continues tonight. hornll look at lowell big and the attempts to take land that had previously been promised to native americans. that led to the conflict known as custer's last stand up. >> when you come out west they want to turn the sioux and cheyenne and arapahoe and the blackfoot and the crow into christian farmers. sitting bull is not going to scratch and claw at the ground with a hoe. crazy voices not going to surrender his pony to a plow. they are hunters. they are warriors. that is their vision. mid-1870's, there is a stock market crash of the banking system rolls over.

people are losing their jobs and life savings. there is 20% unemployment. does any of that ring a bell? it is tough times in america. ulysses s. grant is the , he is going to the economy orte lose reelection. there is gold of the black hills. newspaper reports say all you have to do is walk to the grass and pick up nuggets off the tops of your shoes. minors and prospectors of entrepreneurs are pouring into the hills overnight. every one of them. they are an illegal alien. the black hills belong to the sioux. guaranteed by the treaty of 1868.

no white people were allowed in the black hills. while bill hickok was shot in the back of the head in deadwood. if he is an illegal alien. so is his friend calamity jane. they called it sacred ground. the hills are black with timber. president grant sees an opportunity. he wants to give it that gold and red but the economy and put money in the treasury. he is going to try to i the black hills. -- by the black hills. noting bull and crazy horse, , not for sale. you don't sell the ground of your ancestors walked on and now their bones are whitening. not for sale. the american history tour

focuses on american native americans. some 9000-year-old american pictograms. withtvs in-depth interview ron paul. american history tv with more from our film series real america. eastern time.0 the cbo'sscuss report. he will talk about jobs and wages and the estimates on the impact of the health care law. sunday onwsmakers on c-span. thewn hall forum examining police shooting and ferguson, missouri. is naacp speakers

washington bureau chief. >> good evening. i am the director of communications for the institute. i will be the moderator for this evening. we have billed as ferguson and beyond. this will be an open discussion on the crisis of race relations in america today. on behalf of our sponsors, it is my pleasure and honor to extend

to you and warm welcome to this famous d.c. landmark. busboys and poets. [applause] a unique ways that combines good food for the pallet with great food for thought. i want to ask that -- extend a cameme to the audience who from a protest at the justice department across down earlier today. [applause] a special greeting to those across the country and around the world watching this event live on c-span and on the internet. and to those across the d.c. metropolitan region listening to pacifica radio as well as those radio.ng via satellite

viewerscable television in cambridge, massachusetts. invited aute has stellar group of human rights leaders and legal experts and and religiouss leaders to be among the panelists and respondents at this town hall meeting. i want to welcome them all and thank him for accepting the invitation. we will move into the discussion and dialogue. i want to bring on a righteous brother and a dear friend. he will personally welcome you to his house. he is an artist and an activist and a prominent civic leader in the d.c. area. a very successful entrepreneur who is built a

three thriving busboys establishments. he is about to open two more. i am talking about the owner of busboys and poets. let's give it up for brother andy. [applause] have friends he haven't seen in a while. this is an important time and a joyful time in many ways. moment told take a to talk i'm not going to you until the end of the program to your friend sitting next to. let them know that. you'll have plenty of time to reconnect afterwards. until past midnight offended -- past midnight. give us your undivided attention for the next few moments.

on behalf of the front of the house staff and the back of the house staff, i would like to welcome you to this moment this evening. a ferguson townhall. when we opened we had the intention of creating a place where racial and cultural connections are consciously uplifted. if you have wondered what that looks like, this is what it looks like. i want you to turn to the person next to you and give them a hug. all right. we are also a place for art and culture and politics come together intentionally to collide. culture, is art in want to open up the program none

other than ayanna gregory. please. a welcome [applause] >> [singing] we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. oh freedom. oh freedom of. i will be buried in my grave.

lord and beto my free. is a freedom song meant to go around the world. wake up as we stand at war. ask yourself what you're living for. the truth has been hidden. we have to, live. as we stand in the final hour. you can't afford to give away your power. they think you're going to fall but they don't know you well. you have to realize the battle is hard. we go to war with the honor guard. rebirth a world ready to be free.

finally become what you are meant to be. i see the fire in your eyes. take back your life. it take back your life. i see the fire in your eyes. it take back your life. take back your life. thank you [applause] startedwe first thinking that this brainchild, it was don rojas who came up with this idea to have a town hall meeting. what we decided to do was haven't on august the seventh. he told me this about eight days ago. that is a long time. people will forget about this and move on. they won't remember this.

i want to thank the people of ferguson. i want to thank all of you for being part of this and making sure that we will not forget. we will at the police know that it is not ok to be militarized. that our police department's about a dumping ground for the pentagon. we are tired of institutionalized racism. we are tired of being eavesdropped on and spied on and marginalized throughout the world, not just in a ferguson but everywhere. ferguson is the rallying cry that we have come around. i want to thank the people of ferguson. i want to thank mike brown a, making rest in peace, for making this possible and giving us this wake up call and saying we're sick and tired of being sick and tired. it you are in great company for that. welcome to the club of being

sick and tired of being sick and tired. we will not rest or stop. this will not go away like many things have gone away. we will continue in this struggle until we have peace and justice. if you don't have justice, there is no way to have peace. -- mikeugh the mike brown was not the first brown person killed by the police, i want you to think about and say he will be the last one. he will be the last one to be shot by the police. i look forward to having this conversation with you. thank you for being here. [applause] >> thank you. will haveprogram we

time to recall what happened in ferguson, missouri. we will focus on the meaning and the implications of ferguson for the african-american community across the country and for the nation at large. where we go from here? what needs to be done the week and months ahead? what recommendations and actions can we come up with tonight? what are the lessons to be learned from ferguson? is this just another clichéd teachable moment or was it a significant turning point? will this moment evolve into a new movement for political change and for social and economic justice for black and brown people in this country? these are some of the questions that are panelists will address shortly. for ad like for us to ask

moment of silence for michael brown and for eric gardner and so many african-american men killed by white police officers in different parts of the country. a moment of silence. may they all rest in peace. thousands of people attended mike brown's funeral. the media tells us that in recent days everything is calm and ferguson. life is back to normal. kids are back in school. that implies the crisis is over. is this the case? thatyoung activists say mike brown's dignified funeral was a time to press forward.

