we have made, indeed, remarkable progress but we have more work to do. and the unfinished business of america is the unfinished business that you do day in and day it. i had the good fortune of serving as a local elected official and a state cabinet secretary, and now in two different positions in the federal government, at the justice department and now the department of labor. i have so much respect for the work that all of you who are in local government do. and all of you were working in state government do. because the rubber hits the road in local government. i saw that firsthand. there's so much you can do to further the goals of the civil rights act of 1964, and all of the other civil rights laws and economic justice laws that were passed to ensure access to opportunity. and you are indeed doing it. because we're having a few challenges in washington moving the legislative need a.

but across this country you have been incubators of innovation, pioneers of fairness and opportunity. and you continue to do that. so take my hat off to you because you are doing so much and you have so many tools. i hope you'll continue to use them. because you know what? we do have a lot of unfinished business. we have made so much progress in areas of education. one statistic that people don't know is that the latino dropout rate over the last 10 years has declined 50%. that's a remarkable statistic that we can all point to -- [applause] -- as a matter of pride. and that is because there has been a concerted effort. we are all in this together. local governments, local leaders, local businesses recognizing that this is an economic imperative. it's a moral imperative. it's a civil rights imperative. and you've been working hard and

we continue to work. and that is a 10 year effort under republican and democratic administrations. this is not a partisan issue, reducing dropout rates, increasing graduation rates, increasing access to skills so that people can punch their ticket to the middle class. so we need to continue that progress. because we also know that that is a wonderful statistic, but there are other statistics that are not so good. when i was in this of rights division i traveled the country and i saw all too frequently that there were too many school districts that remain so many years after brown separate and unequal. i saw the school to prison pipeline results were brought -- black and brown kids were all too frequently accessed opportunity being denied. and being denied really remarkably perversely. i did an event once in meridian, mississippi, with about 10 kids who were sitting in a dais just

like me and you sitting right down there. and i could see under the table their footwear. and what they all had in common was that they had an ankle bracelet on. these were kids 13 and 14 who were already in the system. and asked them, what did you do? well, one person had the wrong colored tie. one person had the wrong colored socks. one person spoke out. one person was guilty of flatulence. i'm not getting. i'm not making this stuff up. and i got him into the school to prison pipeline. that is not who we are as a nation. we need to be smarter than that. that is why so many people see accessed opportunity remaining elusive. access to equal housing opportunity for all too many people remain elusive. the corrosive power of fine print all too frequent during the housing bubble transferred and transformed the american dream of homeownership into the

american nightmare. in my last you at the department of justice, we ended up recovering on behalf of victims of lending discrimination, primarily latinos and african-americans, more money than in the previous 25 years combined. because we solve this problem across the nation and we worked for people. [applause] and i will tell you, here is the sad reality. and it's a reality we must acknowledge. much of the challenge were latinos of using latinos and african-americans of using african-americans. siop let españo español would be decided at the storefront and people would be brought in and they would be lowered to trust and then that trust would be abused. and that was part of the story of the meltdown and the lending discrimination that we had to look at. we are turning a corner, but all

too many people lost their wealth. we see so many challenges persistence in our world of policing. i spent way too much time in my last job in maricopa county. that was not smart policing that i observed out there in maricopa county. [applause] you know there's often a that false choice. we either keep our communities safe or we safeguard the constitution. i categorically reject that false choice. we cannot save policing and constitutional policing, and, in fact, they go hand-in-hand. the consent decree we did just up the road in los angeles was great proof of that, that you can do safe, effective and constitutional policing, and reduce crime at the same time and promote public confidence in law enforcement. we continue to have these challenges across america. part of the unfinished business. we continue to have challenges in the voting cancer. next year is the 50th

anniversary of bloody sunday and the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act of 19 -- the voting rights act of 1965. and what we continue to see here today are all too many ill advised efforts to restrict as opposed to expand the right to voting. you know, i was -- of the one of the most remarkable comments and quotes on some of the efforts at these voter id laws was from colin powell. general powell agonized with the north carolina effort asked the following question. how can this phenomenon of voter fraud be so widespread and at the same time so and detected? -- undetected. when we get our case in texas the record demonstrate over a ten-year period i needed one hand to count the documented incidents of alleged voter fraud. and when it went to the one hand, actually it ended up being

at most once, that i needed to document the so-called voter fraud for which this was the solution. voting is a most sacred right and we should be working to expand the right of eligible voters to vote. you been working on that. that's never been a partisan issue, and it shouldn't be a partisan issue and that's why people like colin powell and john lewis speak up about these issues. and so we continue to move to make progress that we have a lot of unfinished business. we have a lot of unfinished business in the area of economic justice as well, it starts with minimum wage. nobody who works a full-time job in this country should have to live in poverty. and what we see all too frequently -- [applause] -- our people working hard and falling further behind. people who have to make choices between do i pay the mortgage,

