Follow the process live on cspan, online or listen live on the free cspan radio app. The museum in washington, d. C. Is closing at the end of the month. They held the discussion this week examining the state of free speech in the u. S. We will hear from Chris Wallace, Eleanor Holmes norton and floyd abram. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the theater. I am chair and chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum. [applause] we welcome you all here tonight to celebrate the museum and the First Amendment and to look forward to a new chapter. I would like to recognize several of the partners whom we are all so pleased to have with us this morning. Leslie hill and dennis carol, brian and myra and robin stroud will. We are also honored to have several of our trustees and trustee a maritime in attendance. Jim abbott, shelby carthy, mike mike pohlman, phil curry, r david edelman, felix gutierrez, jack malcolm john lee, peter prichard, mike reagan, john, mark and barbara wall. [applause] after more than 11 years, the museum will close its doors here on pennsylvania avenue at the end of this month. While the museums closing saddens us, we are also heartened that nearly 10 million visitors walk through our doors to experience the story of news, the role of the prepress and major events in history and how the core freedoms of the First Amendment, religion, speech, press and petition affect their lives. We are especially grateful to all of you here in this room. Members, donors, founding partners, trustees and staff. For your belief in our mission and the importance of our work. [applause] over the past 11 years, your support has helped us provide hundreds of programs like this one tonight on topics ranging from politics to journalism to Current Events and to present 60 new exhibits covering subjects like president ial elections, political satire, hurricane katrina, the kennedy assassination and the stone wall in protest. Even the movie anchorman. The World Champion washington nationals. [applause] youve helped us champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment. The museums mission on the importance of a free and fair press. The museum and all it stands for would not have been possible without all of you. We thank you for being part of our story. We will begin tonights program with the celebration of the museum followed by our keynote speakers who will each talk about what it means to them and how they use it in their daily work. We are honored to have as our speakers tonight, journalist and matter of fact toast obrien. Expert and champion floyd abrams. D. C. Congresswoman and civil rights pioneer elinor Holmes Norton and veteran journalist Chris Wallace. Unfortunately we heard just this afternoon that congressman john lewis will not be able to join us due to a lastminute scheduling conflict and he sends his regrets. Later in the program we will hear from five individuals that have used the five freedoms of the First Amendment to affect change in their communities. Joining us for a short Panel Discussion will be junior of the Baptist Joint Committee. And who uses the power of assembly and her work at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network to raise awareness of Global Warming tiered and Donna Redman Jones, virginia brown. A principal and two students from a local high school to use the power of speech and petition to create a dialogue over controversial issue that wrangled their school earlier this year. Executive director of our First Amendment center moderating the conversation. We hope you will all join us after the program for meet i dread reception in the museum. Toasting the museum and our first. It is now my great pleasure to introduce someone who has been an integral part of the museum since its inception. 1995, displaying keen judgment and remarkable powers of persuasion when they convinced peter to leave his position as editor of usa today to become executive director of the museum the first museum in arlington. Peter subsequently served in roles as president of the museum, president of the Freedom Forum and chair and chief executive officer of the museum. When the decision was made to move the museum, peter agreed to don his hard hat once again. To oversee the construction of this magnificent building on pennsylvania avenue. Please join me in welcoming the chair of the board of trustee peter prichard. Thank you, jan. When we launched this museum in 2008, i really, i really did not expect we would be closing in a mere 11 years. Before i say much more, as long as we are thinking people, i think we should think some of the people that made this museum such a resounding and memorable success with visitors. It has been one of the most popular museums in washington. Recognized around the world for the excellence of its exhibits. Its programs and the welcoming attitude towards everyone that ever walks through the doors. Please, lets take one moment to thank the current leader, our most excellent chair. All of our employees both full and parttime. All of our generous friends and donors and volunteers who contributed so much to this success. Thank you. Naturally, when an Excellent Institution like this has to close, people ask why. There are many reasons. First, those of us who planted, including our founder, our founder, very capable ceo and many other managers and trustees, including me, made this museum too large. We thought big, we wanted to make an impact. This was a very ambitious visionary project. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be very expensive. Too expensive over time for its main funder to operate. Despite spending more than 500 million from the Freedom Forum and nearly 150 million that we raised from very generous donors both large and very small, the museum was never able to break even. Our smallest deficit was in the 7 million range and the largest driven by Rising Interest Rates was more than 30 million. Unfortunately, our Foundation Just could not sustain those losses over time. There were also some macro trends that created serious headwind. The development of this museum coincided with the digital hurricane that swept over oldschool traditional media. Newspapers large and small were decimated. Fairness and objectivity deteriorated or in some cases disappeared. Some politicians found that blaming journalists was an attractive political thing to mind. The natural base of support for the museum was left economically weekend and held in low regard by the public. We open the museum in the midst of a recession. The fallout from that greatly increased over time. Annual Interest Payments on our debt. Because we received no money from government entities, we wanted to remain independent. We had to charge an admission fee of more than 21. In line with museums around the country and around the world. Our great government funded institutions are free. We underestimated how hard it would be to breakeven when the competition is free. So much for the tedious financial details. The good news is, we had a great run. Nearly 12 years on pennsylvania avenue, we have welcomed more than 10 million visitors and most of them found the museum to be an educational and entertaining experience. We have received accolades from visitors around the world. The users of trip advisor have ranked us in the top five washington attractions for six years in a row. Here are three representative comments from recent visitors. It is really hard to put into words how impressive this museum is. History unfolds at each turn. This is a must see. We travel a lot and visit a lot of museums. The museum is by far the very best. This is a worldclass museum. I regard this museum as one of the most important sites to visit in washington. The museum is dedicated to free speech, the hallmark of a free society society. Sadly, the museum will be closing at the end of the year. I encourage you to visit. This museum is more relevant now than any time in our nations history. What did the museum accomplish . Through our many exhibits and forums we helped understand how crucial all of the freedoms of the First Amendment are to a functioning democracy. Most americans take these freedoms for granted tiered tonight i hope you will remind yourself how valuable they really are. There they are for you to see. Freedom of religion of speech of the press of assembly and of petition. We used to have a very active international program. We would do forums all over the world. Everywhere we went, the journalist journalist and visitors that came said you americans are so lucky to have your First Amendment. We should always remember that. Next, through our popular digital educational programs, we helped middle and High School Students learn how to critically assess news reports and how to tell fact from fiction in the wild west environment of the internet. These programs now reach more than 10 Million Students in middle and high schools in the United States and many countries around the world. They will continue as we move forward. We also reminded visitors about how much Good Journalism can accomplish. At least when reporters and editors are at their best. And scribed on the wall up on the sixth floor are these words which i hope you will also remember. That inscription says, and every visitor passes by it almost, the free press is the cornerstone of democracy. People have a need to know. Journalists have a right to tell. Finding the facts can be difficult. Reporting the story can be dangerous. Freedom includes the right to be outrageous. Responsibility includes the duty to be fair. News is history in the making. Journalists provide the first draft of history. Free press at its best reveals the truth. As that creed shows, journalism can be a noble calling. I think the museum was a noble effort. From a Commercial Point of view, yes, we faltered. We. We left millions of visitors delighted with our physical and substance. We helped millions of people understand what their bedrock freedoms are. What they mean and white is important to exercise them. We help them understand the crucial role journalism plays in a free society and why it deserves constitutional protection. Not only did the museum have a good run, but i would submit we did a lot of good and made a difference in the lives of many visitors. I would like to think that there are 400 young journalists out there now who first got interested in this craft because they came to the museum. Now they are doing their best to help the public understand the complex issues of the day. One of them is an labased reporter. Last week tweeted i visited the museum of the 17yearold unsure if i wanted to pursue a career in such a turbulent unpredictable industry. The museum captured everything journalism stands for and left me with no doubt i needed to be a reporter. It will be missed. I will close with a quote from one of my heroes. Winston spencer churchill. The only politician to ever win the nobel prize for literature. A record prize that may stand forever. Success is not final period it is the courage to continue that counts. As our founder once said, do not just learn something from every experience, learn something positive. We do not know yet if we will ever be able to build a third museum, but we can promise you this. The important work will continue. It may be in a different forum, on on different platforms, but it will continue. Thank you so much that all of so many of you did for this noble cause. Thank you. I am very proud to be here today i want to start by thanking all the people here who have made this great museum possible. Made it what it is. A champion of the protection of First Amendment rights in the country. And one of the Great Teachers about the nature of the First Amendment. I wanted to start out by just quoting to you a statute from a different country and a different time. Five15 