An Evening With Jesse Jackson

[Music] good evening evening little feedback there on the mic I'm Sheila Edwards Lang I'm the vice president for minority Affairs and diversity here at the University of Washington and it is my great pleasure to welcome you to this event tonight um I think it's very um fitting that at this time in our nation's history we have one of the the nation's leading voices on social justice equity and inclusion and he's bringing special emphasis to the issue of science technology engineering and math the University of Washington has a long and distinguished history of promoting civil rights of promoting equity and inclusion on campus it started with um president Charles odard back in the 60s at a time that Reverend Jackson knows a little bit of something about and this campus leadership at that time listened to the voices of students and put into place the office of minority Affairs and diversity and and many of the programs that are still on our campus today it's fitting that I have the great pleasure today to invite my boss the Pres the current president of the University of Washington president Michael K young to this Podium to give welcome president [Applause] young Sheila thank you for that kind introduction and I want to take a moment to thank you as well for the extraordinary passion you have for helping our students become stem graduates in this uh in this city and in this institution um you you do such a terrific job thank you I also appreciate being introduced by Sheila because she is the only person at the University who officially calls me boss and I really appreciate that want to welcome everyone here tonight as University president you every once in a while have an extraordinarily special opportunity and the opportunity to be tonight on the podium with a true American hero someone that I admire so enormously is a great privilege Reverend Jackson we are honored that you're with us tonight and deeply grateful thank you for joining us tonight I also want to thank our uh Provost hamari Cy who is uh unfortunately ill and not with us tonight as well as our office of minority and diversity Affairs for hosting this wonderful event tonight uh as well as acknowledge the presence of some of our regions tonight we have constant rice uh here uh with our former great mayor dor uh Pat Shanahan is with us Joanne Harold uh and rili rias thank you I'd also like to recognize the members of Seattle's Urban League who are instrumental in the Reverend Jackson's visit to se Seattle would the members of the Urban League please stand and let us thank them for their service now to ensure that he gets appropriate exercise I also want to thank our W Foundation board director Nate miles who played an integral part in this Nate would you stand again we also have a number of our University leaders here here and Community leaders and thank you all uh for being with us tonight our passion as a university is one of a public Mission we view view ourselves as the University of Washington and every part of that notion of public Mission and Washington are Central to our identity We Believe deeply in promoting access and have a deep commitment to focusing on continuing that along with our path of Excellence as one of the the world's preeminent public universities advancing social equality is integral essential deeply embedded in who we are our commitment to access is absolutely essential for diversifying our three campuses uh indeed as you think about the issue of of equity as you think about the issue of access it's easy for us to think about it as a core Mission because it is at a profound level important in so many ways it's important to the individuals who have the opportunity for an education and the transformative effect that has on them as well as on their families but it's also important to us as Society I was once told by my father who was a child of the depression that only very rich people can afford to waste something we are not a nation Rich enough to waste anything and to waste the talent the Brilliance the energy of so many young people is absolutely unacceptable in this Society it also makes an extraordinary difference in a different way um I'm always struck by the fact that when I am surrounded by people who have my background who sound like me who are all lawyers we not surprisingly come up with exactly the same answer to every problem but when I'm surrounded by people who come from different backgrounds different perspectives different experiences different training they help us come with different solutions solutions that matter that are Innovative and that move our country ahead in the way that we need to move ahead in this time of not only great National competitiveness but world compe competitiveness access is essential to who we are as a university we work in that in a number of different ways tonight we're talking about access with respect to the opportunity for stem degrees important we need to make sure that women and underrepresented minorities are successful in these high demand Fields currently defined as science technology engineering and Mathematics and Reverend Jackson's here to tell us more about these fields especially in technology computer science science and engineering the needs for a more diverse Workforce we need to ensure as a university however that the pipeline for that diversity is available that women underrepresented minorities and everyone receive the training necessary for the jobs that exist and these jobs that are creating our future we've done some things that we think are effective um for fiveyear period between 2008 and 2012 we ranked number seventh in the entire country for the number of degrees granted in science and engineering to women in 20134 almost 25% of the degrees granted by our College of Engineering were earned by women which exceeded the national average by about five percentage points I have more statistics I won't bore you with all of them but I will say our challenge is that slightly less than 8% of the degrees granted by u in stem uh in 2012-13 were earned by underrepresented minorities that has to change we do lead the inst the Pacific Northwest Lewis Stokes Alliance for minority participation which is aimed at increasing recruitment retention graduation for underrepresented minorities since its founding in 2009 funded by the NSF the number of stem degrees in these fields to underrepresented minorities has increased by about 70% all of which demonstrates to us that with modest commitment of resources but with passion energy Direction and the right programs we can make a difference we've seen the number of students from underrepresented minority groups in these fields increase now at a much more rapid rate uh than our compared to our non-minority students uh and these are important another program that we have uh inaugurated uh really follows on our athletic programs so we call it a red shirt year we have a program uh particularly pioneered through our College of Engineering where students are um identified with great promise though they may come from schools where they're training in math and science hasn't been quite as strong uh as necessary to really process effectively through engineering we bring them to the university based on the scholarship and then in the process uh give them an extra year of training uh in order to prepare them for the rigors of that and also to introduce them to the opportunity which many have not been exposed to to participate in these fields uh we have uh earned a designation as a pace Setter school by the national Center for Women and information techn technology in recognition of these and the other programs that the university has designed we've also been closely engaged outre Outreach activities to the K through 12 schools across the state with a wide variety of programs designed to inform to educate to inspire children across the breadth of the school systems uh in our area uh to pursue these degrees built a foundation clear to us that we can do this our commitment is that we will do this this needs to be done tonight we'll give us an example of exactly why it's so important the Reverend has assured me that he has persuaded Microsoft to hire all of the graduates Who come out of these programs so we are we are ready to go Reverend we are grateful for your presence here for galvanizing us around this very