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00:12Good afternoon.
00:14Let me bring on the panel and start our discussion.
00:18With us, we have the leaders of civil rights legacy organizations.
00:23First, the president of the National Urban League,
00:27former mayor of New Orleans, Marc Morial.
00:35The president and CEO of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation,
00:41the one and only Melanie Campbell.
00:48The president and director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,
00:54Legal Defense and Education Fund.
00:57And she is a warrior in her own right.
01:00Janae Nelson.
01:02The president and executive director of lawyers committee for civil rights under the law.
01:12Damon Hewitt.
01:19And the president of the oldest and strong civil rights organization who's taken the reins with new vigor and a new charge.
01:30The president of the NAACP, Derek Johnson.
01:40Let me start by saying some remarks and then bring the panel on.
01:46And at some point, Marc is going to pick up because I got to go do politics nation.
01:51So I can talk about y'all all over the country for the folks that didn't come and wish they did.
01:58We have seen in this last week this Supreme Court come with two rulings.
02:06One on women's right to choose.
02:10The other on the Miranda rights.
02:13And what I am fearful of is that we're seeing the court now go to a state's rights model.
02:21Leaving it up to the states to decide what's going to happen with abortion.
02:27They'll come behind that with states decide on policing.
02:30States decide on this and that.
02:33And if we get into a state's rights model, history tells us that slavery.
02:40We just finished commemorating Juneteenth because Texas refused to do anything about slavery.
02:47Until the Union Army came in there and announced to the slaves who didn't know that they were free.
02:52And they had to enforce it with the slates.
02:55Voting rights.
02:56We had to deal with dealing with states rights.
02:59We forget people's personal opinions on women's right to choose or LGBTQ rights, even though I support both.
03:10But whether you do or not, can we afford to not look at this as a challenge on us going back into states rights,
03:20which is an assault on civil rights, which is an assault on black people at a disproportionate level.
03:28We are fighting for our very existence.
03:33And all of it starts with the fact that vote.
03:37Everybody that was here five years ago.
03:39I've been to every one of these Essence Music Festival since the first one.
03:44I think Mark and I have made them all.
03:47And all of you that were here six years ago talking about voting didn't matter.
03:53Well, you got three conservatives on the Supreme Court.
03:55That's why it matters.
03:57That's who made the decision.
04:00Does the threat of states rights and the whole goal of freedom, as you talk about it, Mark, is that not what is really at stake?
04:12And if so, what are the stakes and what do we need to do about it?
04:17I'm going to throw it to Mark and then, Mark, you do the panel.
04:20Thank you very much, Rev.
04:21And Essence, give yourselves a big hand.
04:24You all look beautiful and powerful and empowered.
04:28And I'll make a few remarks, but open the floor so my colleagues can have a discussion.
04:34Reverend Sharpton framed what we are against in clear terms.
04:42In less than a week, ten days, the United States Supreme Court has now finished its term by issuing a series of decisions
04:57which make this the most conservative court since 1931.
05:04And in every single instance, they are rolling back progress and steps that were won due to the hard work of the generation of those that went before us.
05:21Fighting in the courts, fighting in the streets, fighting in the legislatures, fighting in the Congress.
05:29So issue has been joined.
05:32And this battle requires us to say no to complacency, to say no to frustration, to say no to inaction, to say no to, if you will, distraction,
05:48and to chart a course.
05:51It includes continued activism.
05:54It includes voting.
05:56It includes litigation.
05:57It includes every single, every single measure, every single tactic that we have at our disposal.
06:06Essence has always been a party with a what purpose.
06:10And so while we gather to enjoy ourselves, this conversation today is about enriching, empowering, and educating, and preparing us to go back to our communities,
06:26prepared for the work and the battle ahead for our very existence and for our social justice, civil rights, and economic empowerment.
06:36So let me go to the panel, and I'm going to go to the two practicing frontline lawyers, Janae and Damon, at first.
06:45And Janae, to you first.
06:48These decisions are of great import.
06:53And I know that sometimes there's a complexity around these decisions.
06:57Could you put them in clear context so that folks understand what these decisions represent and why they are such a threat?
