♪ >> god bless you, sarah. >> we love you! ♪

>> can you get a picture? ♪

♪ i love the red, white and blue ♪ >> tell her to look up here. >> right here. right here.

♪ >> someone lost a camera. if you find it, could you please bring it here? thank you again for coming. >> sarah. sarah.

♪ >> sarah! >> sarah. >> sarah. ♪ >> thank you, sarah. >> we love you, sarah.

♪ >> god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her through the night with a night from above from the mountains to the valleys to the oceans white with foam god bless america

my home, sweet home ♪ ♪ god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above from the mountains to the valleys -- to the prairies to the oceans white with foam god bless america

my home, sweet home god bless america my home sweet home ♪ [applause] >> god bless, american and god bless the tea party. ♪ ["9 to 5" theme playing] >> and yawn and stretch and

try to come to life out on the streets the traffic start jumpin working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living and it's getting by all taking and no giving they use your mind and never give you credit enough to drive you crazy if you let it 9 to 5 for service and devotion you'd think i would get a fair promotion iswear sometimes that man out to get me ♪

you've got dreams he'll never take away out with your friends, waiting for the day your ship will come in the tide's gonna turn and it's all gonna roll your way working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living and it's getting by all taking and no giving they use your mind and never gi ve you credit enough to drive you crazy if you let it it's a rich man's game no matter what thyey call it. 9:00 to 5:00 it's getting by

all taking and no giving they use your mind and never give you credit enough to drive you crazy if you let it 9:00 to 5:00 they got you where they want you it's a rich man's game... ♪ >> that's encouraging. what's his name? >> kyle. >> give him a hug for me. >> can you sign this for us? that's a silver -- marker we like to hang ♪

>♪ ca >> if you ask me where i come from here's what i tell everyone i was born -- ♪ >> i appreciate it. let me sign if for you . name? your tom? nice to see you. >> we love you. >> i watched the video last night. have you seen it? >> no, i haven't seen it.

♪ >> hi. how are you? thanks for being here. >> [inaudible] >> thank you for the reception. thank you. appreciate you. thank you for that interception.

nra. right on. thank you. >> [inaudible] ♪ >> thank you. thank you. hi there, sir, what's your name? will, thank you for being here. god bless you thank you for being here. i saw you downstairs. i'm glad you're here. what is your name? zachary, thank you for being here. i spotted you out there.

♪ >> thank you for that. >> another autograph -- do you have time? >> there are thousands that are dying? what are you going to do to help them at ground zero. ? >> have you guys spoken with them? >> we've tried 8000 signatures.

♪ -- my shirt,u sarah? i'm going out there to help them out. thank you, can i get a hug? it's a party in the usa party in the usa. >> thank you very much.

>> thank you. >> my name is britney. >> thank you for these prayers. ♪ yeah, it's a party in the usa. picture withve a you?

i'm sorry. e put my hands up, they'r playing my song. it's a party in the usa. >> in yaw have an opportunity to speak out.

>> if you eliminate the tax rates, how would you [inaudible] >> there are lots of loopholes at all levels. corporate income tax breaks. what else do you want me to grab? thank you. ♪ ♪ good mantt h the way a works until the dayighlight is gone

sing a song about the heartland sing a song about my life ♪ ♪ sing a song about the heartland the only place i feel at ome the way a good man works until the daylight's gone sing a song about the heatland sing a song about my life ♪ ♪

>> tell your mom i say hi. >> i will. thank you so much. god bless. give her a hug from me. >> no. hi, beautiful. what is your name? i love that.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ she's the mother of the human race ♪

♪ she's not just a pretty face ♪ >> thank you. >> we are all interested in helping. >> thank you so much. what is your name? emily? what is yours? sally? thank you so much.

♪ coming to america never looking back again coming to america ♪ coming to america ♪

coming to america

a dream they've come to share they're coming to america ♪

>> thank you. i appreciated. thank you so much. what is your name that >>

looking at the promise of the promised land. one dream of fame and fortune. one could end of going to prison. only in america. trimming of whether white live dreaming of red, white, and blue everybody gets to dance. only in america

she came out here to be an actress. he was a drummer and a band.

only in america dreaming of red, white, and blue b ♪ ♪ only in america. only in america the dream is as big as you want all man america.

only in america.

