going on for decades. as workers we are here in solidarity with all palestinians in gaza and the west inc. and with palestinian refugees scattered around the world. we are here especially to denounce loudly the u.s. government unquestioning support for israel. blind supportg for israel is immoral and illegal. u.s. imports as to the world that the u.s. has a shocking disregard for human life and for international and humanitarian law. how can the u.s. stand by and watch the killing of innocent children on the beach, the shelling of hospitals and u.n. schools, the bombardment of homes and mosques, killing entire families. the destruction of power plants and water supplies. the indiscriminate attacks are nothing but collective punishment.

depriving people of life saving electricity and water and ultimately their lives. collective punishment is not a path to peace. we are here to demand that obama and john kerry and the congress force israel to stop the bombing and can the u.s. stop the bombing? yes. we have the power, cut off the funds. cutoff all funding. do not send anymore arms. let gaza live. you. i want to bring up her brother rod a lot of people here from ohio. we also want to mention some other people. we're happy to have you here. >> thank you.

i am coming here today not just be in solidarity with the palestinian people. i am palestinian people so this is our struggle. you want to tell obama here on the right side here where the white house is at that the palestinian people have a right to defend themselves. they have a right to resist israeli terrorism. gaza has had titles inside the strip since alexander the great. resistance is nothing new. we will resist with everything we have, with all our might. from gaza, from the west bank and the united states and ireland. all of the world. we will

i want to give a big the 200 people who came from cleveland, ohio on over three buses. sevene held demonstrations, seven consecutive weeks and we demand not coming here to plead. we demand the and of the bombings on the gaza strip. long live palestine. free, free palestine. sea the river to the palestine will be free. long live palestine. we're getting ready, we'll have to people say something.

we have a very important event. the are fighting against racist and unjust -- immigration system. we want to start our march i give them their time. i want to give someone who has spent many years in solidarity a chance. >> if you think of the middle you in this modern time cannot help but see the world palestine. they live in other countries, their freedom almost gone, --estine nature freedom needs her freedom ♪ our -- her needs

freedom. lovetine needs our people of all countries of every race and creed we need a new beginning. let us plan the seed plant the love seat group. plant the seed for everyone --although world will know all the world will know. palestine needs her freedom palestine needs our love she's our love. freedome needs her needs our love ♪

sarahre joined here by we honore sister, and or memory. i want to bring one final speaker. the international representative of the nation of islam. give it up for my man. [applause] before akbar speaks, they are here also. we are going to begin marching on -- out of that's in part. you have to turn around and march

that way but not instantly because you have to hear his words. as soon as he is done or you think he is almost done let's begin the march to the washington post. thank you. >> thank you. law -- allahf a beneficent and merciful. i am the international representative for minister louis farrakhan. he sends you his love and greetings. if he was not faced with some health challenges he would be right here on the stage. lifting his voice against the slaughter that has gone on in gaza. i want to say this. america represents a ship at sea without a captain at the helm. whichever way the wind blows and the windsor the hand -- [inaudible] well loved him when he came into

office but for him to show weakness in the face of the slaughter in gaza is appalling. we need to say be your own man. you know that it is wrong. you know what people are suffering. you looking at it on the news every night. you know that collective punishment is against the law. you know that the israelis have a design. three wars and five years killing nearly 2000 palestinians each time in order to dissipate the rights. he also knows that every time a palestinian child watches his family went off, do you think that he will come and say i forgive you america? it will be in his let that i must take revenge for what has happened to my people. the palestinian people must resist. i want to take a minute. look at the weakness of egypt. on monday the heads of state from all over africa will be here. they should take a page from

1973 when the use told the african leaders center israeli ambassador home and bring your ambassador back and close the indices to show their protest. they need to show that strength today. if barack sees that the world is upset with him standing by, one more thing i want to say. but he came out for a press conference for the ukraine crisis. he started off by saying israel has the right to defend itself. israel has the right to kill babies, israel has the right to kill a man and woman and wiped out entire families, no. it is wrong and we must lift our voices at. free palestine. free gaza. thank you. >> ok. we thank him so we are going to start to march out to your left, to my right. we have -- we're going out in

this way we would like to thank rabbi weiss for bringing out his congregation. we thank you for being here and we are on our way out. we're moving this direction. we are got to move. moving out in this direction. we are moving out this window to the washington post so you have to turn and go to your left. they have a very important rally, a very important message against the immigration system. we are proud to share this phase toh them so i welcome them take over and do their thing.

>> tomorrow c-span and prime time includes coverage of the western conservative summit in denver posted by the colorado christian university. the featured speaker was sarah palin. days you hear these politicians denouncing barack obama. he ignores court orders and changes laws by fiat and refuses to enforce laws. what are youis going to do about it? let's call her bluff. i am calling their bluff because we need a little less talk and a lot more action. there is only one remedy for president who commits high crimes and misdemeanors and it is impeachment. it is the i

word. >> the western conservative summit tomorrow night at 8 p.m. eastern. >> for over 35 years, c-span and public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, briefings, and conferences in offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house. all as a public service of private industry. we are c-span. created by the tv industry and brought to you as a public service by local cable or satellite provider. follow us on twitter and like this on facebook. next several hours annual convention of the national association of latino elected and appointed officials in san diego. beginning with the panel looking at the latino vote in the midterm elections. in our the group hears from

california governor jerry brown. tomas perezecretary panel on civil rights that includes former bush administration attorney general alberto gonzales. on the next "washington journal" we will look at the issues tongass will be dealing with during their august recess leading to the following actions. sabrina saddiqui. will be joined by charles lewis. every day at 7 a.m. eastern. forum on the effect of the latino vote posted by the national association of elected and funded officials. speakers included the head of the latino victory fund and the libre initiative.