uh important issue and with that I will turn it over to Sheila again for a few minutes thank you pulling something together like this um in a short period of time um it's only possible when you have committed volunteers and a committed staff so before we go any further I would like the the team from the office of minority Affairs and diversity who have worked almost around the clock for the last two weeks to stand up and you all just take a bow so that we can thank you for so often people think that things like this just happen naturally but it is a whole team of people behind the scenes who make sure that everything happens and I have to make sure I take time to thank my team for their work I also want to thank the udub leadership when and president young was talking about the progress that we are making and the work that we still have ahead on science and engineering work on our campus much of that is due to the cooperation and collaboration that my office gets from the other vice presidents Vice provos and Deans in this work as well as we have a lot of national leaders um who are doing this work on broadening participation in science and engineering and I want to thank all of you all for the work that um you have done and the work that we will do collectively together um with Reverend Jackson's message tonight the foundation board is the uh group of committed volunteers who help help us and provide that margin of Excellence with private support and we have um one of our community leaders um who is a graduate of the University of Washington that's Mr Nate miles um Nate is a graduate of the udb and he is one of our greatest Advocates he um when asked he serves not only the University of Washington but the community at large he is responsible for putting the Urban League board back together and and putting our Seattle Urban League back on Solid ground and he is responsible for um bringing Reverend Jackson to our attention that he was going to be in town and have an opportunity for us to do it so it's my pleasure to welcome Mr Nate miles to the stage who will introduce thank you thank you so much first giving honor to God who is the head of my life to president young and his wife Marty first lady of this University to Sheila Reverend Jackson to all of the Regent students faculty gathered here today it is a pleasure and a privilege to be here on such an auspicious occasion um but I had to think as many times as I spent in this building I think that's the first time I've ever been in the first Ru of Kane Hall my teacher was ver Prof wake up Nate um so it is it is a place pleasure to be here um I have known Reverend Jackson over the years and many of you know he is the founder of of a rainbow push Coalition one of our foremost civil rights and religious organizations um you know that he has over 40 honorary doctorate degrees and the spinard medal and a number of other awards that you know I won't waste your time in in going over because you can you can go in and find him you can Bing him that's being since we're in Microsoft territory there you go we're in Microsoft territory we don't we don't G nothing here we Bing it bing it on baby Bing it on and and so we so we Bing it on and uh and you can read all about him but you know just as someone who has been such an inspiring leader in this country I think about Reverend Jackson and I think about when I got into this school as I said earlier I appreciate the ego program program proudly being a member of the EOP program a member of air a beneficiary of affirmative action which helped give me the opportunity not anything that I was not deserving of but just an opportunity that had never been allowed to get through school and I remember getting through school and getting in the business world and being the first member of my family to graduate so I thought you know I better try to you know play it cool and not let anybody know where I grew up in the east side of Pasco and nobody but my business partner darl pal knew uh where East Pascal was um but but no I take that back rohelia knows because they have a clinic over there um but but um you know I was looking at myself and I didn't want to talk about growing up in the projects I didn't want to talk about when someone asked me what I did I didn't want to talk about eating welfare food every now and then and the Ragan cheese that they used to give us and the beans out of the gray can with the black writing on them it was embarrassing to to think about and I know all of you never had to experience any of that but for me shopping at Salvation Army and the Goodwill and and St Vincent dep Paul was kind of hard and I didn't really like to tell my story when someone would ask me how I grew up but one day in 19 during the uh presidential campaign I heard this guy start telling my story I thought he had stole my story he said I had a mother who wore run over shoes and holes in her stockings not because she didn't know better but because she wanted my brother and I to wear matching socks and I started thinking about my mom who was a part-time domestic and a part-time bus driver who did that who when the people gave us hand me- down clothes never said I don't want those clothes because they have a hole in the leg she would sew a patch on both knees so that I would be matching he talked about how this mother worked every day and I thought about my mom and and and how how how when he said those words that day at the Democratic Convention he told about being in born in the slum but he said you know I was born in the slum but the slum was not born in me and it wasn't born in you and you can make it so wherever you are tonight every black person every brown person everybody that fit under that rainbow that he talked about he said hold your head high and stick your chest out just know that you could make it he said and and and you may not be running for president but I am and I run for you so tomorrow when my name goes in nomination your name goes in nomination and that was the thing that he told so many of us that made us think we could do so much and Reverend Jackson 30 years later when you and I were walking out of that building down at mcone Center like I said when you look around that corner the dreams that you kicked off of me this is nothing to be able to bring you here and to be able to help you and work myself to the Bone to get you around and to get the goals and objectives you're trying to get accomplished it's nothing I can never thank you nor can most of us in this room for what you did for America because because of Jesse Jackson there could be Barack Obama let's just be real about it ladies and gentlemen the 1984 and 88 presidential candidate presidential medal of freedom winner please stand to your feet and greet Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson senor let me express my thanks my delight my joy being here with you tonight Nate for such a kind and generous introduction let me express my thanks to you one of the leaders in Washington in that campaign went on to become the mayor of Seattle uh and to lead a multi-racial multicultural city was accept the epitome of the rainbow he is a man with great dignity and we love and appreciate him so much may rice please stand simil here tonight is our National Youth coordinator will Hall pleasan and the director of our Silicon Valley Silicon Valley and uh silicon Forest campaign Mr buch Wayne Butch somewhere downstairs preparing for the Microsoft shareholders meeting on tomorrow morning there's a certain tension in the air tonight president young there's a sense of the undercurrent about the tick us on it seems out of the grave Michael Brown speaks to us tonight the spiritual dimension of it is that he is resurrected he speaks louder out of the grave and the man who killed him speaks above the ground which is the power of a resurrected Spirit tonight in the Darkness the crisis in Ferguson illuminates the darkness I've come to the Great Northwest with my friend and brother Nate miles over in Portland now here to go to the shareholders meeting of Microsoft and to try to meet with Amazon they've turned their doors shut and Microsoft was open their doors wide he we will not give give up we will not surrender the same applies to all the industry and Banks we bail out the allo industry and they began to bail out take their industry over to China 20,000 Alo dealerships