Summary

TVU 21 PETE BUTTIGIEG CHICAGO IL ROBIN KELLY CONVERSATION ABC UNI 011720 2020 Frankly no news was made, but today's event gave an unusual look inside the campaign and it's problem with securing the black vote. If I didn't watch the news and just went to this event, I'd wonder why the Pete Buttigieg campaign surrogates tripled down on him not having a black problem. Nearly everyone that wasn't in congress that spoke at today's event sponsored by Rep. Robin Kelly. They talked at length about how Pete has black support despite the criticisms, polls, media portrayals and well lack of black attendee's at his campaign events in urban/heavily POC populated areas. About 100 people filled the nearly 2/3rds empty high school auditorium at Corliss High School in the far South Side of Chicago, located in an area known as the Pullman neighborhood, as a heavy snow storm approached the city. By the time the event concluded the city was blanketed with a sizable coating of snow. The majority of the people at the Chicago event were white, however for a public event with Buttigieg that wasn't hand picked with pre-invited attendee's it's probably the most black people I've seen at a public event of his since I started covering the former mayor back in April. Many of the black people that showed up either were from South Bend, were friends of Kelly's or came as a friend of a friend of someone's. Not very many dedicated black supporters. And for an event that was inside of a High School, after dismissal, the lack of teenagers was jarring to say the least. I saw maybe 5 or so teenagers in the crowd. Kelly said after the event, (OFF CAMERA) "I didn't expect this to be all black." She noted her district however was 51 percent black and said she personally knew African Americans that supported him. She noted that 4:00 P.M. was a difficult time to have an event but that's the time that the campaign said he could do it so they went with early afternoon event. The Surrogates really pitched Mayor Pete Buttigieg's non black problem. South Bend Councilwoman Sharon McBride spoke after Kelley on behalf of Buttigieg and she called out the national media for it's "negative narrative" that black people don't support the former South Bend mayor and noted rather interestingly that the surrogates have done work after Buttigieg's mayorship ended which was on January 1, 2020. "One of the reasons why I wanted to be a surrogate for Mayor Pete is to change the negative narrative that has been portrayed in the national media. There are black people that support Mayor Pete. And there's a lot of work that we have done that we have continued to do since his mayorship has ended and continue to move on and to the White House." 1716 Retired journalist Renee Ferguson, moderated the event. Ferguson self-described herself as Buttigieg's "other mother" and his "black momma" talked at length about her unique relationship with Buttigieg who she met as a young student at Harvard. He was recommended as a young man who needs to "learn how to use the media" because one day he would eventually be the next President of the United States. 171905 Ferguson said that Buttigieg applied and got the internship which was a rarity and he came bags packed to the internship, however he had no where to stay and planned on staying at the YMCA, Ferguson however would take him in as an intern and have him live with her and her family. 172113 "This idea that black people aren't going to vote for him is ridiculous because I'm his other mother. I'm also an investigative journalist. Okay and if there was anything wrong (unintelligible) I would know." She added that Buttigieg is the "anti-trump" at the event: 172153 "But when I left, NBC, I did a little bit of work and clinical science that I learned some things that you just don't learn otherwise. And one of the things that I learned is that the opposition throws a lot of mud people and they do whatever they need to do or say whatever they need to say, if it's true or not and so in this case. In this case, you know, the idea that he isn't going to get black support is ridiculous because he will. He will do you feel his heart. When you see realize he's the anti Trump." Buttigieg took questions out of his signature fish bowl, and really went out of his way not to make news. But the majority of the questions weren't newsy either. There were two interesting exchanges one that Buttigieg mentioned race directly in an exchange. Ferguson: It's such a hard job... Why do you want to be President. I mean really? 173819 Buttigieg: Well it's not like I thought to myself when I first ran for mayor eight or nine years ago, you know two good terms as mayor of South Bend and then clearly that's a launch pad to the presidency. This is not what I had in mind. We were living in a moment, that is different than any moment we've ever had in in our, in our story as a republic. This is a national emergency, not just the White House, we're in a social and political emergency that, frankly, that this President is as much a symptom, as a cause. A lot of friends-- of a lot of folks-- frankly a lot of black black folks in my life, kind of had a different take on this presidency (unintelligible) often hear things like what did you expect because of all the unfinished business that this country has that has led us to this point. And I believe it's going to take something different. Something also interesting to note, Buttigieg never called out his signature the Douglass plan by name. it was alluded to at today's event but never called out specifically. It's something that Buttigieg has been doubling down on for MONTHS in front of black and white crowds. However today it's like it wasn't his signature pitch to voters and felt like it didn't exist. Later a man stood up and talked about trying to do business with the Buttigieg campaign for the past 6 months, and called him out for not doing business while touting economic prosperity plans targeting black and brown people. 