Americans affected by andd19, the economy, Racial Discrimination address the 2020 Democratic National convention. This 40 minute portion includes remarks by Small Business owners, Domestic Violence survivors, climate activists, and gun violence prevention advocates. Many of you know, Small Businesses employ half of all u. S. Workers. Tonight, we have scott. Scott, you are a Small Business owner from pennsylvania. Small businesses have been hit so hard in this crisis. So many Small Businesses. How are you doing . How are you managing . Well, its been rough. Rough is the nice word to say it. My wife and i, 31 years ago, began our business, and quite honestly, over all of these years, we had faced some adversity and challenges, but to be honest, nothing like we are today. We have literally had to reinvent our business several times since the beginning of the year. Just to stay afloat. And we our revenue, for example, is off about 40 . We have half of the employees that we had precovid. And our customers are little scared, our employees are sometimes afraid to come to work because of the covid. And to be honest with you, i am just frustrated. I do not understand how we got here. We are the greatest nation in the world. And it just seems to me that, maybe, if we just came together on this one issue alone, maybe as americans, and being united, we can overcome it. Yeah. Thank you for sharing your story. I am sure many Small Business owners feel the same way that you are feeling now. We wish you the best for your business and of course for your family. Now i would like to turn to marley diaz, who is 15 years old from west orange, new jersey. She is a literary activist and author and the founder of 1000 black girl books. So many young people are struggling with the changes due to covid. How are you doing . I am doing all right. I feel better every day, i feel more hopeful. I thought this would be a few weeks at first when i would not see my friends and i would just stick it out, but obviously as a as it grows longer, i want to focus on activism and still spreading in important messages. It has been so fun getting to interact and meet new kids and promote the joy to be confined in reading and learning. It is also super fun to see teenagers like me going on social media and talking about social issues and injustices that they care about, because sometimes, you do not have that space in school. So i hope that one year from now, we get to go back and be safe and greet protected and we will still have these conversations and still have a new possibility in a new world. Yes, thank you so much. You are such an inspiration. I do not think i was doing half of what you are doing at 15, and i love seeing how brave and creative your generation is to creating change. So, thank you so much for your work. Lets check in with rick. Rick, you are a farmer from pennsylvania. Your farm has been in your family for generations. What have the trade wars and the pandemic done to your familys life work . First of all, i would like to offer the trump family our condolences for his loss. Getting back to the business side of it, the trade war was really stressful and a truly devastating effect on the farm. What people can relate to mostly is the soybean tariffs. And then, compound the effects of the covid19 virus, nobody could have prevented that. It is a shame our leadership misinformed people like myself in the country on what was coming down the road. My biggest concern is, if these trends continue with this type of leadership, i will be the last generation of farmers. It is a scary thought. And i am sure a lot of farmers feel the same way. You know, i do not have the answers, but in past experiences, if something does not work for you, it is time for a change. And that is why i am supporting joe biden all the way. Thank you so much. Rick, i could not agree with you more. We need meaningful change and leadership that will support family farms like yours, so we wish you the best. Thank you for sharing your story. Finally, lets hear from michelle, from my home state of texas. Michelle, you are a school nurse and mother in el paso. How are you preparing for the new school year . Hi, eva. Well, weve already started school, but it is a little challenging, because every day, something seems to change. We start one day one way and we have to change it the next day. I know right now, it is kind of sad to not see the kiddos, but i know that will change. We will have to adapt and persevere. But honestly, right now, all i can think about is keeping my kiddos safe. I know back in march, we had them home and they were doing ok but now, they are wanting to take them back to school and it is a little scary with the uprise in covid cases. So i just want to say that i am committed to taking care of my family, my students, and all my staff in my school. I will do whatever it takes to ensure we are already to go back to school safe and healthy. And i know that i am optimistic to move forward with our life. And joe biden will be the one to take us there. I just want to say, for everyone to please remember to wash your hands and wear your