Event is about one hour and 30 minutes. Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon, everyone. There we go. My name is dr. Malcolm woodland, i have the pleasure today of introducing congresswoman Frederica Wilson. Im a staff member in her office and i want the congresswoman to know she has worked so hard to make sure this panel is a success. We are excited to see you here today. We are excited to see the 5000 role models. We are excited to see Eastern High School and everyone else in the building. The congresswoman made it a point to go through every question and make sure every person, panelist would be right. This is her lifes work. I am so excited to bring to the stage congresswoman Frederica Wilson. [applause] rep. Wilson wow, good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining us here today. This is what i call riveting and ground breaking. This is a discussion that demands to be heard. Because we must interrupt the school to prison pipeline. [applause] and, Frederick Douglass said, it is better to build strong children then to repair it is easier to build strong children then to repair broken men. We say, dont build a jail for me, prevention, not detention. I want to thank you for coming and i want to thank the commissioners and staff of the commission of the status of black men and boys for joining us today. Will all of the commissioners and staff please stand so that we can welcome you. [applause] thank you so much. I want everyone from this point on to call me congresswoman fredricka prevention wilson. I want to ensure that each of the young men that you see in this audience today and the women sitting proudly, who look so good in the front row, have the opportunity to be successful. That is my goal, that is my lifes work, and that is what i have been doing forever. We want a nation that builds school for children, not prisons. We want to ensure the Police Officers see you as their children and neighbors, not as criminals just because they see you. Im afraid we have so much to do before we can reach that point, but we cant stop working, we have to keep moving. The United States has more than 20 of the world prison population. Our incarcerated population has far outdated crime. We must prevent our children from being swallowed up by the school to prison pipeline. And held in bondage through mass incarceration or the new jim crow. That is why we are here today with the u. S. Commission on the social status of black men and boys. The commission is here and we are working towards these issues. Perhaps, most importantly, we have present the 5000 role models of Excellence Program. The 5000 role models Excellence Program is a program that ive founded that i founded 30 years ago. [applause] it is in School Districts across florida. In Miamidade County we have 6000 boys in grades three through 12 grades. When they graduate, we call them will them scholars and we send them to college. We have 30 wilson scholars with us today period we could not bring them all. Will the wilson scholars please stand and lets welcome them here today. [cheers and applause] thank you so much. You know i love you. You will always be a part of me and i will always be a part of you. We are. We are. Got it. I also would like to acknowledge young people from Statesman Academy and eastman high school. Will you please stand. Lets welcome them. [applause] these are sons and daughters and children whose lives are on the line. These are our children that we must hold onto and make sure that they survive. Lets give them another round of applause. [applause] thank you so much. You may be seated, darling. Whatever we do today, we have to get it right. No more excuses. We have spent too much time watching our Young Children fall behind in schools, file fall victim to mass incarceration, slip down the drain of school to prison pipeline and are victim to public house disparities, such as gun violence. There are too many damn guns in america. And this has to stop. The best way to end this is to stop it before it gets started. Thats what prevention is all about. You dont wait until we get the children into prison, then we give 35,000 a day to keep them there. Its more to keep a young person in prison then an older person because they have to have a certain amount of ounces of milk, according to state guidelines. Its more expensive to keep children in jail than it does adults. So this has to stop. The best way that we are going to be talking about this, i will be giving you examples of why it must stop. We are responsible for ensuring that these young people have opportunities to succeed and thrive and not be killed by Police Officers for no reason. Later on, our next panel is going to be called policing in the black community. I am also holding myself accountable. I am Holding Corporations accountable. I am holding the government accountable. I am Holding Everyone accountable. Every single solitary person is accountable for these children. The future of these children is in our hands, and we are going to make sure that they make it. Remember, dont build a jail on me. Prevention, not detention. Our first panel is going to be moderated by my dear friend mr. [applause] mr. Don lemon. You all remember don lemon, lets hear it for him. [applause] i want to introduce him to you. While most of him most of us knew him from watching him rise as a journalist hosting the don lemon tonight show, his fight has long been way longer than that. His fight for Racial Justice began when he was a young man. His father was a prominent attorney who was part of a lawsuit successfully challenging segregation of Public Transportation