Arguments over confederate statues. This is about one hour. [gavel pound] jeff yes, i do it with authority. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the National Press club where we have trademarked a moniker of being the worlds leading professional organization for journalists. Also where i have been saying this year, in challenging times, the freedom of the press, that we are the constitution. I am jeff ballou, the editor for Al Jazeera English and the 110th president of the National Press club. We are pleased to have as our headline luncheon speaker Derrick Johnson, the interim president and chief executive officer for the National Association for the advancement of colored people. The naacp. Own as first of all, i would like you to at least silence your cell phone and other electronic devices, though we do encourage you to follow us on social media. [laughter] in jeff just because we were born in 1908 does not mean that we are still there. You can follow us pressclubdc, using npclive. And headliners, and you can follow me at npcpresident. As you are setting your phones to vibrate, getting your twitter questions ready, i also want all of you to have these lovely white cards in front of you. Dais and at your tables, now is the time to start scribbling those wonderful questions, if you have not already submitted any, so we can keep the conversation going and healthy. You can keep passing them up to the front. You dont have to wait for mr. Johnson to finish his remarks. There are members who will rais their hands and help bring them forward at any time and get them to donna, who will sort through them and get them to me. There is another way you can get questions in, those of you not in the house. You can use social media, tweet me a question. I have a smart phone here and i can follow our twitter feed. I will follow from here while mr. Johnson is up here. After we get into the q a, i will try to multitask. An interesting thing we le to do. Now, without further ado, we will get to the head table, and then some more thank yous, and then on to todays proceeding. I am going to start on my right. Washington correspondent for the atlanta journalconstitution. Stand up and wave. [laughter] jeff dominique. City hall reporter for wypr in baltimore, maryland. Him lottie joyner, interim editor in chief of the crisis magazine, the oldest of africanamerican publications in the United States. And the official publication of the naacp. Him him corey gordon, deputy chief of staff and legislative director and congressman Bennie Thompson of mississippi. The senior culture writer for espns multimedia publication the undefeated. We have several members of that organization in the press club, so we are pleased to have you. Him hilary shelton, director of the naacp washington d. C. Bureau, and a frequent flyer with the National Press club. We have seen you here many times. Skipping over myself, the managing editor of usa toda one of my predecessors as president of the National PressClub Team Member who organized todays luncheon. Thank you, donna. We will get to you in a second, mr. Johnson. Shawna thomas, the Washington Bureau chief of vice news that all of you have been streaming and watching every night on hbo. The Vice President of communications for the naacp. The membership secretary of the National Press club. Desk editor for the associated press. Keith, washington correspondent for the detroit news, who has something in common with our speaker. And the reporter for the st. Louis post dispatch. [applause] i would also like to acknowledge some members of the Headliners Team who helped with todays luncheon. Betsy fischermartin and lisa matthews, headliner cochairs. The teams lawyers. And the National Press club staff, specifically Lindsay Underwood and laura coker, who manages the offices of Club President , staff, executive director william mccarran. For our television, public radio, and social media followers, be aware in audience today are members of the general public. Any applause or reaction you hear is not necessarily those from the working pss. We have to have a quorum amongst ourselves to be the fair arbiter when things are happening at the club. In the naacp is the nations oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. The executive committee of the board of directors unanimously named mr. Derrick johnson interim president and ceo during the associations 108th annual convention in baltimore last month. Him he is expected to serve through the end of year when the board hopes to announce the new leader. He says his focus will be ensuring local activists are getting enough support, because that is where Public Policy impacts people most directly. Mr. Johnson formerly served as vice chairman of the naacp board of directors, an activist who dedicated his career to improving the lives and defendi himng the rights and ights ofg the mississippians. We will be talking about the gulf coast in the q a. As president of the naacp Mississippi State conference, he has led critical campaign for Voting Rights and equitable education, successfully managed two bond referendum campaigns in jackson, mississippi that brought in millions of dollars for a School Building improvement, and 6. 