Joining me this morning is deborah brown, member of the Naacp National board of directors from virginia. Deborah brown, please stand. Lets give her a round of applause. [applause] now will everyone please stand, everyone please stand for the invocation which will be given by reverend dr. Harold carter, pastor of the New Shiloh Baptist Church in baltimore maryland. Lets all give him a of applause as he comes out. [applause] my dear friends, lets bow our heads and humble our hearts. Before our god. We thank you as always, gracious god, for the gifts of life, for the gift of another day. We still our hearts in your presence because only you have brought us through the night. And we say thank you. And our gracious god, we lift the language of the song that he could basis of the day that you have made and were here to be glad and rejoice in it. With all of the gifts and talents that you provide us with an grant to us, we know that one thing we cannot do is make a day, but we are grateful that you have and you care. And so weve come, o gracious god, at the beginning of this day having been blessed to the course of the weekend, to call upon your name and to invoke your holy presence in front of all that we speak to do, as a part of this grand work, the naacp. With knowledge you for the 108 years, that you kept this work strong and on the cutting edge. We have intoned the light of the likes of w. E. B. Du bois, and say thank you for all of the many shoulders that we stand on. You are a good god, and your worthy to be praised. And gracious god, we are happy because as we stand in your glorious presence, we can certainly thank you for Derrick Johnson and for how you have brought him to a whole new level of leadership. Thank you as well for the professor leads the worker locally in the city of baltimore. And those who come from far away we just want to thank you for traveling graces, and traveling mercies. We pray now that you will be with us throughout the balance of our time of sharing, that all that we do will be to bless others, to encourage others to make a difference in this world, in this nation. We need you, and we cannot do without you. And even though president 45 has closed the door and denied his coming to be with us, we know that you are with us, and thats what really matters. And so we give your name the glory and the praise, because you promise, yes, you have, you promise that you will never leave us, nor forsake us. And we dont believe you brought the naacp this far to leave us now. So be our god and be our guide, and when its all over on the side, we pray that you will be our eternal hope. We give this work into your hands and pray that the entities will be defeated, knowing that we have victory in jesus this is our hope, this is our faith and this is our prayer. We Stay Together amen. Amen. Thank you, reverend carter. Lets give reverend carter a round of applause. [applause] have an announcement. Those delegates who are submitting petitions as candidates for the atlarge seat on the board of directors must bring a petition to the election Supervisor Committee at the front of the dais. Would you members of the committee please raise your hands. You actually have eight minutes, eight minutes to submit your petition to this supervisory committee. Once again, they are standing here in front. You have up to 10 a. M. Now we have individuals who will be bringing greetings to the naacp. It is my privilege to present the honorable ben carson, United States senate from baltimore maryland. Lets give them a round of applause. [applause] thank you very much. Welcome to baltimore. We love baltimore. The present may not love baltimore but we love baltimore. [applause] its really good to be here, honor to represent the people of maryland. Its a wonderful death naacp here in baltimore. I wanted to acknowledge our great state president gerald, the great job that he does. I want to acknowledge our great leader in Baltimore City for the work that she does at naacp. [applause] and we are just very proud in baltimore to be the headquarters of naacp, and a great history that we have had in our state of maryland. Thurgood marshall, a citizen of maryland. Clarence mitchell junior other one had a first member of United States senate. The Murphy Family and what theyve done, 125 Year Anniversary of the abaco afroamerican newspaper right here in baltimore. We a great history, jake oliver doing a super job. The great leadership that weve had in the naacp comingout of our state. The first woman president of the naacp, weve had been jealous, great leaders comingout of our state and were just very, very proud of what weve been able to do. And baltimore has one of the greatest mayors in america in katharine q so you hear from hr shortly. I know our states attorney Marilyn Mosby is also yupik we have a great team here at our state and we are very, very proud. I 20 take one moment to tell you that the business that you are doing at this convention is more important than ever before. Our values are being attacked by whats happening in washington today. Americas strength is not just because we have a strong military, and we do, the best in the world. Its not just because with a Strong Economy and we have a stronger economy in the world, and god knows we could do better in our economy. Americas strength is in our ideals, in our belief in democracy and Democratic Institutions and free elections and edwin verses 90 and embracing diversity. Thats under attack in washington today. I will be leaving here to go back to washington to fight to preserve the Affordable Care act. Were not going to let them turn the clock back. [applause] taking 2233 night off the insurance rolls, no way. America believes that helped her as a right, not a privilege. Thats a privilege. Thats what were fighting for. [applause] we are fighting this integrity commission, Election Integrity commission that the president has appointed looking for problems, looking for problems that doesnt exist. We fought long and hard for the right to vote. We are not going to let them turn back the right of every american to exercise their constitutional rights. [applause] and in education, im a proud part of the Baltimore City public schools. [applause] education is the great equalizer. Betsy devos is not a fan of Public Education. We have our job to make sure all children get the education they deserve. And i couldnt leave without just commenting about freddie gray in baltimore. It happens in too many seats around the nation where we saw tragedies at the hands of law enforcement. And know that we have a broken criminal Justice System that needs to be fixed. Your work here working with us, lets fix the system can lets get rid of racial profiling once and for all in america. [applause] lets work with our communities to do a better job. And one last point, freddie gray as a youngster was poisoned by led. You saw what happened in flint, michigan. Our people deserve our work to make sure they are kept safe. Lets get rid of light in her pipes. Lets get rid of lead in our children lets protect our future. [applause] so brothers and sisters, thank you for coming to baltimore. I want you to know our behalf of the maryland congressional delegation we welcome you here to baltimore. We are on your team. Working together to advance the rights of all americans. God bless. [applause] we thank you, senator cardin. Lets give them a round of applause once again. [applause] everybody all right . I am pleased to invite the honorable katharine pugh, the mayor of the great city of baltimore maryland. Lets give her a well, welldeserved round of applause. We dont care if trump is here. We got the mayor in the house. [applause] let me just tell you how all its that i am that you all are here in baltimore. You have come home come home to your National Headquarters to celebrate 100 eighth congress of naacp. I welcome you on behalf of all of the citizens of baltimore. And i just want to say we have worked hard. I am sure they rolled out the red carpet if we want you all to feel welcome in our city. Let me just say to you all we have a lot of work ahead of us. We understand the history of naacp. You been the social conscious of america for decades. But we ask you to contingent remember our history but more importantly lets think about our future. Its not just about social justice. Its about economic justice, inclusion, economic equality, bringing about a Better Police force, bringing about better communities. Bringing about better neighborhoods, working together, lifting our political power, showing a political power and working together. I know that while you all are here that you will work on an agenda that is forward thinking, that we must look at what were doing in terms of drug treatment in our neighborhoods and making sure our seniors can stay in their homes. But more importantly how we collectively, collectively raise up our community. Weve got to build businesses in our neighborhoods. Weve got to strip the neighborhoods so they can be economically viable. We understand that education is the equalizer and thats why we are grateful for the senate delegation, our congressional delegation but we need more federal dollars to improve our school system, and proof our neighborhoods, improve housing. Called the petitions iran. I want to make an announcement that the decision is now closed. I am told the decisions are now closed. Give it for a man once again. Now, i would like to bring up my brother, my friend. He is the former naacp president ceo in candidate for the governor of the great state of maryland, your friend and mine, mr. Benjamin todd jealous. [applause] good morning, naacp. It is good to be home. Im doing good. I am doing good. Now yall going to make me cry. Welcome. Welcome to the home of Thurgood Marshall, the home of clarence mitchell. The home of Juanita Jackson missile, president mcmillan in the home of Frederick Douglass. He ran away from and then came back to work as a builder. And we in the Civil Rights Movement, we got our shores from Frederick Douglass a long time ago. The 13th amendment 14th amendment and 15th amendment and he was Frederick Douglass who stood a man in his speech, our composite nationality, his tirade against the chinese exclusion act, not dissimilar to these latino exclusion actors in arizona, alabama, naacp fighting against for a long time now. In times like these and immigrants of color were increasing in the far right wing conservative donald trump have lost their mind. Frederick douglass stood up and he said, you know, we didnt come to regret it worked when slavery in the southeast just to watch you all play somebody else in the southwest. And he said if you believe majorities matter and i believe they do, it should matter therefore fit said the world is colored people and only one is white. Reverend, good to see you, sir. Lets hear it for our fearless reverend, dr. Barber. And then, Frederick Douglass laid out his vision for our nation, edition we have pursued as a Civil Rights Movement a person, especially in this organization, which literally rose from the ashes of the old abolitionist movement. Frederick douglass every nation has a unique destiny and that destiny is based on nations character in the nations character is defined by that nation at its best, not his worst. Donald trump. And ultimately, animations character is rooted in its geography and our geography is unique. We are bordered by friendly nations that different colors, north and south in great oceans east and west, to every people on the planet. And therefore, our nation destiny based on her carrot dirt, defined and shaped by our unique geography and the exact quote come is to be the most perfect example of the unity and dignity of the human family that the world has ever seen. But the world has ever seen. My beloved naacp, more than anyone in this nation, we are the ones who are called to assure that the matter what happens in washington, our country keeps moving towards it destiny. I want to congratulate the ascension to be the acting president of the naacp. And leon russell on becoming our new chairman. And it is appropriate that we are that in this moment a great leaders from the south, from the date because it is in our state where we can do our best work right now. We can ensure that we have single payer no matter what happens in washing 10. We can assure that we raised the minimum wage to 15 per hour no matter what happens in washington. Most of our inmates are in state jails, not federal. We can end mass incarceration no matter what happens. But in order to do that, brothers and sisters, in these times when the president of the United States has convened a Voter Suppression commission, at a time where he literally has the allstars of Voter Suppression meeting at the white house to suppress our boat, we must do what we do best and remind ourselves that the antidote for Voter Suppression is massive Voter Registration. Brothers and sisters, i want to be very clear we can change this country right now if we have the numbers we have the power right now to look down the east coast of our country right now, straight down to florida. We can change the direction of our nation and back to a destiny, but it starts with massive Voter Registration. In South Carolina, when i was a young organizer in mississippi. And once they win by 100,000 votes over 350,000 unregistered black votes in South Carolina right now. Far right wing conservatives tend to win 250,000 votes. A few years ago there were 830,000 are black latinos and asians. 