07:07And then, Damon, I'll come to you with the same question.
07:10Thank you so much, Mark.
07:12Let me just greet this crowd, this beautiful crowd.
07:15Hello, Essence.
07:16How are you?
07:17This is my first time at Essence.
07:21So I am just so honored to be here.
07:23And I could not be more thrilled to be on stage with my brothers and sisters in the fight.
07:28And I am the new president and director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
07:35Thank you so much.
07:36Thank you so much.
07:37It's just a true honor to be here.
07:40So, listen, you asked about the decisions of the Supreme Court.
07:44And I want to say this.
07:45The Supreme Court, there have been a lot of critiques about the Supreme Court.
07:51And they are justified and valid.
07:54But what is so important is to recognize that this court has been captured.
08:00This particular court, with the 6-3 extremist polarization on this court, is not a functioning court.
08:10It is a rogue court.
08:11It is a liberal court.
08:13But that doesn't mean the institution itself is this particular group of justices that are the six-person majority in all of these heinous decisions,
08:24are hell-bent on advancing an agenda that is anti-democratic and, frankly, anti-black.
08:31And I think we just need to name it and say it.
08:34That's what we're facing.
08:37But it's anti a lot of other things, too, right?
08:40Clearly anti-women, anti-freedom.
08:43And the Dobbs versus Jackson Women's Health decision could not be a more clear example of that.
08:50In reversing Roe v. Wade and reversing another case involving privacy and protection, Casey,
08:58the court went back on 50 years of solid precedent that women and people who can carry children have the right to choose when they want to start a family
09:10and to choose whether they will carry a pregnancy to term.
09:14And in order to do that, the court had to go back and look at the 14th Amendment that was ratified in 1868
09:23and say that that actually is the outlook that all of us today, this many years later, over 150 years later,
09:31that we are somehow burdened by the viewpoints of white men, white property-owning men,
09:38and their conception of freedom and life and liberty and privacy.
09:44That's not just a rollback.
09:46That's a complete reversal and anti-constitutional outlook that this court is trying to advance.
09:55We also saw a gun decision just the day before.
09:59And if you all heard it or read about that decision, you'll know that the court also exalted the Second Amendment
10:06and said the right to bear arms limits states' ability to regulate guns and gun safety.
10:14And they said this in the backdrop of mass shootings, of the killing of black people in Buffalo,
10:20the killing of young children in Uvalde, Texas.
10:22This court still said states could not on their own regulate guns.
10:27So again, those two decisions alone underscore what a rogue court we are dealing with.
10:32And both of those decisions relied on a 150-year-old view of this country and our freedom.
10:39So we should be asking for an examination of this court and whether reform is necessary,
10:45and we should be calling for the undoing of these two very dangerous and diabolical decisions.
10:51And I hope we have a chance to talk more about how we can all get involved in that fight.
10:56Thank you, Janae.
10:57Damon.
10:58Janae.
11:00Give her a hand.
11:01Thank you, Mark.
11:02And Janae said it so well.
11:04First, I want to greet the crowd, too.
11:06I'm a native of New Orleans, 17th Ward.
11:08Yes, sir.
11:09Where are you all at?
11:10Holly Grove.
11:11Holly Grove.
11:12So, look, I'll just make this plain, building on what Janae said.
11:16The Supreme Court, this Supreme Court, this currently comprised Supreme Court,
11:20is telling us that states have more rights than people, than me, than you.
11:25They're telling us that the rights you do have have a pecking order because it's that new math,
11:31that the Second Amendment, the second one, is greater than more important than the 14th Amendment,
11:36equal protection, that we fought and bled and died over.
11:39They're telling us that even when you have rights, you may have no remedy.
11:43Believe it or not, there's laws on the books, especially under federal law, where you have a right that's on paper.
11:51But the courts have interpreted the law to say, well, you don't have what they call a private right of action,
11:56meaning, well, there's a law there, but you can't go to court and sue over it.
11:59So what good is that?
12:00And so it actually calls into mind this current interpretation of this Supreme Court and the lower courts, too,
12:07the courts of appeals, district courts, that we have these rights with no remedies.
12:11And it calls into question, what is our democracy really all about?
