sheepherder, best actor and we could think of. make it easier for dairy farmers and sheepherders to bring in immigrant migrant labor to do certain jobs recognizing this isn't typical seasonal labor and have a few other bills to follow on that and trying to fix legal emigration. i'm a co-sponsor of immigration that would end the birthright citizenship practice in this country. [applause] yes, sayre? in the red. [inaudible] >> goes along with what he said that you are saying. you want certain strikes on immigration and things like that and how we can do it. reichard an analogy once if you feed a cougar out your back door it will keep coming. if you keep feeding him he will bring his friends. that is one of the problems we

have. right now according to the congressional budget office and their web site, we are spending a year $500 billion to take care of housing, take care of all of this phenomenon documented residents in this country. isn't that a place we can look to say if you are not legal don't get social help, social assistance. they say they don't get it out of social security but if you look at the back door, the review the account is paid out of the social security administration and one non documented president can get $2,400 out of social security. i see lot of seniors here and most of them are kept out at $1,100 and one non documented president is getting 24. is the place we can look at? the second part, what a flat tax

resolve most of our issues in this country? [applause] >> your second question is easy. the answer is yes. flat tax would make a lot of things better. back to emigration. you are absolutely right. if we incentivize illegal immigration, we have been disincentive rising illegal immigration. we are a country of immigrants and hope we always will be. many if not most of us including myself are either immigrants ourselves or descendants of immigrants. one of my ancestors, charles swimway whose ancestors came across from europe, one of the original settlers of san pete country. we always want to be at nation of immigrants. we want them to come through the front door, not a back door.

we incentivize to come 3 back door when we make it difficult to come through the front door and reward them for coming through the back door which we don't want. i think we need to be as vigilant as we can about not giving entitlement benefits that are intended for american citizens for people who are legally within this country going to illegal emigrants. some of the reasons that can be circumvented in addition to those you identified, is also true that because we grant automatic birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants who were born here in the united states, that is another way illegal emigrants can end up receiving entitlement benefits intended for citizens. i can to emphasize enough the need for us to close this loophole we have with automatic birthright citizenship. i am not aware of any other developed nation that has the same policy we do. is not a constitutional

imperative. it can be fixed by statute with i am co-sponsor of this. i failed to mention another issue we need to focus on with immigration which is border enforcement. one of the reasons we have a border that is as porous as it is is if you look at the southern border of the united states with mexico and you look at where most of the illegal immigration crossings are taking place, people walking across the border most of them:in those areas where most of the border land is federal the island. within those federal leone border areas a majority of that land for nearly a majority, if not a majority itself, is environmentally protected in one way or another such that our border patrol agents have severe restrictions on their ability to enforce the law so they can do anything they want on private property.

if you live on the border you own land, they can do anything they want no matter how much you value your petunias and daisies you carefully planted they can go back and stomp all over them to enforce the border. but have an forbid if it is federally owned and there is an endangered or threatened species they can't do anything. they are restricted to a tiny corridor where there is a little path. that is why our border is so porous. we have to fix that problem as well and that is why i am working to close that loophole. [applause] >> good to see you here. my name is gay steward. we met a couple years ago and good to see you standing here. i will chime in on this.

i doubt the border can be enforced as long as there's a demand within the country. you would have to set up machine guns and everything else to stop it and it can't be stopped. i know this you are cosponsoring -- i hope you will tell us a little bit about that. just mentioned immigration a minute ago. lee -- legal and illegal. are you proposing to make legal immigration fare? that we increase the numbers? what i am asking is would we be using legal and illegal immigration to continue? that is what is being done. wages are depressed because -- illegal immigration. what do you think is going to

happen concerning the e verify, national e verify? will you get that moved along? >> you have two questions basically. the idea to enhance illegal immigration for depressed wages, intentionally bring in more people to enhance the number. that really is the objective. it is not to increase the total number of immigrants as much as it is to identify those we are going to admit and have a transparent policy that can be evenhandedly implied. but not make it so difficult and time-consuming and complicated and impossible for people to get a visa. when we do that we incentivize illegal immigration. that doesn't necessarily mean we are bringing in more people. it may or may not result in that but the purpose had nothing to do with the desire to depress wages. it is the desire to enforce the rule of law and make sure we're bringing people in the front

door. i am co-sponsor legislation that would make over a phased in period compliance with the e verify program mandatory. that means in essence many employers, most employers there may end a be at the end of the day a safe harbor for small employers but most employers as they do now to continue to gather information to find out if the person they are hiring is entitled to live and work in the united states. that information would need to be cross checked on this e verify data base and employers would be held harmless once they took the necessary steps. that is another step we need to take to make sure we are complying with the law and enforcing existing laws. i tend to agree with you there's a lot to do by enforcing the border but as long as there is tremendous demand for illegal labor. as long as people feel like hiring illegal labor is something that can be overlooked

because it always has been in the past, in the case of some employers who had that experience and we are going to continue to have this problem. yes, sir? >> when i was up a minute ago i didn't commend you on the work you are doing. we voted for you. thank you. [applause] a have two things that are somewhat related. the small arms trade treaty, what is going on, i am against it. and fast and furious. what can you do to get these people to fess up about fast and furious and how high it went.

thank you. >> let's pretend one of us doesn't know what fast and furious is. [laughter] >> would that be you? >> yes. >> it was instrumental in allowing firearms dealers on the border states to so guns and stock purchases knowing that they were illegal and getting hold of their upper echelon and getting approved. these gun walked across the border and an agent was killed with one of those. >> thank you for pointing that out. i know this set of

circumstances. it is all for being investigated and a hope and fully expect those who violated the law will be brought to justice. [inaudible] >> it goes to show that when government runs amok it can be easy source of untold amount of grief and pain. i will do everything i can to follow-up on that and make the sure those violated the law will be brought to justice and i do oppose and will vote against the small arms treaty. this young lady has been waiting patiently. >> my name is suzanne. i own a small business in san the county. >> i will be nice to you. probably buys her ink by the

barrel. >> a lot of people have vilified me. we are fine. would you absolutely foreclose the option of increasing revenue by making the tax system a little more progressive like it used to be 30 years ago? and using that as part of the strategy to balance the budget? i have heard and i don't have verification of this, the social security tax was applied against all in, and not just 75,000, that the additional revenue would be enough to make the system solvent. m-60 to. i plan to work another five to seven years but the time will

come that i need to collect that and i am worried whether it is going to be there for me and if it is not i don't have any more -- i don't know anymore about how all i am going to manage the illegal immigrant who is here and can't work and has the money go back. that is my first question. my second one is about the american dream act. we have some extraordinarily talented young people in our country. some are at our local college. they didn't come here. many of them were brought here as children. they have gone through our school system. they have skills to contributes. even with a bachelor's or

master's they cannot legalize. as a journalist i am appalled at the situation at the washington post pulitzer prize winner who didn't know until he was an adult that he was an illegal immigrant. now he cannot function legally in the united states. what is your response on that? >> you have three questions. that is okay. no additional charge for admission. on the first point. if the question is am i opposed to anything that would enhance revenue, the answer is no. i am not opposed to anything because it would enhance revenue in the sense that it would stabilize our revenue base and thereby bring in a more consistent flow of revenue or more than we have now, our tax system has peaks and valleys and

some years bring it like this year will bring in 14.5% of all the money that flows through the economy. the most we ever get is 19.5% of gdp. it averages 18.5 to 18%. we tend to not get more than that. we could if we flatten the rate make it more stable or if we didn't adopt the flat rate but simplified it. if we kept top marginal rates constant or lower a little bit but closed loopholes we could bring in more revenue on a more steady consistent basis without having to raise anyone's rate. that would make it more stable or surge that this 18.5% of am talking about would be more reliable and wouldn't be so likely to fluctuate. if the question is what i make it more progressive meeting raise top marginal rates and

access to went -- a accentuation -- accentuate what different people pay in terms of the interest-rate the difference is absolutely and conditionally no. [applause] as i mentioned a few minutes ago it has everything to do with protecting middle and low income wage earners. those are the people i believe in the end are most effective by raising income tax rates. not on the poor but on the rich. they are concealed taxes that get passed downstream economically. those people, all of us pay for those income tax hikes in terms of increased goods and services and in terms of fewer profitable job opportunities. on social security, a share your concern that we have got to do something about social security

because congress has rated the social security trust fund over a prolonged period. what was supposed to be a lock box legally trust fund has been used very irresponsibly over the course of the last three decades as a slush fund. it was supposed to be set aside for the time we knew was approaching that has now reached us when all of a sudden the social security program would be drawing out more than it was taking in because the demographics have changed. when it was created in the 30s we had 60 workers and wage earners and taxpayers for every retiree. now more like 3-1. sixty-1 versus 3-1. americans live longer. back then we lived to 60. now we live more like 80 and that is great. that is wonderful. that poses additional challenges. light of those challenges i have tried to find things that don't involve tax increases that would further chilled job creation at a time we can lease the portal.

i have introduced along with lindsey graham of south carolina and rand paul in kentucky legislation that would make social security solvent perpetually. we improve on solvency over 75 year period by making modest adjustments based on means testing so that the wealthy wouldn't receive the same benefits they might receive were they at the lower income level. and gradually making some adjustments to the retirement age. it would not affect anyone who is now retired. anyone who is now retired as a current beneficiary of social security would be untouched. if you want to find out more i have some staff members. make reference to by state director here who is here to answer any questions and

legislative director, brian mccloy can help and bill read is my regional director. there you are. no relation. i wish i could claim he was my brother. i am related to two thirds of the state but not to build. you asked about the dream act. i do not support it. i consider it a form of back door amnesty and i can to for that. [applause] we need to go to the back of the room and we will come to the front later. then i have to get representative painter after that. bobblehead. >> i apologize for back stepping a few questions but back on this border situation. >> get a call on you?