175901 Q: My company is African American Union printers, and we spoke with your team about trying to work with you and your team we exchange information. We went up-- in six months we have not gotten one quote, one email answered. And I really-- very passionately about economic development, and with the brown and black people is that affecting your campaign, or is that just a speech, because from my experiences. It's not happening through your campaign. Buttigeg: So it's very important to us, both in terms of the team that we've built. And in terms of the business that we do the way that we invest in media to make sure that we practice what we preach. I don't know about the specific business opportunity that you're discussing but I'd love to get your information afterwards and run down and see if there was any missed opportunity to communicate with, because this is something that campaigns ought to be doing, and something our country ought to be doing. We have a long way to go for the purchasing done by the federal government to reflect the economic the diversity and the economic opportunity being created especially by entrepreneurs of color. And so again, without knowing that this specific business opportunity at hand here, I would love a chance to make sure that we take care of any disconnect that was there and I'm glad you came here to answer. Thanks. ------ Also to note: Buttigieg was the first of several 2020 candidates who are expected to attend upcoming events with Kelly including Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, former Gov. Deval Patrick, former Vice President Joe Biden and Mike Bloomberg just to name a few. Kelly says she plans on inviting every candidate to come to her district. The Congresswoman said repeatedly she isn't endorsing Buttigieg or any candidate until shortly before the the Illinois primary on Tuesday, March 17. Kelley said "We've invited, almost all of the candidates and if they haven't been invited yet. It's just that I haven't spoken to their person because everybody is welcome." 1714 [17:17:57] A recipient of seven Chicago Emmy Awards, a Dupont Award, the Gracie Award and the Associated Press Award. Please welcome to the stage Miss Renay Ferguson. Hey, everybody. [17:18:16] Trojans, thank you for coming out. You know. We all have mothers. [17:18:28] And I am Pete's other mother. Now, how in the heck did that happen? Well, you know, I did. I'm retired. I'm 70 years old. But I did investigative reporting here for many years and I was getting an award at Harvard. [17:18:45] And this is like 17 years ago. And. One of the professors came up to me and said, I have a young man I'd like for you to meet. He's probably going to be president of the United States someday. [17:19:06] This really happened and then they said, and he needs you. To show him how to use the media, you got to explain to him how it works. I'm like, yeah, OK. Well, I said he has to apply just like everybody else for an internship. And when normally we only take interns who are journalism majors. So he applies. I'm not on the committee. But. They were so impressed with his essay that he got the internship. Well, then he shows up at my office with his bags packed and everything coming. [17:19:48] And I'm like, oh, you found some place to stay with one of your Harvard friends. And he's like, No, really? Well, where are you? Where are you? Where are you staying? And he said, Well, I don't know, but I thought, I stay at the Y. At which point I said, no, you're not staying at the Y on my watch. So I call my husband and he says my husband was also a journalist. He passed away two years ago. [17:20:15] He said. [17:20:18] Honey, you know, it's not appropriate to bring an intern home, and I said, uh huh. But it's not appropriate to let him stay at the Y. So. I figured we figured, well, we'll find him someplace to stay. We live in Hyde Park on President Obama's street a couple of blocks down. So I said, you know, we'll find some place for. [17:20:42] Well, he comes in. He pets our dog. The dog bites him. [17:20:49] But he also makes up his bed. [17:20:53] He helps our son with his math homework and. He is family. And I called his mom. And she's thanked me and I thanked her for giving birth to and raising such a wonderful young man. So that's who we are. That's who he is. And this idea that black people aren't gonna vote for him is ridiculous. Because I'm his other mother. And I'm also an investigative journalist. OK. [17:21:37] If there was anything wrong gone wrong. Who I would know. [17:21:43] OK, I would know. And. So I really want to thank you for coming. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your support. We have some work to do in our community. I know that. But when I left NBC, I did a little bit of work on the political side, so I learned some things that you just don't learn otherwise. And one of the things that I learned is that the opposition throws a lot of mud on people and they do whatever they need to do or say whatever they need to say. If it's true or not. [17:22:22] And so in this case in this case, you know, the idea that Pete isn't going to get black support is ridiculous because he will. He will, when you feel his heart, when you see. When you realize he's the anti Trump, he's the opposite of what we've got now and that our country has some healing to do. We celebrate Dr. King's birthday on Monday. [17:22:51] And I can only think that Dr. King would be so proud. Brandon of me of. [17:23:00] So that's it. Come on out. Pete. [17:23:15] Thank you. I suppose to sit here. [17:23:20] Yeah, I know. Thanks, everybody, for joining us. Thank you so much. Rene, first of all, for taking me in when my housing fell through and for your leadership and for showing the power of seeking justice through truth. [17:23:36] It was at Rene's side as an intern that I learned just how much was going on in the underside of this city, but also the power of shining a light on what was happening that was wrong to bring about change. [17:23:50] And it was part of what motivated me to get involved and stay involved in public life. Thank you to Congresswoman Kelly, who lives and breathes this district. Yes. [17:24:02] Robin, just so you know, whether you meet her right here in Chicago land or whether you run into her in Washington, D.C., she is constantly talking about the hopes and the struggles and the aspirations and the challenges of her district. And you are so well served to have her looking after your interests in Washington. Thank you, Councilwoman Sharon McBride, who is continuing to serve the city of South Bend. Now that I am just a citizen and a retired mayor as far as the city of South Bend is concerned,. [17:24:38] I've been so inspired to see her continuing to work to serve her constituents and our city as