[applause] now i know some of y'all are tired. for those of you who went to the open bar last night, it is called a party for a reason. but, you look pretty fresh this morning. i can't believe the first woman candidate ever nominated by a major political party will be formally accepting the nomination this evening. as a woman, and yes, donald trump i am playing the woman card, this is monument al. i never thought, i never thought i would see this day. to quote joe biden, it is a bfd. [applause] let me tell you. pretty simple. the difference between the two parties.

we had president clinton the other night and star of the joanie loves cahchi. i bet they miss the good ol' days when clint eastwood spoke to an empty chair. our special guest from the great state of minnesota, senator klobuchar. thank you for being from the state that gave life to tim kaine, our next vice president. [applause] our guest is someone who has broken quite a few glass ceilings in her lifetime too. the first woman elected to the united states senate from minnesota, amy klobuchar. [applause]

>> thank you. hello, virginia. what a great day you guys had yesterday, huh? [applause] you're like the happiest delegation next to minnesota, okay? so it is great to be here with susan. thank you so much. my husband john is here, in the typical husband moment when she said in biden way. bfd. he turns to me, that means -- like i wasn't following it, you know, that is the thank you, thank you, john. really nice. and we loved, i loved hearing this week from your great governor, governor mcauliffe. [applause] and we love your two senators, and, well, let me just talk about one of them. mark warner. someone has to talk about mark warner. [applause] he and i are really good friends. i think you knew that from

before. he actually invited me to do the j.j. dinner and he has been, you know this, what a leader, as you heard about tim's accomplishments on that great video last night. you know a lot of them were also mark's accomplishments. remind him of that, right, when you see him? not that he needs to be reminded, as i noted once after he was, what, named, "time" magazine number one governor that time. he goes to the senate. does all the big things and trying to do something fun role giving mark to play because trump calls himself the king of debt. i said, if every wants to come to minnesota and our land of 10,000 lakes, we have plenty of water for him to walk on, right? i will say that it is not that easy. oh, i want to mention your

great, don, who sits with me, on the joint economic committee, the congressman and also congressman scott did a great job i thought last night, right? [applause] and congressman connelly, wonderful, wonderful man. you have a great delegation. but what i wanted to say is, and i talked to mark about this, is that, with tim and you know, his new role, and everything that is going to happen, i'm reminded after al franken won his recount, well, it took a while, as you all know, when he won his recount, durbin and schumer took me into a room, said, this isn't going to be as easy as you think, the other senator having a prominent role, not that easy. the other senator being a celebrity. i go, what do you mean? durbin said i had barack obama and schumer said, i had hillary clinton for the other senator and you now have al franken. i go, what do you mean?

you're walking through the airport, pretty cool, with the other senator, the two of you are going through. all of sudden says, hey, you, you you're like, yes, could you take my picture with that guy? i say this has happened to me a number of times. i'm going to like work mark through the whole situation. so then it actually all culminated for me, true story on delta flight. i was coming from dc to minneapolis, franken and i get on the flight, filled, filled with minnesotans but the flight attendants are from atlanta, okay? so we get on the flight attendant, picks up the microphone and says, everyone, i've got exciting news for you. we have got celebrities on the plane! everybody is like, ah. we have mr. and mrs. al franken! [laughter]

[applause] so al, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, no, no. she is actually, she is, she is the other senator from minnesota. and she says, how cool is this? husband and wife senators! [laughter] so i figure, part of my role is to walk mark warner through these next few months. yeah, i will be uniquely gulfed to do this. but you know, didn't tim kaine do a great job last night. so excited about what he did. [applause] and just to be, oh, i was sitting next to hispanic man, it was hilarious, i was sitting with vice president mondale who

at 88 came to hear tim speak, okay? [applause] so there we were. and when he would speak in this perfect spanish of course, mondale would turn to the delegate, what just happened? what did he say? it was such a funny of reversal of roles, sign him changing of times and what tim kaine stands for. i loved it. i love the stuff he was saying about trump and taxes and everything else. i think that is going to be quite rallying cry about him not putting up his taxes. i don't think anyone can do it better than the honest and incredible tim kaine. so that was a good thing. of course, our favorite moment, maybe not yours, but when he said he was from minnesota. was like, whoa! i was so worried he wasn't going to say it, i've been all over tv all weekend, touting his praises because i sit next to him in the lunches. not just because our names are both ks, by choice.

i gotten to know him. say it on video. i will completely lose credibility. very good when he said it at the beginning. i would like to know, this is part of the lure of minnesota, our heritage, right? we gave the world hubert humphrey. [applause] we gave the world walter mondale and now you guys aside, we're going to i have get world tim kaine, okay? so as i like to say, minnesota mom bounce their babies on their knees, say one day you can grow up to be vice president. okay. that is basically it. so, then i think the overall thing, besides tim's incredible speech and what we heard from joe biden on leaving and from the president and that moment when hillary comes out, all that. i just kept thinking, the contrast, you know. we have a convention, right,

where they have this beautiful chorus of people singing, what the world needs now is love. people start chanting, love trumps hate. is that a little different than -- that's what those guys did last week. they had angry, hateful chants. how about we had a very vibrant primary. i know bernie sanders won our state and it was very popular there. and our delegation, if you look, whenever we called -- by the way when i called the delegate votes i did it with keith ellison, i wanted to show unity. we're good friend. i'm again wearing purple, when i announced delegate vote again, taking full responsibility for tim kaine, that we are the state of prince's "purple rain" and birthplace of tim kaine. [applause] that is the rhyme you guys can not do, i will note. in any case, you take

comparisons, right. bernie sanders mentioned hillary clinton name 15 times. gave full-throated endorsement. had his brother come up. what a moment, right. he himself puts her over the top. that's leadership. that's leadership. then look, a look at what we got on the other side. the republican nominee's primary opponent, ted cruz, what do we see, like lead into great moment and say, vote for whoever you want. that is not the same kind of convention. that is not unity. that is a different kind of convention. and so then, i just finally would say that we have issues, right? we're talking about issues. we're talking about what hillary's experience has been. we're talking about the democratic party and where we want to move to the future. instead of this kind of anger and hate and rhetoric. whenever people ask me, given

that bernie won my state, well, are you all going to come together. let's just step back a little, okay? what of people supported senator sanders. my friend keith ellison, what are some of their big issues? one of their big issues is money in politics and it should be. so, excuse me, see the list of people that donald trump wanted to put on the supreme court? okay, that is not going to change things, all right? okay. or you say, another big issue is making college more affordable, right? what does trump do? he does trump university, that is what we get from him. big issue for progressives in my state, is climate change, for all people and hillary clinton supporters. no one knows better with virginia, with norfolk and what we're seeing, okay, what does donald trump say? he says it is a hoax, right? put forward by the chinese. how do i know it? said it in twitter as michelle obama noted less than 140 characters.

that is how he issues all of his decrease. you look at what he has done on foreign policy, right? wants to destroy nato alliance. making threats there. wants to build a wall to mexico. and to canada. no, no. that was my neighbor. that was neighbor that wanted to build a wall to canada, because we can see canada from our porch in minnesota. when scott walker, the governor of wisconsin said he wanted to build that wall, boo. all the people in my state, saying, how would that work? like, how would you build a wall over lake superior? i don't understand. but that is donald trump going, wants to build this wall, right? wants to build this wall. wants to add nuclear weapons that countries that don't even have nuclear weapons. now the latest, he is actually encouraging espionage by foreign governments. that is what he said yesterday. that is outrageous. it is outrageous.

