You can see the entire program tonight at 8 00 on cspan. Here are some of the highlights for this weekend. Sites, we visit important in the history of the civil rights movement. Highlights from this years new york ideas forum. Charliey, q a with wrangle at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Reza aslan. H goldstoneht, lawrence on the competition between the wright brothers. Merican history tv on cspan3 a look at hollywoods portrayal of slavery. Saturday night from the 200th anniversary of the battle of bladensburg. How president s make decisions. Find our Television Schedule one week in advance on cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Eric holder is scheduled to get the latest on the independent federal investigation when he travels to ferguson, missouri today. The Associated Press says hes meeting with fbi and other officials looking at the death of Michael Brown eared that Fatal Shooting has sparked a war than a week of nightly clashes between protesters and police. Quieter last night. Deliberation starts today. Ap writes that president obama is expected today to comment on the beheading of american photojournalist james foley by militants with the Group Islamic state. He was kidnapped in syria in november of 2012. The group says his death was in retaliation for yo u. S. Airstrikes in northern iraq. Next, dennis blair and the south Korean Ambassador talk about u. S. Northeast asia relations. Historical issues between the strained relations between japan and south korea and the Regional Security threats to the u. S. From north korea and china. This is from the Heritage Foundation. [applause] it is funny, you never reference postworld war ii history when you are talking about history. Many decades of japanese contributions to international relations. Nevertheless, we know what we are talking about when we talk about history. At history will look and let it speak for ourselves call it guests american optimism if you would like. I would hope we could get to some conversation here about how that japandisputes and korea have over matters of the past. And talk about ways we can. Anage those issues going forth to lead off the discussion today, we are pleased and honored to welcome dennis blair to our stage. Formere blair is the corrector of the national intelligence. Formerrman of the director of national intelligence. Tokyo. A big speech in we have copies of it out front if you would like to take a look at it. Those of you watching online, you can go to our website and find a copy of that speech. Us in washington for a deep grief on that trip. Trip. Rief on that some of hise thoughts with us today. Thank you. Thanks very much. It is a pleasure to be here to talk about a serious subject. The spanish philosopher once famously remarked that the those that cant remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This ringing phrase has been taken out of context and used to justify false historical analogies for current actions. A bitter quote has been attributed to the french diplomat. They have learned nothing, they have forgotten nothing. Of bothements observations in the use and misuse of history by governments in northeast asia. It seems to me that these three powerful countries in that , all with long entangled histories, are really rolling down the stream of history come a facing backwards on their boats. They are rowing hard with lots of energy. History, facing backwards on their boats. If they are moving faster than the currents. They mostly see their own wake in the water and the water and shoreline behind them. They only see what is ahead when they take a quick look over their shoulders. Ve a dont seem to ha sense of how these larger currents are carrying them down the river. Consider china. Chinese leaders are driven by what they see and are determined to never suffer a time like that again. Yet, as they are steering by the wake of their powerful past humiliations, they are unaware of the huge currents propelling them down the river. The greatest of these are the currents of International Economic relations and globalization. Its true that European Countries and the United States it is true that it is the that hasrcial propelled china to become the secondlargest, secondmost powerful economy in the world. Consider japan. Policiesmaking its new by looking towards the future and by revising a single constitutional interpretation of the past. That interpretation of its ability to exercise the right of collective selfdefense. The currents in the big river, nature of the river bank has changed fundamentally since that time. Militarism of the 1930s developed into rising era of passion system and worldwide depression that bread desperation and extreme activity to political views and many countries around the world. The world of the future is not one of ideological motivated our blocs contesting for world dominance. Rather a world of contesting individual nations come and sometimes acting individually, sometimes cooperating and functional multilateral groups of various kinds. A world in which failing states pose as much danger as to powerful states and which extremist violence can pose dangers to develop and it interconnected world. A world in which a major country like japan needs to deploy diplomatic, economic and military powers in sophisticated ways to cooperate with likeminded allies to preserve security and prosperity for themselves for the region and for the world. Japan requires major changes for security policies, not just Legacy Concepts from a past age. Finally, consider korea. Korean leader attitudes are driven in part historical fears that both japan and china somehow look down on korea based on historical experience. They fear economic domination by china similar to the military domination of korea in the past. They reject japanese apologies for it actions during the colonial time because they do not consider them to be sincere. Korean suspect they did not respect them. They celebrate to National Separate holidays on japanese colonial rule. Independence day commemorating the effort of 1919 march first and National Liberation day august 15. Just this year joining with the chinese they completed a new on boreal honored as a patriot but condemned as a terrorist in tokyo for a fascinating general of korea and former Prime Minister of japan in 1909. Yet the big currents of World Development have propelled korea to a much more secure position than it has upheld in the past. It has a security treaty with the United States, the most powerful region in the world. Territorial conquest has been discredited. Economic prowess counts for more based on hard work, adaptability, other forms of soft power such as cultural influences were increased we import and and by these measures korea is a very powerful country. It can deal as appear with all nations of the world including china and japan, and should take counsel of the ambition not of its fears. History is important. Historical ignorance can cause a country to repeat the same mistake twice. However, remembering too much history, understanding too little is the difference between the past and present can conjure up also historical analogies, restrict the countrys ability to make rugrats and cause it to miss opportunities for positive change. There is another care restrict of the effective history of the countrys International Policies we should note. Psychologists tell us that for most people, individuals, the memory of pleasure is more important and lasting than is the memory of pain. Poor nations it seems to be equally selective but in different directions. For countries it seems past failures, past injustices are the most powerful memories fake can have and compel action. China, for example, still thinks of itself in part as the developing and we country but china is the second largest economy in the world with nuclear and armed forces to match. The rest of the world thinks china is a very powerful country. Japans attitude is somewhat dominated by memories of just 15 years, 19301945 when the ramp control of the government and ran the country into disaster. The veneers of restraint and except larry behavior since that time did not seem as important in japan self image. The republic of korea in many ways thinks of itself is a small, divided country, a shrimp among whales, many times invaded. Rather one of the largest economies in the world with a gdp per capita exceeding more than any of its neighbors. A worldwide reputation for menu fracturing excellence and International Peacekeeping operations and major contributor of peacekeeping and international appeal. Finally, the politics of history that also play a role. Governments exploit history for partisan and power purposes and episodes of history the most useful for the purposes are often the ones most humiliating. Democracy is like japan and korea exploit insults to bid for political power to appeal the groups with whom the issues have special resonance. It is easy to fall under this syndrome, no politician in a dictatorship or democracy ones to be vulnerable to accusations of inadequate patriotism, softness and supporting the countrys honor. They mostly believe they can control it. Not so much that it causes damage to their countries. There is a thin line in any country between healthy patriotism and nationalism. The introduction of controversial historical events in the current policies and politics often blurs the line and sometimes crosses it. Even if nationalism does not become extreme, it certainly prevents progress in other areas. Whatever the root cause is and explanation, the exploit and exploitation of the nations painful past is a conscious political decision, whether it is a controversial wartime trying, raising the comfort women or raising emphasis on an especially brutal long