well. And of course, I'm thankful for the support for this campaign. I think we'll pray go right into a Q and A pretty quickly. I just want to mention one other thing, which is I'm thrilled to be back on the south side of Chicago land because, of course, of all of Chicago. This is the part that is closest to South Bend and my house. [17:25:01] That's right. [17:25:03] And we also have a lot of experiences in South Bend, which I think a lot of people think about because they see football games on TV. They see that big golden dome. And they think we must be another homogenous, tidy, white, wealthy college town, not knowing that we are a diverse community, a low income community, a community that has faced enormous struggles, including around racial and economic inequality, but also that has taken enormous strides that we're so proud of in terms of what we've been able to do and inform my sense of urgency for what we got to do as a country. So I'm thrilled to be here and looking forward to the conversation. All right. [17:25:38] So I think the way it goes is that we have some questions here in this bowl. Otherwise, I'll make spaghetti fingers. But I it. Yeah. I brought the constitution with me. [17:25:56] And I actually walk around with it a lot. I read it. I still don't understand it. Totally. OK, here's a question. From Suzanne Angle. [17:26:11] Give a quick call, holler and wave. We're seeing mostly just very bright lights here. What a sad look in your direction. Hello. [17:26:17] OK, Suzanne. Thanks for coming. She says she asks, I think combating climate change is an urgent issue. What will you do as president to work to solve this problem, both in the United States and with other countries? [17:26:30] Well, I agree. It is an incredibly urgent issue. And it's not just something that's happening on the coasts. It's happening in the American heartland, in our city, in South Bend. Twice I had to open the emergency operations center for an emergency in our city, and both times were for a flood. That's supposed to be the kind of flood that only happens once or twice in a millennium. They happened two years apart. [17:26:54] So we know from what's happening here in the Midwest to Australia, where we're now seeing tornadoes made a fire literally that this is upon us and it's only going to get more severe. Well, we have to do is a national project, a national mobilization that brings everybody into the solution. And we could walk through all of the policy things we need to do about renewable energy, doubling renewable energy into the grid by 2025, getting transportation to be carbon neutral by 2030 for light vehicles and then 2040 and eventually having our whole economy be fossil fuel free or carbon neutral on a net basis by the middle of the century. [17:27:31] But the truth is, everybody's got a plan to do that. We've been talking about how to do that for as long as I've been alive. The question is how are we actually going to get it done? And that is where we need to make sure that everybody is part of that effort globally by rejoining the Paris climate accord. Absolutely. But that's just table stakes. And here in the country, by making sure we include those who have been made to feel like climate science, accepting it would be a loss for them, farmers, industrial workers. [17:27:58] And as we implement our solutions, there has to be special attention to the question of equity, because almost inevitably, we are seeing the impacts of environmental justice issues coming down on black and brown communities the most. We saw it in our own city where a lot of the neighborhoods that were least well protected against flooding were disproportionately black. And we are seeing it on everything not just related to climate, but also pollution. [17:28:24] And that has been happening for years and for decades as the neighborhoods that many were redlined into are also those most likely to suffer contamination and pollution. It's why we not only need a head of environmental protection who believes in climate science and environmental protection. Again, this should be table stakes, but these days we have to insist on it. [17:28:44] But it's also making sure that the voices of those who have the most to lose are at the table and that folks from communities that have been marginalized and dispossessed are at the front of the line when it comes to the jobs that we are going to create. We can create 3 million net new jobs from rising to meet the climate challenge everywhere from the service corps that I'm proposing, we create to new businesses that are going to be created. And we have got to make sure that those communities that have suffered the most are those that have the opportunity to gain the most from the actions we're going to take as a country to deal with it. [17:29:15] OK. Thank you. That's. You know, Pete. I grew up in Oklahoma City and in my neighborhood there was, as you say, the issue of environmental justice. [17:29:28] There was a sewage treatment plant. Now, as kid, I didn't realize what that was really about. It just smell bad and I had asthma and couldn't breathe and there were oil wells all around. And then as soon as I left the state, my asthma went away. Now I know. [17:29:48] So this isn't just. An issue? Yes, we do. If we're going to live on it, we have to preserve the climate. We have to preserve our earth and respect it. But it is very personal. It's very personal for people whose lives are impacted by this. So how do you get Congress to do anything? I mean, really? [17:30:15] Because I mean, the oil and gas industry, they have people who. [17:30:24] That's right. Lobby and very effectively. So how are you going to really get it done? [17:30:29] That's right. That's one of the big challenges. We can talk about this all day, but we have to actually get these things done, whether it's environmental justice, action on climate housing, wages, paid leave. Well, we've got to do on criminal justice reform any of the issues that need urgent attention. And not every member of Congress is Robin Kelly. So and that's the House. [17:30:49] When you get to the Senate, how then we're really in trouble. But here's the thing. Right now, even more than what President Obama had to work with a decade ago, there is a powerful majority of the American people ready to do these things. There is a powerful majority of Americans, a multiracial, multigenerational