5 million toward the construction of a new convention center. With the recent events in charlottesville and the ensuing debates about whether to remove confederate memorials, the naacp is issuing caution when traveling to missouri. There are a lot of issues for Derrick Johnson to discuss. Please give a warm National Press club welcome to interim ceo and president Derrick Johnson. [applause] derrick thank you, jeff. I met jeff a few weeks ago. I was walking through the d. C. Airport a few weeks ago, and he looked important, so i started following him. [laughter] derrick i followed him all the way to the press club this morning. I really would like to thank all the members of the National Press club for allowing the naacp this opportunity. We are in trying times. It is a unique place we are in for this democracy. For the naacp, 109 yearyear organization, we have seen this before. In fact, the creation of the naacp was based on a similar set of circumstances. Where individuals such as w. E. B. Dubois and William Monroe trotter, a reporter, decided to pull people together to discuss what they called the negro question. That call to meet in niagara was heard by individuals in the state of mississippi, where i reside, and they also sent another reporter by the name of ida b. Wells to represent mississippi. So we are familiar with whats taking place. In that discussion, they wanted to address the problems with lynching that have been taking place across the country. They established the niagara movement. The very next year, there was a lynching in springfield, illinois. A group of whites realized, if we were going to have a true democracy, there had to be one that was met with law and order. So that group, mary wright overton and others, invited members of the niagara movement, to join them in new york to meet, to talk about a campaign to direct federal policy which would empower the federal government to go into areas to investigate, prosecute, and convict those involved in lynching. That was the creation of the naacp. The decision made at the time was that the association would be an advocacy organization. An organization which would advocate for Public Policy to improve the quality of lives for all. That was a successful campaign. As a result of that, we began to build as an association. We have built our presence across the landscape where we have over 2200 units from alaska to hawaii, to connecticut to florida, and all parts in between. We recognize, in order for us to make democracy work, we must advocate for Public Policy to protect the needs and interests not only of African Americans, but all disenfranchised citizens. You know, i have an older member in mississippi who put it best. The health of any society should be measured by three key measures. How well do we care for our elderly . Are we preparing our young people for the future . Are we protecting the rights of the disadvantaged . That is the measurement we should all look for. Looking at this current administration, we have a long way to go. [laughter] derrick that is why we must continue to have the naacp. Advocacy for social justice to ensure equal protection under the law is paramount in this time. Just like those individuals who gathered in niagara, and later in new york, and decided that whether you are black or white, male or female, we should all have a voice around the formation of Public Policy. The unique thing about the creation of the naacp in 1909, black men had a right that white women did not have, the right to vote. It was also recognized in 1909 that many African Americans at this time picked up arms, to reinforce union troops, to ensure that these United States remained as the United States and not two separate entities. That the Confederate States of america, as Jefferson Davis was selected as president , was a movement of individuals who committed treason against this nation. It was a Movement Based on a policy landscape that they wanted to uphold, and agriculturalbased economy, supported by exploiting people for free labor. We call that slavery. They also understood that the fight that was taking place postcivil war would continue. And that to ensure that individuals of african descent would not be exploited for cheap labor, there needed to be policy protections for those individuals. We were in the middle of a campaign, and it was around the right of workers to collectively bargain. I was asked a question by a reporter, why would the naacp care about organized labor . If you began to peel the onion, you recognized the fight for Voting Rights, the fight for quality education, is all based on the policy landscape of who is exploited for free and cheap labor. It is about money. Many people talk about, if you education, you get cheap labor. That if you suppress the right to vote, you limit the access of those who are impacted by Public Policy from having a true voice in the formation of that same policy, therefore, they have no say and they can be exploited. Make no mistake where we are in this democracy. Those who have the right to vote have say, those who dont, dont. I often say in a democracy, your vote is your currency. If you are bankrupt, you go to the store, you cannot purchase anything. But if you are exercising your currency, if you collect that currency with others with your interest, you can purchase the grocery store. That is who we are as the naacp. All of our policy concerns and issues germinate from that raw fact. Individuals seeking to exploit us for free labor. We are seeing after the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment, we had to exercise our right to vote. Any way which we could build quality Education Systems equal to all, and ensure that we would not be exploited for cheap labor. When we look at todays reality, we have been here before. It is nothing new. But what is most important, the founders and the