I have never used this microphone. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. We are here to announce and discuss issues of racism in america. Now that the house has passed the George Floyd Justice in policing act, we need to ask ourselves what is next. I am here to introduce you to members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Worldeeks ago, the witnessed the video execution of george floyd. Within hours, protest began in minneapolis and quickly spread to all 50 states. Within days, protest spread around the world with people in other countries calling out human rights abuses in the United States. Within weeks, all 54 nations and africa called on the United Nations to hold a hearing about racism and human rights in the United States. Last week, we proudly passed with bipartisan support the George Floyd Justice in policing act. We will not stop in the movement for justice and the movement will not stop until a bill is passed in the senate and signed by the president. The movement for justice has now expanded to cool to include a call to an systemic racism in the violent in the United States. I have the honor and privilege of serving as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Next to it will be the 50th anniversary of the cdc. Was cus to address racism that members felt they faced as members of congress and racism all black people face then and now in the United States. It is in their memory and on their shoulders that the 55 members of the cbc. Come january, there will be more than 55 members of the Congressional Black Caucus if we work to describe the accomplishments members event over the years, we would be here all day long. The purpose of this press conference is to time, cbc members will be supported by a National Movement that is beginning to penetrate into the consciousness of americans that systemic racism first of all exists and has a manifestation of systemic racism not just impacts the lives of black people but the entire nation. Police violence directed at black lives is one manifestation. The disproportionate death rate from covid19 and underlying elf disparities is another manifestation. Cbc members gathered here today will discuss legislative efforts in several different areas that address the consequences of systemic racism. Any discussion of this issue as to begin at the beginning. Representative lee is the chief sponsor of hr 40. You, very much, madam chair. And thank you to my colleagues on the Congressional Black Caucus. The American Government still owes a debt. The Congressional Black Caucus has always been at the forefront of fighting against systemic racism. Systemic racism has been a cancer on the skin edit fabric of this nation that has not been remedied. It has only deepened. To studye commission and develop reparation proposals , is the answer to the original sin. Restorative and repair approach to the extreme disparities that it rendered and exhibited the horrors and killings of the murder of my former constituents constituent, george floyd. His family still lives in houston and they too are wanting justice in the passage of the just George Floyd Justice in policing act. We understand the disparities that are so stark, reflective of the brutality, cruelty, fundamental injustice and inhumanity of slavery have never been answered. The key question here is that as slaves were freed, there was no tangible wealth given for their work of over 200 years. Lack of wealth reflected in the anger and anguish over those who received them that led into a broken ,econstruction, jim crowism africanamericans lynched at a attempted at civil rights and lost of the battle on the essence of the civil rights battle field, affirmative action now being attacked as we come to a point of enormous disparities in health care, the idea of ,ealth, the idea of education and the idea of disparities in youth, housing and the Justice System. I would say it to the question of those who ask, i did not have slaves, my family did not have slaves. This 13 Member Commission established by the federal government answers the question that is not the individual act of holding slaves. It is the government sanctioned that denied africanamericans their inequality and the governments responsibility with this 13 Member Commission to design the responses to the continued death, murder, and inequities in our communities. This is americas responsibility of the American Governments responsibility to pay for a debt. Now, the chairwoman of the caucus will come to speak of the honorable Margaret Lees contributions as well barbara lees contributions as well. I wanted to mention her efforts because they follow in tandem with hr 40. She is fighting for the First Commission on truth, racial healing and transformation. The commission will examine the effects of slavery, and discrimination against people of color and how art history impacts laws and policies of today. Her commission will examine each institution of the country and how that institution impacts black people and other people of color. Congresswoman lee and congressman thompson are working on the Confederate Monument removal act to remove statues from the United States capital statuary hall collection. I do want to say in a beat later in our question and answers, we can ask the chairman to discuss the victory in mississippi. I now have the honor to introduce chairman bobby scott, who chairs the education and Labor Committee will talk about who will talk about jobs. And the job, context, the eeoc describes his termination as a pattern