12:15Now, we know that the democracy wasn't made for us. We know that.
12:19But we've been working for decades, if not centuries, to make it work for us.
12:24And so we have to keep up that fight. We have to make the promises of this democracy real.
12:29Because if they ring hollow to you and you and you, they ring hollow to me, too.
12:34I can't enjoy my rights if you can't enjoy yours.
12:37And we are in a linked fate battle here.
12:41I know that there is a black woman in this audience who is directly impacted by the Supreme Court's decision on abortion rights,
12:48overruling Roe v. Wade. The same black woman is impacted by this decision on gun violence and how guns can be controlled.
12:56She's also impacted by the court's decision on environmental racism, which we might even talk about much today.
13:03And she's also going to be impacted by what's on the docket now that Janae's organization and mine are working on
13:08at the Lawyers Community for Civil Rights under law on affirmative action, because that's on the docket this fall.
13:13Supreme Court is trying to undo all the precedent, everything we've relied on.
13:18So I know one thing. I don't advocate violence, but I know what a righteous fight is all about.
13:25A righteous fight. Yes, sir.
13:27And in our community, we're faced with a chance to have a righteous fight.
13:32We don't shrink. We don't turn around. We don't turn away. We won right into it.
13:38And that's what we're all doing together. We're going to do it with you.
13:41Let's give it up for Damon Hewitt. And just because it's always a moment,
13:45Damon Hewitt leads the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under law, which is a public interest law firm,
13:51actually litigating these cases in courts all across the nation.
13:56Janae Nelson leads the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
14:01That is the organization founded by Thurgood Marshall.
14:06Whose birthday is today.
14:07Huh?
14:08Whose birthday is today.
14:09Whose birthday is today.
14:10Happy birthday, Thurgood.
14:11And she continues a long tradition in fighting in the courts.
14:17So let's give them another round of applause.
14:20Derek Johnson leads the iconic historic NAACP.
14:26And we all look to the NAACP for guidance and direction when we face these crises.
14:35Time after time, the NAACP has lifted its voice and its resources.
14:41Derek, in this moment when people are asking, what do we do?
14:46How do we respond? Share your thoughts.
14:49Thank you, Mark. And I want to commend the two women on the stage.
14:54Because they lead with such distinction and clarity.
14:57As we celebrate here, in essence, the power of black women,
15:01you know, we also have to recognize that our movement has also been led by black women.
15:06And so how in Janai and before Janai showed up in Sherrilyn,
15:11it has been strong, clear on behalf of black folks that they happen to be women.
15:16So let's give it up for them, too.
15:18Yes, yes.
15:19Now, where do we go from here?
15:21You know, all of our organizations have a role.
15:24It's unique and distinctive.
15:26Social justice should never be seen as a competition.
15:30And what you see on this stage is a level of expertise that we all bring.
15:35NAACP is in 47 states, 2,200 units.
15:39And so we are the eyes and ears on the ground.
15:42And the reality in this current political environment,
15:45we are back into a marathon, not a sprint.
15:48There's no silver bullet, unfortunately.
15:51There were two presidential elections that truly brought us to this moment.
15:552000 Bush election and the 2016 election.
16:00And had those elections turned out differently, the makeup of the court would not be this makeup.
16:07Let's be clear.
16:09And unfortunately, as a result of over 70 years of efforts to turn this nation back on its head,
16:18because the opposition played the long game, had nothing to do with political parties.
16:23Political parties are only vehicles for agendas.
16:27The role of all of us here is to define and work through a black agenda.
16:32And so whether it was Dixiecrats who happened to be Democrats in the 40s, 50s, and 60s,
16:37right here in Louisiana and across the country, or Republicans today,
16:41the thing that must remain clear is the black agenda is the black agenda.
16:46And what we are witnessing is the overturning of the black agenda.
16:50Now, with that said, the long game.
16:54Unfortunately, for some people who are in election fatigue, elections have consequences.
17:00It's this midterm election.
17:02We have to make sure that we increase the number in the Senate, regardless of the political party,
17:08who are aligned with a black agenda of protecting our rights, our access to voting,
17:13the rights of women to ensure that our communities are not polluted.
