00:00All right, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Alfonso David, Melanie Campbell,
00:08Derrick Johnson, Mark Morial, and the Reverend Al Sharpton.
00:14Let's go.
00:15Round of applause.
00:30Essence Fest.
00:41Ready or not, here I come, you can hide.
00:50We have to understand that they're coming for us.
00:56They are coming for us.
01:00And we have to make sure that we fight back.
01:06I'm Alfonso David, I am the president and the CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum.
01:14We are fighting to make sure we protect our culture, that we advance economic equality for black and brown people in this country and around the globe.
01:26They are coming for us.
01:29And we have to make sure that we fight back.
01:34Tonight, we are here with leaders who have been fighting for decades to make sure that you know that we're going to fight for you, that we have your backs.
01:53Is there anything else?
01:54Mark Morial?
01:55Mark Morial?
01:55The president of the National Urban League.
01:59Melanie Campbell, President of the Coalition on Black Civic Engagement.
02:13Derrick Johnson, the President of the NAACP, and the one and only Reverend Al Sharpton,
02:26the National Action Network, we're here tonight to announce that we are forming a coalition,
02:38a Council on Economic Opportunity and Social Justice.
02:46We are going to work in coalition to make sure that we can fight back and succeed.
02:52The work that we do individually, yes, it's important.
02:56But when we come together as a group, no one can beat us.
03:02And this man knows that better than anyone else.
03:06The Reverend Al Sharpton, I will turn it over to him, he is our elder statesman.
03:16On Friday, the Supreme Court came with a devastating blow on Thursday and Friday.
03:25But we've had devastating blows before.
03:29It's not what they do to us, it's how we respond.
03:34And that is why we come together with these leaders that have been in the trenches.
03:42Don't forget they didn't give us affirmative action.
03:46We fought to get it and we'll fight to get it back.
03:54They can't trump us.
03:56They can't bump us.
03:58They can't stop us.
04:00We know how to fight and fight we will.
04:08Imagine while they are forgiving PPP loans to the rich, to the wealthy.
04:15They're going to cancel the forgiveness of student debt loans.
04:22We come to New Orleans to party, but we have not lost our minds.
04:27We're going to organize our behinds.
04:34So the Urban League with Mark Morial and Melanie Campbell with Civic Engagement and the NAACP
04:42led by Derrick Johnson, we're going to stand with Alfonso in a global way, in a united way.
04:51When we stand together, we are stronger.
04:55The blood that binds us is stronger than the waters that divide us.
05:00We may have different styles, but we're after the same thing.
05:05Forward ever, back with never, no justice, no peace.
05:13Thank you!
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