this friday, the bureau of labor statistics reports the u.s. jobs market added 255,000 jobs, leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.9%. and the associated press pointed out that average hourly pay is 2.6% higher than a year ago, matching the fastest pace since the recession. interestbility of an rate hike is increased, according to one report. hillary clinton speaks to the national association of black journalists and the national association of historic journalists today pay we expect her remarks around noon. and donald trump is campaigning in wisconsin. you can watch the rally tonight at 8:00 eastern here on c-span.

weekend, our road to the white house coverage takes you to the green party political -- green party convention in houston. tv except in -- see the expert vince -- see the acceptance the nominees for president and vice president. a look now at what is being called the new american majority. here a group of strategists encourage progressives to run for office. it was part of the annual netroots nation conference in st. louis. it is about one hour 15 minutes. good afternoon. good afternoon, everyone. thank you for joining us today at netroots nation, new politics

of the new american majority. we have such an amazing panel of experts in conversation coming up today. there are two things we need to think about in the middle of this important election year. we have a presidential campaign nextis being settled with week being the republican national convention and the week following the democratic national convention. we have a senate campaign that will determine whether the control inill wrest the senate. we have so much at stake. what we found is that our politics need to evolve. that our political system -- how campaigns are run, who are the prime voters, what are the issues, what do we talk about and how did we talk to voters. how do we strategize to win as a progressive movement. all of those things are directly influenced by how dramatically

our demographics have changed. and the fact that, i literally speaking -- and we saw that in the book "brown is the new white" by steve phillips -- that we actually have the numbers to win. we have the electoral majority, comprised of those who reelected president obama in 2012. and those who continue to move the united states into a country that is majority people of colored. that is the reality in seven states and will be the reality, in just a couple of decades, across the country. this new american majority, this progressive elect oral majority, will need new strategies in electoral majority will need new strategy oies. theyed to make sure that reflect the hopes and visions of

those who are the majority in this country. so this session is about a new kind of politics that goes deep into how we run our political system and our vision of who should be involved and who should be the center, not only in democratic party politics, by and the vision for the party's future. i am thrilled to have a panel of national experts in the new politics for a new american majority here. first, i am aimee allison, senior vice president of our -- of power pac plus, an organization, pac, that promotes the new american majority recentlyly and has released "democracy in color," a multimedia platform as the voice of the new american majority. we have a log, a podcast. the idea is to examine these kinds of issues.

today, the recording will be on a future "democracy in color" podcast, as well as your questions. we will spend about one hour in conversation, and then we will invite your questions, coming up. to introduce our panel, first i want to introduce the president of new american leaders project, then you -- the only musician -- the only organization in the country dedicated to the political process. please welcome sayu bhojwani. chuck rocha is president of solidarity, the largest person of colored political consulting firm in the country. joining us.ck for and carol mcdonald, senior strategist with 76 words, a

democratic media firm owned by women and people of colored. thank you for joining us. this -- i like to do would like each one of our esteemed panelists to talk with us a couple of moments. together in come conversation. looking forward to the conversation. let's begin with chuck. you, and thank you for not staying in your lunch long and coming here. i will talk about probably one of the most important issues to meet, personally. a man of caller who has worked in campaigns 25 years. my first election was in 1994. i will not tell my age -- i shaved all of my hair off. my first election was and richards. as you can tell, i am not from st. louis or washington, d.c.

i am from texas, hence why i speak like an old white man. but a person of colored sounding like an old white man is the new american majority. what is the new american majority? who is this rising american electorate? we are a young people. people of caller. multi lots of different generational, multiethnic. we are who america talks about, but our politicians do not talk to. this slide should show you the faces, when i was thinking about the new american majority. it was these phases, and these these for a reason -- faces, and these faces for a reason. formere all current or employees of mine. hiredrity strategies have 60 people or so recently, and 50

of those were people of caller. when we put staff together, we wanted it to reflect america. louise who was born in mexico. roberto, my vice president, now a managing director at a woman of color pr-firm. even kira, former miss america, whose family is from russia. kwami, whose families from africa and came as a refugee. the latino vote director for hillary clinton. what do you get when you work with people with like mindedness as you own. -- as your own? you can get inspired, share your ideas. my staff ring mean you ideas every day.

i learned the way the modern new young person of caller -- person of color thinks about politics. solidarity strategies was actually behind bernie sanders -- one of them. bernie sanders spent more money on people of caller then anybody in the history of presidential primary elections. hired more people on firms to do any consulting than anybody in the history of president and primary elections. my firm was the biggest recipient of that. he did not hire solidarity so -- solidarity strategies to talk to other brown folks or other folks like myself. we got to sit at the table. when you put us in charge of hiring, guess who we hire? more folks like us. as amakes us better campaign.

some of the tactics we will talk about in how bernie sanders did as well as he did with people under 35, including people of color -- how did a white man from vermont, a self-avowed socialist, win people under 35? why was he winning these people? because we targeted them and were talking to these people. let's take one state where everyone signed up on a website, if they loved bernie sanders in oregon or texas. let's talk texas. red-ish state of red. had signedd people up on the bernie sanders website in just texas by january of this year. we took all of those names, addresses, and phone numbers and created models of people who are likely bernie sanders supporters. guess what model they did not fit in?

they do not fit in your campaign in a box. the reason our new american majority gets overlooked is that they may not be the prime voter. they may not fit in the box of who the persuadable voter should be. brown, ore black, or asian. sanders did not operate his campaign that way. one reason was he would not win the primary with regular democratic voters. he had to expand his universe, and but he did it this way. mostly, they expand into suburban housewives, folks who are marginalized. about thattalk strategy. lastly, nontraditional approach where thousands of new registrants in four months. 121,000n, there were

new registers. orlandoda nine, the area, i polled that there were 13,000 latinos who had some voting history. but because i am running the campaign, i said let's check how many new people of color have registered there in the last six months because of the presidential primary, whether hillary or bernie -- 8500 people of color, in just this c.d. no one will ever target those people because they have never voted. we are. i will send mail. paid.s how daddy gets we will send mail. we will also call & digital advertising, to see if they are interested in a young state darren by the name of soto. when we are in charge of doing

this, at every level, we think outside of the box. what we will talk about is that change. and i will turn it over to the next people, and we will talk about some of the strategies and how you put them into of that. the last slide we talked about was some of the digital and mail and peer-to-peer hiring campaigns -- strategies we have. thank you. [applause] aimee: carol mcdonald. >> yeah, carol. carol: oh hey, hey, i brought my fan club. let me take a few minutes to switch my power slide -- my powerpoint slides. how are we doing? all right. i am from the south, so that is very important.

here.cticed before we got that's fine. promptsntation has my and a cute picture of my daughter, because i always say when i come to things like netroots, i always feel like i am in a room of experts. so when my presentation goes sideways, i always turn to the picture of my girl because it is a good way to deflect. i am carol mcdonald. i work at a firm called 76 words. one of the things i want to piggyback off of what chuck mentioned is we are a firm owned by women and people of color. there are four of us. me, and african-american women, a latino women, and a latino man, and one white guy, just a keep on measure. there are few media firms that look like us.

staff and interns are all young people of color. what that does for us is changes the way we had that conversation. it changes the way we think about our clients and how we represent them, both our clients of color and our -- and those not of color. one of the things i noticed in spaces -- when i am in spaces willnetroots, though i give this organization credit of being deliberate about diversifying participants and presenters in the conference -- but i have been doing politics and political work 20 years now you. -- 20 years now. you go to places like america recently at a campaigns and elections conference where i was asked to speak on this topic.