this is one hour. >> it is an exciting year politically as well. willu know and 131 days we -- it will be election day. what would like to do to start of the conference today is put this in a political context as to how we expect the latino vote and candidates to do in the midterm elections. it is one of the major themes of this conference that the chair will beother themes worked on but the elections are top of mine at the moment. as we talk about 2014 let's make sure we put this in context about 2010. in context about 2010. because when we compare elections, it's only fair to compare a midterm to a midterm. so let's not forget what happened back in 2010's midterm elections where

the latino vote had a decisive impact. the democrats are only in control of the senate today because of the elections of these two senators, senator michael bennett of colorado and senator harry reid of nevada. the latino vote was decisive in these election campaigns. in that election, 6.6 million latinos voted and comprised just over seven percent of the latino vote. also important of the 2010 election were the real significant mile stones that were achieved by latinos in the republican party. the first latino governor of any state was elected in new mexico. first latino governor in nevada. and the number of latinos in the

house of representatives more than doubled from three to seven. let's not forget the impact latinos had in the 2012 election where 11.2 latinos went to the polls. we know that the latino vote had a major impact on the campaigns in some of the swing states. so looking forward to 2014, we are making strides. if you look at this chart following the trajectory of the latino vote. at this

time traces closely to the green line. let's keep our eye on that red line. that's the number of latinos who are eligible to vote. the truth is that, that population continues to grow faster than the population of latinos two actually vote. so the challenge before us is to make sure that we engage latinos as they enter the eh -- eh electlectorate. i of how many latinos will show up to the polls this november, projections were released

earlier this year. we're expecting that 7.8 million latinos will vote in november. that's an increase over the 2010 numbers and that we'll make up 3.8 percent of the national share of all voters. so, again, we're making strides. the latino vote is growing. but i'll be honest, for us, it's not growing fast enough. part of our conversation this morning will be about some other initiatives that are being undertaken to also increase the latino electorate. there are some political factors that will shape the latino vote, whether latinos are mobilized to go out and vote, how they vote, and the choices they make. now, immigration certainly is top in

the mind of everyone in this room. traditionally and historically, immigration reform has not been the number one issue for latino voters and that makes sense. if you're a voter, you're a citizen. you're born here or you are a naturalize citizen. but as the issue has continued to be part of the public discourse since 2000 and as more and more latino citizens know personally a latino who is undocumented, the importance of this issue has increased to the point where -- and we'll have a panelist address this, immigration itself has risen to the top of the issues that latino voters care about in elections. so one of the questions will be what does it mean that immigration reform has not yet passed both houses of

congress? what will it mean for november 2014. and we'll be talking about that in a couple of minutes. some other things that will be affecting the latino vote include the situation and the condition of the federal voting rights act. the votes rights act has been a powerful tool since 1965 to make sure that every single american citizen is able to vote free of discrimination. last year, the united states supreme court in shelby versus holder declared section four unconstitutional meaning that section five which required preclearance of any change in election practices by nine states and a number of counties, that, that formula for determining who was subject to preclearance was unconstitutional. so as a result of the shelby decision, texas, alabama, and mississippi have imposed voter id laws that in our view have a

discriminatory impact on latinos, african americans, and others. and kansas and arizona are two of the states trying to strengthen proof of citizenship requirements. so the environment is becoming more challenging to make sure that latinos are able to vote, and motivated to vote. now what is happening in terms of candidates in 2014. we expect that two of the latino governors elected in 2010 have excellent opportunities to be elected in 2014. both governor martinez and governor sandoval.

that primary will be september 9th. we'll see if he makes it through the primary and then in the competition for november. there's a number of latinos running for the number two offices in their states. joe garcia who is the incumbent in colorado is up for election. carlos lopez is now running on the ticket with governor scott. she will be with us later at this conference if not already in the room, lucy flores from nevada. and a former board member here -- in state's across

the country. other significant state wide contests that we'll keep an eye on in november include state senator alex padilla. [applause] >> who is running for california secretary of state. he was a top vote getter in california's primary. and that's as much as i'm going to say for his election. former deputy secretary of state. she herself is running for secretary of state there in rhode island. we hope she makes it. and a former member of the board of directors hector vargaras running in new

mexico. >> other races, robert aragon running for state auditor in new mexico. rick lopez in that state for treasurer. and george p. bush running for texas land commissioner in texas. there are, of course, the entire house of representatives is up for election. we expect the majority of latinos to be re-elected. but there are some races in the mix throughout the country. here in california, representative ruiz who defeated mary bono is running for re-election and has a very competitive race against an assembly member. joe garcia who also ran and was elected in

florida, first hispanic democrat elected to congress from florida is running against the competitive field of republicans on august 26th. we'll see who will be challenging him in what we expect to be a very competitive race. one district in texas has changed hands between political parties several times over the past several decades. pete gayego is running. it's the third district which is another -- california's 21st district in the central valley -- being challenged by amanda rentirilla.

so part of what we want to see in naleo is the growth of latino elected officials. these are the numbers that we're publishing here at the naleo naleo conference in 2014. and here's the comparison over the past ten years. we've gone from no u.s. senators ten years ago to three. the house -- members of congress from 22 to 28. overall, the increase has been 25 percent in the numbers of latinos in elected office from just under 5,000 to just over 6,000 latinos serving in elected office across the country today. so that's a little bit about where we are in terms of the number of latinos who we expect to turn out for the elections. the impact we had in 2010 and 2012. and now to talk about the

political impact and context of 2014, i'm going to invite up my guests and panelists to put this in contest and explain to us what they're doing to make a difference. so as an introduce you, please come up and join me. first we'll start with my friend daniel garza who began his career with u.s. congressmen richard haysty. he served on the george w. bush administration. he served as coproducer of linda washington on univision.

>> she's a senior analyst for latino decisions. she was named one of the top 12 scholars in the country. she received her ph.d. from duke university. she is also a contributor to msnbc and a regular political analyst for telemundo. welcome, doctor. [applause] >> and next we have the president of the latino victory

project. prior to joining the project, he spent five years in investing more than $16 million to increase political participation into communities of color. most recently, cristobol was named one of d.c.'s most influential leaders under 40. so please welcome our panel lists. [applause] >> so let's start with dr dr. francesco. give us an overview of what you think this election is really going to mean for latinos and what the latino vote will do. >> i'm going to start off with a

question, and it's a question that i frequently get and i'm sure many of you get which is who cares about latinos? and people don't say it that way. it usually comes about in terms of, oh, yeah, latinos are the fastest growing population. but they're pulling in third in terms of behind african american and white. so we see this question being posed and it's a valid question and these are facts that we are facing. but i want to answer this question. and i want to answer this question with facts and data. and i'm going to be really, really blunt. we matter. partly. because we're having a lot of babies. case in point

right here. baby max is going to be born the september before the presidential election. i didn't plan it this way but maybe it was a consideration. right now, age is a liability for our community. the average age of latinos is ten years below that of anglos and african americans. so 27 as opposed to 37. so when you're looking at new latino destinations such as north carolina, arkansas, tennessee, the average age is 15. young folks just don't vote. they have other things going on in their lives. but what i want us to keep our eye on and arturo showed this in the

graph is the demographic change. so there's that aspect of it. another one i want to highlight is poli-sy 101 show that poor folks and folks with lower educations are less likely to vote. but if we just look at that static number, we're losing sight of the dynamics. in the last couple of years, and dennis in his remarks alluded to this, we have made huge strides with our educational attainment.

