We are going to take a look at how all of us can play a role in building a culture of equity in society. I would like to thank our sponsors, qualcomm, the International Franchise association, and association of realtors. Special thanks to the National Association of realtors for supporting this band of programming and it is going to be a great band. Stay tuned, lots of cool stuff. Particularly my next speaker. Some of the leading minds in civil rights and activism are with us this afternoon to discuss how intentional actions can lead to positive change. Afo discuss how intentional actions can lead to positive change. Before we get underway, a few notes, you can tweet us and he diversity. E hill if you experience any trouble with the livestream, refresh the page. Our first guest is a proud 35thgeneration new mexican, that is the coolest way to frame it. Is one oftive haaland the first native american women serving in congress. She is the cochair of the native american caucus. We may be seeing her in a Joe Biden Administration soon. I hope you come back and talk to me no matter where you sit in government. Great to talk to you again. Let me ask you, we talked about diversity and inclusion and i want to make sure we dont have any blind spots as we think about this issue. You talk about diversity broadly but you also are very worried about the native American Community in america being left out of these conversations. How do you see it . Rep. Haaland absolutely. We need more voices. We need diversity across the board and that is why i am proud to be one of the first native women in Congress Alongside my dear friend and colleague sharice davids. We need people speaking for their own communities so that we get that perspective at the table. That is important, yes. Steven you have been pushing legislation as Building Blocks of this. I love the name come out not invisible act, the native American BusinessIncubators Program act, the progress for Indian Tribes act. Tell us what these Building Blocks to and secondly, who are the villains trying to stop them . Say haaland let me just that Indian Country look, we overcome sorking to many of the federal governmental policies through the years. The boarding schools, the reservation systems, these are all things that essentially did not allow native americans to live their lives. The not invisible act, that is addressing the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, this is an issue that has been since the europeans came to this continent to begin colonizing the native americans who were here. Away atstart chipping these issues that have been happening for a long time, for example, the not invisible act of 2019 will start a commission that will study this crisis and make sure that we know how to move forward with it, how to keep our native women safe from this crisis, and that is just the beginning, though. When you have a crisis that has been manifesting itself for 500 years, it is going to take more than one or two pieces of legislation to remedy. That is what we will begin working on. Go into my own story, but in the mid1990s, i was a policy advisor to a senator and i was in new mexico all the time frequently come opposite schools frequently, visited schools. Lets just say that my concerns back then over 25 years ago about structural neglect and the impact that it makes on the ,syche of children and families the Health Challenges that were existing i have not made a lot of those trips at the same frequency since, but it horrified me. I guess my question is, is that improving or is that structural neglect still as palpable as it was back then when i experienced it . Rep. Haaland i think we are improving in some ways, but in some ways, we are not. I will give you an example of that. This pandemic has hit communities of color especially hard in Indian Country are some of those communities that have been hit hard by the pandemic. Communitiesdian with no running water, with no electricity, no opportunities for telehealth, their water is polluted, there are all these challenges that communities of color phase and native communities are absolutely some of those communities that are the most hardest hit and in new mexico, we are about 11 of the population and at one time, over 50 of the positive covid cases. There are disparities that are being suffered by so many communities in Indian Country in particular, so yes, we need to keep working hard and i think this year, looking at the political side, more native americans running for Public Office than ever before, not just for congress, but state legislatures and county offices, i and other think that is absolutely going to help make sure that our voices are heard on every level and that is what needs to happen. We need representation at the table where decisions are being made so that people have a voice. Steven do you think the incoming Biden Administration has that set in place . I know you are being considered for a cabinet position, i dont know how to frame it. Sometimes you bring in people because of the identity it represents, it is not necessarily mean they get it. We were talking about operation warp speed and if there does become a safe vaccine that people can trust, you are still going to have communities that dont see themselves talking about the vaccine, they dont see a trusted ambassador. In your conversations with the Biden Administration about this community, do you get the sense that their commitment is structural and real . Rep. Haaland absolutely. Has aentelect biden tremendous policy platform for Indian Country, one of the strongest pillars of his platform is tribal consultation. Biden resent elect president elect biden to make sure he is bringing tribal leaders to the table for those important decisions. He is not going to make decisions