year sentences could be imposed for the publication of exaggerated news. 1925 statute in italy adopted within a year after miscellany took power there. Just saying a few words tonight. How easy it is sometimes how almost thoughtlessly we take the First Amendment. Every country. The pentagon papers case by way of example is one that would not have come out that way and other democratic countries, truly democratic countries where they have an enormous amount of freedom. In the middle of a war. The government going to court to say the publication of certain top secret so designated material would interfere. Getting our soldiers back and the like. Lots of countries around the world. They were stunned at the results here is part of our history now. We do not often enough i think celebrate at this museum. The degree to which we are unique in the world and with respect to all freedoms. Let me mention one recent example. I have never really taken radical positions on anything and i have the press behind me. I did a speech a month ago it to law school. I was describing a case in which the organization which you may know of, which goes to churches that are mourning the death of american soldiers. Signs as close as the police will allow them to be to the churches. Denouncing the dead soldiers. Saying this is gods punishment because the United States is too accommodating. The First American protection that we would protect them when their conduct was so offensive. So outrageous. So contrary to norms of human behavior. It was not a controversial speech. Except the organization announced me and had a rally. Outside of the campus with my name on it. It is not that well known. I do not usually get involved in situations like that. First of all that we would protect such things. It is unique in the world that that speech would be protected in a lawsuit drop by the father of a deceased soldier who was being denounced viciously. The ugliest possible way. And that it should be followed i the exercise of First Amendment rights by that same organization after i had described the case and while, you know, what they had to say about their case of only passing interest. It just seems to be almost a marvelous example of the degree to which we take the extra step. More than the extra step. Protecting even vile speech. Let alone speech. Major issues that offend the government. That lead the public to be serious at the press. I leave you tonight saying what a joy it is to have been here on a number of occasions, to have had a chance to walk around this great place celebrating the protection of freedom of the press and all of the other not insignificant rights protected by the First Amendment. It was an accident that the First Amendment is first. And who will continue to defend and explain and celebrate the First Amendment. Thank you. [applause] thank you for those remarks. I liked the first miss of the third speaker was here for the opening of the museum in 2008 and we are honored she return for tonights program. Eleanor Holmes Norton is in her 15th term of the congressma congressman congresswoman for the district of columbia and is the chair of the house subcommittee on highways and transit and serves on the committee of oversight and reform in the committee on transportation and infrastructure. Before Congressional Service president jimmy carter appointed her to serve as the first woman to chair the u. S. Equal Employment Opportunity commission. She came to congress as a National Figure who had been a civil rights leader as an organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who helped organize a march on washington. She also appeared here at the museum in 2015 to help us recognize the 50th anniversary of the historic Voting Rights act. Please welcome, Eleanor Holmes norton. [applause] thank you for your kind introduction. I remember that day. This was a useless corner and the district had used this corner for building that was of not much use to anyone and i was so proud that this corner was going to be used for one of the cornerstones of our constitution. I dont know about the rest of you but i do not come as with a funeral. Not when we consider what the subject matter is it today. Since the museum was opened millions of tourists, visitors from every part of the world stop at this site and sometimes on their way to a capital and you can see the capital from here and they come to a museum unlike any i have heard of in the world uniquely for the First Amendment. Unobstructed you can see the capital where it along and the siding could not have been more right. I regret any notion of losing the museum today but for two reasons when i think about it, first, the disappearance of so many newspapers and the difficulties pure news outlets have in our country today. We need a reminder of what the First Amendment has meant to our country but second is very sorrowful to me and its evidence that the First Amendment itself is losing currency, particularly among, of all people, young people who we must depend upon to Carry Forward the First Amendment so let me tell you the evidence in preparing for my remarks that i came upon. Brookings institution survey who examined where College Students stand on the first moment and hear the bookings amendment found in here i am quoting them freedom of expression is deeply in peril on u. S. Campuses. And to show what they mean they cite a significant number of College Students who believe that hate speech is not protected by the first amendme amendment. 