good. >> would it be possible to have the national guard work on the border now? every state, every battalion, every company throughout the country in a two week tour, could they go down and work on the border because they are going to be paid anyway, the federal government would have to buy the material. with something like that. >> it certainly could work. i am not opposed to the national guard program. i want to talk more to my friend bill smith who is here tonight. he is not a member of my staff but is a good friend of mine and is the former sergeant major of utah national guard. this man is retired from the

national guard and he knows everything there is to know about the national guard. i will touch base with you after words. my gut reaction to it because i had this question before is that would be fine. i don't know that we need to do that on the long term basis. the national guard has a job to do. any time there is an unusual high volume of illegal immigrants crossing in a particular area, national guard personnel would be deployed and in some circumstances they have been deployed to take care of that. i don't know that it is a long-term solution. we have to let the border patrol do its job. we haven't been letting the border patrol do its job. [applause] we have to let representative patrick painter ask the question. >> thank you. >> these guys all in your

district? >> they are. i love every one of them. we're thrilled to have you in the senate and thrilled to have you here tonight. my question has to do with energy production. i appreciate the effort you have made getting in secretary salazar's face about the foolish things he did trying to close our energy production in this state. as we look at what we import and what we export, probably get close to $1 trillion. i don't know if it will take a republican to president to do this. we have so many jobs available here and so many energy assets right underneath our feet. if we just go get them and open up to go get them, we would have all kinds of folks working that six figure jobs with 4% unemployment and a lot less trade deficit. i want to see every guy in the gas field get a job and every coal miner go back to work and

the global warming thing is a joke. i know you don't subscribe to it. is there anything you can think of that we can do to get things moving? we have to answer to a lot of our state's problems at what salazar did cost $100 million a year at -- out of our state budget that we could use to build schools and roads and all of that. anything you have? appreciate you coming here. >> thank you. [applause] there's no single issue more important for our country and national security and economic prosperity than the one you raised. we have a problem. when we are spending half a trillion and 1 trillion dollars every year overseas just to buy oil every single year, that

money doesn't come back at least not in the form we would like it to come back. a lot of those people who are getting very wealthy half of our petrodollars' don't like us very much. some of them are using some of that money to fund acts of terrorism against us. those who don't want us to produce in this country, many of them cite environmental reasons as why we shouldn't be exploiting our energy resources in the united states many of which can be found in utah. which is ironic because we have the ability and legal structure in this country that allows us to produce energy more efficiently in a manner that is more environmentally responsible and what you can find anywhere in the world, let's produce it here and stop funding it and enriching our enemies. [applause] most of those energy resources especially in the state of utah are found on federal land and i consider it an absolute shame,

recklessness, gross negligence that we allow those resources to go and developed. i am holding secretary salazar's feet to the fire and doing everything we can so that we can regain that which is rightfully ours. our ability to produce energy. [applause] yes, man? [inaudible] >> the mandate put out this week that closes tire plants and stops folding in utah? >> there is from what i can tell an effort on the part of many in washington to try to shut down the backbone of our nation's energy production grid. the bulk of our energy in this country more than any other

single resource nationally and especially in utah comes from coal. i benefited my entire life from the fact that i could walk into a room and turn on a switch and the light comes on. i don't know that we fully appreciate how wonderful that is. my father didn't have that growing up when he was raised on saw mill camps in rural arizona and new mexico. i had that my whole life. it is affordable in part because we drag this from coal. we figured out over time how to make coal generate electricity not only cheaply but it a manner that is quite environmentally friendly. we have to keep that going. if we don't keep it going we will go -- we are going to be poor as a result and this will impact mitterand low-income earners more than anyone else. they are doing it through regulatory fiat as opposed to through congress.

they are not doing it through elected representatives. we have to get our laws in the hands of congress. my copy of the constitution and article 1 section 1 says the legislative power to make generally applicable rules of law belongs to congress, not to the epa. we have to take it back. [applause] yes, with the american flag share? >> i agree -- [inaudible] -- 4 quick question. when they talk about the debt to do we borrow money from? number 2, why can't we solve all foreign aid, all except for humanitarian natural disasters and helping people?

that would be better than cutting my social security along with everybody else's. [applause] third i have received several e-mails about mosque's being repaired with our money. i do not know if that is true or not and have not verified it. maybe someone else has some documentation as to that. hour in the world that ever gets through blows my mind completely away. and forth, i'm in a small minority. i especially agree with what you are saying about the environmentalists and the harm they have caused the west but also the animal activists. my husband and i raced horses for 50 years and we had a little bit of a living with that.

since they have taken the meat market away i am devastated. i no longer have a horse business. many people cannot give courses away. you are aware of the horses that have been turned loose in utah and all over the nation because people couldn't afford them. they have died of starvation. they have mingled with beloved mustangs. that is another issue. i am sure you are aware of the amount of horses in betterson and the feed that is given to thousands of tons per year. what can we do to get back on the nationwide industry and give jobs to people by opening up no

worse marks in the meat industry? thank you very much. [applause] >> i'm going to try to answer these questions quickly. i want to make sure we get to as many people as possible. we borrow from lot and lot of people. some of them are individuals and some are operations. what they are called depend on their maturity rate. some mature in 30 years. there are a lot in between. it is a little over $1 trillion that belongs to the government of china. who owns our debt that any moment is a question that refers

back to many thousands of corporate investors to buy these based on the expectation that they will get more money back. there are a lot of people that own it. most of them are americans. some are not. they're making a lot of money. there are a lot of people that feel strongly about this. the it is to the extent it is doing something to the humanitarian aid are helping people who need it. that is where most foreign aid goes. that is why some people oppose it. there are humanitarian needs here in the united states. i agree that we ought to focus

our own government money on american people. there are some exceptions to that. there are some parts of the world that we have to invest money. in some senses, it is a replacement. as far as federal money go into i will be on the lookout. there may be some federal grant money. i will. there will be held to pay.

this is an important part of our state industry. my father-in-law used to own a ranch where he raised shorthorns. it is a great plays. no, year sang about horses. i do not know whether -- had never been completely familiar with how it met its demise. he would give them the information appeari.

>> my sincere thank you today. it is one of the most important priorities of our county. i hope you saw and realize that it could slow down into small projects. 50's are of our county is this. there are a two pending authorizations. there is the real opposition a secure schools.

>> you should be especially proud of the commissioner. they do not waste time getting to the heart of the issue. she was able to answer every question quickly. this has been difficult. you are lucky to have her appear . you're able to collect less tax revenue. we have a problem in the state's where a lot of federal

land can be told. we will not. they fell far short of what action the the real access to buy a pair. it is the lowest value. i'm a strong supporter. i will not let them make the funding go away. did that to be unjust. help itself is on sufficient.

i tend to push until the allow states and counties to tax federal land are they fully funded. she is from alaska. she feels a lot of these same issues. they have a lot of federal land as well. this is basically in the same position. do you remember what it was?

>> i am on the flip side. most of my questions have been answered. there are a few that i would like for you to answer. >> i was at the call myself a member of it. i understand that the do vouchers for medicare and

medicaid. i understand that those programs need to be taken out of corruption. how are we as seniors to get by when it is dam near to give by now. tax subsidies to the oil company. how come it justify giving them a subsidy? i understand that they are considered as job creators. that has not happened in the last six to eight years. but let your stance on some of stuff. >> the question relates to

medicare. i do support the transition about what to make it sustainable. there is insolvency. the only dispute as to when it occurs is in the mid-20's. moving forward, those are not yet retired. this is how we make a sustainable.

with bankruptcy, we cannot handle that. we can do it effectively reduce we cannot do it effectively with this antiquated system -- we cannot do it effectively with this antiquated system. i am get subsidies any time. we have a step that helps me with that. crack>> [inaudible]

>> i was answering this man's question. i'm happy to discuss this with the. we cannot look at this. it refers to a what you referred to as tax breaks. we paid -- we have the top 10% earners in this country. we are putting this burden on them. >> wen jiabao de e->> de e is a

different question. -- what about ge? >>ge is a different question. we have tax rates. i am unwilling to raise tax rates. we also have loopholes and make a more complex. we need to simplify air system. -- our system. >> i just got back from chicago. i appreciate being here.

one of the issues that affects all of us is the amount of regulation that is placed on businesses including agriculture. we're almost to the point where we cannot compete on a world scale because of the tremendous amount of regulations that are imposed on us. there are basic rules and regulations. >> a few minutes ago, i alluded to the fact that things happen when we allow loss to be made by people other than congress. it does not work for anyone who is elected.

once it affects enough of the economy, it is requiring a hundred dollars or more in compliance costs. unless congress adopted it, our laws need to be made by those who accountable. the reason why we got rid of king george the third is does it cannot let him out of office.

>> my status telling me have time for two more questions. but try to enter some on my way out. >> there's a lot of elderly people here. maybe i am not in the right room here, but maybe you can explain to me your viewpoint on entitlement programs. should the government be taking money from me to give to my grandmother or dad to pay for their medicare? and the redistribution of wealth ta?

should we even have entitlement programs >> it's a fantastic question. she's got a book that will help

you answer a lot of those questions. really good book for whatever it's worth. be happy to. [inaudible] [laughter] >> i would give you a copy if i had any with me. the 50,000-foot level, the purpose of government is to protect life, liberty and property. government can't do government shouldn't try to do for me that which would be immoral for me to do my myself. the government shouldn't just because i know that it's wrong for me to rob from my neighbor and take my neighbors money for myself. i shouldn't, outsourced the come as an agent to do that for me. when we pay taxes we pay as it were at the point of a government. not literally. it's at the point of a pencil or a pin. but we know that if we don't pay them eventually as some guys with guns will come door house and we will have to pay them, so we just pay them. so we need to be careful about

what we use government for. i think we have to use government for only those things that no one else can do you really can't do for ourselves and that usually involves protection of life, liberty and property. the second layer of the question is what's the purpose of each government. state and local governments have a different role. in case of state to be much probable than that of the federal government. the federal government when we look at what it should, what it can and can't do to protect transform we look at a 224 euros founding document that took an oath to a few months ago. that outlines a few powers and makes clear those powers are not given to congress, not given to the federal government are supposed be reserved for the state. you will find in here in the power that says congress has the power to make everything fair. you won't find anything in your this is congress has the power to relieve suffering wherever it may exist or make things more just, equitable and society in

general. congress can tell you where to go to the doctrine have to pay for. you won't find anything in your that says congress can tell you that you have to buy health insurance, not just any health insurance but that kind of health insurance that congress deems necessary for you to buy. what you will find in it is the power for congress to take care of a few basic things, national defense, regulating trade between the states and foreign nations. federal court system, a federal bankruptcy system, declaring war, taking care of federally owned property and my personal favorite, power of congress, the power to grant letters of reprisal. that's a hall pass that allows you to be a pirate in the name of the nine states. i'm going to get when one day. that's the power of the government in a nutshell. that's the purpose of the federal government and i understand in the constitution there are a few other powers but that's it in a nutshell. let's get back to your entitlements question. for the last few decades,

depending on where you draw the boundaries argument about the last 75 years, the federal government has had the mindset that incumbents are an appropriate exercise of federal power. i believe that in retrospect that decision has proven to be one that is dangerous in the sense that congress has taken that money, i'm saving that money for you for when you retire. meanwhile, spend that money elsewhere. this is one of the reasons why we need to limit the power of congress, one of the reasons why the founding fathers limited the congress. national governments generally come sometimes don't manage things all that well. so separate and apart from what you do the proper role of government to be, it's difficult to dispute the fact that congress has done a bad job of managing these things. and it doesn't change the fact that the constitution has been ignored for too long and it's

been replaced by a mindset facilitated by the u.s. supreme court that says congress can do anything it wants. and the courts won't interfere. but that doesn't change the fact these programs are there but it doesn't change the fact that tens of millions of americans who are now retired have relied on these promises for many, many years. in fact, for decades. it would be inhumane, i think it would be cruel, immoral to simply pretend these programs didn't exist. so we've got to figure out to do with them in a way that is compassionate and what it takes two people in a way that handles them responsibly. in the long run i think we have to have an honest earnest discussion about what the proper role of government is an especially about what the proper role of the federal government is. that's not going to happen until we adopt a balanced budget a minute and the constitution and we at least restrict congress is borrowing power. that will facilitate this discussion. get us back on the right path to understand your frustration and a lot of people in this state,

this date which by what has what has the youngest meeting age in the union who share many of these concerns. we're not going to solve the problems overnight. we've got to solve them with compassion but we do have to solve them. >> you can't cut it off. i mean, when you are eventually phasing out? >> well, depend on what it is. >> entitlement program spent our utah to veterans benefits? absolutely not. that's part of you is not a mission we don't want to do that. i would never support the. talk about other programs, we can do. talk about medicare, medicaid is administered by the states. it's partially funded by the states. there's no reason why we can't continue that trend of shifting gradually the responsibility for funding and managing that responsibility to the states to each state can determine its own standard, set of standards to govern that and other programs. okay. yes, sir.