coalition, insisting that we do something about climate, demanding that we do something to lift up wages at a time when now not one county in the United States is a place where somebody working minimum wage at full time can afford a two bedroom apartment. [17:31:22] Even on issues where my party has been on defense like guns, common sense measures like universal background checks, red flag laws, doing something about assault weapons, right now there's a majority even among Republicans. Now, when I say even among Republicans, I'm talking about people on the ground, not so much people in Washington. And that's why if we cannot get those senators to drop their bad faith obstructionism, if we cannot work with them, then we're going to have to go around them to their boss. [17:31:50] In other words, go to those who voted them in. Even in some purple and red states where most people agree with us. And the way I see it there is there is a big blue and white airplane that comes with the Oval Office that the president uses mostly for the purposes of traveling between golf courses with his name on them. All right. I will be using that airplane for the purpose of going directly into the home district, home state or home town of the senators who are getting in the way of these common sense measures that are going to make our country better off and forcing them to explain to their own people why they are defying those who voted to send them to Washington. [17:32:29] Well, I think what you said that was most important and was the fact that you will create create new jobs. That new jobs can be created. That's right. And that's really important because what we're hearing from the oil and gas industry is that, well, you know, you're you're putting us out of that. [17:32:51] Now, there's tremendous economic opportunity and doing the right thing. And it's not just I mean, a lot of times when we think of green jobs, maybe the picture that comes to mind is somebody working on a on a farm of solar panels or rappelling down the shaft or one of those windmills that you see. And that's definitely important. [17:33:08] But we're also talking about jobs that are very easy to understand today. I'm talking about union electrical workers and glaciers and insulators and carpenters that we're gonna need just to do the building retrofit to make our buildings more carbon friendly. So the jobs we're going to create will often benefit those exact industrial workers who have been told that they have so much to lose. [17:33:27] And we've got to make sure again, as we build up that economic opportunity, that we also do it with a view toward equity. [17:33:33] Yes. And people have to understand that they are not threatened by by progress. [17:33:40] And I know change is hard. I know it is. But he represents the change that our nation needs. So the next question is from Steve Nelson. Steve, are you here? [17:33:58] You're mostly just a bright light to us, for we see. [17:34:01] Steve. [17:34:03] Oh, OK. Sorry. I'm really old Mayor Pete. I'm a Vietnam veteran. [17:34:12] 4TH Infantry. After Vietnam, I was very active in Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Were it not for millions. Go ahead, clap. Yes, thank you. Applause. Thank you, Steve. Were it not for millions of patriotic Americans who opposed the war, we would still be there. To this day as president. How will you end the 18 years in Iraq and Afghanistan? [17:34:44] Mm hmm. Wow. [17:34:46] Well, that's a tough question. [17:34:47] First of all, thank you for serving and thank you for the courage to stand up. [17:34:51] Applause. Thank you for serving twice over by having the courage to stand up against that conflict. And I got to say, you know, I had the good fortune of belonging to a generation of veterans that served at a time when Americans had learned to divide the way we felt about the policies on a conflict from the way that we treat the troops. [17:35:13] And I know that your generation did not have the benefit of that same understanding. And so I want to offer, especially for those veterans who had misgivings about the conflict, but really for anybody who's serving, serving at that time. A belated thank you and welcome home, because I know it didn't come the first time the way it ought to. [17:35:35] And you also raised a great point that if we want to go beyond saying thank you for your service. [17:35:39] One of the best ways to do it, one of the best ways to honor service is to make sure no one is asked to serve in a conflict that can be avoided or to prolong an endless war. No, I I just ran into someone at the airport. As chance would have it, we're in Los Angeles about a week ago who I had served with a senior enlisted leader who I hadn't seen since she was injured in an insider attack. She was shot and they couldn't save part of her leg. And she bears that injury with unbelievable courage and grace. In fact, she was wearing a T-shirt from the Wounded Warrior Project that said some assembly required and she cheerfully knocked on her prosthetic when I asked how she was doing. [17:36:17] And then she let me know she's still serving and getting ready to deploy again. We have service members who will do whatever it takes. All the more reason we need to make sure they are never asked to go into a conflict that could be avoided and that we bring an end to the endless wars that we are in. I thought years ago when I last saw her, I thought I was one of the last troops turning out the lights in Afghanistan. And we're still arguing about how to get out. It shows you what's at stake in making sure that we prevent new conflicts from emerging. So what can we actually do about it? [17:36:49] Well, a big part of it is the role of Congress. Congress in this country is supposed to have authority over war powers, but has hesitated to use that authority. And, of course, presidents have not felt that necessary. A lot of the time to go even and check is why we now have troops everywhere from Southeast Asia to Africa based on the law that was passed in 2002 to deal with 9/11. [17:37:13] You could be old enough to deploy now and not have been alive on 9/11. [17:37:18] So not only will I take every step to ensure as commander in treat chief, that we engage our partners to always be away, moving away, not toward the brink of war, but also in the event that I have no choice but to seek an