in America tonight about 30% index African-American and Latino 200 African-American dealership 300 Latino our our investments far greater than our return it's true in Banks as well the banks that use foreclosure schemes driven by subprime lending predatory lending we bail out the banks they left the people out I hope President Obama will go to Ferguson just as at some point in time eyes how had to address in a meaningful way Little Rock N the crisis of that day at another point in time LBJ had the crow out as we marched from s of Montgomery about the right to vote this is one of those pivotal moments just as U these Turning Point moments almost always driven by students who come alive and risk it all for the rest of us the darkness is being illuminated tonight Urban police we want to give them more Machinery so we can watch them the police are simply Gatekeepers what's behind the gate is the issue what what are they trying to keep behind the gate is the crowd for justice behind the gate is the challenge of economic reconstruction attorney general holder continues the investigations of civil rights charges and death of Michael Brown of pattern and practices violation of civil rights because they do not meet Federal standards of employment and contracts a strange way rice we realized President Obama was elected was a kind of morning time we travel that Journey from the 5ifth to four Supreme Court decision making a partti they legal in this country setting the pace for the rest of the Western World the Montgomery Bush boy cot how may they at December 1st just two days ago R Park sat down December 1st 1955 we kept marching and it took us from there there to Birmingham after the Bloodshed was born the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that is s the Voting Rights Act of 1965 the tragic fact is this Supreme Court would not vote 90 to illegal discrimination this Congress would not vote for 64 Civil Rights Act off of wooden Rights Act of 1965 there's this violent undercurrent the attempt to set us back whenever we Face these challenges and our wisdom and courage our distance the cowards who sought the sour seeds of fear we always won we never we've never lost a battle we fought and never want to battle in there Le we fought is a TG of War for the soul of America not the king was wise enough to make the mission of SCC the mission to redeem the soul of America we seek even tonight a Federal grand jury in the case Michael Brown killing in Ferguson Missouri in many ways the Michael Brown killing was that caboose on a train of abuses that made people come alive president said well we should honor the law we should honor just law rebel against unjust law but the jury said it the jury set the killers of IM andree the jury said the killers of Med ever was free the jury said those who beat Rod the king free the jury set the kill of tror and Martin free and the Alo free enough is enough we're not going back if no other reason that you've come alive is because the death of Michael Brown has inspired something different within our souls if we give up because it seemed that it's kind of hard surely the other side will prevail 1965 was known as blacks getting the right to vote but in reality that's not quite what happened after 246 years of legal slavery unlike the genocidal policy against Native Americans was 2 46 years of legal slavery not immigrants not refugees but legal slavery it's in the Constitution we got the right to vote the 15th amendment in 1865 and left in the hands of former slave masters they along with segregation has held it up for another 100 years to 1965 we always had the heav lifting Beyond just our own needs to have moral Authority you can be a minority with a majority Vision you not need not limit the strength of your character to one side of town not to one gender blacks could not vote because of various schemes in the South white women could not serve on juries 18y olds those serving in Vietnam could not vote you couldn't vote on College campuses you either had to go home to vote or vote absentee you could not vote by language until 1975 you couldn't get proportional representation to 1988 right you were part of that movement making it clear that we should accept proportionality and not want to take all he seemed Dr Young not to mean very much at that time if I got 47% the vote and my opposition compared they got 49% they would get all of it and wipe out the enthusiasm of those who supported the candidacy we made the case in 88 of proportionality was seen as a kind of bone toss my way for the campaign but by 2008 it took on concrete meaning in the very heated campaign between Hillary Clinton and President Obama Hillary won California barely she won Texas barely Pennsylvania and Ohio and New York under 84 rule she would have been the candidate but we democratized democracy in ' 88 and changed the course of our country because we never gave up we kept fighting in the dark tonight I challenge you students to go and if you will um Microsoft current commission report don't Google it but just Microsoft it and read The Chronic mission report explaining and interpreting the riots and rebellions of that season much like tonight that report had an analysis recommendations and the budget speeches will not change what we're facing tonight I'll challenge you in your marching to keep marching to do so with nonviolence not because you're scared but because you're wise violence you cannot in a practical sense fight tanks and AK-47 with bricks in another sense in another sense violence has a way of distracting attention from the man the gender if the gender is poverty and ignorance and disease and the scri ation the headline is a brick it does not address the issue of the day on the other hand violence is not Redemptive we challenge our nation be less violent and more civil we don't want to imitate the worst of our our country we want to lift up the best of it we must go another way we're grappling with something very intrinsic to the character of our nation in this DNA racism and genderism are mental diseases racism and genderism are mental diseases with sinful actions affects our behavior and our attitudes gender and racial inequality are cultural diseases the question was asked Jesus one day who is my neighbor he didn't revert to who lives across cross the street to who lives next door he said by Parable once upon a time there was a man attending to his business he was innocent unarmed walking down the street and thieves jumped behind the corner and beat him and robbed him and left him to die he said three men came by one was of his own religion Rabbi the minister the man of God you saw him bleeding went to the other side of the street and kept walking as if to say I'm on my way to my religious service I cannot get blood on my Rob look in heaven to going hell with ignoring a hurting man another man of his own ethnic persuasion my soul brother my ethnic K the levite saw him laying there bleeding he went to the other side of the street and he kept walking the Samaritan from a different country a different culture which spoke of different language and worshiped God differently stopped and helped him up put him on his donkey and paid to get him his medical supplies Beyond color and culted something called character at the hallay education must be our capacity to care I went to the University of Washington people care that you know I I went to law school people care that you know I'm a physician people care that you know but really they want to know that you care the heart of our humanity is that we have the capacity to care remember when you're tempted to give up sometime because it gets dark deep water does not drown you you drown when you stop kicking you can drown in a bathtub if if you don't if you don't raise your head up deep water does not drown you you drown when you stop kicking we have learned to survive a part I'm black I'm Latino I'm Asian I'm this I'm that we've learned to survive dve apart and find some comfort zone in our apartness in our separateness in our own Silo but tonight we have a bigger lesson to learn as Americans learning how to live together and not die apart as fools we say French France for the French Germany for the Germans even for the English but some out here give me your tide you'll pull your hle masses who yearn to breathe free those who yearn to breathe free you have