dr. bell, the president and ceo of casey family programs. dina, reporter for u.s.a. today, former national press club president and vice club resident, and the vice chairwoman of the speakers committee. our speaker for just a moment, allison fitzgerald, project manager for the center of integrity and the chairwoman of the national press club speakers committee. bob carden with cardin medications and a speakers committee member who organized today's lunch. kenneth junior, united states attorney for the eastern this route up louisiana. jennifer babich, the washington time warner for cable. ryan dalton, the city of new orleans midnight basketball former gangand a member. and matt friedman, a video producer for the associated press. [applause]

our guest today say one of the greatest epidemics facing our country is the death of african- american men and boys at the hands of other african-american men and boys. philadelphia mayor michael nutter and new orleans mayor mitch landrieu are here to talk about their initiative to reduce violent crimes in major cities. in new orleans, that effort is for life.ola mitch landrieu held a rich direction up louisiana politicians. sister mary is the u.s. senator. father moon was a one-time mayor of new orleans and secretary of housing and urban development. asy landrieu also served lieutenant governor of louisiana for two terms, including when hurricane katrina slammed into the state. no stranger to washington, mayor landrieu is intended -- attended

cap again diversity. he attended the new orleans business alliance, and now new orleans is one of the fastest- growing cities in the nation. mayor nutter has been it -- mayor of philadelphia since 2008 after serving as a member of the city council. considered aggressive on crime, mayor nutter has reported making certain neighborhoods in philadelphia crime emergency designations, which impose curfews and limit public gathering in those areas. number ofo launched a economic development initiatives in the nation's fifth-largest city, and educational reforms. a native of philadelphia, mayor nutter grew up in the western section of the city and graduated from the university of pennsylvania. the mayors are here today to talk about their perspective on the role of the federal businesst, nonprofits, leaders, and communities in creating safe neighborhoods where individuals and families can thrive.

please help me get a warm national press club welcome to norlin's mayoral mitch landrieu and philadelphia mayor michael nutter. [applause] >> good afternoon to all of you. mayor nutter and i come to you today to talk about an urgent, national issue. young african-american men are and killing in alarming numbers in america. across america, it is a constant drumbeat of death of shootings, murder, day after day after day. we are losing a whole generation of promise. but the response to this daily y quiet.has been eeril we are numb to the violence, numb to its consequences.

the problem is so complex and so painful that we are overwhelmed, and we often look away. maybe we are scared, but if we speak up and get involved, we will end up in the crosshairs. or perhaps we have bought into the notion that the lives of young african-american men are somehow less valuable than the rest of us. --have all heard it before just thugs killing thugs. there is nothing that you can do about it. but this is a lie. every life is precious. and these young men were not predestined to this fate. we will never know in many instances what might have been. people, our93 fellow citizens, were murdered in my city of new orleans. a wake of stories in destruction and heartbreak.

a huge number of the victims of perpetrators young african- american men. many of whom knew each other. the shooter of today often becomes the victim of tomorrow, and along the way, so many innocents caught in the crossfire of hell. hard truths follow envoy on ears that do not want to hear. america is strong on violence, and we drown in this sorrow as we suffer as these deaths and the consequences they are from. let's take a minute just to remember some of the names of the recent victims. samuel brian. nettles,ks, tyrone mccormack,, billy christine george and her two children, teresa and leonard. look at thesend i circumstances with eyes wide open, and we are here to say that we are not afraid because we have great faith in america and its people.

there is nothing broken here that cannot be fixed. there is no problem here i cannot be solved. both of the challenge of murder is wide and deep and must be addressed broadly as an issue of public health. with close connection to economics, education, poverty, law-enforcement, race, and yes american culture. a lot must change to stop the shooting, to stop the violence. so now is the time to march in every resource, federal, state, local, private, faith-based, not for private. it is time we take a look in the mirror and recognize our own responsibility to strengthen our families and improve our duties and change the culture of violence. we need everyone on board. every pastor, every coach, every parent, every friend, every neighbor. this violence will not stop until we all get involved. , buty not all be at fault we all have responsibility to

take on this fight and to find an answer. >> we are not all at fault, but we all are responsible. as dr. king wrote, we are tied together in a single garment of destiny. whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. young black men are dying in america. does america notice? people of our fellow citizens, were murdered in my city of philadelphia. stories in the wake of destruction and heartbreak. generally 75% to 80% of the victims and perpetrators, black very young. violent act tears at our nation's soul, and each murder leaves a white wake of destruction and a long line of