just last year, latino college enrollment surpassed that of white college enrollment. high school college dropouts are dropping. we also have rising levels of education. at the same time, we have increases in economic attainment. our community suffered the most in the great recession. i think it was 68 percent of our wealth that we lost. and ironically, those who are the poorest and have the most to gain from being politically involved usually don't vote. but what we see with this rising tide of economic attainment that latinos are gaining on, this is also going to push us to the polls. so that's the first part of my answer to, well, why do latinos matter. the second is because we're swingy. latinos have swing tendencies. compared to

african americans and whites, latinos have the biggest chunk of independent voters. in the last couple of elections, latinos definitely tended toward the democrat party. but let's not forget about the early 2000s. and living in texas, i see a very vibrant latino and republican relationship even in the midst of some strained immigration issues. so we know that latinos also matter because of that middle ground that they inhabit. and geographically, they also tend to be in the swing states. so latinos matter not just because of that middle they occupy but because political entrepreneurs know it

too. and they're going after them. and they want to pull them in. i have 37 seconds left, so i'm going to wrap it up. i would love to talk later about battle ground texas, something that i'm seeing on the ground because i think it's this beautiful example of how you see this latino demographic brute force that's striving for educational attainment, economic power and democrats and republicans are going mono y mono for these voters. with that, i will wrap it up. >> all right. thank you. [applause] >> and we will certainly talk about the battle ground of texas. fortunately, we have two

tejanos on this panel. actually three, i was born in el paso. >> so, daniel, you're obviously coming at this from a perspective of reaching conservative latino voters and growing the leger -- elector e electorate. >> we need to create the same environment and feel here. we engage latinos by talking about

market principle. this this country of the -- by doing that, by engaging in churches and chamber of commerces and colleges and universities, wherefore they congregate and meet, we feel we can do that proper outreach to get latinost to come out and vote. obviously we have a considerable perspective. there is no argument that the democrat party has benefitted from the latino vote for the longest time. every presidential race, the republican party has never enjoyed a majority of the hispanic vote. george bush set the high water mark at 45

percent. i think what's important here is that we understand that this has been a conversation within the latino community that has been dominated by the left. so their credit, folks on the left have outreached, been in the communities, have seen the value of the growing demographic in the latino community and they've capitalize on that by sending resources and people and engaging the latino vote. so what i have seen as a political observer as well, srturo, is that on the conservative side there's been a dereliction of duty, actually advancing the principles that you eh spoused. what are those policies that generate prosperity and those that generate poverty. we

should be having an honest conversation about those issues. so i think the republican party has sort of had a bad approach to this. they just felt that the principles of economic freedom and the free market would sell itself to the community. because look at who we say we are. 33 percent of us self-identify us as conservativ conservatives. only 30 percent as liberals. so the actual majority is actually agreeing with you at any point in the latino community. but we haven't been courted effectively. running sort of --

news packages on policy on an eight: ratios. my point is this, latinos have not rejected conservative or republican candidates because of what they believe, because of the principles. they rejected them because there's been an absence of this conversation about the virtues of the free market, self-reliance, hard work, about what makes america strong. so we aim to drive that conversation even in i think a state like texas where 44 percent self-identify as democrats and only 16 percent self-identify as republicans. there are massive gains to be made by conservative candidates because there is, i think, there's been so much open field, you know, for the democrats for

so long that now as conservatives who engage, those who went up to the highest offices in the republican party based on republican votes. there is opportunity if they engage. there is opportunity. and this is a generation of ronald reagan that grew up and was influenced by this. so i'll wrap up and say the conversation needs to be driven by the republican party and they stand to gain much more than i think the democrat party because they are so far behind that if they actually increase the percentages just a little bit, they stand to gain a lot from the latino community. which of course makes us powerful. >> thank you. it's probably a good time to remind us all that

what makes naleo an important forrum is about engaging and respecting each other. all right. you have the floor. >> we may have different ideas about politics but we're all latinos. i want to talk just for a few minutes and turn back if i could go to the power point here. going back to the question about values. and what brings us together. i'll start with a very personal story. a lot of folks here in this room and daniel and others, we're, many of us come from families of immigrants. my parents came to this country with very little searching for the american dream. and my mom did

everything she could so that my brother and i could have the chances she didn't have. and she didn't guess -- by the time my brother and i came around, she had family in el paso and did everything she could so we could have chances that she didn't have. my brother always wanted to be president and my mom said he could be whatever he wanted to be. he is autistic. he knows that but he cherishes his right to vote and knows voting is his voice. at the same time and unfortunately you mentioned this at the beginning, across the country, there are laws designed to suppress the vote. they have a disproportionate impact on people like my brother and on

the latino community. in texas, they passed a law that said if you have university of texas student id card, you can't vote but if you have a concealed handgun permit, no problem. and you can see what these laws are designed to do, they're passed for political reason. the right has a different idea of values answer principles. so what they're doing is shaving the vote and working to suppress latino political power and it's the same reason why the right won't pass immigration reform. they don't want us to vote. i have to say that and i'm sorry to say that. and if these laws aren't bad enough, we have problems in our community that keep us from building political power. we talked about this mile stone in 2012 but more latinos stayed home that dathan

actually voted. we have a dearth of latino election officials. this room should be a lot bigger. with a country of millions and only 28 representing us in country, we should have twice more than we have now. we make up two percent of all elected in the country. what that means is we have a vicious cycle. when you don't see your faces, voices, similar names on the ballot, you're likely to vote and that further depresses turnout. we have to change that. i'm running out so i'll say this briefly: what happens if we're successful and we change this game. that's what led eva longoria to launch the latino victory project. and if successful, what can happen is

this: you see this picture, the u.s. census 2010 had 1200 voters but only 150 of those latinos turned out to vote in a given election. they pressed the local authorities to improve the roads and they were told why bother, nobody out there votes anyways. so they pressed them and asked what would it take to show proof of life and they said 300 votes. so they took them up on that offer and turned up more than 500 voters for a local location. [applause] >> now look at this same road a year and a half later. this is what happens. we have to take every place in the country to truly have latino political power. and when we do, we have to do things differently. we

have to invest in our own communities as the leadership pipeline and that's what we're working to do. and when we're successful, latino values which are american values will be reflected in the policies that move our country forward. it means that we have access to adequate healthcare that's affordable and universal. it means we have access to an ample education. it means that immigrants come out of the shadows and are equal participants in our community and have good jobs that pay living wages. i started at the beginning by talking about my brother. when he went to vote on november 6th, 2012, he didn't have the right id when he showed up. luckily for him and others that law wasn't in effect that day. it is now but on that day it was not in effect in which he was able to vote. by pure