a home here that's what makes America great it's dark the arrogance of War has contributed to that Darkness to engage in the preemptive strike and kill several 100,000 Iraqis 6,000 Americans 50,000 injured lost more than $2 trillion we lost money and honor and moral Authority the arrogance of War has led to Darkness we're still in the war in Iraq went on and killed leadership in Libya now there's the ISIS crisis seemingly no end in sight but the darkness is driven by a policy a policy that's beneath the Dignity of the nation's promise we must have a foreign policy that has some basic principles international law human rights SE the termination economic Justice and one set of rules the Supreme Court taking the guts out the six out the 65 Voting Rights Act making voting more difficult and less accessible removing voting booths from college campuses Darkness in North Carolina let redu in the number of days you can vote in Texas taking 600,000 off of the rolls in Texas you can use a gone ID to register but not a student ID to register a kind of Darkness this Congress would not have passed the 64 and 68 civil rights bills Darkness health care for the poor under attack South Carolina for example my home State 1/4 of citizens are in poverty uh and yet that government will send back $12 billion because the money comes from from the federal government fighting the Civil War all over again in the name of the Confederacy and the religion of the Confederacy every state from Virginia around the Texas sent back bigons Texas 100 billion Florida 64 billion billions in Federal Highway uh money for to build International highways money sent back for Education money sent back for health care and some of these same Twisted souls are really want affordable health care but not Obamacare they want insurance for the first time they want to be able to get the medical test without uh without the uh us of prerequisites they want the children stay on insurance till the till 26 they want Obamacare to end but they want to keep Affordable Care they want an omet without eggs it's a kind of insanity that leads to the darkness the banks bail out probably lose several million homes right well because the banks targeted the black and the brown according to the lawsuits they made money for subprime Lending and predatory lending private morgage Investments and insurance and then we bail them out on a two-page document left homeowners from middle class to Poverty dog we challenge Silicon Valley tonight this Genius of creativity built on the shoulders of government contracts silicon rather comes out of the the defense industry it's our it's our Silicon Valley it's it's our silicon forest and yet tonight with all that we mean to them as consumers of the products made in our industry the top 20 companies 189 board members 36 white women three African-Americans and one Latino that's unacceptable worse than that is the issue of of the sea Suites even worse still employment around 2% on the average for blacks and 3% for Latinos investment versus nothing at least as segregated as the police force in Ferguson Missouri Police are The Gatekeepers what's behind the gate companies that make bigs and have offshore tax Havens what's behind the gate that the police keep but we focus so much on the police and miss the police headquarters we we focus so much on the mailman in Mr post office police are simply the paid Gatekeepers what's behind the gate patterns of Bank corruption and discrimination what's behind the gate an imbalanced field of opportunity When U the C Seahawks play San Francisco in the big game everybody's excited wearing the colors of their teams if you win there's a measured joy and celebration if you lose there's a bit of pain and yet you win with dignity you lose with dignity what makes it so possible when sell plays San Francisco or Washington plays Washington State what about that game that allows blacks and white to play together and we can choose uniform color and not skin color we can choose unifor you can choose Direction and not complexion what about that Arena that makes us so possible that makes us so excited about the game because whenever the playing field is even and the rules are public and the goals are clear and the referees are fair and the score is transparent we can make it but beyond the playing field it ain't even rules not public goals not clear we want to even the playing field in Silicon Valley they need not bring any H1B workers here as if they have a special genie on stem teach children here bring repatriate some of that money and bring it back home there's a program in this town called Taff led by sister Trish who once worked for Michael Microsoft for 600 children spoke to them yesterday morning and they're learning they're learning what the industry needs they're learning what's vital to it stem and yet they're meeting in trailers as we build taller buildings for office space children taking stem are studying in trailers and some others can't study they go to public schools at all it's dark Healthcare under attack Darkness our challenge silicon B to open up there is no Talent shortage there's no opportunity shortage there's nothing women and people of color cannot do in Silicon Valley hands up be fair hands up be just hands up once are the rules Hands Up This Land is Our Land why must we focus on stem and Science and Technology and Engineering and math why must we do it now uh Mr Dr y because we're in the fourth stage of our struggle to make this a more complete Union a more perfect union the first stage of our struggle which is the moral cancer our soul was 246 Years of Slavery nothing mattered but I believe not good slave masters who were kind and bad ones who were cruel but abolition of it all I people talking about Good police versus bad police the issue is is development teachers not police coaches not police we need more coaches and more teachers and more humanity is taught and more philosophy more sense of that which makes life make sense in the first place and so here we are tonight first stage with the end slavery 246 years we were ens slavery longer than we have been free 246 years of legal commodity on the on the market we were the commodity on the commodity exchange that's not the American tradition that's not the that's not the tradition of the refugees that's a different tradition 246 years to work without wages for skin color became a source of idolatry for some and Damnation for others it's deeper in our DNA this idea of racial Supremacy and gender bias is deep in our DNA we we should never be free until we're freed of the disease of jism and racism it's a deep disease we should be well seeking to get well not seeking to justify sickness and make life better for all of us we cannot afford to be that sick and arrogant at the same time Pride priest seed the fall yet we speak of what makes democracy work of Nate is checks and balances separation of powers the president can go to jail just like a commoner can go because that's what democracy looks like but then if we are not a member of the world Court live Above the Law and unaccountable we can go into Iraq kill the president killed his sons killed 300,000 people 6,000 Americans killed $2 trillion in debt said made a mistake wrong target that's just the way I felt that day no one can survive that AR going to live in the no one can live beyond grace and mercy now dismiss truth as if it is some an irrelevant piece of literature so we fight tonight to even the playing field the third says was the right to vote that's why that's so critical but you can be out of slavery out of segregation have the right and starve to deathless you have access to Capital in the technology deal flow and relationships I've met so many people who've come through the the the the uh the struggles within the big tech companies fast high-tech and biotech and yet canot grow within the company can't get capital on the outside there's nothing magic about growth if you get access to Capital there's something awful if you have you're told to jump in a pool of water ain't no water in the pool how can you live in capitalism without Capital you can't live off the ism you can't tell people I want gravy gravy without meat based is just greasy water we need what people need access to Capital now if the banks were not lended conventionally because we bail them out now they got Surplus Capital