So were right back on pace with our program. And the next gentleman who is about to speak, its such an honor that hes here. I grew up reading about this guy in history books, and just being blown away by the work that their organization was able to accomplish. I think a lot of times when people think of the black Panther Party ac they see these tough guys with a military berets and the leather jackets and thinks. But what many people dont understand is they were out there putting together programs to eject people and give them breakfast before school. They had their own ambulances and paramedic system set up, and they really out there to help the community to protect their community. So its such an honor that today mr. Bobby seale, one of the cofounders of the black Panther Party is here today. [applause] i was blown away talking to them on the phone, just knowing that hes up there in age, and i read about it in my history books. He still so sharp with the stories that he told me. Today was my first time meeting him in person. Ive only spoken to him on the phone before but hes here together with us all the way from oakland, california, for the black Panther Party was founded. Welcome mr. Bobby seale. [applause] thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Civility. I think of civil rights, civil human rights, civility. I think of the first two or three paragraphs in the declaratiodeclaration in the nis america. People dont Pay Attention that and see what it means. I started an organization in 1966 while i was working for the City Government of oakland, california, the department of human resources. They year preceding that a book came out called black power, stoking carmichael. They were hollering we want black power, we want black powder our stand on the corner listening to them and i walked up to them and they said youre not going to get any power until you take over some of these political seats what do you mean political seats . I said city council seats, stuff like that. Then the white van seat. I said you better tell them make some black folks seats. Because thats where the power is. These people make laws that thee people use the money. They exploit you and do not give you your basic desires and needs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You need political power. At that time i did a demographic search across the United States of america to see how many black americans were duly elected to Political Office to see how many people of color and how many women was duly elected to Political Office threat the whole of the United States of america. All the political seats come here to imagine every parttime city council seat, every fulltime city council seat, every county supervisor seat. Every share see, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And i found out that there were 500,000 political seats that one could be elected to in the United States of america. 500,000 plus seats that you could be elected to. I also found out that there were only 50, 52 black politicians duly elected at the time. Imagine that include a guy named adam powell out of new york. This is what i was looking at in 1966 as a young man. I had a great job. I work in the Engine Department in the nasa project. I was a worrying about jobs. I had skills. I had abilities. I was raised to build jobs, an architect by the time i was 15 years of age. I had professions and skills. I was lucky. But i quit the job to work in this grassroots community, my community. And i created jobs branscum to guinea and northridge, california, 1964. I didnt create the black Panther Party to make t6. I worked another program with the City Government of oakland. And then i decided to create this organization black Panther Party. The things i did with the City Government of oakland, i was a Community Liaison for the Community Center where i lived in that large community. And i did job placements when we got jobs. I did Community Service in the community in terms of family counseling. We didnt want to have to be fighting anymore wars. Theres africanamerican people and many others who have fought in every war this country has had from its very founding and very beginning. That platform and program went on to say we wanted an immediate and to Police Brutality and we wanted fair treatment and the court spread all people who have been tried by white. [inaudible] have a right to a new trial. Then i begin to after three or four days of outline, i began to summarize this program. We wanted housing, education, justice and peace. In summarizing it, a couple days later, in my office, working for the City Government, i iran across two paragraphs related to the declaration of independence in the United States of america. The declaration of independence and the United States of america. Youve got a lot of guys thumb their nose at it and didnt want to hear it. I read it and read read it and it looks like it made a lot of sense to me. I paraphrased it. A lot of people talk about militancy and what thats supposed to be, but in reading this tenpoint platform and program, by reading this this declaration of independence, it said when a course of human events becomes necessary for any one people to dissolve the political budget which have connected them with another, and to assume within the power of the earth to which the laws of nature discard entitlement or decent respect to the humans of opinion of mankind and impels them to dissolve that political bondage of exploitation and healthcare and every issue and every problem you can talk about today as they walk around trying to kill the healthcare program. It is a form of political abundance of humanity, people, whether youre black, white, green, blue, yellow, thats what that bondage is about. How do we dissolve it . Another aspect is stated separation of independence