in baton rouge, louisiana. His father raised him on the principles of equal justice. Since then, he has risen to prominence in the journalism world. From holding the Top Administration accountable, to reporting on hivaids in africa, his journey stands out. I personally gave him a congressional record about four years ago to honor his legacy forever in the library of congress. He is an author, an awardwinning journalist, and a friend. You all know him, we all love him, don lemon. [applause] come on up, don, come on the stage. Don this is your show, i want to make sure im in the right spot. Rep. Wilson you stand right here with me. Before we turn it over to don, im going to ask our role model to please come forward. He has a special speech that he wants to deliver for us today. [applause] good afternoon, everyone. Im a proud and grateful member of the 5000 members. Grateful is the keyword as we stand grateful to congresswoman Frederica Wilson for beginning the program to support the mission for mentoring minority boys for more than 30 years. We are grateful for the thousands of men who have heated the congresswomans call to walk hand in hand with us. The Program Recognizes the principle of Frederick Douglass. Its easier to build a child than to repair a man. The role models nor any other of my brothers right there. We want prevention, not detention. It will interrupt the school to prison pipeline and provide success. Many of us dont have available role models at home. We need men who stepped up over the decades to guide us from childhood to manhood. In most cases that means a College Education for men who never achieved never dreamed that it was for us. Those who stand before you in the Nations Capital are members of the class of 2024. I in a senior at the senior high school. The group here has benefited from the expansion of the miamidade of Public Schools to duvall county Public Schools in jacksonville, florida. As the program expands, we are recipients that through mentoring, minority boys can graduate high school, go to trade school or the military. In general, be good citizens. It is prevention and mentoring that can have the greatest impact in the ongoing crisis in the lives of minority boys, the intervention provides us with the alternatives that leads us away from a life of crime, drugs in the pits of despair. This formula has impacted more than one million families worldwide. No other Program Provides access to venues like this one. No other program has the heart and soul of congresswoman Frederica Wilson. Pouring her energy into it for more than three decades. Thank you for all that you do on behalf of our children. I would like to say, we are . Group 5000. Don hello, everybody. Am i the only person in this room . Hello, good afternoon. I like that, we are . All right, now. Im happy to be here because of you. Mostly because of the young men sitting in the front row. I often feel guilty about saying im one of the lucky ones. One of the lucky ones who hasnt had an issue with the criminal Justice System. Although, easily, it could have happened. I want every young man in this room to be one of the lucky ones. Until we dont have to say, i am the lucky one, it becomes the norm in our society. It becomes rare or rarer towards young men of color to have any sort of association with the criminal Justice System, except that they are a lawyer. Sitting on the others of the desk. Congratulations to you young men. Im happy to be here. Can we stand up and give a big round of applause for the congresswoman. [applause] we would not be here without her. Congresswoman frederica prevention wilson. Thats her new name. I would like to invite someone else up to give a few remarks before we get into the conversation. Want to invite up the assistant attorney general to give some remarks. [applause] how are you doing . How are you . Good morning. I also want to thank congresswoman wilson for her leadership in for creating this space for us to dive into this incredibly important topic today. And thank her for her leadership and for leading a commission that is helping to bring focus and attention to the issues and crises facing our black men and black boys. The subject today is an important one. The school to prison pipeline channels far too many of our children. From schools to court. Juvenile Detention Centers and sometimes even the prison. What we often referred to as a pipeline is really a series of institutional failures. We rely on our schools to nurture and protect our kids, but too often they single out some children, too many of them black children for unequal punishment, including suspension, expulsions, and even in schools arrests. The data speaks for itself. Black students make up over 16 of our Public Schools, they account for nearly half of all students receiving multiple suspensions. Black students account for nearly one third of all schools related arrests and are suspended and expelled more than three times as often compared to white students. And students who are suspended and expelled our three times more likely to come into contact with the Juvenile Court system. We cannot tolerate these kinds of statistics in our country today. We know some of these Juvenile Court systems failed to protect constitutional rights. Our children may find themselves in juvenile detention facilities , too many of which subject those kids to violence and unspeakable mistreatment. These failures only magnify the challenges already faced by these children who are often the most vulnerable among us. At the Civil Rights Division of the u. S. Department of justice, we are fighting every day to confront