quite thank you for being here. this is beautiful. >> thank you. >> apparently we were on tv. >> do you know how hard i tried to avoid that? we'll give everyone else

a chance. thank you. thank you. thank you. >> you have a home in arizona, write? right? >> oh, really? >> thank yo u. hi there, baby. hi.

thank you so much. hi, carter. how old is she? >> she's two. >> thank you. bye, carter. so much. thank you so much.

than kyok you so much. >> we've got to go after this picture. >> on tuesday, mitt romney will

announce his jobs plan at a top company in las vegas. this comes two days before president obama's address on proposals. less coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] watch more video. see reporters are saying. track contributions. it is easy to use it helps you navigate the political landscape. it is all that c-span.org /campaighn2012. next, how redistricting can impact the political power of african americans. then if marijuana should be

legalized. then sarah palin at a tea party rally. >> a forum on african-american political power redistricting in the 2012 vote. this is from the ncaa aa -- the .p. convention. this is just under two hours. >> he has already set ourselves on fire. and all we need to do is pass it. what we want to do is for each of our panelists to give us about five minutes of what they

are seeing out there. what kind of recommendations you may have for us as we move forward. this is going to be interactive. but those of you a question is can raise your hands, the staff will coming give you a card. there will be collected. we will try to get to them. ok? barbara? will you start off? >> good morning. what a pleasure it is to be here at the convention. i want to say to your amazing leadership and so many, thank you for being here and leading this fight. what a pleasure it is to be here.

since the 2008 election, this country has been turned upside down. since the 2010 election, at the conservative response, we have seen a total movement that head back to the future. even former president bill clinton could not keep quiet. he said we're entering a new era. we cannot let this happen. the united states supreme court as part of this. they opened the floodgates.

it upheld the indiana law. there was not one iota of evidence introduced here. following 2010, a summit people stayed home. 25 million people who voted in 2008 did not of the ticket- estimated the majority was over obama voters. what happened was that this open the floodgates for these republican legislators to take control. instead of doing the job. instead of dealing with homelessness.

instead filling with foreclosures. the number one priority has been to pass this voter rejection laws. they will continue to have political domination you not be able to vote. of we will slam the door to ensure our political government. they're passing these walls. you can only vote if you have one particular form of a voter identification. that is a driver's license or identification. most states allow you to share different items. he can show your student id.

you can show your college id. you can share your utility bills. it is good enough to get them elected. now they want to slam the door and make it hard. it is estimated that 20 million people do not possess governmentally issued photo identification. they are using this as a barrier. hoodie think are among them? latinos, native americans. people with disabilities.

in new hampshire, they were not even quiet about it. they said the students are too liberal. we've got to stop them from voting. all of this is not about any voter fraud. it is trying to fight to make sure that we can vote. we stand up. we rise up. we fight. we do not sit back and just say we're going to take this pen we have developed the map. my daddy used to say it is a sin and a shame. look at this. these red the states are the

states that have passed these repressive voter i.d. laws. in texas, there's so bad that they said not only are we going to have this voter registration law but we're going to make one formal idea that that would be accepted, a handgun registration. ok? what do we think we're dealing with? and alabama, georgia, south carolina and tennessee, indiana, all of these states have these horrible voter i.d. requirements. if you look at these blue states, these encourage voter i.d.. what you think it means? you have all these workers.

you'll not be able to vote. it is planted a disaster. 23 other states are considering these lots. what else are they doing? they're making it hard for you to have early voting because blacks use early voting like crazy. and florida bay is it to motivate people to go out and vote. they made it illegal to have any voting on saturday. they make it hard for a third party groups to register people. if you want to register, you better be able to turn in the registration and 48 hours.

what i wanted to say to you is that we are not here just to talk about the problem. where the solution. we are about winning battles. we believe in winning wars. last night, monday in florida while we're here doing what we had to do, people in florida were doing what they had to do. they had rallies and orlando, rallies in the danville -- in edenville to equip people. in florida, they have this

history. in south carolina they also have a history. what they did was in order for these laws to become official law, they cannot enact them for 5 counties in florida until the doj says it is legal and they do not have a discriminatory impact. you need to contact the doj and "don't approve these laws." how do you do that? go to www.lawyerscommitte.org and hit "get involved." find tools.n

the other thing we want you to do, we cannot stop this, there -- so much else going on = the other fighting stratgery. say thta iu to am going to be part of this battle. i was talking about tennessee. one lady said "i am debutizing my self. i will register every black male that i can find. i will take the.