so you have that, compared to candidate with clear experience, someone who wants to move ahead. someone who has grown grace under pressure. i don't think there is any -- our state like yours has a lot of independent voters. we don't have registration in minnesota by party. we have a lot of independent voters. i think a lot of messages that we heard last night, from michael bloomberg to what we heard from, what we heard from the president and from joe biden, were for people in the hall. they were for all of us, but also for the people watching at home, who still haven't made a decision. no one knows better than virginia how important that is. one last thing i wanted to focus on was the senate races. you don't have one in virginia, yet. all right. okay? [laughter] you don't have one. you don't have one yet. let me tell you how important this is because as you know we

have them all over the country, particularly in my neighboring state of wisconsin, illinois, new hampshire, pennsylvania, indiana. if you don't think we can win inian, i have two words for you, evan bayh, okay? we're going to win that one. you go through, florida, i'm, north carolina and someone will yell out a state. let's not go there. missouri, ohio. all right, all right. but we have such an opportunity to take back the senate. every vote in the senate matters right? there is only one one of us. give you a sense, only five votes we pushed forward the bill to insure our lgbtq brothers and sisters did not face discrimination. that was only five votes in the senate. by only four votes did we appoint a national labor relations board to that board to protect our workers right. only passed by four votes, okay? [applause] by three votes did we pass,

what? something that might matter to virginia, hurricane emergency relief after hurricane sandy was only three votes. that is how we like to beg for every single vote. by two votes, we were able to move forward a surgeon general who had the audacity to say gun violence can be a public health problem, something after virginia tech, you guys know a little bit about here. it was only two votes. [applause] and only by one vote were we able to pass the president's signature legislation, the affordable care act. that was just one vote. [applause] so that is why, as we heard last night, in addition to winning this incredibly important election, for hillary clinton, an tim kaine, we have to win the united states senate, by the way we would like to win the house. that is our plan. that is our plan. and that is something you can work on here. so, just having been in

virginia, of course, we have our house in minnesota. but when john and i, when i first, got elected we had to rent somewhere, and where do you think we went? virginia! we rented in virginia beach. first we were in roslyn, a little bit of change for us, you know. having a birthday party at pool thing which happened to coincide with the singles night. [laughter]. just 12 years old. okay. that was, everything was good. we rented a home in arlington. and she went through the entire time, the arlington school district. and -- [applause] washington and lehigh school, which is incredibly great. i knew there would be some alum out there. maybe i should name every high school. [laughter] i won't tell you, we went on vacation in the shenendoahs once. yay. i will stop. the caves. no. i'll stop.

historic landmarks. manassas, we went there, yes we did, did whole tour for a whole day. we basically, that is where she spent a lot of her time growing up was in your state. i saw first-hand the progressive nature of your state. the fact that your state has changed so much over time. what the schools are like. these great teachers that she had. in those schools. it is really something. so i want to end with this, because it is really about kids. a lot of speakers touched on it, but kind of rhetoric we're seeing out there. the rhetoric that has led to bullying. i was chief prosecutor through 9/11. went around with the bushes afterwards because we had 100,000 somalis, biggest population in the country. talking about hate crimes, what they should report and what they should say. we did fine with that now fast forward, kids being teased on playground and worse. you have teachers that say i have never seen anything like this. and it is a lot about the

hateful rhetoric, right, that is going on. and so, one of the worst things i heard a few months ago, i was at a mosque in minneapolis, heard story of a phamly, mom, dad, two kids. they had been there through 9/11. nothing bad happened. they get there, fast forward, here we are. they are at restaurant with two kids. guy walks by says you go home. you go home to where you came from. the little girl looks up at her mom. she said, mom, i don't want to go home. you said that we could eat out tonight. [laughter]. i dope want eat dinner at home. and, think of the words ever that innocent child. she didn't even understand what he was saying because she only knew one home, and that home was our state. that home is your state. and that home is the united states of america. [applause] so as you look, as you look

forward to this, you stand up for that girl, you stand up for every value that michelle obama talked about, when she talked about her kids playing on the front lawn of the white house, and you stand up for tim kaine, and our next vice president. we'll win this thing. thank you, everyone. [applause] [inaudible conversations].

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>> i wanted to recognize also, that our wonderful congressman bobby scott is in the house this morning. didn't he do a great job for us last night? [applause] so now, i also have the pleasure of introducing someone that i have known a very long time. when i was a young executive director many years ago of the democratic party, i've been, i've been blessed to be a virginia democrat. by birth and by choice. and don byers served as our vice-chair for finance for the democratic party, a position that our friend, my friend, mark gold now holds. i keep telling him, you know, that is a stepping stone to federal office. you know you play your cards

right, you just never know. there may be a senate seat or, in his future too. all right, a federal office. but any who, congressman beyer, great to have you with us. we're so proud of you. come on and get us fired up this morning. [applause] >> good morning, virginia democrats. >> hello. >> thank you you all for getting up so early just to hear me speak. at least i didn't have to come after tim kaine yesterday. america was born on a farm in virginia. my favorite speech idea of politics that george washington, thomas jefferson, the declaration of independence, statute of religious freedom, bill of rights, from our first six presidents, eight presidents over all. statler brothers, shirley mcclain. on and on and on. now louann bennett.

who along with don will change the balance of the house for democrats. and i'm so proud that, after 100 years we finally get tim kaine on the ticket. look, we've had, and i just want to say hi to general herring and my friends bobby scott and gerry connolly and mr. klobuchar. there have been so many wonderful speeches last couple days that knocked it out of the park. tim kaine, last night, joe biden, best speech i ever heard him give, the president, everyone was in tears after that. just surprises. hakim jeffries, i hope you listened to some of those. wonderful things. i feel i have so little to add this morn but, this is my fourth national democratic convention and there is a really different player to this one -- flavor than any i have been to.

take you back 32 years to difference in the flavor. 32 years ago it was ronald reagan against walter mondale. reagan was running for reelection after couple awful years, it was morning in america. that he proclaimed our economy was thriving, great nation, future was even brighter. he tapped into that sort of fundamental part of the human spirit which is it our optimism. albert said, in the midst of the darkest winter i found myself an invincible summer. but remember, he stole it from us. he stole it from fdr and all those other democrats who were great optimists, we have nothing to fear by fear itself. and it worked for a long, long time. we were the dark party and they were the party of hope and optimism, right through the bushes. remember compassionate conservatism. but now they have destroyed their brand completely. that was the darkest convention i have ever heard. got donald trump personifying

everything negative in our lives. most scathing of a country he would lead. pessimistic, negative, divisive, putting one of us against the other, hate and rejection. we heard this again and again and again. the wonderful admiral last night, or so many talking about immigrants stealing our jobs mexicans raping us, robbing and stealing. muslims have to be banned from the country. make fun of people with disabilities. punish women who chose to have an abortion. we have to abandon our six-decade commitment to allies in nato. by the clay climate change is a hoax. and yet, it is like darth vader or ramsey bolton or the joker was running for president. [laughter]. but, look at the contrast. as we have had speech after speech after speech, from the bravest, humblest, most gifted people who have lifted up with their stories. dan malloy, who i have known for

years, who knew he was treated as child with intellectual disability until third or fourth grade, now he is the wonderful governor of connecticut. or marty walsh, who was tough alcoholic, having to fight over his alcoholism to come back to be the mayor of boston. or carla ortiz, who hillary hugged, stood up there, one of the best speeches of the whole convention, talking about how hillary reached out to her, telling her not to worry, we weren't going to send her parents back to mexico. every single story we her has inspired us. everyone has appealed to the better angels of our nature. michelle obama. [cheering] when they go low, we go high. and tuesday night, after a lifetime of fighting for democratic socialist values, after creating a new revolution in our grassroots politics, senator bernie sanders graciously, generously and humbly, asked we nominate hillary clinton by acclamation.