resistance continues. many of us aging activists, the resolve and the determination of courageous young people in ferguson and from around the country who have been leading the resistance is truly inspiring. they reflect the use of yesteryear who were involved back in thethers 1960's and 70's during the lack liberation struggle. --y provided the injury passion. the hip-hop generation is doing exactly the same thing. we are delighted to have a few of these young activists leaders with us tonight. along with dozens of other youth by bus alln bc drove

the way from washington to ferguson last week to participate in the pro-taste -- road test. -- road test. test.o i would like to invite one of the activists to give a brief report on the trip to ferguson. sister erika, leaves come forward. [applause] i just want to make a correction. i was not one of the ones who went on the bus. i went before there came to be some peace and ferguson. i wear this shirt because i want to be reminded of what happened to the people there. have not brought myself to be able to watch this. i don't want to forget. time thatt the first

black people have been attacked. this is not the first time and it will not be the last. i went down it just tanned in solidarity with the people of ferguson. could have been our city. it will be our city. it happened in brooklyn last year. there were tanks rolling in brooklyn. this is the response when black people rise up. this is the response from our country when black people rise up. wake up. we are under attack. we have been under attack for long time. bombs of the dropped on our cities. you don't have to compare a student of the country. for us, this is america. this is what is happening to us. you, i stand with

the people that you called looters. said, you don't care about our lives so i don't care about your property. that is when people start waking up. society, youst have to start raking stuff. a lot of people don't want to talk about this. one of the organizers that i was with as we were running, it was like a cookout at the quick trip. people were passing out food. children were cleaning up the trash. people were cleaning up the canisters of tear gas. children were cleaning this up. we went to the,

famous mcdonald's. faces so peaceful that i time with my mother. well before curfew. this was well before curfew. we see a group of police officers behind the building and they come back with tear gas and gas masks on. they have stakes in their hands. we know something is about to happen. one of our organizers asks why are you carrying sticks? he said to beat people. this is at 8:30 p.m. we start running. i am running ahead of them. the organizer behind me is running at a white man is running toward her and punches her in the face and says set the fuck down.

they want black people to get shot at. guard, we knowl the history of the national guard. we know what they did in newark, new jersey. this is our history. stand with the people in ferguson. they are showing what can happen in our cities. response is the going to be. we need to honor mike brown and the people in ferguson. we are not going to go back to business as usual. we can't afford to do that anymore. [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you. now it is my pleasure to introduce dr. ron daniels. distinguished lecturer. he will provide the context for

this town hall meeting. ron?her [applause] >> let's give it up again for the sister with the eyewitness report. delighted to have as our director of communications, someone of the distinction of don rojas. he is the former press secretary. let's give it up for him. [applause] busboys andhank poets for sponsoring this event. the to the open society for support. one wonders if one went back and read the accounts in the british newspapers of what they would've

said about the boston tea party. what thet because of sister talked about. the spirit of resistance. people calling it riots. people calling it all kinds of things. -- they are called rebellions. have been saying for years there is a state of emergency in black america. a state of emergency. for some people there to black americans. 1 -- some people are doing quite well. they live in the suburbs. areas, peopleity are catching more hell than ever before. that state of america -- emergency is created.

they took out the jobs. they disinvest in our community's. industry left. workers disappeared. create theelped dangerous black man. the war on drugs is a war on us. andust end the war on drugs president obama can do it with the stroke of a pen. if nixon created by executive order, it can be ended by executive order. we talk about looting. we have been looted of our jobs and education. we're been violated by police violence. we say and the war on drugs. militarization of the police. the attorney general to do that tomorrow. stop paying for the tanks and all of this military equipment.

sure ron hampton will talk to community policing. that should be the order of the day. the attorney general is to have a national summit on policeman conduct. we want obama to have the opportunity to clearly say he has a priority and that priority is non-militarization. it is community policing. we need a domestic marshall plan. pay for all got to the damage that has been done to our community. we did our communities rebuild so we can have jobs and economic opportunity in ways we don't have now. in,y community you go education is being deprived. they are making money off the tickets. if they are fining people and

then they go to jail and they still owe the fine. this is small government nonsense. we think there ought to be a commission type study. insurrection,the there was a kerner commission. why does this keep happening? we have a black president and yet we have a state of emergency in america's dark ghettos. president to have a commission. why do we have such economic underdevelopment? president obama can take the lead and provide those answers. those are some of the ideas we are putting forth. is, we have to sustain this movement.

anye is not going to be justice there isn't going to be any peace. [applause] .hank you very much >> moving right along. we want to introduce to you our distinguished panel. seated next to me on my left. i will introduce them from left to right. i will have each of them make a opening comment on the crisis in ferguson. you can focus on any aspect of the crisis. i will pose a few questions to each of you. hillary shelton. the director of the

washington office of the naacp. ms. barbara. give it up for her. [applause] is a hip-hop artist and activist out of pittsburgh dental venue. [applause] -- pittsburgh pennsylvania. [applause] next him as ron hampton. is former director of the national black police association. [applause] she is the senior policy analyst

at the open society foundation. welcome. remarks. >> thank you very much. i don't know if everyone can hear me. it is so important we have an opportunity to actually respond to what is going on in ferguson. it just so happens i am one of the few that actually grew up in st. louis, missouri. i know ferguson very well. i saw it transition from being a community that was predominately white to one that is 67% african-american. happening. what is they are not being responsive to