>> i'm greg brown. i want to ask two questions. the first officially short, i promise. first, going back to the reins legislation that your and supportive, does that include the legislation such as the regulation of mining industry? >> yes. >> and and second, right at 62% of utah's -- >> probably one of your favorite federal agencies i would imagine. >> i'm a mining engineer, yeah. >> enough said. >> the second part is right now 62.5% of utah's coal is locked up under federal regulation. what are you doing as a senate member and also as a member of the energy and natural resource committee to release those for our benefit? >> anytime i'm made aware of any parcel that is being blocked of, i think i can get to right now

i'm happy to run a piece of legislation. if you've got something you think we can unlock right now, that would be fantastic. not all of it is called we can unlock in one fell swoop. some have estimated to be trillions of dollars worth of coal, of low sulfur, high-grade, high-value goal. it's all been locked up just because president clinton decided it should be. and i think that's wrong. we've got to get rid of that. that is going to take us, require us to get another president. and i personally would like to see another president in office in 2012. [applause] >> a new president will have the power to change the boundaries of that, too adjusted just by simple presidential proclamation. let's get one and it was going to to do that.

let's get utah's economy off the ground. of do more for utah's economy than any one single issue that i can possibly think of. come and talk to me and my state director, dan houser, on the way out. i would like to get your contact information. i want to find out what you know about cold so we can help unlock that sell. thank you. i'm told that that's all a time i for questions. i'm going to have to come back here so i can do this again. you guys have asked very good questions and i'm sure there are lots of others that would like to ask more. and i like to answer each and everyone of them. let me just say in closing that of honor to represent you. i'm grateful for the fact that utah's voters chose to trust me for a period of six years with the task of represent you in the u.s. senate. i take very sexy the oath i took a few months ago. that i will support the constitution and the representation of you. i want to do a good job and most important i want to know what's

a concern to you. so that i can represent you well. this is utah's heartland. this is where utah's hard-working people live. this is the place where utah pioneers of 150, 160 years ago came, not knowing whether they were going to survive two winters, and they survived and they thrived. it's time for it to thrive yet again. we can do that as we unlock our energy potential here in the united states, especially in utah, especially right here. may god bless the sovereign state of utah and may god bless the united states. [applause] >> we appreciate everyone with a questions for senator lisa time to come down and to take the time to answer these questions. i think it's an outstanding opportunity we've had here this evening to be able to a united states senator here with us, and i really appreciate his efforts

for being here and also for the efforts of going to the project site and getting a hands-on view of what is taking place up there. thank you for coming. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> i doubt there aren't very many people in town who would like to be subscribed as machiavellian. no matter i think many of them read the print secretly. the darkest night, but not to me people call themselves

machiavellian. >> his name is synonymous with steaming and the sofas pursuit of power. sunday night author miles unger argues that machiavelli's theories may have been a response to the corruption around him at 8 p.m. on c-span's q&a. >> this holiday weekend on american history tv on c-span3, american artifacts.

>> the u.s. senate gaveling in momentarily for pro forma session with no legislative business schedule. lawmakers have been holding these sessions every three days or so to prevent president obama from making recess appointments. now live to the senate floor here on c-span2. >> and senators returned tuesday, september 6 for legislative work started with the judicial nomination of a

judge on the u.s. sixth circuit court of appeals. following the vote on her confirmation the senate will begin work on a house passed bill that overhauls the patent system. >> next up we will bring you a discussion of the african-american political power. boating laws and redistricting in the 2012 vote. this is from the naacp's annual convention which took place in los angeles in late july. this is the 102nd annual

meeting of the civil rights group and the spam is just under two hours. -- and this panel is just under two hours. >> reverend barbara has already set our souls on fire. and all we need -- all we need to do now is pass the plate. so what we want to do is for each of our panelists to give us about five minutes of what they are saying out there, what kind of recommendations you may have for us, as we move forward as naacp, and ladies and gentlemen, this is going to be interactive. those of you who have questions, iif you would raise your hand, the staff will calm and give you a card and they will be collected and we'll try to get

to most of the questions as we can, okay? [applause] >> barbara, will you start off? >> good morning, naacp. >> good morning. >> what a pleasure it is to be here at this 102nd annual convention. i just want to say to your amazing leadership, to leon russell to kim, you're general counsel, reverend barbara, so many, thank you, naacp, for being here and for leading this fight. what a pleasure it is to be here with this panel. since the 2008 election, this country has been turned upside down. since the 2010 election the conservative response to 2008, we have seen a total movement to head back to the future. we are seeing a resurrection of

jim crow era barriers. new poll tactics at the ballot box, and resurgence of disenfranchisement. even former president bill clinton couldn't be quiet about it. he said we are entering the air of a new jim crow, unlike anything he has ever seen. naacp, we can't let this happen. [cheers and applause] >> we can't. the united states supreme court is part of this assault when it opened the floodgates to these kind of voter id laws, when it upheld the indiana voter id law in the crawford case. despite the fact that there wasn't one iota, not one, not even an inch of evidence, introduced that law that anything that helps and prevents voter fraud. following 2010 when so many

people sent home, think about it, folks. 25 million people who voted in 2008 did not vote in 2010. and out of that 25 million, it's estimated majority of those were obama voters. so what happened was that this open the floodgates for these republican legislatures to take control, and what they've been doing ever since is instead of, instead of doing their job, instead of dealing with homelessness, instead of dealing with foreclosures, their number one priority has been to pass these voter restriction laws. and the purpose is so that they continue to have political domination by saying, okay, in 2010 you chose not to vote. but in 2012, you're not going to be able to vote.

we are going to slam the door and ensure our political dominance. so what they are doing is passing these laws. we are saying you can only vote if you have one, one, just one particular form of voter identification. and that form is a drivers license or identification issued by your department of motor vehicles. in the past most states allow you to show all kind of different ids. you could show your student id. you could show your college id. you could even show your state government to issue the employer id. you could show all kinds of, utility bills, all kinds of stuff. it was good enough to get them elected. good enough to get them elected, but now they want to slam the door, make it hard because they want to make sure that in this

country they know it is estimated that 20 million people, 11% of the electorate, do not possess governmentally issued photo identification from the department of motor vehicles. so they are using is as a barrier. and who do you think are among those 20 million square blacks, latinos, native americans. youth voters of all page. elderly and people with disabilities. now, what they're trying to do is in new hampshire when they were considering a law trying to restrict voting, they weren't even quiet about it. they got up and said we've got to this stop the students from voting because they are too liberal. they are the kind of people who elected people like obama. we've got to stop them from voting. so all of this is not about any voter fraud. it's not about someone being

responsible. it is them trying to make sure we can't vote. so what do we do when we have a fight? we stand up. we rise up. we fight. we don't sit back and just say, we're going to take this. someone think we developed is what's called a map update. the map update. now, you know my daddy you to legislate it's a sin and a sin. this is a sin folks because look at this. eight red states, those red states are the states in the past these repressive voter id laws. look at them. you know them. texas. taxes, they are so bad that they said not only are going to have his repressive voter registration law, but we're going to make one extension. want other form of idea we will accept. guess what it is. a handgun registration. okay?

okay, folks. what do we think we are dealing with? and in alabama, georgia, south carolina, tennessee, indiana, wisconsin and kansas, all of these states have these horrible voter id requirements. and if you look at these blue states, the blue states are the states that quote, encourage voter id. now, what do you think encourage means? encourage means you have all these poll workers sitting at their come on, where's your voter id? you will not be able to vote and people will be forced to the provincial bouts that will not be counted. so those states are michigan, florida, louisiana, oklahoma, south dakota, idaho, rhode island and hawaii. and 23 other states, 23 other states are considering these blocks. and acting these kinds of laws.

what else are they doing? i want to point out to the fear doing stuff like making it hard for you to have early voting because blacks use early voting like crazy. and in florida they use -- guess what they did? they made it illegal to any voting on sunday. they made it hard for third party groups to register people to vote. so the naacp, they are saying that if you want to register summer to go, you better turn in that registration within 48 hours, so those league of women voters, others have said were probably more pulling out of the state of florida. so that's a purposeful attempt to make it. we seen the resurgence of these laws and these requirements. so what i wanted to say to you is that we're not here here just to talk about the problems we're

here because we're about solutions. we're about winning battles. >> that's right. >> we believe in winning more. so here's what we need to do. last night, monday, in florida while we were here doing what we have to do, people in florida were doing what they have to do. and they had rallies in orlando, rallies in eatonville and rallies in tampa in order to equip people with the most important thing. in florida because they have the history of racial discrimination in voting, in south carolina they also have a history of racial discrimination in voting, both of these red states, what they did was in order for these laws to become official law, even though they been passed by the legislature, they can't enact these laws for five

counties in florida and they can't enact it for the whole state of south carolina and tell the department of government says it's legal. and that these laws don't have a discriminatory impact. what you need to do, what you need to do is contact the department of justice and say don't, don't approve these laws. don't. how do you do that? how do you do that? go to our website. go to www.lawyerscommittee.org, and you will find tools where you can just click on and send a letter directed general holder. and also, the other thing that we want you to do, because we can't stop them we can't stop, there's so much else going on but i just wanted to talk about the last strategy. the other fighting strategy, so you have to go and you're going to click on, right?

everybody, tell me this. say i deputize -- >> i'm deputized. >> i'm deputized, because we need you to say that i'm going to be part of this battle. so what's happened, with tennessee? i was talking about the law in tennessee on every program and black folks were running up the wires calling them. and one lady said barbara, i am deputizing myself. i'm going to go out and going to register every black male that i can find, i'm going to take them right now to the department of motor vehicles and help them get their drivers license. or help them get a non-voter, nine driving idea. we've got to deputize ourselves. we've got to reach out because some cities, in milwaukee for example, 71% of all black men don't have a driver's license. if you are car poor, why do you

have a drivers license? in some states they won't have -- they want you to a drivers license if you have certain kinds of issues. so it's important for us to do this. so i want you to say going forward out of this, let's arm ourselves, naacp. let's remember when who is a dd in? we are all gideons. and remember that the battlefield is huge. it's right here right now. we are on it. we are not about to retreat. the only thing we know is go for by the only know we know it to fight with about it before this the only thing we know is to stand up and rise up because we are the cutting edge of the movement. [applause] we are the future. we will never ever sit down. nobody's going to roll over us.