authorization for military force. I will also make sure that it includes a three year sunset automatically, so that if a future president really has the need to extend that, they would have to go back to Congress and therefore go back to the American people and explain exactly why there is no alternative. [17:37:53] Because if our if troops like like the person I served with can summon the courage to do what they're doing, then we've got to make sure our elected leaders demonstrate the courage to take up or down votes on whether to send them there in the first place. Was that good for you? [17:38:11] OK. All right. [17:38:16] You know, it's such a hard job. Why do you want to be president? [17:38:23] I mean, really. Well, it's not like I thought to myself when I first ran for mayor eight or nine years ago, you know, two good terms as mayor of South Bend, and then clearly that's a launchpad to the presidency. This is not what I had in mind. [17:38:37] But we are living in a moment that is different than any moment we've ever had in in our in our story as a republic. This is a national emergency, not just the White House. We are in a social and political emergency that frankly, I think this president is as much a symptom as a cause. [17:38:53] A lot of friends and a lot of folks, Frank, a lot of black folks in my life kind of had a different take on this presidency emerging, often hearing things like what did you expect? [17:39:04] Because of all the unfinished business that this country has that has led us to this point. And I believe it's going to take something different. So in order to win, we've got to make sure that we are offering something different from the mentality that got us here. If you think about it, every time I party ever has won, every time we've actually succeeded in the last 50 years at taking the White House, certain things have been true about the nominee. It's been somebody who comes from outside Washington, doesn't work there or hasn't been there long. [17:39:35] It's been somebody who's new on the national scene, hadn't run before. It's been somebody is calling the country to its highest values and somebody who represents a new generation of leadership. I mean, every time we've won the last half century, it's been somebody who had those qualities. And I began as a Democrat. And we tried other things a lot of times and come up short. So I began to realize that I had something to offer here. And I began to realize that a voice from the middle of the country who can speak to the falsehoods that are being thrown at us, the lies of this president who says he speaks for farmers. [17:40:10] But as somebody who, you know, my biggest our biggest water customer when I was running water for the city's South Bend is as mayor was an ethanol plant. And we've seen how they betrayed the farmers, industrial workers in cities who are getting really impacted by this manufacturing recession. As the president beats his chest and says, look how great the economy is because the stock market's looking good and it's great that the stock market's looking good. But that's not getting to most folks. That's not reaching South Bend. That's not reaching Stony Island for so many people. [17:40:41] And we need somebody who can speak to that. And we need somebody, I think, from a community like South Bend, who when we hear not just from the president, but from from the commentators, that we've got to choose between economic and racial justice, that either we're going to talk to lunch bucket issues and kitchen table issues, or we're going to speak to racial justice, that either as if black and brown folks don't have kitchen tables to that. We're either going to speak to the needs of the displaced autoworker or we're going to speak to the needs of the black single mother of three when I where I come from. [17:41:15] LA Times a displaced autoworker is a black single mother of three. So there needs to be a different kind of messenger, not a millionaire from the middle of the country who can talk about these things in order to win, of course, but also in order to govern, in order to turn the page and get us to a different moment. And so I began to realize that I could either keep saying this is what they ought to do. Why don't they do this? Why don't they do that? Or I could say, why don't I do this? Why don't we do that? And once I realized that was a likely way forward, once it made sense to me. [17:41:46] And once it made sense to Charleston, we had a long talk about whether we were going to do this together. Then the question would be, would it make sense to anybody else? And this idea that seemed crazy one year ago when we had four people, an exploratory committee, no money. Not much of a mailing list. And very little name recognition has now brought us to the point where less than three weeks out from the voting beginning in Iowa, we are in the top tier of candidates. And now it's our job to make sure we see it all the way through. [17:42:16] So what made you decide to come out? [17:42:23] Well, for a long time, I've found that I didn't miss not having much of a personal life because I was so busy at work. The city was a jealous bride when I was a young bachelor mayor. But it was really the deployment that changed things for me. So I was a reservist. I got called up. [17:42:41] Turns out big Navy doesn't really care if you're a mayor or not and they need you. [17:42:46] You go just like anybody else. And and I went and I realized as I was writing that that letter that I think everyone writes before they go overseas and putting in an envelope and leaving it where my folks could find it if I didn't come back. [17:43:02] That. [17:43:04] I had this hole in my life that I had grown man, mayor of a city about to go to war. No idea what it's like to be in love. And I thought, I can't go on like that. So I came back. I realized that I needed to have a personal life in order to do that. I need to come out. I didn't want to be sneaking around and. Then there was just a matter how to tell everybody. And I resented that a little bit because straight people don't have to come out and tell everybody who's business. [17:43:36] Yeah. Oh, it's ours. [17:43:37] But you do, especially in Indiana. Maybe if I was in California, I could just go to the. I could go to the next charity dinner as mayor. And my date would be a dude. And everybody be