So that it recognizes the humanity and the dignity of every person. This town hall that we are having today as part of an ongoing my brothers Keeper Alliance town whole series in my brothers keepers will was launched by president obama in 2014 after trayvon martin. The president launched it in the east room of the white house calling on america and everybody to do whatever they could in their power to make sure young men of color knew that they mattered into reduce the systemic barriers that stand in their way and make sure every young person has every opportunity to reach their dreams. Today the work of my brothers keeper continues at the my brothers Keeper Alliance at the Obama Foundation. Where we lead a network of 250 communities and a massive call to action to mayors and other folks in communities across the country, this is to build and have clear pathways of opportunity. We are excited to have president obama sharing his viewpoints today but also gathered a panel of local and National Experts who are fighting on the ground and who have been fighting this fight for many years. Before we start our program today, i want to acknowledge the lives of george, breanna and ahmad and far to others by taking a 30 minute second at 32nd moment of silence in order to remember those lives and reflect. Please join me in a moment of silence. We speak their names and hold them in our heart and its weather memory that we move ahead in action. It is my pleasure to start where we should always start with the future. With the young man that i had the pleasure to meet when we were at the by brothers keeper ohio conference where there was an incredible statewide network of my brothers keeper in ohio, this young man lewis away with incredible words, plan graduated from Fort Hays High School in columbus, ohio in may of 2020, he was a straight a student member of the National Honor society and the student council. Patrick will attend the Ohio State University in the fall and plans to major in criminal justice and criminology. It is my pleasure to introduce this brilliant bright young man, our future. Hello ladies and gentlemen, i am 18 years old and plan to attend the Ohio State University. This is 2020 quarantine killing. And they ask, how do black boys write about their city. How do we know streets if we dont know uncracked sidewalk, they ask, how did these black boys know anything about their city. How the buildings are sitting on corners where brothers bodies are still learning how to rot. They are placed in the grass where families could not afford to bury their loved ones and reminds my brothers and i that we are anything else and we call those corners playgrounds. We call those corners the killing field, we call our bodies bullets even if we were never named in the right direction, we call the remnants of our mothers family, we make a catalog of prayer at a broken hand, we pray for our family tree to use our hands to dig the graves that we cannot afford, we are farmers of broken bodies, we have never known city or comfort or any city, we use our feet to walk street pay by sunlight and are shadows if they meant to choose the skin. We make a catalyst on body and we eat with her eyes closed, we taste like medicine, always conflicted between being black and being peaceful. I wish god could have given us a choice. For years, we have been told that there is something that we need to scrub off this body as if this dirt could go away to make you realize how easily it can cook in the sun and how weve been turning on each other for a slice of the pie, we dont know the city with her grandmothers and we shouldve got a house or a bed when it was first built or first settled or first taken from the indians where our god believes in the same beginning, we dont know home, we know our generations of people can use these legs and run miles on into the night. And with the remnants of the stars, we will forever search in our footsteps, we dont know home, we know running and we know this lien has never been ours, we know how to folder ourselves into nothing, we know are slaves in this soil somehow we know how to make these hands useful, where the farmers of every lumbar elution, no country was built without a dead body, this country was dragged and hung up in america, the land of the free and home of the brave, we fought and died for that slogan right beside our white brothers, doesnt that make us were something, tonight i write is the language of the unheard. I want to take a second to think the Obama Foundation who give me a great opportunity to spread the message. Now it is my honor to introduce to you a man who needs no introduction. He is the founder of the my brothers keeper program, he is the father, lawyer, lecturer, Community Organizer and so much more, born and raised in honolulu hawaii, he is the man who changed america forever, it is none other than the 44th president of the United States of America President barack obama. Thank you, that was unbelievable. And we could not have been prouder, you are a hard act to follow. I cannot wait to see all the great things that you will be doing in the future, good afternoon everybody, all the participants in panelist, let me start by just acknowledging that we have seen in the last several weeks, last few months of the kinds of epic changes and events in our country is anything ive seen in my lifetime, i am now a lot older, im going to be 59 soon. And then we begin by acknowledging although all of us have been feeling pain, uncertainty, disruption, some folks have been feeling more than others. Most of all the pain thats been experienced by the families and george and rihanna and ahmaud into many others to mention. Those that we thought about during a moment of silence. Into those families who have been directly affected