because we will stand up and do what has to be. we are the future. so i call on you, join in this battle. thank you so much. [cheers and applause] >> barbara. >> all right, barbara. >> now, naacp family, one of our panelists that couldn't be with us today is our own way tinsley. and let me tell you why he is not here today. he wants each of you to know. the president is going to have a meeting today on the debt ceiling. and what happens with that, what the major items that go into the debt ceiling will affect each of us, and wade is there representing us. we are here, but wade is doing our business for us. [applause] so we wish them well.

he's been deputized, and so he's ready to do what needs to be done. doctor. >> good morning, naacp. >> good morning. >> i'm not going to preach. [laughter] when i was a younger man, i spoke on a program after the reverend joseph lowery, and i said, i am never speaking after him again. [laughter] and about three years later he was on especially put on a program just before me, and i work with reverend lowry for many years, but i don't preach some just going to give you some of my observations and some of my suggestions about what has to be done. first of all, the barbarians are at indicated. nathan bedford forrest is back. all right? he is back. barack obama was not only the

first african-american who was elected president, he was the first non-southern democrat who was elected president in 48 years. and the heart and soul of the opposition to the civil rights movement our white southern conservatives. all right? the white southern conservatives who after barack obama's election said we are a postracial society. pew released a study yesterday about household net worth. african-americans net house hold net worth is $5500. half the median, half of black households in the united states have less than $5500 in assets. total net worth. cars, bank accounts, whatever. hispanics saw a big drop in the

past four or five years, going from 16 to six. wives saw a little drop -- whites saw a little drop going from 130 to 115. all right? so the median net worth for our white household is 20 times that of a black households. it's about 20 times that of hispanic households. that is what they mean by postracial. white unemployment is like 7.5, 7.8%. black unemployment listed as, you know, like twice as, listed as 16-point fight or something, really probably closer to 25. that's postracial. access to health care, they wouldn't even be a problem, there would it be the need for health care law that was just non-hispanic white people. mosboth non-hispanic white peope have health care.

a third, and let me mention in terms of the household worth. after the black households have zero net worth, or negative net worth that they in fact owe more than what they have in all other assets. that's postracial. and you can go up and down the line, and as barbara mentioned about these voter id laws, all right, the same thing that is true about income, about net worth, about health care, about racial disparities in diseases and treatment in terms of those diseases, all of those things, the gaps are all there, and they are there in terms of identification. and these laws were all passed with the intent of reducing the minority vote in the united states.

now, barbara want you to call the justice department. i'm not so sure. i think, my suspicions pashtun my suspicion is the justice department is afraid because we have the second supreme court, the chief justice of the united states now, his name may not be rager -- roger cheney but he is the reincarnation of roger caney. that's who he is. even when he was a young man out of law school in the reagan justice department, he was hostile to black voting rights. even when ronald reagan was signing the extension of the voter rights act of 1982, john roberts was saying no, no, no. i mean, this man is the chief justice of tennessee supreme court. and it is the slim reed that

voting rights has right now is just as anthony kennedy. and anthony kennedy is not, is not the woman from arizona -- >> justice o'connor. >> he is not justice o'connor. justice o'connor was willing to stand up when she really thought something was right. can be as a lot more waffling in terms of the position that he takes. so i don't think the justice department is going to be strong in a lot of these cases in terms of that. but that being said, that doesn't mean, all right, first of all i have to be frank. i analyze politics. it doesn't sound good and it certainly isn't what would appear -- you would expect to hear from a preacher, a lot of these will not be in play next year. all right? let's be real. south carolina is not going to elect a democratic senator.

and the only black representative going to elect isn't representative, a district where someone who thinks he is white, all right? [laughter] the same thing is true in texas. the same thing is true in indiana. kansas, kansas somehow got off the track. it's become a totally whacked out state. i don't know why. it just had. in most of those states indiana, my suspicion is that president obama has written off indiana because there are a lot more other promising state. the me tell you about the anger of the barbarians at the gate. seen it all on tv, and i haven't seen it on tv. i don't watch politics on tv. i prefer reading about things

and watching it on tv. but in terms of what you have seen, they want to take the country back. they want to take the country back to 1950. 1930, 1910. that's what they want to take the country back to. they don't want to take the country back in terms of just they're going in a different direction. they want to take the country back in time. let me tell you what happened to the population in three states. all right? georgia i want to mention in particular because georgia, you know, had a 25% increase in its black population between 2000-2010. 25% doesn't mean anything unless you know where you start off. and in georgia the black population was already 27%.

and so the black population in georgia between 2000-2010, that's 10 years, some of you know that 10 years is just a blink of an eye. and in the blink of an eye, the black voting age population, i'm not even talk about over all, just the voting age population increased by 481,000. that's almost a congressional district. and the hispanic population of georgia doubled. by increasing by 240,000. so in those 10 years there were 720,000 more lax and hispanics in georgia. a georgia now has a smaller non-hispanic white population in florida. the white population, the non-hispanic white population increased so the minority population of georgia grew twice as fast as the non-hispanic

white population. georgia now is 56% non-hispanic white, which means its minority population is 44%, and it's going towards 50. texas became a majority minority state between 2000-2010. in texas, the hispanic population voting age population increased by 1,860,000. the black population increased by 445,000, which means the black and hispanic population of texas increased by 2,300,000, between 2000-2010. the white non-hispanic population increased by six and 45,000 comes to almost four times the growth of the minority population in texas, as the non-hispanic white population in texas.

what these people do read, and present -- what these people dread, these people, what these people dread is they can look at those projection lines of the composition of texas, florida, of a number of, of georgia, of a number of other states in the united states, and what d.c. is a, us rednecks are not going to be in the majority. [laughter] we are mad. >> that's right. >> savannah now they're trying to do whatever they can. but as i told you, first of all in terms of redistricting, for the first time in history, a majority of black state legislators across the country serve in the minority. even after the awful year of 1994 most black state legislator still served in a majority in their respective legislative. they could have a say in what

went on in state legislatures. now 75% of the black states -- of the black state legislators in the seven states, by seven state i'm in states of the old confederacy. i don't use those newfangled definition. 75% served in the minority now. so they don't have an impact on the drawing of the map and most are many of these states. but in terms of what happens, in terms of redistricting, 85% of the population growth in the united states came from the minority population. hispanic population increased between 2000-2010, 43%. asian 43%. blacks, 13%. and non-hispanic white 1%. so even though the republicans

are in control of in many states of drawing the maps, and as i said i don't have confidence, much confidence in the justice department, the fact of the matter is most of the population growth are minority group members. and in texas they are going to try their best to benefit from those, the redistricting. but as i said, to my and 400,000 new minority, and i wasn't even counting asians and native americans, 2,400,000 new blacks and hispanics in texas between 2000-2010. i was a majority of the games, a large majority of the gains they made in the population. so redistricting going to be ugly? yeah, it is. the democrats will take advantage in some places where they have an advantage but across the border special where most african-americans live it's going to be ugly.

is it going to be a game changer? no. but i do have to reiterate what barbara said, redistricting won't matter if people of color turn out to vote. >> that's right. that's right. [applause] >> the disastrous 2010 was that people of color, i wrote a paper. they were situated in the right places to make a difference, but it didn't turn out to vote. and the dominant thing that's going to matter between, between now and 2012, things can be overcome. voter id laws can be overcome. >> absolutely. >> efforts to redraw districts in ways that disadvantage voters can be overcome.

but bodies showing up at the polls and forcing their ways to casting their votes, that will be overcome. [applause] >> dr. bositis. [applause] >> i have one announcement i need to make. we'll all the state conference presidents, you are requested to go to room 500 1b to pick up tickets for today's labor leaders luncheon. and they need you to pick them up asap. 501 b. if you'll quickly, quietly taken and return. that will work. melanie? >> of course come back. spent good morning, naacp family.

i can't sit down. >> all right now. >> i bring you greetings on behalf of the national coalition on black civic participation, and black youth vote. i want to publicly thank my chairman richard womack who i hope it's somewhere in the audience here today. for his lifelong leadership. lorain, it's always good to come home to the naacp family. they bomb their homes in christmas of 1951. where my mother janet campbell never get up without recognizing my mom. who just turned 81 years old, and so excited i'm at the naacp. ..

you told us at the other day, leader, chairman. you remind us the future is calling. and with courage the naacp will answer. if ever there was a time for our leaders to lead, is now. brother ben, my friends, i agree

that congress needs to let the 2001, and 2003 tax cut expire for the most wealthy in america. [applause] dave has told us we have a couple dollars in the bank but we don't have the wealth for our children. the naacp family, i love the scene of america's promising future. not a slogan but a call to action. i am here to talk about the road to 2012. the road to 2012 is happening right now and it is time for our leaders to lead. a call to action and the forces of black america to weigh in on the debt ceiling and budget cut debate that is taking place as we sit here right now. i know brother hillary has kept you in the know about all that.

let's think about this. why is there even a debt ceiling debate? we know we have to pay our bills, don't we? we know we have to pay our bills. so the truth of the matter is what is really going on? it is not about paying the bills. it is about making sure president obama looks bad. it is about making a short history is not repeated. it is about a wealthy getting wealthier on the backs of the middle class and the least of god's children, sing it, what is going on? you know what is going on. there are those who are working overtime to lock the door on our children's future. our daughters and sons and grandchildren. in dorr they they talked about

it where i spent too many years, about 20 years of my professional life in atlanta, georgia. georgia state legislature passed a law to run our latino brothers and sisters out of the state and farmers are having problems getting vegetables to the market. isn't that a shame? they are requiring parolees to get in the field and pick their crops. sound familiar? sounds like the chain gangs are coming back. so what is going on? this is a time, first time in our nation's history that a president of the united states has to show his birth certificate to show he is an american citizen. what the heck is going on? time for our leaders to lead and call it what it is. racism. it is alive and kicking in america.

in wisconsin, of ohio, i won't get into that, all kinds of laws about labor camps organized. that is the labor movement. in wisconsin and ohio it is our fight. we have got to be there. what is going on? what are we going to do to achieve america's promise for our children? it is time to act and fight back. rev. barbara couldn't preach as well as you but he was a good brother. those who know me long probably hoping they are watching. we got to fight, north carolina got it back. so much i want to say. i am going to go right into what lies ahead. the road map of 2012.

we need to engage the folks in the census count. we get all that work and we did that. we need to reach and make sure those folks turned out. black women leaders will raise your hands. we know what we have to do. we have been carrying the backs of the black folks for a long time. we have to reach out to our brothers in a different way. we need to get on street corners and make sure brothers get the idea. we know what is going on. we need the brothers to know. you have to get that -- lawyers are going to do what the lawyers do but we have to start right now. yesterday. making sure this jim crow laws won't take effect in 1939. it is hard to get the money to do this stuff.