coincidence, the newspaper got a picture of him. we have it framed at home. it was the best day of his life. and so together for our brothers, sisters, our communidad, we have to work together to pave that road. that's it. >> thank you. [applause] >> okay. so we have a little bit of time to get into this and peel back the skin on the onion. now what does the emergens of these two institutions mean? we have them certainly approaching the latino vote from a partisan political perspective. the

libre initiative is a c4 so it's a much more political perspective than naleo would ever do. what does this mean in terms of political development? >> this agreement and debate is the life blood of democracy. so the fact that we have these two gentleman who have very different political perspectives to me is wonderful. i love it. i also want -- [applause] >> beyond that, beyond where they are politically, one thing that is very exciting for me is to see the eye on the money because at the end of the day in politics whether you like it or not, we run on money in this political system. and in order to run and be viable, you need

that funding. so i think that this is really where the future of the mature ration of latino politics politics lays. but really putting their money where their mouth is. >> your institution came out of the fund of efforts of others to bring money into the political system. daniel, you referenced economic power as being part of the pillars of latino development. so money is a common thread here. what does money, from your perspective, you talked about developing economic economic wealth. >> frankly, whatever institution, the accumulation

and eh efficiency of capital to doing anything you want to do. with it, you're limited in what you can do but it also positions you to do things that normally you wouldn't do if you didn't have the resources to do it. it's critical we do that. i think as a community, we have evolv evolved. we have stepped up when it comes to being able to seek and get donations from aligned americans. i'm a conservative. that's who i am and what i believe. it's a game where you have to get your ideas into the marketplace and if people buy those ideas, they're going to join you. so that's the game and you need capital to do that. >> let me change this a little bit. just remembering last year on your stage, henry munoz was here as a leader of the dnc and he was talking about how latinos

have benefitted -- the democrat party have benefitted from latino participation but he also sat there and was faced with a question about where are the latinos in the cabinet. he admitted that the progress had not been achieved. is the democrat party at risk of losing latinos to daniel's efforts because of taking us for granted. >> what henry also said before and the reason the latino victory project is nonpartisan is we can't be taken for granted by any party or candidate. we have to build our own power for the future of our own country. that's also connected to this money question. i think it's so important that we talk about that because our community is not used to talking about this question. the fund it was first time that they broke the code and figured out how to get latinos engageded in the

political process. for us, what that means is to be successful, to increase the number of latinos elected to you more members, we need to invest in our own community. that's why we launched a program called the first. in our families, we usually have the first daughter or whatever to achieve the first mile stone in the family like the first doctor, the first college graduate. they're the leaders in the family. they're the ones who need to invest in the community. they'll be the one to deliver the first latino president of the united states. [applause] >> i wanted to sum it up. [speaking in spanish] we need to

put into our community that notion of writing checks. the anglo community is able to do that. they just have become accustomed to doing it. it's not part of our routine and it's something we need to start doing. i don't care if it's $5. if it's $100,000, great. but it starts with the routine and we know from political research that once you do something, you're more likely to just keep doing it over and over again. so i think our organizations are really critical in starting that tradition of money giving. >> i was going to say, a telling statistic is in the state of texas, only 25 percent of latinos have been reached out to by a political organization or candidate. only 25 percent. it's no wonder that only 38 percent is the turnout rate for texasens while in florida, it's 62 percent for latinos. so you

see a disparity there in messaging, folks getting the words, informing the elect rat in it. it is a marketplace of ideas. money is critical. >> so let's talk about texas now. because this is -- you know, it is the big price increasingly so and as it continues, even the bigger prize in california. take the four congressional seats after this last redistricting, reaportionenment. 65 percent of texas's growth was latino. daniel, there is a lot of effort to turn texas from red to purple to blue. now, i think you're probably looking at that threat as you're based in texas

yourself. how are you going to stop that? >> we want more hispanic engagement, that's not a secret agenda. that's what we're about. so turning texas blue goes against everything we're about. so battle ground texas of course is a correct term so we have to engage. we have to get into the communities. we have to work with churches, we have to work with chamber of commerces and with our partners on the ground. we are also creating a volunteer force. we're going to have about 3,000 folks who are going to be on the ground helping us to advance conservative principles and ideas. we're already well on our way to enlisting folk who is are already helping us. we have staff all over texas. that's what it's all about. it's engagement. and i think at the same time, it's an opportunity

to also engage our young and get them involveded in the political process at a certain age where they can begin to see the process from the inside. for far too long, the latino community was on the outside looking in. back in the '60s and '70s, we had to march and protest because that's all we had. so it was uncomfortable to do that but that's the only solution we had. now we're on the other side. this is a new generation that is more sophisticated that is now in the state legislatures, in high elected offices. let's use those resources and drive the conversation both on the left and on the right and now let's do that. >> we'll come back to that because there are a lot of latinos still marching on the streets and holding sitins. there are really realistic prospects of a blue texas?

>> there's no doubt that latinos in texas are going to build political power and that it's going to change the course of this country. it's just a matter of when. for us, we're taking the long view with an eye on 2020. in 2020, you have some things that rarely happen at the same thing which is a presidential election, census, followed by redistricting and latino majorities in california and texas, two of the biggest states. we have to be ready with that, with the leadership pipeline, the resources. because if we're successful, turn out a record number of voters, elect a record number of latinos, we can then draw the redistricting lines and help drive policy with latino values for the balance of the century. now, i have to take -- i have to point this out. first, i like daniel. he's a nice guy.

>> he's got a nice jacket. >> he's honest. has the nicest jacket in the building. and i think he's honest. i really do. and i think what he said is accurate. i think the firm that he's hired to do his ads that are actually attacking latino candidates and we only have a few. but he's honest but his ads are not and the reason i point this out is we have a couple of people in texas that can change that state starting now. we've got pete diego. he's really put his neck out there for immigration and latinos under attack. she's a rising star and we've got other rising stars across the country but i would just like to ask you to hold your fire on our latino

candidates. >> what happens is he says it as if the left doesn't -- doesn't play politics either as if the left doesn't message, you know, to position their positions or their ideas. look, everything that we do is fact checked. everything we do we have to stand by it and it has to be ethical and above board. so it's a game of let's have this conversation and we're going to have that conversation and we're not going to back down because it's not about pete giego. it's about his ideas. we don't want centralize government. we don't want collectivism. we don't want policies that lean away from self-reliance. that's the idea of the battle that we're having. so let's have that conversation but i'm not going to play the game of backing away from latino candidates when their ideas are not good for the