i will help them getting an id." we have to reach out. in some cities, in milwaukee, 71% of black me do not have a drive's license. some will not give it to you if oyu have issues or do not pay child support. i want you to say that we will arm ourselves. let's remember. we are all gideons. the battlefield is huge. it is here. it is now. we are not about to retreat. thte only thing we know is to

go forward and stand up. we are the cutting edge of the movement. we are the fiture. uture. nobody will roll over us. we are the future. i call on you to join in this battle. thankn you sk you so much. [applause] >>all right, barbara. >> one of our panelists that cannot be with us today is our own wade henderson. but we tell them why he is like here today. the president is going to have a meeting today on the debt

ceiling. what happens to that will affect each of us. he is there representing us. we wish him well. he is ready to do what needs to be done. >> good morning. to preach.ng when i was a younger man, i spoke on a program. i said i am never speaking after him again. about three years later, he was unexpectedly put on a program just before may. i worked with him for many years. i do not preach.

i would give the some of my observations. the barbarians are at the gate. nathan is back. barack obama was not only the first african-american who was elected president. he was the first non-southern democrat to was elected in 48 years pierre their release a study about household net worth. the net worth is $5,500.

half of black households in the united states have less than $5,500. total net worth. hispanics saw a big drop in the past four or five years going from 16 to 6. white saw a little drop. the median net worth for a white house told his 20 that if it 20 times that of a black household. -- the median net worth for the ofte halhouse is two times that a black household. black unemployment listed as

prices really is closer to 25. this is post ratio. access to health care. they're not even be a problem or a need for health-care law. it is non-hispanic white people. most have health care. let me mention in terms of the household word. a third have zero net worth. they had more than what they had and all of their assets. that is post ratio pictures you can go up and down the line. the same thing that is true about income and net worth, about health care, about racial

disparity in diseases and all of those things. in the gaps are there. they're there in terms of identification. they were all passed with the intent of reducing the minority vote in the united states. barber wants you to call the justice department. my suspicious is the justice department is afraid. we have the second detainees support. he is the reincarnation. this is to he is. even when he was a young man in the justice department, he was

cost of the voting rights. john roberts was saying no. he is now chief justice. anthony kennedy is not the woman from arizona. he is not justice o'connor. justice o'connor was willing to stand-up when she thought something was right. i do not think the justice department is going to be strong and a lot of these cases. that being said, that does not

mean, first of all, i have to be frank. i analyze politics. it does not sound good. a lot of these will be states. let's be real. south carolina will not elect a democratic senator. he is in the black majority. the same thing is chairman texas. the same thing as chairman and indiana. kansas somehow got off the tracks. he does become a totally wiped out states. in most of the states, indiana

my suspicion as that president obama has written off indiana because there're other promising states. lemme tell about the anger. and did not say this on tv. i prefer reading about things. they want to take the country back. they want to take the country back to 1950, and 1930. they're going in a different direction. they want to take them back in time. let me tell you what happened to the population in three states.

georgia want to mention in particular. in georgia had a 25% increase in the black population between 2000 and 2010. that does not mean anything unless you know where you start off. in georgia and was already 27%. the black population in georgia between 2000 and 2010, that was two years. some of the know that is a blink of an eye. the black voting age population increased by 401,000 pimm in the hispanic population -- increasing by 240,000 karen

there were 720,000 more blacks and hispanics and georgia georgian now has a smaller population than florida. in non-hispanic increase by 36 team. figure twice as fast as the non- hispanic population. george's 56% non-hispanic whites. texas became a minority states. the hispanic population increased by 1 million.

it increased by 2,300,000 between 2000 and 2010. almost four times the growth of the minority population and taxes. this represented that. what these people dread is they can look at the production lines of the composition of texas, of florida, of a number of other states.

first of all, in terms of redistricting, for the first time in history majority served in the minority. even after the of the year 1995, most legislators serve in the majority ca. they have a say of what went on in the state legislature. 75% of the black legislators in the seven states 75% serve in the minority. they did not have an impact on the drawing of the map. in terms of what happens in redistricting, at 85% came from

the minority population. the hispanic population increase between 2000 and 2010 para non- hispanic whites one term. even though the republicans are in control of drawing the maps and do not have much confidence in the justice department. must the population growth are minority crewmembers. in texas, they're fun to try their best to benefits from the redistricting. 2,400,000 new minority asians and native americans and blacks and hispanics in taxes between