has said when a long train of abuses and patients pursues to reduce the people of their absolute, then it is a right of people to change that government and provide new guards for their future security. Now, you, Young Brothers and sisters, people out here, you are all part of the new guard who are evolving, whether you are playing music or an engineer like i was. You have to forgive me. Wow. I come appear. That works. Im just saying, when i went out there to try to capture the imagination of the people so i can organize them, i was going to organize a political unity in the community who were miserably on registered to vote at the time because later on, five years later, we registered 24000 people in that community. My point is, thats what i was about. We went out to observe the police, we knew the law and our bill of rights and when the police said you have no right to observe me, we set that all citizens have a right to stand and observe police as long as they stand a reasonable distance away. We will observe you whether you like it or not. We recited the law back to the cop. It was not some macho crab, it was welldesigned. We knew every law, we knew how legal we were and we were very legal. Up at took them seven months to make a law to stop us from carrying our legal weapons, and of course we stopped carrying them. My organization became wellknown. Print i have 22 active members in this organization. Suddenly, my organization was on the front pages of newspapers all around the world in different languages, et cetera. What i was about was not what the newspapers reported. What happened is, i had to reorganize. They put me in jail for six months. , not because of the gun but because they say i disturb the peace when i went into that assembly. That organization, the next year flourished. Before doctor king was murdered, i only had 400 members upanddown the east coast. They kill and murdered doctor Martin Luther king, Young Brothers and sisters, all my people and friends and other liberals, they rallied behind us but the next thing i know, in seven months, i got 5000 members in the black party. I got coalitions with 39 different organizations across racial ethnic mines, et cetera and so on. That happened as part of american history. The struggle continues to this very day. Every issue we talked about in the 1960s, other organizations have the same issues. Im telling you, all organizations in one way shape or form or the other. It continues today from the fact that they hear about repressing the vote of people of color, students and other people, the very fact that theyre doing that just to hang onto power to perpetuate their visions and exploitation. It is you, all of you, all you young folks, you have to understand this. Youve got to take this legacy. Ive been trying to make a film and a movie but the right wing people, the money rich people, they been trying to stop me. They stop me for trying to make my movie because they wanted to take away my screenplay and then they want to put up some crab that leads to the right wing view of what were about. The struggle is a human liberation struggle around the world. We are talking about liberating through policies and amendments, new guards, young folks who take time to Work Together and unify and get laws and rules made to protect the constitutions. This is what the struggle is about. We are not disconnected. We are interconnected and interrelated. We are trying, in every aspect of civility, we have to of all a greater amount of peoples cooperation of humanism. I publish books, et cetera, brought power to the people, sees the time, and so on, but this is what weve got to do. I say it and i will repeat it again, we need to reach very climbing, recycling and re evolving, around all peoples active in artistic, creative operational, humanism, reach, weve got to reach for the future. We have to organize people, get out here and you and many others have got to charge as many people to get out here and be part and parcel of these elections. Weve got to get this whole congressional body shifted over to the progressive side. Weve got to get more these people so we can control this and make some new laws and deal with the climate change, deal with the infrastructure thats necessary. This is all about your civic civility and participation. It is empowerment of the people, for the people and by the people. Thank you very much. It up for mr. Bobby seal. [applause] our next speaker i met as i traveled last year. So many of us were watching the news and the things that were going on out at Standing Rock and it really hurt my heart to see there are people being brutalized out there at that camp. As i got there, i was very well welcomed by so many of the natives and Indigenous People that were there, and one in particular, i was so surprised by how calm she was in the midst of all the chaos going on. She help me navigate through some of the things that were happening and she runs an Organization Called honor the earth. Ive seen her spend a lot of time with the Indigenous Youth council. Lets give a round of applause for aaron. I guess i should start by saying i work for a woman named wenonah leduc. By her grace i am here. Like to begin by acknowledging with great humility that the land where we gather today was once home. [inaudible] i would like to honor the 20th century civil rights activist, allied with the American Indian movement that led the charge to allow indigenous folks to self identify here in this area. In spite of his 16 Year Campaign for recognition of the United States government, they mentioned, they are still not fully recognize. We are currently occupying their homeland and we may not see them here today, know their presence is in this plan, rivers, islands and coastal plain. Let us also recognize that there were Nations Capital