Eastern, author walter starr, and Howard University professor on abraham lincolns friends and enemies. Watch this week in prime time on cspan3. Now, to the womens march on washington. Organizers held it to an to oneyearte the anniversary of president trumps inauguration. Up . Good afternoon, ladies and friends. It is indeed a pleasure to join you here this afternoon as we celebrate the oneyear when we sent a message to the world that women are here to stay, that we will not go quietly into the night, and that this is our time. My heart is so full at the site of the array of beauty out here today. 2016 was undeniably a check for us all. No one could have predicted the predicament we landed in. But i must say, no one had a more appropriate response and solution to the mess we are in than women. Year, millions of women organized, mobilized and marched. This year, the we are still marching, we have taken it a notch further and now we are running. [cheering] ms. Clanton we run so that womens rights are no longer on the negotiating table for trumps poker buddies and billionaire friends. We run because every child deserves clean water, healthy food, a safe environment, Quality Health care and a quality education. [cheering] ms. Clanton women across this world are putting their names on ballots and changing the course of this history. We have said that it is simply enough. Enough senseless Government Shutdown leaving our country defenseless because people do not want to do their job. Another over women being made to feel uncomfortable in the workplace, on the train, on the bus, on the airplane, down the street. Enough is enough. [cheering] ms. Clanton enough of families living in fear of separation and deportation. Politics withing peoples lives. Be unstable, but he is not unstoppable. [cheering] ms. Clanton now, i have the awesome honor of standing before you to introduce a man who has not only celebrated women, who has trusted and invested in them. Were who knows that if we ever able to some restore civility to this country, it will be women who will lead the way. Friends, without further do, the chairman of the Democratic National committee, tom perez. [applause] mr. Perez good afternoon, my friends house, she has game. Im also proud to be here with daughter, a senior in college. She is here. I want to Say Something about my friend here. Because she spent a lot of time out of the office in the past few months. In fact, she spent almost a month down in alabama helping doug jones become the United States senator from alabama. [cheering] mr. Perez and thanks to africanamerican women, 98 of whom voted for doug jones. The backbone of the Democratic Party. Doug jones is now senator doug jones. That, she was in virginia organizing upanddown virginia from Hampton Roads to northern virginia, helping people up and down the ticket. Up and down the ticket send a message to america that when we organize them up when we have great candidates and lead with our values, we win. That is what we did. So thank you for your work. I must tell you, it is a beautiful site to look out here today a beautiful sight to look out here today. One more thing, if the congress, the white house, the governorships across america, the legislators across america had more women like i see here today, we would be a much better america. There is no doubt about it. [cheering] president i asked trump and sean spicer to come over and count the crowd, but they did not want to come. No matter what they said, this is what an actual crowd looks like. [cheering] mr. Perez we are all here for the same reason. We understand that our democracy is at risk. Ago,derstand that a year donald trump and mike pence were sworn in, and immediately began turning the clock back on womens rights, workers rights, lgbt writes, immigrant rights, and the fundamental values of inclusion, opportunity and tolerance that have always made America Great. They nominated a Supreme Court justice who has repeatedly cited sided against women in Reproductive Health cases, against workers, they emboldened legislators in kentucky who are abortion on closing clinics and taking away a womans Constitutional Rights to make her own health decisions. They halted president obamas equal payroll. Companies that they halted the effort to make sure the Companies Involved in Sexual Harassment are held accountable. And they tried again and again to repeal the Affordable Care act. You know what, my friends, this does not simply affect women, it affects all of us. When a woman has to choose between her family and her job, that hurts all of us. When a single mom has to choose between paying for childcare and paying for rent, that hurts all of us. When a womans career suffers because she is your start of the workforce because of Sexual Harassment, that hurts all of us. Friends, women, everyone, that is why we must all fight to fix it. I am here to say thank you to the women across america who have led america back to its greatness. You responded by organizing, you responded by putting your name on the ballot, and as you know, more women are running for office than ever before. [cheering] mr. Perez in the great commonwealth of virginia, the pundits said we could not win ore than 45 seats four five seats in the state house of delegates, well we won 15 seats in the Virginia House of delegates. 