830,000 with help from registering more than 830,000. Weve got to go all the way. Down in florida where the leadership has always been the most cost effect is placed to register votes. When Hillary Clinton lost by 120,000 votes, there are almost a million unregistered blacks and Puerto Ricans right now. Brothers and sisters, i hope that if youre unit has not made Voter Registration a yearround every day from a year income year out of committee right now because we can get america headed back towards her destiny but it starts with massive Voter Registrations and starts with american democracy. The naacp. Thank you. God bless. I would like to now introduce my big brother from detroit, from motown. Youve never heard of the temptations, have you all . The supreme little Stevie Wonder from the great city of detroit. It is night great pleasure to introduce the reverend or wendell, member of the Naacp National airspace chairman naacp religious Affairs Committee and the president of the Detroit Branch in the Senior Pastor of the fellow chaplain from detroit michigan, lets bring up the reverend dr. Wendell anthony. Good morning, naacp. Good morning, naacp. Reason one, reason to, reason three, reason for, reason five, reason six, reason seven. Give everybody a hand. All the reasons in the house. Let me start by adding an incident that occurred separate years ago speaking to a group in upstate new york. Joining a rally for womens averages and Voting Rights. As she was speaking there is an old woman in the rear that said women, it means about as much to me specifically buzzing around the rear and the malice and. Looking up demand and said okay, you might not like my buzzing, but im guaranteed to keep you scratching. You see, beloved, the naacp mesquite barbells scratching. Weve got to keep the justice and revenge scratching. Police misconduct must be stressing. Health care opponents must be stressing. They must never get too comfortable with their own misdeeds, i. E. The president of the united state and over disrespect and disregard for the people in this nation. You see, naacp, we have a lot to do with the backlash on what happened yesterday. We have not yet crossed the river, that the election of 2015 that we were going to be good, dead america had gotten the message right after the civil war and weve got seats in congress and weve got some schools in some hospitals and we got a little freedom in the south than in the north. Get a deal was cut way back then and it looks like what Frederick Douglass said. It is still true today. That those who favor freedom and people who want the crux without telling up the ground. Without the thunder and the lightning. They want the ocean without the rock of the mighty water or may be a physical one were physical, because power concedes nothing without demand. The gains that weve made back then. Never getting our 40 acres. The serbian or political power in your social economic mobilization. He was in negative response to a positive movement. Due to our struggles, everybody got educated. With the education that are for mothers and daughters built for the entire nation. Everybody got service and with respect to to and everybody as they collect a group, what has been done to our collective family. Thats what we need to understand in 22016 and this aint about a new political dynamic and new ideological paradigm this age of triumph is about a black man who lives with a woman with two black girls and a black grandma and a black dog in the white house for eight years. This is a backlash. The Affordable Care act has not failed. The Affordable Care act has not been unsuccessful. It has been most successful. They are sabotaging health care into the extension of medicaid. More people will be uninsured by 2026 in my own state, 1,014,000 will be left. California 4,291,000. New york 1,291,000. Illinois 1,026,000 right here in maryland, over 528,000. This is evil. This is pernicious. This is spiritual weaknesses in high places. You better listen. I think i read somewhere in the book called matthew from a ghetto preacher in the 36 verse. I was thirsty and you gave me drinks. Thats the confessional we are arguing about right now. That supplemental nutrition program, the school lunch program, the breakfast program, the wic program, the incident childrens program. I was a stranger and you took me in. And the president ial executive order to stop people from coming into the country. That goes against refugees in sanctuary cities. You clothed me and you gave me and visited me. That is National Health care. Anything without replacing everything. Be repealed linus and he replaced and gave movement. He can replace blood hemorrhage is in coagulation with love. He gave him and replaced it with speech. You have done it unto the least of these. Youve done it unto me. We must not forget. We must understand that its ridiculous notion of voter fraud that has not occurred, but they simply creating a diversion to take us away from active participation and expansion under the illusion of a commission of elected interpreting and daddy has seven lawsuits against it, already has 28 days to Loyola University data study years ago and they indicated that out of 1 billion votes passed between 202,014, only 31 cases of voter fraud had occurred. So if you want to fix something, mr. Trump, if you want to fix something about her election, lets start with the people in this own cabinet. Lets start with the people on u. N. Commission. Chris colfax, secretary of state from campus would not produce his own state to sign up for this nonsense, talking about idea, party in history. In the Voter Registration. The ohio secretary of state involved with multiple voter fraud organizations send Christian Adams opponent in the Public Interest legal consultation. This is the biggest scam in sham since reconstruction. This is the biggest scam and sham since robbing trains in the missouri territory years ago. This is a sham. If you really want to do something, then get your chief political strategist, steve bannon to represent wednesday. Get press secretary sean spicer. And Tiffany Trump in one state. You can act right now in the same day registration. In the illegal politics of eligible voters in gerrymandering congressional districts. Eliminate obsolete Voting Machines and any that creates better training of voter outreach programs. We have to rise to the full implementation of the Voting Rights act and above all getting the russians the out of our national election. I apologize. I apologize, but im from the city of detroit. Sometimes when i think about all this stuff, i get the inner city blues. Then the words of marvin, they want to throw up my hands and holler because they just cant take it no more. Let me close with this little charge. I Like National geographic. You all watch those programs, too. I like the animal stories. I was watching it one time and they had this little story about sea turtle in the sea turtle is a creature, his momma swims in the ocean and when shes getting ready to deliver, she comes out of water and climbs up on the shore and she digs a hole in the sand families about 200 civilians on the shore and she covers it up with sand. Now, about 90 days and they begin to hatch. All of a sudden the baby is born with one to have been a speaker at the small turtles are born up about 3. 5 inches and lands. You can put more in the palm of your hands. They are so great because there is so uncertain. You see, the baby turtle is into the ocean in order to survive. On the way to the ocean, he must ban the cost of the world. To make it from the next to the ocean is called the frenzy. Frenzy. It is a period of chaos. It is a period of uncertainty, you see, he has one little tube, but use it to break out. Now all of them can break out. The ones that cannot make out, but those that are left keeps on moving. And then they begin to break out the raccoons. They start to come on in and eat them up but the rest of them remain steadfast. They keep on moving. And they begin to crawl out and beat down on their backs and destroy from what dan. But they remain steadfast and they keep on moving. The new piece of the land come in to attack them and right on the beach they eat them up, but those that are left, they keep on moving. The sequel is on the birds begin to swoop down on them and carry them away. A sumptuous meal to be eaten up by those but i laughed. They keep on moving. I think its close to the water, he rushes in and pushes back. Sometimes joining them in the process. But those that are left, they keep on moving. As he makes it into the water, he then places a big fish that are waiting on him and they will quickly consume them. But those better lap, they keep on moving. You see, thank god for those who are steadfast. He never turns back, but those left are nine to 10 feet and live to be 150 years of age of over 200 million years it is right now in the frenzy. When betsy devos sweeps down from education, when Jeff Sessions tried to destroy us. When scott pruitt tries to burn us up from the Environmental Protection agency. When donald trump tries to elude us with alternative reality, weve got to recognize that we remain steadfast. Flash, ive a breaking news for you. What you dont understand is this threepoint night inch turtle at birth, when he born, he doesnt know what water is. He cant see the water. He does not even have good eyesight. He dont know where hes going. You see, the thing of the Little Turtle if they have to know how to walk not by sight. If god can do that for the turtle. If god can get this and put in him the spirit of steadfastness in a move ability and what can he give to us a little more than the angels stays and movable. God bless you. I know you can do better than not. Come on, let give it up. We have the greatest Freedom Fighters in the world, the naacp. Lets give it up for. Or wendell anthony. I would like to welcome him our chairman of the national nurse, chairman russell and interim president and ceo Derek Johnson to accept a presentation from casa out the sorority. Lets all stand up. And everybody stay connect the dots . Connect the dots. This morning i am here with my friend, tommy battle, who is here in his capacity, inc. I guess. Partnership, partnerships. Would you welcome tommy battle. [applause] thank you, my good friend. Two of the leadership of the naacp, my brothers analysis cap the alpha psi, but they bring greetings on behalf of my brothers. We just completed the rosen Shingle Creek and they said i guess ive been doing something okay and well, so they just reelected me for another two years. [applause] i told the brothers that i had to leave and come to baltimore and be with the naacp. And they say what you want us to do about it, grandpa mark . I said if youre a good catholic man, theres two things you want to have with the membership and a membership in the naacp. [applause] and dull, as i gave my acceptance speech, i put on the floor a motion to ensure that every brother, if youre interested, youve got to be in the naacp also. [applause] so i am proud to announce to you the way a move that with every alumni brother if youre coming in cap the in the college campus, you will be a member of the naacp. Let it be done. On the details of how to get a to get it, derek and leon will work it out. They will be a member of the naacp. A solitary member. Also during a public meeting, we recognize a humanitarian award these. Congressman john lewis body of