don't pay the rent or do i pay for my daughters madison? those those are choices that we should never have to make here in america. i applaud the san diego city council. i applaud other local council who are tackling this issue. 13 states in the last year have raised the minimum wage. business owners across this country coming, tom, this is a consumption deprived recovery. i need more customers. the way to get more customers is to put more money in the pockets. that's why we need to raise the minimum wage. if we want to expand opportunity for everyone and we need to get back to immigration reform, as alex correctly pointed out. i haven't given up. this president will never give up because this is an economic imperative, a moral imperative. a public safety imperative and we're continuing to move forward on this because so many people depend on this. i talk to folks in the silicon valley and they tell me the most

important issue for us in washington is immigration reform. the second most important issue is immigration reform. i talk to people in the religious communities who tell me the most important issue for us is immigration reform. it's always been like the minimum wage a bipartisan issue. so we need to continue our work in these efforts. because there is so much unfinished business. i couldn't help but note a story i read from leader boehner saying he was going to sue the president for, and his terms, the unlawful exercise of executive authority. , the president wouldn't exercise executive authority if congress would just vote and pass some damn laws, you know? that's what needs to happen your. [applause] and i will tell you, on immigration reform, on the minimum wage, on extending unemployment compensation for long-term unemployed, on infrastructure, every single one

of these issues until now has been a bipartisan issue. it was dwight eisenhower who built the interstate highway system. you know, we can't eat cake and lose weight. if we're going to repair our roads and bridges, the money -- i know we want to eat a cake and lose weight, i'm all for that. whoever invented that, and if it's going to be invented it will be invented in california last night -- [laughter] but we need is bigger expanding the panama canal. the opportunities that abound here in this country and we need to be ready for them. and so i hope that we can rekindle that spirit of collaboration and cooperation. and that really brings me to my final point is, which is that your role in building an opportunity society is so critically important, because change doesn't initiate in washington. change comes to washington. i think about so many of the important issues of our day and

i see how they started in states and then came to the federal government. the affordable care act was a product of learning from the massachusetts experience. and look where we are not as a nation. so many more people, including but not limited to latinos, finally for the first time in their lives have access to health security. and that was the result of experimentation at a state level. and we are seeing the fruits of the affordable care act. and by the way, we see opponents talking less and less about the affordable care act because it's more and more successful, and i applaud governor brown. and i would note the conversations i've had with the chamber of commerce people in texas and in florida who can't understand why they have not expanded medicaid. because they are leaving billions of dollars on the table, not to mention the fact that those are the uninsured capitals of the united states.

but that is were you are leading. you're leaving on the minimum wage. 13 states in the last year have enacted increases in the minimum wage. mayors and other county executive to missing. you, you look at the issue of paid leave and workplace flexibility and gc leadership at state and local levels across this country. you look at leadership in the civil rights context, and i implore you to continue at a state and local level to enact these laws because what we need is what i call redundancy and law enforcement. if we're going to protect people against discrimination, we need federal laws. we need state laws and we need local laws because laws are only as good as the political will of the people enforcing them. and at any one given time, the will to enforce may not be there at one level. and that is why you need to continue those efforts to put in place those protections at a state and a local level.

because you really are those drum major for justice. i firmly believe, and i leave you with this, that the moral arc of our nation and our universe bends toward those who seek to expand opportunity, not those who seek to restrict opportunity. those who have thought to expand access to health care in the 1960s, they were right when we passed medicare, and it was a cacophony of people who said medicare was lead to socialized medicine. those who opposed the civil rights act were on the wrong side of history. those who oppose the voting rights act and expanding opportunities were on the wrong side of history. those who opposed i believe the approval care act will be proven to be on the wrong side of history. those were expanding voting rights are expanding opportunities. you were on the right side of history. where were you mama and where

were you daddy moment that i think a lot about when we're debating these issues. i want to be able to look my son and grandson and granddaughter and all my nieces and nephews in the eye when we're talking about these most challenging issues of our time and i want to be able to say that i was on the side of delores huerta. i was on the side of cesar chavez but i was on the side of john lewis. i was on the side of the chinese railroad workers. i was on the side of wage fairness but i was on the side of expanding opportunity. that's who we are as a nation. and in your position, that's what you're doing day in and day out. keep up the great work, keep the pressure on washington. we can move this nation forward. i come to you with an unrelenting sense of optimism, because you know what? we have tackled more series of challenges before in our nation's history and we defeated them. we moved of this nation forward. we will do it again now because there's a lot of human capital

talent in this room and across this country and we -- with your leadership we will indeed continue to build a more perfect union for everyone. thank you so much for having me. [applause] >> [inaudible conversations] senator padilla, thank you so much for that introduction. it's been a pleasure for me to