it a lot of what i hear from fellow consultants -- and this will be a loving calling in of our community and people who do this work -- is that you have a lot of white consultants, particularly who are in messaging and media, like i am, and they talked about how they take their general message they have developed for whatever campaign and how to adapt it to communities of color. to a latinoubt audience, to a younger audience? as we have talked about before, if the demographics of our country is shifting, and the demographics of voters are becoming more black and brown and young, why are they the side audience and why do we not treat them like the main audience? when you treat them as a primary audience, then everything has to shift. everything has to look different than what it does now. we have gone to the point where we are at a tipping point and we

can no longer consider black and brown and young voters secondary. non-traditional approaches and take deeper into the voter profile and stop looking for those voters who have voted consistently in the last three or four elections and look at new registrants, it changes the picture completely. i really wanted to show -- what i do is messaging and media. what i have an example of is how does the product differ? when voices of color and women and young folks and unmarried folks and those of us in dontraditional landed -- blende families, when we are at the decision table, what are the differences? othere some of our speakers have gone, i will try to figure this out. because the interactive part of this exercise is how to look at

us and help us illuminate and point out what the differences are. an amazing clip i want to share with you. mic,efore i let go of the i want to acknowledge one of our clients in the room. shara jones. she is the city treasurer in st. louis and is running for reelection. am thrilled our firm will help her in that effort. aura'se need are more tish in the world. moving away from the electorate and those of us running for office. she has been a tremendous asset to the city of st. louis. and as a black woman brings a different perspective to the politics, one very much needed. we are thrilled to support buildings like her and at a deep practice of supporting women of color, particularly

electedlan, as a seek office. let's snap for that. i will turn this over to my fellow panelists and then try to find a way to make this work. aimee: all right, thank you. sayu, sayu bhojwani. sayu: i have my own show and tell. thee's three alum from project here today. they did not know they were going to be called out, but i will call them out. --sica rubio, ernesto [applause]

ballot fromm on the arizona and orange county. i am sayu bhojwani, founder of new american leaders project. i want to tell about what we do. the thought is i am doing the long view, but actually, we have 30 people on the ballot, mostly in arizona and orange county, the core areas we have been working in. in the, when we are middle of another exciting presidential election, i was sitting around the table in d.c. with immigrant rights advocates. upwere beating ourselves about what had gone wrong in 2006 and 2007 and how we would in that with a new president the first year and first term of -- ifent -- then president obama won. here we are eight years later

with no immigration reform. at the time, i realized we were constantly waving ourselves when it was not the immigrant rights community that where the problem. it was that people in office. we needed to change who was in congress but who was in office at the local and state level to build the pipeline to congress. so we train people to run the office -- for office because they are deeply connected to their communities, understand the experiences of their communities, and can win campaigns and govern in ways more responsive to immigrants and people of color. there are three strategies central to the way we do our work. immigrantso not see as an outreach strategy. we see immigrants -- anyone who identifies with that experience -- as core and central to the work we do. is toy we do that work

conduct our campaign training in a way that was designed with this population. not here is campaign training, here is how we have always done it, and now let's get more diversity. inclusion,y is about one where you can talk about your experience in a way that can expect -- can reach voters of all backgrounds. you can talk about targeting in a way that is not just about prime voters but is also about new voters. and you can fun race, even in communities portrayed as low income and as takers, not makers. you can create opportunities for those folks to make sure they feel like part of american democracy. we are really doing campaign training in a different way that is designed with the immigrant community front and center as the key linchpins of changing the way democracy works here.

that is the first thing. not seeing immigrants as an outreach shortage it, where you plop down an existing program. we reframe the conversation around policymaking as not just how you create a policy and then go and translate it or figure out how to get out to immigrant communities and tell them about that policy. we are creating policy that is now much -- that can be more cognizant of who america truly is. 30th percent of the country are people -- 38% of the country are people of color now. when you talk about policymaking in america, you cannot talk about policy in an old rain and then say let's go get it out to latinos and asian americans and african americans. policy in adesign different way. and the third thing is to put the public back in public service.

although that sounds like a sound bite, it is really a critical component of how we train and support people who run for office. one of the things we heard over and over from people is "i got a lot of support when running for office, and then i got put into office, and people were like by, we will check in with you and make sure you pass all of the policy we want you to pass" -- but that is not how it works. politics is politics for a reason. you have to learn how to play the game at a certain level. part of our job is not just to train people to run for office but also to support them when they get into office. help them remember and understand what it means to be a movement builder once you are an elected official. we want them to keep those values in office. like continuing to engage your constituency. continuing to create a feedback

loop. kind of a constituent relations officer. add a very local level, you were responding to every day constituent needs at understanding what they need from you as a policy maker. for the purposes of emphasis, i want to share that i said 38% of the country are people of color -- only 14% of state legislators are people of color. we have a big gap. inis actually a smaller gap congress. but i think all of you in this room, and certainly those of us on the panel, believe state and local is where the action is. is last point i will make that there is not a single state legislature today that has a proportionate number of asian and latinos proportionate to its population.

not one. not even california. not even hawaii. not even new mexico. those estates i mentioned because they have a high proportion of latinos, for example, in new mexico. in terms of being commensurate with the population, there is not a single state. we have a long way to go just to catch up, never mind be ready for 2020. we all know it is not just about numbers and faces. it is also about the need and responsiveness to our communities. the journey is not just about getting diversity, but about creating a more inclusive conversation, both about representation and about policymaking. thank you. [applause] i have so many questions. i want to start with the new politics part of this

conversation, and i want to invite everyone here on the panel to begin the conversation. so if you just jump in. i am from a big family, so feel free to do that. i want to start with some of the comments -- all of you suggested that we have a political system that is broke and that is not really addressing and engaging the new american majority. what is your assessment about that? the things on the top of your list, the things that are really damaging in terms of holding and engaging this electorate and what you would do to fix it? sayu: you want me to go first? aimee: go whenever you want to go. sayu: many things drive me crazy, but i am concerned that the progressive movement has not invested in the long term and is still, frankly, not interested pipeline.ng long-term

you throw a fundraiser for a congressional candidate and lots .f people star-fucking, if you'll excuse my term -- that except -- that obsession with the person at the top of the ticket extends beyond the presidential. -- in excited about the 2014, there were three or four major races latinas, and none won. it was really be long-term investment and we are not interested in it. aimee: is there on your list? carol: absolutely. one of the things that drive me crazy. we have known for decades -- we said this time and again that

voters incolor, black particular, have a history of being taken for granted. the assumption is that may be the candidate on the other side is so terrible that it automatically becomes the motivator for turnout. that is not true. saw the otherl day that apparently tromp has 0% support in ohio and pennsylvania. so folks on this site are saying that is great. love that does not mean those black voters in those states will turn out for the democratic candidate. point goes back to sayu's about long-term investment. it is not just lacking on the pipeline side, it is lacking everywhere. so every single cycle -- and i have been doing this work decades -- we talk about the need for long-term investment in communities of color, talk about

the turnout. and here we are in july, still. i work with a lot of the organizations that are already here and existing and in place that work on doing political work in communities of color. and if they are still underfunded in july of a presidential year. like what the fuck? should not start building the show now, we certain have started in july of last year. why are these organizations -- why are we not making it rain on them? these are the folks who have the relationship, who are in communities. it takes time to scale up. that is what we need to turn folks out. when you compare the left to the

right, we understand there is a significant funding gap. the right, generally, has the capacity to raise more money than we do. so we rely on people power. that takes time and investment, and that is not something you can turn on a dime. learned black women in 2012 where the demographic, more than any other race or gender with the highest voter turnout, upon which president obama's reelection changed, and the democrats are absolutely dependent on black women in particular to turn out in large numbers. the fact that groups like higher heights, who focus on engaging black woman as candidates, are underfunded is not logical. chuck, what is on your list? chuck: we can be there all day