individuals who built the naacp understand that all politics are local. As a result, we began a Movement Across the country. Today we have 2200 units, because the landscape of Public Policy often start in local communities. So we are in hilary sheltons city, we call it washington, d. C. As we walk up and down the halls of congress, he, like i know, many of the policy considerations started in some local community in this nation. Oftentimes, i ask the question, have you ever heard of columbiana, alabama . Columbiana, alabama is where the case we now call shelby versus holder started from. That was the case that gutted the Voting Rights act. That was the case that took out section five of the Voting Rights act. It is in local communities like columbiana, alabama, where the naacp exists. It is a community that nobody would think of. It is in bolger, louisiana, a redistricting case came up to become a Supreme Court case. It is in all of the areas where many of us or our parents come from. As a result, the naacp is as relevant today as it has always been. Because it is in these communities where our members serve as the eyes and ears, to ring the bell when nobody can hear the noise, to call out the questions of unfairness. Oftentimes we give the example of miss dunlap. Ms. Dunlap lives in a Small Community in mississippi. I am sure you have heard of shibuya, mississippi. [laughter] derrick it is in clark county. Ms. Dunlap may not have had a lot of exposure to education, but ms. Dunlap, as president of the clark county branch, is driven by one principle. I dont think it is right, i dont think it is fair. The value question of fairness. When she goes and sits in on a School Board Meeting and she no longer has children in school, she has great grandchildren in school now. When she is sitting there listening to the school board talk about school policy, even if she does not understand all of the conversations, is the question of fairness. How can we turn our back on the ms. Dunlaps of the world . It is the ms. Dunlaps in the world who can identify when School Districts in Rural America are seeking to diverge public funds for a use that would not benefit all children. If they perfect that policy, hilary shelton, as he walks down the halls of congress, he will see that policy bubble up as a National Policy scheme. That is why we must have the naacp. Voting is paramount. Voting is paramount. With all the schemes to suppress and divert our ability to cast a ballot, not only African Americans, but young people as well. The closing of precincts, the redrawing of political boundary lines that will Favor One Party over another, the ability to have an admittance test, voter id, for whether you can vote. The very nature of Voter Registration is a vote suppression method. Let that germinate. Why would someone need to fill out an application texercise a right . Think about it. In this day and age, as more states require voter id, and we are citizens, why should we fill out an application to determine whether or not we should vote . A true democracy encourages and allows all of its citizens to vote. You know, is it so much to ask that we follow the example of australia and 200 other nations when it comes to compsory voting . Is it outrageous to say that restricted polling places should no longer be in place . What are you talking about . Why should an individual get off work at 5 00 and drive home and possibly past three or four presents in order to cast a ballot three orssibly pass castprecincts in order to a ballot . Why should we allow the most sacr part of a democracy, only to take place in a 12hour window . On a tuesday, when most people go to work. At the naacp, those are the estions we must confront with some critical thinking. Not that we are running behind the headlines of the day, because there will always be headlines of the day. But fundamental to what we pursue is making democracy work. To ensure equal protection under the law is affded to all citizens and that the uses of devices to discriminate should no longer exist. Just last week, our state conference in texas won two important cases, one dealing with redistricting, the other dealing with voter id. Three months ago, our state conference in North Carolina also won a major redistricting case. We commend the policymakers in illinois for making Voter Registration automatic. Because in a democracy, if our currency is our vote, we should celebrate everyone having at least that one dollar call to vote, so they can exercise. It is the role of the naacp to protect democracy and to ensure equal protection of the law is afforded to everyone. When we look at the headlines and we are compared against the movement for black lives and say, are you relevant because these young people are in the streets and protesting . I say yes, we celebrate and support them. Why . Because we have always had young people in the streets protesting. No matter what vehicle or platform they use, we must encourage young people to have a voice. Because it is those young people who will be the future leaders. And it is through agitation that we find ourselves perfecting this thing called democracy. As we move forward, it is our goal to truly focus on how do we impact of formation of Public Policy, looking at this current landscape. The key milestones are coming up. The Midterm Election of 2018 is critically important. You know, i grew up in a time where every election, they say this is the most important election of your life. Im sure you have never heard that before, right . For the first time, i ca