victims. a child who loses a father, a mother whose heart is broken, a family left alone. and in a downward spiral of violence begets violence. a son of today's victim picks up victims. tomorrow, two perpetrator and the victim. order does not just happen. fruit grows rick and him and his soul fed by poverty and hopelessness. for many, the deck is stacked against them from day one. poor schools, inadequate health care, no jobs. of poverty is chewing up another generation is this out the results for all of us to see. criminals terrorize communities , and decent, hard-working people become afraid in their own neighborhoods here it in deed, during these past decades, i have seen a marked change in

the neighborhoods where i grew up. the sense of community has diminished. neighbors who a generation before lives together, ate together, cooperated together, and shared a collective responsibility. now that commune of fellowship does not seem to exist. we are a strange. we are not watching each other's backs. now the mindset is -- it is not my business, not my fault. our neighborhoods decline, so to the drains and extra patience of those who live there. slide comeswnward the various ills we face today. including the scourge of murder. mary landrieu and i are here to say it is not too late. we must change. every life is precious. a national problem with national applications that deserves a national response and action. everyone doing their part. local, state, federal governments. parents, teachers, pastors. friends and neighbors.

now is the time to say what needs to be said, to do what needs to be done. period. no more nice talk. no more happy talk. no more talking to be talking. only results and action. and if we do not have the urgency to stand up now and say enough, then when yo? >> we are running out of time. if we do not have the urgency to stand up now and say enough, then when? every minute we wait costs us a life. every day before the don to the stroke of midnight tonight, an average of 40 more of our fellow citizens will be lost. 40 people killed in the neighborhoods of america today. abroad cannot be strong if we are weak at home. the humanitarian crisis is not

just into some far-off nation. it is here on our streets, and our neighborhoods, in our homes. morally, economically, and for the good of this nation's strength and security, we must do more. each generation comes to this point. .ach generation makes a choice each generation for a moment to grips that arc of history and bend it one way or the other. during the march on washington 50 years ago, a quarter million men women and children took their turn and came to the ligament more of the demand that america live up to the sacred promise of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and justice for us all. in a million ways since that moment in 1963, america has moved forward, but somewhere along the way, something has gone terribly wrong. said thatn john lewis we did not get arrested and go to jail, we did not march for young men to continue to kill each other.

dr. king did not take a bullet and congressmen will lowest and not a gay beating for this -- congressman lewis did not take a beating for this to become a way of life. i want you to consider this. to 2012, 626,000 people, american citizens, a distortion and numbered, young african-american men, were murdered on the streets of america. that is more americans that were lost during world war i. world war ii. , the persian gulf war, the war in iraq, the war in afghanistan combined. so the struggle goes on, and it is clear that the catastrophic deaths of young black men on the

streets of america remained strange route from the same poisonous tree of injustice and .nequality as william faulkner noted for us, the past is never dead. it is not even past. we have come far, but what will it take for our nation to take on these burning issues today? 50 years ago, it was the bombing baptist church in the death of four little innocent girls that galvanized this nation. today, now many months removed from its horrible new town massacre and in the shadow of the recent navy yard attack, not much has changed. just last week in chicago, 13 people were shot, including a three-year-old. shootings and murder of innocent children daily on the streets of america does not seem to spur us to act. indeed, it was earlier this month in new orleans 11-year-old

london samuels was shot and killed as she was held in her babysitter's arms. shotlater, another was dead as she slept on the couch in her living room in the middle of the night. andmy galvan heard gunshots , andd out the back window a bullet meant for another struck him in the head, killing him. they join a long line of babies taken from us. here are homes, edward barton, kendall and kelsey barton. 50 years ago, the nation wept for cynthia wesley, carolyn wesley and denise mcnair, the four little girls killed by the ku klux klan. today, the same young faces, the ce, the same

potential snuffed out not to much as a whisper. this cannot stand. it is time for this nation to finish the work of frederick douglass and abraham lincoln, of jonathan kennedy and martin luther king. situation oft violence in america is perfectly captured by a federal report from the national commission on civil disorders. this blue-ribbon commission created by the president reports two our nation is moving to societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal. and that the violence is foreshadowed by an accumulation of unresolved grievances and by widespread the satisfaction. regulationson's are straightforward and basic. at her housing for black women and men, more investment in public education, new major