if you want to go through the rocha list. the highlights will be what drives me crazy. what drives me crazy is a media consultant translating an english into spanish and that being their latino program. it drives me crazy that more young kids of color cannot afford to take an unpaid internship to try to make connections in washington. [applause] chuck: it drives me crazy to industrialthe elite political class in washington think that donald trump being on the ballot will turn out people of color. it drives me crazy to think about the industrial complex of political consultants, who should he in this room, listening to fascinating ideas, chair.ple demanding a

there are certain people at the tip of this spear. crazy assg before my that set the path. we all have skin in the game. we were all raised by a mom and a dad, or 2 moms or 2 dads. they love you whoever you are. that should be reflected in our politics. the reason you see -- you do not see people go for african-american woman is that 99% of them are afraid of them. whove had good sisters taught me well. but unlike most political consultants, i can be taught. that is what we have to do. put passion back in our politics. we let donald trump win some of the war is he makes it simple. thane can get more simple this redneck from east texas. we need to put passion back in

our politics. and make sure it is part of everything we do. that is the core of what makes me most mad. aimee: i want to -- yes. carol: i want to put a finer point on what chuck said. it astonishes me to this day that we treat people of color -- like talking to people of color is like speaking a foreign language. sometimes it is. sometimes there is translation involved. but talking to black voters -- we are not aliens. what needs to be different is who are the decision-makers. we cannot translate a white message to a black or latino or asian audience. that is not how it works. with we have to change the frame, we have to change the people behind the cameras,

writing campaign plans, driving campaign budgets. when i go to these gatherings of rats --al class technoc it can no longer look like an all-white room and chuck and i are the only brown spots. >> it is not just cannot like, it is cannot win. how many in this room are interested in winning? everyone. so it is more than a desperate plea invisible to clinical decision makers and more of a direct statement. democrats will not win if they ,o not figure out how to fund properly resourced, engage, run candidates, and run the issues that appeal to the hopes and aspirations of the new american majority, of whom people of color are the vast majority. more simple. for those of you who work in

something there is called the "prime" voter you go after. do w youe need to evolve who the most important voter is in a the council race or presidential race is coming up in the fall. how do we think about who are the most important voter is not a campaign should be organizing around? in thehuck talked about strategy in orlando. newly registered voters. i want to put a personal point on this. i have been living in this country 17 years before i became a citizen. it was the way the process worked. in 2001, i voted in my first election. in 2002, i became commissioner of immigrant affairs. what i was telling folks this morning that i was an appointed

government official in new york city before i was a prime voter. we need to disrupt our notion of who is a potential cynically engaged individual. you think about people like jessica, and others in our country, who are in positions where they are more highly cynically engaged than someone who is a native born american whosen, who is -- primary form of engagement is showing up at the polls. so that image of the prime voter who shows up every time to an election is not necessarily our most engaged citizen in the way that our young people, who are out there marching for legal status, testifying in congressional hearings and all of that. time when yoube a came to this country, you got you legal status, and

voted. that was the trajectory. now there are so many points in which he entered the civic engagement trajectory -- in which you enter the civic engagement trajectory. we are not accounting for those ways we can honor, immigrants in particular, there commitment to this democracy. we need to disrupt our idea of engaged american. aimee: chuck, you run campaigns. how does one do that? chuck: it is hard. if you want to speak about the truth, it is all driven by money. at the end of the day, no matter what we would like for them to do, and talk to all of the poor black or brown votes, they have a targeted budget. they are supposed to run this campaign in a box. they talk to us the day we were putting up yard signs -- "you have to do it this way."

what you do not always have to do it this way. this morning, i said every cycle -- the beautiful thing about what i get to do, beyond working with great, wonderful people, is inspired and learn more things. that is what you should get him a clinical consultant. they should be having their year to the community and having an idea what that community is cuba every campaign consultant is taught you go into a race, figure out what the win number is, based on the number of people who have come out in the past, put out a layer communication shot jerk, and talk to them. you send them a few pieces of mail. you may just send digital ads targeted to that community who has a greatest likelihood -- and that is how you target voters. every single consultant will run the campaign the exact same way. nobody, and every -- any

campaign until i worked with bernie, and there was a person of color helping make the decisions. , howf you want a solution to get around is to show the growth. nine example.a because i am latino and tied into that community, i know because of what is happening in puerto rico, there are droves of people moving in with their family in orlando. because of that, voter registration is spiking, on top of their was a presidential election. so there are these anomalies that status quo consultants do not know about. and people moving from plato are inspired -- from puerto rico are inspired to have a say, because their government just -- to be tied into another part of the community in the sea --- in

d.c., it is a fresh concept of how do we test another model and have a larger audience to make social change. and i guess my job here is to piggyback off of things chuck said. you talked about money in campaigns and campaign budgets. i think why we have the reliance of prime voters, who have a proven track record, is they are cheaper per vote to get to the polls. if you have someone who has really voted, all you have to do is persuade them, and the likelihood that, on their own volition, get out on election day. that, per vote, is cheaper than investing in turnout. investing in folks who if you get them to go to the polls will vote for your candidate or issue. it is a turnout game.

you'rerankly, when talking about african-americans, latinos, unwearied -- u nmarried women, they have more challenges to even get up and get out to vote. we talk about getting them off the couch and to the polls. it takes more money. you have different cycles and averages. but i have seen a persuasion .oter is five dollars per vote used to whatto get will investment look like. it may cost more money per vote, but that is how you expand your base. aimee: we are going to see the big national campaigns invest millions in tv ads. does that get new american majority voters to the polls? carol: it is a combined strategy. you cannot rely on one tactic. tv is a tactic, a way to communicate to a large audience. it is the most cost-effective way to get numbers. but you have to layer that.

when you are talking to the new morecan majority with personal contact. there was a book a couple of years ago written by some academics in california that talked about the way they were able to get these new voters out to vote just by knocking on doors and having intimate one-on-one conversations. so yes, tv can help. and it is not just television. right now, your tv and digital strategy need to go hand in hand. because people are not just watching and consuming media on their televisions. most of it is coming from your phone. so does how -- so how does your communications strategy translate from television to your tablet to your phone and whatnot. a very much has to be a layered, integrated strategy. issueyou brought up the

of the intimate voter to voter contact. another thing i shared this morning that has been bugging me this movement -- for automated voter registration , which i think conceptually is a great idea. brings more people automatically into the system. however, automatically registering a voter does not provide the intimate voter to voter contact. in fact, you lose something. the type of work that candidates and nonprofits do when they are registering voters in the field the allows a conversation about a marker see. we will lose that. -- we work that will come should not assume that just because people are automatically registered, they will show up. and we have to make sure we respond to how do you really connect with these folks on a person-to-person level? that is what is missing. people feel very disconnected.

people turn out in the presidential because it is this movement, though there is no guarantee they will turn out for the democratic candidate because they are disillusioned by the republican. the in the down ballot races -- absolutley have to have -- absolutely have to have the person to person contact. otherwise, they will not know there is an election. secondly, i will mention that tom long, a board member of the new american leaders project, has done incredible modeling on reaching new and low propensity voters. part of what he suggest is that there is a group of prime voters in which yes, it is cheaper to reach them, but perhaps, because they are almost guaranteed to turn out, that if you reduce the amount of contact -- reduce

contact with the number of prime voters and use some of the dollars to reach new and low intensity voters, that that is also a strategy. it is not an either or strategy. it is supplemental. but for down ballot races, for those in pipeline development, reaching low and -- new and low intensity voters is more cost effective, because we are already engaging with those communities. you have already crossed some hurdles that some random person coming into the community has to overcome. i want to ask, does anyone care to assess our national campaigns and how well they are doing on said approaches? say -- chuck, you just came from seven months, hiring every single person of

color bernie sanders, running that campaign. that being the core strategy for underg voters for sanders 35. you have that experience. you worked on the national and presidential level. so now i would like some assessment. we are going into the democratic convention in two weeks. we will have a nominee and a presidential and vice presidential, we have a set of senate races, and all of the other down ballots. and is thedoing party getting with it or not? chuck: the easy answer would be no. let me give some credit and take some blame and give credit. in our staff, i always tell them ands easy to be an asshole hard to be humble. we need to learn that in the consulting class.

