00:00Hello, hello, hello, it is so good to be with you all today and I am so grateful to be here
00:19in New Orleans. Let me first start off by saying thank you to Mayor Cantrell and Representative
00:26Troy Carter and my brother Cedric Richmond for opening the doors in New Orleans to so
00:32many of us from around the country. I also want to thank the Essence leadership, Rich Dennis
00:37and Carolyn Wenga, our DNC team who is working so hard. Many of you have gotten your free
00:42bags. Thank you for stopping by. Of course, my sister in the struggle, Stacey Abrams.
00:49Y'all, isn't she amazing? I am rolling around this weekend with Representative Chantel Brown
00:56from the great state of Ohio. Also in the House, Representative Val Demings and Representative
01:02Nakeema Williams. My sister from North Carolina, Sherry Beasley. There are so many African American
01:10women who are leading the Democratic Party right now and I am so happy to be with them every
01:15stretch of the way. Folks, it is good to be with you all today. And I know I am just as
01:21excited as all of you to hear later on from Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.
01:29Our Vice President is a fearless leader and I am so grateful for her. And I want to, again,
01:35thank the folks at Essence for hosting such a great event and inviting me to be a part of it.
01:40You know, it makes me happy to see the conversations and the concerts and the celebration of Black Joy,
01:47especially given how tough this last week has been for so many. And I know women in particular
01:54are hurting. You know, the court struck down a blow to reproductive freedom and the right to privacy.
02:00And we know who this will hurt. And I'm sure many of us can picture their faces right now.
02:06It's the aunties, it's the nieces, the cousins, the neighbors, members of our congregations,
02:13co-workers, and friends. The folks that we love so much and care so deeply about. These are the faces
02:21of this issue. This is who will bear the burden of this backwards decision. And folks, I want you to
02:27know that this is just a start. Contraception, marriage equality, a whole host of fundamental
02:33freedoms are on the line right now. There are folks who want to ban abortion without exceptions for rape
02:40or incest. They want to take us back 50 years, and it goes beyond abortion. We know all too well the
02:48ways that they will mess with our sacred right to vote. We see the way right now that some of these
02:54leaders are going after LGBTQ kids, all because they think it will keep them politically relevant.
02:59We've seen them push plans that could raise your taxes, end Social Security, and Medicare, and Medicaid,
03:06and threaten our health care. Folks, there's one vision. There's a cynical vision for this country,
03:16and those people are trying to win. It's one where some people have a say, where only some people have
03:25a vote, where only some people have a voice, where only some people matter. We, black folks, we all remember
03:34some of the darker days of our history. And I can still hear the pain in my grandmother's voice
03:39when she talked to me about the barriers she faced when she tried to vote in Jim Crow, South Carolina,
03:46or when the Ku Klux Klan marched down her block. This past week, I heard from women about how difficult
03:54and scary things were before Roe versus Wade, and how they're worried that those days will return.
04:00I just heard this morning that in my home state of South Carolina, the state is asking abortion providers
04:08to send to the offices of sheriffs reports of women who were impregnated by rape or incest,
04:15and are trying to terminate the pregnancy. They are trying to criminalize women who've been raped,
04:22who've been victims of incest. Folks, we can't go back. We can't go back.
04:3281 million Americans in 2020 voted for progress to build a better America. We're going to keep
04:40moving forward because that's all what you all called for. Just the other day,
04:46Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in at the Supreme Court.
04:53Folks, like many of you, I watch those hearings. And as my grandma says, they called her everything
05:00but a child of God. But you know what? Today, they're calling her Madam Justice.
05:08Folks, we are not going back. Last week, the first major gun safety bill in decades became law.
05:16We're not going back. With the bipartisan infrastructure law, we're investing billions
05:21of dollars into clean water to make sure our levies here in New Orleans are ready for the next
05:27hurricane. To ensure that communities, including right here in New Orleans, have clean water and
05:32affordable internet. No more feeling like you can't get the care you need because you don't have wi-fi
05:38for telehealth. No more worrying if the water coming out of the tap is actually poisoning you.
05:44Folks, we are not going back. You know, your votes delivered record job creation and historic lows in
05:52unemployment. Got hundreds of millions of people vaccinated for the first time.
05:57It was your votes that put thousands of dollars of tax credits into the pockets of parents.
06:02Your votes did that. Your votes helped lead to executive action on police accountability.
06:09Steps to address racial discrimination in the housing market. To ensure that the federal government
06:15is doing business with minority owned small businesses. Folks, we're not going back. We were
06:22able to save HBCUs because of your votes. You know, there's something that Dr. King said in his
06:30letter from a Birmingham jail. He said, we will repent in this generation, not merely for the hateful
06:35words and actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Folks, people of good
06:43will have to stand up and say enough is enough. We got to stand up and let these forces of evil know that
06:50we are not going back, that they are not taking back the rights that we spilled our blood for.
06:57You know, we are a people of faith. But the one thing that I learned in my good book, and I'm sure
07:03you learned in yours, is faith without works is dead. In my state, our motto is while I breathe, I hope.
07:11But folks, if we are really serious about hope, we got to put the hard work into making sure hope is
07:17realized. We got to make sure that we make sure that every young person can live their American dream.
07:25So over the course of the next few days and few weeks, as we move to election day,
07:31our motto as a people shouldn't be while I breathe, I hope. But our motto should be while I breathe,
07:38I vote. Because that is how we bring hope to New Orleans. That is how we bring hope to South Carolina.
07:44That is how we get hope back here in America. Don't let them take your hard-earned rights. Don't let
07:51them take your freedoms. And the way that you do that is by going to the polls and taking somebody
07:57with you. Taking your nieces, your nephews, your aunts, your uncles, your sons, and your daughters.
08:02Don't let them steal away your joy or your rights, my friends. We won't allow them to do that.
08:09Thank you all so much for what you do each and every day. And understand this, the other side likes to
08:14talk about brick walls, but we are the brick walls. We are the brick wall that is holding back the flames
08:20of chaos and protecting the hopes and dreams of your children and your grandkids and your nieces and
08:26nephews. You cannot falter, we cannot falter, and we got to do this together. God bless each and every one
08:33of you. Thank you so much for having me. And make sure you all go out and vote.
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