if that is not going high, i don't know what is. [applause] i, i hate seeing polls that say america is on the wrong track. most of them say. well, of course. all they ever hear is doom and gloom about how bad we are, then of course that is going to be, but, look at how we win. hope, change, stronger together. the wonderful lines last night all through the last days about how you know, yes we can. not, yes you can, not yes you can, but yes, we can. this is who we are. we are optimistic, we are strong, we are brave. we are humble. nobody personifies that better than the miraculous wonderful, tim kaine. [applause] i know tim's only going to be our next vice president. many reasons why hilly chose

him. are most reason is worst and most tragic case, all the people i know in my life, the person best prepared other than hillary clinton to be president, to have that obamaesque, that wisdom, that depth, that sense of characterrer is tim kaine. we're very, very proud. [applause] and, so, but i love my new job. one of the things i love about my new job, is bobby scott and the chance to serve with gerry connolly. he is one of the wisest people on foreign affairs committee. he was senate relation and when he was in his youth. he is the intellectual stability and center on foreign affairs committee. he is great on oversight and government reform. standing up to the darrell issa and jason chafe fetes of the world which is not easy. trusted friend and great politician. let me introduce our

congressman, gerry connolly. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much. welcome to the senate tri, i mean delegate breakfast. c-span, wipe that out. [laughter]. no, great to be with you. you know, i was thinking, i love history and i don't know if some of you might follow me on, my book reviews, but i, i read a book a week and usually history or biography and, i was with tim friday night at a private dinner party in tysons in fairfax in the beautiful 11th district of virginia. [applause] and, no, no, really, it is beautiful.

and -- >> believe me. >> believe me. [laughter] and, we were all, you know, like anxious for him. he was kind of relaxed, and, you know, tim, have you, what do you know? we haven't heard a thing. we don't know. i'm thinking, my god, what is he doing here? he has nothing better to do tonight. he is waiting for the call. [laughter]. and you know, we celebrated, we toasted, we had dinner. we opened the gifts, and we're thinking gee, maybe she is not going to call. . .

speaking of history, so i was although part of history, right? eating birthday cake and drinking. it was fairfax county, after all. [laughter] virginia wine of course. [applause] we produce great white. but here's another little piece of history i was thinking about. the last time an elected virginian was on a national ticket was 1840. it's been a while. no one can argue with we that

are fair share. who was the person? john tyler. my friends like alfonso and others in the general is simply no him because he's in the statuary place in place of honor for virginians who became president. but i thought tim kaine denomination is an opportunity -- nomination is an opportunity granted a little late for redemption. because the last virginian, elected virginian ought to take it did not work out so well. it was an advocate for the slavocracy. and i mean when he became president i think about 40 or 50 base after he became vice president because, and by the way, one piece of history. established, no one had died in

office yet until this president died. and he just moved in like, well, you can argue about if you want but i'm here and i'm going to do it. he was a reactionary of a first kind, a just made into an unhappy so that he wasn't be nominated for president. then he returned home and he actually supported secession. here's the man who took oath to be president of the united states. think about the rationalization that allows you to say i know, but. does that sound familiar? so he gets this reactionary, enslavement is just fine, and i'm going to stop all aggressive

thoughts and america while i'm president. and then when i don't get my way, i'm going to get myself elected a confederate congressman. okay, fast forward. next virginian to be nominated to a national ticket, tim kaine. [cheers and applause] slightly different than john tyler. civil rights lawyer. a white council the enrichment whoso instinct that has worked so well in racial harmony and moving to the city forward. the divisiveness that others want to exploit, an african-american majority on the council elect him as mayor.

it's the power of overcoming fear. it's a power of being able to overcome a look at some as the other. whether it's an immigrant or somebody of color. that's the beauty of america, isn't it? let me tell you the power of not doing that. look at, well, look at what happened in the former yugoslavia. people who have lived together in neighborhoods, suddenly killing each other because somebody not in their head that's the other. and it's very dangerous, and the beauty of being here is we heard it last night and i felt one of the most powerful linux of any convention i've ever attended, calling us, the better angels of

our nation as abraham lincoln talked about it. this is not a partisan election anymore. this is about our country. you know, that rationalization that john tyler must have gone through to rationalize his way into supporting secession having been president. you are not just anybody. you were with the president. you took an oath. you hear it all the time, i do where i work and don works and body works, from colleagues. u.s.a. but he hates women. i know, but. [laughter] he wants to violate the constitution. i know, but. at least he says what he thinks. that's the problem. [laughter]

[applause] let's stay there for a minute. he thinks all mexicans are criminals and are coming are clearly are only one intent, rob us blind and worse. well, i know, but. it's just amazing the rationalization and the power of rationalization to do bad things in the name of good things. i'm sure john tyler believed the bible said slavery is what god intended. he thought of himself as a moral man and he rationalized his whole life. and it took a civil war and another 150 years, legally, to try to get ourselves out of that mess. that's the evil power of rationalization.

so tim kaine gives us a chance to redeem ourselves, virginia. [applause] but i have to say to somebody who's lived in virginia a longtime and has had the privilege of representing virginians for these past 23 years, i don't think we need that much redemption. because we are in a very different place. when we describe our history for kids, they don't understand it. you're kidding. there were separate schools? why? i can remember when my daughter was young, i took her to the school which had been desegregated high school, when we finally built one. other than that the kids were actually bust out of the county to go to high school.

while they had to watch their counterparts, their peers, on corners going to their local school. and so i brought my daughter to an event at luther jackson and, of course, there is no longer that kind of school, but i took her to the trophy case and i wanted to test it i said what do you see in the trophy case? trophies. a lot of kids with pictures. i said i know, but look a little closer. she must have gone through 20 guesses come all wrong. and, finally, she looked at me and said well, they are all black. i said yes. and i said, does that strike you? well, not particularly, but tell me about it. i told her. this was like aliens must have inhabited northern virginia. it made no sense to a 10 year old.

but a lot of adults rationaliz rationalized. so i say to you we've had a great convention, and honestly, this is my sixth and i've never had a more powerful evening than we did last night with that lineup. [applause] gently but firmly let's challenge our neighbors, our friends, our family members who are engaged in a great rationalization your yeah, i know, but. no, no, no. there is no, but. that, i know is the problem, for america. for america. it's not just about democrats winning an election. it's about making sure we never let an authoritarian figure, the first ever nominated by one of the two parties, to get within a

donald trump mile of the oval office. so it's really a glorious cause. and as we redeemed ourselves from the ignominious memory of john tyler, let us virginia and show the rest of the country the way. we rejected that great rationalization because we know what damage it can do. and we are not going to let it happen and the rest of our great country. thank you, fellow virginians. god bless you all. [applause] >> okay, everybody stay put, pleased because we're going to

keep rolling along. because we're going to now hear from someone that i know we all love, respect and admire, and has been a real leader for virginia. and if you have ever had any doubt about the importance of the attorney general have a democratic attorney general and one who will stand up for all of us, well, we know now how important it is because we have the best attorney general ever. [applause] so let's give it up for our own mark herring. [cheers and applause] >> good morning, virginia democrats.