51 believe shouting down a controversial speaker so that she could not be heard is acceptable and 62 were democrats and 38 were republicans and brookings warns that bear in mind most controversial speakers today on campuses are from the far right. At the same time this is a generation that is very effectively using the First Amendment to protest for issues they favor like gun safety thats an issue being led by young people. The notion that they would be intolerant to the undecided may mean that we all have to do something to help them relearn the reasons of framers added the bill of rights and especially the First Amendment to our nations constitution in the first place. I have to concede that for me the First Amendment is very personal. Im a Third Generation washingtonian born and raised in our Nations Capital and i went to segregated Public Schools in the district of columbia and that innercity that even then was supposed to civilize the essence of American Freedom and not only was the Nations Capital racially segregated but this city had no home rule that is what we call it and that means selfgovernance. The city was governed by the congress and the federal government and of course there was some person like me to represent the district in the congress and we had one thing and we had the First Amendment. We advocated our way to freedom and equality and we have it in this city today. I dont know if my childhood helped me develop an appreciation for the First Amendment but i do remember that as a young lawyer not long out of law school and for that matter, the Civil Rights Movement i got to argue a case in the United States Supreme Court representing an unabashed racist organization that had been barred by what, we in the law call, prior restraints. That was a court order that cap this organization from appearing again after it had already appeared and engaged in racist and anti semitic remarks at a rally. I remember another case i argued in new york when the liberal mayor of new york city john lindsay denied the notorious alabama governor George Wallace a permit to speak at a public facility, shea stadium. It went to the queens Supreme Court to overturn that decision and i cant say to you i broke any new ground and those were not difficult cases in light of controlling president s but my direct client were a minority in american society, proselytizing racist with whom i had nothing in common. It was clear to me that my ultimate clients was the First Amendment. In my own life and in my life as a lawyer i have regarded the First Amendment as a tool. A tool like none other. I remind us all that it remains so and shakespeare might have said lets kill all the lawyers but it did not say kill the person. This amendment remains a tool for whatever change we may desire and the museum located so close to the capital in my judgment is irreplaceable and i, for one, grew up never giving up and im not prepared to write the epitaph even as i am grateful for the unique contributions of the newseum. Thank you for coming this evening. [applause] thank you, eleanor. No one is prepared to write an epitaph. That is a good thing. Our final speaker is a warrior journalist whos a mainstay of the sunday talk shows. Chris wallace is the anchor of Fox News Sunday and it is 14 year career at fox participated in coverage of nearly every Major Political event and had major interviews with president s and politicians at the highest level of government. As a solo that obrien recently Chris Wallace is not afraid of his guests but a very tough interviewer. I know i dont think i would like to be interviewed by chris. I cant understand where he got that information in his life . Before joining fox, chris worked 14 years at abc news on prime Time Thursday and night line before that he worked for nbc as the chief White House Correspondent pete he also moderated beat the press for a while making him the only person to have posted to sunday talk shows. Please welcome Chris Wallace. [applause] thank you. I cant imagine where i wouldve gotten that inclination either. In fact, someone once said to me if you had not been a reporter what would you have done and i said i have absolutely no idea. I dont know how to do nothing else except be a reporter. I was looking at the video and it brought back memories because i remember one saturday afternoon a long time ago when i took my kids who were my twins about 12 to the newseum in arlington or rosslyn or whatever you call that area over there and i cannot find a place to park. It was hard and you could see it but you cannot quite get there and my kids were not thrilled and we had been involved in an interactive thing about how to cover reporters and they got engaged in it but dad, dont do this to us again. A few years later the newseum was here and i brought them here and they saw this magnificent building and museum and all the wonderful exhibits you have here and they were proud of what their old man did so i thank you very much and if i dont want i want to talk about the first moment and the challenges to the First Amendment and the challenges inside the News Business and a lot of people come up to me these days and say how fair i am and some even say that im a voice of reason which those twins and my other children find absolutely hilarious. Dont get me wrong, i like compliments as much is the next guy but i find this particular compliment kind of depressing. Why . Because when i started in the News Business half a century ago working as a reporter for the boston globe fairness was not something to be singled out but it was the basic minimum requirement for your job. People might praise you for your reporting or for your writing or later for how you were on the air but fairness was what kept you from getting fired. Now, it stands out. This is something i think all of us in the News Business need to think about and need to take very seriously rated i believe the President Trump is engaged in the most direct, sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history and i will get to that in a moment. [applause] but before you applaud listen to the rest of this. Because many of our colleagues in the News Business see the president s attacks is constant bashing of the media as a rationale as an excuse to costs across the line themselves to push back. And that is a big mistake. I see it all the