the concerns going on there now. the city council is not representative of the 67% of african-americans that live in that township. if you look at the police out of the 53 police officers only three are african-american. look at those challenges and other issues. democracy is not working. the law enforcement entities put in place serve and protect is doing neither. we saw what happened to michael brown. tippingot to that point. to give you a bit more foundation about st. louis. african-american in the inner-city area. 1968 when dr. king was

assassinated, it did not rise up. peace was maintained. how is it that we got to the point that we did behind the murder of michael brown? are issues not being addressed. when you have a scenario in which everything is set up as some kind of occupying force and that force is suppressing rather than dividing protection then you end up with a kind of response that we got. it up with an 18-year-old that was about to start college. camend up in the community out as they did because there seemed to be no other response that they could bring. my time is ending right now. i want to make sure that we have an opportunity to talk about beyond solving the case and the

right culprit being held accountable for what happened. we don't want to go back to how things were prior to mike brown being killed. ,f we don't take this issue on we will be exercising a point of utility. when you do the same thing in the same way and expect a different result. you have defined the clinical insanity. let's bring some sanity to ferguson and the rest of the country. [applause] >> thank you very much. >> thank you. good afternoon. good evening, everyone. there we go. ago, everybody was leading and talking about bring back our girls.

now nobody is talking about it. having saidr us is here repeatedly year after year burying our children and our older people killed by police, the question is can we move from the moment to a movement? can we do what is necessary to make this our life's work? that is the challenge for us. aat i want to point out is unity statement on what we can do to make sure that we don't see this again. there are things that can be done, my brothers and sisters. we need to look at those. do we requiredc,

desk -- dash cam's on police vehicles? do we require reports of people who complain of excessive force we can control this. we must make sure that no federal dollars goes to anybody. i want to say one thing. women are also being killed. don't miss that. a black woman was stopped just the other day. black women and black girls must understand.

we can't he'll have to committee. we must deal the entire community. thank you. [laughter] >> thank you. i want to start by saying thanks for everybody for coming. what happened in ferguson is the actions of an officer named darren wilson. he was the one who saw young man in the street and if the audio his guns correct, shot six-time and caused and shot five more times. he shot him twice in the head. when the community attempts to have a peaceful vigil, the police roll up with them army

and begin agitating the community. people say the protest is to be people for somebody to tell the police to be peaceful. [applause] the police are breaking the peace. i'm glad i just came back from ferguson. we were having a conversation with a young brother. it was like a family reunion. it was a saturday night. people were playing music and food was being given away. officers come from our left side and 15 from a right and arrested people for no reason. . went up to captain johnson he was different than the one you saw in the media. he was surrounded by hundreds of offices. i asked why he arrested the men

and he said i don't have to talk to you, you are not from here. there arel this, young leaders of,. they are highly sophisticated. they are organized and formed a coalition. give it up for them. [applause] there would've been a lot more of this. they united under a name called hands up united. you can go to hands up united.org. you can donate. supportinvite you to these young leaders. they want to keep resisting. [applause] >> brother on hampton. >> let me say good evening to

everyone. my comments are going to be in the nature putting this in some context. we can't look at the killing as a single incident and time. continuation of the assault an attack on black men and women in the black community. thesome history, militarization of policing started after vietnam. police departments received military equipment after vietnam and after doesn't storm and after iraq and afghanistan. war oneing used in the drugs and black people and the community. black men and women are not the only answer. more policesix

officers or 20 more police officers in ferguson. if we don't address the culture, they will be brutal police officers. it dr. daniels talked about policing. must work forcing us. if not, we must find strategies that will work in the black community. we talk about community policing. we have not seen the benefits in our community. the kind of arrests that have taken place in new york as a result of walking while black. this is not the result of community policing. if we're going to have community policing tom a it must be real. we need to be involved in that process.

we must begin to replace the policies and practices that will work for our community. i want to add my voice to the recommendations. we must end the war on drugs. we must and mass incarceration. we need more jobs. -- we have notve had a study of the criminal justice system in 30 years. it is not working for us. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, ron hampton. >> i saw a photograph on social the lynchingy of juxtaposes the body of mike brown line the street for hours.

was an enslaved person --led, the lectures would be lectures would leave the body to incite fear. it is terrorism then and i submit it is terrorism now. [applause] it is one thing for people to be murdered. it is more egregious for the badges ands to wear be sworn to uphold the law. they are crying out from the grave for justice. brown, oure for mike outrage should not just be for a moment. there needs to be a movement for justice. this is a movement that must

be an internationalized struggle. law enforcement should use firearms only as a last resort. what about the international convention on the elimination of armed forces and discrimination. what about the international convention on torture? we are in a revolutionary moment right now. it is incumbent on all of us to seize it by building a justice movement.

we must have the audacity to the criminalaking punishment system once and for all. compassion rather than criminalization. narrative.ew it embraces a human rights model -- we needtice innovative people that are not afraid to think outside the box and push the envelope for change. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. the other person on the panel

has been held up in traffic. he is trying to make his way here this evening. some of glover is on a film shoot in utah. he is delayed. he is in the middle. aroundmise to call and 7:30 p.m. stand by for that. we will bring them in very shortly. of housekeeping matters before we move into the dialogue session. there are yellow cards being circulated by volunteers. please sold about. up volunteers will pick them before the end of the program. toare encouraging people live tweet this event. you can go ahead and tweet while

the program moves along. the complex issues exposed by the crisis in ferguson, issues of race, class, moreoverty, none is central to the issue policing. we do a former police officer on our panel. i will ask them the first question. you mentioned about community policing. it is been a buzzword for a number of years. recently it is been on the back burner. what aspects of community policing would guarantee a greater degree of accountability and transparency in america's police departments? isthe answer to the question