17:17What they just did with the EPA ruling, just turned it up on its head.
17:21And it didn't come back to the 2024 election, and then the midterm election in 2028.
17:26That's the long game we have to play now.
17:29And unfortunately, this rogue Supreme Court, they're not looking at the law as if it's stagnant.
17:37In their mind, the law is fluid, and it can fit their whims, their political agenda.
17:43Just as Uncle Clarence Thomas, what he did in his opinion.
17:49He identified all the rights that he wanted to overturn, except for what he enjoyed when he got home married to his white wife.
18:00So let's be clear. This is not about a moral judgment, a just Supreme Court, or fairness.
18:09This is about a political agenda that has put corporations, individuals that have diminished our access to voting,
18:18that have eliminated choice for women, that have created space for more pollutions in our communities,
18:25and they are carrying out something that was established and strategized over 70 years ago.
18:32But black folks, we are the conscience of this nation, and we must show up in ways into the polls that we never have before.
18:40And unfortunately, I know we've heard that before, but the proof is in the pudding.
18:451% increase of black turnout in 2016 in targeted states, Trump wouldn't have been in the White House.
18:52White supremacy would not be where it is now.
18:55And so we have to do it midterm in 2024 election. That's where we have to go.
19:01Thank you, Derek. Melanie, Derek talked about the 2000 and the 2016 election.
19:13Both were characterized by lower black voter turnout.
19:19Let me be candid and clear, because we're here to have a family conversation.
19:24There are some in our community who say, I am tired and frustrated with this voting business.
19:35I vote time and time again.
19:39I hear people make promises, and they don't keep those promises.
19:44I'm frustrated, and I'm angry.
19:49So I'm going to check out on this voting.
19:54What say you when we hear that being expressed in our community?
20:03Do you all hear that?
20:04Yes.
20:05So we ought to just deal with it here, because we can talk about it, because we all know that it is a defeatist mentality.
20:16But we have to deal with and meet people in our community some where they are.
20:23What say you, Melanie?
20:24Well, first of all, I'm going to say, what say you?
20:27This is my brother from another mother, my brothers from another mother, my sister from another mother.
20:33And you, my brothers and sisters, are my sister and my brother.
20:36Listen, family talk.
20:39I know you asked me this question, but I want to say this.
20:46If we don't realize we're in a civil war right now, that the idea that we're talking about, and these sisters and brothers, I think I'm the only lawyer.
20:58I'm the only non-lawyer, yes.
21:03The power of what they do and fight for through the courts has now been stagnated.
21:10For black people in this country, the freedom that we have, even though we need much, much more and deserve much, much more, where you go, ultimately for black people, it wasn't states' rights.
21:23It was federal intervention.
21:27And so now what has happened, the highest court in the land, with those black robes on, are like the modern day white supremacists, as far as I'm concerned.
21:41Our sister, and say it with me, now Associate Justice Ketanji, say it with me, Ketanji Brown Jackson, has now, when I saw that sister, how many folks watched her put her hand on that Bible?
22:00That's what our vote got us.
22:03She went into the belly of the beast when she walked through that door.
22:07And Mark, I just, I had a lot of trepidation as I was excited.
22:13I was in this moment, and then I said, this sister has put her life, not literally on the line, but on the line to go in there and fight in the belly of that beast that now has six folks who feel they can put us back.
22:28And what did y'all say, 150 years? Count that number back.
22:34How long have we had any similar to freedom since the civil rights movement of the 60s?
22:41And all those things that were passed so that we can live where we want to, that we can go to the hotels, we can stay and we can talk mess at the hotel.
22:50Right? I mean, just real talk stuff.
22:54Even go to the grocery store or have a decent one in our neighborhoods is because we use the power of the vote.
23:02And so they attacked that piece and put us back for that.
23:07Now, let me say one thing to our sisters.
23:11When it comes to, and our brothers, what's really challenging for us is this Roe v. Wade, I'm Baptist slash AME.
23:22I get it.
23:24But I talked to a sister, we were in a meeting earlier, who talked about the 10-year-old girl since they reversed Roe v. Wade, who's pregnant right now, who lives in a state that passed a law, state law, that now is illegal for her to go to another state.