the naacp, we write checks but we have to write checks to get in our coffers. ask the senate but if we want to make sure what they told us, he who controls your politics, we need to write those checks. all of us who are naacp have to write a check to the naacp. we all have to do our part. we have to write those checks. you heard about redistricting. we don't have a lot of tools. the ability to get very scientific about getting out that vote. we have to collaborate. we have to organize ourselves. it has to be a rally for me. i will ask you to do this for me. first i want to ask all the children in the audience under the age of 18 to stand up.

the bible teaches us the child shall lead them into the light. don't sit down. we have to fight. all those in teen-39 please stand. you are the largest voting bloc. you have been leading the way, increasing the black vote since 1992. all those 40 and over please stand. you have been leading the way breaking down the door and standing up. we need you not to not just worry about children. we will stay in the fight that everybody look at your brother and next to you and say we know what is going on. the naacp family, time to break down the doors of races across the spectrum and time for our

leaders to lead. the naacp family believe it'll time to take the hinges off of the door and stand up for our children to have a future and keep america's promise. it is time for our leaders to lead. the naacp family, we know what is going on and we know what to do. it is time. it is time for our leaders -- i thank you, god bless you and as my brother earl said let's organize, organize, organize. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you melanie campbell. judith a. browne-dianis. >> they said it was hard to come after reverend lowery. melanie campbell is difficult to follow too. >> is your microphone on? >> good morning.

thank you. my friend ben, board of directors, thank you for having us today to have this important discussion. the road to 2012 a bumpy one. has potholes, big pot holes. if we are not careful we will fall into them. i know with the naacp and our friends up here, we will not have a problem. we will fill the pot holes. we will steamroll them to make sure that our people can participate unfettered in 2012. we have got to make sure we are breaking down the barriers because we understand from what we have heard and what we know that it is no coincidence, no

coincidence what is happening. the numbers show that some folks got to be scared. they have got to be scared of us. our brothers and sisters in the latino community, because we can change this country dramatically. [applause] there are people who are scared of the change we might bring. so we have got to be in a place to be ready for this fight. it is no coincidence that these photo id laws cross us in 32 states in the first two months of this year. it is no coincidence that it happened after particular people sweep the country winning state legislatures in 2010 because we

didn't participate. they saw the opportunity not because voter fraud exists in rampant number. the bush administration tried to find a voter fraud and guess what? there were very few cases that they could prosecute. in fact, there were none that were around voter impersonation which is what voter id seeks to solve. we say this is a solution without a problem. a solution which -- without a problem because instead of taking care of budgets, they decide to add to the cost. they talk about we have to cut everything but they add costs to voter id. in texas they put it through as

emergency legislation. you got deficits in every state but they would rather make sure that they put up barriers to voting that take care of the budget. they have more costs because they have to provide free id to everybody and most of them are going to lie about how much it will cost because they don't want to show their hand. but we are not stingy. we know what it is about. i take issue with the fact that it doesn't really matter because the states we're talking about may not be in play. north carolina, going to be in place. north carolina, the governor vetoed it. rev. barbara told me and anita earls they were going to take up to override the veto. this is a place where a little over 14,000 votes was the margin for the obama win in north

carolina. they know what the numbers are. in wisconsin they put voter id in a vacuum. it comes on the heels of trying to take down the union's. [applause] so we take down the unions and make sure people can't vote. 77% of black men ages 18-24 who do not have voter id. we think we got on a plane to get here. everyone has to have photo id. is not true. 25% of african-americans don't have it. not just that we don't have state issued photo identification but many of these states they are requiring your current address is on that stake id. and we know we mobilized. got to move where the jobs are.

our populations have to be more transient. they understand this. and it is also about students. in wisconsin you have got to have the right student id with your current address but none of the universities in wisconsin provide that. they know. in texas it is okay if you use your gun id. they know who that helps and they know our turnout was significant in 2008. ninety-two% of registered african-americans showed up in 2008. they understand what is at stake. it is not just the voter id. let me go on to tell you about florida, my favorite state. there are a lot of battles in florida. we have to keep doing that because instead of making sure voter registration is over they

want to restrict it. they don't want you to turn out or sign up. they don't want you to come. instead we are going to cut off early voting in ohio. let's get rid of the golden week which register and vote in the same week. get rid of it. in ohio. we took on the issue of provisional ballots. you show up to the polls and a bunch of people showed up. provisional ballots. if your name wasn't on a roll you at least get a provisional ballot. provisional ballots? most of the time are thrown out because the poll worker error. we fought for this in ohio. the secretary of state put in place something that would allow the accounting where it was, poll worker error. we fought to make sure poll workers would tell you where to go if you went to the wrong place. they know. what they did this year was

passed a bill that says poll workers can't tell you where to go if you show up in the wrong place. they know, people! we need to understand that they know. challenges. when texas passed the law around voter id, the tea party of texas announced they're going to put 1 million poll watchers in texas. 1 million. they want to watch you all. they want to watch election protection and they want to watch you go vote because they know you have that voter id. you've got to have the motor id and if you don't have the voter id we are going to challenge your eligibility and it is not just about challenging eligibility but schering and

intimidating. you show up to a poll in an all black neighborhood and there are a bunch of white pokes with tea party t-shirts. they know what fear factor that is going to be. what are we going to do? what we are going to do is we have got to understand this is about power. nothing more than power. power and control. so what we have got to do is page the electorate. we can change the electorate by registering people. we put -- barbara arnwine and derek look at these numbers and quote these numbers. estimates of people who were not voting black and latino voters, so this is 2008 numbers. in north carolina, unregistered, people who didn't vote. 467,000 people, black folks and

latino folks in north carolina came down for the vote. in mississippi 199,000. in florida, 1.four million. we got a lot of work to do. texas, three.four million. if we can get our people registered and get them out, it will be the change we have been waiting for. the next thing we need to do is massive voter education. in places where these id was our past we have to make sure people know how to get it. wisconsin they played terry -- trickery. there's a video about someone trying to get id. when someone tries to get id they won't give you the free id you are supposed to have for voter purposes unless you tell them i am here to get id for voting. then you get it for free. they are keeping a secret.

in case you show up for voter vehicle purposes to get your license you have to pay. you have to go in knowing to say i want a voter id. these are the additions they are playing in order to hurt us. we have got to educate ourselves about how to get our hands on these ids. lastly i want to say we need each and every branch in the country to serve as a watchdog. watch, watch and report and do something. that has to do with election officials who have unbridled discretion in how elections are run. there are 13,000 elections in this country and 13,000 ways of running elections. we have got to be on top of this. the local election officials, nobody knows their names. what kind of power they have

over our ability to participate. and we have got to watch those people called the tea party years. because we know that they are getting for us. to make sure progressive people do not turn out, that if they do turn out, so scared that they will turn around. we need every branch to be looking for this. i know there are groups who are getting questions about they want their tax returns for nonprofits. they are starting to ask tax returns. they are not asking to see who gives it away to you. they want to be on top of you. they want to go after people's status. we need to be on our game to watch them. start calling it back at them. we have got to make sure that on election day, all of our folks are put into election protections so we can say we

have our own poll. we have got to be the poll watchers. but remember this is about power and they know what is at stake. it is time for us to step up and step out. thank you. >> judith a. browne-dianis. you see why she is highly sought after. >> i want to thank chairman barack and president alice for recognizing the need to put voting rights front and center on the agenda. [applause] as has already been noted we have seen an unprecedented attack on african-american voting rights like nothing we have seen in recent times. also the right to vote is so very important the reality is our vote is rendered meaningless if we are stuck in districts

that don't fairly reflect the strength of our community. i want to spend a moment talking about redistricting. we get one shot once a decade. we get a shot to redraw the district boundaries not just for congressional lines but for school boards and city council and county commission, judicial district. we get one shot and it is important we mobilize now to participate in the process. there are a number of states that have put redistricting maps in place. some of them are discriminatory so the litigators are figuring out which of these challenges we can bring to the courts but the reality is we can't bring everything to the courts. we need the folks in this room to mobilize, get out to your hearings, participate, offer testimony, check the doors to make sure the maps that are ultimately put in place fairly reflect the strength of our communities. there are a couple things going

on right now that animate this redistricting that make it unique and unlike any that we have faced before. we are seeing an unprecedented attack on the voting rights. this is our most effective and important civil-rights law. already we see challenges coming out of north carolina, georgia, alabama, all aimed at getting the voting rights act. undoubtedly one of these cases will come to the supreme court. they are aiming to tear the heart out of the voting rights act when we need it most. during redistricting. during this part of the decade when we have seen the most discrimination against minority communities and the heart of the voting rights act is so very critical during this time. we are on the defensive. we are on the offensive. this is such a critical time and

i am so happy this issue is front and center for us today. the other issue that makes this redistricting cycle unique is we have president barack obama and many have prematurely call it opposed racial irra. we know all too well that discrimination, voting discrimination is alive and rampant throughout the country. we have heard about the photo id adopted in georgia but all throughout the process we are seeing proof of citizenship requirements that have an impact not just of latino communities but black communities as well. we are seeing cutbacks on early voting. we are seeing states making it more difficult to get the right to vote restored. we have redistricting being carried out in an environment that is incredibly toxic and should have a concerned. let me tell you about excellence.

for every 1,000 persons in our country, 3,000 african-americans are behind bars. 1200 latinos and 500 whites. that is a disparity of 6:1. six blacks incarcerated to one white behind bars. tremendous political implications. tremendous implications for black voting access. this is an issue we must pay close attention to. many people say we are opposed racial but let's look at how the 2008 presidential election played out throughout this country and how many folks from louisiana or mississippi or alabama? 10% of white voters in alabama cast the ballot for barack obama. 11% in mississippi and 14% in louisiana. by no means are we post racial. let me give you a sampling of the kind of discrimination we

continue to witness throughout the country today. in tarragon parish, louisiana the judges are elected. five white judges in substantial white population and one of those white judges recently turned out to halloween party in black face in a jail suit with handcuffs. he still sits on that court today. redistricting gives us an opportunity to get folks like him out. this is an important part of the justice system in our nation's though often these elected courts fly under their radar and we have to make sure in places like that, are so many throughout the country, we are participating in the process of -- can get more representatives. people who fairly represent our interests on those courts.

lastly, we have become an increasingly diverse nation in the past decade. the growth we have seen throughout the country was fueled by increases in the latino, black and asian population. we need to recognize that fact as we move into redistricting in places like florida. we have 675,000 more african-americans than we did ten years ago. 600,000 more in georgia. five hundred seventy thousand more of us in texas. 300,000 more in north carolina. a difference of 25,000 more in maryland. we have to make sure line drawers respond to the demographic change that has happened over the course of the past decade, create new majority black districts that fairly reflect the complexion of our

communities. some again, all of these issues are about democracy. democracy is at stake. i applaud the naacp for taking the opportunity to give us a moment to map out the counteroffensive to the unprecedented attack we are seeing an african-american voting rights today. ..