2000 and 2010. that was a majority of the games they made in the population. is your district in going to be ugly? -- is redistricting going to be ugly? >> yes, it is. is it going to be a game changer? no. redistricting will not matter if people of color turn out to vote. the disaster of 2010 was that people of color were situated in the right places to make a difference. they did not turn out to vote.

the dominant thing that will match your between now and 2012, things can be overcome. efforts to redraw districts in disadvantage meant, they can be overcome. bodies showing up to the polls and forcing their way to casting their vote, that will not be overcome. >> i have one announcement i mean to make. you are suspected to go to the room to pick of your tickets. they need to pick them up asap. room 501b.

he will quickly get them and return. -- if you will get them quickly and return. of course come back here. >> i cannot stand up rigid i will stand up here i cannot sit down. i'm ready for a fight hi. i want to thank my chairman for his lifelong leadership. it is always good to come home family.

they just turned 81. i cut my teeth in the ncbp your member marvin gaye. we know what is going on. dell we deaths -- don't we t? you told us and reminded us the future is calling with courage.

if there ever was a time for our leaders to lead. i agree that congress needs to let the women. he did not have the well for our children. they are firming america's future. it is not his slogan. it is a call to action. i'm here to talk about the road to 2012. the road is happening right now.

it is time for our leaders to lead. we need a call to action to weigh in on the debt ceiling. our brothers and hillary has kept us in the know. let's think about this. why is there even a debt ceiling debate? we know we have to pay our bills. the truth of the matter is what is really going on. it is not about paying the bills. it is about making sure president obama lessons. is about making sure that history is not repeated. is about the wealthy getting welfare.

what is going on? there are those that are working overtime to lock the door on our children's future. in georgia they talked about it. soon many years in atlanta. georgia passed a lot to run our latino brothers and sisters out. now they're having problems getting their vegetables to the market. isn't that a problem that this

is the first time that a president of the united states has to show his president it's a pretty is a system is -- is a system. what is going on? he is still alive and kicking in america today. i will not get into this. black folks became middle-class because of the labor movement. we have to be there. what are we going to do to achieve america's promise that's it is time to act and fight back.

i love my brother. he is divorced. we have to fight those. so much want to say. we need to ring gauge the folks we touch. -- to read engage -- re-engage and make sure those folks turn out. black women, raise your hands. we konw what we have to do. we have been crriyng theb -- carrying the backs for a long time. we need to make sure they get a da's -- ids. you hvae to get this.

we make sure that this jim crow law will not take us back to 1939 karen i know where writing checks. we must do for impolitic spent -- for the politics. we are going to have to write those checks. write a check to naacp. write one to me, too, but write one to naacp. we have to do our part. we've heard from -- about redistricting. you have the ability to get very scientific about getting out the

votes. we have to collaborate. we have to organize ourselves. you know i cannot speak -- there has got to be a rally. people that are willing to fight. first, i want to ask all the children in the audience who are under the age of 18 to stand up. and if you want to be under 18, stand-up. as a bible teacher said, "a child shall lead them of the darkness into the light." don't sit down. we in a fight. all those 18-39, youth and young adults. black youth have been leading the way, increasing the black vote. all those 40 and over, please stand. you have been leading the way, breaking down the door.

don't get weary, my children. everybody looked at your brother and sister next year and said, "we know what's going on. naacp family, it is time to break down the doors of racism and sexism. it is time for our leaders to lead. it is time to take the hinges off the doors and stand in the gap for our children to have a future, to affirm and achieve america's promise. it is time for our leaders to leave. naacp family, we know what's going on. we know what to do. it is time for our leaders to lead. thank you. god bless you. let's organize, organize, organize. thank you so much.

>> that's right. >> thank you, melanie campbell. >> they said it was hard to come after reverend lowry. >> is your mike on? >> so good morning. thank you. chairman, president, my friend ben, board of director, thank you for having us today to have this important discussion. the road to 2012 as a bumpy one. it's got potholleses, some of which are ditches, which if we are not careful, we will fall into. but i know that with naacp and our friends up here, that we will not have a problem. we will still the potholes,

steamroll them, to make sure our people can participate unfettered in 2012. we've got to make sure we are breaking down the barriers to voting, because we understand from what we heard and what we know that it is no quote coincidenceno -- no what is happening. the numbers showed that some folks got to be scared. they've got to be scared of us. our brothers and sisters in the latino community. because we can change this country dramatically. [applause] and there are people who are scared of the change that we might bring. so we have got to be in a place to be ready for this fight.