and brutal war. There have been recent extensions to train japan and china on one hand when historical issues did not play such a large and crippling role. Leaders in all three countries understood the benefits of cooperation in many areas, business, cultural, people two people were more important to the countrys development, while not denying or covering up the historical issues and in many cases taking steps to knowledge them and tried to apologize for them. They did not allow it to dominate the relationship that it prevented progress in the other in other areas as is the case now. Historical animosities clearly can be a malia rated as aches the experience with germany and most of rest says rest of asias experience. So much for admiring the problem of historical issues and nationalism and international relations. The much more difficult question is what to do about it. He has two panels that follow our talks that hopefully can come up with ideas about it. Let me give you mine. As i mentioned earlier, the solution ultimately lies with political leadership. They must decide it outweighs the advantages. As i mentioned, this has been the case in the past when relations between japan and china were relatively cordial and cooperative. However, there are other actions that can be taken by others and by their friends and my friends in the United States. As a first step they must understand their own histories in a more sure way. All countries have painful episodes in their past. The United States has a least three major instances of unjust and brutal treatment of large groups of citizens. Slavery against africanamericans, slaughter of native americans and x per creations of their land am internment of japanese americans in world war ii. In most major historical episodes like these, some leaders and some ordinary citizens acted heroically. Some acted despicably. Until a country achieves a full understanding of its country, it cannot handle the internal pressures to simplify and exploit that history for political advantage and cannot handle the external pressures from other countries from repeated apologies for denial or leverage. However, in my mind there is a much more fundamental and important reason for the citizens of the country to understand their history. As human beings we have to make sense of our lives and the know how weve reached the current situation, what our forbearers did and the how that affects us. It applies to individuals, families, nations. There will always be elements of myths in family and personal and national histories, but as we become more mature on the we need to get below the myths and enter the reality, complex mixture of heroism, cowardice, loyalty, endurance and surrender that makes a real history the way it actually happened. Now, it may be too much to hope that china can achieve historical honesty under the current form of government. Dictatorships are basically threatened by their own history, and that is why they work so hard to control it. Even when they try to deal with it, they come up with oversimplifications. They censor serious works of history like the recent biography. However, i do not believe it is too much to hope democracies like japan and korea can pace their own histories more honestly than they do. Facing history is much more than just a sentence or two in a school textbook. It is the encouragement and widespread discussion of serious works of history such as the recent books of japan 1941, an examination of why japan decided to go to war with the obviously more powerful United States. An examination of korean troops conduct in the vietnam war were soldiers had an had a reputation for brutality that surpassed other countries. It is based on facts, not on whether book hurts or helps. Research and books are critical. But so too are movies, documentaries that reach a wider audience, often with more emotional power. The popular director Clint Eastwood made a movie about hiroshima. It is interesting the movie from the japanese view is more popular in the United States. Received more Oscar Nominations than did the one from the American Point of view. Also, based on the american cases of coming to grips with the countrys history never ends. It is not the case of putting the sentence in official school textbooks, entering and accepting apologies and then moving on. A case of continued research on the facts and research of the time, book about africanamericans or in 1960s are very different. In this sense there really is no place for apology for tea. Shameful episodes in National History will always be painful and embarrassing and will have to be faced and learned in greater depth. So getting the history right is one important step but there are others. Opinion makers, public figures and media commentator should emphasize the important trends of the future as much as they talk about the narrow, historical issues of the past. Great games countries have made since the end of the cold war, civil war in china have all been enabled by international operations. The economic miracles in japan and china have been based on Foreign Investment and exports, Political Developments have occurred through political contact with the rest of the world. Territorial aggression has been discredited among advanced nations as a way to increase power. In fact, military aggression whether by the soviet union in afghanistan, United States in iraq is now generally considered to be hugely expensive for dubious games. Things have changed since the 1930s and 1940s and 1950s. So while the opinion makers and influential spokesman should not disregard or cover up historical issues, they should place them in a wider context of changes that have taken place since those years. Most of all, this puts a premium on national leadership. It requires careful calibration of public statements along with private medications. Big public actions, even accompanied by very public statements are simply fodder for exploitation by political opportunist. Public opinion eads to be shaped by smaller steps, thoughtful public statements on days of historical significance, encouragement to private initiative to the history right, public admonitions of statements whether made by a political ally or political enemy, wherever they are made. There is a particular role to be played by leaders who have strong nationalist credentials. They can uniquely lead their countries to put historical animosities behind them without the risk of inciting domestic backlash that might in turn only create a further spiral of acrimony. As Richard Nixons lead an opening to china, an opening to capitalism, so some current or future nationalist leader in japan or korea has an opportunity to leave his or her mark on history. In addition, an important place for very private communications among national leaders. Trusted emissaries need to be used to test whether an overture would be reciprocated. Because public statements and actions are so subject to true intentions they need to be conveyed through trusted channels. National leaders and immediate staff need to resist the temptation to leak everything they do to the press to get the appearance of action and the appearance of masters of the situation. So let me conclude by providing the rest of the store by george santi andos famous quote about history. After warning about the dangers of forgetfulness, he goes on to explain manhunt and true progress in which no events or habits have grasp onto instincts. This is truly the challenge for the leaders and citizens for the powerful countries of southeast asia. They need to understand their own histories and understand what has changed since the time the historical events occurred. They need to avoid history impeding development of a better future, rather than rolling ships a state while facing the stern, they need to face forward on the ground a teller and steer confidently into the future. Thank you. [applause] thank you, admiral. I hope to look into more detail on the program. Heritage has a long history of relationships. None closer with those in south korea. That is why i am honored to introduce you to the ambassador of the United States. He was appointed just this year by the president. Prior to this, he served as ambassador to foreign minister trades. He has been at Foreign Service 36 years. Needless to say, far more than i can go to in their brief introduction. Suffice it to say the ambassador is an outstanding representative of the country, good friend of the Heritage Foundation and someone we are proud to welcome to our stage. Thank you. [applause] good afternoon. I should begin by thanking our Heritage Foundation for inviting me to the seminar. This morning i was having breakfast with one of you, and i said it is amazing 200 people would show up on the relationship between korea and japan in august. I said it would only happen in only washington, d. C. , no other place in the world. I guess we both much of it to the fact that you organized it at the Heritage Foundation, so thank you very much. At the same time at the same time i have to say was very inspiring. Thank you, admiral blair. He was depending upon issues in history. He was depending on psychology and then depending on Political Science. Truly an iterdisciplinary approach he has applied to japan. At the same time, i have a far simpler approach should. I hope i will be a book to presented in mr far more simpler manner. In order to do it let me raise three questions and then try to answer the three questions as observed by traditional relations and japan. My first question is what is the present state of relations in korea and japan . The simpler answer would be not the best. The very simple answer would be very easily shared by all of you. But i would have to add in the sense that if you look at the past 50 