dmin graph -- it's just a way of getting the message out. >> you're showing your age. [laughter] >> true. >> nice, twitter. >> exactly. that's my point. today social media is just get the message out. it's not the movement itself. young people have to get out from front of their computers. they have to raise hell, like frederick douglass said. i'm paraphrasing. if you want freedom withouting inging -- agitation you want crops without seed. territorial-type dr -- tear [applause]

>> keep your eye on the prize but keep -- this is my frustration with the occupy movement. you ask them what do you want? they cannot articulate it. they wanted settlement. does that move the movement was a waste? no. occupy was important. it changed the conversation in this country. before occupy you had was the tea party expressing discontent. they wanted to dismantle government. take government out of peoples lives and all the services that have helped people. they saw that as a sin. occupy just the opposite. they want to talk about the growing wage gap, et. cetera. it was just a conversation.

that, worked as somebody inside the media. i saw it every day. suddenly we had a different story to talk about and a different dialogue going on. there was never a particular goal in favor of trying to achieve. when i was writing about minimum wage restaurant workers here in d.c., there was a very important goal, which is articulated tonight. getting the president to sign the executive order. i seldom see it mentioned in the news coverage. you had coverage on radio, tv, et. cetera, et. cetera, twit, tweeter. seldom do i see it mentioned. i mentioned it in my column, people talking about my column didn't mention obama and the executive order. i have to do another column. [laughter] and try to bring the point home again. but, you know, it's not my job to run your movement or put your message out for you. t your job. and it's important the people

who are involved in this be able to the late great tim in northbound y used to after a speech say what is the bumper sticker? if there is one thing that the right has achieved, better than the left, left liberal progressives, of recent years it's the bumper sticker award. being able to change the conversation, for example, the death tax. it used to be called the estate tax. not the death tax.

how we can get president obama to act on that. and i want to start with alvin, if you had any thoughts on that. >> i don't you know, i believe the president has spoken on tha. what is happening. that is the problem in congress. when the president put that sign around his neck, standing besides me acknowledge that he

was a man. and he acknowledged that if it wasn't for the stand that we took in '68, he wouldn't be president today. so i believe if we get together and let him know how we feel, i don't know -- [inaudible] but that is the thing that -- that's the first step we need to take. let him know and see what his action would be. because if he don't, he.

[applause] i want to make a point that a few years ago, a discussion about a -- minimum wage was not nonexistent. folks think we dream or own something. just as we made the live in wage issue a topic of discussion nationwide, the issue of improving the life of low-wage workers the same issue can be attached to it. it is in the interest of the country that low-wage workers be brought up. i mean, these folks are not going buy stocks on wall street. they are going to spend their money in their communities improving the economic life of the community as well as their own. i think we have the means of a movement here. and the faces put people on

every day and struggle for a decent equality of life. we can make that argument. i think we simply have to get our social justice movement and our religious communities, get our trade unionists and activists together to make the case. [applause] >> ted kennedy was once explaining why a senate session was taking so long, he said everything that needed to be said has been said, but not everybody has said it. so at the risk of just agreeing with what everybody else has said, what we need is allies, what we need is masses number of people to express to the president their opinion, but at

the center of it all is the workers themselves and to quote fannie lew hammer, keep on keeping on. the demonstration at union station brought the issue to the public like nothing else, and i happen to be speaking to a eleanor hole -- holmes nor don. she has been push the president to sign the executive order. she was moved by the demonstration takes place in washington. that needs to be continue and it needs to be redoubled. [applause] >> i'm just adding that i'm reminded of a story of franklin roosevelt meeting with organized labor and oval office, and he said whether or not -- i said we have a --

make me do it. put the pressure on. president obama gets pressured bay lot of people, as you may have noticed. he has a lot on his platter. this is not the biggest issue facing him right now. the issue has to be brought up that indicates that the public cares about him. you make a fuss. you make as much noise as you can. again, keep your eyes on the prize and figure out what the prize is. what is the message you want to get out there? and i was watching documentary on public television the '60s in d.c. again last night. walter told a story how he was in charge of the sound at the washington march, and on the -- he was 28 years old.