accountability has to take place before a crisis takes place. ingredients that will avert a crisis. there is a former police commissioner in the city of baltimore. his name was thomas fraser. communityed with policing nationally for some time. concept that he said worked for him when he was in baltimore. the concept was he believed in the development of community capital. relationshipsizen were like married individuals. that is the way relationships are in our community. whenyou develop capital, things are not good you can call

the community to be with you until you get information or some additional things. if you wait until the incident happens, that is too late. there was an example in st. louis three miles away when mr. powell was shot and killed brandishing a knife when two police officers came upon the scene. i am not satisfied with the answer. at least the police chief came on the scene and they had been able to obtain the video that was taken by a witness. he released information on the scene. we did not have an incident. i submit to that the reason we did not have an incident was because of the transparency and the information that was given to people on the scene. the other thing that needs to happen is you can't wait until

the crisis in order to get it done. you've got to develop the crisis. community, we haven't had trust and confidence as an everyday thing with the police. us about turning in our brothers and sisters. they don't develop a relationship. >> ok. you talked about officer darren wilson. there are probably thousands of darren wilson's, racist and trigger-happy.

some of said that he will probably not indicted. given the pro-cop history of the prosecutor, the st. louis prosecutor. i also want to ask this question to the two attorneys on the panel. what are the possibilities realistic possibilities for darren wilson to be indicted and brought to trial for murder? 2012, i made a song called do we need to start a riot. that in 2012,port

213 black people were killed by the police or people like george zimmerman. question, i ame asking what we have to do to get justice. if we are continually shot down whatnd no one is to blame, will eventually happen if this is something that happens over and over and over again? ferguson is simmering china. so is new york city. so a chicago. so is los angeles. i would be very careful. zimmerman was found not guilty. michael dunn was found not guilty of the person that he killed. if you're not going to give us justice, are we wrong if we then

take justice in our own hands? [applause] the legal question, two things. the very clear that aboututing attorney is zero. we should not be expecting much. he is our day started off in a horrible way by saying he is going to have the officer testified before the grand jury. that is unheard of. this is a very unusual thing. we've been watching the police force do everything in their to uphold this gentleman.

say he was bum rushed by michael brown when he was shot at. ridiculous accusations. a lot of that is coming from the police department and from the police union. i am not expecting much from the state. what is the department of justice going to do? they have the authority to bring civil rights charges. they can't drag their feet. goes out intration 2016. they will be over in december 2016. it is imperative that if we're are going to have a prosecution that charges are brought right now, as early and as soon as possible.

all the elements are there. the intent is the hardest to deal with. this is going to be a great case. pursuing.h them we don't want to be sitting here a year from now like we did with zimmerman. we have got to keep the pressure up. we have to demand a prosecution. to demand that this man be brought to justice. justice if weue don't make it happen through our actions. [applause] on.et me just add the department of justice does have a high bar. there is that hurdle.

us time aftered time. that is why i keep harping on the need to not limit ourselves in the confines of the u.s. jurisdictional law. we need to up the ante. you can circumvent intent if you can show discriminate terry impact. -- discriminatory impact. we do need to be creative. thatinth amendment states it is a gateway to international law.

that is the provision of the ninth amendment. those is the right to international human rights law. a seniore representative of the oldest civil rights organization. you are a lobbyist. i wanted to talk about the government response from the obama administration and congress and the senate. been deathly silence on the part of some of our national political figures. have alreadyom begun the race for president. there has been some sharp criticism of the president's

prominentrom several black intellectuals like dr. cornell west. we have not seen any national civil rights leaders in front of this. why is that? thehe newest president of naacp is on the ground in ferguson missouri the very next day. .e hopped on a plane ground holding a community meeting at the church where the funeral was held. is we have ae branch that actually represents all of st. louis county.

in from st.t came louis and columbia. this is the challenge we have right now. we are seeing a classic move toward suppression. if you look at all the moves that were taken, when they were arresting reporters it is about suppression. when you implement a no-fly zone so that news helicopters cannot come overhead and look down on what is going on, you're talking about suppression. [applause] we are talking about standard processes to make sure that the truth does not go out. we saw those in ferguson. when you go into a mcdonald's and you arrest a reporter from the washington post and the huffington post while they are charging their computers to report on the story, suppression

is underway. we see what is happening with police officers that are defending other police officers. like saying that my taxes aren't being done right. i would say to the federal government, i appreciate you raising the issue but i will investigate myself. you have the police on the ground in ferguson protecting one of their own and suppressing the information coming out of that community. this is a strategy of suppression. we are moving the agenda to go far beyond this case. it is step-by-step. justice has to be done for the brown family and for michael brown himself. the right signals have to be sent out. things happen to unarmed african-american teenagers, we will not stand

idly by. this is not the first time. we were in cleveland, ohio less than 10 years ago because a 14 year old kid was shot in the back by a police officer as he ran in the other direction. what happened then? there were no changes. have aommunity should police accountability review board that has real power of subpoena and the power of independence and re-and that resources. the police are not investigating themselves. pass to and racial profiling. haveessman conyers

introduced this piece of legislation. to policef funds departments when they miss behave themselves. not one dollar to misbehaving police departments. [applause] we have to pass the law enforcement trust and integrity act. here is the question. if you are going to determine that some police officers are you firstorce, don't have to find what the acceptable use of force is? question be, if you have an unarmed teenager shot to death in the streets non-on what happens to the deadly uses of force? what happens to the baton. what happened to blazers and tazers and -- billy clubs?