hillary, she is putting together a phenomenal team. she is gathering the best, but what is the "best"? they are doing good at hiring lots of people of color, some of which are literally my best friends. let me and the people on the running there day-to-day of the operation, and i know what they will do a week before they do it because they are doing the way -- doing at the way everyone does. so they will do well. they have done good in hiring people. even doing well in hiring people of color. in her case, i would give her a moreues, because there is she could be doing. but i will say thank god they are running against donald trump. b is the good score.

the bad score is every senate race in america. it may be the last bastion of good old boys system. not just me but every consultant i know that represents the new american majority has net with all of those people in the senate. they still run things with someone's brother in law and someone's friend. they translate and add into spanish and it is good enough. so i worry constantly about those campaigns. they have been one of the slowest institutions to show change or the ability and want to run change. is run by a great guy. he is gay, progressive. but there is more than just one man or one woman who runs something. they should be more open and the entire process. run by a latino, called me to run spanish

programs in the california primary. i have never been called to do something like that before. in full disclosure, steve phillips, and the book yet done have helped push the envelope more than i have ever seen done in my entire lifetime. [applause] has it from the old man who been there, who has been taught by a wonderful group of white people. i say this everywhere i speak. like chuck, what do you have against white folks? i love white folks. my mama is a white folk. why folks have changed my life forever by giving me an opportunity. it consultantd lyrical complex that has to change, not only in the party but in the progressive movement. the same group of consultants who run the dccc run most of the -- we often can point the

fingers, but the organization in our movement, some who may be in the room or in this conference, sit on millions of dollars that will be invested this election cycle. and if the same consultants with the same frame of mind, without involving their idea of the prime voter, without a commitment to engaging the new american -- if they decide they will run the campaign the same old way, it will result in the same ins. how do you assess, what is your assessment? carol: i actually came from one of those organizations. for 11 years, i worked for planned parenthood until i went into the private sector or injured anywhere. one of the things i credit planned parenthood for the i would love other organizations to look at, think about, and engage with those folks on, is several years ago, they realized it is not just an issue of

diversity. you can change the staff you have here and you can hire more people of color. you can even give them a seat at the table. but planned parenthood recognized they fundamentally needed to change the way they operate. the way that inequality and get perpetuated, that is institutional and internal. so policies and practicing his -- practices need to change. that recognition led them to go through an internal change process. not is something you do just externally, but it is also the way you make decisions, who gets to sit at the table, how those tables are constructed. that will fundamentally change the way they engage, do work. it is already showing some impact. i think you will see that in the bothhey make investments, in their own programs as well as supporting programs from

organizations on the ground that already exist. i read an inflection point where our largest progressive organizations, if their leadership is almost exclusively white, we have a problem. that is a hard conversation to have amongst progressives. but given the connections, engaging the american majority in the elect oral space and -- in the electoral space, it is a crucial time to have a conversation. i want to talk about trump, because no conversation with the complete without figuring out -- when you said "thank goodness hillary clinton is going to run against trump" -- and all three of you called into question the fact that we had this horrible, racist -- that is attracting and saying all of these things that anti-newtially

american majority, in every sense of the word. we had him running, but you are also saying there is no guarantee that people of color would be motivated to go to the polls. why is that? why would people not say i have to eat him, so let me vote-- i have to beat him, so let me vote for hillary clinton? carol: there are a lot of things we do not talk about that keep people from engaging in the political process. one is the structural disadvantages that our opposition have been able to put forth, in terms of our voter id and voter suppression laws. and redistricting. these are all structural anddvantages and various --

barriers we have to overcome to get our people out. people are so disillusioned in the political process. the fact that trump is even -- has made it this far should be laughable. in no way shape, or form, is this person qualified to run one of the most influential countries in the world. so i think people are checked out. aimee: that is kind of a sad state you are we so checked out we will not even go to the ballot to be trump? chuck: there are a couple of points. point, i will give credit to the dccc. but i believe in not only sitting and bitching and lifting people out.

trump --let's think about numbers. because trump got 13 million votes in the primary. lostin mind mitt romney four years ago by getting 60 million votes. there is a difference between 13 million primary voters and 60 million people who voted for mitt romney. and people assume, because he is so outlandish -- the biggest thing i said is "assume." never assume anything. i have messed up a lot in life because i assumed things. folks in our movement think they can take the money they had set aside, what little bit that was, chicken scratch that was, for latino or african-american or new american majority are reach and think they can move it out, because donald trump alone will move that people out. i will remind people there was a governor in california, who had a very anti-immigration bill

that was supposed to mobilize latinos in california -- >> prop 187. chuck: thank you. it was not just the proposition andan evil man at the top saying evil things, like trump -- but effortas an orchestrated of $10 million into the neighborhoods registering latinos, educating latinos, and turning out latinos. that single $10 million investment has literally changed the state forever, to where there is a latino state speaker and state senator that control almost everything. >> and ushered in a super majority for democrats. chuck: what you take back his who will invest -- you do not have to invest in the whole people of color universe across america. start out small.

take a bite out somewhere in colorado. it is ok. because donors just need to be shown it is ok. and if they get reciprocal results, and if you show them that at the granular level, they are smart enough to do it. they are smart enough to be millionaires. you lead that horse down there, splash a little water, they will get it. aimee: yes. now what do you have to say? and you have to stand at the mike. so there's a difference between a comment and a brief question, and a speech. and tell us who you are. it is for the recording. ernesto,name is straight out of compton. one of the questions i have is a of of political -- a lots

political consultants, whether from people of color or otherwise, spend so much time in legislative and executive systems of my government. on thespent so little judicial branch of our government. but they are more -- me to be more effective in getting representation there as well. unitedu look at citizens and the hobby lobby case, a lot of these decisions were done by scotus representatives, which are not as diverse. we start looking at the different judges appointed by the government, who are not always represented it of the constituencies they represent. is there some sort of strategy for a movement going on there to start shifting and focusing on the judicial ranch? aimee: it israeli about the underinvestment in judicial.

thet is really about underinvestment in judicial. i want to throw in what about these district attorneys that have such influence on the local levels in cases with police killings. what we, as a nation, experienced in the last week. those are largely elective. -- the women's organization funded a study that shows that 90% of district attorneys go unopposed. and if they are mostly white men. that has a great influence on the judicial process. who is charged, what they are charged with, how fast they are charged, and if they reflect what the committee wants or yesl: pipeline development, , at all levels. there is so little money and so little motivation to run that we have a very broad recruitment

strategy, not specific to any office. the idea of creating programs that are specifically targeted at recruiting folks to run for da, treading them, giving them the whole range of support they need, doing the same thing for go todiciary -- you can law firms where there are lots of people of color who are interested in the issues. recruit them and get them to run. i don't think it's a different strategy. the strategy is not being employed right now because of the limited pipeline development. chris prior from rock trust or, new york. -- rochester, new york. i'm representing myself. you keep talking about we need money, we need money -- who should i give money to? if not the senatorial,

orgressional committee congress -- how do i get it to where you people say it should go? aimee: as an individual? >> i will be giving money this year. i have not given them money yet because i do not trust them. who do i give money to? aimee: it is a question of resources as we've heard over and over again. susan are organizing progressive donors to develop a series of best practices before they give. those are large donors who give a lot of money to campaigns. how can you make sure that campaign is actually committed to engaging the new american majority? through theping democracy alliance and other progressive donor circles to educate and bring donors in.

