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 you to know that we matter, your lives matter, your dreams matter. When i go home and look at the faces of my daughters and my nephews and nieces i see limitless potential that deserves flourish and you should be able to learn and make mistakes and live a life of joy without having to worry about what could happen when you walk to the store go for a jog or driving down the street or looking at a park. I hope you also feel hopeful even as you feel angry, you have helped to make the country feel that has got to change. You communicated the sense of urgency that is as powerful as anything i have seen in recent years. And there are folks out there, they have a tough job. We are grateful for the majority of you who protect and serve. I am heartened to see those in Law Enforcement who recognize, let me march along with these protesters, let me stand sidebyside and recognize i want to be part of the solution. You have shown restraint and engaged and listened. Change will require everybodys participation. When i was in office this was mentioned, in the wake of the killing of michael brown. It included Law Enforcement and Community Leaders and activists, developing a specific set of recommendations to strengthen public trust and foster better relationships between Law Enforcement and the communities they are supposed to protect even as they are continuing to protect and promote Crime Reduction in that report showcased a range of solutions and strategies that were based on data and research to improve Community Policing and collect better data and reporting and identify and do something about implicit bias in hell police were trained and reforms to force the police to deploy in ways that increase safety rather than precipitate tragedy. That report demonstrated something critical for us today. Most reports that are needed to prevent the type of violence and injustice we have seen take place at the local level. Reform has to take place in more than 19,000 american municipalities, more than 18,000 local enforcement jurisdictions so as activists and everyday citizens raise their voices we need to be clear about where change is going to happen and how we can bring about that change. It is mayors and county executives that appoint most of these Chiefs Police chiefs and that determines Police Practices in local communities. District attorney and state attorneys decide whether to investigate and ultimately charge those involved in police misconduct. Those are likely positions, police and Community Review boards that monitor Police Conduct and may be elected as well. The bottom line is i am hearing a little bit of chatter about voting versus protests, politics and participation versus civil disobedience. This is not any the or, and to make people in power uncomfortable but also translate that into Practical Solutions and laws that can be implemented and we can monitor and make sure we are following up. Very quickly, we close with some specific things. What can we do . We know there are specific evidencebased reforms that if we put in place today build trust to save lives, not show an increase in crime, those are included in the Task Force Report, you can find it on obama. Org. Number 2, a lot of mayors and local elected officials supported the Task Force Report but there wasnt enough policy. I emerging every mayor in this country to review use of force policies for members of your community and commit to report on planned reforms. What are the specific tips you should take, original task force several years ago since the time we collected data because we implemented some of the review form ideas, we have more data as to what works in the organizations Like Campaign 0 and color of change and others out there highlighting what the data shows and what doesnt in terms of reducing incidents of police misconduct, lets go ahead and start implementing those. We need mayors, county executives, to say this is a specific response. Number 3, every city in this country should be my brothers keeper, we have barriers that expand for boys and young men of color, programs and policies, publicprivate partnerships, go to our website, work with that because it can make a difference. Let me close by saying this, i have heard some people say you have a pandemic, then protests. This reminds people of the 60s in the chaos, the discordant distrust throughout the country. Although i was very young when you had riots and protests in the 60s. There is something different. You look at those protests and that is a more representative crosssection on the streets peacefully protesting. And felt moved to do something because of the injustices. That Broad Coalition the fact that recent surveys showed that despite some protests having been marred by actions of some, a tiny minority that despite the attention and focus, despite all that a majority of Americans Still think those protests were justified. 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. There was a change of mindset taking place that we can do better. The speeches by politicians is not the result of spotlights in news articles, that is a direct result of organizing and engagement of so many young people across the country who put themselves in the line, i have to say thank you to them. To help bring about this moment and just make sure we now follow through because at some point attention moves away, protests start to dwindle and it is important for us to take the momentum that has been created as a society, as a country and say lets use this to finally have an impact. Thank you, everybody. We are going to be hearing from a bunch of people. Part of the conversation by cunningham with the attorney general, and for mayors. Oh 2 obama. Org and take this pledge. Several mayors said sign me up first, mayor lightfoot of chicago and minneapolis, and in atlanta, my brothers keeper communities as well. You can take a pledge and posting all the cities and mayors to take the pledge and within 90 days we will publicly report out, what is happening to create real lasting change. My pleasure to introduce a friend, activist and educator, a writer on nbc and msnbc news contributor, cofounder of campaign 0, policy platform to End Police Violence and previously she was an appointed member of the Ferguson Commission and President Obama Task force, campaign 0 launched the Campaign Hashtag 8 cant wait, pushing mayors across america to adopt use of force policy use, violence upwards of 90 . A conversation with president obama and other incurred leaders, please welcome britney cunningham. Thank you, president obama, for gathering this conversation in this moment of intense grief but hopefully intense purpose. We have a family conversation. You may be watching this, you need community in which to do that, we hold you up to the light, you are girding the strength of your ancestry and you come from people like i do doing more with far less, and everyone after it. We are glad you are here because we are here to get clear, most importantly get to work. Even the heartening moments, people raise their voices or in a moment of agree half might take a in the. If so many brilliant voices that have been gathered, how we got to this moment and how we seize our own power to get through it. Before we get started, if they brought us here. We are deeply grateful. It was george floyd, breanna taylor, lifesaving ent on the front lines, shawn reed, friend and brother in indianapolis, a black trans man who loves life in tallahassee, florida and though it wasnt from an officers bullet we are having this in the shadow of a son from georgia, and nina, two black trans men, comes against intersectional he marginalized people. There are too names to lift because as the president has said we have been active for a long time. Attorney general holder. I want to start with you. I was raised to be an activist. If you ask my mom this is the only life i have ever known, the surge of Police Violence as it relates since in 2014 when mike brown was killed in ferguson, missouri a few minutes from my home. You came to ferguson, there were literally thousands of brave and mighty protesters like the ones we are seeing now, those protests were on the ground, i want to know what you learned from those activists. With the work that what you are doing now. Good to see you again and thank you for convening here today. In 2014 meeting with the president , and whether i should go there. Who would react to my present and make the determination that i would go and what struck me most was two things that got me. There were young people who were there and unbelievably impressive and in a lot of ways directing the actions on the streets. The community was in anguish and the commonality with the things they were concerned about. I was struck by the fact that people consistently talk about the way in which people are unfairly treated by the criminal Justice System. And there was a genuine desire by people to make things better. It wasnt all about just complaining. There was a genuine desire to work to make things better. I left heartened by what i saw in terms of the reaction i got, and i had dialogues when i was there, the notion that if we invested some time and federal resources we would be in a position using the leaders we met, young people we met to make life in ferguson better and use that as an example what was possible in the rest of the country. So as the president reminded u