a full agenda to move forward. i want to pass out to everyone, all the pieces of legislation we believe need to be passed by the u.s. congress to begin fixing this problem. tominating the incentive continue to do the same things over and over again in the same way and expect a different result. [applause] you are also an active person on capitol hill. your organization is well recognized and respected in the legislative chambers. what heyour take on just said? >> yes! -- wee is that the reform know what this congress is about. , you of all, everyone

should have circled, almost engraved in your four head, november 4, 2014. that is election day. every single member of congress will be up for election. every single one. in 2010, during the last midterm election, 25 million people in 2008 and did not turn out. the average person was elected less than 2000 votes. and do our job, we will have a better congress because every piece of legislation that comes about without us.ingless while we are waiting to get the best congress, i'm going to tell

everyone that the department of guidance that has not been reissued since 2003 on racial profiling. 2003. that becausedate it's the one that sets the same words for what is racial profiling by police. it's the guidance that the that determines who gets money from the department of defense and homeland security. all of that comes under the guidance. yet, we have not demanded that update thattration guidance. that has to happen. secondly, the department of justice has been called upon by the legal defense fund. we join them in saying that they need to publish and collect data

on every police department that is out here shooting and killing kids. to publish that data and they need to stop giving them any money. the abuse is happening through that action. we are saying that there is a lot that can be done by executive order, by guidance, by practice and by funding. don't underestimate the amount of money that police forces get from the department of defense or the federal government. you guys probably know that november, ago, in the swat team invaded my own home and held my family at gunpoint for three hours, threatening to kill us. warrant,duced a

threatened to batter down my to the pressied about what they have done afterwards, still lying. they came in my house and they made ferguson look like chumps. they had every kind of right here on. gear on. every kind of rifle, every kind of shield. they threatened to kill every one of my family members, including me and my 80-year-old mother. maryland accounts for more swat team action than any other state. thated to be very clear when i started telling people about this, they thought i was lying. they thought i was exaggerating. they said this doesn't happen in america.

now we see it. that we bemportant very clear that this can be stopped. they can stop giving the military equipment and stop having these police forces have all these swat teams running around thinking they are in iraq or afghanistan in prince george's county. we have to unite and make the change. thank you. you are a senior analyst at the open society foundation. which has been doing excellent number for a number of years in trying to stop the war on drugs. you have been involved in this campaign your self. i would like to draw the parallels between the war on drugs and the militarization of the police forces across the country. it has been said that the reason

the department of justice, homeland security and the department of defense have been sending military committee fight theces is to war on drugs and counter terrorism. can you comment on that relationship? >> thank you very much. realize this not -- since 1995, the pentagon has $5.1 billion in surplus military equipment to u.s. police. i wanted to give a little background of the context of the terms in which this happened. this happened in the wake of the crime buildup of 1994. the same crime bill that sought the biggest expansion of the death penalty. the biggest proliferation of mandatory minimum sentencing. charging 13-year-olds as adults.

incentives to build more prisons to lock more people up for longer periods of time. part of the war on drugs. this was the backdrop of the militarization of the u.s. domestic police force. they came down and knocked down her door. we are talking about armored tanks. mine resistant vehicles. we have officers in ferguson running around in camouflage. why do they need camouflage in the inner-city? they have these huge toys collecting dust in the warehouse is, so they took any excuse to bring these weapons of mass destruction out. they have used the war on drugs and terrorism as an excuse and can star these things

people. if there are measures in congress right now, they are speaking about measures to limit the use of military style equipment and the mystic police forces. we need to look at this. this is not just coming from progressive spirit we have conservatives. we have senator rand paul speaking out as well. this is very important and my time is up. but there is a definite connection. they are all related and we need to make sure we connect the dots. [applause] >> thank you. passionate young hip-hop activist. tell me how the hip-hop artistic community has responded to ferguson and what are they going to keep the memory of ferguson alive within the artistic community.

, the word wasknow spread through social media. the word was spread by the young thate in ferguson witnessed what happened to mike brown and took pictures of it and put it out. they began to organize and social media. when it began, hip-hop artists stepped in. had a show in st. louis the next day and he said he wanted to cancel the show or have everybody to donate the money to the family. he wasn't able to convince everybody to do that, but he put a mike brown shirt on. you had j cole make a song about it. go down to ferguson. he just went to speak to the community. went with david banner,

the people were so happy to see an because not only is he actor and hip-hop artist as well, but he was defending the community on twitter and cnn. want ald, we didn't sharpton or jesse jackson to come down. we wanted you to come down because of how he was representing the community. there have been a lot of people who have used hip-hop to raise awareness about the issue. john legend was on twitter. there has also been quite or silence from some of the biggest hip-hop artists right now. silence from a lot of these co-opt black that culture to make millions of dollars and when something happens to the black community, they don't say anything.

we need to be mindful of that. if you are not going to speak to , wehen we need your voice are not going to support you. [applause] >> all right. thank you. we are trying to get danny glover on the line here. denny, can you hear us? we are going to have to keep it down so we can hear danny. this is the only way we are going to get him to participate. on.y, hold go ahead.

ar it?u guys her no. this is up to the max. tried again, danny. danny.it again, hold on one second. we are going to try to solve this technical problem. sisters and brothers, bear with us. danny glover is in utah as we speak and is taking a quick timeout from filming to call in today. they're going to try to hook him up. in the meantime, why don't we do another house keeping matter?

that have beens circulating, please, instead of giving them to -- on your way out, there are baskets at the door. please fill out the yellow cards and put them into the baskets. we are encouraging everybody to tweak the event live. handsup. tothe meantime, i would like take this pause to recognize a number of specially invited guests and community leaders and religious leaders in the d.c. area. event live. please stand and be recognized as i call your name. evans isdr. joseph

here with us. [applause] attorney jocelyn mccurdy in the house. [applause] fo.ther salim adol [applause] [indiscernible] do we have him now? >> hello? >> can we get danny on now? >> hello? >> terrific. your online. -- you are on life. >> thank you, everyone.