whoe are also individuals have to decide what campaign or what funding vehicle and then we get into this question because pac,rganizations -- power for example, we are committed to funding candidates and initiatives at the center of the new american majority. how are -- power oac, individuals can give to. when you look at nonprofits or other institutions, it gets a little more murky. carol: i think you are right -- chuck: i think you are right. connected to the judges. people do not vote for judges because people do not talk to them about it. if you would tell a voter about what is at risk or at to people who --

want to donate, it is targeting. there are more people talking about the donor networks. you have people who all want to pull a card in the same to telln, but you have them how it's going to get there. we all wear so many hats. i'm also the vice chairman of a group called latino outdoors. i'm very passionate about the outside and taking young people of color and getting them outside in our national parks. i give my money to groups i feel strongly about. i was targeted to make him found out about it and i got active and now, i'm the vice-chairman. you could also give to the new american leaders. newamericanleaders.org.

i highly recommend it. i have a report right here i can give you. carol: you can also invest in higher heights for america. sayu: this is a tax-deductible contribution to either of these organizations. political organizations are not tax-deductible. with the women donors network. i wanted to mention to the last question, there is a new effort i'm on the advisory board of called movement 2016. the idea is to mobilize in this election year, donations a small and large to community-based groups reaching the new american majority.

you can go state-by-state, find groups in those states to invest in, you can donate right there. it's a great resource everyone should know about and it's just earning. -- just starting. there was a panel earlier this morning about the prosecutor that electing reflective candidates to these really important criminal justice positions. it's exciting because this movement is starting to happen where people are getting involved in this elections that -- these elections. she is trying to get these lawyers to run for these offices and they are 87% unopposed, according to our research. i just wanted to offer that. aimee: thank you. great. >> on the deputy director of public assistance, global trade watch.

i used to work with stan greenberg and we did the polling for women's voices, women's vote. the rising american electorate. i'm glad to hear you folks talking about it today. important moment where we are trying to increase our outreach, especially with trump really playing up on bernie sanders in the trade movement. one of the issues we are facing, it is a very labor heavy and a lot of people have said white heavy movement. when we've done polling and focus groups, we've found stories from folks from latin america who were displaced from their homes after nafta. that's why their family immigrated to the united states. , the's these other stories nabisco factory that close to not too long ago. we are trying to raise their voice. our biggest concern right now is

that trump is really using trade to electrify white working-class americans again. ofre is a whole subset rising american electorate, new american majority folks who are being left out. chuck: you would not think that trade would be a latino issue. work in a factory in east texas when i was 19 years old. my father worked there. i literally went to work in a factory. i never graduated college. that's where i got educated, working on that assembly line. that factory shutdown. my entire family lost their jobs . i've watched how that can decimate a community made taxpayers -- and a tax base and

all the people around it. it was synonymous with the iruggle we were in good and was doing bilingual mail in certain states, i used the trade issue and jobs issue and drove them together because i'm very familiar with the organization you are with. -- if youat keeps us take one thing from the message, it's that you cannot just put all latinos and immigration box. you come from a polling background. it's how you build commonality and become a trusted messenger. immigration may open the wound, ur salt in with trade and that's i you move that

message in that voter -- inee: that means bringing people that actually can understand and translate the hopes and dreams and needs of the community. chuck: i could go into a latino community and talk about my our jobs because of trade. i have one quick question. of the people you guys have running for office is, what percent is first-generation immigrants? sayu: that is a good question. i do not know off hand. probably about 50%. that list, for example, there amnesty inwho got 1986, people who happen on the no-fly list -- have been on the

no-fly list. question -- there is some bit of fragmentation in terms of how different organizations or different candidates are doing their work. dnc, isof the broader there an umbrella or combination under which progressives can , share similar strategies, share best practices fundinge have a funneled that allows different to embrace these ideas? the short answer is no. the longer answer is that it keeps getting tried and there are lots of different groupings that come together at certain manage tot don't

sustain themselves, partly because one of the things that happened is that we have these strategic conversations and then election time comes and everybody goes into their silos. latinose we cannot but into one bucket or african-americans into one bucket, there is a different side of the problem. we are not always coming together. even the work in these communities is often politically, ethnically siloed. in our case, because we are trying to do the -- it is very funneling. funding comes down and these ethnic silos as well. corporations have african-american community relations and asian-american between the relations. best community relations.

-- asian-american community relations. there is that issue, there's also the issue around progressives. --re's women's donors groups we are not even going to have a conversation with you if you cannot guarantee is that every single candidate you run is going to be pro-choice. i'm not going to ask them that whenever recruiting them to run for office. they probably are pro-choice, but i don't know. there are very specific ways in -- thatople think that has been a real challenge for us. it is a nonstarter. i just want to say that there is great hope and possibility. this is not just about how things aren't and should become

its about what we want for our country and how we want to do the business of politics. really briefly, your greatest hope right now as it relates to the new policies for new american majority. the greatest possibility and greatest hope is that we have the chance to fundamentally transform the way our politics work and the policies that have come out of that. one of the things i encourage , when we close our eyes and try to think about what our vision is, what it would look like, i really do believe that we have the opportunity to get there. i hope you will ask if they arer

hiring someone of color. i hope you would follow me on twitter -- [laughter] my hope is to be as charming and charismatic as chuck come also as brilliant. i also hope you will follow me on twitter. ,y other and most important attainable hope is that we are training more americans that we've gone from having three alumni in the room to a fourth alum in the room. every day, we are increasing the number of young people, people of color come immigrants getting ready to run for office. finally, i hope you will

color onocracy in twitter and facebook. amazing national experts doing the work of the future of have as in our country platform and a voice. that's what we're all about. that you are in philadelphia, you will join us at our luncheon. come and talk to me if you want thee there to talk about leadership of women of color and uniting the party and leading the nation. is coming out in september. very excited to bring together the issues of women and people and the, women of color exciting possibilities it offers as part of the new american majority. finally, i hope you have a fabulous rest of the conference. please give these amazing people

round of applause. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016]

the hill newspaper reports today that a new poll is showing house speaker paul ryan leading his points.er by 66 earlier this week, donald trump declined to endorse speaker ryan at of the primary. -- ahead of the primary. several members of congress sharing what they are up to this week in their home states. carlos stopped at a home depot in miami coming meeting with

employees. , jim mcgovernts was at a local grocery store to hear what's being done to reduce food waste and increase access to healthy food. day included a meeting with coal miners in west virginia. twitter.com/cspan. the c-span radio app makes it easy to continue to follow the 2016 election wherever you are. andaudio coverage up-to-the-minute schedule information for c-span radio and c-span television, plus podcast ,imes for our public affairs book and history programs.