and i want to take a moment to acknowledge history beginning in the '70s, certainly after the decision in 1986 it was all of you, it was your branches in county after county and states throughout the south and other parts of the country, bringing those section 2 lawsuits that enabled us to have single-member districts in areas that previously been at large and never had seen a black elected to public office. you bringing lawsuits and being plaintiff and suing your local governments that got us to the point where we had representation that is slightly more fair. we are nowhere near where we should be. it has been called the quiet revolution in the south. that wave of litigation that happened, that established those districts. well, now we're in the period of both defending

what we've gained and also making sure that the population increases that have occurred really do translate into, rightfully and fair political power. so part of this is about overcoming past discrimination. but part of it is really about ensuring one person, one vote and voting strength of minority communities that are politically cohesive, that is recognized in our democracy. so why doesn't it happen. why isn't it recognized? two of the common techniques that you are probably familiar with are cracking and packing. let me talk about cracking first. that is where the minority population in a jurisdiction is divided among several different districts so that you don't have the power to elect your candidate choice in any district. i actually think what we're seeing this time around is more frequently this cracking strategy. and there we can use tools under the voting rights act through courts, through the department of justice, to

try to combat that. but you need to know, when you're involved in the redistricting process in your local level, looking at proposed maps you need to know what the possibilities are so you can see, is the minority community being divided more than it should be and if you were united in a single district would you be a table to elect your candidate choice. but another tactic i'm frankly surprised to see but being used in the north carolina is the packing. and there they are putting more black voters in a district than you need to elect your candidate of choice in order to weaken your influence in the rest of the state. they're using the voting rights act to try to justify that. oh they're saying voting rights act is making us do that. and that's not correct as a matter of law but it has really bad impact on your ability to ultimately influence the political process. remember david bositis told us in the southern states, 75% of our minority state legislators are themselves in the minority in their

legislatures. that's a really important thing to understand because it means that they can't get the votes that they need to push forward our agendas. so we have to look not only at what is the impact on the districts that allow black voters to elect their candidate of choice but what is the impact on the progressive community more broadly. we did analysis of the congressional districts they have redrawn. we have 13 districts. they packed more hand of that of the state's black voters into three districts. instead of having an influence in some of those other districts the maps they proposed would limit the influence of minority voters in that state. so we are trying to make sure that the voting rights act is not per vetted and used as justification to really subvert and weaken minority voting strength. the final thing that i want to say that, it is important to be involved in the

litigation, to bring forward what you know about the irregularities that happen around voting, problem with the polling places when your candidates experience, you know harrassment or their homes are targeted, all of those kind of discrimination around voting is relevant in a redistricting lawsuit. so come forward with that evidence. be prepared to be witnesses. be prepared to be plaintiffs. we are seeing many of these plans being sent to the d.c. district court instead of the department of justice. so we need people to step forward and intervene in the d.c. court. but i would also say that, and i really do want to applaud all of you who worked so hard to be involved in the voting rights cases you really made a difference. final thing once districts are in place we need people to run for office. >> right. >> you need to field credible campaigns. not pay filing fee and have a name on a ballot but really support the candidates and get involved in the political process at

the end of the day. >> thank you, miss earls. just a quick reminder. we're going to q&a, if our staff, if you raise your hand, our staff will bring you a card and you write your question on it and we'll try to get to as many of them as we possibly can. derek johnson. >> thank you, lorraine. it is hard to come behind judy and anita when they write my scripts and say everything i want to say. what's the solution? we heard over and over about the tea party and them and conservatives and those folks. we are the solution. the naacp has the only infrastructure in our community that goes from coast to coast and every little town. >> that's right. >> and naacp is best positioned to do something that many civil rights and other organizations can not do because they do not have people on the ground.

one of the things we must do and changing how we function, we need to gravitate more towards the substance of our work, develop strategies in and away from the pomp and circumstance and the grandiose statements and big speeches. what has happened over the past 20 years is the naacp becoming too lax with the way we operate during the election process. [applause] and as a result of that, other organizations swoop into our community, race money and claim work that we do because we have no way to measure our work. so we have to change and shift the paradigm how we function. every state is at play. this election cycle. there are no states that is

not at play in 2012. in 2007, everyone is talking about whether or not, which political party was going to win, ohio, pennsylvania, and florida. nobody talked about north carolina. in 2008, we were in north carolina. so we can not go into an election cycle thinking because i live in alabama or i live in mississippi and only 10% of the white folks consistent with the african-american community, therefore we can't focus on those states. we lose when we have that mind set. >> that's right. >> we lose. >> georgia is now 44% minority. mississippi is 38% african-american, 42% minority. if 10% of whites in mississippi vote consistent with african-american community and we have higher voter turnout, guess what? we win. so what has happened in the

past elections? we wait 90 days out, 60 days out, or 30 days out. we then begin to plan on how we're going to turn the vote out. somebody outside of our community come dump a few dollars in our neighborhood. then we go buy some t-shirts. we give our cousins and our children the t-shirts. >> that's right. >> we walk through the same neighborhoods because we walk through, because they're the safe neighborhoods, not where the folks really need to see our presence. then we claim victory if we happen to win that local election where we have not had victory at awe, we done the same thing we've always done and we've gotten the same results. and what happened in 2008, the obama campaign exposed us, not only naacp, all of the civil rights community, exposed is to say the emperor has no clothes. the emperor has no clothes

because they built the infrastructure in our community. used a lot of folks that weren't from our community and turned out our folks and now they're not in our community. in 2010 we lost. >> that's right. >> because we didn't build our infrastructure from the ground up using a new method and how we function. [applause] i commend chairwoman and lorraine and dr. barber because they have been pushing the staff. i have to commend roger that he has been heeding the call we've got to do something different. we have to be more strategic in our thinking. we have to be more deliberative in our process. we now have the technology that we where we can measure is the effectiveness of the units on the ground, not just for 2012 because this process is not about 2012 alone. it is about everything leading up to 2012 and everything after 2012.

that can only implemented if the state conferences and the local units take heed to the new technology and grab hold of the technology and the training. >> that's right. >> so come this fall, every state conference need to have a plenary session to talk about the strategy of turning out the vote in your state. during that same time the staff will be reaching out to you about identifying your key branch leaders across the state to come to an eight-hour training on how to use the technology. in that process bringing everybody together to talk about what are the nuances and important things we need to know. we talk about turning out folks be it in oklahoma or new york city, because, location by location, as we talk about all of the voter suppression methods that are being used. as much as it is very similar. there are very unique differences. we can't have a plan.

you have to have a national strategy what you want to do. but you drill down to the local communities and on a state level and nobody can do that but the naacp. so, folks as we say, well you know, you mississippi, you have five kids doing that for free, how are you going to feed them kids? my response is, if i didn't do this, my kid would have a future. >> that's right. >> if i didn't do this, we won't have a future so we have to figure how do we get the best and the brightest in our community engaged to understand the big picture? that why we share an appreciation for the historical analysis because history has taught us that this game is not about fairness. it's about power. and if we don't understand the power dynamics that is involved in being civilly engaged in elections then we will lose our ability to have anything. and so, if as units across

this country, it is our responsibility. the speaker yesterday, kept saying i'm not saying that you are culpable but i want to hold you accountable. >> that's right. >> this process is about the naacp being accountable because for me, tea party can't do anymore than what we allow them to do in our community. [applause] as we go back home, all the pomp circumstance being called, mr. president, should go out the door. and we really need to be talking about in this county, what's at stake. in this state election, what is at stake, the most significant thing to happen in 2010 was the taking of state legislatures across this country and in the south. and in the south there are only two democratic legislative bodies. that is in mississippi and arkansas. we are fighting all we can to keep it in mississippi. arkansas come up next. because of that, we're seeing all those voter

suppression laws. >> that's right. >> we're seeing all of the rolling back of our gains. but we're seeing all of that, not because they're doing it to us, because we did it to ourselves, because we were not strategic in getting our folks out in 2010. and naacp, we bear the responsibility, not the to repeat that mistake again. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, give our panelists arousing, arousing, thank you. [applause] all right. derrick is a perfect segue what we're doing next. so they have given you the lay of the land. you understand what the problems are, the challenges are. now we're coming to our naacp solutions.

i'm bringing up our very talented, extremely talented, coo, roger van. roger will come and explain to us what we as naacpers are asked to do. roger. [applause] >> naacp, repeat after me, if you will. many have died for my vote. >> many have died for my vote. >> so i have to respect it. >> you won't take it away. >> because i'll fight to protect it. >> i will push for my issues. >> no matter who is elected. >> no matter who is elected. >> because when we all participate. >> when we all participate. >> our democracy is perfected. >> this is my voice. >> this is my vice is. >> this is my power. this is my vote. >> this is my vote. >> give yourselves a round of applause. >> all right

[applause] >> let's talk about the work very quickly. i know we want to get to the q&a. what we're planning is unprecedented, large-scale national program. the only 50 state nonpartisan electoral program in the country. i want to repeat that. the only 50-state, nonpartisan electoral program in the country. >> that's right. >> tens of thousand of volunteers, all of you plus all of our leaders in local units, hundreds of units, mobilized, states conferences branches using college units. in those states where prisoners are able to vote we'll have some prison branches on the job as well. massive range of allies including media, be black radio, television, print, online media participations to promote our psas we'll be providing you with communications packages where you can go to the local cable station and give them our electronic psas and get those on the air. training, technology and field allies as well. people are lining up to work

with us, brothers and sisters, because who we are. mou with african-american church, fraternities and sororities representing 35 million people f we turn out a fraction of those folks we could have a significant impact on the election next year. let's talk about structure and accountability. from this convention to the next there will be a strict focus on voter registration and education. voter registration is self-slantory. you if you went to our workshop on voter empowerment you already receive ad manual that is the best manual we have ever produced on voter registration. it leads you step by step through the process. voter education will have a couple of phases. we're not only going to be talking about the issues that the panelists have raised, he had kasting our people about attack on voting rights and what you need to do in the states where voter i.d. laws are in place to get registered and vote. we'll also talk about our issue areas. the work of the naacp.

this is important because this civic engagement process not just about an election. it's about building power for the naacp. so that when you go into the streets and register people to vote, you're not just talking about the election, you're talking about the work of the association. the issues that are important to us. black men and boys, the frame that our president and ceo discussed during his speech. the issues related to health and education, criminal just ticks our other issues. what we want to do is build an army even after the 2012 election help us in fights at the state level, the local level. build our membership and build our power. next convention in houston we will have a strict focus through the election on vote are turnout in gotv. this fall as derek mentioned we'll ask each of our state conferences to set aside time for plenaries and extended training on all of this. but particularly to begin with, voter registration and education. next spring at our regional trainings, and we will have

regional conferences in every region next year, brothers and sisters. we will train on gotv and election protection as we move to next year's launch at next year's convention of our gotv efforts. each unit is going to be responsible for developing a civic engagement plan, with clear, i'm going to say this again, clear, measureable and realistic goals. if i say clear? >> clear. >> measurable. >> measurable. >> and realistic goals. >> and realistic goals. >> we'll talk about realistic. if y'all can only register 50 people, please tell us you will only register 50 people. no need for i to tell us you will register 1,000 folks. that is not realistic. the days when we oversell and overpromise are gone. we will have a system to measure everything that you do and hold you accountable for the work. accountability through online tracking. each person registered and contacted and we know how many people will be registered so we can turn those people that we register and contact out on election day. all right. let's talk about innovation.

