Lets get ready for this next panel, which i am really, really excited about. Ourt, i want to introduce next speaker, my good friend i have known her for almost 20 years now and every step of her career, whether fighting at the Legal Defense fund to wrongfulng a texas, running the most active and effective Civil Rights Division in a modern history as assistant tourney attorney general of the Civil Rights Division, she has always ofn guided by her values justice and fairness. She keeps about people, especially the most vulnerable in our country, in a way i have rarely seen. She always leads with her heart and her values. She is one of my closest and dearest friends. She is also somewhat i look up to and consider a hero. I am so very, very proud of her and i would love for her to join me on the stage right now. Thank you. [applause] hi. Good morning, everyone. That was a very warm welcome from my dear friend, nick. I am so glad to see everyone here today. I know the panelists are joining us on the stage right now. I just wanted to open up with a couple of framing remarks about the incredibly extraordinary time that we are in and i dont mean that in a great way. This is i think its so important that all of you are gathered here this morning. This is an extraordinary time in our country and its a time when baseline norms are being turned on their head and when were reminded, really on a daily basis, the extent to which we cannot take our institutions or our core values for granted. Its at a time when the federal government and this administration here in washington, d. C. , are turning back the clock on almost every area of progress from racial progress to lgbt rights to womens rights to you name it. Theyre increasing tensions and divisions as part of an electoral strategy that speaks to a part of their base that really amplifies and inflames the rhetoric. And it is more important than ever that in the face of whats happening here and getting pushed out of washington, d. C. , that state and local officials are standing up clearly for the values of inclusion and justice. But not just in words. In policies too. And we need to be messaging these values out everywhere we go in a way that lifts all communities and doesnt sink into a zerosum game or a zerosum rhetoric or get politics. The only time identity politics gets invoked is when folks talk about communities of color. That white identity is something thats get masked as neutral. The 2016 election, the disparagement of the latino federal judge, the antimuslim, antiimmigrant, antilgbt rhetoric, the glorification of Sexual Assault and attacks on Womens Health and bodies, all of this has laid the groundwork for some of what weve been seeing the last nine months. We also have a president and Vice President this weekend who engaged in a political stunt and who have been tweeting ad nauseum about the nfl players who are taking a knee in protest of police brutality. But also out of love of country, being tarnished as unpatriotic. You know, dont make any mistake about this. There are deep racial overtones to all of this. This is a time of deep, deep polarization. Its a time when the administration, as i said, has been preying on the divisions as part of this electoral strategy and a time when altright activists like steve bannon and Sebastian Gorka spent the first nine months of the Administration Just outside of the oval office, pushing an agenda. In april of 2017, just months after i stepped down from the Justice Department, i testified at a Senate JudiciaryCommittee Hearing on the rise and hate violence and the real concern that hate was becoming increasingly legitimatized and normalized. And i spoke about how during my final year at the Justice Department, we in the f. B. I. Had in thed that significant increase in hate violence and hate allegations. While the Civil Rights Division prosecutes hate crimes, we were also part then of a Justice Department that was fully invested in providing training and Technical Assistance to local Law Enforcement about detecting and preventing hate crimes, about aggressively enforcing civil rights laws, to combat racial and other discrimination. And now we have a Justice Department that, while it may be continuing to prosecute some hate crimes, has a decidedly anticivil rights agenda on almost every front. An agenda that is harming real vulnerable communities around the country and an attorney general who is intent on using his pulpit to polarize our country. The past is prologue and we all know the history of this country and the flavor of jim crow. But i want to remind us that the events in charlottesville back in august and followed up by a march this past weekend were horrific for other reasons too. Weve all seen White Supremacists and hate on march in rallies before. But what i think shook us and by that i dont just mean us civil rights lawyers and leaders and advocate, but really so many of us in this country, was the president of the United States reaction over the course of a few days to such violent extremism that resulted in Heather Heyers murder. During these events president forfeited any claims to the moral leadership that a president must command. [applause] his facts were wrong, his moral compass was missing, and his continued refusal to recognize and unequivocally call out evil and hate was a disgrace to our nation and was deeply painful to so many of our communities in this country. More than ever, more than ever it was clear that it would fall to the rest of us, to all of you in this room, to uphold americas