years, and if i look to the future, i am more optimistic when i look in the future. When i look upon the past 50 years, then korea and japan normalized the relationship in 1965. So next year we would celebrate the 50th anniversary of relationships. There has been ups and downs. All in all there has been tremendous progress between the relationship of korea and japan. That is why i feel very much encouraged about the relationship. When i look to the future, i am confident it will grow from strength to strength. Why . Because we share so many things. Same values, same interest. As they always say, geography is destiny. So when i think about all of this commonality between korea and japan, i am very confident for the coming 50 years and beyond we can develop the relationship from strength to strength. There has been ups and downs. Of course, we could apply Historical Perspective and Political Science perspective and apply even a psychiatry at this psychiatrist perspective. At the same time i think whatever perspective you take there is ups and downs. That pattern has been there was recognizing the past as it was and taking responsibility for the past, it created a political space for bringing the relationship to a higher place. That has been a pattern we experienced over the past 50 years. That is the reason why in our view we are deeply concerned about what is happening in the past several years. But at the same time, what i think about the future i am very confident we will be overcoming the relationship between korea and japan. For the time being let me think about the second question, which is given the fact that we could develop relationships and positive manner and are so confident about the coming six years and be beyond, what should be done today, that will be the second question. The simple answer to the question would be a lot. There are so many things we could be doing together between korea and japan. There are a lot of things we could be doing today and then we could be doing them on two different tracks. I would call it the track of history. The reason why i said that his koreajapan relationship is a nation to nation relationship. We know how we can develop relationship. We can strengthen the relationship insecurity. We can strengthen it in the economy. That is what we do. That is what korea does. That is what japan does. That is what we should be doing in the normal way. These days i spent 36 years in koran Foreign Service. These days i often look back about what i personally did when it comes to the relationship between korea and japan. Then i cannot help but be reminded again and again about what korea used to do. I personally walked handinhand with many at the time when korea had to walk very hard back in 1996. When i came to geneva back in 1999, then i used to be responsible for human rights issues. Again, i was walking closely with my counterpart. At the time the gentleman who later on became an ambassador of course. Then i used to walk very closely with him on which issues . Human rights issues. My impression at the time is there are large number of member countries of the Human Rights Commission at that time. My impression of the time is other countries coming from asia, no other countries and japan with which we could share so many things when it comes to the human race issue. In 2002, an increasing number of soccer fans in the United States. In 2002 korea and japan we were supposed of football games. It does not happen too often. A very limited number when more than one country, two countries will join forces and that happened in 2002. I personally worked on the issue. 2003, the president of south korea came to japan. At the time, i was director general of International Issues and was wondering if there is anything i could do to develop a normal listed relationship between korea and japan and i came up with this idea. I think many of you have been to seoul and the International Airport is aged. There is another one far nearer. I thought about tokyo. At the same time it is far nearer here to tokyo. So i came up with an idea. Why do we have to go all the way there . Why cant we fly . That is the idea that i came up with. Then we made a proposal in japan and the japanese like the idea. That is how it began to fly. That is the reason why each time i flew i felt much pride about what i did and i was encouraged when i saw High School Students coming to korea on a school expedition. In fact, i could see a large group of High School Students coming from japan who were coming to visit korea on the political flight. These are the examples of some of the things i personally did. So we in fact have been doing many things to strengthen relationships. Recognizing the past is important, but at the same time we have to continue to make efforts, practical efforts for a normal relationship between korea and japan. Then i have to tell you this, again i am quoting admiral blair. Issues we should be addressing. And then again admiral blair was employing the interdisciplinary approach about how we should be understanding issues of history, but at this time time, let me repeat to you there is a clear and distinct pattern in the relationship. There is a reason why we keep on saying in fact i already shared with you what i personally did in 1990s and 21st century to strengthen relations in japan. One reason we cannot do that very unfortunately these days is because of some of the statements coming from japan. Very difficult actions being made in japan. That in fact is the reason why we keep on saying the importance of recognizing the past in a fair and honest manner. That is important in the relationship between korea and japan. So, as a matter of fact, i raised this issue not only with japanese but those in washington, and the other day i was talking to one diplomat coming from europe, and had a very interesting experience behind him in the sense that he is a european diplomat but at the same time he started his phd at Tokyo University and his dissertation was on modern history of japan. Then the issue of this is what he had to say. He said when it comes to issues of comfort women, the japanese are suffering from the problem of their own creation. If they had accepted, recognized the issue of comfort women and a fair and honest manner, the issue would have long been gone by this time. They are creating their own problem and struggling from their own problem and very painful to look upon them as somebody who spent so many years in japan studying japanese history and working as a professional in japan it is very painful to watch them. That is what i heard from the european diplomat here in d. C. So when it comes to japanese leaders i think there are two different kinds. I think all japanese leaders, they are thinking about making a proud country out of japan but at the same time some of them thinking they are doing that through recognizing the past as it was that we in fact can make a proud country. There are some that think it is through denial of what happened in the past that we cannot reach the same objective. I think as i already told you there are ups and downs. And when we have to deal with the tendency to deny what happened in the past, it makes it very difficult to strengthen our relationship. Having said that, i have come to the third point, which is when i was ambassador for one year now i come is one question to face again and again in a very different corners of washington. There is where we as americans look upon the relationship between korea and japan, how could we do in the United States to have you to improve the relationship between korea and japan cap code that is a question i received over and over again for the past one year. My simple answer is this, which is more of the same. What you have been doing in the u. S. Congress and department, the white house, what you have been doing in the think tanks, what do been doing in the u. S. Newspapers, that in fact has been very helpful for us to try to related improve the relationship. Why do i say that . It is because i am getting back to the point by admiral blair, which is less lets recognize the past failure honestly and that is what president obama has been saying again and again. He had a press conference and that is exactly what he said. The first thing that must happen is to recognize the past failure and honestly come and that is the same message is the message from the department of state was said and Prime Ministers. They wanted to recognize the past as they were. That as we know it has been helpful. Those states have been helpful to improve improve the relationship with the u. S. That is the message coming again and again from decisionmakers in this town, as well as opinion makers in this town, including the Heritage Foundation. That is the reason why i say thank you for what you have been doing in the United States and i think you can keep on doing what you have been doing so far. There are my three points. Thank you so much. [applause] i am going to turn it over to q a, so think about the burning questions. I know that chris nelson has one as always. Thank you. Terrific, very important statements. I will try to run them both and my report tomorrow. Was the ambassador invited and was he not able to come for some reason to this . This is an independent effort. Clarification in case someone wondered. My question is you use a lot of descriptive thinking in your speech. If you were to advise Prime Minister abe on what he should say in order to have President Park and the korean friends understand, what with the Prime Minister have to say that you think the korean leadership could accept as ok . And i am wondering from what you see as a practitioner, do you think it is possible to talk about korea, japan, political reconciliation under the current japanese