15. And but for a coin flip, we would have won a 16th. Those 15 former house of delegates members in virginia womenl men replaced by 11 , a strong women, including the in virginiatinas history, the first asianamerican in virginia history, the first openly transgender woman in virginias history. Are our future, and for genia is not the only place where it has happened. And here is why it happened. Because you march, you spoke up, you spoke up to protect health care, including the rights of women to make their own choices about their bodies and health. You are fighting for dreamers and will continue to fight for dreamers every day. You are standing up against policies that make the rich richer while making the rest of us pay. And you are leading a powerful metoo andwith timesup. And i am here to say, time is up for republicans. [cheering] mr. Perez make no mistake about it, women will be the reason this administration ends on january 19, 2020. [cheering] mr. Perez the Founding Fathers a lot of credit, but it is the marching mothers and daughters that continue to make this country great. Thank you for doing that. I am so proud to be here with my daughter. You know what, it is absolutely time to end the practice of giving our sisters and my daughter and my other daughter less options than their dreams demand. Futures,ight for their we will continue to fight for their futures, and you know what . I want to to keep one number in mind as we move forward. 290. There are 290 days until the november election in 2018. That means there are 290 days until the democrats take over the house of representatives and the democrats take over the senate and the democrats win governors races across this country and the democrats win state legislative races across this country. 290 days, my friends. But you know what . The arc of the moral universe is indeed long and it doesnt bend toward justice, but it never ever ever since on its own. We must bend it together. We must bend it together by understanding that we are living in unprecedented times. What is going on as we speak right now is quite literally unprecedented in our nations history. Controlledne party the white house, the United States senate and the United States house of representatives. Representatives and then shut down the federal government. That is what just happened. , that isncompetence immoral and that is wrong. But that is what they did. But you know what, there is an equally important shut down that we must respond to, and that is this president and this toublican congress effort shut down basic American Values of opportunity for everyone, inclusion, making sure that every zip code counts, making sure that every child is gifted and talented and able to realize those gifts and talents. And how do we take back america . The same way we have always done it, we organize and we vote and we lead with our values. So my friends, i say to you this, if you believe that people who work a fulltime job can live a stressfree life and it should live a stressfree life, you should organize and vote for democrats. If you believe that anyone who works a fulltime job should not have to live in poverty, you should organize and mobilize and a vote with democrats. If you believe that a womans right to choose is a fundamental right that we should never interfere with, and it is part of womens economic empowerment, you should organize, mobilize and vote for democrats. If you believe that health care is a right for all and not a privilege for a few, you should organize, mobilize and vote for democrats. If you believe that the right to , andis our most sacred Voter Suppression is wrong, you should organize, mobilize and vote for democrats. If you believe our dreamers are every bit as american as my americanborn daughter, you should organize, mobilize and vote for democrats. If you believe that our toretary of education ought believe in public education, you should organize, mobilize and vote for democrats. If you believe that our epa administrator ought to get a tutorial on climate change, then you should organize, mobilize and vote for democrats. If you believe that every Single Person in this country should have access to safe drinking water, if you believe that we should build more schools and not more prisons, if you believe that every Single Person is entitled to a second chance, you should organize, mobilize and vote for democrats. If you believe that our first female president should not be mother russia, you should organize, mobilize and vote for democrats. That is what it is about, folks. We have got to take a page out playbook, and that is what we did in 2017, we caused good trouble, we mobilized and one elections in , in new jerseywa and virginia and alabama and elsewhere am a and in 2018, we will continue that blue wave, but only if we do it together. Do it together, lets caused good trouble together, lets pass the equal rights bendment together, lets victorious together. Thank you very much, keep up the good work and commit to vote in every single election, every single day. Thank you. [cheering] thank you, everyone, for being here. We are so excited and want everyone to have fun and stay safe. The sun is shining, so please stay off of the melting ice. Is a civileaker rights lawyer. [applause] thank you everybody from virginia. I am originally from Hampton Roads. In lgbt veteran, i joined the navy a long time ago back in 1998 from a high school in ic northam. Anybody from their . From there. I am here in d. C. , i am in the d. C. National guard, a great place to be. This is a great story, because it is about you. Doe. Re jane it is about how much power you have as jane doe and how much you can fight against two powerful administrations and how doe and can do as jane how much power you can have over to administrations. This is that story. When you are also a man or a woman and you also claim the title of jane doe, you can also have that power. When you do this, you can also be a transgender individual like myself. [cheering] ms. Mason and you conserve in the military now. [cheering] you can do that with dont ask, dont tell. That got turns down in 2010 during the prior administration. Now we get to serve with equality. Got tweeted bywe this administration, and jane for equalo stand up rights once again. And now, all of the men and women and transgender in the Lgbt Community have to stand up and fight against this administration and say no more. [cheering] ms. Mason we needed to make sure that we could stay in