23:47So you think she just had, what can, think about the 10-year-old in your family.
23:53Their body's not ready for a baby.
23:56So what happened with Roe v. Wade now said, so now our bodies are under attack.
24:02We're right down from cancer alley, Mark.
24:05So now we have, how many folks got asthma yourself or in your family?
24:10When they made that decision, it now says, what?
24:14They don't care if we can breathe.
24:17Let us die.
24:19So when it comes to what's at stake, some people are upset that we haven't gotten enough.
24:24And I get it.
24:25We haven't gotten enough, and we're still fighting, right, to make sure that the people we put in office in the White House, President Biden, Vice President Harris, who will be here soon, right?
24:35They've done a lot, and yet they've got to do more.
24:38But they're not on the ballot.
24:40So young people who are out there, don't get bamboozled with being pissed off with them about what happened with Roe v. Wade.
24:46They didn't do that.
24:48But here's what you have an opportunity to do this year in five months.
24:54The people who can do something about it, long game, yes, the short game, Derrick knows, is that the Congress is up.
25:03Your governors are up.
25:05Your state legislatures are up.
25:07And if we sit this out, and young people, you have the power in your hands.
25:13Hear me now.
25:15Don't buy the mess that you're seeing on these phones.
25:18You should spend your time being pissed off at Biden and Harris.
25:22Be pissed off at that senator, that congressperson.
25:27And make sure that we, I'm not partisan.
25:30Mark, y'all don't get in trouble.
25:32I'm 501c3.
25:34I'm just going to be a political analyst.
25:36If there are, if we don't allow for there to be more Democrats to go into the Senate and more Democrats to go into the House, we will be set back for 150 plus years.
25:51You said it.
25:53That's slavery times.
25:5521st century slavery.
25:57So vote.
25:58Organize.
25:59Organize.
26:00Use the summer.
26:01It's a summer of organizing.
26:02It's about a freedom summer.
26:04It's about every damn thing we can figure out to do to get ourselves to the polls and vote.
26:12Good job, Mel.
26:15Derrick Johnson, you closely follow and watch the midterm lineup.
26:25Because we have people here from all over the country, can you paint a picture of the consequences and, let's say, the key power points at stake in the midterms?
26:36So what we're looking at is about a third of the Senate potentially turning over or an opportunity.
26:42So you think about the state of Georgia.
26:45We have very good candidates on the ballot that will represent the needs and interests of the communities we come from.
26:52But here's the struggle.
26:54We are over-indexing right now with black women turnout and under-indexing for black male turnout.
27:01So the sisters in the audience, we need your help in Georgia to pull your sons, boyfriends, and husbands out to the polls.
27:09Because Georgia becomes the key in a way in which most of us really may not clearly get.
27:16One, it's a southern step.
27:17You flip it.
27:18You change the trajectory of the southern strategy.
27:21Secondly, we at least have Senator Walnut in place.
27:25And I understand someone who's a pastor of Abernathy, I mean, the church that Martin Luther King pastor is key.
27:33Ebenezer.
27:34Ebenezer, right?
27:35It's key.
27:37And think about Stacey Abrams as governor.
27:40That's huge.
27:42When you look at a state like Florida, and we turn out, and Senator Val Demings is the elected person.
27:52When you think about turnout in Texas, Harris County did something that nobody thought was possible.
27:59Nineteen women got elected as judge.
28:02So goes Harris County.
28:03It's the potential for Texas.
28:05And even local elections like in Shelby County, Tennessee, where you have a racist DA on the ballot who would, if get elected, will serve eight years,
28:15as opposed to black folks in Memphis turning out, changing the nature of criminal justice in that area so we no longer have selective prosecution.
28:24I can go state by state.
28:26The reality of all these elections sit in this audience.
28:29Because the reflection of this audience would determine the destiny of democracy in our community.
28:34So we must get our people out to vote.
28:36And we must remember, give him a hand, good hand.
28:39Frustration is not a strategy.
28:42Cynicism is not a tactic.
28:44And we cannot allow ourselves to be defeated by inaction.