work, and their work in the struggle and of course please recognize them. [applause] in september, i come in on the council of the president of divine nine on returning sorority with a memo wonders and in between the naacp and the Divine Nine Fraternity answer ready. We are going to strengthen that even more into a better job of working with the naacp l. Across this country. I commit this all to you. [applause] and finally, i cant just talk the talk and walk the walk. For me and the brothers have capped the, the divine nine so we can do even better they are. So this is the first installment on many more. I present the first installment of 10,000 for her work with the naacp. Let me think the grand market cap the office i for this installment payment. Connect the dots. Connect the dots. Lets have a partnership. We will now the brief video tribute. Please take a look at the video screen. By the grace of god, i yam what i yam. I also no apologies tonight for my race and color. Or 14th chairman later visionary, we salute you. For 33 years, Russell Brock has been within his days as the student on the campus of Virginia Union university, naacp house chapter, housing continues to be an essential advocate for equity, justice and advancement of our people. First elected to the board of directors in 1985 for the midatlantic region in leadership including 10 year terms as chairman of the Convention Committees and vice chairman of the board. Under her leadership at the Health Care Executive and advocate, she initiated symposiums at National Conventions among the Organization Effort as part of the Standing Committee structure. In february 2010, and historic election became the youngest woman to serve as chairman of the earths. And her sevenyear tenure as chairman, she led the organization under the banners of policy, governance and accountability, streamlining procedures and efficiency, ensuring the Association Policies at all and im busy focused on saving black lives. As founders of the naacp atomic, outreach to professionals and provided them with a clear connection to the association were spirit of tireless advocate for young people, knowing her trademark phrase that courage will not skip this generation. She supported the youth and policy division and advocated for their position at the organizations most important platform. Tonight i want to lift up our young people and ask them to come down. I want you to come down and stand with me. When you have felt and experienced of what trey von martin has experienced trayvon marked in experienced, i want you to come on down because the eyes of the nation are upon us tonight. I want them to know these are our leaders. These are our leaders today. Holding their head up high. February 2017, including her tenure in chairman and was given the title, chairman emeritus. She leaves an indelible legacy not only from her tenure as chairman, but for the 33 years of service to this Great Organization and we are grateful. Roslyn, you are the definition of black coral magic and we salute you. All array. Seven years, the 10 year and vice chair, 30 years on the National Board of directors. Leadership is written all over her. We are so proud of her. We love her, we cherish her service to this association. She has been our leader, our sister and her partner and we are proud of rosalind mcalester try. This morning, as a token of appreciation and i always get the artist wrong, but i want you to know this aint no cheapskate we are presenting to rosalind one of our outstanding prints and we are pleased to have her hang this in her house as a token, a reminder of our appreciation of per service to this naacp. And i love you as well. Naacp, you know its difficult difficult i am so grateful for all of you because you have truly been the wind beneath my wings. I still serve on the National Board of directors of the naacp because i love this organization and all of you who may kid who it is and what it should be and what it will be. Im grateful to the 15th chairman of this board, chairman leon w. Russell peered into her interim president and ceo, attorney Derek Johnson, i say thank you so much. And to my brother, Michael Turner who has been through again thin with me as well as a Founding Member of the leadership, i was not with you last night. I was stuck on a tarmac in boston, massachusetts. If youll give me a moment of personal privilege, that i would like to Say Something about our chairman. Is that all right . I thought of two passages found when i thought about what i would say to introduce leon w. Russell. If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you and you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting, too. If you can wait and not be tired or being lied about, dont deal in line or being hated, dont give way to hating and yet dont look too good, nor too wide. If you can still keep your virtue or walk with kings, nor lose the common touch. If these are folds nor enemies or friends hurt you, but all men count you among their friends. These are the words that i believe epitomize our chairman. The challenge in christ says, parents were killed in an Automobile Accident and he was thrust into leadership role of caring for his brothers. But with steely determination and grit, leon w. Russell accepted this week challenge. They did an awesome job last night sharing with you our accomplishments in all of those accomplishments are noteworthy and laudable. Friends, let me personally share with you that i know, i love and i respect because he has been my battle buddy. He has been a confidant and my friend for nearly 20 years of leadership in our great association. Leon w. Russell is a man who passionately and tirelessly will leave this organization. He is a man who is a masterful negotiator and a consensus build up with people from different areas. Leon w. Russell is a deep thinker and a diplomatic listener. He is the man, who in the heat of battle with the clarity of purpose and conviction of principle was a man that the nations oldest and largest Civil Rights Organization and the movable until victory is won. That is our chairman. Once again, the universe online and calls this man into leadership, but most of all in two surveys. During this time of transition of our Great Organizations and i have every confidence in his ability to the dais because he is humble, he is selfless and he does not seek the limelight for himself. Rather he understand that its not about the man, but about that brand, the naacp, our beloved organization. That is why i stand by, stand beside, stand behind. I will lift up and i will follow this leadership of leon w. Russell as their 15th chairman and Derrick Johnson is there interim president and ceo and to lead this organization forward, friends weve come too far and we cant let nobody turn us around. For the young people know what im going to say because what courage must not give this generation peace and power naacp. I thank you. I thank you, a thank you. Lets give our former chair another round of applause. We will now have the presentation of the William Robert being advocacy board, which is giving supporters president to the Legal Profession who have provided Outstanding Service in the area of civil rights. At this time, i am pleased to call to the podium, bradford and barry esquire, the naacp general counsel from baltimore, maryland to present this years award. Lets give him a round of applause. [applause] good morning, naacp. I have the honor to serve as the general counsel of this Great Organization and it is my privilege to present the 2017 William Robert mann award to bonita group to. This award is named for William Robert mann, one of the sharpest legal minds of the Civil Rights Movement and naacp attorney in 1940s and 60s. Mr. Mayne was a key architect of the legal strategy that led to the u. S. Supreme Court Decision in brown v. Board of education. He gained even further renowned as to attorney defense teams successfully defended dr. Martin luther king junior against criminal organizations in montgomery, alabama in 1960. I like that phrase, trump up charges. Dr. King was said to have been stung by his acquittal at the hands of a jury, the verdict that the writer scott king later described as a miracle every storage or faith in human good. As with all miracle makers, though, mr. Mayne made tremendous sacrifice financially in pursuit of racial equality. It is an honor the sacrifices today that we gave an award in his name. Following in mr. Maynes example of todays honorees, bonita group to. As many of you know, ms. Cooper was head of the Civil Rights Division at the department of justice the last three years of the obama administration. During her tenure at doj, perhaps the most Aggressive Program civil Rights Enforcement our country has ever seen. The daughter of indian immigrants graduated from New York University law school in 2001, immediately gravitated toward civil rights work and accepted a position at the naacp Legal Defense and education fund. There she was thrown directly into the fire and the investigated trebling operation where local police based on shoddy beliefs and reports arrested 40 latino and africanamerican individuals who were all later acquitted on drug charges by an allwhite jury. They worked for more than three years to exonerate all of. They join part is that the aclu legal director and spent several years fighting to improve Asylum Seekers as they sat in Detention Centers awaiting trial. Her efforts resulted in agreement with the u. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and improve Living Conditions in privately run prisons used to house detainees. In 2014, president obama appointed ms. Coop tattoo head of the department of justice Civil Rights Division, a division that attorney general eric holder has described as the crown jewel of the Justice Department. In a time where police brutality, all gpt q. Equality, Voting Rights, fair housing and a rise in hate crimes were front and center of civil rights challenges, ms. Coop was our rock at the department of justice. Under her leadership, the department negotiated 24 reform agreement per Police Department, including furbish and missouri in baltimore, maryland. The state governments restricting individuals with further barriers against making it harder. She has a wellearned reputation as a warrior for civil rights. Ms. Coop to recently opened up a new chapter in her legal career becoming the president and chief executive on civil and human rights. She is the first woman to hold this position you heal her about her plans in that regard shortly. Although ms. Coop that is still a young woman, she has accomplished a great deal of in her years of practice in the civil rights area. But her example is an aggressive advocate for the equality and civil rights of all people should serve as a shining example to all of us in for years to come. For all of those reasons, it is my great honor to present the naacp 2017 William Robert being award to a civil rights warrior, a tenacious that the kid in a great friend of the naacp, bonita group data gupta. [applause] good morning, naacp. I want to thank bradberry for such a wonderful and heartwarming introduction. Really, brad and hillary have been such great leaders for so many years and they have been dear friends as well. I also want to thank leon russell and congratulate sarah johnson. Ive known Derrick Johnson for many years as a fierce warrior for justice in mississippi and i think this is just terrific use for the naacp. [applause] i also want to thank the board and staff and really all of you for this very deeply humbling honor. As a civil rights advocate, it is particularly gratifying to receive award from this most venerable institution. The naacp has played such a monumental role over the last 100 plus years in making america a more just and more fair society. Since the ratification of our constitution, the people of the United States have fought hard, sometimes with their own rates to realize the promise of equal opportunity enshrined in its past. Through slavery, the civil war, reconstruction, through the long night and mass lynchings in the daybreak of the Civil Rights Movement with the challenges of today and tomorrow. The naacp has been central to that struggle and in your 100 plus year history, the naacp has filed for this simple and undeniable truth, even in these difficult times to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of creed or color. As a lawyer receiving an award, are particularly