public works process that included job-training and a stronger safety net. these recommendations resonate. this is our reality today. but this report was not written about today's situation. 1967, 46 yearsin ago, by a group better known at the turner commission, which was created by president lyndon johnson in response to the writing in detroit, los angeles, chicago and new york. in 1967, the federal government just that some in government do the truthgely ignored and the commission's recommendations, and now our problems are bigger and more difficult to resolve. black men are becoming an endangered species in america. locked up, dead, or dying. no education, no money, no health care, no security or stability.

pressure of poverty takes a toll and often turns to desperation. frustration becomes cynicism and misery. , hate grows in a violent spread like a virus. one crime leads to another. the dominoes start to fall. it often and in a tragedy. blood in the streets. we justify our collective inaction on this issue of murder with self-deception. not my problem. not my neighborhood. not my children. thugs killing thugs. and there is nothing we can do about it. let me be clear -- poverty is butan excuse for violence, it is a major explanation for the many negative life-changing circumstances and outcomes in america. >> but there is something that we can do about it. there is something that we must do. here is the truth on the issue of violence -- we as a society

have lost our way. ,ike a vine choking a life titans a group -- violence titans a grip on our nation. we have to change. much needs to be done in order to make a difference. in new orleans, we have designed and implemented a cutting-edge conference of murder reduction strategy called nola for life. it is smart, holistic, and yes, it hits the streets. prevention and helping our young people and families succeed if the name of the game. we support innovative reforms in our schools and we doubled funding for our recreation department. we launched the innovative initiative in new orleans to stop the cycle of violence. earlier this week, we kicked off season five of midnight basketball where every saturday night, hundreds of mostly young african-american men come from high crime areas to play ball, and then we connect them to the jobs or whatever else they need

so they can get out of the life and into the real game that matters. nola for life is to stop the leading, the death, the shooting. we have to stop the shooting first. so we're focused on enforcement. we beat of our homicide unit, gotten smart with more precise hotspot, and focus on gains, establishing the new gang unit with local, state, and federal law enforcement. like kenneth poli who was with us today. it is great to see you. despite the scourge of mur der, need to stop the shooting, put down your gun, or else we're coming for you. and all of the people that you hang out with. with nola for life, we are making progress. last year, crime was on the right, but in new orleans, and

it was down. our progress is promising, yes, but it is really just a drop in the bucket against this title wave of trouble rolling our way. now, the pledge of allegiance asserts that we are one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. indivisible means one. it means not capable of being divided. that is what it means to be an american. we have two share death whether you live in north philly, the south side of chicago, new orleans, east d.c. or right here in this very spot. therein lies part of the message for today -- preventing murder and stopping violent crimes must become a national priority to face together as one nation, individual bo -- indivisible. so mayor nutter and i come to you as generals in wartime

theater we are telling congress and the american people we need a search on the streets of america, local, state and federal government each need to do their part. schools, friends, neighbors, mothers and fathers each new to do their part. washington is broken. it's time for our country to do what is difficult for the sake of doing what is right. 2012, three out of every four philadelphia homicide victims were african-american men. that is 236 people. 193 murdersn 2012, in new orleans, 500 murders in chicago, 419 in your city, 127 in oakland, 133 in memphis, 331 in philadelphia, 218 baltimore, 386 in detroit. on average, 40 people lost every

crisis, ah this mask or worse the newtown every 24 hours. a body count higher than 9/11 every 2.5 months. -- if the kuhis klux klan came to philadelphia and killed 236 black men, the city would be on lockdown. killedladelphians were in a train accident, the board would mobilize, and there will be congressional hearings on train safety. kids in the white philadelphia suburbs were killed, there would be hell to pay. and if international terrorists killed 236 philadelphians of any race, we would hunt them down for decades and bring them to justice no matter the cost, no matter the time -- we would just to do it.