28:49We're about to have to wrap.
28:51But again, Janae, quickly.
28:56Critical race theory.
28:58An important, we haven't touched it.
29:01And Damon, I'm gonna come to you.
29:03But we need to understand how we frame our response.
29:10Because this is happening at school boards.
29:14It's happening in communities.
29:16And tell you why.
29:18Right here in this city, I was here about five months ago.
29:21A brother came up to me and said, I'm not down with critical race theory.
29:26Did you ask him what it was?
29:27Not his brother.
29:28No, here's what he said.
29:29I said, well, let me explain a little bit.
29:33So I very carefully and gingerly said, this is what it is, A, B, C, D.
29:40He said, well, I'm for that.
29:42He says, by the way, what the hell is critical race theory?
29:46Maybe as quickly, because we have to wrap, you can give us a succinct sense of why we have to fight
29:56so that the racial history of this country is told with clarity and accuracy.
30:05So I'll say very quickly, we at the Legal Defense Fund have an initiative that is called Pro-Truth.
30:10Because right now, there is a war on truth in this country.
30:14There is a war on information.
30:17Because armed with truth and armed with information, we have the basis for our demands for justice.
30:22And they want to take that away.
30:24And so there's critical race theory that is the boogeyman that covers everything having to do with race
30:30that conservative extremists are suggesting.
30:33And then there's the actual critical race theory, which is quite simply a way of understanding our laws
30:39and our systems and how they have been informed by racism historically
30:44and how that plays out through our legal system.
30:46Plain and simple.
30:48Everything we know about discrimination in this country is really analyzed through this lens
30:53of critical race theory.
30:55It's just a way of understanding the world around us.
30:59Point blank.
31:01What I will say on the war on information is that you all, we all, have to have actual facts, reliable sources.
31:08So I want to leave you any good meeting, you leave with some takeaways.
31:12And here are just two.
31:14One is, please visit voting.naacpldf.org.
31:20Voting.naacpldf.org.
31:23That is a microsite that we have that has all the information you might need, not only about your voter registration,
31:30but about how you can become a poll monitor.
31:33We need maximum engagement.
31:35So signing up to vote, bringing your brothers and sisters and friends to vote, yes.
31:39But also, if we don't like how the people who are representing us are treating us,
31:44we need to be in those positions of power.
31:46We need to be on the school board.
31:48We need to be on the library board to make the decisions about what our children are learning.
31:52And I also want to say this, contact your Senate.
31:56You should take out your phone.
31:58You should have a contact for the U.S. Senate.
32:01It is 202-224-3121.
32:05202-224-3121.
32:07Everyone should have it.
32:08I have it in my phone.
32:09Let's engage.
32:10Let's call.
32:11And let's make our voices heard.
32:13Great job, Janae.
32:15Damon?
32:16There's a legal standard from the Voting Rights Act lawsuits about making sure
32:21black people can elect their, have a meaningful opportunity to elect our candidate of choice.
32:26That's just legal jargon.
32:28But to make that real, to have your candidate of choice elected,
32:31whether it was Mark Morial when he was mayor or anybody else, you have to vote.
32:36Now, we're going to be out there defending your right to vote,
32:38but you've got to get out there, just like my brother Derek said.
32:41When you go to the polls, if you have any question, any problem, in fact,
32:45before you go to the polls, make a plan.
32:47Use the resource Janae talked about.
32:49You can also call 866-OUR-VOTE.
32:53Everybody say it.
32:54866-OUR-VOTE.
32:56Our vote.
32:57Our vote.
32:58Our vote.
32:59You can call that hotline.
33:00You can go online at 866-OUR-VOTE.ORG.
33:02Make your voice heard.
33:04Make your voice heard.
33:06It's in your hands.
33:07We are the ones we've been waiting for, people.
33:10Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Derek Johnson of the NAACP,
33:14Damon Hewitt of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights,
33:17Janae Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund,
33:21and Melanie Campbell of the Black Women's Round Table
33:24and the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation.
33:27I am Mark H. Morial, President of the National Urban League,
33:31and we authorize this message.
33:34...
33:48...
33:52...
33:56...
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