at the top of the hour, we are expecting remarks from hillary clinton. she is expected to speak live at a conference of black and hispanic journalists here in washington. until then, we will hear from hillary clinton's vice presidential running mate, tim kaine. at thee national urban league conference. ♪ >> let me ask you to proceed to your seats. thank you very much. give your selves a big round of applause. [applause] let me offer a few

important thoughts. it has been their tradition of -- the tradition of the national urban league as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization to extend invitations to the candidates of the two major political parties in the united states to be a part of our presidential planning which is taking place every year at her annual -- our annual conference. i think it will be helpful for , going all recall the way back to 2003, the year before the 2004

election, the national early posted a presidential primary event at which a number of -- the national urban league hosted a presidential primary event at which a number of democratic candidates and even incumbent president george bush attended and participated. in 2004, when the nominees were john kerry and george w. bush, both of them joined us in detroit, michigan and addressed the conference at the urban league. in 2007, when we met in st. louis, the year before the 2008 election, we extended an invitation to each and every announced candidate about the democratic and republican nomination. we were joined at that memorable time by a number of democratic candidates, including senator barack obama and we were also

by, he dide passed by toeak, but he did pass , by republican candidate mike huckabee. moving forward in 2008, we were pleased only met in orlando pleased that we were joined by both senator barack obama and senator john mccain for our presidential event. in 2012, the year of the last presidential election we extended invitations to both president obama as well as governor mitt romney and governor mitt romney declined, but president obama joined us in new orleans. last year, when we met in fort lauderdale and had a great event

and wonderful meeting in south florida, it was him with as hot -- it was almost as hot as it is in baltimore, we had a grand time. we were joined by five candidates, and those five candidates included three democrats and two republicans. this year, consistent with our effort to extend invitations to the candidates of both major parties, we extended an invitation to both the hillary clinton campaign and the donald trump campaign. for them to attend or send an appropriate high-level representative. i want all of you to know today that the hillary clinton campaign accepted our invitation and has us its vice presidential

nominee senator tim kaine to be with us and i'll introduce him in a minute. the donald trump campaign, we corresponded with and spoke to on a number of occasions declined our invitation to be here this morning. i want each of you in the media to have that very important history of how we have proceeded and what we have done this year is consistent with what we have tried to you over the years -- to do over the years, to provide an opportunity for people to come and speak to urban leaguers from all across the nation. as we gather, we gather with our main street marshall plan in mind. we gather under the theme of saving our city's education, jobs, and justice. we gather for a serious and sobering conversation about the challenges that we face as a nation.

so, before introducing senator kaine, we are joined this morning by a number of elected officials from the state of maryland. if any are in the audience, let me ask if they would stand so we can properly recognize them. please stand. [applause] >> representative elijah cummings. a great leader from baltimore and the state of maryland. [applause] >> thank you very much. now, on to tim kaine. some of you may not have known a lot about tim kaine prior to his selection as hillary clinton's running mate. but it is no secret, and close -- in close and open circles that he is absolutely a man of integrity. he has helped people throughout

his life. he's been a missionary, a civil rights lawyer, a teacher, a city councilmember, a mayor, lieutenant governor, the governor, and now the united states senator. in fact, he is one of only 30 people in american history to serve as mayor, governor, and as united states senator. elected to the senate in 2012 as a can-do optimist skilled in bringing people together across lines of party, race, region and gender. in the senate he is on the armed services committee, the budget committee, the foreign relations committee and the aging committee. he is a ranking member on the armed services readiness committee and foreign relations

subcommittee on state department and u.s. aid management. an international operations in bilateral international development. that is a long title. i can attest, is an important committee. a man of great accompaniments and commitment to service the is -- it is no wonder that he is so well received by those who meet him. he grew up in his father's iron working shop in kansas city. he attended and was educated at the university of missouri and harvard law school and started his public service career by taking a year off from harvard to run eight technical school founded by desolate missionaries in honduras.

he practiced law in richmond, specializing in the representation of people denied housing due to their race or disability. he also began teaching part-time at the university of richmond in 1987. first elected to office in 1994 as a city councilmember and then mayor of richmond. as i have said, he went on to become lieutenant governor, governor and now serves in the united states senate. he is a married man. he is married to the very accomplished and holton, who serves as secretary of education for the state of virginia and they have three adult children. urban leaders, are you ready? [applause] >> let's hear what senator tim kaine has to say. let's greet with an urban league welcome, senator tim kaine. [applause]

sen. kaine: what a treat to be here. i'm thrilled to be in baltimore. i considernder, baltimore to be of neighboring city. i want to thank mark mor ial. he is a dear friend. he was a mayor's mayor. i met him when he was mayor of new orleans and president of the u.s. conference of mayors. that is an important position. when the mayors choose somebody to be a president, that is a sign of unique honor. that is how marc and i met in 2001. we both had a little more hair and it was a little less gray. his role as president of the urban league is important. he did such a great job in

new orleans, which is why they many times as m as they could. i also want to thank the chair. organizations like this cannot be successful without those. to you and your colleagues, i give you my thanks. i was greeted by three wonderful maryland public servants as i walked in the door. somebody he is just such a leader in the united states senate, senator barbara mikulski. i've learned so much from her. please give her a round of applause. [applause] sen. kaine: to a tremendously effective congressman that i have admired from afar from the other side of potomac, conyers meant elijah cummings. -- congressman elijah cummings. glad to be here in your city could [applause] . [applause] sen. kaine: i'm glad to have

your mayor, stephanie rawlings blake, here. she did a fantastic job at the democratic convention last week and i upload here. it is an honor to be here with the urban league. the issues close to your heart is also close to mine. as your president described, i was a city councilman, then mayor, then government, then lieutenant governor, the national party chair, and then u.s. senator. i have a hard time keeping a job, folks. only 29 people in the history of the event states have been a mayor, a governor, and a united states senator. i was surprised when i learned that, but being mayor is so hard and you make so many people so mad that often the mayor is the last job he will hold. mayors jobs are incredibly important and nobody knows that more than the urban league. the most valuable lessons that i've learned in politics -- and

if i'm good at anything in politics, it is because of the lessons i learned in local government. that is where you are closest to people's lives. that is where you can see how your choices directly impact communities, like which schools you decide to renovate or where you build new ones, what neighborhoods you direct your investment towards, what policing and law enforcement philosophy do you adopt. these are the decisions that local leaders make. just like the urban league strives to do, we try to empower people and empower communities. i will just begin by saying thank you. thank you for fighting for a long-overdue reforms to the criminal justice system. thank you for helping people get good jobs and better education. innk you for those missions your chapters all caps this country and throughout the history of the urban week. league. we had an affiliate who worked very hard with us on summer jobs

programs. they knew that a job for a young person could change the trajectory of somebody's life, especially if that young person may be had not felt like somebody was paying attention to them or believed in them. that is what i saw my urban league in richmond do. if hillary and i win this november, you have not one but two people in the white house who understand the unique set of challenges facing america's cities and we are committed to working together with you to solve them. [applause] i am an unabashed believer in the power of our cities. they are huge sources of our national strength. to thrive, they have got to have a partner in washington on infrastructure, housing, and by mental issues, jobs -- environmental issues, jobs, and so much else. i know it firsthand and i

promise that our cities will find a partner in a clinton-kaine administration. clinton asked me to be her running mate fall days and 10 hours ago, but who is counting? it was at 7:30 p.m. that she calls me and asked me to join the ticket. it is still pretty new -- just 12 days old. as i have become part of the ticket, i'm grappling with the in thishat one state country, the commonwealth of virginia, knows me really well. and i need to introduce myself to the people of the other 49 states. hillary and i took a bus tour with my wife, who was secretary of education who stepped down to campaign full-time. pennsylvaniaross and ohio after the fantastic convention that we had in philadelphia. where any of you there or participating in it? philadelphia really showed off well.