ideals of fairness, justice and inclusion. Because the president proved that he would not. And we all need you more than ever, the role of progressive state elected officials i think has never been more important than it is right now. In the aftermath there were a lot of bipartisan tweets, there were statements by federal officials, and we were grateful for those statements. But you know and we know that talk is cheap. That some of those very same officials that were busy tweeting out condemnations that even President Trump could not, they were in essence, though, pushing divisive policies, policies in washington of exclusion and marginalization and degradation. We know that condemnation by tweets is not enough. And that officials have to recognize and reject policies that foment exclusion. Since the days of the charlottesville incident back in august, weve had the decision to rescind daca and leave 800,000 young people vulnerable. People who have known this country, many of whom have only known this country as their home, and are now looking down at the barrel of possible deportation to countries that they have been a part of. They are living in fear. Last night the white house released cruel immigration principles, principles to guide negotiations for the dreamers, essentially using them as bargaining chips to have cruel immigration policies put in place. The media reports these were likely crafted by attorney general Jeff Sessions and steven miller, who have long had an extreme antiimmigrant agenda. So we have a lot of work to do and were relying on you and we want to work with you to help push back this agenda that divides rather than unite us. There are specific things that we need to do in the area of hate crimes and know this panels going to be going into a lot more detail on that. Groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Antidefamation League and Muslim Advocates and the naacp and others, all these groups are part of the Leadership Conferences 200plus organization coalitions. Theyve been working for a long time to focus Public Officials on the problem of hate groups and racism in our communities. 46 states actually have a hate crime statute that cover race, religion and ethnicity, but not all of them protect disability, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity status. We also have some states that have separate statutes that cover Data Collection and police training, institutional vandalism, cross burning and allow for civil actions. We think states should have laws in these areas that cover all of these things. Theres work to be done in schools about teaching our kids tolerance and messaging out the kinds of values that we want the next generation to have. Theres been a lot of concern about the Law Enforcement response in charlottesville and the failure to keep the neonazi protesters separate from the counterantiracism protesters. We need to look at the training of policing during those protests. We need to be concerned about laws that protect people who use their cars as weapons. But we also have to fight white supremacist policies that embody exclusion and marginalization, including voter suppression. [applause] including the retreat, the distinct and acute retreat from Police Reform and criminal Justice Reform here in washington, d. C. We need to look at the antiimmigrant fervor that is expressed in antisanctuary city policies and promotion of a deportation force. The leadership conference, which as i said is a coalition of 200plus national organizations, big and small, know that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. There is a moment for solidarity and they spoke to this on the previous panel. Our members are mobilizing across issues, across communities. They are building power locally to push on these fights because this is not just about one community, this is about who we are as a country and who we want to be. On Voting Rights, theres been a vicious attack on Voting Rights for the last several years. At least 10 federal courts in the last few years have found that states have engaged in intentional Racial Discrimination in trying to enact laws that prevent black and brown folks from voting. Weve got that is i will say very clearly, that is a White Supremacy agenda at work. Weve got to call that out for what it is. Right now we are alarmed about the prospects of mass voter purging from coming out of decisions and enforcement decisions from the Justice Department, coming out of the pencekobach commission. I dont need to go into that so much more. We know that statebased legislation, theres an affirmative agenda that we need to you push and theres been bipartisan support for it, for automatic Voter Registration, for increasing early voting, for sameday registration. We need states to enact statutes that empower state attorneys general in the face of an attorney general who i said has been so intent on keeping us back and returning us back to 1980s criminal justice policy. We need state attorney generals to fill this breach. They need to be able to engage in investigations of systemic police misconduct, the way that the Civil Rights Division has been able to do in administrations that supported this. We know that Police Chiefs all over the country are Even Opposing some of whats coming out of this Justice Department. They know that officers need to have the trust of the communities that they serve in order to create Public Safety in their communities. States need to lead the way and continue to lead the way to advance criminal Justice Reform. You