that affect Indian Country without talking to them first. That will be a breath of fresh air compared to what this Current Administration has done, blasting apart sacred sites, for example, to build a southern board and wall and texting the tribal leader two hours ahead of the time that dynamite is being implanted in the ground. Administration will absolutely have the best interests of Indian Country at heart in the best interests of communities of color at heart. I have every bit of faith in joe biden and Kamala Harris to ensure that they are bringing those voices to the table and i am actually looking very forward to it. One last thing. President elect biden has promised to reimplement the tribal nations summit every year. That is where he brings Indian Tribes to washington, d. C. To make sure that he is talking directly to tribes. So i look forward to us having a voice in this administration and i think it is very heartfelt, i think it is very real. Question, 73 million folks voted for president trump. You work in congress, new mexico is a crazy place, every dimension of politics there. How do you talk to people, bring them over to get understanding to break some of this gridlock . Rep. Haaland of course, i would like to say that you start with things that you can agree on. Indian country, those are some issues that some of us can agree fact, i was the highest rated freshmen for bipartisanship, most of my bills have cosponsorship from across the aisle and i have worked with my but public and colleagues to move our country forward in a lot of areas. We can absolutely agree on things, we are all humans. We can agree on things, we need to find those things, and we need to start with those things and push them forward and i have every faith that we can do that. Steven representative haaland of new mexico, cochair of the native american caucus, lots of other stuff she has out there, secretary oft interior, appreciate your time and i hope you will talk to us soon. Thank you. Rep. Haaland thank you so much. William jverend barker the second is the president and senior lecturer of repairs of the breach, cochair of the poor peoples campaign, a National Call for moral revival. Pastor of the Greenleaf Christian church, disciples of christ, in north carolina. Growing on the unfinished work of Martin Luther kings poor peoples campaign, repairers of the breach worked with hundreds of partners to advocate for communitys of color, immigrants, the poor, women, lgbtq committee, children, workers, and the sick it is a big list. Im so grateful for you joining us today. Much what needles you are trying to move in our society is Structural Racism has been part of the fabric of this nation. People dont like to talk about that, but we are now. As a new president ial animist nation is coming in, what marks to they need to hit and what would disappoint you with this new administration coming in if they dont get it right . Rev. Barber thank you for having me. First of all, we have to align systemic racism as systemic poverty. Then when we talk about racism, we have to talk about all of its dynamics. Black people but not just police brutality. Schools,tion of public disparity and health care and economics, mass incarceration. We have to talk about racism and how we treat and still do not have just immigration policies and we have to talk about the continued mistreatment and refusal to treat our indigenous brothers and sisters right but we also have to deal with the fact that we have before covid 140 million poor people in this , attry, 43 of the nation 60. 9 of black people are poor and low wealth, but we also have 66 million white people who are poor, that is 31 of white people. We have to talk about race and poverty together, we have to deal with the 52 Million People who work without a living wage, we have to deal with the fact that over 50 of black people work every day without a living wage. There are some things we have to make sure. This president elect ran on three critical things that have to happen in the first 100 days. He ran on 15 in a union. Wage,pass a 15 minimum 40 9 Million People will be lifted out of poverty and that will have a powerful impact in the africanAmerican Community. He ran on expanding health care and we know Health Disparity is a critical issue, particularly in covid, among poor people who are dying at a larger rate, and black people, but many black people dying are poor. We have to have health care expansion. They ran on dealing with systemic racism, the issue of passing the voting bites act, restoring it, expanding voting rights, dealing with police fullm, dealing with funding of public education. Those things are critical. Making sure we have a just immigration policy, making sure indigenous families and nations are treated properly in policy and are protected on federal lands. Those are the kinds of things that must happen right off the bat, early in the administration, because people did not vote for normal, they voted for change. About theen you talk parts of society that are right now, they have been looked down thedemeaned, got punched in 2008, 2009 financial crisis, we look at that array of people you are trying to lift up, it is inspiring to hear such an inclusive statement, but the other dimension, who are the villains that need to be taken down that are trying to prevent the progress and empowerment of that part of our equation in the country . Rev. Barber lets look at the policies that are villainess and that is that 2017 tax reform law that gave to the greedy and wealthy, but hurt poor communities and black and brown communities by creating situations that forth more money to be cut from education. Lets look at the fact that we have a bloated military budget everywe spent . 