masks, because we are all in this together. Thank you, michelle. I think there is nothing more difficult for us as moms than to see our children suffer. I think you are a great job of guiding them through this difficult time. And thank you for your work as a nurse. It is truly heroic. I really enjoyed talking to all of you. I think i have one last question. Do you believe that change is coming . Do you believe that better days are ahead . Yes. Yeah. [laughter] thank you for taking the time to speak with us and sharing your thoughts. My brother, george, was selfless. He always made sacrifices for his family, friends, and even complete strangers. George had a giving spirit, a spirit that had shown up around streets around our nation and around the world. People of all races, all ages, all genders, all backgrounds, peacefully protesting in the name of love and unity. Its a fitting legacy for our brother, but george should be alive today. Breonna taylor should be a lot today. Alive today. Armand arbery should be alive today. Eric garner should be alive today. Stephan clark, tatiana jefferson, sandra bland, they should all be alive today. So it is up to us to carry on the fight for justice. Our actions will be there legacies. Theirre legacies legacies. We will always find ourselves in what john lewis called good trouble. For the names and faces we will never see, those who cant mourn because their murders did not go viral, please join me in a moment of silence to honor george and the many other souls we lost to hate and injustice. And when this moment ends, lets make sure we never stop saying their names. Hi. Many have lost a loved one to covid. My dad, mark anthony, should be here today. But he is not. He had faith in donald trump. He voted for him, listened to him, believed him and has and his mouthpieces when they said that coronavirus was under control and going to disappear. That it was ok to end social distancing rules before it was safe, and that if you had no Underlying Health conditions, you would probably be fine. So in late may, after the stayathome order was lifted in arizona, my dad went to a karaoke bar with his friends. A few weeks later, he was put on a ventilator. And after five agonizing days, he died alone in the icu, with a nurse holding his hand. My dad was a healthy 65yearold. His only preexisting condition was trusting donald trump. And for that, he paid with his life. I am not alone. Once i told my story, a lot of people reached out to me share theirs. To me to share theirs. They asked me to help them keep their community safe, especially communities of color, which have been disproportionately affected. They asked me, a normal person, to help, because donald trump wont. The coronavirus has made it clear that there are two americas. The america that donald trump lives in, and the america that my father died in. Enough is enough. Donald trump may not have caused the coronavirus, but his dishonesty and his irresponsible actions made it so much worse. We need a leader who has a national, coordinated, datadriven response to stop this pandemic from claiming more lives, and to safely reopen the country. We need a leader who will step in on day one and do his job, to care. One of the last things that my father said to me was that he felt betrayed by the likes of donald trump. And so, when i cast my vote for joe biden, i will do it for my dad. Hi, everybody. Megan repeat no megan rapinoe. I have the distant honor today to host a conversation with four of our frontline workers here in america. We should rename them heroes, absolutely. Can you tell us a little bit about how you are doing during this time . Early on, when the government was still trying to figure out proper protocols to protect workers, i had unfortunately contacted covid through making contact and was isolated myself for two weeks. And isolated myself for two weeks. Full isolation, no contact. Once i recovered, luckily, i went back to the front lines to continue to care for the sick. What got me originally was watching people die alone. There were no visitors allowed. Everyone was totally isolated. And i knew had that felt because how that felt, because for two weeks, that was me. Not knowing if you are going to wake up, not knowing if you were going to make it who you could or who you could talk to come if you could say goodbye. Moms, dads, brothers, sisters, all dying alone. We know there is a round two coming. And i do not know how many of us on the front lines are going to survive that second round. Effects areey, what you seeing inside your hospital doors of the inaction of the Trump Administration when it comes to this Covid Response . It is heavy. It has left the Emergency Department and tears and so have a lot of my colleagues. People are exhausted and we are looking at what is coming with covid and influenza, and we are wondering how our system is not just going to collapse. When people come in with broken arms, or come with heart attacks and strokes and appendicitis, we are not going to be there. What were you seeing on the front lines in those very early days that you knew it would not magically