country and i believe strongly that conservative principles are better for our community and i will drive that conversation regardless of the sentiments expressed. >> all right. there's probably a lot of other candidates that don't expect to see the value you want to see that you could go after. that's what i'm saying. >> i want to get into the issue of immigration now and vickie, i want the start with you. your capacity working with latino decisions you've been doing some, i think, really excellent polling of the latino elector rat. it's been an issue for the community butelectorate. it's

for the community but not -- talk to us about that. >> so immigration and you mentioned this at the beginning of your comments is not the all-encompassing issue for latinos. we care about education, income. however, what immigration has become is a gateway issue for latinos. because what we have seen is that latinos in the middle, moderate, conservatives, are pushing back against the tenor of the rhetoric toward immigration. so even though it may not tangibly affect them, they are moving away from those candidates who speak of immigration in such a way. so

it's a gateway issue and the republican party is the split down the middle. there's the george w. bush school of thought that back in the 1990s got it and said, you know what, immigration is part of this country and we need to put it inside of the big tent and this is how we are going to court latino voters as part of a larger agenda. the problem with immigration and the republican party is in selling it to the non-hispanic base and that was one thing that george w. bush was very good at. if they do come to that fork in the road and say we're going to tone down the tenor and try to figure out

a solution, latinos will support this. because one thing we've been finding is that latinos don't hold a grudge. we asked in survey after survey if the gop were to turn strategy and embrace immigration reform and not even necessarily a comprehensi comprehensive, they'd say i'd give the gop a shot. we're talking 40 to 50 percent of latinos. the question is in immigration is the gop going to pursue that vote. >> so, daniel, question to you obviously. as the a reminder to all of us, also a year ago, the chair of the republican national committee sat on this stage endorsing immigration reform and, yet, here we are a year later and the house has refused

to move on immigration reform. what do you think? >> without question, how a candidate or a party or an individual who is running for elected office speaks about minorities in their political narrative, the impression that you're given is how you speak about and your remedies. the republican party has not done a good job on that in terms of immigration, that's absolutely right. but that doesn't mean that hispanics should run away from the republican party. that means they should flood it so they can change it. america was built on waves of poor immigrants who created new wealth, new opportunities. we should be fighting for that system that absorbed those immigrants and not resisting. it is good for our families,

community, and our future. >> i've been invited by tea parties, i was in front of the scottsdale tea party driving immigration reform. our preference is a pathway to citizenship. but we also understand the political realities of things and that the democrat party doesn't get to define what immigration reform. it has to be done in a true bipartisan spirit. i feel that if we can inform the hispanic community with conservative principles, we can win a lot of those percentages back. they need to come to the middle and reconcile those differences and we want to be a bridge to that.

>> i said at the beginning that the reason the right doesn't pass immigration reform is because they don't want us to vote. now, when you look at those conservative principles that you espouse -- >> but -- [talking over one another] >> we can work together on this because here's what we have to do to build political power which is hold these folks accountable who are stopping immigration reform. hold them accountable. those are the ones running in november on the right. let's increase the latino vote and hopefully we can have immigration reform. but the problem is it's not just -- it's also a problem when you

look at other things that we hold dear. if you think about the environment, we want to have a clean environment that we can leave to our children and grandchildren. we want to have protections and regulations that allow us to work and get paid a good living wage. those are things that they're against. so you will not get latino voters across the board. it's not going to work within our communities. >> vickie. >> oh, where to begin. what has happened with regard to immigration has been -- as you two gentlemen pointed out is a stalemate. it's a stalemate that we're seeing at the federal level between executives and congress. and i fear that it's not going to bunch in the short

term. namely, the next two to three years. so i want to train the spotlight on something else which is state and local level politics with regard to immigration. because we are stuck in d.c. nothing is happening in d.c. but at the end of the day, people carry out their lives day-to-day in their neighborhoods, cities, and counties, and we see a lot of the effects happening to folks getting picked up and deported, noncriminals. okay. the criminals we understand. you know, they're breaking the law and they need to law because they have a criminal record and what not. but for other folks day-to-day we need to figure out how our state legislatures, county and school boards can affect the lives of immigrants and also latinos more generally. so we can go back and forth and

point fingers. president barack obama, boehner and others. that's not going to help. politics is local and i think that is the viewpoint i would want to leave you with. >> it is and in fact that is what the midterm elections really are all about, these are elections that are happening at the local level, 435 congressional races, legislative races, state wide races. what do you think the process will be for latino republicans in this election? >> the process for? >> prospects. >> prospects. i think this election year is trending conservative republican. the way things are looking right now if you look at the political map across the country, the republicans are going to take the senate. they're going to hold the house. i think, folks, especially hispanics are disillusioned with the obama

administration. obamacare -- they need to step in and have great candidates and great ideas because hispanics are at a crossroads again. we are back in the middle. we are back at the fork in the road and it is not enough for andblicans to stand there

say platitudes. they need to be a part of the community. they need to earn our vote. >> what typically happens in a midterm election, we have a drop-off among latino voters. the problem is allows for those on the right to increase their power. that means moving on immigration reform will be harder to do. moving on a clean environment will be harder to do. i hope we can flip the script this year. t is harder to do. i hope we can flip that this that to increase latino turnout in a substantial way and spotlight the problems that we are seeing with the right. they held up immigration reform and you mention something that i

think is a perfect example. to get latinosrd out of vogue, we remove representative kaufman and we thwart someone who is anti-immigrant from taking positions. we are in california and something special happened with proposition 187. this was an anti-immigrant initiative and it showed latinos running on the screen saying, they just keep coming. they registered, they turned out in record numbers. you will not see that happen. we have changed the state forever. we can use the right holding up immigration reform to springboard success for latinos across the country. >> all right. unfortunately, we are coming to the close of the opening session and this has put into context

what this election means and what the next days of conversation will be. i will give you time to make final remarks and we will let you have the last word. >> thank you for allowing me to be here at the conference. i hope that, in the future, this is expanding and we have to open up the walls because we have a record number of latinos coming into elected office. i will close with this. demographics are not destiny. what we have talked about throughout -- on the left and right -- about building latino political power, for it to materialize, we have to make it happen together and i want to leave you with a call to action to join us. go to our website and join us on twitter. fleas do not forget to donate. that is how we have to do this. ourave to invest in

community. >> this election cycle is going to be a battle of personalities. it is not about who speaks better. it is a battle of ideas. it is about how the country looks and the economic system. it is about how we will be as a community" or. -- and culture. -- engage in a debate and have an honest debate. no sacred cows. that is what we need. >> so, there have been a couple of tense moments between these gentlemen and this is great. out of disagreement and out of feeling uncomfortable, that is what mobilizes you and get you to vote. i want us to keep thinking about the importance of political maturation from marching in the streets. we still march and we vote more. we give money to expand this

room to have more alike to officials. >> excellent. panel. [applause] >> the annual conference of the national association of latino elected and appointed officials heard from jerry brown. this is 20 minutes. ♪ thank you. , i was pretty excited to be called the quarterback. i never play football because i was short will stop i was a junior in high school and only 5'3". that was a real complex and all

of the girls were taller than me. i was on the debate team. i had a good mouth. anyways, tell for you has come back and we are coming back. we are doing lots of important things. not the least of which is because of the leadership of the senator and others. we have the biggest latino delegation ever in california and i do not know about the rest of the country. bigger than texas, i hope. >> almost. a friendly competition. i was proud to sign the dream act. i had to sign it twice. the first one was resident tuition for undocumented students and the second was foribility for scholarships undocumented students.