humbling. The Legal Foundation in the right the civil rights do today from being a leading member of the brown v. Board of education team, to litigating so many other landmark civil rights cases that open the doors today. I stand on the shoulders of giants. Ive devoted my entire career to civil rights. My days as a lawyer at the naacp Legal Defense fund by Thurgood Marshall and everyone who came after him, due to my role at the aclu and the list ahead of the u. S. Department of justice Civil Rights Division, serving our president , president obama. [applause] and now, president and ceo of the Leadership Conference on civil and human rights commend the nations leading coalition of more than 200 Civil Rights Organizations, including the venerable naacp, we are pressing our nation to live up to its ideals and what about its goals. Civil rights is not just a job for me. It is my calling. When i joined the Civil Rights Division october 2014, it was just weeks after Michael Brown had been killed in the unrest in ferguson, missouri with deep, deep divisions between communities and the police come and not just ferguson, but around the country. As a catalyst for americas great recognition that are criminal justice was right with racial bias and that it is failed too many. I spent a lot of time in baltimore. This great city in the weeks and months after freddie gray died. The Justice Department did a painstaking investigation. We issued comprehensive and syrian findings. I urge you to look at that report while you were here in baltimore. We negotiated to transform the Baltimore Police department. And though attorney general sessions and one of his first actions on the job tried his hardest to undo that Consent Decree, i am proud to say that with strong leadership from Community Leaders here in baltimore and around the country on the naacp to the police commissioner, and the consent is now being implemented. But we are going to need help. This change doesnt happen just because the signature was signed on the dotted line. It happens because communities remain engaged and fight for justice in their communities and we know that and we may baltimore to be there and for all of you to support baltimore as it goes through the process. From Police Department ferguson in cleveland, baltimore, to criminal Justice Reform, the moment to drive change and i use the past tense unfortunately. We enforce our nations laws to desegregate schools, to ensure access to fair housing inside employment discrimination. We pledge to make meaningful systemic change that would make real tangible differences in the lives of people in color and black and brown communities who have been denied justice for years. Followed by intense retrenchment and backlash. The current president and attorney general are working to turn back the clock on decades of work as though the past needs to be revived. We all know what the past was like. We are fighting to hold onto the progress that weve made in every arena of america life from Economic Security to healthcare to Public Education to immigrants rights come to criminal Justice Reform, to Voting Rights. I would say that we fighting for the soul of our country right now. And we [applause] we need to stand together. We need to stand up for each other across our communities. Despair is not an option. Civil rights has always required a profound wealth of hope and really creative thinking. Regardless of whats happening in d. C. Right now, to take us back to the 1980s on criminal Justice Reform, on police reform, on so many other issues, we know that the solutions are and local communities. And thats all of you and the work that youre doing every day in your communities. That is the fight for justice and equality is not just in d. C. We can resist the agenda in d. C. , and we will, we need to be fighting and forging ahead in our communities around the country. That all of you. [applause] because we can and mass incarceration. Ben jealous that appear we can register voters and fight the attack on Voting Rights and we can push for justice and Economic Security and our tumors. What i want to take a moment to just focus in before i close out on Voting Rights because were at a perilous time. There is no question that this administration is seeking to undermine our Voting Rights. One of the first things aside from trying to unwind the baltimore Consent Decree that Jeff Sessions did on the job as attorney general was to reverse the Justice Departments longstanding and winning position that texas had engaged in intentional race discrimination when they enacted its restrictive voter id law. And last week Vice President pence and about what i call the Voter Suppression drinking of crisco back, hans, j Christian Adams and clint black wall had first meeting of the commission that trump created to sell this lies to thre 35 my people voted illegally in 2016 that he had won the popular vote. The members of the commission, visa member so so that a singleminded crusade for years to narrow the electorate come to kick voters, particularly voters of color of the roles and to diminish political participation. You all know from the work that you do that registration is one of the main gateways to political participation. The administration wants to create a National Database to try to find things like double voters. The commission will not be able to tell to people apart but have the same name and the same birthday. And such errors are going to hit khmers, the hardest. Our census data is chose as my in other words, are overrepresented in 85 of the 100 most common last names. The commission will inflate claims of voter fraud and then produce the socalled findings that are going to embolden legislatures around the country and congress to enact restrictive voter laws and local Election Officials will then be interested in purging those roles. We have to stop it. In colorado [applause] in florida, Election Officials are reporting, if hes a republican and democratic Election Officials, their reporting that people are so concerned about being on a National Database that they are deregistration. It is unconscionable and we cannot let that happen. We need to organize in every community. Local Election Officials who had the power to push back need to know that we, all of us in this room and beyond, are watching. And they need fight the political agenda to disenfranchise americans around the country. This is a Sham Commission to you heard before, its a scam and its a sham. This commission has the potential to do great harm to our most vital of rights. These are rights that william and naacp has fought so hard for often at such great risk. You can tell i am fired up to do this work. [applause] when people say are you crying . Youre watching your work drip, drip, drip. No, i am fired up to do this work. Everything is at stake. I know all of you, the naacp is fired up. We are energized to fight back, to fight for our proverbs of for gender working with other members of the Coalition Allies across the country, will be able to build the collective power that we need to save the soul of our country. Together we are going to fight for an america that is inclusive and fair and just. And together were going to win. So go naacp. Thank you very much. [applause] is everybody all right . Okay. Now i have to take my presiding officer hat off and put a new hat on. Those who came in late, id like to introduce less of again. Im the state president of the connecticut naacp. [applause] shout out to connecticut. And also the mighty region to. Is region number two in the house . , on, region two. [applause] and i the newly selected chair of the criminal Justice Committee for the National Board of directors. [applause] you all know we are living in some dangerous times. Philando castile, freddie gray, trayvon martin, sandra bland, eric garner, Michael Brown, alton sterling, natasha mckenna, makua and mcdonald. The that smith, tamir rice and the list goes on and on and on and on. This madness has to stop. And our government is trying to throw us even deeper into the pit of mass incarceration. The one that weve been fighting against since we are brought into existence and brought in change, the original handcuffs. We see over and over again that police are killing us without being held accountable or punished. Too many of our young people are victims of crime, and we know the way to protect them is not by locking them up here we cannot come we will not concede the floor to anyone who stands to profit from criminalizing our people. One of the ways we can do this is by telling our stories, elevating our voices in the work towards, towards a true Justice System. To do that, the naacp criminal Justice Department spearheaded by our hollywood borough has engaged in a groundbreaking partnership with short tv. You may have seen a short tv studio next to the registration desk. At the studio we are having young filmmakers of color create documentary short films about the effects of the criminal Justice System on our lives with a focus on police violence, school to prison pipeline, and living with a criminal record. These filmmakers are telling my story, your story, and our story. And will present their finished short film strength of wednesday plenary session, you will vote on your favorite short film. The team with the most votes received 7500 for a budget to produce an extended version of their documentary short film. Thank you, short tv, for stepping up and being a sponsor. [applause] yala can do better than that. [applause] yall are in addition to telling our stories through film will begin a conversation today with thought leaders in the entertainment field, the academia world, and the media. In our fight for justice. A fighter in her own right, angela come will moderate todays discussion. Give her a round of applause. [applause] and you is a wellknown cnn political commentator and npr political analyst. She is a cofounder, principal and ceo of impact strategies, an organization that seeks to encourage Young Professionals in three core areas, economic empowerment, Civic Engagement and political involvement. She served as executive director and general counsel to the Congressional Black Caucus for the 112th congress. She is a proud graduate of university of washington in Seattle University school of law. As demonstrated by her impressive list of accomplishments she has a deep commitment to political and community activism. Angela will lead us in this discussion of how to enter of future with the criminal justice legal system is chilled about justice and not about marginalization and disempowerment. Will everyone come everyone please get a welldeserved round of applause to ms. Angela rye. [applause] thank you. Hello, everyone. Its a pleasure to be here with you all today. I have a great privilege of introducing todays panel and of going to do that quickly because my mentor, dr. Dyson, who will be joining us has a heart out and i want to hear from you. Hes often what are my greatest aspirations so without im going to get started. Marilyn mosby is Baltimore States attorney absolute to give it up for marilyn. Well known for taking bold moves in the pursuit of justice im not as well known crashes become a dear sister friend of mine, also a huge inspiration. She is doing so much good work to help reform the criminal Justice System in this country and shes leading the standard with the baltimore, and so lets please give it up for marilyn. [applause] here she comes. You all might know them from new edition, bill. I might break out in the poison dance right quick but hes here today not for the dance moves and for being a producer extraordinaire, is also here to open forum this process today. Michael bivens [applause] and next up we have called an order who will hear a lot more for later on in this program but its important we talk about these issues that were not just talking policy, talking about the people who these issues have actually impacted her s socalld and one issue today. We watch a trailer about his experience later on today, this afternoon. We welcome you to the stage. [applause] next up we have a wellknown activist here in baltimore, an organizer, ray kelly who found the National Spotlight on the city after freddie grays death. His work has been seen in the department of justice overview of Baltimore Police department work, and hes here today to join us to talk about what we can do to impact the policy space. Ray kelly, thank you for joining us. Next up is