the school to prison pipeline. We are working to ensure that School Districts that administer discipline do not do so in a racially discriminatory manner. In recent years, we have let investigations that resulted in agreements with School Districts from california, utah, alabama and elsewhere. These agreements are requiring real system changes. From changes to disciplinary procedures, staff and teacher training, independent monitoring and more. In one investigation we found that black students were routinely disciplined more severely than white students. The school suspended black students were even charged them criminally for socalled disruptive behavior. While white students involved in similar incidents would only need to attend a conference. Black students also reported that their teachers tolerated racial epithets, including the use of the nword and other harassments against them, to the point that many black students felt there was no point in reporting racial abuse. We are working across the country to ensure our Juvenile Court systems provide equal justice to the kids who appear before them. This spring, the Justice Department issued a Dear Colleague letter regarding the assessments of fines and fees by state and local and Juvenile Courts. Our letter makes clear the constitution the constitutional principles regarding fines and fees applied to adults and makes clear that jurisdiction should presume children dont have the money to pay these hefty fines and fees. We are also investigating Juvenile Court systems across the country. For our youth to end up in detention facilities, we are fighting to make clear that they do not surrender their constitutional and civil rights at the jail at the jailhouse door. We are fighting to address the unconstitutional conditions that we see inside these juvenile detention facilities. They are often designed to look like jails and prisons, but they should be places that help to transition our kids back to school, their homes, and back to society. For example, one longterm residential facility in South Carolina, we found it subjected children to violence at the hands of Staff Members and other children. The facility routinely use solitary confinement as punishment, despite evidence showing that children are uniquely vulnerable to trauma and lasting damage from such isolation. We entered into a Settlement Agreement with that facility, the South Carolina department of juvenile justice reformed that facility. That agreement is in federal Court Requires they change their staffing policies, put in place programs to reduce violence, and more. Right now we are conducting these investigations in mississippi, puerto rico, california, ohio, and we know more work must be done. These investigations can be difficult, but they can but they are important. At the Justice Department we are using every tool available to fight the school to prison pipeline. But it should be all of us. It should be everyones goal to keep our children out of these facilities, to keep them out of the criminal legal system, and to identify Creative Solutions for keeping children enrolled in nurturing, supportive and racially just school systems. Thats why this session is so vitally important. I want to thank congresswoman wilson for creating this space for us to tackle these issues. I think you for the opportunity to address you all today. Thank you for the opportunity to address you all today. [applause] don thats why this is so important. Thank you assistant attorney clark. I want to acknowledge someone in the room. I recognize that profile over to my left, its a maryland resident. The congressman is in the room. A role model for all of us. Big round of applause for the congressman. [applause] thank you for coming. Im sure the congresswoman appreciate your support. Without further ado, lets get to the reason why we are here. Congresswoman, you talked about who they are, i dont need to in traduce them introduce them. Thank you all for doing this. I had a panel earlier today, now i have one now thanks to reverend sharpton, the reverend got called away to do some important business. We appreciate reverend sharpton, dont we. Amen. [applause] i am going to start with the first question. My first question will go to mr. Paul. Are you ready for the question, sir . You have spent your professional life in spaces which you have worked to uplift young black men. From your perspective, i would like to know, what are effective communities state and National Practices that we can participate in to prevent young black men from falling victim to the school to prison pipeline . Paul thats a multifaceted question. For multifaceted question like that, it speaks to whats necessary, a multifaceted approach on the Different Levels that you talk about. Community, state, and national. At the community level, its mentoring programs like the 5000 role models of excellence. Like statesman. Like the young men and women from the high school, establishing those mentoring programs and providing our young men and women with images of emulation. That they can look at, like yourself, and say, i want to be that. Thats not a rapper, thats not an athlete, thats a professional businessman that i want to pattern myself after. I think its important for that at the local level. We need to get back to community policing. I grew up in a time where the officers in my neighborhood my name, knew my moms name, they knew my family. If something was happening, they would take me home. The officers grew up in that community, so they understood the dynamic of the community. Thats important. In regards to statehood, reforming the Sch