african-american men murdered in one city -- not one word. hill, nogs on the investigations, no special select committees, nothing but silence. 2001, theer 11, united states suffered a horrific attack on our country and our citizens. a year later, a 9/11 commission was related. a top-notch staffers and budget of about $15 million, the commission over nearly a year and a half interviewed more than 1200 individuals in a 10 countries and left no stone unturned. issued a final report with dozens of recommendations. because of 9/11, a sprawling new cabinet level department was created, the department of homeland security,

transportation safety demonstration was established, and the federal government took complete control of their airport security, spending billions of dollars to train and higher tens of thousands of new airport screeners. now, you can hardly cough in an airport without the tsa going to check. and i respect and appreciate their work. because we all want to be safe. 2001,t horrific day, there were 2977 innocent victims. as a result, two wars costing thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. 8272012 in america, 14, people were lost to murder. ase is the point -- americans, if something is a priority like national security after 9/11, we find a solution or we make one. here is the crisis -- thousands of black men and boys and many

other americans die every year, and everyday in our country, and virtually nothing happens. no sustained conference of action is taken to prevent or stop it, no political or diplomatic solution is brokered among the nations in the congress regarding guns coming into our country. nothing. as if it is not even happening. but it is, and it does. every day. guns are the weapons of mass destruction on our streets, and we experience him as one of my fellow mayors have said, mass murder one by one by one in slow motion every single day any united states of america. so i asked the question, where is our red line on violence in america? 10,000 plus murdered americans every year. that is a crime against humanity.

we have a civil war unfolding in our cities every day, every week, and every month. and i both have personally spoken with president obama on this issue, and he is ready to act. the question is -- where is the congress? what are they prepared to do? so let me ask this question -- domesticur response to terrorism was as thoreau and engaged as our response to international terrorism? what if we had a 9/11 commission about black men getting slaughtered on the streets of america, a national commission on terrorism, violence, and crime in america to examine the root causes of this violence, find solutions and make recommendations for what government at all levels could do to reduce domestic terrorism, violence, and crime in america. commission, we created the tsa, the transportation security administration.

, theaybe we need the wasa walking around security and administration. this is serious. we have a violence problem in america. way theis another federal government can help reduce gun violence in america. you have to hit the streets. democrats, republican, congress, and president obama lock hands and launch a stronger, more targeted cops program to put more cops on the beach, just like congress and president clinton did in the 1990's. money.s has the in fact, according to the governmental accountability office from 2009 2 111, nearly $14 billion was spent by the united government building, hiring, training, and equipping police departments. -- this $40 billion i

$14 billion was not spent in new orleans or the littlefield or chicago. no, this money went to build police department for the people of afghanistan, iraq, pakistan, mexico, and colombia. we need to really delve -- we need to redirect those resources back to the homefront. we need congress to treat fighting murder and violent crime as a national priority. furthermore, we need to do something about criminals with the legal guns. so let me be clear -- i support the second amendment. the genius of our concert -- prosecution is it creates a strong balance between life and response abilities. it distinctions between the right to speak our mind and a crime to yell fire in a crowded movie theater. common sense solutions can be found that strike this balance and stay true to its original intent. there is common ground on this issue.

i will give you just one example. everyone can agree that we should do what we can to get illegal guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals. here is one specific way that we can do it. over 30 years ago, congress authorized federal agencies and prosecutors to target drug dealers as part of the war on drugs. we should do the same with pilot's gun offenders and make the prosecution a federal priority. let's give prosecutors clear, concurrent jurisdiction over all violence offenders committed by firearms that travel into interstate commerce. let's bring the hammer down on violent criminals with the full the judicial system. >> on these big issues, these major issues of the day, mayor landrieu and i will not look away. we will not be quiet. american psycho problems. we fix things. we put our hands to the plow and we find a way to make life

better. so we started to make -- do the research and we got others involved to answer the question -- what is happening in our streets and white? -- and why? what we found is that murder is not a philadelphia issue, new orleans issue, this is a national issue that deserves a national conversation and national action. in america, young black men are being slaughtered, and we need everyone on board to find solutions. so we have brought together our federal and state partners, mayors from across the country, and philip topic -- philanthropic leaders to establish cities united, a new initiative specifically aimed at finding ways to stop the murder of young african-american men and boys. eks toities united speake dispel myths, unpack the reality, and in the palette. we in philadelphia take practical steps to reduce