all, you can hear me, i --t wanted to first of all to have the opportunity to listen to the program. first of all, my condolences to the family and the community itself in ferguson. i know how important it is. unfortunately, i cannot be with you today. as you talk about ferguson and -- as the information becomes available to us, information about the town, information we have gotten over this time, hopefully that brings us to a clear picture of the

work we have to do. unless wedo the work historically,t, the significance of this moment. culture in the history of racial violence in -- we can't car payment allies -- we can't compartmentalized things. these incidents without their historical factors. the police are the primary force who act as agents for the state. is to havensibility

some sort of social control. understand that they also -- they use it to stay in control. michelle expresses that in her book. how they maintain control. she outlines the history of control. we have to understand the control.f this

the control they exercise is because of the potential of those people. we know the black panther party was organized based on community control of the police in self-defense. it was organized around education and health care. we witnessed that. a young man murdered by chicago police.

we should not only put the resources to educate and employ our young men -- we have to understand that role. how they sustain that stress. that is why we are here today. we are here to use this moment as an expression of outrage and moral condemnation. the attorney journal has said there is a distinct pattern. if we don't understand the and howal connection they find themselves resonating in the 21st century, we live under these conditions we live poverty. is endemic

people in the school systems were not able to afford to allow our children to grow. we have opportunities available to us. we see this constant threat and fear in our community. that is what we have to deal with. .nderstand that as we move across the country, we have this opportunity, this unique opportunity to use this to mobilize ourselves. what should the police force look like? we have to be the architects and design the narrative. in the presentation of that narrative. it is more than just right in front of us.

we have to take it case after case an understanding it is important for us to move forward . i'm sorry i cannot be with you. i know there will be millions in this discussion. thank you very much. [applause] we want to say a special thanks to brother danny glover for taking time out of his work schedule in utah on set. we were in the middle of recognizing some of the community leaders who have joined us this evening. abduld like to recognize mohammed of the nation of islam [applause] .

brother cory stewart for the network of returning citizens. brother tyrone parker of the alliance of concerned men. [applause] dr. pat newton of the black psychiatrists of america. [applause] brother malika burnett of the drug policy alliance. [applause] brother layton watson from the howard university student association. [applause] sister dr. marcia coleman. [applause] you also have carol schwartz, a candidate for d.c. with us this evening. [applause]

and we have several members of the color of change organization in the house. they have asked me to make this very important announcement. , color of change in their allies will have 900,000 petition signatures demanding justice for michael brown. they're calling on president obama to define his legacy by putting policies in place aimed at ending racial profiling and racially motivated police pilots. they are inviting all of us to the white front of house, of course. adjacent to lafayette square tomorrow at 5:00. excellent. we also have a special guest in the house.

reverend dr. john mendez and reverend dr. brooks. [applause] the progressive black baptists convention. sisters and brothers, we are going to be getting back to the panel. we want to wrap things up here with final wrapup statements from each of the panelists. and then we are going to invite some members of our special guests to be respondents to what the panelists have said. very brief comments of their own. from the to start opposite direction at this time. youru are ready to give concluding remarks. i will ask the panelists to please a focus on recommendations. action items. what is to be done in the days and weeks ahead.

>> thank you very much. , the system to be just public must be confident that at every stage in the process of the initial investigation of a crime by the police officer, for the prosecution and punishment isthe crime that individual in like circumstances are treated alike. today, our criminal justice system strays far from that ideal. we have to look at the recommendations of the unified civil rights organizations. i want to point out the use of cameras. body cam cameras. so we don't have to rely on individual people out there on the streets with their iphones. it should be part of the police department. i would like to think the institute and the other sponsoring organizations.

-- providing this be a cold this vehicle. [applause] >> thank you. >> i would like to thank the institute of the black world also. movement, there should iesa strategy that communit begin to organize themselves. i met with darrell ackerson. he is involved in a process where they are organizing, they have done their homework, the statistical work, what the police do and don't do. they are organizing this community to back the police out of their community. to take control of the public safety issues and concerns that affect their communities.

we did that a long time ago and we can do that again. it gives us the control of the --d of things [indiscernible]

[applause] darrell and i are organizing our community. communitiesting our

. police,when we call the they can concentrate on doing their jobs and not devastating our communities. table.to put that on the if you want to do this, we have to have something -- thank you. [applause] >> i want to let the audience someone takinge notes of the recommendations. [indiscernible]

>> the conversations we had about the racial divide in the -- one of the issues young people have not dealt with is when black power came and they fought with their elders, they left -- they could be 20 euros old or younger. -- 20 years old or younger. they turn on the tv and they are being diminished the role of -- they need to hear these and here you challenge

these other elders that are constantly evaluating the resistance struggle they showed us. secondly, let's support these young leaders. there are young leaders on the .round third th they are united. there's hands up united.org. black youth projects. let's support these -- they need lawyers and medics and resources and money. some of these on leaders quit their jobs. they quit their jobs. one dude just got out of jail after being arrested for three days and went right back to work. their strategizing. let's support them. let's not try to go down there and -- i was sent to ferguson.

i was sent to ferguson by an organization. met with 40-50 hip-hop artists last year to give us guidance and direction, to help us begin to use our arc to talk about issues like mass incarceration, pilots and our community, pilots against women -- violence in our community and violence against women. he is using his wisdom to guide and direct us. he's guiding and directing us to use our arc to raise the confidence of our community. support the young leaders on the ground. guide us and directness and back us and we will win this thing. -- last thing i want to say black people, we have the god-given right to defend ourselves. when i put my hands up, i put my hands up like this. best believe it.

