It is incumbent on us to recognize not only our past evils but the moments of triumph over those evils. Making juneteenth a federal holiday is a crucial step in remembering our past and it will undoubtedly help us build a better future. I want to thank senator ed markey for his longtime leadership on this bill as a result of his hard work, yesterday, the senate unanimously asked s475, to make june 19th a federal holiday. Democrats and republicans passed unanimously. Senator cornyn stated the freedom of all americans in texas celebrates every juneteenth should be celebrated all across the nation. The passage of this bill represents a big step in our nation s journey toward equality. In this time of increasing partisanship, the senator strong support speaks to the importance and urgency of this bill. I also want to thank again my good friend congresswoman sheila jackson lee. She has been advocating for juneteenth to be a federal holiday for over 12 years. This bill would not be possible
the middle east for father. since i was born in his house that is what his children called him and we continue to call them that as well. they were both father figures to me and so i continue to call them, and babba. host: what are the first eight or so years of your life like? guest: peaceful. you know, i had a really enjoyable childhood. i grew up in a household where we had, not just my siblings and my father but my extended family lived with us. my uncles and aunts and grandfather, my great grandmother was always around. and so it was a very loving environment. i was raised by educators and so education was a huge part of our life. we all loved learning and we were very curious kids. my grandfather and father encouraged discussions and debate and curiosity. i was known as the y kid when i was little and so, you know, i had a lot of intimate times with my grandfather and father because i was always around them asking questions and as a mother now i know how annoying
wrieters, and now in it s second year at a festival. followed by poet and activist patricia smith. we are going to officially start the day. i want to thank everyone for being here this morning. or is it afternoon? what time is it now? good afternoon everyone. thank you so much for joining us today. we are i am excited. are you guys excited? [applause] i see so many familiar faces. i see excellence girls academy over there. [applause] i see folks from howard. i see my mom in the audience. [applause] and it fills me is so much pride and joy to see so many women i love in this room, and and men. let s keep it nonbinary. so many folks in this room i love. and i just want to say welcome. i want to give sets the moment to say this is the perfect opportunity for us to be with one another, to celebrate one another, and to really say that we belong in all spaces. but especially the literary space. [applause] you know i like to say i really love being black. but it s something
to their licensing standards using the new model. now, there have been no national family foster home license and standards, so they vary dramatically from state to state and often pose unnecessary barriers. this results in appropriate .elatives denied for example, jj and his little brother, who went to live with their grandparents. they struggled against the clock to make the required changes to their home so they could meet state requirements and be able to continue as a stable, unified family. jj s grandparents had to file for bankruptcy because of the cost to make their home comply with standards. it was a home filled with love, but not enough bedrooms. prevention. child in foster care with a relative, there are about 23 outside the system being raised by the relatives without a close parents present. under current child welfare financing laws, these families receive little or no preventative or supportive services to keep them together or out of foster care. trauma-infor
on behalf of the entire staff, thank you so much for coming. [applause]. what a marvelous crowd. [cheers and applause] and what a great space for a book events. fakes to the warner theatre for making this spacious lace available and as much as we enjoyed posting our authors at our store on connecticut avenue northwest, we had a feeling that a somewhat larger venue would be needed for this one. [cheers and applause] in fact, this is the largest author talk that we have ever sponsored. [cheers and applause] and it tickets sold out in a matter of minutes, so congratulations. you all are the lucky ones. since its release a week ago, what happened , hillary clinton s new book about the 2016 election has landed on the best seller list and generated nonstop commentary and conversation. some things never change she is given a number of any abuse about the book, but tonight she is here with us in person for what is the first to stop on a 15 city tour that will take her across the u