violent crime and murder in my city. first, as mary landrieu said, we have to do something about illegal guns. as i often say to the guys in the streets, got a gun, go to jail. legally-talking about purchase guns that people use for protection or other legal purposes. guns used byegal criminals to wreak havoc in our city. second, we must get tougher on enforcement. we restarted our operation pressure point, which details our police officers and other law enforcement personnel to top hotspots that takes the fight to streetcorners. furthermore, we're working closely with business owners to register outdoor video surveillance cameras to win a crime happens, the police can get there quickly, get their evidence, and take down these criminals. third, we are reaching out, trying to stop violence before it starts. variety ofned a wide

stakeholders from all across the city that help on the front ands and -- in fronting preventing violence. we're making progress. i can report to you today that this year in philadelphia, murder is down nearly 30%, and shootings are down over 16% as of -- as compared to the same time last year. our progress is robinson, but as was mentioned, it really is a drop in the bucket, a tidal wave -- against a tidal wave of murder. one shooting must be acceptable. >> if you really understand this promising -- if you really understand this, you can see that no rule is going to fundamentally change the culture of death on the streets of america. the government on its best day butnever replace a family, government must invest in community is so families can thrive and children can have a chance. we need safe streets, more jobs,

better schools, but it will not matter without personal response ability. responsibility. babies having babies just is not work. lve government cannot so all problems. we need to figure rome business. this means -- we need to take care of our own business. everybody has a role to play. there is no excuse. we have to quit waiting and start doing. we may not all be involved, but we are all responsible. as mayors of major american cities, mayor nutter and i are thegovernments closes to ground here where call to want to do the hard work of government. it is where word must meet deed, ambition must meet human frailty , aspiration crashes against the rocks of reality and hope it's the street. real-time, real challenges, real life, real death. we are the ones who get the call to go to the crime scene after the murder. lease the call when the

officer gets shot. we get the e-mails day in and day out that tell the same story, mr. mayor, i am sorry to inform you that last night, shots ring out in the middle of the night, we arrived at the scene, we found a young african- american man facedown, three bullet holes in the head. there are no witnesses. funeralsthat go to the a one-year-ay to old. we feel the searing pain of mothers and fathers grieving the loss of a baby child taken before her time. witness,lled to bear and so today we do. to all of the naysayers, i say that you may be able to kill the messenger, but you cannot kill the truth. some are cynical and believe that we cannot change.

some believe that the murder of thousands of young african- american men on our streets is to be accepted like it is a part of the natural order of things. it does not have to be this way. there is hope because of young people like ryan dalton. ryan dalton is the sixth of 11 children, raised by his mom and new orleans in the eighth ward. brian was nearly lost to us, shot three times within a case an ak-47, but he survived. he got up, he turned his life around, and with a program that we have a new orleans called café reconciling not-for-profit commences young people to have jobs, he came, he created his own or his agent to help young people, and last year he went to the white house to talk to the national leaders about how to stop the violence. this winter, he joined the mayor's staff as a coordinator

for midnight basketball. so far in 2013, he has hosted over 2100, mostly african american young man. [applause] ryan was saved because through word and deed we as a community came together and showed him love, help them see his unique work, and his remarkable potential. by working together, we created a pathway to a better future, and he took the responsibility to walk down that pathway. now, he is saving be lots of others. he flipped his script. don't tell me that it cannot be done. [applause] ryan, thank you very much. that young man right there, is a testament to hope.

this is where fortitude and courage calls us to keep going, to hurt but not to despair, to struggle but not to stop, the never ending march to the more perfect union that we all dream of. issues of the day should capture our attention on a continuous basis. after all, peace and freedom come only through struggle. lost just in abe moment, in the blinking of an eye. we cannot dodge our responsibility and ignore these problems because they will not just go away. we have actually tried that before, and other problems are bigger and the burmese are more painful than ever. -- the remedies are more painful than ever. thursday, we visit inmates

in our presence. i talk with them. men, women, and yes, juveniles. a few years back, i met a young facing seven old, armedyears for four robberies feared his total -- $2000. so much of his life given for so little. i stayed and talked with them for a walk. crimes and decisions, he had a youthfulness about him, a sense of hope, he was very smart and very respectful. thatoke my heart to hear he had a 3.6 gpa, scored a 1400 on his s.a.t.'s. colleges were still sending letters to his parents house, trying to get into apply while he was still in prison. that is a tragedy. kent's story shows in stark

terms the crisis that we face. this boy had remarkable potential. in a different world, he could have been anything. a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, mayor, governor, president. but instead, it is the same old story. so similar to so many other young african-american men before him. so much talent, so much either behindted bars or in the cold ground. now is the time to make combating murder and violent crime a top national priority. now is the time for adults to take responsibly for the young p1 in our lives, whether it is your children, your nieces, your nephews, students, your own employees, kids who may be lived on the block. we may not all be at fault, but we all are responsible. we each have our role to play. we can inspire our nation and the world and prove that tragedy can come from triumph.