this week i've been in florida and north carolina before coming to baltimore. i will be in wisconsin and michigan tomorrow. we are not wasting a single minute because it is now 97 days until election day and we have so much to do. we've got to make every day count. the stakes in this election are too high for many people and you know that better than anybody. i've had a chance to work with some of you before and i'm grateful for that. i see my longtime friend as a great virginian and friends back from the dnc days. i could name check other close friends around the room, but to those that i've not worked with before yet, i will tell you a little bit about who i am, what i care about, and who i will be fighting for every day if america elects hillary and me this november. you heard a little bit from mark, but i grew up in kansas city. do we have any kansas city or missouri folks here? right here in the center. the midwestern part of the audience, the heartland of the

audience. i grew up in a family that did not care very much about politics. they cared about service and treating people right. my dad ran a small union iron working shop in the stockyards of kansas city. he would tell my two younger brothers and me that it is the artistry of these welders that will put you kids through school and it will be my business skill that will put my workers kids through school. it was a partnership and we believed and shared prosperity. it was not a battle between management and labor or between the employer and employees. it was a partnership. my dad and mom are alive and healthy at age 81. they are why i believe so deeply in standing for partnership with workers and labor today. my faith was always important to me because of the way i was raised. i went to a jesuit high school. if any of you had connection with the jesuits in your life, you know how seriously they take service. our high schools motto -- it was a boy school and this is the

motto for most jesuit high schools across the country -- meant for others. i knew right away from the influence of these great latest that is what it wanted to do. i want to be a man for others, someone who would fight for social justice and watch out for people who did not have others watching out for them. that is one thing to say it, but i had to figure out how to do it. it took me a little while. i went to mizzou for undergrad and harvard law school. harvard,ddle of i took a year off to work with jesuit missionaries in honduras, teaching kids how to be welders and carpenters, the stuff that i had learned working at my dad shop. that was a transformative experience for me because it expose me to what a lot of the world is like. not just the poverty i was unfamiliar with in my own neighborhood, but also it was in military dictatorship. people cannot vote, they couldn't participate. they long for a day when they could participate.

i can back to a country were so many of us, including me at the time, took it for granted. i came back to law school, got my degree, and in the greatest road of luck ever, met my wonderful life. we have been living in her hometown and have been married for 32 years and go to the very church we were married in 32 years ago. [applause] sen. kaine: unlike my family, ann's family was very into politics. her dad, who turns 93 next month, was the republican governor of virginia from 1970 to 1974, who made the decision to desegregate virginia schools. [applause] sen. kaine: the previous governors had fought to maintain segregation, even 16 years after brown versus board. al qaeda tricks were being played to maintain school segregation. -- all kind of tricks were being played to maintain school segregation. he integrated virginia schools and then he and his wife, my

mother-in-law, went one step further. they did not make a real for other kids. they sent their own kids to the newly integrated public schools in the heart of richmond. that sent a strong signal to the people of virginia that the governor was not going to back down, but also that the leaders had not just pass rules for others but had to pass rules and then be willing to live by them and be happy. there is a front-page picture e in "the new york times" of the governor escorting his daughter into previously segregated school with a big smile on his face. there were many photos of front page governors blocking their kids from going to school. as far as i know, there was only one governor walking his children with a smile and his face. later, we sent our three kids to the same richmond public schools that their grandfather had open to

everybody for years before. -- 40 years before. [applause] sen. kaine: as a young lawyer in richmond, i made my focus civil rights. my first case was a young african american woman named lorraine. just like me, she was just starting her career after finishing school. she saw and after an apartment in the local paper, called the number, talk to the landlord, felt like it kind of matched what she wanted, and she set up an employment to go visit. she went on her lunch hour to the apartment near her office. as soon as the landlord saw her face, he said, i'm sorry, the apartment has just been rented. lorraine went back to work with a six feeling in her stomach and asked a white friend to call the apartment. the landlord was all lovey-dovey and said the apartment was available. she came back to me and i filed a lawsuit against the owner of the apartment.

with the testimony of her coworker, that case was a slamdunk. because i had done one case in virginia, suddenly i was not the fair housing expert in the entire virginia state bar. i worked to bring dozens of suits against banks and landlords and real estate firms and insurance companies. even local governments that had treated people unfairly in housing. i represent a group of families challenging redlining and the homeowners insurance industry, the writing of homeowners insurance policies in a differential way for minority neighborhoods and majority neighborhoods. when i tried that case in the city of richmond in 1998, i won the largest jury verdict and civil rights case in american history. it took me six years to get to the jury verdict, but we were battling. you know hillary clinton story. she was working at the children's legal defense fund, going undercover to expose racial segregation in the alabama schools.

i've got to paint a contrast here because hillary's opponent in the race, donald trump, was taking a different path. here's what he was doing around this time, the very time my father-in-law desegregated virginia schools. the urban league was connected with this. in 1973, "the new york times" reported that the justice department had filed suit after donald trump and his father refused to rent apartments african americans. it was one of the largest federal cases of its kind at the time. when federal investigator spoke with trump's employees, they said they were instructed to mark rental applications from africa people on the back of the forication with a c colored so they know who they wanted to rent to and who they didn't. the reason the justice department became aware this was work that testing in the urban leak had done to bring that to the attention of the justice department. [applause] this was a huge lawsuit.

the government took action and filed a lawsuit to stop discrimination not just that one or two but at 39 different properties owned by the company. one of the resolution of the suit also involved the urban league. they had the ability to recommend tenants at all these properties for two years once the case was settled. [applause] sen. kaine: the urban league was working on this in new york and elsewhere and has been forever. i am battling it in virginia and it was exactly the kind of housing discrimination that i made the heart of my legal career. so this is real personal to me. this is real personal to me. i could have stayed in the civil rights field for my whole life and i thought i was as a nonpolitical person. i found myself going to city council meetings. i have heard senator mikulski tell stories about fighting city hall. i went to richmond raising some of the issues i was dealing with every day on behalf of my

clients. like a lot of great cities, richmond has a lot to offer, but we also have a lot of challenges and problems. we are a city with a history. we are a city with some scar tissue. i have seen extreme poverty in honduras. some of the parts of richmond not that far off. i have seen inadequate medical care and honduras. some of the parts of richmond and virginia and our nation are not that far off. too many of schools are dilapidated. many of the schools dated back to the 1880's and the buildings did not send a message that the community thought education was that important. you can guess which students were sent to the oldest and to the most broken down schools -- poor kids, black kids, other minority kids. if you walked into the schools, it felt like somebody quietly decided that these kids just deserve less than everybody else and it wasn't right. the same poll that got me to being a civil rights lawyer got me into public office.

i want to see if i can make a difference and not wait around for somebody else to tackle these issues. iran my first race for city council in 1994. it was something i never thought i would do. i knocked on every door in my district and i won my first race over a popular incumbent by 94 votes. [applause] sen. kaine: 94 votes. after two terms, i ran for mayor. i will just be honest. my running for mayor was a little bit odd. the city was about 60% minority. i will be honest about a painful part of my city. my city was once in the 1780's and it was majority white until 1977. from 1780t 200 years to 1977, the white majority never let an african-american be mayor -- never. the city had become majority african-american. just a few years after that with a history of treating african-americans with indifference at best, hostility

and contempt at worst, i decided as my third term of counsel that i want to put myself forward to the mayor. i would ask the african-american community to do something for me which the caucasian community had never been willing to do for an african-american in hundreds of years. that was to judge me on my record and let me do my job. i think i would be a good mayor. i went to one of my mentors -- henry marsh. legendary civil rights lawyer, part of the law from that brought one of the companion cases to brown versus board. henry was elected the first african-american mayor of richmond in 1977. we have been friends since i moved to richmond. he looked me dead in the face if i would work my heart out for everybody in the city and i told him i would. he said, go ahead and run. run with my blessing as long as you never forget who you are working for and you never forget the privileges that major success