why can't we take some of that 500 five trillion in offshore tax evasion plus lower in taxes at home take 10% of that money 500 billion invest in infrastructure reduce eliminate student tuition debt as a form of forgiveness for our future in the in the the boomerang generation leave college boom Rong back back home use our money to educate our children not make the rich richer use our money to educate our children and our future we can and we must access to Capital industry technolog the deal flow relationships you do business with people you know trust and like blacks cannot get the money with collateral that whites can get with an idea discrimination hurts Wilson Wilson is a might good is a might good quarterback for the Seahawks a lot of skill and pass the ball play Under Pressure but my friends you cannot be a oneeyed quarterback you can't still have to feel when you lock out women and people of color you locking out the majority of the country when you lock out women and people of color that's more than half of the country what's over there on the Blind Side except Market money talent and location leads to grow say money market market talent talent which leads which leads to growth to grow whenever the playing field is even and the rules the rules of public and the goals goals of clear clear the referees refere are fair and the score score is transparent we can make it if only that football field if if if uh if blacks had to run 12 yards to proove some extra because they came from a one parent household why have run seven yards because inherited some yards we' be fighting on the football field but so long as it's 10 yards for all first downs and there's a debate replay three points for all field goals six points for all so say so long as the playing field is even even we can make it now if we had to run 12 rather than seven we'd miss a lot of first downs the same we kids coming out of out of schools out of schools where you had to run longer than you could make it first class jail second class schools kids in Chicago in in prison six months to to six years in pre-trial detention correction Corporation of America prison for profits on the New York Stock Exchange in most southern states you have the prison labor camps growing in Georgia they're building Industries inside the prison gates in South Carina the 1/4 of all prisoners are leased out the companies either lease them out are put in the hole for punishment in Ino they make 600 products in prison we are a better Nation than that we cannot wait from election to election we must fight every day to make America better it's dog but don't internalize the darkness you can die from secondhand smoke don't just don't smoke don't be around a lot of it don't internalize hatred don't internalize fear don't iiz means be better than that don't go eye for an eye tooth for to to make you blind disf and ugly we got to go to Higher Ground the good news when it's dark it does not mean you have to stop you can fight in the dark you can study in the dark you can March in the dark you can build Coalition said said Darkness does not stop me if if tonight if this room were completely dark and someone did one cand would challenge all say say if this room were completely completely dark and someone did one candle one candle challenge all the do don't let Darkness break your spirit we fight tonight against these diseases that our souls a few days ago I said to brother Nate that John was on the aisle of patmas left there to die in the dark alone and yet somehow as Dr Sam K say to us somehow on that Lonely Island he saw something in the dark he saw a new Heaven and the new Earth and the old one passed away Darkness does not limit your vision nor your will to dignity nor your will to decency don't stop there I took a group of ministers tried to take them with me to see a patient where had the Ebola in uh in Dallas Texas they would not go they didn't want to get close to the Ebola patient I reminded them that Jesus in his day some call a leprosy the leper was the Ebola victim of that day with this contagious disease they didn't have the sence to deal with that disease and so they unclean unclean unclean and they ran from the lepers they they they laughed at them they threw them over behind the wall the quarantine walls Jesus's last night on earth his last night on earth he spent in the quarantine shelter of Simon the leper Beyond cing culture is some called care and I want you students as you March and I want you to keep on marching don't give up on your marching be driven by a sense of a moral compass Ron the King was beaten nearly to Death full white police beating him and laughing making noise a young man was heard the beat in he could have said it's not my fight I'm not going to get in trouble because the black guy shouldn't have been in my neighborhood in the first place he but some Mother's lesson some father's admonition took him to another level you know about R the K because a white photographer named George H took it public Beyond color culture something called character when those four when those four police were set free there was a riot a rebellion in Watts a white man named Regal dinner drove his truck to the ghetto blacks in their raid snatched him out the truck and began to beat him one hit a a brick across his head it was live on TV and uh four young blacks who did not know each other resu his rescue and saved him from them and one of those black affirmative action doctors the mther king Hospital goel saved his life beyond color Beyond culture's character we can afford to lose our budget but not our moral compass do justice love Mercy walk gly feed the hungry defend the poor deliver the needy so they want no more see the world through a door not through a keyhole and let the the sunshine in God bless you at this point at this point in the program we are um delighted to be able to invite um hadti ptoi from code.org to join Revan Jackson on the stage and we are going to have a Q&A um from the audience we have microphones on both sides of the um Auditorium here and we will entertain questions from the audience um I'd like to introduce hotti ptoi who is going to join Reverend Jackson here on the stage hotti is the an entrepreneur and investor and co-founder of code.org um he's an entrepreneur and was on the founding teams of tell me and I likee he's an angel investor and startup advis advisor he's taken his um his work in stem and try to make it more accessible for women and underrepresented students through through his work with code.org and we're going to invite him to say a few words about what they are doing there and then we will entertain questions from the audience HTI thank you good to see you start by telling us a little bit about what c.org is and what motivated you to start it sure thank you very much uh code.org is a nonprofit dedicated to the vision that every school in this country should teach computer science and to get more women African-Americans and Hispanic Americans involved in learning computer science at and the reason this is important is because in the 21st century computer science is not only one of but I think I believe the defining field for how the 21st century is changing Humanity society industry economy around us and yet the majority of America schools don't even offer a course in this field so at the same time as we see growing industry growing jobs billionaires millionaires opportunity in the field of Technology most of our schools aren't offering the most basic instruction to our students to have access to that opportunity and this is not just about becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg or getting a highp paying job at a at a tech company it's about any industry you want to think about going into in the next 20 30 40 years is going to be disrupted by technology and students who want to enter the job force in 10 or 15 years need to have as much understanding and exposure to those Basics as they have to the basics of learning about biology or chemistry or the other things you learn in school uh code.org started with this Vision what's been incredible for the last year of our work has been seeing the US education system change at an unprecedented uh pace of change we've in the last year had 50 million students try our one hour of code sort of experience and that's an international number literally one out of three