leadership or is this something were just going to have to wait out and hope for the best . Thank you. As i said in my remarks, the visitors to the shrine have achieved such an overwhelming symbolism that it is hard to shred out the elements of what is true and not true. If you read the Prime Minister abes statements he makes in conjunction with the visits to the shrine, they are very good, balanced statements. They are drowned out by the dim of the fact of showing up at the shrine with all of the controversy that many experts in this audience are more familiar with than i the way it was established to what the museum says and the shrine says the fact that it honors some and not others. All of that has gained a size that really dwarfs whatever any japanese Prime Minister can say. I said in my remarks i think the way to make progress is not to try to take shortterm actions but somehow change symbolism because i think that is the work of generations. I think my advice to the Prime Minister would be to show respect to the armed forces of japan, civilians who died in the war in a different way, which gets at the honorable, patriotic feeling of the debt we all owe to those who put on a uniform and fought for us and yet is not overwhelmed by the symbolic significance of the place. With respect to the second thoughts that just came from the floor, i think it is not necessarily who is in power in japan, it is not decided by the citizens in japan and what we could or could not do but i think at the same time what is important is understanding in korea and japan about what would work for the best benefit of japan. And the best benefit of the International Community and i think what must happen here is understanding what must be happen must have been from japanese leaders. I totally agree when he says what explanations are important but at the same time when politicians make an action and the symbolism of the actions. I think they are enormously important. I hope those considerations could be made before any statement or action are taken and they impact would be extremely helpful in strengthening relationships between korea and japan. We always have to look at the track of history, and i sincerely hope the strengthening of relations would not be undermined in the track of history. I would like to ask the ambassador i often hear the question about when there may be a summit meeting between the leader of japan and rok. I know that one japanese newspaper has argued it is quite unfair that the koreans, according to them, are asking for preconditions to be met by japan before such a meeting could take place and somehow they think why did they have to be reconditioned . Could you address the issue . Are their preconditions or is that slowing down the possibility of a meeting . Of course. The thing is there are meetings between korea and japan taken place. There are Different Levels of ministers. There are Different Military meetings, etc. , etc. And then, why are we having all those meeting . I think they are tools, instruments. I think we should apply the practical mind in the sense that its a summit meeting will be there, then we should have certain assurance that those meetings in fact would go in the direction of further strengthening relationships in japan. There will be certain expectations created, and that expectation would be when the leaders meet, we would move to a place that would be better than where we are today. That level of expectation, if it is met, that would be good, but if it is not met, there would be frustration. Frustration goes in the direction of undermining the relationship rather than improving it. I would call it common sense. All the way in the back. Blue shirt. As the gentleman mentioned, emphasizing the importance of race among other issues related to history, i feel youre compelled to make a couple of comments about soulsearching of the issue on the japanese side and ask for your comments. In regard to japan in the past, on the issue, is the condition the Japanese Military systematically coerced recruitment of the innocent women, and evidence after research and Research Shows in japan did no such thing. There was one lone isolated case where officers of the Imperial Army forcefully coerced the prosecution after two months it was suspended by the japanese command and officer in charge punished. The officer was executed. Again and again the japanese understanding is no systematic policy. Just most recently, 10 days ago the most seriously dependent upon source of information for the critics of japan published a major retraction of the contention that paper has been pushing previously. There is no evidence. So again and again. So what would you say to the most recent retraction, and then the background that i most recently explained . I am so glad we have someone with 36 years of diplomatic experience to handle that. Even so, you might need a second to cool down. Well the question is coming from a correspondent that reminds me of a commission with recommission on statement. Then when this idea first came up from the japanese government that they would be in a sense of establishing the review, then our idea was, what are you going to do with respect . Are you going to maintain or modify the code the answer was were going to maintain it. Our second question was if that is the case, what will be commission or the mandate for the commission . They said the response was it is to further strengthen the basis of the statement. Then when that review commission came out with a report, there was not disappointment on the part of korea. Why . On the one hand, we heard the chief secretary of japan stating we will continue to support the statement. At the same time, what is the statement . There were three elements. The first element was core shouldnt. Coercion in the sense that the Japanese Military was responsible for the management of military process during this time. Second was admission of pain, which has been coached. Then we in fact went through the commission and then somehow the message was the coercion was obliterated. I will not go into the details but what was suggested is it was overrated. There is a reason why we could not fully understand the motivation for setting up the commission in the first place. If they are saying the element of coercion in fact that there is something to be questioning the elements of caution, then in fact how could you say we was banned by the kono statement . Let me remind you a point that was made is somehow there was an issue in japan that somehow the issues of histories for which japan takes responsibility again and again but somehow korea does not accept the responsibility and keeps on raising the issue of responsibility but as a matter of fact that few is view is wrong. I know that, but at the same time if you look at the instances when the element of coercion, which in fact has been more than sufficiently established through various different channels is being questioned again and again, and that from time to time by japanese authorities, as that is the reason why in fact we cannot let history be history and move ahead. That is the reason why we keep on saying denial will not be helpful. Acceptance would in fact be the starting point and must be the starting point. Thank you. Could i just add a more general point . The history of asia from the 1930s to about 1955 or so is not pretty in any way that you can think about it. There were a series of brutal acts taken on a large scale by many countries, against many countries. There were a a lot of innocent victims. There were some victims who were not innocent. It was a nasty place for an long time. I dont think any country can have a monopoly on righteousness or on guilt and shame in the events of those 50 years. What i was trying to say is the attempt to hold a we were right and you were wrong sweepstakes is not going to help our children and grandchildren to understand what happened there, to be able to incorporate it into their memories and the histories of their families, their fathers, the grandparents, their ants, their mothers, and hopefully move on to a better approach that will not kill and brutalize so many people, or allow other people to do it. Sot allow people to do it. This issue is so much bigger than it is whether one particular date or time something happened or did not happen. We are playing around with shoelaces when we have a huge we aremajor issues trying to deal with. A largerying to get overall understanding of this period in which there were heroes that try to keep things from happening. There were some who went ahead and did it. There were many who did nothing and did not know about it, or wished they could have made a difference. It is that sort of understanding of what went on that i think is will not be solved by simply oh, yes, government b,as responsible for acts government c was responsible for act d. That is part of it. I would hope the 70th anniversary of the end of the largest of those wars would be an occasion where we can take a step to understand the full import of what went on then. Just really briefly, i would like to say the frustration that we have at the middle here we spend a lot of time telling our korean friends that our japanese friends have already dealt with this, have already apologized 60 times. Or whatever it is. To a certain extent, that is true. In the middle, because at a large extent, it is true the government has not officially dealt with the issue, but as long as you keep reopening it, that is when we the the ups and downs ambassador mentioned over the last 50 years. To use it as a political instrument again, i think that is keeping us from making progress. Yes. Right here. Billingtonu, mike from the executive intelligence review. Clearador, i think it is that many people