andrea james is a boston area activist and author who uses her personal experience working in the criminal legal system and then being incarcerated in federal prison to fight reform. We will hear from her today on both sides. We welcome you to the panel. [applause] next up we have jewel james who is a Michigan State representative. He is michigans youngest state representative and before that was the youngest elected city councilmember from the city of we are hard on her young people not being involved picky such as in falcon he ran. Lets give it up for him. [applause] and last but certainly not least i call him my mentor, i call him doctor, none other than dr. Michael eric dyson to help round out thi the special today. You all knowing very well. Lets give him a warm welcome. [applause] lets be seated. And so you all know, there are folks in the audience have notecards and were going to try to get to your questions. So we see the volunteers holding the notecards, they are around the can take your questions via the notecards this afternoon. Good morning everyone. Good morning. I wish to morning time . Yes, its 11 14. We have 46 minutes left for morning. I think its really important that before we dive into some of the pieces of this, we hear the terms of mass incarceration and criminal Justice Reform so often. Ed okeefe we told about so much that people start to lose the compassion about the issues et cetera want to take a moment to set the stage, marilyn, i want to start with you, on what mass incarceration really is and why we should care. So just both the definition helpehelpdefine a come how it is and why we should care, why we should be utilizing our energy to really throw ourselves and get involved or i would love for you to use examples of some of what youre doing is a. Women talk about mass incarceration we have to think about when we talk a very long time the criminal Justice System has had a dashboard impact on communities of color and we have criminalized our communities in ways in which nonviolent offenders have resulted in a distant fourth impact of individuals can africanamericans being incarcerated. When we talk about reforming that, its a matter of really trying to address the systemic issues and ensuring that we are not just locking up black people based on nonviolent offenses. Wow, right. The next i want to go to dr. Dyson. I know he is done taking his selfie now. He was taking selva. I want to go to dr. Dyson to answer the same question before we get into some of the anecdotes who actually have to be sitting here with us. Want you to add to what marilyn just talked about. Its great to be here with doctor angela rye and all the other panel here this morning. You know, we think about mass incarceration we think about as attorney general mosby at the disproportionate concentration of people of color and what we now know as the Prison Industrial Complex, which simply means local jails, federal jails and prisons, warehouse disproportionally africanamerican people and latino people. That means that for nonviolent drug offenses that other people or hit on the back of the head and told now, you go home and you become a better johnny or jill. Should niekro and jamal are sent to prison. They are sent to prison because they are introduced to it in terms of detention in public schools. Look at the relationship between discipline when your children are kicked out in the second and third grade, god know sometimes even kindergarten, and then they are known as a disciplinary problem. Then they go to detention and then they are sent from detention to local Detention Centers. That becomes a feeding self or a jail cell which becomes a warmup for prison. Again, these are not people who are inherently criminal but they have become criminalized. And when the honorable ms. Mosley talks about criminalization that meet your children are targeted for specific slots in prison and in jail. Mass incarceration suggests that a disproportionate number of people of color are subjected to this for doing the same offenses that white and other peoples commit, that a given time off, that i given time release, they are given programs where judges allow them to work off their time in other fashion. Not come that is not the case for black and brown people. That leads to an acute relation black and brown bodies in prison. Think about it. In the 80s we had numbers of people in prison. That has doubled and tripled. Now we have what, 1. 2, 1. 3, 1. 5 Million People in prison, the most of any industrialized nation. And masses of those people happen to masses of the people happen to be people of color. So not only are they doing the same thing that other people drink to be a getting more time for, they are also getting harsher sentences and the refusal of judges come in some cases because they are locked in with mandatory minimum sentences, which makes a difference when you have an attorney general like eric holder in place, and would you have an attorney general like Jeff Sessions and place. Jeff sessions has reignited the war on drugs and is tupac shakur said the war on drugs is a war on black and brown people. Mass incarceration is a masses of people of color being subjected to penalties that viciously specifically target as in ways that fell away the key when we are put into jail. And then finally the criminal Justice Reform means we have to reform a criminal Justice System that is often unjust to us. With other people, we would look away for what they do, when we overlook what they do, when we give them a second and third and fourth chance, when they have affluenza. My child is too rich to go to jail so please let him out, or as the people in the hood in baltimore are not seen as affluenza and as a result of that they go to jail for three and four and five and six and seven years. When we think about the fact that a white woman is killed by the police in minnesota, what happens . The police chief has to resign. What happens when Philando Castile announces to the Police Person that he has a gun on his person, he is killed within seven seconds. The reform of the criminal Justice System such as at the inputs we make, the data that they derive from looking at the numbers of times we are stopped, Philando Castile, Something Like 5060 times 60 times over the last ten years of his life. So what we see is that reform of criminal justice as i enter, means where to find a way to make sure that judges are not bound by mandatory minimum sentences, the people of color are not subject to arbitrary forms of reprisal in a criminal Justice System that does a patent into us. And finally that we get the same breaks as everybody else. Like folks if you do the crime to do the time. You ignorant. That is not how white folk. They hope the kids up and it will find a way to keep them from bringing in prison. [applause] one of the things i think is also important this morning i believe in focus groups and i think this will also help us set the stage as we transition to the actual anecdotes of personal stories on the states today of the security. I need you all to be active participants. I know its been a long morning. The first question i have for you, please be ashamed, this is a family conversation. How many of you all, and please stand, how many of you all have been incarcerated at some point in your life . And then how may of you all have a Family Member who was or is . And the last question keep standing. Hold on, yall. Participate. The last question is how many of you all have a good friend who was or is . So when you look around this room, would you look at even the stage come we dont have a choice but to engage on this issue because it literally and backs almost everything a person in this room. So with that i want to transition now to you, colin, the reason why i want to go to you before you answer, theres a trailer that we have about your story but that i want you to talk to us a little bit about what happened in your personal experience. If we can run the trailer. If you focus on your breathing it will bring you out of your mind and back into your body. Just know that you are not alone. Crime today is an american epidemic. Aint no killer. The system doesnt work for people who cant afford to defend themselves. The whole neighborhood know what happened. The whole neighborhood know you grabbed your wrong guy. Im an innocent man. Everyone says you did something. I work for free. Take a look at his case. We cannot afford this. They will keep me in here until i am killed. You know i would die before i do that. You got your family, you got your life. Why are you still wasting your time on the . Its not just about him. Its bigger than that. He wouldve been executed long ago. Longer sentences. Taking everything from me. Everything. I cant just pretend the situation doesnt exist. The truth is going to come out. You cant leave an innocent man in jail. Im going to take you home. Its just a matter of time. [applause] thank you for being here. I really want you, as quickly as you can, and this is tough because weve seen the trail but of what you do hear a little bit about your experience, dean wrongfully convicted. Many of us are well aware of the central clark five a we know someone who was wrongfully incarcerated. Or even wrongfully arrested. Talk about the impact on that for you and now that saved your life being wrongfully incarcerated and having two states along knowing your innocent. [inaudible] i can, my is colin warner and the trailer you just saw is a synopsis of what happened to me. What i can say is dead upon being convicted for a crime didnt witness, didnt participate in, had no knowledge. The feelings that i could share with you, there are not too many words that could adequately fit into your mind. But having their life taken away for something, as a murder, as hell. From the movie i hope that each and every one to get something from the movie because i feel you have to be incarcerated to get something from the movie, right . Love. I believe this is what keeps as separated and has all these other issues coming up on her head. But we have power, right . Me and my friend bought a system before the system, it was 21 years. But in the eyes of god, 21 years for i think. Right . So we have to recognize what we have to keep it for a system of the tiger we talk about mass incarceration with kids these kids have nobody out there. Nobody out there to show them some different, to teach them. They on the streets. 4 hours a day. What do you expect them to do . Go to college from the streets . We have to step up, we cannot be afraid. We have to step in, this is one of the things that surprised me after 21 years in prison, is how scared we are as a people to do anything. We are great, but our greatness comes down to normalcy. You just mention carl king future childhood friend who worked diligently to help get you out of prison. Is he here . Carl king is here. And you stand . Thats my angel. [applause] thats my angel. What it sounds like youre saying is that so often like he said we are timid as a people. So often there are not enough carles but there are too many collins that dont have carls in the Prison Industrial Complex in jail for things they didnt do for the serpentine for things they should be serving time for. Its a hit or miss. We dont have proper representation. Thats key, right . We are basically on her own. We cant give up on the kids. We cannot give up because if you give up we give up on ourselves. So be more involved in your biological kids life and, of course, the lives of every kid on the street, man, woman, child. Reach out. We are a community and the only way we can cope with anything is by coming together and moving forward. [applause] thank you, colin. Andrea, want to come to you next because youve worked on both sides of this issue as an activist for folks or incarcerated and then having served time yourself. I would like for you to paint a picture, because you say that informs your work of what its like inside a prison and what its so important for us to not only address the issue of folks going in, but also addressing the conditions that folks are forced to live in behind bars. Thank you, angela. Also what to say thank you to the naacp for inviting us on to this platform. We come from the voices of the hundreds of thousands of black women who are sitting right now as we are convened here in a cage. And the effects of that on our children and our communities. So to have an organization of the naacp to understand how