time on the front page of major newspapers and the lead of the evening news. Fact express opinion. Buzzwords like bombshell and a scandal and the animus of the reporter and the editor as plain to see as the headline. Two days after donald trump was elected president , two days, this was the sentence in the lead story in the New York Times. The american political establishment reeled on wednesday as leaders in both parties became or began coming to grips with four years of president Donald J Trump in the white house. A once unimaginable scenario that has now plunged the United States and its allies into a period of deep understood uncertainty about the policies and impact of this administration. Thats a lot to unpacked in that one sentence. It has not stopped since. I know this could be controversial but i came here today from having spent all day at fox news covering the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on the ig report, some things in the report very supportive of what the fbi did and some of it very critical. That we covered it all. One of our fellow networks, cnn today ignored the ig report and ignored all the statements about terrible misconduct perhaps illegality on the part of the fbi in its seeking of the pfizer warns against carter page read the last time i checked cnn was pretty interested in the russia investigation but they did not seem interested in this. The fact is to be clear the president has given us plenty to work with but when we respond to him like that we are plain when we respond with rights we are plain his game, not ours. We are not participants in what we covered and we are umpires or observers trying to be objective witnesses to what is going on and if a president or anyone we are covering something untrue or does something questionable we can and should report it but we shouldnt be drawn into the fight and we should not be drawn into taking sides as tempting as that is. We are not at goat as good at it as they are and we are abandoning the special role of the founders gave us in this democracy. Now, lets talk about the president. He hasnt done everything he can to undercut the media and try to delegitimize and i think his purpose is clear to raise doubt that when we report critically about him and his administration that we can be trusted. Back in 2017 he tweeted something that said far more about him than it did about us quote, the Fake News Media is not my enemy it is the enemy of the American People. After that statement retired admiral, navy seal for 37 years, the man in charge of the mission the captured Saddam Hussein and took down a psalm of bin laden, he said this quote the sentiment may be the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime. Ive got to say i was a little surprise. This is a guy who fought the soviet union and this was a admiral who fought islamic terrorism but when i asked bill about this this was his response. Those threats the soviets, islamic terrorism and those sorts brought us together and both the president and i swore an oath to the constitution and the First Amendment to that constitution is freedom of the press. When the president says the media is the enemy of the people to meet that undermines the constitution. I do think it is a tremendous that to our democracy. Lets be honest. The president s attacks have done some damage and of Freedom Forum Institute Poll associated here with the newseum this year found the honey 9 of americans, almost one third of all of us, think the First Amendment goes too far. 77 , three quarters, say fake news is a serious threat to our democracy. But on this night as we celebrate freedom of the press and commemorate the newseum i think we should remember some essential truths. First, ours is a great profession and maybe the best anyone ever thought of as a way to make a living in think of it. We get paid to tell the truth. How many people can say that . They got through all the spin and the distractions and to tell the American People what is really going on what our leaders are doing and what is happening in our schools and in our hospitals and neighborhoods and with our environment. I have been blessed to do this for 50 years and i spent one week with Mother Teresa in calcutta just after shed won the nobel prize prize and i covered president reagan for six years going with him to china and the korean tmz and covering for Reagan Gorbachev summits and last year i interviewed Vladimir Putin in helsinki just after that summit. I asked him why do so many of the people who oppose you end up dead . [laughter] i lived to tell the tale. Sure, we take our share of incoming and couple of weeks ago present tweeted after one of my interviews Steve Scalise blew away the nasty and of noxious Chris Wallace. After words one of my sons said nasty nub. Of noxious, well [laughter] the bottom line is we have seen president s come and go. We will endure. So well freedom of the press and so i am confident with the newseum. Thank you all so much. [applause] schenectady neighbored president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum institute and as you just heard the five freedoms of the First Amendment apply to us all and they power our democracy. We are here tonight to celebrate the work and legacy of the newseum but as ive said to colleagues and friends and visitors and supporters of the First Amendment throughout the last year or so we are not simply a magnificent building with a Great Mission but rather we are a magnificent mission that is operated out of a great building. The building will close in the work will go on. That magnificent mission of defending and explaining and educating about our First Amendment freedoms. That will continue. The First Amendment will also continue to have champions in high places and in regular life. We use and defend what i call bluecollar amendment, part of our bill of rights. We may or may not use all the other freedoms protected and