all are the hope and we will work with you to do whatever we can to support that. Use your bully pulpit to speak out on the against the antiimmigrant fervor that is unleashed right now. We need elected officials to reject the and stop and push back on that us versus them rhetoric and to understand, of course, that we need to be emgracing embracing Economic Solutions for all who are hurting and feeling left out of this countrys economy. Theres no Silver Bullet to ending extremism and violence and bigotry. Its going to take all of us. But we need to recognize that hate and exclusion and polarization are not just fomented by White Supremacists who are marching in the street alone and increasingly without hoods, i may say. But also in policy agendas that are having a real impact on real communities. Ill just close out by saying that its often in times of cry says that we find our strongest crisis that we find our strongest voice, our solidarity, our power to fight most effectively to protect the vulnerable and to make justice real. We are fighting for the soul of our country right now. And it has to be understood that this isnt just about the symbolism of the marchers in charlottesville. This truly is about the kinds of policies we set and the kind of country that we want to be. So thank you all for fighting for justice, fairness and inclusion. And hope you have a great, terrific day. Thank you. [applause] thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is ashley. I also work at the leadership conference. I get to be one of the advisors and im really excited to be here so thank you for the conference for letting me moderate this panel. I was going to set the stage but i think vanita did a pretty good job at doing that so im going to jump in so we can get to question for our panelists and then well have time at the end to make sure you all have some questions and i wont hold you too long before your lunch. So lets get started. Today were talking about charlottesville and beyond. Facing off against racism in a time of trump. Its probably a question that many people are asking every day and particularly for the positions you hold. So were going to jump right in it and turn to our first panelist, dr. West bellamy, who is the vice mayor of charlottesville, virginia, and the youngest individual ever to be elected to the charlottesville city council. He currently serves on the charlottesville redevelopment and Housing Authority board and the charlottesville policecitizen advisory panel. So, you know, almost two months ago everyone turned on their news and saw the tragedy that was going on in charlottesville and the hate that was in the streets. Can you talk to us a little bit about, one, how the city has been able to rebound from the activities that happened a couple months ago . And honestly from the activities that happened over this weekend. Because we saw some of the i call them the tiki torchmen, the White Supremacists, in the streets yet again. How has the city been able to rebound from that . And what have you been able it to do as a City Government official to help in the healing process . Sure, so thank you and first and foremost id like it thank all of you for having me. Id be remissify did not acknowledge the six as well as this wonderful conference for allowing me to be able to come and join you and i also must say i am rather giddy, if you will, to be sitting next to my shero, ms. Jennifer from virginia. This woman right here literally always answers the call, stands up, not only rejects the notions of White Supremacy from a State Government perspective, but also whenever we see instances of injustice, she always stands up and i think it is really important that we acknowledge that, if we can give her a round of aplalls. Give her a round of applause. So to answer your question, its a great question indeed, the city of charlottesville, we are, in my opinion, one of the most resilient and courageous places in the United States of america. And i think its also important for us to also knowtate that White Supremacy did not start with the creating the decisions to remove the statues of robert e. Lee and the jackson statues in our parks. Weve had issues of systemic injustice and oppression within our community for generations. Charlottesville is the same place that chose to close down all of the schools during the massive resistance opposed to integrating. Were also the place in which we decimated and tore down an entire africanamerican neighborhood, vinegar hill, during urban renewal in the late 1950s, early 1960s. So weve had these underlying issues for a long time. People have chosen not to always acknowledge them, and weve been a place in which we sweep things under the rug or we dont want to talk about some of our dirty little secrets. Wed rather talk about how great the university of virginia, is Thomas Jefferson or how wed like to run on trails and so on and so forth. [laughter] however, however, we have been talking about equity and not equality, because those are two Different Things for some time now. [applause] i think i want you all to understand. Equity means that everyone gets what they need in order to be successful. So while jennifer and i may need a glass of water, the lovely ladies down there may be able to just shoot from the hip and not take any drinks. But equality means that everyone gets the same thing. What we need as a community is equity and not equality. So i really would like to encourage all of to you stop using the word equality. Because that may have really got