innovation will come through technology. you have heard about this van system. not roger van system. but voter activation network system. it is 50-state, we have compiled for the first time in the history of this organization a 50-state voter file that will enable you to find people unregistered. able to create walk lists. able for you to communicate with people on a repeated basis. all right? and again, this is the only system of its kind, 50-state system, that exists outside of the political parties structure. okay? and that, and it is very important, the only other entities that have this kind of technology are the political parties. and we at the naacp will now be able to deliver it to you and train you on it as well. [applause] mobile messaging campaigns to target people on their cell phones, social networking campaigns on facebook and twitter. up load to up lift. it will allow folks to up

load their contacts and send them a electronic voter registration form that can be pointed out and mailed in. we used this in great success in 2008 in a few short weeks registered, 20,000 people, mostly students across the country. we'll use this technology to make this happen. finally, we have participations that we're developing around the use of 1-866-my vote 1. a hotline that promotes voter registration and communicate people around election protection and other issues. this is what we need you to do. let me cut to the chase. volunteer, each one of you in this room, each delegate, we need everybody here to commit to volunteer five hours a week for your local unit civic engagement program. all right. let's do the math. i need an competitor to check my math. got 2100 delegates. five hours a week, and, between january 1 and election day it is roughly 44 weeks. that is 462,000 volunteer

hours, brothers and sisters. somebody say that is whole lot of volunteer hours. number two, it is not up on the slide but we're also going to ask everybody to recruit five other volunteers. recruit five. so you're going to volunteer five hours a week and then we're going to ask you to recruit five other people. if we do that, that's 462,000 becomes 2.8 million volunteer hours. you understand what i'm saying? and we are able to do that. these are the committed folks in this room. everybody in this room has volunteered at least that much and maybe more. what we're asking you to do is focus in the next 16 months, your attention on civic engagement. doesn't mean other stuff gets pushed to the side. it is very, very important. no matter if you're licking envelope, entering data, on the telephone, walking the community, five hours a week that is all we ask and we don't think it is too much to ask.

we want to join the naacp mobile messaging program. many of you have already done it. sending the world leader to 62227. the world leader to 62227. if you don't know how to do it grab a young person, i know you have a text program, ask them how to do it. a couple more points, each state and local unit needs to identify a couple leaders to help us with this process. one, every unit needs a leader on civic engagement, someone who the unit will hold accountable and someone we at national level can communicate with. next we need a technology lead, someone who is actually coordinate your work on this van database system. we're not playing, folks. we need to train folks. these are the two individuals from each one of the units who go through the training at the state conference conventions later on this year. so you have some work to do in identifying those two individuals after you leave this convention. each state area conference is being asked to schedule at least one major plenary

and at least eight hours of training time. eight hours of training time during the upcoming falcon vengss to be specifically focused on civic engagement. the days when we spend 45 minutes in a workshop think we've been trained are over. >> that's right. >> this work right here is so detailed and complex and requires a level of specialization and focus that we actually need to take these leaders, put them in a room and do some very serious training. so that is the the kind of model we're looking for. we're not talking about adults. we're talking about using college leaders as well. using college units to identify someone and do the work and come to these trainings. each unit will be asked to develop a voter registration plan by november 30th, 2011. november 30th, 2011. what will happen those local plans will be rolled up into state plans so we know what the numbers and metrics are for each one. states. and each one of the state plans we roll up into a national plan so we see what the national numbers are.

this will help us in fund-raising. this will help us pushing the fact that the naacp is uniquely qualified, uniquely qualified to turn out and educate the african-american vote. finally, each unit will be asked to launch a voter registration and voter education campaign by king day 2012. that day is january 16th, 2012. you need to get your plans in so we can check your work, give you support, make sure you're in place. we'll give you resources to get that done. by king day, king day, 2012, january 16th we're looking for every unit that will opt into this program which we expect to be all of our units, to get going on the work. everybody all right? >> got it. >> everybody say, this is my vote. >> this is my vote. >> thank you. god bless everybody. [applause] >> reverend barber has one little announcement. >> i want us to just show something here. i want to ask hillary and derrick, lorraine, i want us

to grab hands. christ did parables. he showed pictures. everybody on the panel, y'all join. because, the point of all of this is, that we have to have inspiration, information, and implementation. >> that's right. >> and you don't create false dichotomies, because if you call people to implement something without inspiring them, they will do like some people do exercise bike. they buy them and they just sit there. you know. if you give folk inspired but don't give them tools, then they have energy. so the point of this, you have to put the best minds, the best message, and the best methods together. you got to make sure there's a connection between your legislators, your implementation, and your information. and we can never be

separated. the reality is, and this is, sometimes say preachers are just inspiration but my son is a physics major. he taught me the other day through empirical data that darkness is an illusion. now when it is dark doesn't seem like it, but a physicist, he says darkness is simply absence of light because you can not create a light bulb that shines darkness. >> all right, reverend. >> so if the tea party is the minority, though right now their influence is an illusion. >> right. >> i'm talking about empirical. i'm talking as a scientist. not as a preacher. but if you turn on the right inspiration, and turn on the right information, and hook

it with the right implementation, the bible says when god stepped out he saw darkness and god smiled and there the light came. it is just an illusion if we hook together, we win and we share the light, which means that fannie lou hayman's mantra, this little light of mine, merely is not a song but must be a mantra of our movement. with the best mind and best methods and the best mission and turn on the light and drive back the illusion of right-wing darkness, if we'll do it. >> all right. yeah! [applause] >> all right. thank you. >> that's why reverend barber is my best bud. he is going to make me move

to goldsboro to go to church. ladies and gentlemen, we come to the important part of this, your input. now we have lots of questions. our panelists, let me start this off. in my home state of texas and the congressional district i grew up in, all of the african-american community was in one district. basically. when the hammer came into existence, we all know who the hammer is, he split us up. so, from the 12th congressional district three other congressional districts feed off of us. . .

been filed in texas as well as preparing to be involved in the dc district under section 5 arnwine so we're using both parts of the voting rights act to argue what's been done in texas it does not comply with the voting rights act arnwine it does raise complicated issues of how do you combine two minority groups because you have latino voters and black voters arnwine

all of the congressional districts that elect counties the choice of black voters also have large latino leaders so there's an important building the bridges that we need to continue to do but we're fighting that in court >> when you think about the congressional and state line issue and i'm glad kristin raised the issue of judges. remember redistricting affects every elected body. so it affects school boards. it affects the elected judge districts. there are city council and local -- you know, all kind of local jurisdictions including the waterboard as we found out in texas. so it's very important that when we're talking about redistricting that we're looking

at the entire array. the lawyers committee for civil rights -- one of the things that we're doing in this battle of redistricting -- you know, because of the incredible leadership of kim keenan and, you know, everyone what we've been able to do is to help join forces with all the groups here in educating the branches about redistricting. >> right. >> how to get involved at the local level but we're also representing in maryland the black caucus of maryland. we're actually representing them. helping them draw the map, talking about what's fair, pushing this issue about what do you do about the fact that the african-american population in maryland is so underrepresented compared to their numbers in the state. so i just want to be very clear that one thing i want everyone here to know is that we are not just here speaking. we're resources for you. >> that's right. >> we're here to help.

and reach out to us, utilize us and work us death. i want to be able to say, oh, there's too much naacp. they're calling me too much. i want to be a visitor. i don't want to be in a position where you're sitting out there and you need help and you say there's nowhere to get the help. >> think about it as a resource. >> we got to be in the room. >> right. >> we have to be in the room. redistricting will be taking place from all levels to state and local, what is taking too place in redistricting cycles we're more reactors than we are proacto proactors. our strength is our ability to go really deep local, but we have a local unit who's not in

the room. we don't even know to make a call. we're not seeing what's taking place. again, this is the accountability on our part. they're going to draw these lines to keep power for us to give power. it's our responsibility to be in the room so that we could preserve what we have and advance our opportunity to gain more power. >> right. >> i just want to piggyback on derrick. we get four additional districts i don't know if congressman watkins is in the room but she's working with all the community groups, the naacp and others who really work together so that in many cases we have to also learn how to do the maps ourselves and so we have alternatives in the situations. the short is when derrics talking about being in the room and in many decades we let other people do that, we do this. we have to be a part of that as well and that's still going on. it's not too late to be active. >> barbara, i like what you said

when you said about -- there's a misnomer that the congressional district affects the congressional district. it happens locally where the new hospitals are going to be built, where the new schools are going to be built. all of that and the new roads that gets built. >> that's right. >> the redistricting affects everything we do so it's not just affects the congressional districts. our next question comes from our state conference congressional leader alice hucks. in california, we have a commission draw our maps, to retain our current political strength, a conservative lawyer has set a scenario that suggest that blacks are the enemy of latino. aren't we both protected groups?

>> yes. and the fact of the matter is -- just talking. >> the fact of the matter is -- where is my -- [laughter] >> the fact of the matter is that the tea party types and the ultra conservatives who are active on the political scene right now just as hostile or even more hostile to latinos and hispanics than they are to african-americans. maybe not quite as -- they really don't like african-americans. [laughter] >> they're hostile to hispanics and african-americans as well. the fact of the matter is, this ultra conservative group on the right is pushing african-americans and latinos

and hispanics closer and closer together. i mentioned before about what's happened in terms of net household worth. hispanic network household worth and african-american net household worth the median level is between 5 to $6,000. that is nothing in the order of the $115,000 that white households net worth. there's a 22 to 1 difference. hispanics are suffering record high unemployment. all of the things that aflick african-americans including problems about voting rights are being visited on hispanics right now. and it's pushing hispanics and african-americans together. so the idea that african-americans and hispanics have some diverging, you know, agenda, especially, according --

about the main issue, which is the economy and jobs. that is the main issue. and african-americans and hispanics have the same agenda. >> great, thank you. >> you know, the one thing i would say is that there are opportunities for black/brown coalitions and we need to think more strategically how we approach redistricting particularly in those states that have seen explosions in the populations of our two groups over the past two decades. texas, california, florida, alabama, new york have all witnessed the highest amount of latino population growth over the course of the past decade. there are many sizeable numbers of african-americans in these states as well. so i think we've got to figure out how we can come together, figure out what their place is, where we're politically cohesive. where we kind of come together and take similar positions on issues, back similar candidates and think about creating districts where we bring our

groups together and provide opportunities for our two groups that haven't existed previously. >> that's right. >> great. >> that's right. >> our next question, why aren't the photo id laws being challenged in the courts as being unconstitutional? >> first, i think i should say that there are at least one so far and that's the project filed against the missouri photo-id law. what happened in missouri was that, you know, there's evidence that probably about 280,000 already registered voters will not be able to vote. it passed through the state legislature, and then was vetoed by the governor but what they were able to get through was a ballot initiative. so in 2012, there will be on the ballot what is called -- and it makes me very upset, the voter

protection act. >> oh, no. >> which is what we call our project at advancement the voter protection act and it's the voter protection act and it will be on the ballot act and we have a lawsuit against that initiative. i think some of these laws will again be -- have to be submitted under section 5 of the voting rights act. and so we'll need to really put in some evidence about the impacts of it. and that's not to say that there won't be more litigation over these laws because i do think that will happen. >> i would add that there was bun case that went to the supreme court on the constitutionality of these laws. and we lost, in essence. so that what that means the next time we go to the court we really need to focus on the impact. you have to show as applied these laws are having an unconstitutional impact so that means again relying on you to come forward to help us find and -- find the people who don't

have ids, for whom it's burdensome. help us find and put in front of the court the ways this has a real human impact. >> i just want to add in the missouri case, for example, we actually have one of our plaintiffs is an african-american man who actually was a member of parliament, and he actually has ms, multiple sclerosis and he's not able to go to a place to get an id and he cannot sign his name. so there are all kinds of barriers that people will face. and it's really important like anita said that the branches work with those of us who are doing this work on the legal side. you all have the contacts. you know the stories. you know some of the stories. we have two women who are in their 90s in that case who cannot -- you know, it is a real burden, right?