rights protected by the bill of rights for the First Amendment is hard at work with us every day protecting our rights to believe what we will and to speak in right as we wish and to seek change either as an individual citizen or in the company of likeminded citizens for the betterment of us all. So now we get to return to some of those reallife champions of the First Amendment and in a discussion moderated by my colleague a lot of executive director of our First Amendment center. Thank you. [applause] thank you, jean. When we discuss the First Amendment we have a tendency to focus on cases and controversies and sometimes we lose sight of just what you can do with your First Amendment rights when you practice them. On this panel we will hear from people who have used their freedoms to educate others to raise awareness about important issues and to change minds. Thank you all so much for being here with me and with us tonight we have Charles Watson junior, director of education at [inaudible] an organization dedicated to helping all americans retain the right to practice their spiritual beliefs as they see fit. We also have the general counsel for the chesapeake Climate Action fund, a nonprofit grassroots dedicated to fighting Global Warming in maryland, virginia and the sea. We also have three alumni of Bethesda Chevy Chase High School and Donna Redman Jones is a former principal of that high school who works with then the seniors junior brown and niclas schmidt to fight back against a culture of toxic masculinity within the school. Thank you all so much for sharing your stories with us tonight. I thought we could start with charles because charles, you are an advocate for religious freedom and it is the first freedom mentioned in the First Amendment and the importance of first says that that is the direction we go. Your work involves educating youth about how religious freedom works. Why is that important . What do you want to convey to them . Is important because one of my heroes, mohammed ali, once said if you are the same person at 20 that you are at 50 then you have wasted your life. If im talking to students i want you to know that freedom of religion you may change your mind one day on what you believe in freedom of religion is your freedom to believe and to practice religion as long as youre not hurting someone else without government interference. Also to not have a religious you cant say no then your yes mean we try to have that for everybody. The students pick up on that because they realize they used to think this about this but this was the greatest ban but then to lowes later i dont like them anymore. Im embarrassed so yeah, getting them to know that you may change her mind one day about something and you need that freedom to. Interesting that your organization stands for Baptist Joint Committee but you just dont advocate for the lid just right of baptist but also hindus, muslim, atheists why is that . [inaudible] i spend a lot of time saying not that type of guy. [laughter] but baptist fought for religious liberty here in america in colonial days we did not get everything right at that time but we realized we were going to jail for preaching out of license and we do not want that happen to us but we do not want that to happen to anyone else. We feel its important that everybody has the same freedom. There is no such thing as a secondclass citizen and no such thing as a secondclass religion but everyone should be treated the same even the people that dont have a religion they are citizens and we should treat them the same way. Thats right we protect everybody. We know we have weird waves as baptists. [laughter] but, to you personally since youve made this your lifes work what is it about religious freedom that is personally specifically important to you . I said this many times but for me as a africanamerican i dont like anything that does not give me full freedom. I tell people i dont want to have a biblical noose around my neck and i dont want religious chains around my feet. I want to be able to practice whatever religion i want to practice or practice not in the next day turn around and do something different. Thats true freedom. If im not allowed to change or allowed to believe what i want to believe one day and not the next day then im not really free. Its personal for me and about my ability to think and have freedom of conscience. I want everyone to have that freedom, act. Can we turn to your work, a nn. You fight Climate Change so how do you do that . What are your weapons in that fight . We do. We work locally to fight Climate Change and promote clean energy and fight dirty energy. You will see on my website we use every tool in the toolbox. We petition and we call our legislators and we hold rallies and we litigate and we get creative and we have held underwater press conferences in annapolis to show legislators what annapolis could look like in a couple of decades if they dont act. We tried to do as much as we can and get as creative as we possibly can and when those things dont work we also engage in nonviolent civil disobedience but we believe that can be an effective strategy to make change. You had a few different civil disobedience demonstrations this year. I think it september that was the largest one. We did. September 23, i was partially responsible for interrupting your morning rush hour. I was at the corner of independence and 12th street southwest. I joined a couple hundred people work couple hundred people at that intersection we had 25 different affinity groups spread out across the entire city to shut down dc. We were there to make a point. You know, in the face of the mounting Climate Crisis where you have extreme weather and flooding and wildfires taking peoples lives we cant afford to continue with business as usual. We were there to disrupt business as usual. That is what we did. I was out there blocking 14 lanes of traffic for the morning