i have great hope for the people of america because we never stop moving forward, even in our darkest hours, because we take action. but we have a long way to go together. so here's what you can do. stories on this american problem, weeklong specials, show what is going on like you did during the civil rights movement, the hangings, the water hoses, the beatings, the dogs. like you did during the vietnam war. dead americans coming back from foreign at all fields. take the response ability and show that americans coming from the battlefield streets of our cities all across america. top with mayors and governors and asked what they are doing and what they need. meet with citizens on the street and hear their pleas and cries for peace and freedom from violence. talk to police achieves in the law enforcement community about their ideas, ask a member of congress what they think about

all of this, and more important, what are they going to do to stop the daily carnage? what is the federal response to america's new civil war? cover these stories. care about these issues could devote airtime and budgets and personnel to this horrific american tragedy. dying.en and boys are americans are dying. killing fields. do something now because knowing demands action. [applause]

>> thank you, mayors. both of you sounded solutions that appear much like those advanced by your predecessors, mayor mark morreale, and mayor randel. what would be different this time around? >> thank you for the question. i think the difference is we have carved out at pathway, i think we have articulate a some solutions, but the discussion that many of us are having is thedo we better utilize limited resources that we have, and we continue to learn from our predecessor mayors. i continue to learn from the mayors who are currently in office, those who maybe have gone out of office recently. the issue for us is how do we best collaborate, how do we coordinate, how do we maximize the resources, but i think most important -- how to we get america to pay attention to this

particular issue in ways that the country has not in the past? this is happening every day in the streets of america, and i firmly believe that if it were some other issue, it would just have a lot more attention. >> also on the know, to vicenize the work of president biden, president clinton, senator breaux who is here today. was one of the main tools that help restore public safety to the communities, and we are asking for congress and the president to do that on a targeted basis because we know that worked. if you start doing something that works and you stop it, and he goes back to where it was, it is a good message that you might want to try it again. and we think that if it really targeted way to make that happen. a-funding is of course an list topic in washington. you talk about looking at the pot of money from wars overseas as a potential source. you have any other potential sources of revenue to fund these

initiatives given that you are not the only ones interested in a particular pot of money? >> first of all, i think mayor nutter and i would agree, and most mayors and among -- in america -- we are called to do the hard work in america, and we budgets also. we recognize waste, fraud, abuse, and effectiveness of many to be routed out of our governments. in the city of new orleans, we cut $100 million, 25% out of our budget. so we know what cutting is about to we actually know how to do it, and we do it fairly well. what it is also true that you need resources to work. the message from washington is always we do not have any money. but it is curious to me him a speaking for myself now, that any discussion of the immigration bill, as it is waxed and waned over time, turned into whether we need $32 billion to moneya wall, and that

evidently materialize because it wasn't in a nation that was important. as mayor nutter has said before, when this nation has decided that something was a priority, it either find the way or it makes one. we believe that this is a national priority. it is a national issue. and we have to prioritize our resources much like we do when we try to protect ourselves not only will a way but on our homeland as well. >> he said president obama is ready to help. what specific way has he said he ?ould do you >> a group of us were with president obama, attorney general eric holder, very leery -- valerie jarrett about a month ago. when congress wants to find something, they find it. i think we are not laboring on the misimpression that suddenly significant funding will come flowing to cities. whetherfederal agencies it is the attorney general's office or the u.s. attorney in

our affected areas, the fbi, dea, outlaw tobacco and firearms, the federal marshals, all those agencies are on the ground, they all have budgets, personnel, equipment and technology. so the current discussion is how do we best use what we have in a much more coordinated fashion? conversation with federal folks listen to the discussion and realize in the that two different agencies were looking for the same person. i can only be a waste of resources. so again, greater collaboration and coordination on the ground, and if it is known down the for the local u.s. attorney, the local fbi staff, the local dea and all the other respective folks, that the national priority is your level of coordination and cooperation with the local government, that if you had something each of our cities has a version of cities