incredibly important it is to raise awareness within its membership of the swift and dramatic increase and incarceration of black women in this country, i thank you for being aware of the importance of that issue. And so yes, yes, i was a former criminal defense lawyer who was sentenced to serve a twoyear federal prison sentence. This issue is personal to me. I am born and raised very proud to be born and raised in the committee of blacksburg massachusetts. My children are still living in roxbury massachusetts with my husband and family and we are the fourth generation to live in that community. We understand firsthand what is happening in this country over the past four decades, starting with a war on drugs which is really a war on black people. We saw the crack epidemic coming to roxbury and opportunities. The problem was crack left quickly with a very kryptonian hard on crime policies that incarcerated down millions of black and brown people never left. So thats the work that we noted of the National Council for incarceration women it goes. I didnt think theres anything come into the present with all of the personal experience that i have become coming from a community that was to be affected mass incarceration, comment as a criminal defense lawyer, coming from being married to a man who two decades ago served a ten year mandatory minimum sales. This is very personal to me. I did that think that there was anything that anybody could tell me more about our broken criminal Justice System when i i left my five month old baby boy and my 12yearold daughter in the parking lot of the federal prison for women and step into that prison, crammed full of black women. Almost 2000 come and thats just one federal prison. There are hundreds and thousands of places right now were black women are being held in prison cells. An 800 increase in incarceration or im going to tell you they are separating mothers and children. When we talk about the violence and the gun violence and the social issues that we need with, in our committees today, we cannot do, have those dialogs and find solutions that are separate from dramatic criminal Justice Reform that needs to happen in this country. It is directly in relation to the warehousing of black men and women in this country. In the federal system there is no better place to see where we have generations. I was in a prison with generations of black women from the same family. Grandmothers, mothers and their daughters on the same drug case incarcerated for a minimum of ten years mandatory minimum sentence. The aspen where are your male counterparts . They, too, their husbands, their brothers, uncles, they are also in a federal prison somewhere serving his very long draconian drug sentences. Who, i ask you is left behind, to care for our children and raise our children . So we have to understand the very importance of stepping out here i come from a prominent black family of lawyers and doctors, all members of the naacp. I understand, i understand what our people think and i will try to separate ourselves from us black folks and hes black folks. We cannot, cannot [applause] continue to do that. This issue as youve seen when everybody in this room stood up, has seeped in and pervaded our entire lives to all of our communities. And now it is taking the Fastest Growing incarceration population, are black in this country. They are separated as from our children. Women cannot, mother from inside a prison papal part. Doesnt work. Swift understand the conditions are horrific. 90 of women are currently incarcerated in our countrys prison federalstate and counties are women are suffering from untreated trauma. They are women who victims themselves. They are criminalized and they are essentially incarcerated for being poor and struggling with the illness of addiction. How dare us. How dare us as a country allow that to be the solution, though we take the most vulnerable women, black women whose lives have been devalued by system that intentionally devalues the lives of all of us. And allow the system to incarcerate our black mothers and grandmothers and daughters at the rate that they have done. And the conditions we could be here all day. If we begi began to go down the longer laundry list of we just helped reduce the dignity for incarcerated women act senator cory booker and Elizabeth Warren in washington, d. C. ,. [applause] that bill speaks directly to what youre referring to in regards to the horrific treatment and conditions of women living within the prisons across this country. And that hopefully that is a bill that everybody in this room will Pay Attention to help to move along so that we can stop separate women from their children, stop over criminalizing black women, stop putting them in prisons where they need to be in the communities. That billion dollars spent back in 1994 for the crime bill build more prisons. It got us to the place where we are today. Imagine if we had that billion dollars and to spend it on educating our babies. Imagine if we had that billion dollars and built affordable decent housing. Imagine if we had ported into the Public Education system that the Top Administration right now is trying to gut and privatize. These are the issues we need to focus on. Weve got to get her head out of the sand, my people, and understand the needs of our people require us to hold our backs straight come understand some of us make mistakes but we must use of those experiences to create a radical change that needs to happen in the criminal Justice System today. Thank you. [applause] when colin spoke he says something that immediately maybe think of your work with my brothers keeper in boston. He said he cant give up on the kids. Cant give up on the kids. To me though such an impactful statement. It was small but impactful because i think as many of were on it, you dont spend quite enough time with the kids. Being a part of a village that is constructed we are very reactive and i think weve seen that most recently with a lot of the reaction to kids being killed by the police. We are very reactive. You were doing some proactive work and we would love to hear about it. I just want to say good morning again. The room, i been watching you guys for the last hour i just want to make sure everybody is feeling good. When i am a college of course if youre feeling all right, can i hear you say yeah . All right. Now, im listening and the reason im here is because i was invited. Because in my hood in boston, ive represent some a different parts of the city as a voice for people who are crying out in needing something. And you turn to the kids. These kids dont even realize what day camp is. Parents cant even afford memberships for kids to have they cant come which to us when we grew up was the best thing to do in the summertime come to go to a facility to swim, to play ball, to color, whatever it is you could inside of the building, your momma always knew where he was five or six hours out of the day so you wasnt out on the streets in trouble. You had a tshirt on. You had a bag picu at lunch and unit somebody else on the other side of town that you normally wouldnt arrive with because kids didnt have a like that. When i think about the kids today, my job and where i come from is music. I try to give as much as i can to them. I bought 700 free memberships for the roxbury ymca. [applause] and all they had to do was go online and just register. If the parents had two kids, we sometimes later get in with two kids because we wanted to change things in boston. Up on our new summit is always getting killed a young girl got killed with a stray bullet and it affects all of us, even if its not our child because she is just at the bus stop trying to get on the bus and the cats are running down the street missing who they were trying to hit which shouldve been happening anyway but the young girl got killed. And that affects us in boston. So me as a voice i could drag to do as much as i can with our kids and i take my celebrity and i tried to bring people together to talk to them. So this being here today is an opportunity to share the microphone with some of the panelists just to say that yes, we do have to look at the kids. In my field a lot of artists leave their hood and dont come back. Okay . We see them rocking the boston at on the ny have but to live behind the gate. So if youre behind the gate and youre talking about something that you are not a foot soldier, you are only saying that the audience can continue to connect with you. [applause] you are not really saying it because you down in their and you talking to them and you helping them and you giving them a sense of hope. So today for me, as much as i could get on this mic because ii know its about 15 of us out there, im going to make sure and my time on this mic that one come i get to connect with you, i get to connect with you. When we all go back home you can think about this panel at all of this information that you could take back with you and know that anything i could do in your community, i mike bivins, im online and an easy to get that at i dont just brought in boston. I talked from new york city to portland, oregon, and him talking and getting done with your kids. Thank you. [applause] thank you. Ray, i want to do it all of it because i just talked about our reactive approach and to some more proactive measures and you been on both sides of that, both reacting to some of the most tragic situation in our communities, thinking mainly of freddie gray but youve also been proactive in policy prescriptions and changing things and reform. I want you to just lean and a little bit as an organized and effectiveness to talk to folks you about the things they can do to impact the policy process, whether its alleges that solution, changing the regulation on the books, changing the ways Police Interact with our communities. What are some of the things you would suggest Going Forward that these folks can do to engage . Thank you. I want to first just welcome everybody to Baltimore City. [shouting] thats what we do. The no boundaries coalition, we are for one a resident led advocacy group. So our foundation is raising a resident voice. So what we try to portray to our residents is that we have power, power by definition is the ability to act. So as trained organizers and advocates, we kind of push for not only action, but knowing when to act. And not only that, knowing how to act. So what we promote is engageme engagement, whatever the situation may be. Of course, its always thoughts with focus on voting. That is a communal voice, and our communities, sadly, because of a lack of hope from years of oppressive practices and bureaucratic this and that, the lack there is a lack of hope in our community. So our task is to show that we can do things ourselves. So we kind of recognize now isnt the time to act. But when we react to anything, we first craft our solutions. In Numerous Community meetings that we talk, we listen every use the tool visibility and constant engagement. So throughout the whole process of the Consent Decree and the doj investigation, because it happened on our back door step. It was important that we make sure that the media didnt control the narrative, and we major people were hearing from us. And that fight goes on. Its always hard to get people to go to those structured meetings that lead up to the big event, where thats the true engagement, and Baltimore City we are at a historic time right now with this Consent Decree and indictments of the officers after the freddie gray. This is all changed in motion. What we try to do now is make sure people recognize that thiss is a generational moment in baltimore, and if never you wish to be up in front of anything, now is the time. This is your actual opportunity to influence a change that impacts us personally. We cant keep going into a conversation about mandatory minimums and war on drugs, war on guns, when, like doctor dison said, like states attorney mosby said can we have a history of this, we have the first, look at the consequences of our past practices when using this type of tool to control a committee. And thats what it is used for, to actually control these black and brown communities. Now we have privatized prisons and the people are making money directly off of black people being incarcerated all over this country. And we have to kind of look at the root issues of all of this. We have to find out why our communities are targeted for these type of issues. After 150 