rush hour with a couple hundred other people. You know, the goal ultimately is a two make our members of congress and elected officials act like the planet and everyone who lives on the planet depends upon them enacting a strong legislation and taking the time in crisis seriously. We are not there yet. But we do, in order to get there we need to build a movement. You know, that is what these events are about and what the civil disobedience actions are about is reaching more people and inspiring them and bringing them in. When you are blocking 14 lanes attractive it doesnt sound like too much on but what you think is the point is . What can you accomplish by that kind of assembly . Ultimately the goal is to get congress to act like the planet and the people who live on it depend on it. We are not there yet but it does help us build this movement and that is what we are trained to do. And do that through generating press which we are doing effectively. You know, ive been involved in a number of protests and you will have that ticktock coverage of the event but this has been more about that. This has been columns about how this has happened in the past and these successes they have achieved. Support of local columnists write about it so we beat reach more people and we are bringing it to the streets. Its an inyourface action. It is hard to ignore and we are growing. You know i guess most famous climate activists is greta berg and about one year ago she was outside of the Swedish Parliament alone to get her climate streak. One year later 6 Million People marched across the entire country and that september 23 action was part of the climate strike she engaged in and it continues. We were out on the streets on friday and next friday we will be joining jane fonda who is in the center 82nd birthday in jail likely siding for a Climate Action with 81 other people she is also planning on getting arrested. We are growing off mac. Bonus points for having several of the freedoms behind us involved in this growing movement. Id like to turn to our representatives from the bcc as you say who is no stranger to using their voices to make an impact and i was wondering virgin, can you tell me about what happened during your senior year and how does this all starts . It started in my history class and someone came up to me and said and showed me a note on the phone and it was a list with 18 names and after each name there was a number and i continued to the first and i asked a friend to cling to me she said its a list that was ranking each one of us and all female students within the program by our physical appearances and the spread like wildfire once everyone found out about it and we do not want this anymore and we had enough of being treated like this because this kind of culture is so common in high schools where people just objectify and treat girls as lesser so we went to the administration and said can we do something about this and they were pretty limited in what they could do so we decided that was in the rv program which was 80 seniors and we would have the town hall meeting and it took 45 minutes and went to three hours and we sat and everyone the list had an opportunity to say how it affected them and why they dont think its acceptable and people who werent in on it and had some love stories wanted to share their opinions were able to do so and in this form. Thats amazing. Usually when nothing happens people dont speak out about it and people dont raise that attention but i know that girls in the senior class did a lot more than just a single meeting and what happened after that . Initially i think a lot of us were upset and angry about what had happened but when we got together as a large group of girls we started to talk about how this has made us feel and similar things that we experienced like this. Thats when we realized it so much bigger than just the list. It was a toxic culture. We tried to engage their larger bcc family and bcc alumni students through three events that we kind of helped organize so the first was a museum about the toxicity that our generation experiences and we created a panel helped organize the Panel Discussion with experts on toxic mac salinity who are former parents of students and we showed a movie screening of a documentary called roll red roll and which was about a girl in ohio who was a rape victim but when she came out about her story she instead was ashamed because of the community saw this as boys being boys. This was important because it wasnt just a discussion that we helped create in the school we also helped create a discussion that was much bigger and involve the whole community. That is great. With the schools reaction what was the administrations response to all this . We heard from about what had occurred and went about the process of investigating the matter and talking to some of the students who were implicated and we were following our code of conduct in terms of some of the museums we found thats what we found and in our classrooms and what became clear in talking to the students is that this community of learners was hurt by this and it struck so many different cords so it had to b be you had to be able to engage in discussions that was far beyond sort of the code of conduct but this stretch well beyond the community and so you heard about the initial meeting with those who were most directly impacted by what occurred but then i was impressed and that meeting how the students were able to share very personal stories and that was the preparation for the meeting and where they thought carefully about what they wanted to share and that was a great deal of courage and a lot of truth that was shared. That engagement actually had the effects of really changing the minds of the people involved. It wasnt just those this was something i was most impressed with it wasnt just those who are most directly involved in producing the list but those who