[applause] >> i don't know about you, but when i left the arena last night, we took the subway back. we were a little warm from the heat and humidity but coming back from the arena last night, i felt such a sense of renewed sense of hope and optimism for the future of our country. [applause] and i went to bed last night and i woke up this morning so proud of being an american, so proud of being a virginia democrat. [cheers and applause] and so proud of one of our own tim kaine. [cheers and applause]

did he make us proud or what? [applause] and who knew he could do impersonation's? [laughter] his nomination also place a special responsibility on us as virginians who know him best your responsibility but also a great opportunity to tell the rest of the nation what a great vice president tim kaine is going to be. [applause] myself, i have known tim kaine for over 25 years. we first met in law school. for those of you who have heard the story of mark warner and tim kaine it in law school, i need to clarify two things. it was not the same law school they went to. [laughter] and when tim kaine and i met it

was in a classroom. back then when i was in law school at the university of richmond, tim was in private practice as a civil rights lawyer, and he was also an adjunct professor at the university of richmond. and i was lucky enough to take one of his classes. and i still remember that class and i remember him very well in that class. and i could tell them, he cared about all of his students. and by the way, he set a very high standar standard and expecn for all of us. not going to and what kind of a greater he was but he set a very high expectation for all of us. he would sometimes share stories about what it was like to be a civil rights lawyer and fighting discrimination. and i could tell that from those experiences he shared with us that he was someone who really

cared about other people. and i don't have to deal anyone in this room what a great guy he is. we've all got stories about whether we have campaigned with him or he's help somebody out or help us out, we've got an opportunity and a responsibility to tell the rest of the nation what a great job he's going to be and what a great person he's going to be, or is, and what a great job he is going to do as vice president. [applause] hillary clinton and tim kaine will stand in direct contrast to the bullying and the divisiveness that we're seeing from donald trump and the republicans. [applause] it's also been great this week to be here with our other great united states senator, mark

warner. [applause] he did a great job as governor and now doing as u.s. senator, helping them to make sure our state and now making sure that our country is prepared for 21st century economy. and those of you who are here at the breakfast when he spoke will remember how we also talked a little bit about how far we've come as virginia democrats over these years. and there were times years ago when politically we felt somewhere between i think he said wyoming and idaho in terms of how reliably republican virginia was. i remember those days. we all remember those days. entry talk about the also took me back to my days with the democrats and -- [applause] i can say this is about democratic they are not necessarily early risers. [laughter]

our member to the democratic committee back in the 1980s, and that after college and law school or after law school and coming back to get my practice established, join and getting back involved. back then one of the most reliably republican county of virginia. ito my loudness democratic friends were up for the challenge in 2008. we were up for the challenge and 2012 that were up for the challenge and 2016. we're going to win. [applause] it's been great of our congressional delegation led by bobby scott. didn't do a great job? we've been proud of bobby scott in virginia for years and he made us proud again of that big

stage last night, didn't he? [applause] and gerry connolly antone bier and over hardcharging challengers, having been here -- and don beyer. and i've got to tal talk about e challenger it will be my congressman next time, luanne bennett. [applause] the first time i got a chance to vote for congress was in 1980. and i've been represented by a republican ever since. and this november that is changing when we elect luanne bennett. [applause] and i feel so proud to be a part of a great team. our governor has been literally crisscrossing the globe bringing new businesses and industries to virginia. the numbers keep mounting up in

terms of economic development field and jobs created and capital investment and is helping to make virginia more welcoming and more fair. and it's been great to have our lieutenant governor here. he has been working hard on issues like how to make sure that all of our folks have health care and that we make sure that our kids are prepared for the 21st century. and some of you may for a couple days ago with the breakfast, he said he was looking forward to putting in for a promotion. so i guess in that same vein i can say i am looking forward when the time comes next year to asking people to renew my contract for another four years. [cheers and applause]

thank you. we have all seen how the office of attorney general can be misused and even abused, try to take people's health care away from them, persecuting scientists and -- [inaudible] >> the bar was set pretty low. [laughter] but i hope i've shown all of you and i hope i've shown all virginians -- >> you have. >> how this office in the right hands can be used for a force for good in people's lives, how it can be a force to make people's lives better. and i'm so proud of what we've been able to do to fight for justice and equality and opportunity for all virginians.

[applause] i will be the first to admit that some of the actions we've taken has generated some criticism from predictable corners. you know, i'm sure you'll remember they tried to impeach me. they tried to guess barney -- disbar me. and listening to stories of people who told me what it is meant to them to have an attorney general stand up and fight for them, and protect them and keep them safe. that has helped me get through that and push through all that kind of negativity and stand up for people instead of for all virginians. >> thanks, mark. [applause]

>> like those whose lives have been directly benefited. when we change the state's position on marriage equality to bring -- [applause] and what we are continuing to do to end discrimination in virginia where ever we see it. [cheers and applause] i could tell you thousands, literally thousands of stories i've heard from folks have told me what i it's meant to them and to their families. i will never forget the day that the supreme court allowed the fourth circuit decision to stand. incidentally, today is the two year anniversary of that fourth circuit opinion.

[applause] and i would never standing on the steps of the courthouse in arlington talking about what it meant to virginia now that marriage equality had come. at the same time i was talking at the courthouse steps in arlington, two people were trying desperately to call me and talk to me. two of the plaintiffs in that case and they're trying to get in touch with me because they wanted to celebrate their marriage that day. so i got to talk to them i said but you all are already married. they were married in california years earlier. it's just the virginia didn't recognize it. they said can we renew our vows? will you help us do that? so we got in the car, drove down i-95 and i would never forget standing on the steps of the john marshall courthouse enrichment and we will helping them renew their vows together,

mary and carol, and their daughter emily, everybody, they were so happy. embodied in everybody was crying. mary, carol, emily, me, all the reporters. they were tears of joy. at also like the people that helped by what we've been able to do for dreamers to help get them an affordable college education and virginia, their home state. [cheers and applause] we made that announcement at made that announcement at the north of virginia community college up in northern virginia, and there were a bunch of dreamers of there. it all came up to me and they were crying because of how happy they were and they told me this was going to change their lives for ever. and a member being that girl

stay down in farmville later that summer. and i told that story. someone is from farmville, all right. i remember telling that story at the girl stay. there were probably five or 600 rising seniors, high school. and i told that story. after i finish talking of walking out of the auditorium, about halfway up, a student grabbed my arm and she said, remember that story you told about how the decision you made would change dreamers lives for ever? i was like, yeah. she said well, i am one of the. she grew up in southwest. she had always dreamed of going to uva but she knew that for her and her family, the tuition was out of reach. and she looked right, she looked right in the eye and she said, now i have a shot.