or practice where discrimination it a broad impact and includes discriminatory barriers to recruitment and hiring and access to opportunities within a company. Others look at systems and structures that end up creating intentionally or not disparities in job opportunities. We will hear others talk about the impact of wealth and educational disparities on job opportunities. They obviously have an impact. Even when it is clear the qualifications are equal, disparities exist. Many studies have shown job applicants whose resumes that identify them as white get significantly more callbacks than applications whose resumes identify them as black. Systemic policies and practices have resulted in higher unemployment rates, lower wages, lower representation and higher paying jobs and higher representation in unstable jobs without benefits. The cbc has been and is still fighting against discrimination by first exposing discrimination. The show discrimination in the tech industry. The chief sponsor of the 400 years of africanamerican History Commission is refusing hundred years of africanamerican history from 16192019. We have consistently advocated for better funding for the eeoc, which punishes discrimination and to require affirmative action in employment. During this congress, we have supported antidiscrimination legislation in general against women, lgbtq, pregnant women. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We unanimously supported the protect the right to organize, because blacks who belong to unions are much more likely to earn equal pay for equal work. We supported the minimum wage, because that is the effect of reducing the wage gap. We supported the fair chance act and the heroes act, which includes enhanced pay for essential workers, many of whom are africanamerican. We supported initiatives to increase opportunities to gain skills, such as eliminating achievement gaps or k12, funding job training opportunities and making college more affordable. All of these efforts will reduce the impact of systemic racism on jobs. Now to talk about health, i am honored to call of the chair of trust, health and representative robin kelly. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us. Let me start by thinking representative bass for leadership and unwavering commitment to reducing Health Disparities in america. Covid19 has only heightened americas legacy of Health Disparities. We know the shocking but surprising statistics. Pandemics,ng two wanted wealthier weather communities and one in communities of color. How do we tackle these insidious Health Disparities that for force black and red committees to live shorter lives. Cbc and its members have been very active in helping to shape the cares bill and the heroes act. We held a many Video Conference nih, blackcdc, doctors, medical schools and community leaders. We needed better data in order to understand covid19s impact on our community. Congress had to force the cdc to collect the data. Together with senators and the the act. Oduce this bill was added to the fourth covid bill and required bcdc to report racial data to congress. The cdcs first report was a pitiful four pages. We had more meetings with dr. Redford at the cdc i do we expect the next report to be much better. It is also why Congress Must pass the heroes act, which is debts which will greatly improve collection of data and reporting. Our goal was to fight more more testing, tracing, and treatment as well as more education and awareness were our community. We know our community has suffered. We want to be a part of the solution. Our medical schools want to be partners in solving this issue around the pandemic. We were happy to hear that morehouse would receive a grant. Cbc did send data requested our hbcus be considered and brought into solving this problem and others that affect the health of our communities. We need to empower our communities so we filed the Community Solution of covid19 act, hr 77. Billion create a 1. 5 Grant Program for local and grassroots organizations to do expand worknduct or during the pandemic. We have legislation that would examine how telemedicine affects the delivery of care during covid19. Can beve telemedicine the great equalizer if done properly. Black dots shared with us that our patients their patients kept their appointments 200 times better because they did not have to worry about childcare or access to transportation. Your zip code should not determine the quality of your life or how long you live. Longterm, we need to invest resources in the communities suffering from Health Disparities. The Health Equity and accountability act of 2020 as a tricaucus signature built that addresses Health Disparities comprehensively so that all orricans, regardless of Race Ethnicity can lead healthy lives. We need to diversify the health pipeline, as well as training that deals with social competency. While the cbc has an agenda to tackle Health Disparities, it is clear that this president and his administration did not care about us or the disproportionate impact covid19 is having on our families. We cannot let this family this opportunity to passersby reform. An act to it is not my honor to introduce jahana hayes. Good afternoon and thank you for being here and to the chairwoman for holding this important hearing. I spent my lifetime in the classroom and now sit on the committee of education and labor. This hearing is the culmination of what ive been saying for 20 years. These conversations are not new to me. Before i could have imagined the name george floyd. I