>> yes! a couple of things, my brothers and sisters. vote!of all, again, the phone be on calling every single person you know and every state you know making sure they vote. voter turnout.% 67% black. one black city council. white saying how -- the mayor is white saying how his city has no racial problem. everything is an example of the need for us to fight back. fight back with what we've got.

fight back with our economic power. it's very important. i saw that special many people saw last night. i tweeted the following. that byot think preaching a gospel of personal responsibility that you can solve systemic structural racism problems. you can't third [applause] -- you can't. as we take on the police, there are problems with the school system in ferguson. as we take on the police, there are problems with unemployment in ferguson. ,s we take on all these issues they are all related, my sisters and brothers. systemic, structural racism has

to be dismantled before justice will ever prevail. we have to understand that nobody is safe. it doesn't matter what your title. it doesn't matter what your compliment. -- your compliment. going forward, every single one of us, let's make the following .ledge we are in this to win. we are not in this for the moment. we will make sure we do something. don't think you can change this from sleeping and wishing. it has to be movement and unity. join the movement and make sure that you work for these recommendations. get the unity statement. ommittee.org and get the unity statement. follow me and all of these great leaders on twitter.

we are dropping knowledge constantly about everything. , "this i want you to say is my plan." my plan to michael brown senior. the same pledge i made to -- , whenhe cameras are gone people are not seeking interviews anymore, i will be there. i will have the back of the people in ferguson who have in put in jail. backs becauseeir this is not about them. it's about us.

sleep as long as these injustices are taking place. monthtrial starts -- next , the trial starts for the police officer who shot and chicago -- thein sister in chicago who was innocent. these are the people we have to be here for. let's not forget every community where there is a need, that we are their voices and that we are making the change. i know i will. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you for bringing this all together. to have the kind of conversation

we have to have as a family. it is clearly time for a new paradigm. a time for a new paradigm. it's a new reality and new expectations we have under the circumstances we are living. we need to describe all of these victims of gun violence at the hands of police officers. all of these victims of death. yet, we keep coming back and having the same conversation over and over again. i remember having this -- an african american standing in the building in new york city. shot over 20 times. all he had in his hands was his car keys. as we talk about what happened with michael brown, it's a new set of expectations and new rules of engagement. theust change the law from bottom up. as a local community, we have to talk about how we screen or do

not screen those who -- we have to many cowboys with police guns and police cruisers. we have to make sure we have the protections in place. video cameras at every step. yes, there is a video camera for a gun called a gun cam. from the time you take the gun out of your holster, it begins recording everything in front of your gun. we need police gun cams and body cams. make sure we see what you are doing. you have rights of the people don't have, including the right to kill. we have to make sure those rights are being observed and we have to monitor what you are doing. we need body cams. we need -- cams in police cruisers. when the car pulls up, it monitors the police from that

site as well. -- we need dash cams. we need an independent review board. we have to make sure when the board brutality finds there is a problem, they don't have to ask permission to move forward. promote all charges can be brought. we need a police accountability review board. we have to pass the end racial profiling act to make clear what racial profiling is. that it's illegal and you will be punished and kicked off your police department. we have to pass the end racial profiling act. we have to be clear on what the accessible use of force -- acceptable use of force is. with a call into account the law legal and what is

illegal for police to do. we should hold everybody accountable. the issue was raised about the number of people that have been killed at the hands of law enforcement officials and how there is no central manner in which to collect that data. that has to end. we know what the strategy is and what the reality is in order to manage a problem. you must first measure it. officerme a police kills someone or anyone working in an official law enforcement capacity, that data must be collected. the death and custody act passed the west house of representatives -- the u.s. house of representatives. we must pass that bill before the u.s. senate. we must not allow them to go home until we have the most basic of tools to collect the data. there are two websites i want you to look at.

one of them is the naacp's website. the website address is naa cp.org. make sure all that data -- finally, here locally, there is a great process going on now. a process in which we are kind to collect the data close to home. oliceproject.com. you can begin collecting that data and making sure that as this moves toward, not only likeu show up at programs this one, but you are engaged at every step of the process. it is not a spectator sport. it is always driven by us. thank you very much. [applause]

>> sisters and brothers, let's give a warm applause to thank our panelists for a wonderful presentation this evening. [applause] when we have instituted the to putorld and decided this form together, we wanted to make it a town hall meeting and give an opportunity for not only these panelists, but for others to be heard. we are asking several of our special guests to come forward and make very soon sink -- 16 to ccinct remarks . i will call on leighton watson.

if you can come up to this mike righxc right here. guest: good evening. bodyhe student representative at howard university. theou can't tell by heads-up picture or the vigil be hosted or by this friday when howard goes down to ferguson howard descendents, university stance by michael brown in the city of ferguson. that is very clear. at thery impressed number of great ideas. [applause] my thing is, the discussion

is one portion. we have to have a second part to this discussion. where we talk about how to merge our individual efforts into one collective effort. that is the second half of this conversation. i know my students, what we are doing on september 17, we have invited all to our university's campus. we are going to have students do sessions and then go to capitol hill to lobby on voter registration, voting rights and gun violence. [applause] the one thing i think about every time that we go through -- theythat the enemy are counting on the fact that we can't take the next step. they are counting on the fact that we can't sustain this effort. they are counting on the fact that we can't get over our

and comel egos together and make something happen h. very real with ourselves. we are 13% of the population. we don't have room for division. we don't have the luxury that individual separate efforts. i thank you guys for this conversation, but there is definitely a part to and know that howard university will be part of that part to -- part two. >> thank you very much. i will call now on dr. pat newton. can you make it appear -- make it up here? thank dr. daniels.