and it's not just about the burden, but it's also -- the thing that we need to understand why it's also like a poll tax. it's not just about that burden. but you have to pay for the underlying documents, your birth certificate, in order to get it. >> that's right. >> so how is this any different than a poll tax. you got to pay to play. pay to vote. and so we need the stories of these people who -- who this really is a barrier for. $28 to get a birth certificate someplace. for a lot of people that's serious money. when jobless rates are over 50%. and so we need the story. and we need to get them from you 'cause you're on the ground closest to it. >> barbara, do you have a quickie? >> no. they've covered it. >> great. >> next question. in those states where a small committee redraws the lines for legislative districts, what

suggestions do you have for instituting a change in that practice? what suggestions do you have where a small committee redraws the lines for legislative districting? >> well, there's some states, california, arizona that have what are called independent redistricting commissions that now are tapped with the responsibility of redrawing district boundaries. that responsibility has been taken away from elected officials and given to individuals who are presumably nonpartisan. it's tough to imagine whether anybody approaches the business of redistricting with a truly nonpartisan eye and so we're looking very carefully of the maps that emerge out of these independent redistricting commissions in california and arizona to ensure that the maps are not that discriminate against minority voters. the maps in the last redistricting cycle drew an

objection from the justice department because of its impact on minority voters. and here in california, there have been substantial concerns raised about the maps that have been proposed and their impact on latino voters. so in those states and you have a place where you have an independent redistricting commission, it's very important to make sure you're engaged and you're offering testimony and oversight over folks who may be doing this for the very first time. this is the very first time they're taking a stab and crack at redistricting. >> it's also -- it's also for our litigation litigation states -- the key here is participation. it is absolutely key that at any state, no matter if they got a commission or if they just got the whole, you know, little folks go in a room or whatever, that what you got to do is write your state legislature,

committee, at the start of redistricting and say we want to testify about the map. we have a proposal that we would like to have considered. and you have to be involved. i mean, if we can't go into court and do anything if we can't prove that we have this kind of involvement. that we tried to change it. the courts are always going to attack, but we need the strength in our cases by your involvement. so you have a role here. this is not -- i mean, you have to -- one thing i'd really urge is, you know, go to our website. go -- you know, find us on facebook and twitter and look at the ways that you can participate. you know, you have these great trainings that have been done for the branch system and for the state conference but we need you to participate. i mean, the bottom line they can go into all the rooms they want to. but they need -- but they can't

come up with these discriminatory maps. and the best way we can defeat them is by showing that you have a better map. and that you have absolutely tried to get them not to do that. it's very important. >> great. thank you. frederick douglass said power conceives nothing without demand. if the panel could give two specific steps that local branches could take to demand that our rights are protected. >> we got to testify. testimony is so very important. >> it really is. >> especially with redistricting. and there are all kinds of resources and materials out there to help aid your respective efforts in giving compelling and important testimony that talks about how photo id laws burden african-american voters. how cracking and tacking can disadvantage minority voters in

the redistricting process. so testimony is key. and, frankly, the lawyers have a tough time bringing cases without a sufficient legislative record having been developed that shows how these laws how they hurt minority voters. so testimony is key. >> mediclanimelanie? >> we know at the naacp, they are going to call you up. and so really being able to document what she's talking about and we also, though -- what we need to do because lawyers will do all they can do but we also know the primaries are coming up and we're going to have to be faced with this problem. and find ways to help folks get whatever it is they have to do. we'll have two or three problems at this issue to make sure people understand we're not going to let the poll tax stop us. >> two simple steps. one, utilize and two that roger

talked about earlier so you could have your local areas train. it's not the panacea to the solution but it's a tool to really help us push out our best parts. two, understand what issues are under attack in your local community and in your state level. you know, we're all here from different parts of the country and looking at the national sector but when you go home there's some dynamics you have to face. and far too often we are relying too much on anecdotal stories. >> yes. >> and undocumented statements. we must understand concretely as leaders of our community what we are facing, what are the mechanisms that are making the changes that's going to harm us and what are the mechanisms we can utilize to protect us. >> great. our last question will be asked by the reverend.

>> we have a number of questions that we did not answer today but there's going to be an s & q -- f & q. the facts and questions that go up to the website to answer every question so we're going to make sure that happens, all right? [applause] >> the question that came was what are your thoughts for engaging your faith organization? and i want to ask brother vann to reiterate where we already are. and i want to give a couple of practical steps from on the ground. >> right. everyone knows that we have mou's with the major denominations within the african-american community. and each of those mou's falls on the faith leaders and their congregations across the country to engage with us on both membership development and voter empowerment work. what's going to have to happen, though, you're going to have to take that information to the local level and state level and

engage your leaders at the local level. and we will -- we will work with the national leaders to have co-signed letters with our national leadership and their national leadership that you can go and use to start that conversation but these are local relationships and everyone knows that you already have local relationships with the state leaders in your community and it's getting them engaged and making them a real partnership for our civic engagement. >> three practical steps. one is that engaging the clergy and the faith community never forget that peers can impact peers. it is so important that you find other clergy persons that can impact other processes in particular. number 2, at the state conference level, just like at the national level we need mou's with our state religious organizations that are in our various states and if they can't come to our state convention, ask them to give you an hour and

a half block doing their where the naacp comes into their convention, come in -- you offer and say we'll do this training, we'll do civic engagement, cut out bishop an hour and a half in your conference. cut out and many of them -- if you approach it they will, in fact, do that because most of them already have social justice committed as a part of -- it works. have a little faith. the third thing is, most of -- many of us here are in a church, a synagogue or mosque. if you're in that church synagogue or mosque, then help make sure you lead developing a committee for social action and political engagement in your personal church city, mosque or synagogue. and if your leadership in the church where you attend -- the synagogue that you attend or the mosque that you attend tells you

that social justice is not a part of being a person of faith, why are you still there? [applause] >> miss lorraine? >> i just wanted to -- i understand that out on the floor a lot of people were asking about how to get the map of shame. and once again, you can go to our website, lawyerscommittee.org and sign it. it's also on facebook and twitter but roger just told me that he's going to send it out to everybody but i want to make it clear to you that the map changes every day because these state legislatures are very active. so one of the answers about those two things you need to do -- if you're in one of these yellow states, get involved. we're going to make this interactive. you're going to be able to go to the map and click it and know precisely what legislation is pending in your state. and what you need to do. so i just want to make it clear

that this document -- the reason why we don't pass it out is because it keeps changing and you need to keep on top of it. thank you. [applause] >> i'm so pleased that you have stayed till the end because i think this is -- this plenary session was the most important session that we will have at the 102nd annual naacp convention. [applause] >> the t-shirts that we're holding up, president jealous and myself, we want you to go out and get this t-shirt, because this is so critical to our future. this is my vote. it's a campaign mantra for us as we leave this naacp national convention. we want you to go and make sure that your branches get this shirt. they're in the boutique. and the leadership of the naacp gets this shirt. so what are you going to tell people?

this is my vote. one more time. this is my vote. and one more time. this is my vote. lastly, and then lorraine is going to close us out with reverend barber. folks, folks, this has been a phenomenal panel. [applause] >> a phenomenal panel. [applause] >> these are the resources that we have in this community. [applause] >> and it would not have been possible without the leadership of our chief operating officer, mr. roger vann. [applause] >> this is my vote. but at the leadership level, the naacp -- we've got a dynamic trio, dynamic trio. we've got lorraine miller. [applause] >> dr. william barber. [applause] >> and our own derrick johnson who are leading our legislative

agenda. folks, they did this to you and they brought this to us along with our chief operating officer and the leadership of this naacp support. this is my vote. you voted for it today and go out and tell folks about it. ..

>> next we take you to

denver for the annual western conservative summit holded by colorado christian university centennial institute. you hear a speech by blogger kevin jackson. the author of two books, the big black lie, and sexy brilliance and other political lies. which is about barack obama. the speech runs about 30 minutes. >> they were credentializing who is the biggest victim. i will put my shot n my mother died when i was five years old and prior to that she had divorced my dad who is a perpetual criminal. he was a resident of san quentin, as you find out in my book, if you decide you want to get that. so to compare myself to dennis and arthur, sorry. white guys all look-alike. [laughter] i don't think there is much comparison to a black kid growing up in poverty his whole life who is a dad in prison and his mother died. so i think i'm going to win

that one. my name is kevin jackson. i'm author of the book called, "the big black lie". if you buy that book i will give you a free backbone. [laughter] my other book is entitled. "sexy brillance croat and i had to add other political lies. i people didn't want to think i wrote book by myself. that's what people said about obama. that he brought sexy brilliance to the office and i wondered he had a pet hamster named sexy brilliance. if anybody sees juan williams i want an answer to the question. to set the tone you will get from me, i want to read a quote from my book, sexy brillance. it may make you a few of you uncomfortable that is the way it. bill clinton extort ad black man, to drop out of the senate race in favor of a white man and former republican crist, so the white man might defeat the

latino man, rubio. that bill clinton is one mean-spirited cracker. i'm hon ford to speak to you guys here today. i love talking to conservative audience i know most of you are not medical marijuana users and you will get the jokes. i want to discuss today, how america has ended up what i call full circle flipped back in the '60s. in case you're wondering i mean both 1860s and the 1960s. in years past we had white republicans marching arm in arm to fight for civil rights of blacks as white democrats jeered. in the past years, or i'm sorry, today we have black republicans fighting shoulder to shoulder for civil rights of all americans as all democratser. a reverse civil rights movement is afoot. why i say we are in the midst of emancipation