had known about the list and have not said anything for all that time who had had that on their phones and who considered themselves friends and who knew and that idea that one of the quotes i loved was in that meeting but from doctor Martin Luther king is in the end its not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends and i think that point was driven home so well that it really had an impact that was so great on all involved. One thing that struck me about the entire story is that it seems like the students and the girls were more interested in starting a dialogue and making people who were either involved or just standing there silently make them understand how they felt more than they were indigent and demanding harsher punishments. Why is that . If theres a way to answer that. I think for us we noticed it was an isolated event and it happened everywhere every single day. Just asking for punishment for this small group of boys would not change anything so we hope that by starting the dialogue and trying to get it as widespread as possible would be the most beneficial way to end or start the beginning of the end of this and we did that in our own school by having presentations we give to underclassmen and so we explained to them why these things arent acceptable and hoped to start a discussion within our own school and ended up blowing up and nationally hit outlooks and the discussion became nationwide about toxic masculinity and why these things arent acceptable anymore. Great. I think that is the greatest hope for speech by that sharing perspectives we can change minds and its just wonderful that all of you have exercised your expression rights in such a great, productive way. I have one last question for everybody or nobody if everyone is tired of talking at this time. What advice for the people that want to affect can change and in the larger world . Do i get to go first again . [laughter] its a free for all. Pure freedom. [laughter] for me in religious liberty being able to talk to fellow citizens and all the human being and as a human being first before you put a label on them and so civil discourse is the best thing for religious freedom and also religious literacy and understanding other people and i use to have a pastor and we dont see eye to eye and we dont have the same theology anymore but thats freedom. [laughter] he use to say this thing, love seeks to understand not be understood. If you try to do that first i think we can progress on all these issues, not just religious liberty. I would say get creative and keep it fun. You are not its hard work and are not always going to win and so doing this underwater press conference or you mention that blocking 14 lanes of traffic may not be that much fun but it was fun and it was empowering. [laughter] to be with that many people and to do that first four hours spirit was it northbound for the underwater press conference that sounds amazing. Well, coldwater is not my favorite thing but yes, keep it creative and you know, this is tough work. You are not always going to win any of got to have fun while doing it. I started biking here. Climate change and everything yeah, see, that was it. I would say never underestimate the power of your influence and even when you have to dig deep and explore and share things that are hurtful i think that can really help to change peoples minds. I think when you see something that upsets you and when you want to try to create change around it its easy to be angry but i think that anger wont help change a culture and you have to go in with an open mind. And q. With that it looks like we are out of time but thats a wonderful note to end on. Thank you so much for sharing your stories. [applause] thank you to all our panelists and speakers tonight. I hope you all will leave this program and this newseum feeling inspired, energized and optimistic about the future of the First Amendment in our most fundamental freedoms. I know however many of you are concerned the first moment is under threat and you come to programs like this one tonight because you want to be a part of the solution to protect it for future generations. As we prepare to leave this building and look to the future we have worked hard to redefine our purpose and mission to consider new opportunities to make an impact and to explore new ways in which we can foster First Amendment freedoms for all. Our next chapter has yet to be written but it begins here tonight with all of you. We thank you for coming and invite you now to reception in the New York Times great hall of news where we will celebrate the museum in the First Amendment in the spirit of the First Amendment in a song beginning with this moving rendition of this land is your land. Thank you. [applause] the house Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. Now the impeachment debate heads to the house floor. Final votes on the articles are expected in the house next week. Follow the impeachment process wide on cspan, online at cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. Sunday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. American history tv looks back on the impeachment against president bill clinton with the december 19, 1998 house floor debate on articles of impeachment. Today republicans with a small handful of democrats will vote to impeach president clinton because we believe he committed crimes resulting in cheating our legal system. We believe he lied under oath numerous times and that he tempered with evidence and that he conspired to present false testimony to a court of law. We believe he assaulted our legal system in every way. Let it be said that any president who dont want shall be impeached. Explore our nations past and watch the clinton impeachment sunday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv. Next, remarks from current and former government officials
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.