wouldn't you know, i start walking out again, two rows behind her another student grabbed me and said i heard what she said anaheim one, two too. that she grew up outside of richmond. she wanted to go to vc you and enter the health profession. and so now hundreds, probably thousands of virginia dreamers who have grown up in virginia, they've done well in high school, going to college now, beginning to climb the ladder of success and become a part of virginia's next generation of skilled workers, entrepreneurs and researchers. [cheers and applause]

sodomite. [laughter] researchers. >> i spoke with so many families of lost a loved one to a heroin overdose. and i can tell you what it's meant to the families to know that their attorney general feels their pain. and they're so glad to know that someone is listening and we've put together a multifaceted approach to try to make sure that we turn this epidemic around so that we don't lose all these virginians to these dangers of drugs. 900 families last year lost loved ones to these dangers drugs. and together we are going to turn it around. we've been to african-american churches and minority

communities to talk about police community relations. it has meant so much for them to have the top law officer, the top legal officer for the state to be there talking about these issues and listen to them at understanding their sense of frustration. by the way, were the mothers of the movement great? [applause] these heartbroken mothers telling the stories of the pain of gun violence. and what i heard them the other night was that they share the same goals that we are working on right now in virginia, trying to make sure that law enforcement can safely protect our communities and to make sure that everyone is treated equally and fairly. of those are two goals we all share.

[applause] now, helping people in these ways, and this is just for things, i haven't even begun to talk about the work we are doing to transform how virginia preventing and responding to domestic violence and campus sexual assault, human trafficking, child exploitation, or what we're doing on climate change and consumer protection, and some other things. that's what i love this job and that's what i wake up everything with thinking about how i can use the law and the resources of this great job in order to help people, to help virginians, to help all virginians. [applause] that's also why i'm proud to be a virginia democrat and that's what i'm so proud of what i see here in philadelphia.

because we are all about inclusion and optimism. you compare that with what we saw in cleveland. you know, i was watching that and i kind of like i was watching a presidential convention out of a movie like mad max or something. people shouting. it's just, and speaker after speaker trying to intimidate and instill fear in people in order to try to get votes. and donald trump saying i alone can keep you safe. i don't want and i am the president. i wanted us together president. [cheers and applause] so what we've seen here in philly as a positive vision for our future and for our country. we've heard such great testimony. we've got one more day. it would be a great day at a great evening later tonight.

and then we will go back and were going to roll up our sleeves and we're going to get to work. we're going to elect hillary clinton and we are going to elect 10-k because we know hillary clinton and tim kaine are and always will be with us, all of us. [cheers and applause] i and when we win let's carry that momentum into 2017. thank you all. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. let's give another round of applause for mark herring. [applause] i mean come think about it. all of our wonderful elected officials in virginia, they found out with us all week. think about it, the republicans,

their officials didn't even want to go to cleveland with them. [laughter] they were nowhere to be found. and i want to make a little note that all of our breakfasts were open to everybody, open to the press. we didn't have any closed-door meetings, in contrast on that as well. all right. i actually wanted to just say a couple personal things. this has been a very personal honor for me. april from -- [applause] -- graduated in the class of 28 who. i am so grateful that the daughter of virginia, of the middle-class. my parents taught me and my

sister to love the lord, our family and our country in that order, who grew up on a farm. and as i said, graduated in the class of 28 in the smallest town in virginia, to be able to lead virginia's delegation to this national convention here in philadelphia. [applause] [cheers and applause] [applause] my late mom would really be proud. my daddy, too, but i really thought about my mama.

she would be bursting with pride with the idea of the first woman president. [applause] a woman who was so ready, so tested, so strong, and a grandma also, to be our president, to lead our country in these tough and perilous times. and someone qualified who happens to be a woman. i know secretary clinton years these kinds of stories, or secretary clinton here's these kinds of stories on the trail all the time. but i have my own story and it's about my mama. when i was in eighth grade, i will never forget it, i came home from school. my mama decided she wanted to go

back to work at the bank. she had been a teller. she quit her job to raise me and my sister, and we've got old enough, she wanted to go back to work. she applied for a job i didn't know it. i came home and she was upset. mama, what's wrong? and she said, i applied for my job back. there was an opening and they didn't get it. i was like, why? you know, you are qualified. she's like well, they told me they wanted a man. you know what? back then there wasn't a damn thing you can do about it. i was so darn bad but i know that nancy is looking down at this historic moment and thank you hillary clinton, you go, girl.

[cheers and applause] >> and those of you, and i think was everybody in this room, our next vice president of the estate, tim kaine, everybody has got a tim kaine story, right? whether to bid and the car with him and he is usually the one that has been driving, right, larry? or he spent the night in your home. i can't wait, he talked up spending the night with us and that was after my mom passed away and he was lieutenant governor. it was great. my daddy was having a little bit mentioned in the we had a great time. he spent the night at our house and went to the bluegrass, and we did partake of a little virginia gentleman later in the

evening, with daddy in the living room, you know, the loungers. i will never forget that at how great he was with my father. i just can't wait to put that sign up that the vice president slept here in-county, you know? [applause] but anyway, so that's just my personal stories i wanted to share with you, and thank you all for your support of me and the democratic party. and also i don't know how many of our great staff are hereby to do what the ones who here to just come up. our wonderful executive director. one of our political directors. where is everybody else? if you are in the room or out in the hall, come on up real quick because they have done the hard work. at the pages are here, come up. they are the ones who made me,

you, all of us look really good. [applause] and meredith. [applause] is allison here? is allison jones in the house? are you in the picture? okay. come on up, alfonso.

[cheers and applause] >> okay. i'm going to turn it over now for the last orders of the day. everybody stay. we have one last speaker, short come and we've got announcement of the lottery, the last lottery of the day. it's all yours. >> excellent. [inaudible] >> she's got all that, center, but thank you very much and thanks for all you've done this week. [applause] >> thank you, susan. i'm sorry? real fast. this is not the final announcement that they get anything else you want me to say, taxi to me very quickly. but one real thing, we will be doing the lottery for the extra ticket sure that if you're a delegate and want to go, please go immediately to the table over

there and pick up your ticket. this is only if you have not already claimed it because we will be giving them away in the lottery very shortly. the last speak for the the i wanted to introduce paige gardner from women for action fund. thank you. [applause] >> first of all of want to thank susan for her incredible leadership and inspiration. just seeing this, that wonderful -- [applause] >> fabulous. i am so proud to be a resident of the commonwealth of virginia. [applause] and seeing tim kaine last night. it was so moving. he's so great, and he and all of us are going to make sure that

virginia brings us over the top. [cheers and applause] so i am thanking you in advance. thank you. so i'm here today to talk to you about a little secret, secret about winning and how we win. that secret is called the rising american electorate. it's comprised of unmarried women, people of color and young voters under 35. and now make up 57% of the voting eligible population, but their best showing was in 2012 when they only, only made up 40% of the electorate. our job is to make sure that we close that gap and get the

majority of people who can vote to vote. these are the most progressive voters in this country, and they have strong values. they are particularly repulsed by the hate of the trump-pence campaign. we've done lots of research on them, lots of focus groups. there is a repulsion about their view of america. they are hopeful for america. they want to see a better america and a don't want to go down, you know, the dirty and just, hole of despair that that other, you know, thos the other candidates are bringing us into. anyway, all the key tossup states, including virginia between 2010-2016, saw an enormous growth in the rise

american electorate. unmarried women, people of color and voters under 35. we particularly stressed unmarried women. why? because marital status different and whether you register, whether you vote and how you vote. if you look at what happened in 2012 in virginia, unmarried women voted for obama, president obama, by 29 points. they voted for mr. romney by seven points. a huge gap between married and unmarried women between voting patterns. one of the things that support to know, particularly but unmarried women is their lives are stretched and stretched. so they want candidates who understand what's going on with them. about half of all people in this country who on the minimum wage right now our unmarried women.