in the u. S. Are anxious for a japankorea collaboration because they want them to join forces against china. That is reflected in the effort to get the missiles deployed which korea believes were deployed against china and not north korea, and the recent effort to keep korea from signing with chinas infrastructure raposos. I would like you to address this. I know the koreans have used ifrelations with china you could address that side of this issue, please. True the relationship is getting more important. N articlehere was a written in the washington report written by a high level official from the government of japan. I was disappointed in a sense. This is one of the reasons why European Countries are not responding sufficiently strongly against a russian action in its,ne and then because of that thea risk relationship between korea and the United States could be undermined. That high Government Official used that. I was very disappointed. That was totime, viewed by someone who used to be in a very responsible position. I was thinking about it. What is the relationship between korea and japan. In my representation, i was representing again and again, our common interest. Coming from someone who used to be in a responsible position in the japanese government, it very well could have had an relationship between these countries. I do not think it will happen at all, to undermine the vision between korea and the United States, because of the increasing economic relationship between korea and china. That is very simplistic. And i have to remind you, and myself, that the security alliance, the security partnership, the only country with which korea has a allies is an Alliance Relationship is with the United States. And we think about security, there is only one. I could come up with hundreds of reasons why, but it is really one powerful reason why we dont think it is going to happen at all. I am very glad to share with you that is the statements being made by the department of state and the white house. It is not going to undermine koreas for the ship with the United States, not even by one the Plenary Session starts at 1 00. We have a great opportunity for those able to make it here early. It is a great pleasure for me to be a part of introducing a friend of Community Action to you to engage in an interview of sorts we will first hear some ofthe thought and the heart our guest, and then afterwards, we will have an opportunity for some question and answer. There is a microphone right you are so, as listening, if there is something you are particularly interested in following up on, you will have the opportunity. Ant to in two deuce introduce myself, i am the acting ceo and privileged to be part of the network as we are celebrating the 50th anniversary. This is a great way to get things started. Let me, without further ado, get into my introduction of our guest. As Sister Simone, Sister Simone campbell has served as the executive director of network, a National Catholic social justice lobby since 2004. She is a religious leader, attorney, and public, with experience in Public Policy and advocacy for systemic change. In washington, she lobbies on issues of peace building, perform, health care, and economic adjusted. Economic justice. Since the 1970s, she has founded or served as the lead attorney or just plain leader for Organization Serving or protecting family law or public law needs of the working poor. She has traveled to the middle situationdress the confronting refugees in syria and iraq and she authored the famous nuns letter that persuaded 59 other leaders to sign on to the reform bill. It was considered critically important to the bills acid and as a result, president obama invited Sister Simone to be to theremony signing ceremony. In 2012, she helped organize the nuns on a bus tour to oppose legislation by the house of representatives as harmful to those in need. The tour received an avalanche of attention across the country from elected officials and the media, and since then she has led a new nuns on the bus focused onry trip comprehensive Immigration Reform. Finally in april of this year, she authored a nun on the bus how all of us can create hope, change, and community. She joined us at our winter Management Training conference recently and was very well received there. We thought it was appropriate to ask her to, help us as we observe our 50th anniversary and to look forward at the need for our ongoing mission. Please join me in giving a warm Community Action welcome to Sister Simone. [applause] thanks so much, tom. It is really a treasure to be here. I was just in indiana for their state meeting a couple weeks ago. We had such a great conversation. I came to realize that while you all are celebrating 50 years of commitment to engaging the challenging and teske issues of low income communities, i came to realize challenging and issues of lowincome communities, i came to realize i am celebrating 50 years of religious commitment. Thisnk that that fueled action to making change in the heart of our nation. We can joy that celebrate together anniversaries. And the Amazing Things that happen when you least expect it. And. T. s and say i tease say if you want to live a quiet life, i recommend joining the convent. [laughter] it is a lot of space and time. Which is not been the case for me at all the last few years. How inf people ask me, heavens name did that bus ever get going . Oint to, what really got us started, the vatican named our Little Organization influence being a bad on catholic sisters in the United States. [laughter] in thishat notoriety document we referred to call the center, in which the vatican radicaly were promoting feminist themes incompatible with the gospel and the leaders were really nervous. And they said one of the causes was us. So, i knew my sisters at the Leadership Conference could not engage the press, because they had to work with rome, but we at network could talk to the press because we do not have a direct connection to rome. I very quickly started Answering Press calls. What i realized was is that we are not about having the focus on ourselves. We are all about focusing on our mission. Four days before the vatican censure, we celebrated our 40th anniversary where the big question was, how do we let people know what we are doing . How do we let people know we have been lobbying on capitol hill for 40 years . How do we invite people to join ideas. Had very little you have to be careful what you pray for. I am a person of faith. We were praying we would get a few more members. Four days later, the vatican answered our prayer, and the rest, as they say, is history, because what happened for me in prayer what came to me was to ask for help. We asked for help and we included folks from the Community Action partnership in the seaogether here, and at the end of an hour and a came together in d. C. Here, and at the end of an hour and a half, we decided we would go on the road. No one remembers who first said we should go on a road trip. For me as a christian, a person of faith, that is the holy spirit. By the end of the meeting, i had a map in my head. I knew where paul ryans district was. And i knew where the mother was,s of catholic sisters so we could stay overnight for free. It was a very lowbudget operation. But things we could never have predict did was it became like lightning. Lightning struck in a way that people. Hope to lightning struck in creating community and connection. Lightning struck in giving us opportunities to speak about poverty when that had slipped off of our national agenda. And we did so well, we even how even have paul ryan talking about poverty, and i believe it is because of your consistent work and the magic on the bus and our engagement on a challenging, challenging issue. At least he is talking about it. What i want to raise up for us some of the wrestling that we must do in order to create the next 50 years of engagement. Because things are different than they were 50 years ago in 1964 when we started this work. Things are better. Some would say, oh, oh, yes, we have a war on poverty and poverty one. And poverty won. No, we have made huge strides. We have trouble still. There are things not working in our nation, but we have made a difference. You need to celebrate, weve together need to celebrate the accomplishments we have achieved and commit ourselves to the hard road ahead. One of the things we make a mistake doing is saying it is just about our Community Action project. Just about the boss. Just about what were doing. Just about the bus. Mistake. Congressman ryan also makes the mistake when he says, you know, it is all about Government Spending. If we did away with Government Spending and just oak is dumb business, we could make a difference. If we did away with Government Spending and just focused on business, we could make a difference. Where the new challenge is for ando come together in both conversation about how do we, the people, make a more Perfect Union . Because too many of our people are being left out of our conversation. Leftany people are being out of economic development. Too many people are being left at the margins, struggling just to survive. Occasionally i do like pointing fingers at people and saying it is their fault. Isnt that refreshing . [laughter] but the challenge when i do that is that i make them separate, and we cant move forward. The challenge that we are facing , and one of the reasons i wrote the book was to say it is all about us coming together. Those wealthy, wealthy folks at the top of our please leaveity, your bags and money at the door and come to the table. Talk with all of us. We need to have a conversation with the 100 . Because too many people are left out. So, what do we do to find the way forward. Hmm. Thehis