the military and make sure we were part of this fighting force in the navy, the marine corps, the air force, the coast guard. Because we deserve to serve. [cheering] ms. Mason the men and Women Deserve diversity in the armed forces. Ago, when i switched over and transitioned from the navy to the army [laughter] ms. Mason it was called blue to green. I went to a place called oklahoma. Oklahoma pride. There, i also went to fort benning and became an infantryman. Little did they know that i was actually transgender. There i learned how to become an infantryman, an and i knew it was not for me. I went over to Fort Campbell and became part of a soldiers girl, and inspirational story that allowed me to become more of who i was and where i needed to be. [cheering] ms. Mason went straight to afghanistan. Learned what combat was, day in and day out. Took idfs every day. Should women what combat was because we had women serving with us every day and i witnessed what they could do. [cheering] ms. Mason the battalion with this went on the same patrols we went on. I confided in then and told them i was transgendered. Got my hormones tested and they told me congratulations, you are pregnant. Came back, i could not even tell anybody look, i need help, because i could be outed. And thats because dont ask, dont tell ended without including transgender soldiers. [booing] ms. Mason yep. The Obama Administration failed transgender soldiers, it didnt include me until later on. Thats when i decided i needed i come home to virginia, but couldnt come home. There was no equality at home. D. C. E home to maryland and , where there was a quality. Was equality. That was not true, either. I got kicked out. I had to fight i got on nbc news, fought against the administration, got back in, and then it was like deja vu, july 26, first thing in the morning, donald j. Trump said we are doing you a great favor, we are kicking you out. [booing] ms. Mason celeste said to myself, that is not the happened to me or anybody else. You are not going to lose your home, your car, your daughter, your job. This is not what happened to anybody else, because it already happened to me, and it is not worth losing it all over again. , since he took office, it has been a civil rights war. First, he came after our immigrants, he came after our national origin, he came after lgbtolor, after the community, and then he came after me, and that is where the mistake happened. [cheering] so with that, no matter who you are and no matter what your name is, understand that when you stand here today, youare jane doe, and when empower other people, you can help others. And this is why it is worth running for office no matter what state youre in, he cares when you need to cross the pond, the monument, the mall, and can use more you votes and more power than the people in every state across this nation to do more good for more people everywhere else by using your vote now in this year, thats the power of you, the women at this womens march. Thank you. [applause] our next speaker is the president of the National Organization for women. [applause] afternoon, activists. [applause] rights. Rights are human [applause] yeah. And women have the right to be happy. And women have the right to be respected. We have the right to stay legal, affordable of portions affordable abortions. And we have the right to birth control. And we have the right to be free of violence in our homes, in the streets, and our workplaces and in our schools. This years elections are crucial. They will either signal a turnaround for Donald Trumps ability to spread his racist, sexist, and intolerant agenda. Or we will have another two years of the same. We are not going to let that happen. Women can determine the outcome in close elections. We need to build the excitement and enthusiasm right now. Out the massive vote we need in november, and we will do that. Thats why the National Organization for women is gearing up for an unprecedented year of political activism, strong feminist candidates are running like never before. Women will no longer be traded with be treated with disrespect. [applause] womentoday, there are 311 running and democratic primaries for the house of representatives. Yeah and 47 Democratic Women are running for the senate. Yeah areat least 79 women putting in runs for governor, potentially doubling a record for female candidates 1994. Yeah. And were going to get them elected. We are seeing chapters being confused with new energy, new members, and with new chapters being formed. Ourn recognize now advocates, their allies and partners in advancing the feminist majority. The special election in alabama showed us that trump and his allies can be defeated anywhere. Yeah. When women get out to vote. Look around you today look at this crowd. Feel the energy thats gathering here to make history in november. Do you remember that rightwing republican congressman dave brat saying the women are in my grill no matter where i go . Right. Amn re at it again today. If we dont stand up for our right, trump and his rightwing allies will take it away from us. Yesterday i joined allies with the Supreme Court to support abortion rights. [applause] there are a lot of us there. He looks forward to the end of roe v. Wade, the ash heap of history. So, what are we going to do . We are going to elect a u. S. Senate that will never again vote to confirm an antiabortion radical to the Supreme Court. We are going to vote for jacky rosen and we are going to work for her and make phone calls and write her checks. We are going to go there and knock on doors for her. And we are going to vote for Christian Cinema from arizona. We are going to flip the senate. [applause] we must work for those running for the house. We need to collect a house of representatives that wont pass a 20 week ban on abortions or heartbeat protection acts or any other unconstitutional measures republicans