like, oh, okay. But not in Mike Pence, Indiana in 2015. [17:43:51] I'm not so sure in America yet. [17:43:52] So I wrote it out. I wrote a little less. I took a deep breath, sent it to the local newspaper, and it was a reelection year. We didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew that I needed to take this step. I also trusted my community would support me based on the job I was doing for them. We're a Democratic city mostly, but also a very socially conservative city. A lot of religious folks from Eastern European Catholics to black evangelicals to just a lot of folks who,. [17:44:22] Though they vote Democrat, made may or may not be on the frontlines of. Well, we don't know progressives, but I just took that chance. And what wound up happening was I got a higher vote in the second election than that reelection. I did the first I got 80 percent of the vote. Having come out in Mike Pence as Indiana. And what that told me was that if you trust your voters, they will trust you. [17:44:46] Applause And I think the honesty that that represents is really important. Because we now have a president who has made lying. Just the regular day to day thing that he does. I'm not sure he recognizes truth or any effort to find it. So the honesty, I think, was really important to keep. Okay. There are. I don't know who wrote this, but there are over 450000 current foster kids in the system across the United States. Now, here in Illinois, we've had one hundred and twenty five children to die. In foster care. And our system is very badly broken and too often motivated by money. [17:45:44] Actually. How do we fix that? [17:45:49] So it's clear that the system is failing children and we're talking about some of the most vulnerable children to begin with. And so much of this is being managed at the state level, but it's clear that there needs to be federal support and federal standards. This is part of why we set a floor at the federal level to make sure that no state and more importantly, no child falls below a standard that that we're going to uphold. Now, in terms of resources, that also means making sure that we're setting up the whole child for success, making sure that they are safe, physically safe, of course, but also recognizing everything that they are up against. [17:46:26] In particular, one area, whether where for foster kids and for kids who are most vulnerable, we are clearly falling short as a country is mental health. And so you're seeing a lot of teachers who are being expected to manage mental health without having the mental health, first aid, training or a place to refer kids, even if they find something or a school psychologist on staff, which should be as routine as a nurse. [17:46:51] But also, we're seeing a lot of teenagers who the closest thing they'll get to anybody providing any kind of service on addiction or behavioral health is a jail or a police officer. That are the last place we should be looking to get these issues addressed. And so while we've taken a lot of steps that are moving us in the right direction with alternatives to incarceration, with the work that's being done around the school to prison pipeline, there is a ton of work for those kids who are most vulnerable, disproportionately likely to be represented in the foster system, who need support not only to make sure they're physically safe,. [17:47:27] But to take care of them from the neck up, where a lot of times the greatest harm and the greatest risk is. And that's why we're proposing federal grants, healing and belonging grants. We call them recognizing that there are different problems and different systems in different states. So not all the answers have to come from Washington, but more of the money should. And addressing the foster system is a great example of where that principle applies. [17:47:50] Now, Alicia Foster. Where are you? Are you out there? Where are you, Alicia? Alicia, can I talk about this? Okay. Alicia and her husband, Alicia, stand up, please. Get up here. Alicia and her husband are two amazing young people. One of my children, but makes us like siblings. It's a great family. Yes. Yes. Alicia. Alicia. Children have a an auto immune condition that causes bruising. So when they first took their first little kid to the doctor. [17:48:35] That doctor called the Department of Children and Family Services. [17:48:41] And they have been fighting to get their kids back for six years, for six years. So when you talk about how. Traumatizing. It is. [17:48:55] Alicia and her children. You know, she's she's has great grace and her husband, too. But. They have had to go through hell. [17:49:07] They visit their children. They didn't have their babies for Christmas, Thanksgiving. [17:49:17] And so this is a really, really, really big problem. If we had one hundred and twenty five kids to die. And a family like Alisha, where the doctors say, oh, this is what it is. It's not abuse. Your kids have this to this. And then the kids in foster care aren't being treated. So they're being traumatized, their physical condition, their auto immune condition that they discovered not being treated. And a foster mother who no doubt wants to keep the kids as a part of her economy. This is a very deep problem, guys, and I appreciate you, Pete, that you would even address it, because we have not we have not as a state and I don't think we have as a country. [17:50:16] What's your greatest fear or what you'd like to ask? [17:50:22] No. I guess when you break things down, the biggest I guess issue is the infrastructure of the system in itself. They kind of do reverse engineering where they, for one, disproportionately will accuse blacks, but also. I guess, like you said, it needs to be on a more federal level. And what could you propose to kind of. Help out so when parents are falsely accused, they are guidelines that are put into place that can kind of help. Not railroad parents so much in the direction that'll harm families for like me years when, you know, the criminal justice system is a lot of parents in jail. That's of false accusations, which doesn't do anything well for the kids, the parents or anyone. [17:51:15] Well, thank you for sharing your story. And I think what sharing points up that the border is not the only place where family separation is going on in America. [17:51:25] And we see it in the criminal justice system. We see it in