conversation with 100 , i have been practicing actually, if you must know. And i have been practicing talking to folks who are really different. A couple months ago, i met jason, who was one of these really young entrepreneurs. At 35, he has low and sold three different businesses he has no and sold three different businesses. I thought that was pretty amazing. He told me he was about to sell his third business. He told me he pays a living wage to all of his employees. That he thinks taking care of his employees is a Good Business plan. He hires folks who may be do not have much business experience and brings them in to know the work world. And he has found that a good way forward. But what was beginning to upset him was he came to realize that were going to fund his competitors. I said, what . Your taxes are funding your competitors . Talk to me about that. What he told me was, he realized his competitors were aiding lower wages. And because they are paying low wages, his competitors employees use the safety net. Go and use food stamps, medicaid, housing vouchers, go and use other services. Hmm. So, the employer has a lower t and can therefore bid submit lower bids for projects. And jason realized that his tax dollars were funding the social Service Programs that his employees were using. Isnt that interesting . I was sort of shocked by that, surprised by that. I had not thought of it that way. But these very programs, which keep families somewhat stable, become a business subsidy. And in our nation where many business and robust business paying its own cost dont you think they ought to really pay their own cost . [applause] so, we need to talk to business. We need to talk to business isut what do their business really cost . And make sure that biddingand their reflect that. Here, i realized, was really the challenge. The 100 percent of us someplace have gotten the idea we should pay the lowest possible price. I realized, i think we need to renegotiate that agreement among us. We cannot just claim the lowest possible price at the expense of folks getting left out. We have to say, well, i want to pay a fair price, a price that ensures everyone is able to support their families. Engaged inne is making this a better union. And the money i pay extra, i am willing to pay extra if all of the employees are getting good wages, but we have to make sure it is not just a way to further subsidize those at the top. Have got to top share all the way down. Those creating the wealth for those of the top have got to participate in it. That is the social contract that 100 of us need to make. It is beginning to happen. It is pretty exciting. Iere was a news report think it was about two months ago now, where a Health System in texas had decided not to give all of the top management their big bonuses and their big salary increases. They took i believe it was two thirds of it and spread it among all of the employees, because they realized their Hospital System was doing well because the employees were doing well. That is a huge step forward that we need to support and in our , isnt that Say Community development . That is developing our communities where everyone shares in the benefits of their labor. So, we, the people, need to make are fair wages, hours and just. Another one that you will work on is public transportation. There is a recent study that indicates there is more social when there is good public transportation. In madison,ly wisconsin actually it was still in the wintertime. It was much better to be at your gathering down in Fort Lauderdale men in wisconsin and than in wisconsin in january i cant tell you. It was educational for me. I went to the homeless shelter. Most of the folks in the homeless shelter, it was a family shelter, they were employed, but they were not making enough money to afford rent and the high cost madison area. And then many told me they had worked out in the suburbs and they worked like a swing shift, and evening shift, but when the bus schedule got cut back so the last bus left to come back to the city left at 8 00 p. M. , they had to cut down on their hours, because they could not get back to the shelter to be with their families. Rethink this. We need to read think Public Transit and how do we help people get two jobs and get home get two jobs and get home . We need to be engaged in these issues of Public Transit. We know that our earth needs it to cut down on our carbon footprint, but people need it so they can earn a living. In prescott, arizona i do not know if anyone here is from arizona, but i was very impressed and prescott. The snowbirds from the north lies self for the fly south winter, and they found that their inhome help was having to walk five and six miles each way to get to their jobs in these residential areas. So the people in prescott went to form a Transportation System so at least people could get to work. The snowbirdshat . Said, tax us. Tax us and we will pay for it. It is the common good. People need work. We need help. Make this happen. Countryat a good news good news story . We can make a difference. When we see it is for the 100 . Then we need to make sure that some folks have been chewed up in our economy and spit out. And some folks need help. Some folks are not going to be able to make it in this economy, and we need to be real about that, but its not everybody. We also know that some folks just need the opportunity to get an education. A year ago i met britney, who was so excited to be the first woman in her family, the first person in her family to go to college. But britney told me it was only because of health grant. Were making it possible for her to go to college and she was terrified, terrified, that in all the budget fights they would be cut. She told me that before college started, she had, her mom had her momsd up by boyfriend, the two of them have picked uphad gotten by police for something. I dont know what. They had no money to get her mom out of pretrial detention. Because of that, britney lost the family apartment. Couldy did the best she at the age of 17, just before entering college. She told me that she only had to sleep out a couple days, but she was a tough kid and she was going to make it in college. She told me her delight was when the college dorm opened and she could move in and have a place again. Told me this was september last year she had just gotten her first paper back in college and she had only gotten a year a bplus. With that she burst into tears. I thought, oh, my glory. I was in tears hearing about her homelessness, her struggle, and here is that young woman who us indicates bpl she will not make it in college inause she always made as high school. I threw my arms around her and realized, young folks going to college need people who can help them and say, dont worry, you are capable. It is at the heart of who we are. [applause] we have got to have yes, we need pell grants. It is essential. But we also meet our arms to hold these young people to encourage them. When we look at what is happening in ferguson right now, in missouri, we know we know anguish ofish, the violence and discrimination and racism and rejection. How do we hold, wrap our arms around individuals and communities so that we can hold them dear . Where we can cry together and the angry together, but to know we can Work Together to make a change . Acism is alive and well we are working hard to dismantle it. Lot more workt a to do. I am benefited by white privilege. I know that. But i am trying to use this privilege in a way that opens up so all of our privilege there is a way forward for the 100 . We work on specifics like transportation, like just wages, like how we pull together, we have to work at the chatter side of our shadow side of our culture which is our history. The racism, the scrimmage nation. And we, the people, we can make a difference. We have made huge strides, but we have a long way to go. Sometimes we get tired. Do you get tired of this . I really thought if i dedicated my life 50 years ago to social justice we would be in a lot better position than we are now. Anybody relate to that . Amen, amen. Well i was lamenting that the wasr day while i lamenting that the other day, someone came up to me afterwards and said, think what state we would be in if you had not devoted your life to this. Think of that. Think of things to celebrate. The child tax credit. The various entrepreneurial activities you all are engaged in. The conversations that exist. The organizing that exists. The real data on real peoples lives and the real stories. You put those two got together, and you all are a powerhouse. A powerhouse of news we need to make sure is shared around the country. Because too often in our we will thinking, just call each other names, talk to people who think like us, and not talk to them, right . The challenges, we have missionary work the challenge is, we have missionary work to do. Missionaries to be of Community Action. What i am advocating is what i call Grocery Store missionary work. Grocery store missionary work line wherever you stand in and i hardly ever stand in line anymore because i do everything on the internet at the Grocery Store, i still have to go buy my groceries. They are creating systems around that. Is, i cane discovered say to the person in front of me or the person behind me hey, are you worried about wages . Are you worried that some many people are struggling at low incomes and not being able to support their families . Another one of my favorites is what to think about Immigration Reform, hmm . [laughter] discovered is, just about everybody has some idea. They have got some thoughts. But we do not talk to people about these critical issues. Here we would rather talk about the nationals or the redskins were the wizards. We would rather talk