that, if you had a federal stat thatt -- city the department new two cases above, how many guns did you get off the street, how many parolees, people who skipped bail, have you captured in the local jurisdiction because it actually matters to us what you're doing on the ground, you would see a very different response on the ground if everyone knew that their evaluation was partially dependent on what they are doing in the local jurisdiction, not just operating the silos. you can use the resources that we have in a much more effective fashion. >> mayor nutter, you talked about the macro level stories that you would like to see the media pursue, but the media is often criticized for not writing or broadcasting much about individual victims of urban violence, and particular young black males of urban violence. do you think that a something the news media should do something better on?

>> look, let me be blunt with you, obviously murder and destruction everyday is not the most positive story to cover. --t newscasts, at least no local news, the first 12 minutes or so is about every possible bad thing that could happen. it can be depressing third on the other hand, we cannot ignore that these issues are going on. when i thought what the civil rights movement, it was when people saw the water hoses, the dogs, heard about the hangings and all the other stuff that was going on in america said -- this is outrageous, we cannot stand for this. and there was movement. the civil rights issue. the vietnam war, a number of other things. when the american public truly understands what is going on on the streets of america, i think that she will change hearts and minds and see some folks get a little more courage upon the hill to do something about this particular issue. folks need to see it. it is painful. it will make you uncomfortable. believe me. mary landrieu and i -- we are uncomfortable everyday. when you get a text message

about what is going on in our street, it is not a happy time. well, you cannot always be happy in these jobs. death and destruction is not a happy business. what it is taking place. the question is -- what are we doing to change that outcome? >> in your remarks, using about illegal guns at the risk of the problems, yet right here in washington, we solve gun violence with legally purchased s.n using morning to be done to restrict purchases of guns even when they are done legally -- do you think there should be more restricting on a purchases of guns even when they're done legally? >> we do not need to get caught in the seemingly mindnumbing debate of gun control because i've i said in both parts of our speeches, it is not just about guns. there are millions of people in america that are law-abiding gun owners that are not shooting people. as mayor nutter said, poverty is

a part of it, but it is not just about poverty. there are a lot of people that are poor that are not shooting people. some people will say it is about joblessness, but there are a lot of people that are unemployed that are not shooting people. it is a molotov cocktail of a number of different things that have come together. one of the challenges has been not to die for your attention onto issues that are not going to solve the immediate crisis we have before us, which is too short -- stop the shooting. i will speak for myself, goes to where is the common ground now on guns, and is there a place -- i give you one space, that is where we ought to spend our time. mayor nutter said a minute ago, although we said we need more money from congress, we are not laboring under the misimpression that somehow they're going to bestow money on us, so we know that we have to do it ourselves. we said it is a national problem. we do not say it was just a federal problem. those are different words that mean different things. so there are many ways that we can work together on all of the issues. it has got to be courted native,

focus, it has to talk about guns and mental health, but it is to talkucation, it has about education, but it has to talk about the relationship that people have to their communities with churches and pastors. the point is that when everybody pulls together and says it is a problem we have to solve, there are tons of resources out there already. if pulled together and focus, cannot believe make measurable impact. thehis questioner says -- current congress seems to treat poverty as a crime. how can you work against that attitude? well, i mean, that is ignorant. [laughter] if you talk to anyone of lesser means, i can assure you that they not enjoying their status in life. folks withb expo for a previous criminal record. i do not use the term ex

offender -- they are returning citizens. 3200 folks preregistered. 2500 plus actually showed up. folks who are living in poverty do not want to be in poverty. they want the same thing that everyone else in this room wants. they want a job, kids and it was cool, and move up to get some version of the american dream. a great dealrstand about washington, d.c., or some of the things going on in congress, but cutting be provoked and budget to cut the program by 50% does not seem to make sense. as jobs, fewer opportunities, fewer housing for folks who need it. there is a mean-spiritedness, thatkind of philosophy castigates those who might be of lesser means and says well, it is your fault, and you should say there. i don't think that is the america that we have grown up with and the america that started 230 some odd years ago in my great city.