may make a mockery of who we are as Indigenous People with their national mascot, we are still here and we have not forgotten that this country was formed on calculated genocide and people wrenched from their homeland. I like to draw attention to the man seated behind me. 1862, abraham lincoln, the great emancipator sent sentenced 38 dakota men to death in what is still known as the largest mass execution in the United States history. In 1865, two of the men who had escaped the first mass hanging were caught and returned and executed in the same merciless fashion. Here before the Lincoln Memorial, i would like to honor those who died in resistance. As you can tell, when it comes to Indigenous People relationship to be treated with a. [inaudible] we have watched the threat of humanity stretch, wayne and tear since our lands were first taken from us spread this past year in north dakota, i was among thousands that joined the youth led resistance against the dakota pipeline. Because we exercised our constitutional treaty right, we were met with brute force, militarized police, dog attacks and non that cause damage to all those in attendance. More than 800 people were arrested and our sister red font is still being held as a political prisoner, currently on day 331 for a crime she did not commit. Is this not reminiscent of the kidnapping and the last 41 years in maximum security lockdown . The remarkable thing about the occupation in north dakota that many people may not know is that we begin every single day in unity. Whether it was through prayer, ceremony, song or silence, we reminded each other every day, remember why you are here. You are here for future generations. One of my favorite women in the world, a woman by the name of shug avery once said everything want to be loved. A sing and dance just wanting to be loved. Look at them, notice how the trees do everything people do except walk to get attention. When we began our dates and Standing Rock, we venerated everything around us. Wasnt just those we could see, the people we came from that we rose to protect on the front lines. It was everything around us, wanting to be loved in the here and now but also the glimmer of future generations we could see in the midst that needed us to ensure their very existence. In camp they called me mother. I took care of the international Indigenous Youth council for almost five months. Every day i would hug and pray that they would come home and hug me again. On the front line it was these youth that were the first to receive the staggering might of governing sanctions and it was these young people that we most often hear the words we forgive you, we will pray for you. Even in our darkest moments when we cried out to our ancestors for protection, the youth were steadfast and persevered. Many have written off me and my peers as being narcissus. Millennials, they cry when we use social media to document oppression. Millennials they write when we bear the bones of institutional racism that deter success. Millennials they say when we form barricades around our relatives who face unjust treatment. [inaudible] if you are fearful of generations to come, you should be. We are assuring through use of voice, education, exercising of Constitutional Rights and civil disobedience that there be a world for those to come to inherit. We are doing this with simple acts of kindness, personhood, inclusivity and intersectional organizing. We are passing the historical. [inaudible] we are learning how to forgive in a way that our foremothers and ancestors were denied the right to do. We are here to take back our languages land and culture, and we are doing so with unprecedented decorum. If you look around this nation and wonder where your leaders are, you need only to look to your youth. We are more than ready to take up the mantle. We do not need to fearmonger, condescend, sexually, verbally, racially or verbally abuse each other to be validated. Our very existence as a direct result of the resistance of the thousands that came before us and we are here to honor them. We come only as human beings and the compassion we carry. If you ever lose hope, look only to the young people and remember although you may not cs we are out there fighting for you although many of us remain oppressed by a system that may benefit many of you. They were raised on a reservation created as an act of war against my people and come stand before you today on unapologetically. Imagine what my peers and those that beat us will be capable of. Its an acknowledgment of my generation that i want to my mama said recently, your iteration doesnt care about sexuality, gender, race, religion or monetary status so what do you care about. I had many answers for her but decided to respond by asking a question in my own. What kind of ancestor do you want to be . I wake each morning with a desire to do good, empower others and preserve what is left of this place for those to come. This is what i think about when i walk into the world. Today i encourage you to ask the same of yourself and continue to rise alongside fellow human beings and remember why you are here, to harness your race and love in spite of it. [applause] next up, i spent a lot of time traveling around to schools over the past year to talk to young people about how we need to be better and come together, and one school in particular was right here in washington d. C. Called the British International school. I was surprised and talking with the students there how much they were familiar with the work that ive been doing on the front line, and i was shocked because some of those videos are pretty intense and it was interesting to see that the educators are sharing the videos with them. Young people are very aware of whats going on in the world around them. Today i got my good friend