they need a higher minimum wage. they need equal pay. they need sick pay. they need a workplace that understands about being a mother and balancing work and families. this is the party and these other candidates that understand the lives of working women all across this country. and that's why we've got to a lack of them. [applause] we want to make sure, all of us, and we look at unmarried women, people of color and millennials. we do everything that we can in the commonwealth to get them registered and get them out to vote. i will leave you with one last thought. there is a huge registration gap and so that's why the women's voices women vote action fund and to assist or position, the voter participation center, we

are going to send close to half a million voter registration applications at the end of august, beginning of september out to the people in the commonwealth, unmarried women, people of color, millennials to make sure we get more and more of them registering and voting. and more and more to show up on election day so more and more can make sure that we have a ticket that looks toward a bright future, not one filled with hate. thank you. [applause] >> we are going to briefly stalled for three minutes so we can run the numbers for the tickets. you wil hear some lovely

announcements and schedule today. or we can all sing happy birthday to alfonso again. what have you guys want to do. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everyone. once again -- >> we will leave this event and you can find this along with all of our dnc convention events on our website at c-span.org. we have more coming up from the final day of the democratic national convention. at 12:15 p.m. eastern politico will be hosting a discussion with chris coons, adam schiff and jake sullivan. a discussion on foreign policy under a hillary clinton administration. that's live on c-span at 12:15 p.m. eastern. later back on c-span2,

representatives from the clinton and santos campaign considers the future of the democratic party live at 2:20 p.m. eastern on c-span2. 3:30 p.m. senator chuck schumer and reporter paul can discuss the democratic agenda in the 2016 election. that takes place at the city townhouse in philadelphia live right on c-span2 again start at 3:30 p.m. eastern. >> tonight hillary clinton becomes the first woman to accept a major political parties nomination for president of the united states. and with c-span yet many convenient options for watching the entire speech without any interruptions. watcher historic acceptance speech live on c-span, listen to it on the c-span reader app, watch it live or on-demand on your desktop, tablet or smartphone at c-span.org. hillary clinton's historic acceptance speech tonight on c-span, the c-span reader app and c-span.org.

>> and a discussion with the sultan of sokoto spiritually for the moslem unity. he talked about nigeria's place in the world, the fight against boko haram and religious extremism and the work being done to promote education for girls and women. this is hosted by the wilson center. [inaudible conversations] >> welcome. good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. i'm andrew selee, executive vice president, executive vice president good looking on behalf of jane harman, the president was out of town today. we are pleased to have with those the sultan of sokoto for discussion, a conversation, "a conversation with the sultan of sokoto: peace and development initiatives, challenges, and potential prospects in nigeria," nigeria,."

i think it's become have any of my colleagues in sync is one of the events that many of us have most look forward to because it is so incredibly timely in terms of world events today. thank you for attending what promised to be an engaging discussion. we ought to be joined by his will eminence, as he discusses key issues discussing niger including their place in the muslim world, christian relations in niger and beyond nigeria. religious tolerance and understanding, his work for the public for girls and women in muslim majority northern nigeria, the fight against boko haram edited on the prospects for next year's future. for those who may not be fully with the wilson center, it is an organization that was chartered by congress, a public charter to bring together the world of ideas in the world of policy decision-making. and abridged dialogues that offer might not happen naturally if this works as roy hibbert far more than just a collection of

famous quote the senate is a living more as a capitalist love of the sharpest but you were. to honor the legacy the wilson center tackle global issues in research to open dialogue and public events to provide a safe space where the worlds of policy and scholarship can collide. among other regions wilson center falls into the grid and after closely and strives to address key issues impacting the content and just african relations. it seeks ultimately research institutions but also a form that facilitates the first olympic and african scholars, practitioners and leaders from across the continent to our africa program. i would like to -- much of the what is meant in the public i would post to his eminence just inside with us today and given will depend it could not be more timely. i like toexpand a specialty store for and against its agency for international development and international interfaith peace corridors in the making his visit possible or i would like to talk to the leadership and contributions of the

chairman of iipc public this year yes. you have your chairman of iipc and thank you for your partnership in we really appreciate. it. i would also like to acknowledge -- thank you for being with us. find i want to dodge a special guest in today, members of our africa and agencies intimacies, often at the department of state agency for national development, department of defense, minutes of the africa program advisor council and supported by the african program and the wilson said at large. thank you for being a today. we welcome his eminence, sultan of sokoto and welcome to all of you and other place to put over to one of my colleagues, monde muyangwa, and i'm proud to call my college. [applause]

>> thank you. i appreciate that warm introduction. but afternoon testing which guests, ladies and gentlemen. i want to join in welcoming you all to the wilson center for today's special possession with the sultan of sokoto on peace and development initiatives, challenges in and prospects for nigeria. this is a very important discussion with a key leader in voice in nigeria and the broader sahara region. i know that a number of people are joining us via webcast as well as on twitter. welcome to you as well. for those on twitter you may follow and contribute to today's event on the africa program twitter account at africa up close using hashtag at sultan of sokoto, all one word, no spaces. if you have questions for the sultan pleased feel free to tweak them at africa up close and we will make sure to share those with the sultan.

before i introduce our distinguished speaker, let me quickly take a moment to set the scene for today's conversation. as andrew mentioned, our discussion today provide an opportunity to you from one of africa's and badges leaders on peace and development. and on religion and interfaith tolerance. this discussion is especially important because nigeria is a leader on the african continent. nigeria also happens to be a key partner fo for the united state. has often said to some of my african colleagues, as nigeria goes, so does the rest of africa. some of them do not like to hear that, but we do have to acknowledge nigeria's place on the continent. we also know that nigeria has had some successes, but also some challenges.

so given nigeria's place in africa and in the world, our conversation with a sold as an opportunity to discuss some of these key issues, including the religious tolerance and understanding, because we are unaware of the and so religious tensions that sometimes that many consider to be a major live in niger's efforts to forge a cohesive nation state. today's event is important because it affords us the opportunity to discuss broad development and inequity issues with the nigeria. it also allows us to discuss women and girls empowerment, especially in northern nigeria where a study revealed that eight states in northern nigeria have the worst girl child education and health indices in the country. boko haram is in the forefront of many who engage and work with and work on nigeria.