frivolous things and have the illusion of connection. But with our illusion of connection, we are losing our democracy, i think. And where we need to go is serious conversation with folks theo not know, because we, people, of the United States need to form this more Perfect Union. Tot that means is you have risk hearing some stuff you would rather not hear. But at least you will know what other people are thinking. This inbenefit of doing a Grocery Store line is it does not last nearly as long as your thanksgiving dinner table might. [laughter] if we do this with people around us, we can create a community conversation, and you all are the folks who know how to get. Our Community Going that is the way forward. Then we can have a conversation with congressman ryan. He has a point, Business Needs to be included, but it is not the only point. I am dyingers to talk to the koch brothers. Say, ok, lets have a conversation. Leave your money out of this. You be one person, one vote. Be at the table, but do not control the conversation. That is what we have got to do. So, what i urge you to do is to be missionaries for the good news that we, the people, of the United States can stay at this. It is about the 100 . It is about making a difference for all of us, because if those who are struggling at the margins do better, we all do better. If those who are at the top learning to share a little bit of what they have got, we all do better. And you know what . They will also do better, because their quality of life is being eroded. There is this fabulous book called spirit level that lays out how the 1 suffer when we have this huge income and wealth disparity. Invite everyone into the center. That is the myth of the middleclass. It is also the truth of democracy. All of us need to be engaged in the middle. Pope francis has said some really good things about this, but what i want you to know is all faith traditions speak about the need for the common good. The need to be connected. Pope francis has some exceptional lines i have a friend who just was to create billboards with the stuff. Here is one of them. Resolve the need to structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed. Not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society, but because Society Needs to be cured of the sickness which is weakening and frustrating it and which will only lead to new crises. Ferguson is a good example. As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute it time in the of markets and financial speculation by attacking these structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the worlds problems, or for that matter any problems. Inequality is the root of social ills. That is the story that we are trying to write. We are trying to change the ending for that story, because we know that community can write right that wrong. Some days i feel exhausted. Anybody feel exhausted yack here i am, this teenyweeny little person in the midst of all the stuff. I want to close this is one of the poems that sits in the back of my book. I had to talk the publisher into doing it, but it turned out to be good. Those of you in the christian tradition know the story of jesus and the loaves and fish. Dont, i of you who think it is probably in the culture, too, so you might not have had to have read matthew in the gospels to know it. Jesus is out in the wilderness and the apostles are getting nervous because the people have not eaten all day and that will get grumpy pretty soon. The apostles say to jesus, send them back to town, please send them back so they can get something to eat. What jesus says to the apostles is, feed them your selves. The apostles being the men that fiveare go, we just have loaves and two stinky fish. I do not know what we are going to do. Jesus blesses it and says it is enough. They pass it out and to their surprise, there are baskets left over. At the end of matthews story in the gospel of matthew, you writes,5000, 5000 he men were fed, to say nothing of the women and children. Now that made me mad. [laughter] i said, what are we . Chopped liver . You know. It when i get mad like that, pray about it. What does it mean . Here is what i think it means. It means they just counted the people who thought it was a miracle. The women do the women knew they brought food from home. [applause] dont you hear it all the time . Women pull out food and here is some crackers and cheese and here is this and that . The guys always say, wow, a meal what a miracle anyway, that is the scripture. [laughter] but it is also about us, because sometimes we can feel so small and so few and so little. But we are making a difference for the 100 . So here is the column. It is called loaves and fish always joke that the miracle of loaves and fish were sharing the women always knew this but in this moment of need and notoriety , trimble, almost weep at folks so hungry malnourished spiritual famine of Epic Proportions my heart aches with their need whine ike, i what are we among so many . , 2000yearold, this response is blessed and broken, you are enough i savor the blessed cowher at the broken enoughyed to be thank you very much. [applause] thank you so much, Sister Simone. Now it is time to have a conversation. I mentioned earlier on she would be sharing from power her heart, and obviously we got a really good dose of that. Now is time for you to post things that may be on your mind post things that may be on your mind. I want to mention the we are welcoming cspan, so hello, cspan. There is a microphone here in the middle. If you would like, please make your way to the mic. Sister simone has been kind and gracious enough to respond to questions. A course she will be here afterwards signing books, but now is the time for questions. I can help you get started while folks are trying to make their way to not be shy. To not be shy. I think what i was picking up in some of the comments about how we might approach our work is ith the jasons of the world, almost seems like either a or offsetting values need to be discovered, discussed. Because that discussion or focus on values seems to be a door that helps bring folks together, as opposed to the separation. Can you talk a little bit more about that echo about that . Is a really important point, because values when you go to values, that is when you can get over the rhetoric. Let me give you an example. I met with paul ryan after the 2012 strip. At the end of our meeting, i said, i know i will be asked about this meeting. What did we say . He said, we had a cordial conversation and agreed to disagree. That was sweet. It left us on opposite sides, polarized again. What i said to him was, could we also say that we both care passionately about the future of our nation . Is a value we would share that builds a bridge. He said, oh, yes, yes. I do not know if he remembered to say that part. I certainly have. But where do we share . Do we value . How can we move Forward Together gets us out of our polarized thoughts. Let me give you one more example. The sisters of social service there is another community in europe. After the wall came down, the systems in Central Europe were so excited to wear the uniform publicly and to public prayer and do all of this and they were scandalized by us, because we did not wear the uniform and do a lot of public prayer. We did social service, social work. It took a couple years of conversation, but we discovered we both value freedom. Their freedom was to be able to wear the uniform. Our freedom was to not. But see how it was the same value that we could build the relationship on . But the expression was different. It is those qualities of conversation that we have to have a party lines, across services,social across those lines to find out what are the values we bring to community . What matters to us . Really important point. Thank you. Oh, brave one, thank you. Are very simone, you inspiring. I really appreciated all of your comments. You have addressed a little bit of my question just a minute ago, but i am curious about the hardening of the attitude toward the poor that across society, andjust the policymakers after 18 years in commuting action, sometimes it is tiring broadeople give you generalizations about, well, they just want to work. They are just lazy. They are just wanting to stay on the system and on and on and it becomes very difficult and challenging to do your work when youre faced with that. I do not know if you have any more inspiring words on society as a whole, not just the policymakers, i guess. Is fear. K the key here the reason that people are hardening their hearts is they feel themselves trapped, and as long as they can make up a reason somebody is lazy. I am not lazy. I work hard. Therefore it will not happen to me. Their fear the economic constrictions they are feeling with stagnant wages and how difficult it is to support their own families means i can blame somebody else and feel better about myself. What i have tried to do when i get into those conversations n get away with it because i am a sister. I go pastoral. What do you fear . What is your fear for your family . I will tell you, i have ended up with folks in tears talking about how hard it is for their family. They have a brother or sister or wife who have lost their job, lost benefits, had hours cut back. It happened to me up in new york. Fairly fearful, and it turns out that both she and her husband with masters degrees have lost their jobs in the recession. The only thing they could find, she was working at a bookstore and he was working for a laborer, and they were grateful for that, but they lost their home. They lost everything. And they were working hard. Holds long as she could onto the idea that someone was lazy, it was not them. Ease the fear in our nation and share the economic