was discussing the exact same disparities with teachers, parents and fellow legislators. This is my lifes work. The educational inequities highlighted by the covid19 crisis and systemic racism disparities are not normal to me. They were intentionally woven into the fabric of our Public Education system. We already know the problem. When we have communities where taxes are determinants of the education the children to receive, we already know that there will be a disparity. I used to say to my students, what, so what, now what . I wanted them to imagine themselves as part of the solution. We already know the why. Our Public Education systems have been systemically underfunded for decades. While revising the economy we can rather than investing in our childrens education following the great recession, we decided year after year that education was the place to cut corners. Children from marginalized committees access to affordable Early Childhood support systems, staff trained in trauma informed care, College Preparation programs and advanced placement courses. Black and brown students have lower Graduation Rates than their white counterparts. So what . It should not have taken a concurrent civilrights Public Health and Unemployment Crisis to draw our attention to this issue. This historic moment gives us the opportunity to move up boldly and fearlessly towards our goal for equity. The communities hit hardest by covid are the same communities already struggling. Students are being educated in buildings with poor or no ventilation, with windows that do not operate, with hvac systems that have been inoperable for years. They will return to these campuses with the trauma of having watch their neighbors die at racial tension play out throughout the country and not having social workers or psychologist to meet them because of budget cuts. They will need nurses and counselors when they return. Students will return with the trauma of their parents will for the first time are experiencing unemployment or food insecurity. Now what . We must stop allowing students to sit in these types of situations. We have put forth a menu of options with the report America School act, the child care for working families act, the child affordability act, the heroes act. We have done our work to address this problem and now we need to send a message to students, teachers and parents that they matter. Over the last few months, teachers have gone from being perceived as babysitters to angels deserving of societies utmost respect to heroes and now they feel like sacrificial lambs as betsy devos is doing nothing to up us navigate the reopening of Americas Schools and local communities are forced to consider layoffs and open with an adequate support. Families deserve a commitment from us. Minority communities deserve a commitment from us. Black children and educators deserve a commitment from us. I think the Congressional Black Caucus for highlighting this critical issue and look forward to working in the future to close these disparity gaps we are talking about. Lastly, i am so happy that in this country everyone is focused on the achievement gap, on kids losing access to academic opportunities. These are things we have been talking about forever. Now everybody wants to force kids back to school because they do not want them to lose academic time. Thank you for listening, for hearing, and working with us on a solution. Evans fromight pennsylvania. Thank you for that introduction. I would like to think the chairwoman, especially for her leadership on this most difficult time we all face today. I am up here to talk about Small Business and what that means to the Africanamerican Community. There are a lot of businesses that have temporarily shut down, about 3. 3 one million, but it is especially impacted the Africanamerican Community at the ballpark of about 400 million africanamerican businesses. Opportunity,bs, and moving forward. Clearly as was described in the definition, africanamerican businesses are affected by the lack of capital. As a caucus, the chairwoman has led the to create wealth and opportunity. That is essential in building any community. All members of the congressional caucus were very diligent about it. The area we have been strongly supported of is the ppp flexibility act. Something we are leaning on is the relief for main street, 150 billion to states and cities. We all recognize economic wealth and opportunity is the key that all of us stand prepared to make our efforts. I would like to bring a person who is no stranger, the former member of the Congressional Black Caucus from louisiana, cedric richmond. Thank you to congressman evans. I have the duty of talking about ,urther terminal Justice Reform and we saw what the black caucus lead in terms of the george floyd policing act. We also led in terms of the and starting the congress at the progress in pressing the first step back but it was just a first step. There is a need for a second and third step that has to be substantive and consequential for africanamerican communities. We can stop by ending mandatory minimum sentences that is decimated the Africanamerican Community, that as far too many africanamerican males in jail when there were better alternatives to incarceration. Thean start by removing collateral consequences of incarceration so that when you come out of prison, you can go to college and received government aid, the state of public housing, you can take the skills that you learn while incarcerated and actually get a license to do that profession w