our founders? a friend of mine who worked in the reagan administration who wrote in a book recently about how freedom and tradition are intertwined. he said freda meets tradition for a law, order, and inspiration, but tradition needs freedom to escape stagnation, coercion, and decline. the great achievement of the constitution framers was in providing a means for synthesizing freedom and tradition. needs to revive tradition. america needs to revive virtue. theprings eternal from man whos of a humble died upon the cross. remarks from kentucky senator rand paul earlier today at an annual conference. canrks later tonight or you watch it anytime online at c-span.org. next, a discussion on the latest census report on poverty which found 45 million americans continue to live a low the poverty line. from "washington journal," this is 50 minutes. report am a new numbers on poverty in the united states. 2013 the census bureau says 45 million americans lived under the poverty line, which is 14.5% of the population. you canorical purposes, see other your spirit 2012, 15%. 47 million people. population in the y.vert 1959, 40 million people. of the american enterprise institute, when you see that number, 14.5% of the population and poverty, what is your reaction? discouraged and disappointed care we are worse than we were in 2007. and significantly worse than we were in 2000. we reached cut of a trough, and we have gone backwards since then. it is disappointing and we have to rethink what we are doing and examine how we got away from what we were doing that was successful in the late 1990's. olivia golden, center for law and social policy. last: we had a reduction year and we had a reduction in child poverty. so we roughly addressed that during the recession and got close to 2007, but that is not an acceptable level. five youngve one in adults beginning their careers, ages 18 to 24, and because we know a lot about the lifelong consequences of poverty in those years, i think we have to take really seriously what we do next. which, for me, has a lot to do with the economy, low wage work, and challenges that families face. host: talking about 2000, good economic year for the united -- you think that poverty levels would go down. that is true, but there was much more focus into getting people into employment as rapidly as possible. now i think we are more focused on providing assistance which is good but can't distract from the central -- but can distract from the objective of getting people .nto employment point we're not back to where we were in 2007. we are a long way from where we were in 2000. host: i have a different analysis -- guest: i have a different analysis. when you look at the numbers for ink, and looking at the one five kids who are poor which has been true for some time even before the recession, there is a lot of work in those families. about 70 percent of those children live with someone who worked. so the issue is not people -- it is not whether people want to work and not even linking them to some work opportunity, it is that the jobs are low wage and not enough hours. circumstances of work that are hard to combine with raising a family. so we need to build on what seated which is a set of programs -- we need to build on what succeeded. employment insurance and social poverty,has reduced food stamps, snap. that is an import and success, but the piece that has been a headwind for families, particularly for parents, is the job market and the nature of low-wage work. i think there are lots of things we can do that would build on successes we have had and help those families do better. full-time forwork a year, the percentage of people in poverty is less and 3%. so i am not so sure that it is wages. it is the extent of ours and the availability of work. and it is also programs focused on encouraging people to get into work as rapidly as possible. we have a growing number of op

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