disappear . Did you think it was a hoax . Absolutely, we knew this was not a hoax. We were certain of it. Was because of the experience with the 2009 swine flu pandemic. We knew what a pandemic would look like. We knew we needed to have the tools and the research and the plans in place. But then we had the ineptitude and the lack of leadership from the administration. I have seen the worst of the worst. Not only have i answered thousands of calls of people that are sick, but people that are dying. Michelle, talk to us a little bit about how it has been for you on the front lines, what your specific role is as a union nurse. I have been on the frontline of advocating that our Health Care Workers and patients get the support and the ppe that they need. You know, 10 years ago, i responded to the disaster in haiti. We were working in a tent hospital after the earthquake. But, you know, the first time that i ever feared for my life, and my familys, walking into work, was in my own country. We have the money, we have the means, we have the resources in this country. We are deeply lacking leadership and somebody who cares. Trump has made it perfectly clear how he feels. And we need a president who cares. That is joe biden. I cant thank you all enough. The American People are forever indebted to you for your work and your sacrifice, and just you showing up every single day and giving everything you have. Thank you again for everything you do on the front lines. There is no way we can ever repay you. So, thank you very much. I take powerful people on my elevator all the time. When they get off, they go to their important meetings. Me . I had back to the lobby. But in the short time i spent with joe biden, i could tell he really saw me. That he actually cared, that my life meant something to him. And i knew even when he went to his important meeting, he would take my story in there with him. That is because joe biden has room in his heart for more than just himself. We have been through a lot, and we have tough days ahead, but nominating someone like that to be in the white house is a good place to start. That is why i nominate my friend, joe biden, as the next president of the united states. How are you, you handsome boy . With a heartn condition. He ended up requiring a transplant. Now, it is something that we think about all the time, especially with the potential coverage. And his initial hospital stays, over 3 million that was built back to the insurance. I remember thinking, as au laid dying in bed, thinking to myself, what would i do if the doctor walked in and said, im sorry. You have outrun your insurance. You have reached your cap. Suffer the last few months of your life on your own. I came from a part of the wherey of Rural Missouri basically everyone was a republican and i was a republican. And i lost my voice. We put off going to the doctor because we did not have health insurance. We finally got some, they take a look at my throat, and they said, you have cancer. Stage four. The worst kind of cancer you can have. My wife applied for Affordable Care act and my coverage began april 1 2012. Began april 1, 2012. And that same day, they started my chemotherapy and radiation, and it saved my life. I am here today. Generally speaking, you are concerned about people spiritually, but also other areas of their life. That includes their physical and physiological wellbeing, because there are people in our country and in my church who cannot take advantage of it because they do not have health care. That is discouraging to me. That is pretty discouraging to them. Because of the fact that it is a very rare disease, a lot of our medication, we have to fight for. The aca, we worried about the preexisting conditions for children. We worried about age because having the cost of medication, we would have reached that milliondollar cap end time. But once the aca passed, we no longer had not cap. The fear that you all live in understandably, if somehow tomorrow, if they said, no insurance, you are not covered. It is just devastating. Hey, laura, how are you doing . God love you, but doing it all, trump was trying to rip away your coverage. The day you got your first chemo, republicans voted to cut the aca. I cant imagine what it must have been like going to sleep at night wondering what you are going to do. Diagnosed,ce i was every night, i go to bed concerned about news i would get in the morning. Even today, they are still trying to take away our health care. Even during a pandemic. We will make sure that we do not lose that aca. We will provide a medicare like option. And any state where there is, if you qualify for medicaid and the state has not provided it, we will you will automatically be enrolled. Iwill protect you like protect my own family. I promise you that. By the time you are watching this, you will have grown up to be strong and courageous. But i dont know how much longer i will be around for you. Als, a deadly, debilitating disease. After i was diagnosed, the president passed a tax bill that put my health care risk. Health care at risk. So i went to washington, d. C. My next guest