other ways. I remember a close friend of mine who I called after the birth of his son. It should have been one of the most joyous days that you can have. And I call them see, I was doing a couple of days later and he said, I'm having the worst week of my life. I asked what happened and what had happened was there was something happen during the birth of the child that led to a fracture. [17:51:52] And soon after that, his family came under suspicion. [17:51:58] And eventually, he had a much more fortunate ending to this story than it sounds like the fight that you're in. But he was left wondering if he were white. Would the system have been quicker to believe him? And we've seen whether it's situations with parents or situations with patients. I think many of us have followed what happened with Sean Award in Milwaukee. Just one patient lost her life after going to the E.R. like you're supposed to do if you think you might be having a heart attack and knowing that there are so many cases that help to explain things like the black maternal mortality gap based on the fact that in the clinical environment, patients of color and black patients in particular are less likely to be believed. [17:52:42] And the same thing is true in the system as a whole. The same thing is true everywhere from someone who is trying to get credit for small business, to someone who is in an interaction with the system when it comes to taking care of their children. And it is why we have to root out every form of explicit and implicit bias that is doing this kind of harm. Because that experience of separation, and especially when I have something like the incarceration of a parent that flows through the life of the next generation to we've seen it in our city is one of the traumatic experiences that can make it more difficult for a child to get ahead. [17:53:15] And it is an example of what is at stake in ensuring that we dismantle all of the overlapping structures. I talking about justice. We're talking about housing. We're talking about health. We're talking about the economy. All of the overlapping structures of systemic racism in this country. And we have to be intentional about it. And it's not going to be enough to just take a policy that was racist. Cross it out and replace it with one that is neutral. That's not enough. We have to be intentional here. And your story will be on my mind as we continue to talk about what it takes to dismantle those patterns of inequality. [17:53:46] Thank you for letting me share that. I know, I know it's highly personal. I'm sorry. [17:53:52] I just called you out. But Alicia's story and her children are beautiful. And it is. I don't know how she and her husband walked through with such grace, but they have been fighting for six years. Speaking of fighting, what are you going to do about the gun violence in Chicago? [17:54:12] Unfortunately, there's a lot of gun violence and in our community, too. Now there are things that are making a big difference. One example and council member McBride has helped work on this, too, is what's called a group violence intervention. It's based on realizing that the people who are most likely to be involved in violence are people and remembering that they will respond to a direct conversation among people they respect. And so we have been able to transform lives by identifying those who the system tells us are most likely to be involved either as a victim or on the other end of gunfire. And nothing feels better than to cease how proud somebody stands when they've come through the process and are getting ready to go to their first job. [17:54:59] But. I'd be lying if I said that that had solved the problem. It's being it's a strategy that's helping. But I found myself not long ago on a panel with the mayor, a fellow mayor from a different state, and they were talking about the remarkable things that had happened in her city. [17:55:16] It was a fall in gun violence. And I said, I've got to take close notes. I got to see everything they're doing. And the more I listen to what she did, the more it sounded exactly like what we did. But we're still having so much heartbreak around gun violence. And it took me a while before I realized that in addition to all the excellent work she did, there was one other difference. Her state implemented serious gun laws. Now, as we know from Chicago, having a state implemented gun laws is still not enough. [17:55:44] But what we know is the time has come for us to act nationally. We need background checks. We need to close the boyfriend loophole and the loophole in background checks that says if the background check doesn't come around in time, you just give somebody the weapon anyway. We wouldn't do that in a job search. Imagine if the background check is late. Oh, well, hire. No red flag loss. Identifying when somebody is known to those who love them as perhaps a danger to themselves or others to disarm them and doing something about the kinds of weaponry that are being sold right now. [17:56:16] The kinds of weapons that I trained on the military, I mean, anything remotely like it has no business being sold for profit anywhere near a school or a neighborhood or a church in the United States of America. [17:56:27] Applause. [17:56:32] And yet I grew up in Oklahoma. Hunting and everything, and I know that people don't want to give up their guns. Are you telling us that we're gonna have to give up our guns? [17:56:42] Well, this is the thing folks are saying. It's all or nothing. Either you're coming to take everybody's guns away or we can't do a single thing. Sometimes the way they put it is that if you propose something like an assault weapons ban, they'll say we can't do that because your Second Amendment says rights shall not be infringed. You can't have any limit on any weaponry. [17:57:01] But if you just stop and think about that. That doesn't make any sense either, and it's not true constitutionally because we've already decided as a society, anybody can have a slingshot. Nobody can have a nuclear weapon. Right. Anybody can have a water balloon. Nobody can have a predator drone. We know that we get to draw a line as a society. We're just talking about where to draw the line. [17:57:20] And we can draw it in a reasonable, suitable place that shows respect for folks who are hunting and fishing. And at the same time dramatically reduces the