by tragedy, please know that michelle and i in the nation agree with you, hold you in our prayers, we are committed to the fight of creating a more just nation in memory of your sons and daughters. We cant forget even for confronting the particular act of violence that led to those laws, our nation and the world is in the midst of a Global Pandemic that is exposed with their Healthcare System, but also the treatment in a conflict that exist in our Healthcare System with an unequal investment, the biases that have led to a disproportionate number of infections of loss of life in communities of color. In a lot of ways whats happened over the last several weeks is challenges, and in the United States, there would be outcomes not just of the immediate moment in time but a result of a long history. Of slavery and jim crow and redlining and institutionalized racism that not too often have been with the original sin of our society. And in some ways as tragic as these past few weeks have been in is difficult and scary and uncertain as theyve been, they have also been an Incredible Opportunity for people to be awaken to some of these underlying trends. They offer an opportunity for us to all Work Together to tackle this to take them out into change america and make it live up to its highest ideas. And part of what made me is so many young people had been galvanized inactivated in motivated and mobilized. Because historically so much of our partners that we made in society has been because of young people, doctor king was a young man when he got involved. The leaders of the feminist movement where young people, the leaders of movement where young people in the leaders of the environmental in the country were to make sure that the Lgbtq Community finally had a voice and was represented for young people and sometimes i feel despair i just see whats happening with young people throughout the country and the talent and the voice and the sophistication and it feels as if this country is going to get better. I want to speak directly to the young men and women of color of this country. Whose plan is so eloquently described and witnessed too much violence into much depth. And too often some of the violence has come from folks who were supposed to be serving and protecting you. I want to you to know that you matter in your lives matter, your dreams matter and when i go home and i look at the faces of my daughters sasha and melia and i look at my nephews and need nieces, it deserves to flourish in thrive and you should be able to learn and make mistakes and live a life of joy without having to worry words could happen when you walk to the store or go for a jog or drive down the street were working in a park. And i hope that you also feel hopeful even if you may feel angry. Because you have the power to make things better and you have helped to make the entire country feel as if this is something thats gotta change, youve communicated a sense of urgency that is powerful and transformative of anything that ive seen in recent years. I want to acknowledge the folks in Law Enforcement that share the goals of reimagining. There are folks out there who took their oath to serve your communities and your countries and its a tough job but i know youre just as outraged in the recent weeks as many other protesters. We are grateful for the vast majority of you who protect and serve, ive been heartened to see those in Law Enforcement who recognize, let me march along with these protesters, let me stand sidebyside and recognize that i want to be part of the solution. Ensure strength and volunteered and engaged in listen because youre a vital part of the conversation and changes going to require everybodys participation. I created a task force on 21st century of policing in the wake of the tragic killing of michael brown, that task force which included Law Enforcement and Community Leaders and activist was charged to develop a very specific set of recommendations to strengthen public trust and foster better working relationships between Law Enforcement communities that they are supposed to protect even if they are continue to promote effective crime reduction. In that report showcased a range of solutions that they were proven and based on data and research into include Community Policing and collect better data and reporting and identify and do something about how the police were trying and reforms to force the police to deploy in ways that include safety rather than tragedy. That read port demonstrated some that is critical, most of the reforms that are needed to prevent the violence and injustice that weve seen take place at the local level, the reform has to take place in more than 19000 american municipalities, more than 18000 local enforcement jurisdictions. As activist and citizens raise their voices, we need to be clear where change is going to happen. And how we can bring about the change. It is mayors and county executives that appoint most Police Chiefs and bargaining agreements and that determines Police Practices and local communities. If the district attorneys and state attorneys that decide whether or not to investigate and charge those involved in Police Misconduct. Those are all elected divisions in some places there is Community Review hold with conduct and they may be elected as well, the bottom line ive been hearing a little bit of chatter in the internet about voting versus protest. Politics and participation versus civil disobedience and direct action. This is not an either or, this is real change, we both have to highlight a problem and make people empower uncomfortable but we also have to translate that into Practical Solutions and laws that can be implemented and we can monitor and make sure we are following up. Very quickly, let me just close with