they gave him the job because he was dispensable. if he screwed it up. [laughter] get out of here! and the night before the march, the sound man calls up the technician and said somebody screwed up everything over here. we're not going have sound in time for the march. what can he do? he called up bobby kennedy and said i need to do something. we need the signal corp. he got the signal corp. and fifteen minute before the schedule speeches were to begin, he hears come over -- he hears testing test testing, testing, one, two, three. my butt is saved. he -- call bobby kennedy to get to him. this is a fact. ask anybody who known barack obama in chicago or here. he's not a glad hander. he's not lbj and buttonhole people. he's an inside player. they don't call him for the

professor for nothing. he has a tight circle of people he talks to most of the time. and he gets cut off sometimes, and sometimes he stumbles as a result of it. it's not going to be easy, necessarily. but he's reachable. and i think he's on your side, certainly, he has been public stated he wants to raise the minimum wage, not high enough in my view, what the heck. he put it on the table. now you have to make him do it. >> i wanted to take the seat here because the question is a very good one, and now speak the c-span audience and assuming that i'm also speaking to people inside the administration. there are two things that are going take place this weekend -- this week relate to the march on

washington. one is saturday. this is "you all come" this is the plan. this is the demonstration, and at that demonstration, whoever is speaking and whoever is organizing, they should demand, encourage, whateverring adjective you want to use that the executive order be issued and signed by the president of the united states. [applause] [applause] we would do a disservice to the memory of those speakers. there were ten of them, and in particular not only king but

philip raldolf. if we did not demand that with the stroke of a pin, you can raise 2 million people out of poverty. you don't need congress' approval. and the only one that will object will be congress, and they can't do a thing about it! then i say directly to the president of the united states, to his inner circle, you are speaking on august 28th. you will stand where martin luther king, jr. stood and talk talked about his dream.

you should announce on february 28th, at that speech, that you would make the dream of 2 million people come true by issuing this executive order and signing it. [applause] [cheering and applause] [cheering and applause] if you're watching, that's what you should do. other than that, it's just a ceremony. we don't need anymore ceremonies. [cheering and applause] ..

psas someone looking like him in the white house and he could remove 2 million people out of poverty. i think he would have marched more in the last four years. and that is what i believe. you know because of the dream was to come true, a if we complete afro-americans in the white house the most powerful man in the world that we still have homelessness, people starving then the dream is nowhere within reach. nowhere. [applause]

see anyone else? >> can any of you address some of the other issues that hopefully will, but the march such as the mass incarceration of african-americans and people of color, the voting rights act of some of the other issues? how do those relate to the economics ruggles you were talking about? >> i think they are directly related. if you look at the level of incarceration in this country and who is incarcerated you can see a direct impact on the economics of our community. young people serving sentences for nonviolent crimes, three strikes silliness and families who are in deep trouble as a

result. this is clearly an economic issue. the issue of voting rights and i collectively say our ability to participate in the democratic part process is essential to our well-being. decisions are made every single day that affect our economic interests and the people can't fully participate we are on the losing end. clearly the recent decisions the attorney general has spoken to and appears to be a moving wave across the country taking a full look at how sentences are done, that gives some hope of change but we still have 2 million or more people in jail, a number of which have no reason whatsoever to be there. >> i am glad you brought that up excess mass incarceration like same-sex marriage are both two issues where we have seen the pendulum swing entirely just over the last 10 or 15 years and

the white house hears it into bama came out in public and said something about same-sex marriage and take action and on mass incarceration we see action. here is an area folk as we we ae seeing a bipartisan coalition emerging around reducing mass incarceration. i just got through talking with grover norquist and a bunch of other well-known conservatives in a group called right on crime ed meese compound the list is long of well-known conservatives who are involved in this. newt gingrich is another one. the list is long and my mind is slow but they are coming back. also i talked with the head of the naacp ben jealous. then jealous and grover norquist working together. is this possible? yes. around mass incarceration. they were in texas justifying. georgia has cut that they're

spending. it arkansas's closing jails. 10 years ago we were talking about three strikes and everything else. there is a meeting of the minds and the wallets here because if you want to cut government spending a great place to do it with nonviolent offenders. it is possible. there are a lot of sensible people out there in the middle. they just need to be spoken to and nudged. the. >> i think we have to remember the reason they don't want people to vote because they're afraid people are going to vote for their own interests and i believe that the issue of incarceration, tomas incarceration has a lot to do with the privatization of the prison system. people are making -- it's a business. people are making huge profits from folks in jail.