made headlines when he confronted a republican senator on an airplane. I wanted to help create a better country for you to live in. America is beautiful america is beautiful all that matters to me is to make you proud, because i am already so proud of you. Hello, america. I am speaking to you through this computer voice, because i have been paralyzed by a Mysterious Illness called als. Like so many of you, i have experienced the ways our Health Care System is fundamentally broken. Enormous costs, denied claims. Dehumanizing treatment when we are most in need. Since my shocking diagnosis, i have traveled the country meeting countless patients like me, demanding more of our representatives and our democracy. Today, we are witnessing the tragic consequences of our failing Health Care System. In the midst of a pandemic, nearly 100 million americans do not have sufficient health insurance, and even good insurance does not cover essential needs like longterm care. Our loved ones are dying in unsafe nursing homes. Our nurses are overwhelmed and unprotected, and our essential workers are treated as dispensable. We live in the richest country in history, and yet, we do not guarantee this most basic human right. Everyone living in america should get the health care they need, regardless of their Employment Status or ability to pay. Even during this terrible crisis, donald trump the and the republican politicians are trying to take away millions of Peoples Health insurance. With the existential threat of another four years of this president , we have the profound obligation to act, not only to vote, but to make sure our friends, family, and neighbors vote, as well. We must elect joe biden. Each of us must be a hero for our communities, for our country, and then with the compassionate and intelligent president , we must act together and put on his desk a bill that guarantees us all the health care we deserve. Text vote to 30330 to learn how to vote safely, because our lives depend on it. Activist, mother and deandre dykis. In a split second, a stray bullet shattered by sons life. My son deandre was only 13yearold. He was recognized as a gifted and talented student. The possibilities were endless. He was dancing at a birthday party, when he was shot in the back left side of his head, shattering his skull. One shot changed our lives forever. Today, my son does not talk. He does not walk. I know he knows me by the smile he shows when i walk in his room. But i am unsure if he knows a gunshot has changed his life. Since march, i have only been able to see my son three times, but i cannot touch or hug him due to covid19. People tell me that i am lucky. I tell them we are blessed. I remind them that my son is in a wheelchair and unable to feed himself. I do not think deandre feels liftedhen he has to be from head to toe or get muscle injections. I am in a state of gratitude. I can touch deandre. I can hold his hand. But the child i birthed is not able to live his dream, and that hurts. Every day, we are reminded he may never be the same. We are not alone. In every town across america, there are families who know what a bullet can do. That is why i am a mom who volunteers to stop this. Trump, he does not care. He did not care about the victims after parkland, las vegas, or el paso. I want a president who cares about our pain and grief, a president who will take on the gun lobby to ban assault weapons and close loopholes to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Joe biden has taken on the nra twice and won, and he will do it again as president. Old when theears camp fire, the most instructive fire in history, broke up. Broke out. My asthma flared badly. I could hardly breathe. I am alexandra, and i have been organizing young people around Climate Change since 2018. Climate change is impacting us now and it is robbing my generation of the future. For people my age, every aspect of our lives, from where we go to school, what kind of careers we would have come to whether or not we could raise a family depends on us taking Climate Change seriously right now. Joe biden will not solve this crisis in four years. No one can, but he will put us back on track so my generation can have a fighting chance. I am asking you to join us. Do not let our futures go up in flames. Corn growers near my parent farm have a saying, knee high up, by the fourth of july. This year, they are lucky if corn is even planted. I studied at Northern Michigan university. Our farmers can see the effects of Climate Change happening in front of us. We are trying to do our part. We are adopting Sustainable Solutions on my familys farm, using new Community Models and our resources to grow food. We have been eliminating tons of Carbon Pollution every year by mimicking natural ecosystems. Farmers can be part of the climate solution instead of part of the problem. Today we can all grow our own future, but we need leaders to be part of the solution as well. Instead of part of the problem. We need them to commit to the science, and not ignore it. We need to put real plans on the table rather than all the back. Roll them back. That is what