then, because we are still waiting for that, whatever they call that group of people in washington. undocumentedg an law school graduate who passed .he state bar become a lawyer that is pretty good. you can practice law in california, even if the law does not recognize you. if we keep doing things like that, across the country, congress will get the message. we are not waiting. why i signed the driver's license bill. it was 10 years ago that 60% of the people were against giving undocumented californians a drivers license and that has flipped around for one big reason will stop it is the people who participate and the sheer power of the latino community.

it is felt in the town, cities, and communities -- towns, cities, and communities across the state will stop it is changing the philosophy of government. state.ss the it is changing the philosophy of government. most of thesent things. it is done by the legislature. when i sign it, everybody thinks that i did it. the legislators get jealous of the governor the case he gets all the credit will stop anyways -- the credit. anyways, you take the good and the bad. a group of employees want to organize a union and the employer calls of the immigration service to defeat the effort. we have an anti-retaliation law that says you have to be reinstated. we made that practice illegal.

if you are undocumented, you have the right to organize. then, the school funding formula that the legislature passed is very important. it is the very first time that money is being spent not equally. there used to be equal spending for all school districts. a lot of places have not done that yet. in california, we have an equal spending based on needs. families that speak a language other than english get a special consideration and the school district gets more money based on the number of non-english-speaking families that have -- that are in our schools. by the billions. it is not really justice to treat on equals equally -- unequ als equally.

you have to do more for those who do not have the same skill of speaking english as others. we have done that. designated english language learners and that means extra money for the school. that is about half of the students in california and it is pretty amazing. i do not know what the affluent families are doing. they are not producing, or something. half of the kids in the schools are from low income families. what can i say? there it is. we understand it and we are doing something about it. then, of course, water. these are all individual issues. what you represent is growing and it is growing in really important ways. that oursaid connection with mexico is so close and it was not all that long ago that carlos the third

said to occupy san diego. you did not know that california started the occupy movement. to occupy third said san diego and monterey. the father up with and the mexicans throughout the spanish in 1850. gringos, of course, the throughout the mexicans. -- threw out the mexicans. you never keep control for ever and there are always new waves coming. you have to stay ahead of the wave. that is what we call brown power. but, anyways, so, i am going to

mexico next month because we want to forge an agreement. i ran for president three times and did not quite make it. five primaries twice. you have to win 25. have 40% of latino descent and we are forming agreements with mexico, china, british columbia on trade in joint research. -- trade and joint research. scholarships. when we focus on the western hemisphere and we focus on baja california and others, we know that we are a greater family that is working together. that is my philosophy. together, i think we will have a better state. i was signing a bilingual education bill a long time ago.

i called for a, market between mexico, -- not california, the united states -- and canada. we will get to that eventually. we are all together and it makes sense. stick to it. when you get elected, do not get unelected. i have been in power and out of power. it is better to be in then out. -- than out. thank you very much. [applause] >> another historical reference for californians.

voters passed 187. many would argue it is a precursor to the arizona, the georgia, and the other anti-immigrant laws in recent years. i see school board members and councilmembers. mayors and supervisors. con saturday, members of gress. we keep coming and we have a governor who embraces us when we do. thank you, governor brown. is the attorney general for the state of california. harris. are we lucky to have her in this capacity. her career began in 2003.

she won election and defeated the incumbent to become the district attorney of severn cisco. -- san francisco. in 2010, she was elected the attorney general and became the first african-american and to hold the post. a powerful job and a busy job. it speaks volumes of her commitment and her values. it is her relentless fighting against financial institutions to provide justice and restitution for families, latino families, who were impacted by the foreclosure crisis in america. i will let her talk about that.

a lot of people call her a rising star in californian politics will stop she is a rock star for us in california. -- californian politics. she is a rock star for us intel for you. -- in california. please welcome kamala harris ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> thank you. welcome to california and thank you to my dear friend. i am proud to support you as you in oure in leadership great state. we have an embarrassment of riches, to be sure. we have a latino pro tem. we have an embarrassment of riches. all of us are elected or appointed and we know how this profession can be.

i tell you that we are fortunate to have a lot of stars in this state who work together and are truly friends, committed to collective responsibility of serving the people. thank you for the introduction. welcome. there is so much i want to say. i have been given seven minutes. i will keep it brief. it is important to recognize the significance of the reason for being. in appreciating the reason for it hasnd the purpose assumed. we know that all of us have many things in common, in spite of the fact that we have diverse interests and priorities. we have at least two things in common, all of us. , wemost of us in the room

are one of the first or the first to do what we do. room, weof us in this do what we do because we believe in the magnificence of our country and we are committed to fighting for the highest ideals at every step of the way. when i think about the purpose and the reason for being and the commonality that we share, i think of it in the context of something we will commemorate or celebrate next week. the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act in 1964. in thinking about the civil rights act of 1964 50 years later, we know it and remember a to be a product of coalition of people who came together to fight for the ideals of our country and for the

promise that we made in 1776 that we should all be treated as equals. we know the coalition around that movement. there were some who fought hard and died to make it true. many reasons,for that document is not just a piece of paper signed into law 50 years ago. it is very much a living and breathing document. ,t is a document that outlined for our country, and reminds people of the great promise that indicates that there are some fundamental rights that must always be protected. there are fundamental rights that relate to education, givingc opportunity, human beings and the people who live in this country the ability to live a productive life with

dignity. when i think about the work we are here to dedicate ourselves to doing and the 50th anniversary of the civil rights i cannot help but reflect on where we are today. education, we of look at this country and we know that the graduation rates from high school for communities of color are embarrassing. we look at the graduation rates and we see that, for white students, it is 79% and, for 68%.os, it is oflook at an issue elementary school truancy. kindergartners and six traders are missing from 60-80 days of school. among latinos in california,

