00:00From the University of Chicago to attend that event and experience a day that I have never
00:09forgotten and which has had a lasting impact on my life.
00:16And when we think back upon that extraordinary day, it is important that we remember not
00:24only Dr. King's unforgettable I have a dream speech, but we also remember the context in
00:34which that speech took place.
00:36We must never forget the extraordinary courage of the people who marched, who organized, who
00:45went to jail, who faced dogs and fire hoses, who risked their lives and in far too many
00:52cases gave their lives to secure a more just and equitable America.
00:59Because of that movement, segregation was dismantled.
01:06The Civil Rights Act was passed.
01:09The Voting Rights Act was passed.
01:12The Fair Housing Act was passed.
01:17Millions of Americans gained rights and freedoms that had been denied to them solely because
01:26of the color of their skin.
01:30Tragically, that dream of a more just and equitable society has never been under greater threat
01:41than it is right now.
01:43Today, we have a president who, along with the Supreme Court members he appointed, is carrying
01:51out the most significant assault on voting rights since segregation, targeting virtually
01:59every aspect of the electoral system.
02:03He is seeking to purge voter rolls and obtain sensitive voter data.
02:09Restrict mail-in votes and early voting, redraw congressional districts for partisan advantage, and deploy federal
02:21agents around polling places.
02:24He has undermined faith in American elections by falsely claiming that he won the 2020 election.
02:33And he goes around the country claiming that there are hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants
02:41who vote in our elections, which is an absolute lie.
02:48Bottom line, Donald Trump is an authoritarian who is deliberately trying to destroy faith in American democracy, create confusion,
03:03sow mistrust in our elections, and make it harder for Americans to vote.
03:09But Dr. King's dream is under threat in other ways as well.
03:18Dr. King understood that political freedom and economic freedom are inseparable.
03:30And that is why the March on Washington was not simply a march for voting rights, as enormously
03:40important as that was.
03:42It was the March on Washington for jobs and freedom.
03:48As Dr. King, a strong ally of the trade union movement, famously said, quote, what good is having
04:00the right to sit at a lunch counter if you can't afford to buy a hamburger?
04:09And let us never, ever forget, Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 while he was in Memphis, Tennessee, standing
04:22with exploited sanitation workers who were attempting to organize a union.
04:30Let us be clear, it's not only voting rights that are under assault today.
04:37That part of Dr. King's dream, the dream of genuine economic freedom, is also under unprecedented
04:47attack.
04:50Today, we have more income and wealth inequality than at any moment in American history.
05:01Today, 60 percent of our people live paycheck to paycheck, struggling to afford groceries, health
05:10care, housing, education, and the very basic necessities of life.
05:16And while this economic crisis impacts all of our people, all races, creeds, and people
05:24in every corner of our country, it continues to disproportionately affect the black community.
05:31Black Americans continue to face higher rates of poverty, shorter life expectancy, lower rates
05:39of home ownership, greater exposure to environmental hazards, and enormous disparities in access to
05:46the capital and economic opportunities.
05:50Trump's devastating cuts to health care, education, Head Start, and other programs have only made
05:58a very bad situation even worse.
06:01My friends, 63 years ago, Dr. King stood at this location and inspired all Americans, people
06:15of every color, every religion, every background, to stand together in the struggle for racial and
06:25economic justice.
06:26And as you all well know, the message he delivered back in 1963 is as true today as it was
06:37back then.
06:40Yes, black and white, Latino and Asian, people of all races, religions, and backgrounds must come
06:50together now in the fight for justice.
06:57We must never accept an economy in which so few have so much while so many have so little.
07:08An economy in where one man now owns more wealth than the bottom 50% of American households.
07:20Billionaires must start paying their fair share of taxes.
07:29We must never accept a corrupt campaign finance system which allows wealthy campaign contributors
07:38to undermine our democracy and buy elections.
07:44We must get rid of that disastrous Supreme Court decision, Citizens United.
07:51We must get super PACs out of the political process.
07:56We must move to public funding of elections.
08:03Brothers and sisters, we must never accept a system in which millions of workers continue
08:11to earn starvation wages and are denied the right to join unions.
08:17We must raise the minimum wage to a living wage at least $20 an hour.
08:26And we must pass the PRO Act, making it easier for workers to join unions.
08:32We must never accept a health care system designed to make huge profits for the insurance companies
08:40and the pharmaceutical industry.
08:43Health care is a human rights.
08:49We must join every other major country on earth and guarantee health care to every man,
08:56woman and child through a Medicare for all single payer program.
09:02We must never accept a situation in which a handful of big tech oligarchs push their AI agenda
09:12down the throats of the American people, threatening billions of our jobs, our privacy rights,
09:20the mental health of our children and the very future of humanity.
09:27AI and robotics must work for all of us, not just some of the richest people on earth.
09:38We must never accept a situation in which a handful of fossil fuel executives are putting
09:44the very future of the planet at stake for their own short-term profits.
09:49jobs.
09:49We must create millions of good-paying jobs by transforming our energy system away from fossil
09:57fuel and toward energy efficiency and sustainable energies.
10:04Thanks, where do you think?
10:05and thanks.
10:09Thanks, well, thanks.
10:10Thank you so much.