students in the United States have tried an hour of code with we've now established computer science classes in over 60,000 classrooms reaching 2 and A2 million students thank you so what's especially special about the number we have two and a half million students as a follow on from The 1hour Experience taking a longer course and 1 million of them are girls 1 million of them are African-Americans and Hispanics this is thank you this is in a field that currently graduates thousands of girls a year or thousands of African-Americans and Hispanics a year and at the elementary ages and the Middle School ages we literally have a million students in in basically the underrepresented groups coming in to come to high school and college to to learn and grow up in this field so that's what code.org doeses we're hoping to basically solve at least the pipeline issue of the diversity problem in Tech great thank you for that thank you so I'm going to start with a couple of questions for you all so Reverend Jackson as you're going around the country doing this me I'm [Laughter] nervous well as you're doing this work around the country and we've heard a little bit about code.org are there Industries or companies that are doing it right that could set an example for the rest of the country well in some sense in this city Microsoft is in great contrast to Amazon there are people working on trying to it's not right they're trying to get it right um when not only did they bring the walls down they begun to engage uh in the very direct way on the plan for goals targets and timbles in part because not because it's right because it's smart because it's the key to growth I I don't know the reluctance of a company so great as Amazon to this level of inclusion no doubt that will change because we will not stop until it changes um but we must we must include and must know that the price we pay uh is too great a price to leave people locked out and to not engage in dialogue you want public loyalty you all to give public service and be a free servant and so I think to that extent we when we go to shareholder meeting tomorrow at at Microsoft we're going raising the question make your E1 data available I think it probably will happen uh work with us on trying to get a pool of capital uh for uh te lot investment for for for for for first timers or expand your job base and search more vigorously for interns if you look at there's nothing that you want that cannot be for if you're looking for engineers there are some schools to teach black Engineers there is North CL ENT and Howard and and that's F&M where John Thompson the Chapman of the board of of Microsoft comes from if you want want Engineers teach them want apple trees plant apple seeds and I I'm convinced that if that if that is pursued within five years they can catch up okay and in your work cotti as you're going around are there corporations or partners that you've had that are getting it right that we could learn from well among corporations Microsoft and Google are our largest owners um so they're at least separate from what they do in terms of the transparency they've they sort of led the charge on in terms of showing at least shining a light on where the problems are in their own diversity they're at least with us investing in in changing the pipeline and I think education is the apple seeds effectively in this in the world of diversity in the in the workforce uh so investing in whether it's Early Education high school education uh college education that is where we solve the opportunity Gap in the long run the other part culture and genderism also blinds you to the capacity of the out group something says women can't fly planes as if you pick a planes on your shoulders and run them across the country women can fly planes there there's nothing there's no position a woman cannot hold and hold well uh as if something fundamental about blacks and Latinos there something they can not do in terms of being stem workers you're stem worker if you're stem trained and you do well but you do much and so if we if we choose to invest in our children early on prenatal care Head Start and day care on the front side we welfare and JK on the backside as a matter what what our investments and right now we have not made the decision to invest in our children in their formative years so as you're going around the country both of you doing this work um what is it that colleges and universities could be doing different you know we we have a number of programs here on our campus and trying to broaden participation in stem and we actually had a fair before this with some of those programs highlighted but but are there things that we could be doing on the higher education side to make sure that we're producing more stem graduates well I know this University can grow its computer science program which is I'm I'm sure I'm not the first person suggesting that I think I've heard that a time or too so we I know high schools are basically graduating three times as many kids I think as as can get into the Cs program here and I know it's not just a university question it's a funding question that but what's sad is I think a lot of universities that are basically getting the the most privileged kids are seeing computer science growth and a lot of universities or community colleges are not seeing the same demand because kids who don't get access in high school don't think about going into it in college so and that's causing an increase you know this is a field computer programming and computer science should be the sort of defining sort of meritocracy field for Our Generation because a computer doesn't recognize whether you're a girl or a boy or black or white as if you can tell it what to do it does not care that but your teacher does thank you but uh our cultural expectations Drive how we program our children uh the reason why you have 60% or so black football players on this campus and 80% black basketball players because you think they can and they think they can and they do if you practice 3 to four hours a day for most of the year on Reading Writing counting and stem as you do on pushups running and jumping You' be as profound at stem as you are at Dancing In The End Zone it's a matter of priorities that is that is not about a genes that's about Ag genda and the coach convinces well you you can make it here if you come here you can make it you can do this and we we're not as convinced that that women and people of color can learn stem so much of much of much of the the inspiration must be transmitted downward or because kids can as nothing our children can learn more than one language if you can learn rap or rap album you can learn two or three languages no doubt there at least that hey Mona [Applause] Bailey Miss Mona so did we have someone lined up over there for um question from that side of the room hi I'm Timmy Foster I live in Tacoma about 30 minutes from here um want to thank you very much for your time and coming my question to you is um really centered on my experience I was in a doctoral program um 10% of uh black students in the program and um two quarters away from starting my dissertation writing I was kicked out of the PO program six um hundred of one point voted out by a group um of board members and one of the suggestions and feedback that I got was I was too social justice um focused and in all of my learning I learned that I wasn't quiet enough and I I spoke a lot so um about the injustices that were happening in the program and around the program I also had some of the most experience with 13 years in um education as well in the program so my question to you is how do you maximize environment um and choices that are difficult politically in terms of like race power economic barriers while balancing accountability to social justice and Equity I mean because it's really tough you know and you you the message that you continue to hear when the the sound is not good I can't I I really I'm sorry I really can't please come closer okay I want to hear what you're saying I just can't hear it very well it's mother matter of fact come up here on the stage and say [Applause] it hi thank you so much um so I was in an institution I was in a doctorial program you in a doctorial program I was in a doctoral program at 39 credits into the program and about two quarters away from starting my writing