so our discussion today afford us the opportunity to look at boko haram, which so far accounts for an estimated 13,000 people killed and over 2 million displaced. and to you about some of the efforts that the sultan is undertaking to address this and other issues. our discussion today is also important because it is estimated that nigeria has the sixth largest muslim population in the world. and so for me, hearing from a key leader on the african continent on this issue is especially important because of the raging and sometimes polarizing debate about the interfaith between islam and terrorism. so with that as a backdrop it is now my deep honor and privilege to introduce our speaker for this afternoon who will help

address some of these issues that i have just outlined. his majesty muhammadu sa'ad abubaker iii is the 20th sultan of sokoto and the spiritual head of nigeria's muslims and millions more in the sub region. is a direct descendent of the founder of the sokoto caliph a. his eminence as head of the nigerian national supreme council of islamic affairs, head of the society for the sport of islam, co-chair of the nigeria and interreligious council and the chair of the board of trustees of the sultan foundation for peace and development. his eminence attended the prestigious college and also attended the nigerian defense academy. he was commissioned into the nigerian military as a second lieutenant in 1977 where he served in the armored core. his distinguished military

career includes having a presidential security unit of the armored core and playing a leadership role in peacekeeping operations across the african continent including amending a battalion of organization of african unity peacekeepers in chad as soon as a military liaison officer for the economic community of west african states, commonly referred to as -- served as the commanding officer of the two under 31st battalion operations in sierra leone. from 2003-2006, he served as nigeria's defense attaché to pakistan with concurrent accreditation to iraq, saudi arabia and afghanistan. after 31 years of distinguished military service he retired in 2006 with the rank of brigadier general when he assumed the office as the 20th sultan of sokoto upon the death of his older brother, the than the sultan. his eminence will speak to us or

about 35-40 minutes after which will have a moderated question and answer. so please be prepared to engage. i invite everyone out to please join me in welcoming his majesty, muhammadu sa'ad abubaker iii, sultan of sokoto. your eminence, i invite you to the podium. [applause] >> thank you. can i sit down and speak with absolutely. whatever you want. whatever you're comfortable with. >> first of all let me ask you, the distinguished audience, shall i sit down and discuss with you because if the conversation can or should i stand up and talk to formally? >> sit down. >> thank you very much. i am a democrat. [laughter] not with the convention going on here. thank you very much, if they

wish ladies and gentlemen. .. .. , i'd like to thank the wilson center for giving me the opportunity to share a few thoughts, and most importantly, thank iipc for partner with us and usaid for this very important forum which i believe

we should be engaging from time to time. this my second time i've come into this building, usaid, since i was in this position of sultan, and this is my second time, as i've said, and the topic i was given and the area i should cover in my discourse was so much familiar or to all of the discussions i've heard especially in the united states of america from harvard university where i delivered the a paper in 2011, george washington university where we have program on the commonwealth discussion between christians and muslims and other religions. and i've also spoken at columbia university in new york. i've engaged in foreign relations both in new york and washington d.c.

and i have spoken so many other places where i made my views known about the current topic. i would have just pictured the harvard paper i gave 2011 just to cover a few things. with so many things that have gone wrong in this world between 2011 til now, i believe i could still bring some of these issues. so as i said, i want to thank you for coming and please feel free to ask my question you want to, because we're here to discuss and learn from one another. i couldn't have come all the way from nigeria, thousands of miles away, just to come and go back without getting something out of you. and i keep on saying that the

more we talk together, the more we dialogue, the more problems we tend to of together. to solve together. so i was asked to talk about nigeria and the muslim world. you all know the population of knew jeer is -- nigeria is 185 million. maybe 85-90 million muslims, and that's no small population. in the muslim world, of course, we command a big role, we have a big role to play. and if you'll check the population of muslims in africa with my jeer yabeing the most popular black nation in the world with such a high number of muslims in the country, you'll see the whole population in arab world are not up to that of africa. i know that africa --

[inaudible] added to that, i could say, is much higher than the arab world. and in the muslim world, we, of course, we go for a long pilgrimage which we have about 70,000 nigerians every year go for pilgrimage. it's an islamic ritual that -- [inaudible] if it can afford it. but it's not a maul number of people -- a small number of people going for such an islamic duty. therefore, talking about the importance of nigeria in the muslim world, in fact, if we say we have a very great role to play, what happens in the muslim world based on our population? also based on the high number of clerics, highly learned clerics across the world, i think it's

also right to say we command a very great position. part of the things that you always thank god that he's given us the knowledge, one of the programs like a presentation in saudi arabia or other arab countries, the nigerian muslims -- [inaudible] sometimes second, sometimes third. at least talking about the muslim leadership of nigeria is not in question. we play very great role to go about uniting the muslim -- across the world. we are also a member of the oic, organizers of islamic corporation, we're a very strong member. despite the fact that oic is like an economic buddy of so many countries -- [inaudible]

observers. muslim countries sort of that are only members of oic. non-muslim countries also are members because it's like an economic buddy that share a lot of things together to make world a better place both economically and development wise. so with this, i'd like to take this very thorny issue of religious tolerance. like i've said, i've discussed these issues so many times as so many fora, and i was at u.s. institute of peace also some years back to talk about the relationship between -- [inaudible] and nigeria. and if you google through, if you google through, you'll see much of this presentation i have given. as regards what our thoughts are as far as religious

coexistence -- [inaudible] we are very, very worried about the way things are because there is so much intolerance. why do you have so much intolerance? why there are so many killings across the world in the name of religion? not justice lam, but much of -- not just disease islam but -- and i believe this gives us opportunity to discuss more, some of these issues and find a way forward. how do we eradicate the very few amongst us who have decided to take individual people's lives into their hands in the name of religion? be it christians or muslims? a few days back you have heard

about so many killings. even this morning there was a killing, an attack on the church in which the pastor was killed is and so many people held hostage. a few days back there was a killing too by somebody who was sort of so obsessed about killing people. and it's not on a religious basis. because that person, i think, is a christian and things like that. so i want to talk about religious tolerance. in nigeria when i came on to this position some ten years ago, 2nd, november, to be exact, i found a lot of problems on the ground. there are so much division between christians and muslims and muslim and muslim sect and whatever. and, therefore, we kicked off trying to reach out to everybody. if you have followed the problems of nigeria for some decades, we have learned there

have been so many skirmishes across the country in the name of religion. so many skirmishes that simple issues like a christian going through a moss being during prayers brought up loss of life and property concern. [inaudible] and the government -- [inaudible] simple issues like somebody in denmark made a cartoon of our -- [inaudible] and everybody in nigeria who was a muslim picked up -- [inaudible] these are the old days. now you don't hear much about these things. whey? because we decided -- why? because we decided to engage each other. because as people have said, if

peace does not bring stability in a country, violence definitely will not do so. and i believe totally in that regard. in the muslim world of nigeria, how do we try to live peacefully with one another? by understanding. because no religion that i know know -- for killing an individual without due justification. when people are taking other people's lives, you've built yourself up, say you are carrying out jihad or something, definitely is not islamic. i've said it one million and one times. those who would claim to be muslims, yes. but what they are doing is more their own personal benefit, not for islam. islam above that. islam above killing of

individual life. even one. it is said that if you take one perp's -- one person's life, it's like taking the life of all humanity. and so those people are out there on their own. but what can we do to stop such? we can only collaborate more, discuss more, trust more, trust one another more and move forward. there must be trust. if there's no trust -- [inaudible] would make no meaning. before we came n i've delivered these papers or across this country over a period of seven years. i don't read them this all -- [inaudible] implement some of these comments, some of these recommendations. these are some of the issues i think we must look into. we tried to resolve these cases by -- [inaudible] when we formed knew nigerian co, the muslim peace -- [inaudible]

from this body on their own accord, not of their own, not government or -- we came together, established this 15-member body. 25 christian leaders, 25 muslim leaders with the two co-chairmen, the muslim leader and the christian leader. when i came in in 2006, i found that -- [inaudible] we now reengineered this body. we started to take -- across the country. once in a blue moon -- we're now every quarter across the country, and we're shifting our -- where all the nigerians end up. political leaders must come together, must come for that