joe biden is doing with his clean energy revolution. We can lead the world again. I spent a lot of time talking about Climate Change with different communities in nevada. The one question i get asked over and over again is, what are you doing here . Not a lot of climate activists look like me. My name is catherine. I am a climate activist. I am enough for latina i am an afro latino. I grew up in a low Income Neighborhood where pollution rates are often higher than wealthier areas and lots of kids have asthma. Renewable energy would mean cleaner air, better health, and a steadier income folks and folks in neighborhoods like mine. These are some of the Fastest Growing jobs in the country, and joe bidens plan is transformative. He knows that saving the planet is not just a challenge to overcome. It is an opportunity for a better way of life. What is it going to be, america . Are you ready to vote for joe biden . Are you ready to solve the Climate Crisis . Because our futures depend on it. Im lucy sanchez. And this is my mother, sylvia, and my sister. We worked hard. I was born with spina bifida. That means my spinal cord did not form as it should. The doctors in my town set i would not survive. There was no hope for my future. I am a u. S. Citizen, but my mother is undocumented. I am a dreamer. [speaking spanish] my mother did what any mother would do to save her babys life. [speaking spanish] she took my sister in her arms and traveled for days to reach the border. When they got to the river, she looked at my sister above the water and crossed. We came to america before i was one years old. She saved my life. [speaking spanish] my mother had no choice, there was no time to wait to save my sister. She came here looking for a miracle. [speaking spanish] we were afraid they would find this and detain us, but she had to save her daughter. Our home is here. North carolina is all i know. A qualified for daca, but donald trump took away my ability to apply for the program. [speaking spanish] we work hard, we contribute to our community and pay our taxes. I have gone to school and built a good life for me and my two daughters. I want to go to law school. I want to help my community. But ever since donald trump was elected, all of our fears have returned. We dont know if our family will be separated. Will my mom and sister be detained . Will my sister get the health care she deserves . I dont have the right id, so i cannot get health insurance. I need health insurance. I deserve it, right . [speaking spanish] it breaks our heart to see children separated from their families at the border. Thats wrong. Those children need their parents. On november 3, i will vote for my mother, my sister, and my daughter. I will vote for a future where our lives have dignity and respect. Fixe need a leader who will the broken immigration system and commit to keeping families together. I am voting for joe biden and kamala harris. A daughter of immigrants. Who are you going to vote for . [speaking spanish] glenn. Hme in 1992, my husband shot me and left me for dead. For 13 years, my son and i have been abused by him we finally escaped, but he tracked us down. Back then there was limited health of them limited help available. Local shelters were full. I did not even know the name for what was happening to me then. Domestic violence. Now working to end Domestic Violence is my lifes work. When i started doing research to play detective Olivia Benson on law and order svu over 20 years ago, i was shocked to find out how many people, including children, experience physical or sexual abuse. The statistics fueled my resolve, and i committed myself to the movement to end this violence. In my small hometown, i did not feel like i could speak out about my experience with Sexual Assault. But at the university of puget sound, i met an Incredible Group of people working to end the culture of Sexual Assault. I went from survivor to advocate. As the president and ceo of the National Coalition against Domestic Violence, and that i have seen joe bidens passionate leadership in passing the violence against women act, but now, Domestic Violence rates are rising. We need congress to reauthorize and enhance that law. We need leaders who believe that a womans life is worth fighting for. Joe biden is that kind of leader. Joe biden is that kind of leader. I created the Joyful Heart Foundation to help survivors heal, and to change the way our ds to sexualon violence. The Vice President has worked tirelessly by our side to end the backlog of hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits. And our work will continue, because testing kits not only makes our country safer, but it sends a vital message to survivors that what happened to them matters. The most important thing you can say to a survivor is, i hear you. That is why i became a leader and it is on us. A program started by Vice President biden to eliminate Sexual Assault across campuses, and support a new generation of advocates, including men and boys. Because if you are silent, you are complicit. And we are just getting started. I am voting for joe biden on behalf of all