they are absent 4.5 times more than their white counterparts. relates tot, as it that fundamental right of having equal access to education, that there is a lot of work to be done. we look at the issue of economics and the right and ability that everyone should have to work hard. to and live aspire the american dream. in terms of equal access, there is a lot of work to be done 50 years later. we can look at the statistics that tell us that white women dollar compared to white men. earn $.64erican women on the dollar. $.53 in thatd

comparison. we have a lot of work to do. we look at the fundamental theciples underlying motivation of a creation of the civil rights act. it was not designed with the understanding that, in this great country of ours, there should never be an underclass. a definedld never be group of people who are forced to live in the shadows and are considered second class. we look at what is not happening in washington around comprehensive immigration reform, we know that we have a lot of work to do. we can look at this in terms of what my office and i have worked on in the last two years, relating issue of immigration reform to an issue that our constituencies have, public safety. to aan connect that s

policy of secure communities. i mapping out how it works, issued a bulletin to say that it is not working as it was intended and designed to. theact, it allowed immigration service to pick up 30% ofain -- detain undocumented immigrants who definition,'s non-criminal. we let them know the research we had done that makes it clear that the requests are a request and not mandatory. let us leave it up to the discretion of law-enforcement leaders in those communities to make the decision for what is in the best interest of public safety in their community,

instead of allowing them to use limited resources to make sure that we have a country that is stable and great. in particular, let us not be -- ined and something something. we designed our system of government in a smart way. we all know that there are responsibilities of the federal branch and the state branch. there are responsibilities of the local branch. public safety was designed as a responsibility of the local branch. prosecutor who has prosecuted everything from low-level offenses to homicides, i can tell you that allowing victims of crimes to live in the because a predator has convinced her -- smart public

policy decision and is not true to the ideals of our country, insane that we will not have an underclass or those who live in the shadows. when i think about these issues, i think about them in the context of who we are in this room. you know, my mother had a saying. she would say to my sister and first toe may be the do many things and to make sure that we are not the last. ideals,talk about the it is very much about that. i think about this room and the people not here. many of us share a common experience. that experience that many of you have had where a constituent shows up at the front window of your office and they say that the only person they want to speak with is you. i have had that experience so

many times. some woman, who looks like our mother, says that the only person they want to speak with is you. that highlights the experience. duty and responsibility that those in this room have. our interests are diverse and our priorities are diverse. they are varied and many. we carry a responsibility and that the people who are proud of the fact that we stand in these places have their voices heard, knowing that they are some of the most voiceless. we are the voice for the voiceless and we have the responsibility to ensure that we cultivate, with the people who are proud of us, we cultivate trust in our government. these may seem like different

points. they are entirely connected. when we get to the point where all people feel the protection of the civil rights act, to the extent that they have full trust in their government, we will truly live the ideals of this country. i thank everyone for their leadership. [applause] >> the labor secretary spoke to the conference at the national association of latino elected and appointed officials all stop his remarks are 20 minutes -- officials. his remarks are 20 minutes. ♪ >> good afternoon.

it is great to be here. it is great to be back. hey, larry. we are both still bald. .ald is better that is what governor brown tells may. thank you for the introduction. alice has been a good friend and a wonderful leader in california. thank you. there is arturo. he is a force of nature. look up the term and you will see him. thank you. i would be remiss if i did not acknowledge one of the icons of the civil rights movement. delores. it is an honor to be here. you know, i am the wrong person to be talking about the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement. i feel like i am a student of the movement and, when you are here and in the presence of

generals of the movement and leaders of the movement, it is humbling. it is great to see you again and, thank you for everything you have done to expand opportunity to so many people across this nation. that, whencknowledge you work at the department of justice, it is a real honor. i want to acknowledge alberto gonzales. it is an honor to be here with you. there are many anniversaries. kamala mentioned the civil rights act. there have been a number of remarkable anniversaries that we have noted that give us pause and a time to reflect and redouble our efforts. the 50thated anniversary of dr. king's letter

from the birmingham jail and we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 16th street bombing. more recently, at the department of labor, we marked an anniversary that you may be less aware of. ofwas the 145th anniversary the completion of the transcontinental railroad. the reason i note that is because we have a labor hall of fame. to mark that anniversary, we inducted the chinese-american railroad workers. all too part of the frequently untold story of the civil rights struggle. utah is an iconic photo in where the transcontinental railroad was completed. absent in the photo were the workers. they had to go on strike for better wages. they had so many acts of courage

and it was remarkable to pay honor to them at the department of labor so recently. it was so wonderful to go to the viewing of the movie about chavez. for me, chavez brings together the passions of my professional life. labor rights and civil rights. they are inextricably intertwined. mostz understood that the important thing he could do for farmworkers was to get the right of collective bargaining to make sure that they could make a union and bargain together. that is what the president was talking about one year ago. anniversarye 50th of the march on washington. as you know, the march on washington was a march for jobs and was a march for justice.

it was a march on washington for jobs and freedom. it was a march for civil rights and labor rights. there were posters there. "i am a man" campaign. say,e taken the liberty to "i am a person" campaign. they were marching for civil rights and marching for labor rights. make --e barking to marching to make sure justice was insured in this country. there were so many involved in that. whether it was randolph, chavez, so many people who were so heavily involved. as obama said last year, to mark the anniversary on the steps of the lincoln memorial -- i had been in the job for one month and i remember those days. he said, for the men and women

who were there not searching for an abstract ideal, seeking jobs and justice. not just the absence of oppression. the presence of economic opportunity. in the passage of the civil rights act, it was truly historic. as somebody who has had the privilege of enforcing the law, i take it as a solemn obligation. i am acutely aware of the number of people who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the passage of the law. so, you know, it is time to make sure that we note our progress and discuss the unfinished business. indeed, tremendous progress has been made and i think that some of the best examples are harris as a speaker. another example is the senator.

it is remarkable that a nation allows the son of people living in los angeles to go to m.i.t. and have the sky be the limit. that is what the civil rights act was about. look at the president of the united states. daysf the most remarkable of my life was the election day in 2008. this nation made history. i am confident it will not be the last time. the civil rights struggle is a marathon relay and the baton is in our court. have made remarkable progress and we have more work to do. the unfinished business of america is the unfinished business that you do day in and day out. i had the good fortune of serving as a local and elected official. and now, into different positions, in the federal government and at the justice department. now, the department of labor.

i have so much respect for the work that all of you do. and, that all of you working in state government do. the rubber hits the road in local government and i saw that there is so much you can do to further the goals of the civil rights act of 1964 and all of the other civil rights laws and economic justice laws that were made to ensure access to opportunity. you are doing it. we are having a few challenges in washington moving the needle. you havee country, been incubators of innovation and pioneers of fairness and opportunity. you continue to do that. i take my hat off to you because you do so much and you have so many tools. i hope to continue to use them. you know what? we have a lot of unfinished business.