be here with naleo to meet so many people. you know, i had an experience today. alex mentioned i used to work for npr. when i worked in radio people would come up to me and say, juan come it's nice to be able to finally put a face with the voice heard i would say i did know what you look like either, it was a surprise to me. [laughter] but then today i had this incredible experience were a woman came up to me and she said, wow, it's great, find i'm able to put a body with the face face. [laughter] i never had been said before. i can only think, i hope you like the body, do you know what they mean? [laughter] anyway, first before introduced our esteemed guests let me just say thank you so much to wells fargo for the sponsorship of this annual meeting, as well as this session. i also want to thank all of you

following the live stream of our session at www.naleo.org. and i have one more thank you. thank you to everyone who is using the conference hashtag naleo -- naleoconf. people using it. now, the main event. with us, delores huerta, former attorney general alberto gonzales, and naacp san diego president lei-chala wilson. please, welcome all of them. [applause] the way we're going to do this is i'm going to have a brief conversation with each of them for one or two minutes and then we're going to have a conversation among the entire group.

and hopefully we will reflect all of your interests and questions. now, so much has been said about delores huerta commits hard to have two entities are but let me try instantly say she created the agricultural work -- workers association i considered she cofounded the united farm workers union, now she works to her own foundation. let me tell you, she is an icon not only in the latino community but in america. she is american history. [applause] >> so my first question goes to delores. 50 years later what's the most significant outcome of the civil rights movement? >> well, i think as we see today we have a lot of latinos and african-americans, organizations, engineers, attorneys. much more so that i went to

college when ther they were sixs on the whole campus. and, of course, with when we also had large numbers women that are not doctors, attorneys and engineers, et cetera. so we know we've made, we've come a long way. we, of course, have representation in our legislatures but at the same time we know that we still have a long way to go. even though the civil rights movement was about getting the right to vote, in today's world we see voter suppression. one of the areas that we talk about this whole area of redistricting. even the state of california we have many, many of our cities here where we do have to have general elections in general just six and not by district where people can elect someone who looks like them. right now there's a bill in the california state legislature by roger hernandez to try to it's got to be a law and the state of california that elections have

got to be by district to the people of color can get somebody who looks like them to be able to sit on those councils, school boards, supervisor districts, et cetera. we've gained a lot. another one is not allowing felons to vote. action on the voting rights commission and we had hearings throughout the united states. in the state of washington, for instance, if you've been in prison, you pay restitution, you cannot vote and to repay all of the money that you owe. about 300,000 people, we heard that testimony in kings county a wave -- alone. with all of these ways that they're trying to keep people from voting. >> when you look back, and the domain to give away your age -- >> i'm 84. >> i know. [applause]

>> i tell you what i'm 84 i hope to look as good as you, sweetheart, you know? [laughter] so it is such a pleasure to be with you every time but i just want to say, when you look back 50 years of your life, 1960s, and that moment, the passage of the civil rights act, a voting rights act, did you have any idea that it would have real impact on america, that is going to really change, that one day you would have latinos as the second largest minority in the country? >> well, i know that, you know, from my own experience in being involved in getting people to vote, whatever, that he would make a difference in who we elected as to represent us. of course, and we don't like the laws that we have to elect people who will change the laws. so i did foresee that kind of an impact. i was involved like 10 years before the civil rights act was signed but at the same time, i

remember the kind of harassment that i as a young latina suffered at the hands of police and teachers. and i see in my great grandchildren, you know, something the same types of discrimination. so i think on a political level yes, we have made a lot of headway. bestow on a personal level, we know that racism is still alive and well in the united states of america but even though we do have an african-american president and people use it as an excuse. no, it is there and we see that in play in all of the politics of what's happening right now, including the republican congress to take up immigration reform act. >> thank you so much. [applause] now let me introduce our second guest, former attorney general alberto gonzales, the 80th attorney general of the united states from 2005-2007. he was a former general counsel

for the texas governor bush, former texas secretary of state, a member of the texas supreme court, and now a law professor at belmont university in tennessee. he is also in keeping with what we're going to be doing at the convention in the next few days, he's also you should know an air force veteran. please join me in welcoming attorney general gonzales. [applause] >> just 50 years ago the government in this country enforced laws of segregation. today, in your mind, what is the governments role, specifically the department of justice's role in protecting civil rights? >> first of all let me just say that my story is the american story. your story is the american story, and destinies been written on the backs of individuals like this woman sitting to my right. it's also been written based upon the work, the loss like the civil rights act and i think the

department of justice has a very important role in enforcing laws like the civil rights act. but let's be clear. from my perspective as a former attorney general, laws cannot change the hearts of men and women. and i don't know whether or not education, communication will someday eradicate the fear that motivates the prejudice that exists in this country. may be so. i hope so. i think we ought to work towards that but until that day comes, we do need laws of the civil rights act. i'm very proud of the work of the department of justice, the civil rights division, acknowledge and want to give credit to secretary perez for his work there. but we've got some serious challenges, even within the department of justice to be quite honest with you. just last year there was a tough report issued by the inspector general, very critical of the civil rights division under both president obama and under president bush.