>> one of the things that you just said, we have to remember that we want to use that money to educate them and that is one of the things that people are doing when the states want to get the money back. but they are not talking about what they are going to use the money for. and i think education, we have all said that is what we have to have and i think we are forgetting that. one of the other things that i have to say, i have been to all the marches and i'm just very excited about it. but one of the things that i don't think we are stressing enough is that obama was a community organizer and my son was recruiting people to

register to vote in ellen i. somebody recommended obama to him. obama got more people registered trade he didn't do it all himself. in illinois than anybody else who worked for my son. i think that we can't forget that. >> thank you. >> my name is from l. cummings and my question is directed to mr. turner. earlier this evening you said that during the sanitation strike and the march in 63 that there were people who try to discourage and try to stop you or just did not join you. what advice would you give to someone like myself and others that are trying to make positive change right now?

what advice would you give to us in dealing with people that try to discourage you, that don't want to do combat that don't want to jump on the obvious bandwagon for change? >> the first thing you have to do at these things is get with them and show them the treatment that they have received is just unfair to them as it is to you. show these people that they are being misused. this is the step that we took in 1960, and 33 out of 1300 went on strike. what we did, can't it took us

from 1960 until 68 so it took us eight years to get with these other people and show them how they had been mistreated. they were mistreated the same way as we were. we got to them and show them that they were mistreated and on february the 13th in 68, they came out. it was 98% so we are going to win this thing. we are going to win. it might take i don't know how long it will take, but we have

got to get the message out to them. and even to the president. we will get it to him and let him know that he ain't running no more. [applause] but we are going to get the message to him. and if he doesn't -- he told me personally that he was working hard for the little man. he told me that in person and if he doesn't he will disappoint me bad. [applause] >> i agree as larry said, but

that when we talk about this it's more complicated than just jobs and as clarence said keep your eye on the prize and just know what the prize is. my original comment is to recognize the importance of financial literacy. it economic inequality in 2013 is just not about jobs but it's also about having the knowledge to manage the money you earn. homeownership, retirement accounts, obamacare are all critical components of financial literacy and 2013. as the district chairperson of the financial counsel i wanted to share that comment to us all and to welcome you to the district of columbia for the march on washington and let's keep the dream alive. [applause]

>> yes, went since we are in the church of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the march on washington i would like to make the suggestion that dr. king made. i would like to quote cam. he says now the other thing we have to do is this. always -- collectively in most nations of the world. we have an annual income of more than $30 billion a year which is more than all the exports of the united states more than the national budget of canada. did you know that? that his power right there if we know how to pull it so as a result of this we are actually telling you to tell your neighbors to not to buy coca-cola in memphis. tell them not to buy sealed test milk. tell them not to buy -- as jesse jackson said up until now only

the garbagemen have been -- and now we must redistribute the pain. we are choosing these companies because they haven't been there in their high-end policies and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men while on strike. what do you think about them plummeting that in this day and time? [applause] >> i don't think there's any question. i think selective lying has been the key to any number of movements and is a part of local strategies or regional strategies. our ability to affect commerce is real and we should make selected targets where companies

and individuals have not dealt with our issues. >> we have entertainers that are selecting not to entertain in florida now because of trayvon martin and stand your ground. i am really impressed because once again, the what you just did, i don't know if you realize this but that is a part of martin luther king's speech that nobody ever quotes as his last speech. we always hear, i've been to the mountaintop just like the march on washington. we always hear i have a dream and this just leads me to what

clarence talks about when he says words, the words. this is one of the reasons i so appreciate what lance does and what everyone else up here has done. you have got to understand that you are right clarence that winning the bumper sticker award they are able to change and i would say to this young man and to say to you all young people if you don't know what a mimeograph machine is or is did no machine is but you sure know how to tweet and you take what you just said. it's amazing if we older folks understand that with just one finger or thumb action you literally can't communicate with millions of people in a nanosecond. in a nanosecond. smartphone, everybody is probably sitting here with a smartphone. we have to choose that which we

have. this is not just a gathering. i mean this is information that you are taking notes. we should be sending it on our cell phone. we should be sending the message immediately to the white house and demanding, and this is once again a president who has told the world's, he told the world in his speech. it was when he was in africa i believe it was her at some point. he said make politicians do it. i am a politician. make me do it. so i just close by saying the young man is part of what they call the joshua generation. well, do we are all appear part of the moses generation but remember moses