are so lucky to have one of our own to come and tell the tales and my dear colleague and friend, ken jones. [applause] >> thank you so much for inviting me here this afternoon to talk about the rainbow flag and to let you know that your dues are due. all protest movements rely on symbols, boycotts, strikes, sit-ins and flags. this is an everyday complacency and forces us to think. today that flag embraces us and covers us. it keeps our fragile coalition together and moving forward and you know what? as a movement, we're old enough, mature enough and wise enough to know that that rainbow flag is our symbol, our hope and our future that speaks volumes. it says that fragile coalitions are possible. that we can stay together and work together. that we can make this a better place not only for those who are witnessed now, but for all those who will walk these paths in the future. that rainbow flag represents our membership and belonging in the community of lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender, intersex queer, questioning, two spirited and our allies. so look at your neighbor and tell 'em your

ken talked about values. ilhan said we need to be smart and strategic about how we approach all of this. and before you came in, councilman jones made this proclamation that all of us muslim men and adopted muslim men up your on the stage, we stand with you muslim women, who are standing strong and really representing a bold voice in moving forward. so i want to make sure i get that shot out from councilman jones. [applause] look, it really is a distraction. right after the civil war in 1865, there was a period of reconstruction. in virginia, dozens of african-americans were elected to the general assembly. there was a period of 20 years when many people of color served. then someone came up with a strategy for distraction. it was, hey poor whites and poor , blacks are the same. but if we come up with this new strategy of jim crow laws, we can get the distraction so we can implement policies that enrich a few folks. and that enrichment, as we know, continued on until the 1929 stock market crash. it was all an economic distraction to pit whites versus blacks. go back and research how many people of color actually served in the a

ken touched on values, abdul talked about distraction and ilhan strategically said we need to be smart about how we approach all this and it's been great before. before you came in, councilman jones made this proclamation that all of us men, all of us muslim men appear on the stage. we stand with you muslim women are standing very strong and representing a bold voice and moving forward so i want to make sure we get that shout out. from councilman jones. look, it really is distraction. right after the civil war in 1865 there was a period of reconstruction and in virginia thousands of african-americans were elected to the general assembly and what happened was there was a period of about 20 years where many people of color served and then someone came up with a strategy for distraction. it was a, now poor whites and poor blacks are the same but if we come up with this new strategy of the jim crow laws, we can give this distraction so we can implement these policies that enrich a few folks. and that enrichment as we know continues on until 1929 when the stock market crashes and it was all an economic distraction to pick white versus black. go back and research it. how many people of