it is no coincidence that the photo id laws cropped up in 32 states and the first two months of this year. it is no no coincidence after -- that it happened after particular people swept the country winning state legislatures in 2010 because we did not participate. they saw the opportunity. not because of voter fraud is rampant. administrationsh tried to find voter fraud, and guess what? and there were very few cases they could prosecute. in fact, there were none around voter impersonation which is what photo i.d. seeks to solve. we say this is a solution without a problem.

a solution without a problem, because, instead of taking care of budgets, they decided to add to the cost. they talk about, we have to cut everything. but they add on costs to do voter i.d. in texas, they put it through as emergency legislation. they have deficits in every state, but they would rather make sure that they put a barrier to voting than take care of the budget. they have more costs because they have to provide free i.d. to everybody. most of them will lie about how much it will cost them, because they do not want to show their hands. but we are not stupid. we know what it is about. i take issue with the fact that it does not really matter, because the states are talking about may not be in play. north carolina, reverend barber,

are gonna bei in play. the governor vetoed it. they are trying to take it up to override the veto. this is a place where 14, a little over 14,000 votes were the margin for the obama win in north carolina. they know what the numbers are. in wisconsin, do not put voter i.d. and a vacuum. it comes on the heels of trying to take down the union's . so we take down the unions, and we make sure that people cannot bode. there's 77% of black man ages 18-24, who do not have sonia sotomayo photo i.d. we got on a plane to get here, everybody has to have i.d. it's not true.

it is not just that we do not have state issued identification, but in many states that require current address on the state i.d. we know we move a lot. got to move where the jobs are. it's lots of things. so our population tends to be more transit. they understand this. in wisconsin is also about students. in wisconsin, you have to have the right student i.d., but another of universities in wisconsin provide that-- none of the universities provide that . in texas, it is ok if you use your gun i.d. they never that helps. they know that our turnout was significant in 2008. 92% of registered african- americans showed up in 2008. so they understand what is at

stake. but it is not just the voter i.d.'s. about go on to tell you florida, my favorite state. because there are a lot of battles and florida. we have to keep doing that, because instead of making sure that voter registration is over, they want to restrict it. they do not what you did turn out to our sign up. they don't want you to come. instead, we cut off early voting days. in ohio, let's cut off the golden week. get rid of it. in ohio, we took on the issue of provisional ballots. your shot to the polls, a whole bunch of people showed up to the polls, names not on the road. a provisional ballot is supposed to help you. provisional ballots most of the time are thrown down.

we fought for this in ohio, got the secretary of state to put in place something that would allow so the counting where it was poll worker errors. we also fought to make sure that workers would tell you where to go if you are at the wrong place. what they did this year was passed a bill that says poll workers cannot tell you where to go if you shop at the wrong place. they know, people. so we need to understand that they know. challenges. when texas passed a law around voter i.d., the king street patriots, which is the tea party, announced they would put 1 million poll watchers in texas. 1 million, because they want to watch y'all. they want to watch alexian

protection, and they want to watch to vote --a nnd election protection. is the texas two-step, right? you have to have the motor idea. if you do not have that, we will challenge your eligibility. it is about schering and intimidating people. you show up to a poll and a black neighborhood, and there are a bunch of white folks with tea party t-shirts on, they know what kind of fear factor that is going to be. so what are going to do? what we are going to do is that we have to understand this is about power. nothing more than power. power and control. and so what we've got to do is number one, change the electorate. we can change that by registering people. we put together some numbers, and rev. barber quotes these

numbers of estimates of people that were nonvoting black and latino voters. so, a non-voting in 2008 -- in north carolina, non-voting, that means on registered, plus people who did not vote. 460,000, black folks and latino folks. came down to 14,000. in florida, 1.4 million. we got a lot of work to do. texas come up 3.4 million. if we can get our people registered and get them out, it will be the change we have been waiting for. the next thing we need to do is massive voter education. and the places where the ideologues have passed, we have to make sure people know how to get them.

in wisconsin, they tried to play trickery. there is a video that was about someone trying to depth get the i.d. they do not give you the free i.d. unless you tell them i am here to get i.d. for voting. if you show up for motor vehicle purposes, you have to pay. so you to go in knowing it to say, i want a voter identification. and these are the games they are playing, in order to hurt us. we have to educate our folks about how to get their hands on knees i.d.'s. -- on these i.d.'s. we need each and every branch in the country to serve as a watchdog. watch, watch, watch. watch and report, watch, report, and do something.

