00:00Well, good afternoon, everyone. Let me thank Chairwoman Yvette Clark for her
00:04tremendous leadership and for convening us today alongside NAACP President
00:11Derrick Johnson. We're so thankful, President Johnson, for your leadership,
00:16for your courage, for your strength in this unprecedented moment of attack.
00:23And it's an honor to stand with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, as
00:28well as former athletes committed to this cause in getting this egregious
00:34situation turned around. This is an unprecedented moment featuring an
00:41unprecedented attack on black political representation, and therefore it
00:47requires an unprecedented response. We are here standing in solidarity with the
00:57NAACP and its call for athletes to boycott institutions within the SEC that
01:09belong to states that have unleashed these Jim Crow-like racially oppressive tactics,
01:19which is unacceptable, unconscionable, and un-American. And we believe that the
01:26silence of these institutions is complicity, and we will not stand for it.
01:35At the same period of time, the Congressional Black Caucus strongly and uniformly opposed the
01:44so-called SCORE Act, resulting in Republicans having to pull the SCORE Act from the floor.
01:53And we will continue to oppose it. We will continue to stand with the NAACP
02:00in encouraging athletes in our community to look elsewhere until these racially gerrymandered maps in
02:09the South are reversed, buried in the ground, never to rise again.
02:20With respect to the SCORE Act, our position has been clear.
02:26If LSU is for it, we're against it. If the University of Alabama is for it,
02:35we're against it. If Ole Miss is for it, we're against it. If the University of South Carolina is for
02:44it,
02:45we're against it. If the University of Tennessee is for it, we're against it. And if the SEC schools
02:53are for it, we are against it. And we will continue to stand against it, because we're standing
03:00on the side of liberty and justice for all. And silence in this moment is complicity.
03:10The African-American journey in this country has been characterized by moments of progress,
03:15followed by moments of backlash. We had the progress of emancipation and reconstruction,
03:21followed by the backlash of Jim Crow. We had the progress of the Civil Rights Movement,
03:26followed by the backlash of mass incarceration. We had the progress of Barack Obama's election,
03:33and the rise of a multi-racial democracy, followed by the election of Agent Orange,
03:40and the rise of MAGA extremism and Project 2025. Progress followed by backlash. And for us to get
03:52through this moment of backlash and usher in a new era of progress, as has been done by generations in
03:59the past, it's going to require character, it's going to require courage, and it's going to require
04:06conviction. This is a Bill Russell moment. It's a Muhammad Ali moment. And it's a Jackie Robinson moment.
04:17And we're going to stand together to make sure we bring about the type of country
04:25that the African-American community deserves and that everyone in the United States of America deserves.
04:32And so if you believe in a multi-racial democracy, join us. If you believe in free and fair elections,
04:43join us.
04:45And if you believe in fair Black political representation in the South and all across America, join us.
04:54Welcome to what I've started to call Project 42, which is we're going to make sure that we battle
05:06through the turbulence, the trials and the tribulations of this moment. Push back aggressively
05:15against the racial gerrymandering that has taken place. And I'm confident though it won't be easy
05:22if we continue to stand up and show up and speak up for what we know is right. One day
05:28soon, we shall overcome.
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