meeting. and after the opening session, lesson will be given by two individuals, one christian, one muslim on one topic. and i think this is where really open people's eyes as to the need for this dialogue. and also i believe we -- future organization we called nefar. and we're dealing with malaria. and malaria is a common enemy to christians and muslims. mosquito has no religion. so we now have a common enemy to deal with. i know this initiative we put together an ngo with the help of. [inaudible] be here in washington, d.c. which so many people have been working with us, and we came

here with -- which united nations also have a hand in our upbringing. the body is still going on, and i think that's one interfaith action together that really portrayed as people who really want to live in peace with one another. and also -- [inaudible] we formed interfaith initiative for peace. and this totally to take care of the problems in the northern states where there are more misunderstandings, met me put it that way, in the northern states than in the south. even though there are still in the south so much more, maybe because people don't -- but we decided to take because -- [inaudible] and we put this body together, and we've been working together

calling for concerns, calling -- sometimes even making the president of the country to give us the coe note address. -- keynote address. and i think this also opened people's mind more that we must sit together if we want to save this country of ours from this religious problem. but most of these problems are not really religious problems because we all know that -- [inaudible] to kill at will. and, therefore, most of our politicians are the main problems -- causes of these problems. trying to have their way by christian, the heinz of religious followers. if you are christian, you are

going to come pain through your christian brothers. if you are muslim, the same thing. this poll shows now if you don't get your way, problems come up. so i think this sort of discuss openly on these issues we can call on people not to vote with religious sentimentses. and openly, we did that openly. now, with -- to our cause, there were no votes counted. but the final result was made known, and leaders -- [inaudible] two turbans, i won't say two caps, two you are the laps. [laughter] one is the -- turbans. one is the leadership. some of you who are not very familiar with nigeria, before

nigeria came into being in 1914 -- [inaudible] the south and west to become nigeria of today. so many of our grandparents were ruling various areas from southwest, south-south to southeast to the north. and this institution has been well respected and have the ears and eyes and whatever, the support of the common man. at our level we used to hold meetings, advise governments certain thinning to do, what not -- things to do, what not to do, and when there are problems, we tried to call on people to -- [inaudible] and i think for the institution to play its own role positively, we are till playing the role as religious leaders. ea religious leaders, pa part of what do we do?

officially at our own level is to put -- [inaudible] that reach out to the common man. one is sultan foundation for peace and development. this is a body of almost all the religious leaders, all the muslim leaders in nigeria that came together to put together this particular forum. and i happened to be the leader of that group, and it's in partnership with iitc as part of our program to reach out to other parts of the world to see how we can work with them. we made a lot of printouts which we gave the iipc here. some of the things you have taken up on husband. one of the things is the entire

displaced people from the north, some of them -- [inaudible] even with their families. so many of them displaced, and their villages and towns burnt. and up til now, nothing has been done. and, therefore, the government is trying to help. so this organization being a religious organization with other like-minded individuals also trying to help this country. now i was asked to talk about if i'm -- [inaudible] for us education is the most important thing to give any child. whether it's a girl or a boy. there's no distinction between girl child education and boy child education. we believe in education. if anybody decide to talk about not sending his girl child to school, we frown on that.

because there have been so many negative comments in lotsover parts of the country -- lots of parts of the country. they don't go to school because of the poverty level. because sometimes in our places there's no preschool sort of. you must pay fees. you must pay for the group form, you must -- uniform, you must pay for the books and whatever. some of the governments in the country, they decide to abolish school fees for children. but we take special notice, special -- to this girl child education because we believe girls must be educated. when they do grow up, they are leaders of our homes. but if you check most of the problems we have today, if you check some of the people who are committing crimes, check their background, they are from a very, very bad family. there's no good family upbringing. so we know the importance of mothers, we know the importance

of families, and, therefore, we pay special attention to education. [inaudible] about 212 years ago. his daughter was a prolific writer. she wrote so many books. -- to her brother when he was sultan, to use that title. and she was -- [inaudible] and she wrote so many books. so she was a prolific writer and education refused to people and, therefore, we find it incoherent for anybody to say there is anythinger in the holy quran or all, any book written by anybody that girl shouldn't go to school. we have been working on that. but some of the thing we are doing now from years back, i called for a program to discuss --

[inaudible] and i think i brought you a copy of the report of that. maybe we can see how we can work together in that aspect. i chaired that program. i've heard so many muslim clerics talk about the importance of education for girls. so that debunked the notion that girls shouldn't go to school. it's not just islamic school. we keep on confirming that you must go to school in the islamic schools, you must go -- [inaudible] if you don't, you don't have doctors, you don't have engineers, you don't have people to sport families. the project identify taken on myself is to establish an all-female medical university which i've been working on the last tree years. we -- three years. we had the blueprint already, we

are working on it. and we are hoping in one year we will start physical structure of the united states. just to let people know the importance of education in our girls. and the university would be an all-girl university, and it would be a medical university. so that's -- so so with these few issues, i think people should realize what we have been doing to empower our girls. and we frown when we see our girls working on the streets, trading, some things that we don't even know what they are, you know? we frown on that. what's -- there must be strength of will by the leaders, the political leaders to stop -- [inaudible] if you don't have strong will to do that, unfortunately, there's nothing be anybody else can do. and that's why we keep on calling on them.

and, therefore, we've deliberately set up a very special seminar to be held -- which we invited mr. president to come and give us a keynote speech and all the -- in the north supposed to attend. and that -- very strongly with the governor and unicef. so we are sitting partners in this project. and just are one of these that i'd like you to know, the caliphate was founded on knowledge and, therefore, whatever we have to do to educate people, we must do so. and whatever we do, we must always look back and say, yes, our forefathers were this, were that, were this. and that's what i think we have to keep on doing.

on the issue about boko haram, you know, i know this is a very thorny issue again, especially in the outside -- i mean, outside nigeria. we know boko haram, we know what boko haram is and is not. a lot of people outside don't know what is boko haram. because they read from social media and from other writers by people who have never even gone to nigeria, whether they sit in u.s. or u.k. and write on boko haram and look through pages of some document and then write on this issue. and i think for people to know exactly what boko haram -- i spent a couple of days or weeks to now know what is boko haram. [inaudible] one and a half hour program. if you are willing to stay for one and a half hours -- [laughter] because i know so much about some of these issues, how this

thing started. being the leader, everything comes back to me. we have -- [inaudible] at all levels through mr. president who started this issue of talking to the boko haram leaders which, of course, was never successful. but the boko haram, i don't want the talk much about it, but i just wanted to say there are so many things. one of the things i want to tell you authoritatively is that more muslims have died from boko haram activity than christians. and boko haram does not be target christians to kill them. if you know what boko haram ideology was because it's no more -- because it almost was on leadership of our country which

was not based on religion. and the religion they mean islam. and what do they mean by bad leadership? because people are corrupt. they are stealing public funds. they're not doing what they're supposed to do. [inaudible] we don't have light. we don't have water. we don't have security. so people felt, yes -- [inaudible] go to school and forget. maybe they learn how to steal, and all they to is just to siphon public funds into their pockets. and when -- [inaudible] about boko haram. it's prohibited. haram is something forbidden in islam.