years of oppression after emancipation, why do we still have these localized pockets of black people that are the brunt . We have to stop using incarceration to triage the consequences from this systems past practices, thats how it affects our community. So what we do at the coalition is to get the everyday resident to be involved to guide is create a conduit of speaking and values. We have to not say that the system is broke, but we have to recognize that the system is working perfectly. Its just made to work against us. So what we had to think about is changing the system. So by disengaging, you can say it doesnt affect me and tell it affects you. Everybody stood up in this room. Everybody is affected. Thats definitely softer ray, really quick, dr. Dyson, you all, im going to get to you but dr. Dyson estimates i wanted to give you a moment to offer a 30second closing to the people so we can did you out. No. I just equitably sit is extremely important. And the thing is its not just when your agency. Think my god, theres nothing we can do. You see all of these people up on this stage come out of communities where our people suffer. Im going to detroit right now in part to visit my brother who is been locked away for 28 years. So i know personally, exattention what that means. And we know that some people are given away after you can be a Stanford University student who rapes a woman, rates the girl answered three months. And you can be somebody who kills some dogs and youre going to serve two years. Did you come out shout against the negro because he didnt cut his hair but thats a different story. So my point is, right, dont just have a sense of the physical incarceration. Free your mind and your ass will follow. [laughing] [cheers and applause] he literally has a mic moment. Literally a mic drop moment. Last but certainly not least, i would want to get to. First of all, how old are you . Twentytwo and you 22. Twentytwo at three months. And i think that its sad when we get so excited that theres a young person doing these things. Im also so excited that you are doing what you are doing to your nudges involved, not just going to the voting booth. You ran i think that speaks volumes about your courage. I want you to talk about the first bill you introduced. Because were kind of on this policy prescription path. Thank you, ray comfort talk to us about some of the things we could do as Committee Members but talk to us about what you did as a legislator your very first bill was so it was come for so for most hello, everyone. Hello, everyone. Hello. General they been told high seven times. Though ahead now. Im currently a state representative now but just a year ago i was in city council, a civil rights right outside the city of detroit. I met a gentleman in the audience who was wrongly arrested for mistaken identity. He came out, he came out to visit me after made of the Congressional Black Caucus conference aims to me about what had happened. And so assumes i a state legislator, he ha had candidly admits that he is traveling other representatives to submit this legislation pixler brought it to me and after, at that time i probably know knew about a year, a associate puts a legislative forth and what it does is automatically expunge his individual, their reservoir mistaken identity. Thats the first, in michigan thank you. [applause] in michigan, it is in michigan it is a majority republican state, and so a lot of times we could go before automatic expungement across the board that we can go in baby steps. That was my first bill. [applause] okay. So on the same are in the same vein, marilyn can you ran for states attorney. You had the courage to do it. I talked often about how like black folks alike a prosecutor . I want you to talk a little bit about why you chose that particular path. One footnote here that you buy because what we did mention but im going to do it anyway, because marilyn was courageous, not just with the freddie gray case but with so many other instances of folks have been targeted, she is being targeted. Someone whos running against her thats been put up by the fop because marilyn is not in their pocket, and she has been courageous and so we need to support our sister and all the ways that we can. [applause] and of want to ensure that we are aware of that. Sometimes when youre courageous they target you. So marilyn, i want to hear from you on why you chose this particular path and some of the things you have done. And then will understand why she is targeted at she wont say that bu but i did because on the sister. You, angela. The mission of prosecutor is to seek justice of a conviction, and so the idea or the concept that prosecutors would now be in a position to seek justice is not abnormal. When i was about 14, just like many of you, my cousin grew up with me like a brother. He was killed right outside of my home in broad daylight in dorchester when is mistaken as a Neighborhood Drug dealer. If it wasnt for the testimony or a neighborhood the courage to come forward to cooperate with police, testified in court, i found were not received any sort of justice. This was my first introduction at 14th to the criminal Justice System. For the first time i cousin with all the streams come aspirations whos going to grade of what was perplexing to me was the individual responsible for his death was also 17. You talk about our babies. Answer having to go into the courtroom and see the number of africanamerican men going in and out in chains and shackles. I wanted to know how reform the system. What i learned is what we are now understand about the role of the prosecutor is prosecutors have a great deal of discussion, right . One of the most powerful sort of advocates within the criminal Justice System. That discretion not only has an impact on defendant than victims but we can all see how it has collateral consequences on our community. The latest in and recognizing that, the systemic reform comes from within, right, when you think about the role of the prosecutor, a prosecutor decides whos going to be charged, what he will be charged with, what sentence recommendations theyre going to make. When 95 of the prosecutors in this country are white and 78 of the prosecutor in this country are white men come and as a woman go i represent 1 of all elected prosecutors in this country. You cant understand that disproportionate impact it has had on communities of color. So understanding that was what he wants to do. I wanted to reform the criminal Justice System from within. I ran whenever he said it could be done. Now that we had kind of i made this role weve applied justice. And equally regardless of sex, religion or in this matter is you talk about freddie gray or occupation, right . We had that but its also very important as an africanamerican woman representing less than 1 that my Life Experiences speak for themselves. I dont need any cultural sensitivity training cannot young boys like freddie gray were being treated by the Police Department all across this country. So what are we doing . We have to holistically attacked the specious. I talked about that before about systemic addressing the issues as to why crimes take place. Look at a city like baltimore and dont you shoot multiple as an example but this is in every urban city in america. Lets not get it twisted her we have become complacent. We talk about the numbers of young like men being slaughtered in a street. In 15 it was 344. 2016 it was 314. This year we are year were up to about 189. We talk about these numbers as if they are numbers but we dont ever talk about the fact 24 of baltimores population lives in poverty, 35 our babies, children live below poverty. There are 18,000 vacant houses, 16,000 vacant lots. We dont talk about an appointment rate between africanamerican young men between 1824 that is more than twice that of whites. Those are the issues and when we talk about getting to our babies, we really do come we have to be able to get to them before they get to the criminal Justice System. We talk about college experience, ive taken a holistic approach and ive been in office for two years and seven months to get feels like its been 27 and a half years. I have a conviction integrity unit where we had a first exoneration of an individual by the name of Malcolm Bryant was wrongly accused and incarcerated for more than 17 years. He was then thanks to dna evidence exonerated under my administration three months after was exonerated he died. When we talk about policy work, we work with no boundaries. They were knocking on doors and assuring we got adequate sort of accounting of whats happening in our Police Department. They were instrumental in the Consent Decree that is on record for i work with no boundaries when it is Police Accountable before. Those proposals with adopted by the association for prosecuting attorneys. When you talk about the work you are doing with women in the jails, ive gone into the gym and work with the Elevation Program that is now been defunded by the state of maryland. We were talking and helping women as the transition from incarceration back into the community. When we talk about our young people, that is been a primary focus for my administration understanding we cant just be reactive. We positive 50,000 cases a year in Baltimore City, a 93 fell in fell a conviction rate. We ensure we get her babies before they get to the criminal Justice System. I have Youth Programs targeting, and classrooms as opposed to courtrooms and you get targeted and blasted in the media because theyre saying thats not your role. Why am i prosecutor . I appear talk about mass incarceration because we have to have a seat at the table. If you dont have a seat at the table then you are on the menu. [applause] can i Say Something . Absolutely. Do you want to Say Something . Go ahead. This mic on . As now that im sitting here and listening to where we are going, for me it just needs to make sense to me that what i am feeling, and what im feeling is, if we are worried about the young kid and what theyre doing in the street and having to go visit them on sunday in the jail, part of when you talk to the is, singleparent homes, okay . Some homes have a momma, some homes have a daddy. Some homes have an older brother takes a lot of the direction in the conversation and the time needed really is probably not enough love in the situation. Sometimes you just have to talk to your kid and tell them that you love them. I dont know how often people wake up or walk outside, but in my crib i tell my babies i love them. You know, they say daddy, going to catch a flight and we wish you a safe flight in a text. Sometimes that right there helps steer the person in the right direction. It if youre talking to a kid, a girl or a guy, and they get in trouble, they might not talk to the police the way they may talk to you. You just be like what happened, man . Why you do this . You might hear something as simple as youll, mike, im hungry. Im sorry, man, i flipped this bag because i got to eat. I got a young girl. I mean, i got a young girlfriend. She need pampers, she needs no. I know what im doing is wrong. They wont hire me to get a job. What else am i to do . And then when you leave at a young age and they go behind the bars, some parents dont even go visit their kids. Our right . Support a theater like no one loves you and you just left alone, thats when you really start wilding out because now mama dont want to go see you, and no one coming to visit you so you just feel abandoned. So we are talking about mass incarceration but we aint talking about love. But i also know something, when i go to church, that pastor was a. That tells me it aint what you wear, it is who is wearing it. Sometimes as black people, we tend to look and way judge before someone open their mouth. You dont know what they done then through. If you take a timeout to talk to the next men and women come you might learn something and their story can be inspiring to show you. Sometimes its hard for people to accept them and say this is where he used to be in this is where and not now. This is all im getting out of this you know what is black people, lets continue to lift each other up and lets not try to judge each other. [applause] so what i want to do quickly this morning as i want to ensure that each panelist has the opportunity to tell people because black folks can mean a lot, how a lot of conversations, but we have some work to do. I want to pay an honest to have an opportunity