and that has to do with both the election officials to have unbridled discretion in how the elections are won. there are 13,000 ways of running elections. we have to be on top of the discretion that these local election officials and nobody knows who their names are -- what kind of power they have over our ability to participate. and second, we have to watch those people called the tea partiers. because we know they are gunning for us, to make sure that progressive people do not turn out, that if they do, they're so scared, and they will turn around. so we need every branch to be looking for this, because i know there are groups who are getting questions about they want their tax returns for nonprofits. they are starting to ask for tax returns. they are not asking to see who gives money to you.

they want to be on top of you. they want to go after people's c-3 status. we need to be on our games to watch them. start throwing it back at them. and we have to make sure that on election day, all of our folks are put into alexian protection so we can say we have our own polls. we've got to be the poll watchers. remember, this is about power. and they know what is at stake. so it is time for us to step up and step out. thank you. >> judith brown. e's you can see why sh'e sought after. christin clark? >> i want to start by thanking the chairmen and the president for recognizing the need to put voting rights front and center on the agenda for this convention. as it's been noted, we've seen

an unprecedented attack on african-american voting rights . although the right to vote is so very important, the reality is that our roads are rendered meaningless if we are stopped in districts that do not fairly reflect the voting strength of our community. i want to spend a moment talking about redistricting. we get one shot, once a decade, we get a shot to redraw the district boundary for not just congressional lines but for school boards, city councils and county commissions, four judicial districts. we get one shot. it is so important that we mobilize now to participate in the process. there are a number of states that have already put redistricting mpas aps in place. some are discriminatory. the litigators are figuring out

which challenges we can bring to the courts. so we need the folks in this room to mobilize now, get out to your hearings, participate, offer testimony. make sure that the maps that are put in place are ones that fairly reflect the strength of our communities. there are a couple of things going on right now that animate this redistricting cycle and make it unique. one, we are seeing an unprecedented attack on the voting rights acts. this is our most effective and important civil rights law. already, we have seen challenges coming out of north carolina, georgia, alabama, all aimed at gutting the heart of the voting rights act. undoubtedly, one of these cases will make it to the supreme court. they are aiming to tear the heart out of the voting rights act at the time we need it most

common during redistricting. it is during this part of the decade that we have seen the most discrimination against minority communities. and this section 5 area, iks itical.re we are on the defensive and offensive. i'm happy this issue is front and center today. the other issue that makes this redistricting cycle unique is we have president barack obama. and there are many who have prematurely call this a post- racial era, but we know all too well that discrimination, voting discrimination remains rampant throughout the country. we have heard about the photo i.d. laws adopted in georgia, process, we saw proof ofg citizenship requirements that have an impact on not just latino communities but on black communities as well.

we have seen cutbacks on early voting. we are seeing states making it more difficult for ex-felons to get their right to vote restored. we have redistricting being carried out in an environment that is incredibly toxic, and it should have us concern. let me talk to you about ex- felons. for every 100,000 persons in our country, 3000 african-americans are behind bars. 1200 latinos and 500 whites. that's a disparity of 6 to 1. tremendous political implications, tremendous implications for black voting access. this is an issue that we must pay close attention to. again, you have many people say we are post-racial, but let's look at how the 2008 presidential election played out throughout the country, how many

folks here are from louisiana, mississippi, or alabama? 10% of white voters in alabama cast a ballot for brought the bomb . 11% in mississippi, and 40% in louisiana. by no means, are we in a post as racial. let me give you a sampling of the kind of discrimination we continue to witness the route the country today. in lousiana, you have a court where the judges are elected. five white judges, with a substantial black population. one judge turned out in b lack face, and a jail suit and handcuffs. he sits on that court today. redistricting provides an opportunity to get folks like him out. so often, these elected courts fly under the radar.