victims and survivors of Domestic Violence. Im voting for joe biden, because its on my generation to make sure we never go back. I am voting for joe biden for my daughter, for my son, for all of our children. I just want to live meekly comfortable. We have a 17 and a sevenyearold at home. We are still working thanks to our International Executive board forgetting with General Motors and making sure it is safe for us to go back to work after eight weeks of being laid off. Here we are, fullblown. I tell you what, i really believe this, the future can be as bright as it was in the late 1940s and 1950s. The simple reason is, it is iconic industries, we made it. We made it. Thank you. It has been a very interesting 2020. I have been in the park service for six years. Never experienced anything like covid. We had to change our whole tactic, how we did things daytoday. And now had a hurricane that came to its ago. Two weeks ago. We are doing things we never thought we would be doing, water rescues, having to worry about covid. How is your family doing . How is your family doing . I am a single dad, i have a fiveyearold who is my world. I am very lucky that my parents are retired. My mom retired right after my daughter was born to help us. She was looking forward to it. Now it is going to be online schooling. I have a lot of guys that are double income families. They are trying to figure out how they will do it with their kids. What arrangement they are going to have to make. They are not going to be going to school. It is going to be online. It is to people in the household. I have a family of two and we have one kid that is no longer in the household. But it takes two people to build. We have an ongoing goal of buying a house in the next five years. Hopefully, we will stay safe. Everybody talks about the middle class. The fact is that, the way that middleclass people generate wealth overwhelmingly is building up equity in their home. And that is what gets passed on from one generation to the next. The equity in a home. The middle class has taken hits continuously. One of the reasons why we are on this call is because we import we realize how important it is to have you in the white house. We need a policy for renewable resources. I know you have one. If we are going to rebuild the middle class, it is about the jobs. The future really rests on investment. We will be investing 2 million 2 trillion in infrastructure. Bridges, highways. To do things that really make a difference, like what you are doing in the solar facility outside of harrisburg. I am a scranton boy. Central pennsylvania is ok, but the northeast. [laughter] keep the faith. Thank you. Thank you. Goode. Edward i am 92 years old, i am a veteran of world war ii and korea. When i wear a uniform, i wear only two badges. My parachute wings and the combat infantry badge. I did make one combat jump over the rhine in germany. I am proud of that. I have been a republican since the 1960s. I am a member of the nra. And i voted for trunk. For trump. I think trump has been the worst president we have ever had. So i will be glad to see him go. I think that joe biden will be a great leader for the united states. Like me, on the day of my jump into germany, i think joe biden cares about doing his duty for the united states. If he is elected, that is what he will do. My name is braden harrington, i am 13 years old. Without joe biden, i would not be talking to today. About a few months ago, i met him in new hampshire. He told me we were members of the same club. We stutter. It was really amazing to hear that someone like me became Vice President. He told me about a book of poems by yates he would read out loud to practice. He showed me how he marches the dress is so he can say it out loud. I did the same thing today. And now, i am here talking to you today about the future. About our future. My family often says, when the world feels better before talking about something normal like going to the movies, we all want the world to feel better. We need the world to feel better. I am just a regular kid. And in a short amount of time, joe biden made me feel confident about something that has made me feel bad my entire life. Joe biden cared. Imagine what he can do for all of us. Kids like me are counting on you to elect someone we can all look up to. Someone who cares. Someone who will make our country and the world feel better. We are counting on you to elect joe biden. President trump will hold a News Conference this afternoon. You can watch live coverage at 5 00 eastern here on cspan. Online at cspan. Org, or listen with the free cspan radio app. The contenders, about the men who ran for the presidency and lost, but changed political history. Tonight, four term governor of alabama and prosegregationist, george wallace. The contenders, this week at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. We are back, and we are joined by a governmental studies director of the bipartisan policy center. D he is going to talk with us about voting systems. Thank you for joining us. Guest good morning. We have been having these conversations over and over the