my final wrri writing project very similar to a dissertation and I was voted out of the program with 600s of one point behind in my GPA and some of the feedback that I got was I was too social justice centered and spent too much time focusing on challenging the issues that were happeningin within the program and also around um in addition to some of the Dynamics of the program I was there was 10% black um African-American people in the program and I was one of the four um black students in the program I also have 13 years of experience in education and Community work and so I was one of the most experienced in terms of this particular dynamics of the program and so um as I thought about challenging it and getting feedback from my advisers they were telling me you know you don't say anything about those things you can really damage yourself professionally sit back be quiet and you know wait until an opportunity comes up again which it will but my question to you Dr Jackson is um how do you maximize environments and choices that are difficult politically in terms of like race power and economic barriers while balancing account your accountability to social justice equity and Community we live in our faith and beliefs we live under the law the law is oppressive much challenge unjust law or oppressive law uh what does it matter if you're you have a PhD and can't use a downtown toilet you know what do the matter if you have a PhD and can't use the theater as we could not so we had to we had to balance off fighting for Change and fighting to be equipped to fight the long fight right after I came out of jail the second time I was excited because it was it was a kind of rush let's fight this system and some of my allies dropped out of school Dr Sam proor said that the question for you do you want to be a student in the movement or student of the movement and I had to make decision not to drop out of school to get equipped to fight when I was young I would say I'm fighting real hard so my children not my children will have to fight this fight I fight to educate them so they can be equipped to fight the fight will not stop and so you may have lost by the point 600% but don't let that break your spirit don't give up don't hurt but don't internalize your pain don't internalize your pain thank you question from the other side was that the University of Washington that happened was was that here was that was that here it wasn't at this institution oh I was I I was going I was going to connect with the president if that [Laughter] [Applause] was okay so we're going to take a question from this side of the room uh hi my name is Will Johnson I'm a teacher in pup um thank you so much for coming here tonight my my question involves as a teacher a black male teacher I heard for years about how we need more people who look like me in education but my question is how do we encourage people at a younger age to get more involved because like we're saying we need them in stem but if they don't develop those skills at a younger age and you mentioned this about culture how do we change that culture at an early age to get them to where they're now successful in Elementary in high school and then on that college track one of the issues is to incentivize more blackmail teachers that is a part of it and if if we need them recruit and find them as we do athletes we like like find them uh our children must be you know uh our young men play this this heft athletic bill because they're taught they they can do it and they get a scholarship to do it when I was a child the Russians s shot sputnick up and we were overwhelmed with fear because they thought the Russians could from some angle in space take a shotgun and shoot us or something like that we were all scared to death and we sub something called the National Defense Act and we paid folk to go to college as opposed to pay to go they paid them to go uh if you were a music teacher or physical education teacher if you took a summer course in science you went for free uh now we've gone to making student loan debt the highest debt of high in credit card debt all the more of debt we should do student debt forgiveness as the simulus like right now because we caught the Russians in 5 years we surpassed them and never look back because we prioritize science so we're going to teach stem we can't just say stem is a great thing Scholarships in incentivize it make it the thing to do it make it the place to go we'll be at least as good in St as we on the athletic field giv incentives it's nothing genetic about that I'd like to make a comment on this you know my focus isn't on stem it's on computer science and the reason for that is because you know stem includes science and math and so on but for a kid who's you know in high school or middle school or an elementary school much of stem doesn't connect to their real world like if they're studying the Pythagorean in theorem x^2 + y^2 = z^2 they don't relate that to how that's going to get them into a better neighborhood or get them into the middle class or get them a job if they're studying how to make an app they completely understand nobody needs to tell them how that provides a ladder for them and uh surveys show that African-Americans score higher than whites on interest levels in learning computer programming and computer science so they don't even need to be convinced that this is useful they automatically know this is a pathway up what's not happening is it's not actually being offered in their school when it is offered students absolutely flock to this field and see he gave the P the Pythagorean theory and those numbers trying to embarrass me when I was taking science I figured out if H2 a glass water h10 a half a [Laughter] glass then that even play that that that was my [Laughter] theory great so can we take a question from this side of the room good evening my name is Jossy Ross I'm from the black feet Indian Reservation the black Fe Nation as well as the uh saamus tribe um I think it's important to acknowledge where we are we're on the ancestral homelands of the duwamish people um who was the who who the city of Seattle is named after and the reason why I bring that up is because I want to address something um Reverend Jackson that you you talked about at one point which was the sacredness of our homelands you you brought that up as a as a um objective of of the Rainbow Coalition that natives are absolutely part of included as part of this conversation because we have a right an alienable right to be within our homelands and in a meaningful way the way I've taken that and so I want to reference your speech just a little bit thank you very much it was a brilliant speech I truly appreciate that and it enlightened me um I I'm edified as a result of the experience but I wanted to I agree with everything you said regarding the layers the the different objectives and stages Economic Development voting etc etc I want to supplement that and add one different component and that is that of of uh environmental justice because what we see I think is that as a result often times of those incredible initiatives to uh integrate workforces and educational places we see that in many places um people of color black folks natives Hispanics Asians have entered the middle class economically but what that has done is it's driven consumption and a lot of us I think and from the previous generation as well my parents generation are they're kind of uh they they had this existential question of whether the goal of that movement that beautiful movement civil rights Human Rights was just to join the middle class to be white people of color and so and so the home our homelands our native homelands have become have a War Z I do okay they become the war zone of these places which is that we have pipelines coming through our homelands to drive this consumption and I think at adding this component I want to ask as as several of the organizations that I work for if perhaps you might want to be part of those conversations to butress that consumption and to talk about well yes we definitely have a right to this equality and to this meaningful living and and voting but we also have a responsibility to make sure that future Generations are around to enjoy that that meaningful standard of living that we have you know one of the advantages of um of coming to college if one studed