we have to make sure that in places like this parish, we are participating in the process in seeking to get in a fair map that could give people a fairly represent our interest on those courts. . lastly, we've become an increasingly diverse nation over the course of the past decade. the growth we have seen throughout our country was fueled because of increases in the latino, black, an asian- american population. we have to make sure we recognize that fact as we move into redistricting. in places like florida, we have 675,000 more african-americans in the state than 10 years ago. 575,000 more in texas, 300,000 in north carolina, 200,000 more

in maryland. we have to make sure that -- to are drawn democratic changes that have happened in the last decade. create new black districts that fairly reflect the complexity of our communities. democracy is at stake. so i applaud the naacp for taking the opportunity to give us a moment to map out the counteroffensive to the unprecedented attack we are seeing on african-american voting rights today. >> great. christin -- with the naacp legal defense fund. ms. earl? >> good morning. thank you. i'm honored to be here. i want to take a couple of

minutes to elaborate a little more on the redistricting issues. i want to give you a sense of some of the strategies used against us so that you know what you can do to counter those strategies. basically, what we are talking about is the fact that the population increases that were talked about really should be translating into political power. on the one hand, we are talking about overcoming a history of discrimination. reverend barber reminds me to think about our history. i want to take a moment to acknowledge the history, beginning in the 1970's, but after the decision in 1986, it was all do. it was your branches in county after county bringing those section ii lawsuits that enabled us to have redistricting in areas that have previously been at large and had never seen a black elected.

it was viewed suing your local governments that got us to the point where we have representation that was slightly more fair. we are nowhere near where we should be. it has been called the quiet revolution in this outcome of that wave of litigation that have been established those districts. we are in a period of both defending what we have gained, but also making sure that the population increases that have occurred really do translate into fair political power. part of this is about overcoming discrimination, but part of it is about insuring that one person ,one vote and the voting strength of minority communities is recognized in our democracy. recognized?t it two, and techniques that you are familiar with are cracking

and packing. cracking is where the minority community is divided over several districts so you do not have the power to elect a candidate of choice. what we're seeing this time around is this strategy. there we can use tools on the voting rights act, to the department of justice to combat that. but you need to know when you are involved and their redistricting process, looking a proposed maps, you need to know what the possibilities are so that you can see it is the community divided more than it should be? if he were united in a single district, would you be able to collect your candidate of choice? another tactic that is used in north carolina is packing. there, they are putting more black voters in the district and you need to collect your candidate of choice in order to weaken your influence and the

rest of the state. they're using the voting rights act to justify that. they are saying it is making us do that. that is not correct. but it has a really bad impact on your ability to ultimately influence the political process. remember, david told us that in southern states, 75% of state legislators are themselves in the minority in their legislatures. that is a really important thing to understand, because it means that they cannot get the votes they need to push for our agenda. we have to look not only of what is the impact on the distance that a lot of black voters to elect their candidate of choice, but what is the impact on the progressive community more broadly? for their carolina, we did an analysis. we have 13 districts. they packed more than half the state's black voters into three districts. instead of being able to have

an influence in other districts, the maps they proposed would limit the influence of minority voters in that state. so we are trying to make sure that the voting rights act is not perverted and used as a justification to release a . and we can minority voting strength. the final thing i want to say is that it is important to be involved in litigation to bring forward what you know about the irregularities that happened around voting, the problems at the polling places when your candidate experiences harassment or thei r homes are targeted. all of that discrimination is relevant in a lawsuit. come forward and be prepared to be witnesses and plaintiffs. we are seeing many of these plants sent to the d.c. district court instead of the department of justice. we need people to step forward and intervene.

i would also say, and i want to applaud all of you that have worked so hard to be involved in these voting rights cases, you have made a difference. but the final thing is once the districts are in place, we need people. you need to field credible campaigns. not to is to pay your filing fee, but supporter candidates and be involved in the political process. >> thank you, ms. earl. just a quick reminder, we are going to cue it . if you raise our hands, our staff will bring you a card and your right your question on -- we are going to "q&a". derrick johnson. >> it's hard coming behind judy and anita when they write my scripts. what's the solution? we have heard over and over about the tea party and the

conservatives and those folks. we are the solution. naacp has the only infrastructure in our communities that goes from coast to coast and every little town. positioned toest do something that many civil organizationsthed other cannot do because they do not have people on the ground. we need to gravitate more towards the substance of our work, develops strategy and away from the pomp and circumstance and the big speeches. what has happened over the past 20 years is the naacp becoming too lax with the way we operate during an election process. as a result, other organizations

swoop into our community, raise money on our units, and they claim work we do because we have no way to measure our work. so we have to change and shift the paradigm of how we function. every state is at play. this election cycle. there are no states not at play in 2012. in 2007, everyone was talking about whether or not, which political party would win ohio, pennsylvania, and florida. nobody talked about north carolina. in 2008, we won north carolina. so we cannot go into an election cycle, thinking because i live in alabama or mississippi and only 10% white folks voted consistent with the african- american community, therefore,