we are the richest nation on earth. We need to share the economic benefits we have got. We have to be bold enough to touch the fear. My question piggybacks right onto that idea of fear. In new york, we have been very inspired by you and others and have been out on the road ourselves having this conversation. In some communities we have been having great conversations and there is a lot of work happening. We built a state foundation that catalyzed other stuff. Some communities are not ready for that conversation. The the idea of standing in Grocery Store. You turn around to the person behind you and say, what you think about Immigration Reform . Sometimes what you get back is, i think you are a lunatic because you are talking to a stranger line at the Grocery Store. We get that. Our community is not ready for this conversation yet. We have to work towards being friends online to have that conversation. How do you get to a point in a ferguson and maybe is an example right now, too. There is so much going on. Howd you get at the point where people can sit at the table and feel comfortable and not be afraid to say what they think. Good question. Good question. Really an important question. The a person who leads into deep end. You probably figured that out. I just leap. But i think the key is if you come with a warm heart. If you come with a warm heart and maybe it is because i am a sister, and peoples guards are down. I dont know. In the Grocery Store, they do not know i am a sister. I am curious. If i have curiosity and a warm heart, i have never been turned away. The hard part is to keep the warm hearts. For me, that is the key. I know i am not the measure of the whole answer. In my personal work is that i need to be curious about other ways of thinking. If i am curious, i am really inviting. Sometimes i ask questions because i want to give other people my answer. That will shut people down. That is not progress. Is divisive. How do we nourish our curiosity . If everyone does not at sit at the table, we do not have the whole answer. Some great work is being done by the faith immunity in ferguson with doortodoor activity of just talking to people, listening to their experience, what their worries are. The Faith Community has reached out in that way. But it is hard. It is long. It takes forever. It is not about the community i mean it is about the immunity, but we start oneonone. 101 community organizing, that is where you start. Andi have to be curious care about you enough. So, when i make room for you in my pack talk that i have room for your thoughts. It affects me. It matters to me. And if i get turned away i have only been turned away a couple times, my response is usually, oh, i am sorry, i did not mean to disturb you. I am curious. I am worried about our nation. The two times it has happened, when i said i wanted our nation to be better, they say, we do, too. They agreed with that. But they did not want to too scary, too scary. But i did not lose anything. I got another story. [laughter] i would like to also dorsey, who has joined me on the stage, a colleague of ours. I want to make sure that i was inviting an opportunity for questions, if you would like . Say as ad just like to minister, i heard a grazer and today. A great sermon today. Do you all agree . [applause] did you get hate mail . Hardlyknow actually ever. It is interesting. When we did this, the nuns letter for health care, we got a lot. Us, that we are doing the b hardly ever. Last year on our immigration to her, we went through the south. I was really nervous. We went through georgia, alabama where they have these repressive laws. We had 12 people show up at different events. It was mostly church fights, not politics. Finally when we got to phoenix, 15 people showed up on the politics of Immigration Reform. We do not get much. But the key is, everyone is welcome. There is room for everybody in the story. No one is left out. I think people do the hate stuff when they feel there is a wall out. A wall keeping them i dont know. Or it is a mirror coal. [laughter] iracle. T is a m [laughter] thank you. You said something in your remarks i want to expand on. You talk about the young woman who was going to college and credited the Pell Grant Program for being able to get there. What i have learned over the the most valuable thing we provide to the people we work with is usually not what they walk in the door looking for. They walked in the door looking grants or medicaid or Something Like that. It is the hand holding, the arms around them, the Case Management. Without those services amen. Few will actually be successful. I am from virginia. In virginia we have a College Service program for Community Action agencies run. It makes a huge difference in the success rates of kids going to college that they have the i got for my parents. They have gone to college. They knew the system. They knew how to provide support. The kids coming out of a background where they dont have needfrom the family, they it from someone. The same thing when we do Health Care Case management. Doctors will see people and accept medicaid where they would not otherwise because they know the children will be there and do what they prescribed. Good. I think too often we focus on the direct financial assistance. That is where the big bucks go. But if we leave out the Case Management, the arms, the emotional support were wasting the other money many times. Good point. Case management is key. A bunch of you, i think, know that. The think i want to add is paul ryan has Case Management. His whole proposal of poverty is based on Case Management. He also has block granting and we all know what happens to block grants. We will not go into that in this conversation. I testified in front of the state tenet in california. A woman testified, a case manager, that she felt so insecure, unworthy, bad about herself that she never candidly talk to the case manager until she got other outside support which allowed her to feel better about herself. So, she just went into her case manager one day and decided to lay it on the table. She just laid it on the table. She had all of this it up desire to make a go of it come of it did not feel worthy of making a go of it. Finally she did not believe that person could care about her and she finally made a connection with her case manager. That did just what youre talking about. Yes, thoseiece is, of us in Case Management have to have willing arms, but we have sort of like wait outside the rabbit hole. Wait long enough for the person to poke their real head out and encourage them ok. You can trust me. We are at this together. I care about you. I practiced family law for 18 years in a low Income Community in california and so often my clients would sabotage good stuff because they could not bear with being successful. They had no experience with success. Elation shiped a i will be with future through success. Through the scariness of success. We have to have the arms ready to hug them. We have to be willing to invite them out, knowing this is a new experience for many people who have always been on the losing end of hard stuff. It is a combination. The point. Thank you. One more our last one. Good morning and the essence of time this is going to be very short. Youk you for the work that do. Certainly being a catholic nun encourages you to be proactive with the bowl in poverty. The challenges i have had over the year and continue to have is people in this business, we friends withome people against what we do. Oftentimes we do not have the courage to tell them that what we think is the problem with the people we serve, we do not see anything. We kind of shut down. We may bring anchors to our to our board,rs but the bankers are the notorious people who will not let our clients cash checks. But they are our friends. Yes. That is a key piece where you have got to help people see how the 100 are affected by this. Arent banking for low income folks, that promotes payday lending, pawn shops, a whole bunch of stuff which will upset the bankers because it will run down property values. If you run down property values, the loans they have given in insecure. Will be always go to bankers with security. That is their job. But help them see the connection. If you dont do it, it runs down the whole neighborhood. And the fact we have so many people, areas that are unbanked. We have food deserts. Deserts that are huge. What are the options . Some of the places were my sisters work, they have developed credit unions, more engaged local community commitments. They also have the of a b of committed toa providing services in some areas that have been unbanked. What weve got to do when we have these folks on our boards, it is critical we educate them to the reality. Not stories, not height. Dont sugarcoat it. We have got to create it. It is critical. Is gettingbest individual stories about the connections. This story connects to this reality connects to this connects to your bank. Your bank will benefit if we do this. Or your business can benefit. But we need them at the table is educationway over a long time. But you are doing great work to make that happen. That you are on their board is a step forward. Step two, the education piece. Cool. Thank you so much. Have a great conference. We close out the segment, i want to extend an invitation to Sister Simone to tothe first among us complete an act. One of the opportunities that every single one of you will have here is to rededicate yourselves to the promise of Community Action, and as an expression of that, we do have a poster you will all be able to sign, but i what to invite Sister Simone to be the first to sign it. I will be honored. That will be great. There it is. Thank you. [applause]
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