to give one thing, maybe two things people can do why they are sitting in their seats right now or soon as they walk out of the door. What is something we can do to address this mass incarceration crisis to work towards criminal Justice Reform and really have an impact. I will start with you. Thats a good question. I think may get it right on the head. Its all about love. The family that laid the Foundation Came from the church. I had a Family Foundation come in the take care of me and Young Brothers i have with me, jb me, jay dionne and demetrius. When we grab, we see in ourselves because our families raised does with them and the people we on the block with. Like you said, we learn to be hungry and different ways. What i can tell you all is this is great heres your phone. That social media. Spread both. We can all take a picture here was somebody else. I send out emails and tell people i want to highfive. It is Little Things you dont think can have a big effect of making a posting telling someone how low today. Give somebody a hug or highfive and we just said that, use the same hashtag and all over the world, people running down the street giving people a high fives and hugs. You never know when that could change the world. [applause] the single most important thing that all of you here can do leaving the space today is that your understanding that massive restoration is the civil rights issue of our time. You have to really open your mind to that, open your hearts to understand. The second thing if you are to havent, you you have to understand the people most directly in affected includes incarcerated in firmly incarcerated people have to be creating the radical change we need to see happen in this country. We too often have left the most directly affected people, the people with the lived experience that have excellent ideas about how to create the very radical change we need to see in this country. We need to go back to the original intent come in the original for investment, which is to redirect entering into the system, particularly women. Our men as well, better women are are the fastestgrowing population right now. To take this saving and to invest that money, just like we invested a billion dollars into building a prison from 1998 to 2008, we built a prison every 10 days in this country and we still fill prisons with lack bodies. Now we have two d. Cursory. We must redirect people. Not reentry, but no entry and take that saving and investing in those communities that are now communities like my community from boston to california where we have invested a Million Dollars on a single city block, incarcerating and were incarcerating and cycling in and out of this word in sum, unrelenting system, our people. You really have to leave here maybe with a different mind set that u. K. Must, connect yourself with the people on the ground doing this work and the expert that know what needs changing really be a force. Use your voice is coming use your vote to make sure were putting people in office that are on board to create the change that needs to happen. [applause] right now in Baltimore City theres like a million things we need to have. Because tomorrow, there is a public hearing on the City Council Resolution to once again introduce mandatory sentencing in baltimores eddie. I think the immediate action everyone in this audience can do is contact the baltimore mayor, the City Council Representatives of Baltimore City and demand they have a conversation of process because we have to listen to what everyone says on this panel today and we have to look at these consequences that we suffer, the traumas in our Community Every day and we cant allow this regressive practices what it is to happen again. So contact a Baltimore City council person. Contact the mayor. Reach out to any legislative influence or you have because tomorrow at 10 00 a. M. They will be talking about doing this once again and we will be having this panel i did 10 years from now. [applause] for me, all you need is love. We are too self absorbed. Look at the other racers, the other people. They all come together. There is some system. I was in boston last month and i went at 7 00 in the morning and there was one guy in the gas station. He was an african. He came over from nigeria four months ago and a sitting by himself early in the morning. That didnt just happen. He knew what he was going to do before he came over here. That is the system we need. We need a system of togetherness you see what is happening now and it will continue to happen if we dont get up and put ourselves to work. We have a lot of time to lay on the ground. Why dont we do some work up here. Thank you. I would just say thank you all for having me. This is actually my first time being at the convention. I was so looking forward to it. I met some really great people walking over from the hotel to this Convention Center and i just hope we keep advanced pain and i hope some of the things we talk about, we can fix it and i hope they dont stay on your back, but they support you. I know when i was home yes, please. I know when i was home and i was watching the baltimore riot police on television, and me and my wife into growth were smiling they whispered in dorchester in midair, so i was really happy. Let me just say this, people are afraid to speak out. Lets just be clear. There is a lot of entertainment entertainers in mayfield that would want to associate themselves with this because theyre they are afraid it would mess up their image or someone telling them they are to process or to prozac. All of us come from hoods. And none of us born with a silver span. Susan. If someone those are few and far between. For a lot of a lot of us come a dollar of 15 cents is real. We have to spend money to enjoy ourselves in this beautiful city i hope all of you go back to your city and next year, some of the things we talk about, the only way well know if it works is if we see it happen in our individual cities. Lets continue to be a voice in like i said, lets continue to spread love. If any of you feel like getting down in november, come see us on to her. [laughter] [applause] first and foremost, as africanamericans, we have got to stop being complacent. When we look at the number, just the sheer number of a young africanamerican, mostly young men being slaughtered in our streets, not just in baltimore. Lets not get it twisted. In chicago and every urban city in america, we become far too complacent. Colin is absolutely right. We as africanamericans and might come i appreciate you being here. As an artist. But its not just the artists that are afraid to speak out. Its not just those with fame. It is also those of us who have gotten into a position of status. We drive past the boys on the corner and we judge. So what can we do individually, we can check ourselves to say no, this is unacceptable. You can reach out to these boys are not judged. Ive been to a thousand Community Associations and schools. I was in a school at Frederick Douglass high school in the young man said to me, and understand you talk about in gratification and think longterm. But im out here on the corner selling drugs to take care of my four sisters. My father is incarcerated and my mother is not in the picture. I have to do what i need to do for survival. Lets reach back out to the young boys. That is first and foremost. Secondly, what we need to do if the community is understand the importance of what we are currently in. We have a federal administration making America Great again on the backs of black and brown people. How do we reformat . We have to understand the importance of these local elections. This is the one time we need to understand the importance of the word federalism. Its always been the republicans who have bad stage right. It is now our time to be stay dry. Criminal Justice Reform will come from a local level, not federal level. Immigration reform, local level. Understand the importance of investing in this local foot soldiers who are actually doing the work. [applause] so i know this is the opening of the naacp convention. Black folks love to convene and this is a great opportunity for selfcare sometimes. I would challenge you all and your openness to not only is the hashtag. Ive been saying this all summer and i mean it. We have so much on the line and we need to act like it. Maryland is talked about the Trump Administration whats going on. The department of justice has been rebranded as the department of injustice and theyre coming after you and your weed. Maybe dont have any, because it might have some. They are coming for it. The war on drugs to plano. We have a lot of work to do. In 2017 alone, 99 new pieces of legislation that would make voting harder for you. That is just this year. That doesnt count the hundreds of bills introduced once they realized they could pony up and elect a black president. We know what were up against. Maryland is absolutely right. Local elections have everything to do with this. We have a responsibility and we all may know it can come from an elitist view. I urge you to go back. You may not know the importance of their voice, but the importance of showing up in being president. Thank you so much for being here with us today. Thank you for a panel. Andrea, ray, colin, might maryland, thank you all so much for being here. [applause] thank you. [inaudible conversations] while our panelists wrapping up the pictures, we want to get to work right now. [applause] we have a lot to think about. We have a lot of work to do to resolve this conversation. This conversation is not over. We are talking about criminal justice throughout the convention. We are partying tonight at the crime city get down and we are still going to be putting you to work on new artists. We are here to work. I am the senior or of criminal Justice Programs at the naacp. I want to make sure that we are working to stay steadfast and immovable. So while you are sitting right there, i know people are hungry. I know you want to go to lunch. It dont stop the kids we need to be standing out for justice in our local communities. We need to be working together to stand up for safe and healthy communities. That means we must work toward solution to violence and not locking up as many people as possible. We need to be standing up against legally justified murder. That means we must stand up for police accountability, making sure that police are held to their oath to protect and serve all of us. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] today, democrats will announce a new agenda as they look ahead to the 2018 midterms. It is called a better deal. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer of new york, House Minority leader nancy pelosi of california along with other top house and Senate Democrats are rolling it out this afternoon in maryville, virginia. Our live coverage begins at 1 00 eastern on cspan2. Later this afternoon, President Trump will give a Public Statement on health care. Plans on meeting with Health Care Law participants before his comments at the white house. Well have live coverage at 3 15 eastern. The senate is planning to have a vote related to the Republican Health care plan this week. Tomorrow, President Trump will be holding a rally in youngstown, ohio. Live coverage starts tuesday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan 3. But now we are starting to see a kind of pick up steam and that is really the internet kind of integrated in a much more seamless and pervasive way. Difficult ways throughout our lives Like Health Care and education, transportation, energy through them pretty important aspects of our lives, big sectors of the economy. The reason i wrote the book as it requires a different mindset in a different playbook whether youre an innovator policymaker if we are going to be successful in this third wave. A member of the Federal Reserve board, jay powell says changes to be made to the Housing Finance policy in order to prevent another bailout like in 2008. He spoke of the American Enterprise institute for about an hour. Good morning, everyone. Im steve owner, resident scholar here at aei and also codirect their hunger center. Welcome to this event this morning unhealthy finance reform, which will feature remarks from Federal Reserve governor, jay powell. We are delighted to have jay with us this morning. Let me give a very brief introduction for jay and then he will come up for his remarks. Jay has been a governor at the fed since