i thought we looked after folks. we look after everybody around the world. hungry ino to sleep philadelphia, in new orleans, in new york. but if something horrific happen on the other side of the world, i can assure you that within 24 to 48 hours, you will see a c 117 cargo plane with parishes of the food going right out the back of the plane. and that should happen. my question is -- where was that food yesterday? and why was it not in my city and many other cities across the united states of america? we have some contradictions here that we need to deal with. we cannot just take care of the rest of the world and not take care of ourselves. it is the opinion of the doctor whose kids are sick, the shoemaker whose kids have holes in their shoes. we are actually big enough and bad enough that the country that we can do both. we can do great things around the world, but we need to take care of our own people at the same time. [applause]

>> this questioner says -- in two decades of americans demanding that government leaders be "tough on crime congo a distortion in number of african american men have been incarcerated. what you think the impact of violence has been on that and can we change the approach? >> one of the things that america is beginning to come to seeunion on, when you right-leaning and left-leaning thing takes talking about the incarceration rate and mandatory sentencing without much thought, we had to do two things. we are said to be tough on crime because safety is what allows people to be read, but you have to be smart on crime. you cannot have a one size fits all approach. said we may have have missed our way on that. we may have in fact have put people in jail who are not the

most violent criminals and then did not have the resources to find the most violent criminals, and we have to rethink all of that. much of this is being led by a movement really in juvenile justice. we did this in the state of louisiana where after we did studies, we found out that two thirds of the people that were in the juvenile facilities is not a to be there, and he wondered that were worst on the street. -- and the one third that were worse on the street pier and we had to be smarter, reduce the amount of money for concentration, have recidivism practices in place, and fm thing to be applied to the adult populace. let's be clear about this, and mayor nutter speaks to this much more forcefully than i do, is that we have to understand that there can be no toleration for the kinds of shootings on the streets of our cities, and that we know in new orleans, for example, that at least 5% of our population, 691 young men, belong in 38 innings, are causing trouble for themselves and everybody else. we are not soft on them.

to stop your we have "let's reduction strategy where we bring the minute and we tell them -- we know who you are , just to prove that two of them, we show them your picture, and we tell them they know everybody around them, and the be visitedsues will by the multiagency gang unit that is made up of dea, atf, fbi, nopd, and everybody else. you have got to stop. and if you shoot somebody, at the mayor said, you have got to go. now, that is today. but at the drumbeat of death continues, as the title wave moves on, we have young people being born into the same culture of violence. so again, this is not just a public safety issue -- this is a public health issue. it is free much like a virus. in my preparedd remarks, from 1980 to 2011, 626,000 people, we did not have that before that hundred this is kind of a new resort will trend

that is not always exist. if it is not always exists, it may be does not have to always. if we change it, but not do not recommend that the problem, and not if we do not do everything that we can to fix it. of time, almost out but before wrapping up, i have got a couple of housekeeping matters to take care of. personal, i would like to remind you on our upcoming speakers heard on september 30, we will have u.s. aggregate -- education secretary arne duncan talking about education priorities. on october 18, we will have take, talking about gay rights issues. and we will have november 5, goldie hawn. secondly, i would like to visit our speakers today with the traditional national press club coffee mug -- [laughter] >> that is what i came for. >> thank you, oh, my goodness.

been waiting all my life for this. >> especially with the cafés in new orleans. thank you both for coming. i would like to ask for a round of applause. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> i would also like to thank our national press club staff including the broadcast center staff are helping organize today's events. here is a reminder -- you can find more information about the press club online at www. press.org. thank you. we are adjourned.

>> several as a lens to tell you about today on our companion network c-span3. senator chris and hillebrand is upon -- kristin jell-o brand is among the speakers at 10:30 a.m. eastern. at noon, a discussion on disarming syria's chemical weapons hosted by the wilson center. then at 2:00 p.m. eastern, we will be light with the defense department reefing on its plans for a potential government shutdown. >> in a few moments, a look at city's headlines, less your calls and tweets, live on jana e "washington journal." and the house will be back in session at 9:00 eastern on bills considered to be noncontroversial. and in about 45 minutes, we begin with republican senator tom coburn, a member of the

finance committee, to discuss the debate on federal spending and the funding the health care law. we will also discuss those issues and the possibility of a government shutdown with vermont independent senator ernie sanders, a member of the budget committee. sanders. ♪ ♪ until possible government shutdown. the numbers are on the screen.