psychiatrists sit on the vanguard of the immediate and long-term healing. there are damages that are going to be well into centuries after this verdict. , we have to beet in this for the long haul. unless the congress believes that police should be screened before they are ever hired and they have to have training that includes cultural sensitivity and cultural diverse the, not just a psychological test -- not just aversity, psychological test. we have to put men and women behind that badge tool service ell in terms of etiquette and compassion and caring for our people. we want to recommend that our relationship is not over because we have posttraumatic and acute

dramatic stress as a result of what has happened. these children are going to be damaged for centuries. we just got the data about how trauma affects people into future generations. we are looking at talking about civil issues related to not just the criminal side, but what you are going to do to defend and bring community effort and money and economic resources from both the federal and state level to make sure that they get treated. we want to partner with the black police association to make sure that we develop the kind of tools that are needed to save our people. [applause] you, dr. pat newton. let me say quickly that the black psychiatrists of america are one of 23 national organizations that comprise the black family summit.

grouping that ibw has put together. for more information, please ibw21.org.ebsite, i will now call on salima and also of united black front. -- salima adolfo. >> black power. this is an issue of reparation. another reason that people of black dissent are owed reparations. justice will take place in the street and the voter booth. we are going to 8th street to shut down 8th street. if there is justice, they won't have no damn economic piece. last week, we shut down chinatown. this week, saturday, we're going to meet at 8th street.

if we can't get no justice, there will be no economic piece. of the unitedfo black front. i want to bring forth the drug policy alliance. [applause] thank you so much for having me. i'm a medical doctor and a policy manager here. the nation's leading drug policy organization. , wanted to offer something and idea to think outside the box. >> we will leave this town hall on the ferguson, missouri protest heard it will air tonight at 10:15 on c-span. is at leastat there one aspect of the president's

news conference yesterday that attracted attention. i thought i would go over one .spect the president stands squarely behind the decision he made his summero wear suit at the news conference. the thursday before labor day, he feels pretty good about it. [laughter] with that bit of frivolity out of the way -- >> why aren't you wearing one? >> i contemplated it. it felt like it might be too much. --the united states the can confirm that british government has raised the mystic threat level from substantial to severe. the senior white house officials and other national security officials have been in touch with their british counterparts about this.

i refer you to the british for the explanation about why they have made this determination in terms of their own terror threat level. they --erstand that generally speaking, it's related to the threat of foreign fighters that have western passports. they have british passports and they are fighting alongside isil in syria. this threat to the united states has been focused on, we have been coordinating closely with our allies in europe about countering the threat and mitigating it. we have been doing that by cooperating through law enforcement channels, national security channels and intelligence channels as well. as it relates to the united states national terror alert system, i do not anticipate that there are lands to change that level -- plans to change that level. that is determined by the department of homeland security. it is my understanding right now that there are no plans to change it. >> does the administration

believe that they currently pose a threat to those here in the nine states? >> there is concern that we have articulated. -- here in the united states. for a number of months now, we have been monitoring those individuals who have western who are citizens of western countries who have made the decision to travel to syria, take up arms alongside isil. they pose a threat because they are receiving military training and are now battle hardened and they have demonstrated a willingness to risk their lives for their cause. those individuals have western passports and that gives them some premium of movement that could allow them to come back to carry out actual violence. that is why the united states in conjunction with our partners,

other allied countries of ours, have been monitoring the situation and have been tracking or monitoring the movements of these individuals. interpol is involved in this effort. there are countries in the region that have been supportive of the efforts of united states and our allies to monitor the situation. the united states is always making adjustments to counterterrorism measures. some of those measures are seen and some are unseen. we talk about this when it comes to aviation security. it is true that, as it relates other aspects of our nation's homeland security system. this is a threat we are monitoring and have been focused on quite some time. it's been the focus of intensive cicadas -- intensive discussion with governments in the region and around the world. >> can you explain why the change to his travel plans today?

does it have anything to do with this terror threat? >> it is not specifically related to any sort of assessment or change in the terror threat that is currently emanating from that region of the world. the us is an opportunity for the president, he decided to make an back to the white house and sleep in his own bed. then travel back to new york tomorrow evening to attend a private event. >> does he plan to meet with his advisers? any specificnow of meanings. if there are meetings to take place, we would tell you about them. madee president yesterday the signal that he is nowhere near the decision on airstrikes in syria. and is not convinced it's a good thing to do. >> the president was pretty determinedat he is

to make sure that every element of his national security strategy is thought through. the strategy he has laid out is multifaceted and includes a lot of work with the iraqi government. workcludes some military separate from active kinetic strikes. military work focused on offering support to the kurdish and iraqi security forces. there are important military to military relationships there. once that we are going to continue to cultivate. -- one that we are going to continue to cultivate. it's an important component of this strategy. the president has authorized military action in syria -- in iraq. have military actions produced some positive results. in the last few weeks, because of american military action, we

averted a humanitarian disaster. because of military action and support of kurdish and iraqi security forces, we were able to erbilthe rapid advance in aired ther. there are american citizens working in erbil. there is important work done by the nested military to conduct strikes in support of iraq he and kurdish security forces to dam.e the mosul the president has already demonstrated a willingness to order military action and strikes in iraq. those were part of a thought through strategy in terms of saving american citizens in iraq. the president wants to be rigorous as we think through other aspects of our strategy

that could include military action. there are some who have called for the president to take action or order military action in syria. plansntagon is developing or military options for the president to consider. at this point, the president has not made any decision or has not ordered any military action in syria. if he does take that step, it will be one that is carefully considered, one that is imed and one and that will be made in called station with united states congress. >> what kind of timeframe? >> i would not speculate about timeframe at this point. the president will -- >> on the immigration order they thinking

about delaying it for a while because you don't want to impact the discussions that could trigger a government shutdown? >> i don't have an update in terms of timing. you saw the president cost commitment -- president's commitment to address the problems in the broken immigration system. that would have addressed so many problems in a way that would have had benefits. we have seen republicans in the house engage in a strategy to lock that legislation from coming up for a vote. the president is disappointed that house republicans have pursued that strategy, and that is why the president has resolved to use as much authority within the law to solve this problem on his own.