possible and never forget that we are extending an opportunity to you that was never extended to us. if you do, you will run with my support. i was a two-term mayor of richmond and i tried to honor that promise every day since. later, henry and i stood together in denver to watch barack obama except the democratic party's nomination for president in 2008. henry and i worked together on the floor when the votes put barack obama over the edge as the nominee. i turned to henry and teens were streaming down both of our faces. i asked henry, what are you thinking? he just said to me, "my dad was the smartest man i ever knew and they only let him be a waiter." that is what he was thinking about when barack obama became the nominee. 's father, long deceased, the most talented man he ever knew, and yet he was held down because of society at the time. i would not be here today

without the example of my republican father-in-law, when holden, who integrated virginia schools and was frozen out of politics for the rest of his life. i would not be here today without henry marsh, a dear friend who looked at a guy and said we will take a chance on you if you stand on principle and represent everybody in the city. [applause] sen. kaine: if hillary wins and if i win this fall and i have the honor of serving as a vice president, these are the people stories that i will carry with clients,civil rights my heroes like henry marsh, the jesuits, my father-in-law. these are the values that will inform everything i do. we have to face injustice squarelynd fight it. i know that runs remain in this country. i know them and i learned more about them every day because so many things that i know that are wrong i have not felt the sting of them myself. i have known them because i'm able to listen in because my spanish fluency, i do not

say that i'm a great spanish speaker, but i'd the ability to listen into languages and that's an important thing to have. we have to tear down the barriers that remain and hold ourselves to the ideals that set apart us from the world. religion,your race, sex, or sexual orientation, everyone should get a fair chance. everyone is equal and everyone should be treated that way. [applause] sen. kaine: it starts with facing our history. as governor of virginia, i did something no other governor had done. i officially apologized on the behalf of the, will the virginia for slavery. i did the same thing as the mayor of richmond. i work with my friend mark warner to construct and unveil a civil rights memorial on a capitol grounds. i worked on a project to digitize all the records of the freedmen's bureau -- oral histories of slaves taken right after the civil war -- so we

could digitize them somewhat people could search and get genealogical data about their families. many families have been able to find connections that they would not have found otherwise. they would of been cut out of history or when the history has been whitewashed to leave out the profound suffering of folks. what message does that send about the value of your life and your lived experience? that is why the congressional black caucus and i are working together to form a commission to memorialize the 400th anniversary of the arrival of african slaves at jamestown. we had a federal commission to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of in english at jamestown 2007. we had a federal commission to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the spanish at saint augustine, florida. if english lives in history matter, the spanish lives in history matter, than african-american lives in

history ought to matter to us, too. because black lives matter. hillary has also been fighting these fights for a long time and you know it. she has been a passionate advocate for children, women, and families for decades. since her very first speech in this campaign, she has been focused on the issues of systemic racism and inequality, whether in our economy, criminal justice system, or schools and everywhere else. she spoke from the about the work that all americans, especially white americans, need to do to write these loans. she believed that taking on these inequities is one of the most important tasks facing our next president. i agree with her. one of the reason she asked me to be a running mate is because she knows that i will be fighting right alongside her on this important agenda. hillary has proposed a new incompetence of amendment -- a new incompetence of amendment for african-american opportunities. we are not a fit to create jobs

for hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments in cities just like baltimore and richmond and cities that the urban league is in all of the country. -- and i arer bid big fans of the funding plan where 20% of people have been living in poverty for 30 or more years. we have to focus our resources in areas where there is the most need. we have to have a target approach to uproot persistent poverty in communities that have been left behind. that is urban, rural, indian country, anywhere in between. the plan includes $20 billion and specifically at creating jobs for young people. rate amongyment young african men can is twice as high as for young white folks. we have to develop skills and dream big dreams for their

futures. we have to make sure that we are not only creating good jobs but connecting black communities to where the good jobs are, which means being strategic about our investments and infrastructure, and especially transportation and transit. i was a mayor. mayors get the connection between housing and transportation and work. they have to be connected. in cities like baltimore, cities around this country's, especially cities that do not have a subway system, or in some cases like richmond, a comprehensive metropolitan bus o system, we have got to do more work to connect people to places they can get good jobs. you got to do better. we have a real plan including expanding access to capital to support black entrepreneurs, especially black women, who represent the fastest growing segment of women owned businesses in this country . [applause] sen. kaine: that's a success story.

sometimes you want to invest when something isn't working, but sometimes you ought to invest in something starting to work. with an investment, you can accelerate forward. businesses owned by black women is starting to grow and with more investments, we can see it take off. while we are at it, let us finally ensure equal pay for women. this is one of the simplest things we can do to help families and help the economy. it would help benefit the women of color and a very significant way. we've got to reduce inequality in our educational systems, starting with greater access to early childhood education, pre-k. [applause] sen. kaine: universal pre-k is not just great for the economy and a lifesaver for working parents. all the research shows that it's the way to give kids the best possible start in life. government in virginia, you just have one single four-year term. the time thataw coincided with the worst

recession since the 1930's. sadly that meant i had to make a lot of painful belt-tightening moves in a very challenging time. the one area of government that ice expanded -- i expanded was pre-k education. there were more intricate classrooms when i left and i started because i know that value of investments and so does the clinton. -- hillary clinton. we have to avoid the huge slide toward segregation in our schools. they all to be able to learn the three r's and onto live together with a community of people that they will be working with for the rest of their lives. every child in america deserves to learn and a great school and a matter what zip code they live in. we have to plan also to rebuild crumbling infrastructure. support for schools is not just about school construction. it has to be about the renovation of schools and communities that were built a long time ago, but need renovation so that students can

learn in a 21st century what way. we will give tax credits to businesses that invest in training and apprenticeships because there are many great pass to a great job not just college, but also career and technical training, union upfront an apprenticeships. investment ands historically black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions. [applause] s i think ofour hbc norfolk state and you are thinking about your hbcus, but i think there are a lawns that i just mentioned, but they produced some of the finest leaders in our country's history and are still doing really critical work today. finally, we have got to plan -- and this is so important. i know that our hearts -- there are fresh ones on our hearts that makes us think we have to tackle this. we have to do criminal justice

reform and the urban league has been very thoughtful about that. that theed law to know legal system is stacked against those with the least power and the most moldable. onhave seen the toll families torn apart by excessive incarceration and children grown up in homes shattered by prison and the poverty that prison accelerates. their starts to beat and acknowledgment -- there has started to be an acknowledgment, but we are still waiting for action at the federal level. we have got to take action to end the era of mass incarceration. i want to commend president obama. just yesterday, he commuted to life sentences of more than 200 nonviolent drug offenders, including some for virginia. we cannot rely on executive pardons alone. we have to dismantle the school to prison pipeline.

to have to cut the mandatory minimum sentences for low-level nonviolent drug offenders. we have to make sure that there jobs and support available for people who get out of prison so we give them a path to get their lives back on track. [applause] sen. kaine: these are issues that are worked on as governor of virginia. i'm cosponsor of much of the criminal justice reform currently pending in the senate. hillary has made it a priority because we are country -- thank god or second chances are possible. we believe in second chances as a people. we just do not have policies that necessarily put that belief into action. finally and this is the one i feel most acutely as a former policend with the departments, we have got to rebuild the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. [applause] we have to do it. this is something across our

nation that is spotty. there are communities where those bonds are very strong, but there are too many communities where the distance is too great. to many african american families mourn the loss of family members killed by police or who die in custody. at a federal level, we still do not even keep track of the data to know how often it happens. that tells you it is not a priority when we do not even bother to measure. people in baltimore know this so very well. just as people in virginia know this. a profound distance has grown up between law enforcement and communities in too many places in america. that distance is dangerous. it is dangerous for the communities and it is dangerous for our police. we had national night out. hadagine most of you national night out events in your communities. we had a celebration two doors down from me in my block in richmond