we cannot focus on that state. we lose with that mind said. georgia is 44% minority . mississippi is 38% african- american, 42% minority. if 10% of whites in mississippi law consistent with african- americans, and we have higher voter turnoverut, we win. what happened in the last election? we waited 90 or 60 days out or 30 days out. we then began to plan how we were going to turn about out. somebody outside of our community came into our neighbors. then we go and buy some t- shirts. we give our cousins and children a t-shirt. we walked to the same neighborhoods because they are the safe neighborhoods, not where the folks need to see our presence. then we claim victory if we

happen to win a local election, done the same thing we have always done. what happened in 2008, the obama campaign expose us, not only naacp, all of the civil rights, exposed us to say, the emperor has no clothes. because they built the infrastructure in our community, using the folks not from our community and turned out our folks. in 2010, we lost. build oure didn't infrastructure from the ground up, using a new method. i commend chairwoman and lorraine and reverend barer, because they have been pushing the staff. we have to do something

different. we have to be more strategic and our thinking, more deliberate in our process. we now have the technology where we can measure the effectiveness of the units on the ground, not just for 2012, because this process is not about 2012 alone, it is about everything leading up to 2012 and everything after 2012. but that can only be implemented if the state conferences and the local unit take heed to the new technology and training. come this fall, every state conference has to have a poem in a recession to talk about the strategy of turning out about. at the same time, the staff will reach out to about identifying the key branch leaders across the state to come into training on how to use the technology. bringing everybody together to

talk about water the nuances and important things we need to know in oklahoma or new york city. location by location, as we talked about the voter suppression methods being used, as much as it is very similar, there are unique differences. you cannot have a national plan. you can have a national strategy of what you want to do, but we have to drill down but to those local communities and nobody can do that but the naacp. it's been said, mississippi. you do that for free? how you feed them kids? my response is, if i did not do this, my kids would not have a future. we will not have a future. we have to figure how we get the best and brightest in our community to understand the big

picture. that is the bottom line we share, in appreciation for historical analysis. history has taught us that this game is not about fairness. it is about power. and we do not understand the power dynamic that is involved in being engaged in elections, then we will lose our ability to have anything. and so if as units across this country, it's our responsibility. the speaker kept saying, i am not saying that you are culpable, but i want to hold you accountable. this process is about the naacp being accountable. the tea party cannot do any more than what we allow them to do it in our communities. as we go home, all the pomp and circumstance should be out the door. we really need to be talking about in this county, what's at

stake. in this state election, what's at stake. the most significant thing that happened in 2010 was the taking of state legislatures across the country. in itself, there are only two democratic state legislatures in mississippi and arkansas. because of that, we've seen the vote suppression laws. we have seen the rolling back of our games. not because they are doing it to us, because we did it to ourselves because we were not strategic in getting our folks out in 2010. naacp, we bear the responsibility not to repeat the mistakes again. >> ladies and gentlemen, give our panelists all rousing, a rousing thank you. [applause] >> yes, sir.

>> now, derrick is a perfect segue into what we are doing next. they have given you the lay of the land. you understand what the problems and challenges are. now we're coming to our naacp solutions. i'm bringing up our very talented, extremely talented coo roger vann. roger will explain to us what we as naacper's are asked to do. roger? [applause] >> naacp, repeat after me if you . many have died for my votes, so i have to respected. you will not take it away,

because i will fight to protect it. i will push for my issues matter who is elected. because when we all participate, our democracy is perfected. this is my. voice this is my power. this is my vote. give yourself a round of applause. [applause] let's talk about the work qu ickly. what we are planning is an unprecedented, large-scale national program. the only 50 state electoral program in the country. tens of thousands of volunteers, all of you, plus all of our leaders in local units, hundred mobilized, state conferences. in those states where prisons

are able to vote, we will have prisoners on the job, also. black radio, print to promote our psa's. we will provide you with packages were digging go to your cable station and give them our electronics psa's. and training, technology, and field allies as well. mou's with african-american churches, fraternities and sororities, representing 35 million people. if we turn up a fraction of those folks, we could have an impact on the election next year. let's talk about structure and accountability. from this convention to the next, there will be a strict focus on voter registration and education. voter registration is self- explanatory. if you went to our workshop on voter empowerment, you received the manual. that is the best manual we have ever prod