too much partisanship, too much division within the civil rights division, which is charged with keeping a level playing field here in america. if they can't do that within their division how can they hope to be effective nationwide? so something i think we need to keep our eyes on but clearly i think the civil rights act as one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by congress. it exists today because we need it still today. >> when you look at all of the arguments that are going on in the states, referred about voter disenfranchisement and efforts to limit voter turnout, does it concern you as a matter of law or do you think that's just politics? >> when i was secretary of state i traveled the state trying to get more texans to vote. we have a search problem in this country, so getting people to vote and that? >> are in the hispanic community. we're not going to enjoy any power or influence illness to come out and vote on election day.

and i, for one, support two goals. one is that we encourage as many eligible voters to vote, and we protect the sanctity of the vote. they are not mutually exclusive. i think we can have both quite frankly. i don't have a problem and i'm on record supporting voter id laws so long as the laws passed by the states are not passed with the intention of discriminate against minorities and the elderly and the poor, and if the state provide a mechanism so that people that are poor, that they don't have the money, but they give access to some kind of id that does allow them to vote, even secretary perez talked about expanding the right to vote for eligible voters. how do we know whether or not they're eligible. that's the key. they have to be eligible voters. >> and our third guest this afternoon is lei-chala wilson. she is the president of the san diego branch of the naacp. she is serving there for her

sixth year. ms. wilson was with the san diego public defender for more than 24 years. so please join me in welcoming ms. wilson. [applause] >> when you think about the commemoration, 50 years, what extent do you think the united states has changed with the guard to race relations, to what extent you think the country has stayed the same? >> i would have to mayor what a horse said. we've made some progress when you look at jobs and look at employment. segregation, things have gotten a little better but still seeing a lot of things have remained the same. so look on the outside, it looks like we've made a lot of progress. i hesitate to always use that word we have much work to do. we've been talking a doing a lot of work for the last three or 400 years. and my people are tired of always having to do work. no matter will be done in this

country, my people and other people of color were always struggling. so i'm not sure why we're always struggling, and the best way i can explain it is i tried to people that being black in america is like watching a bad movie. it's the same movie playing over and over again. the only difference is the characters or the scenery, but it seems like i guess it swings back and forth but we keep struggling, and i wish that would change. and, of course, we are going to have to keep trying to get better. but anyway sometimes i wonder we are in 2014 or in 1940. because it just seems like it's the same old battle. when my people reached this country, education, denied that. voting, we had jim crow, and now it's like jim crowe's son grew up and now we have james crowe and we're still having problems getting to vote which is very

important to me and there's no reason to have the voter id but even though i agree with former attorney general that as long as the law does not discriminate against minority's, poor people ca,but that's the only reason to have those laws because whether it is the intent you still have discriminatory impact and that's what's important. and so i just want people to get a good educator of what my people be able to vote. once that happens in the we have moved forward. [applause] >> ms. wilson, 50 years ago, secretary perez mentioned, next year 50 years after the von rights act, you would think 50 years later we wouldn't be in this place. but you are saying we keep coming back to this point. that's not to suggest that we haven't made progress, but does suggest again, you know, that there's some some issues about race in american society. and when we think about and faq type text, it looks like the

argument has changed with demographics because you now have so many more latinos in america. you have more blacks, more asians, so that you have about a third of the population as people of color. how has that impacted the change in the last 50 years? >> i don't know if it's impacted change but the problem is the more people of color you have, those who are in power, they are in fear. and that's the reason that i think we're having these problems is demographics are going to change and there is fear. the result of that, that's why have these type of laws. the only reason why you want to keep out, to keep people not educated and not able to vote is wanone to keep them out of powe. but eventually the numbers are going to change, and it's going to be a whole different ballgame. i'm not sure if i was here in my lifetime, but then again i didn't expect to see a black president, so there's still hope

there. >> i want to encourage all of my panelists to join in the conversation, interrupt each other, argue with each other. already we have seen some difference of perspective with regard to what is going on with voter id laws. and as we know in this session for all of you as elected officials, there's a tremendous emphasis on increasing voter turnout this year, 2014, in the midterm election. people are looking for that kind of increase. in fact, today, naleo has announced that they project that is going to be an increase from 2010, the last time with midterms it was 6.9% of the latino vote. this year, 2014, the expectation is 7.8% of a latino vote in the midterm election. so when i look at it that, mr. attorney general, i'd say ths