we have made progress in areas like education. a statistic that people do not know is that the latino dropout rate over the last 10 years has declined 50%. it is remarkable. we can all point to that as a matter of pride because there is a concerted effort. we are all in this together. local governments and local leaders recognize that this is an economic imperative and a moral imperative. this is a civil rights imperative. you have been working hard and we continue to work in a ten-year effort. on the republican and democratic -- underations republican and democrat administrations, this is not a partisan issue. people are punching their ticket to the middle class and we need nue the progress.

there are other statistics that are not so good. i have traveled across the country and seen too many school districts that remain, so many years after brown, separate and unequal. i saw the school-to-prison pipeline frequently. axis to opportunity is denied. ss to denied -- acce opportunity is denied. i didn't event in mississippi -- an event in mississippi. i could see, under the table, footwear. what they all had in common was an ankle bracelet. these were kids who were 13-14 and in the system. i asked them what they did. one person had a wrong color tie. one person had the wrong colored

socks. one person was guilty of flatulence. i am not kidding. that got them in the school-to-prison pipeline. that is not who we are as a nation. we need to be smarter than that and that is why so many people see access to opportunity as allusive. housing isqual elusive. fine print transferred and transform the american dream of homeownership into a nightmare. the department of justice, we recovered, on behalf of victims of lending discrimination, primarily latinos and african-americans, more money than the previous 25 years combined. we saw the problem across the nation and we work for people. here is the sad reality.

it is a reality we must acknowledge. of the challenge is latinos of using latinos and african-americans of using african americans. the sign at the storefront would bring in people and lure them to trust. that trust would be abused. that is the story of the meltdown and the lending discrimination that we had to look at. we are turning a corner. too many lost their wealth. we see so many challenges in the world of policing. i spent way too much time in my last job in maricopa county. int was not smart policing maricopa county. there is a false choice of keeping the community safe or safeguarding the constitution.

i reject the false choice. we can have safe policing and constitutional policing. they go hand-in-hand. decree that we did in los angeles was proof of this. you can do effective and constitutional policing and reduce crime at the same time, promoting public confidence in law enforcement. we continue to have challenges across america and that is part of the unfinished business. we continue to have problems in is voting context of stop it the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday and of the voting rights act of 1965. is too continue to see many ill-advised efforts to restrict, as opposed to expand, the right to voting. i was amused. i thought one of the most

remarkable comments on the efforts at these voter id laws was from: powell -- colin powell. he asked how the phenomenon of voter fraud to be widespread and undetected. case in texas, i needed one hand to count the documented incidence of voter frauds. when i went to the hands, it ended up being a thumb that i needed to document the voter fraud for which this is the solution. voting is a sacred right and we should be working to expand it to eligible voters. you have been working on that and that was never a partisan issue. it should not be a partisan

issue. reason why howl and lewis speak up on these issues. and lewis speak up on these issues. we have unfinished business. it starts with the minimum wage. nobody working a full-time job should live in poverty. we see, all too frequently, people working hard and falling further behind. people have to make choices between having to pay the mortgage, the rents, or medicine . those are choices we should never have to make in america and i applaud san diego and other local councils who are tackling this will stop 13 states in the last year have raised the minimum wage. said that this

is a consumption-deprived recovery and they need more customers. that is why we need to raise minimum wage. if we want to expand opportunity for everyone, we need to get back to immigration reform. alice correctly pointed that out. i have not given up and this president will not give up. this is an economic, moral, public safety imperative and we will move forward on this. so many people depend on this. i talked to people in the silicon valley and they say that the most important issue is immigration reform and the second most important issue is immigration reform. people in religious communities say that the most important issue is immigration reform. it was always a bipartisan issue. we need to continue our work in these efforts.

there is unfinished business. i cannot help but note the story i read from boehner. he said he was going to sue the president for the unlawful exercise of executive authority. the president would not exercise executive authority if congress would vote and pass laws. that is what needs to happen. on immigration reform, the minimum wage, extending unemployment compensation, infrastructure, every single one of these issues, it was a bipartisan issue. it was eisenhower who built the interstate highways. we cannot eat cake and lose weight. f we are going to repair roads and bridges -- i know we want to the state and lose weight -- whoever invents that, if it is going to be invented, it will be invented in california.

we need this. expanding the panama canal. there are opportunities in this country and we need to be ready for them. i hope that we can rekindle the spirit of collaboration and cooperation. that brings me to my final point. in building the opportunity society is so critically important. because change is not initiate in washington. it comes to washington. i think about the issues of our day and i see how they start in states and then, to the federal government. the affordable care act was the product of learning from massachusetts. look at where we are now. so many people, including and haveimited to, latinos

access to health security as a result of experimentation at a state level. fruits of the affordable care act and we see opponents talking less and less about the affordable care act because it is more and more successful. i would note that the conversation that i have had with the chamber of commerce people in texas and florida. they cannot understand why they have not expanded medicaid. you are leaving billions on the not to mention, those are the uninsured capitals of the united states. you are leaving minimum wage. 13 states have enacted increases in the minimum wage. you look at the issue of paid leave and workplace flexibility. you see leadership at state and local levels across the country. look at leadership in the civil thats context and item for

we do it at a state -- implore that we do it at a state and local level. we need redundancy in law enforcement. we need federal, state, and local laws. laws are only as good as the political will of those enforcing them. at any given time, the will to enforce may not be there. that is why you need to continue the efforts to put in place those protections at a state and local level. you are the drum majors for justice. i firmly believe that the moral arc of our nation and universe bends towards those who expand opportunity and not those who restricted. -- restrict it. those who restricted health care

in the 1960's, they were right when we passed medicare and there was a caffeinated -- caca phony. those who opposed the civil rights act or on the wrong side of history. those who opposed the voting rights act were on the wrong side of history. the affordablee care act will be proven to be on the wrong side of history. those who are expanding voting rights and opportunity, you are on the right side of history. you, mama "where were " moments. nieces andook my nephews in the eye and say that i was on the side of dolores and chavez. john lewise side of

lewis and the chinese railroad worker. i was on the side of wage fairness. i was on the side of expanding opportunity. that is who we are. in your positions, that is what you do day in and day out. keep up the pressure and we can move this nation forward. i come to you with a sense of optimism. you know what? we have tackled more serious challenges in our nation and defeated them. we are going to do it now. there is human capital talent in this room and across the country. with your leadership, we will continue to build a more perfect union for everyone. thank you for having me. [applause]