54 on dollar on the war economy. What president eisenhower called the congressional militaryindustrial complex. Less than . 16 on every dollar on health care and wages. If we took a portion of that money and directed it toward infrastructure, tort health care, toward public education, we could shift the lives of poor and low wealth people and ship to the lives of black people and brown people and Indigenous People, and it would impact poor whites as well, which is something we have to talk about. Racism is against black and brown people and Indigenous People, but it is actually antidemocracy. We have to look at the senate. Mitch mcconnell has called himself the grim reaper. Some people say trump is the criminal but Mitch Mcconnell is the getaway car driver. Allowed bills on the living wage to come to the floor, expanded health care, he days,fused for over 2700 over seven years, since 2013, to fix the voting bites act and expand voting rights. We cannot allow that because not even having a debate on these things is contrary to what we call ourselves a democracy. Let me make a connection. Everybody in this country, i come from a state that has massive Voter Suppression toward black and brown people, infect fact the courts up to the wasral courts said it racism with surgical intent. Those who benefit from races Voter Suppression and end up getting in office, like Mitch Mcconnell, like lindsey graham, like thom tillis, once they get in office, they vote to block health care, to block living wages, and their votes end up inting more whites people von numbers then black people. It hurts more black people percentagewise but white people in numbers. This is the truth we must deal with about systemic racism. It is targeted at black and brown and Indigenous People but hurts all people, especially poor whites, and it is against democracy which is why we say the only way you can deal with diversity and racism is you have to bring black, white, brown, asian, and latino people together around an agenda to address systemic racism, systemic poverty, denial of health care, the war economy, and false religious nationalism. Steven thank you. One of the things i was doing was kicking around under website and i like the framing that some issues are not left versus right but right versus wrong. I know you are bringing back moral mondays and gathering people to talk about covid, talk about the crisis, talk to legislatures around the nation. Find youraming, do you have unexpected allies . Do you find that there are people, not just democrat and republican, but they get the message you are saying . Is that an opportunity that our listeners ought to be aware of that we need to be careful of typecasting people by Political Party but when you put it in white versus wrong, there may be more opportunities . Rev. Barber i think the linkage of left and right and centrist is the left and right language comes when the french revolution so i dont know why we are still using it. I dont know what a centrist is. What we believe is what politicians should be doing is dealing with what is at the center of peoples lives. What is causing misery, pain . President elect biden, our hope is in the mourning. If you address the misery people are going through, that is what heals the nation. You have to heal the soul of the nation to heal the body of the nation. Speak to the issue that people are dealing with and that is 62 of republicans who want extended health care, over two thirds of the country want expended minimum wage. What needs to happen is a breaking from left and right, republican and democrat, centrist and conservative, why not have constitutional politics . Why not start with our moral framework in the constitution that says the first goal that you swear to uphold is establish justice . Recognize that establishing justice is domestic tranquility. The promoting of the general welfare. Why not take every piece of justice,stablish insure domestic think really, provide for the common defense, then add equal protection under law as the grid by which you will say whether this is good or bad policy . People are ready for that, so much so, that we organize people. We brought together white farmers and black fat food workers. Seenchair and i, we have for black and white, republican and democrat, gay and straight, around what we call these five interlocking injustices, saying they must change. Systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, war economy, and the false religious nationalism. We had a gathering this year called poor peoples march on washington. We did not come to washington because of covid but over 2. 7 Million People showed up online. We contacted 3. 1 Million People , over 25 of them decided to vote early. 55 are poor and low wealth people, voted for the biden harris ticket. We saw 6 million more poor and low wealth people come into the electorate this time. That still means 28 million did not vote, but that is the only place to expand the electorate. If we are going to change the country, one third of our poor people, one third of poor white people in the south, we did a study and we found out in 15 states including texas, georgia, 90 ida, if we get less than of poor voters to go to did not vote in 2016, they could shift the senate races and president ial election. This is the place we must deal with allies and it is happening all over the country. It is happening with the poor peoples campaign. If joe biden and Kamala Harris do not listen to people saying you need to move away what you we want that would be a mistake, they move away from health care, from 15, move away from dealing with systemic of being as notion centrist i dont even know what that is what they need to focus on is in the center of the constitution and what is in the center of peoples lives, what is hurting people. If you heal the body of people,