extent to which these guns are on the streets and being used to kill people. And I know it's the headline grabbing, horrible incidents that get most of the attention when we have one of these awful mass shootings. But the equivalent of a mass shooting is happening every day, and it's usually happening to teenagers and it's usually happening in low income and black and brown communities. [17:57:52] And it's all the more reason we have to have urgency and intention on doing something about this. Will these measures save every life and stop every tragedy? No, but they will save thousands of lives. And that's why we've got to get to work right away. And again, most Americans want it to happen. It's just that a majority of American people can't seem to turn into a majority in the American Congress. [17:58:11] And that's why we need to bring change to Washington, have to do so. [17:58:20] Oh, and then we're done. No, we just got started. [17:58:30] Yeah. Or is there a question? OK. Alicia. You want to give someone a microphone? Can you hear it? Yeah. Okay. Yell at us. [17:58:47] Okay. Here you go. [17:58:49] Okay. Which you like. [17:58:56] OK. Thank you. [17:59:03] Yes, I was out in the in Bronzeville. My company is African-American Union Printers. And we spoke with your team about trying to work with you and your team. We exchanged information and we went. But six months we have not gotten one quote, one e-mail answered. And I really. You talk very passionately about economic development and with the brown and the black people. Does that reflect in your campaign or is that just a speech? Because from my experiences, it's not happening through your campaign. [17:59:38] So is very important to us both in terms of the team that we have built and in terms of the business that we do, the way that we invest in media to make sure that we practice what we preach. I don't know about the specific business opportunity that you're discussing, but I'd love to get your information afterwards and run down and see if there was any missed opportunity to communicate with you, because this is something that campaigns ought to be doing. And it's something our country ought to be doing. [18:00:02] We've got a long way to go for the purchasing done by the federal government to reflect the economic the diversity of the economic opportunity being created, especially by entrepreneurs of color. And so, again, without knowing that the specific business opportunity at hand here, I would love a chance to make sure that we take care of any disconnect that was there. And I'm glad you came here to let us know. Thank you. [18:00:26] So I have a question from Paul. Puzzling. I don't know. I'm sorry. [18:00:33] Do you have a plan for trans health and reform and answering all of our medical needs? For trans individuals, yes. [18:00:45] So, first of all, do no harm. We have got to end this president's war on trans Americans. We've got a military ban from a president who avoided serving when it was his turn. Telling people who want to serve that they can't. We have guidance going out to departments of Health, Education and others that are almost making it impossible to exist as a trans person. We need to make sure that medically appropriate care is available to meet all of the needs of trans Americans. [18:01:10] And that is what we are going to do with the Medicare for all who want a plan that I'm creating. One key feature of it will be making sure that it is responsive to the needs of everyone in the LGBTQ AA plus community. And we got more information. I know where our time is up. We've got much more information about that on the website, too. [18:01:28] OK. Thank you. [18:01:31] I guess they're going to make us leave. [18:01:35] No, I'm going. Oh, she's the cops work. We're going over overtime. But. [18:01:43] Thank you. Thank you for being with us. Sure. Just I want to ask thing. [18:01:49] Sure. I want to thank everybody for being part of this round. Again, I want to thank you for your mentorship, your friendship and for doing this event. And I want to invite everybody was here. If you believe that this message is the right way to turn the page on where we are as a country. If you're ready for that day when Donald Trump is no longer in office, not just to bring that day about joy we're ready to do, but to be ready for what comes next. Then I need your help. And I am working to bring hope back into style in American politics. [18:02:19] I know it became unfashionable to talk about hope for a while. Given everything that we've seen, the bleakness of what's going on in this moment in this presidency. But I also believe hope propels us to seek justice and to do the work that has to be done. That's why I think they call us candidates hopefuls, because running for office is an act of hope. And so it was being involved in a campaign in any way. [18:02:38] And if you were prepared to be involved in this effort to reach out to your friends, to find people who were this close to giving up hope and walking away from the process completely, now is our chance to send a message to overcome the exhaustion. I think we all feel when we're watching the process play out right now on television and to do something completely different. So I hope that you'll join us. Hope you get to know our team. I hope you'll check out Pew for America back home. And I very much hope that we'll meet again. Thank you very much. [18:03:04] Again, I want to thank all of you so much for coming. Thank you, Renay. Thank you, Mayor. Pete, you were my inaugural conversation with you. Help of me get this started. [18:03:16] And because I only could see lights, I didn't see any way to hand state rep Will Davis. I didn't see all the commissioners who last his last name start with M. Miller, Morrison and more. And we're in Stanley Moore's district. So thank you, Stanley Moore. And I saw a trustee, Cassandra Match from Olympia Fields. Am I right? I can't see. [18:03:38] But thank you all so much for coming. [18:03:41] Come again. And as Mayor Pete said, if you like what you heard, you can always use volunteers. And he didn't say this, but donations to it. So thank you all so much. Get home safe and have a great weekend. Thank you. [18:03:54] And thank you. State rep ness. State rep. Thank you, councilwoman. All right. [18:04:21] You made me shoot, you strip, but this side and humble and. You should I think so.