a couple of specific things, what can we do . Number one, we know there are specific evidencebased reforms and if we put in place today, we build trust to save lives, would not show an increase in crime, those are included in the 21st century in the report and you can find on obama. Org. Number two, a lot of mayors and local elected officials that have supported the Task Force Report have been the ones you not following. Today im urging every mayor, in this country to review your force policies with your communities and commit to report unplanned reforms. What are the specific steps you can take. I should add by the way, the original Task Force Report was done several years ago since the time we collect the data in part because we implemented the reform ideas. We now have more information and more data as to what works, and innovations in color of change in others that are out there highlighting what the data shows, what works, what doesnt in terms of reducing incidents in Police Misconduct and violence, lets go ahead and start implementing those. We need mayors, county executives and others were in position of power to say this is a priority, this is a specific response. Number three, every city in this country should be of my brothers Keeper Community. We have 250 cities, counties, tribal nations working to boys and young men of color and programs of policy reform in Public Partnership and go to your website and get working with that because it can make a difference. And let me just close by saying this. I have heard some people say that you have a pandemic and then you have these protest, this reminds people of the 60s and the chaos and the discord in the distrust throughout the country, i have to tell you although i was very young when you had ryans in protest in the nation and back in the 60s. I know enough about the history to say there is Something Different here. You look at those protest and that was a farmer representative crosssection of america in the streets peacefully protesting and who felt moved to do something because of the injustice that they had to say. That did not exist back in the 1960s, the broad coalition, the recent surveys have shown that despite some protest having been barred by the actions of some a tiny minority that engaged in violence in despite the fact that a lot of attention and focus, despite of that the majority of americans think those protest were justified. That would not have existed 30, 40, 50 years ago. There is a change in mindset that is taking place. A greater recognition that we can do better. And that is not a consequence of speeches by politicians, that is not the result of spotlights in news articles, that is a direct result of the activities and organizing immobilization and engagement of so many young people across the country. Who put themselves on the line to make a difference. So i just have to say thank you to them for bringing about this moment in to make sure that we now follow the truth. Because at some point attention moves away. At some point protest start to dwindle in size. It is very important for us to take the momentum that has been created as a society and a country and say lets use this. All right, thank you everybody. I am proud of you guys. I know that we will be hearing from a bunch of people who have been on the front lines and know a lot more than i do about it. Im proud of you. Thank you, mr. President and for everybody that is watching the president decided he wanted to be a part of the conversation that will be led by britney with the attorney general and other leaders. Before we going to that section i want to reiterate the pledge that the president mentioned for mayors. If you are a mayor you can go to obama. Org and take the pledge and i want to announce that several mayors have said sign me up first and they have already taken the pledge, mayor de blasio of new york and mayor of chicago, mayor of d. C. , mayor of San Francisco and mayor of atlanta, all my brothers Keeper Community as well, if you go to that page and you can take the pledge and we will be posting all the cities in the mayors to take the pledge and within 90 days we will publicly report out who has taken the pledge of the work that is happening to create real lasting change in communities. It is now my pleasure to introduce a friend, an activist, educator, writer on abc and nbc contributor and of the ferguson uprising, cofounder campaign 0 in a policy platform to in violence of save the people. A previous issue with an appointed member of the Ferguson Commission and president obamas policing. Today campaign 0 of working ever cofounder launch the campaign 8 cannot wait, an Advocacy Campaign to push across america for policy that can reduce Police Violence by upwards of 70 . To moderate this conversation with president obama and her other incredible leaders please welcome brittany cunningham. Thank you so much michael and thank you president obama for gathering this conversation in this moment of intense grief but hopefully it sends purpose. We are here together to talk to have a family conversation and you may be watching this income here because you are experienced the grief and unique community in which to do that and youre hoping we can hold you up to the light. You may be here because you are guarded in the strength of your ancestry and you know that you come from people just like i do who did far more with far less and are sure that we can win in this moment and everyone after it. However, you have come here, we are glad that you are here because were here to get honest, to get clear and most important late to get to work. Even the hard need moments of hearing people raise their voices were the moments where Police Officers might take any that that momentary action might be true in systemi