seriously is to challenge a narrative that may be perverse uh and one of them is this idea of Christmas which is a revolutionary Hol day and has become something simpleminded and consumer-driven uh unto us a child is born children uh name should be called wonderful Prince of Peace and all that up in the should will the rest of government and that'll be peace without end this was the expectation of a radical change from Roman occupation religious exploitation this is a serious sacred Hool day which has become a conception holiday we must change the narrative and not give in greed because if you just change color no change character nothing really has changed except deception I hear you question from that time hi um I wanted to ask a question about uh so the system is systematically set up against us and by us I mean people of color we have policies and programs and laws that are actually um pursuing and putting us in jail is is the new Jim Crow we have uh the stop and frisk which actually allows for racial profiling and yet we we are told what the answer is to get more people of color into these higher positions and despite that we have in the Supreme Court it was a black man who decided that you know who voted against affirmative action and who voted to gut the voter's right act we have a black man as president and yet black people are being shot by police every 28 hours so how do we become a part of this system that is set up against us without hurting our community that's for you well I think that I think one of the things is that if you think things are difficult now and and can't measure progress IM Hill was lynched at age 14 the killer walked the streets for 40 years because the jury said they Cann not imagine a white man being condemned for killing a black man because there were no blacks on the jury that happened to me G it happened inil it happened to Trayvon Martin I said to a group of students at the rally at when trayon Mar kill was set free let's turn pain the P this register and vote with a passion one student said Reb I'm I'm not with I'm tired of of marching he had never marched before uh and and the H with voting we got to get beyond that I said would you like to be on the jury and condemn the one who killed TR M you say I i' I'd bust him only the rich vs can serve on juries he said oh he ran past the power voting matters uh economic economic boycotts matter demonstrations matter coalitions matter being a longdistance runner matters use all those tools and you win some and you'll lose some if you give if you lose if you if you drop the Rope you surely lose you can not fight the system pretending you're on the outside you are not on the outside of the system when you born birth certificate death certificate you you're in it you might not be fighting in it you might be mad with it but you're in it I urge you let's fight together I'm on your side I'd like to make a comment by the way I'm obviously not white but I'm Iranian and I came to this country as an immigrant literally one year after the Iran hostage crisis Ended as a seventh grader which is definitely not a sort of fun environment to enter and uh you know certainly didn't experience the discrimination that I think African-Americans face every single day of their Liv because of their color in this country uh but I learned very well that behind every rejection lies an opportunity uh and one thing I want to say you know we have a black president but with respect to the shooting that's happening the shootings that are happening by police officers just this past week the president offered a plan to put 50,000 cameras on police officers which are proven to reduce officer violence and that is the type of Step that takes us forward and and I very much believe Justice and fairness gradually happens over time it just we want it to happen instantaneously and it doesn't happen but nothing can get in the way of eventual Justice and eventual fairness I want the president put some lights on the bankers who steal people because those Bankers are the one who manipulated the money and took our houses put some lights on them uh they're the ones who got bailed out uh and got long-term low interest interest loans and the people could not and and and I I'm I'm very concerned that we not overreact to the police in the sense that they are The Gatekeepers I agree and what what what are they keeping behind the gate if if you spend all the energy on the police you missed no time left to deal with Microsoft and Google and eBay uh and what's behind the valley because the security we seek the growth we seek opportunity we seek is beyond the gate and so I think I think you're right to to fight that fight but uh while we're going to solve the ission in Ferguson but will we come out of it with a plan for reconstruction because some of the money that was spent to make police more accountable should be spent on jobs and skill trade training I wish You' had X number of police with cameras on their back X number of kids in stem research and next children with a job to me that would be a more balanced approach so we're going to take a question from this side of the room hello can you hear me okay my name is Saba white and I'm z um I lost my hearing when I was three so I learned to talk my parents put me on oroscope I I can't hear you good dear I can't hear you good I can't hear come on down please I can't hear you good can't I'm from the older eest generation I have to hear can you hear me now yes ma'am okay my name is Deborah white and I am de I became de when I was 3 years old my parents put me on old school and that's how I learned to talk and I also know some s LS I so grateful to be here tonight and I wanted to bring my son but because I'm thinking about running for president I don't want anybody to make fun of his outfit he's um um the reason why I'm here tonight is because I've seen um just say we don't have enough support in the de Community we need a lot more minorities to learn sign language which is really important because there are so many bright bright students and adults out there that are looking for works and they could really use your support if there's a lot of classes out there there's a lot of American Sign classes and we really encourage you to try to sign up and know to be to participate in their lives um there's so many out there there could be good doctors and there's so many out there that could be good policeman lawyers I am in the process of trying to be a lawyer but there there there's so many out there and we really appreciate it if you could try to get involve in their Community make them feel like their home and love and we we really could use your support and I really appreciate that well I I have a sister who is De so I understand how did you learn to talk so well um my parents put me in on a school when I was three um I think I was about five or so and um we went to a school in Rockville Maryland and that's how I speak so well I I lost a lot of my heing in my left ear but I have like a little bit in my right ear but I still have to wear my ha a four times baby to hear sounds but I basically depends on lip reading or we on The Interpreter and these two ladies are wonderful tonight they really are I hope that you will continue your education but I want you you will not be the first death President we happen you you I hope you win you won't be the first one though thank you thank you thank you so we have time for one last question um from this side of the room and I'm sorry for those of you who have lined up but we um we do have to get Reverend Jackson to K Quanza after this my name is bipolar um MC and a political organizer first I want to say solidarity with Turtle Island and the indigenous people of this land who was stolen by the US government and let's not forget that the fact that off our backs as black people this nation was built I hear a lot of talk about America and Barack Obama but let's not forget Barack Obama is dropping bombs on children that look just like us and the situation we talk about trusting Jesse Jackson trusting these people who sit there as gay holders but the whole thing is they sit there holding the gate and the situation is we don't have access because I hear a lot of talk about the stem situation but the stem situation reminds me a lot about Booker T Washington and talking about let's sell some peanuts okay so the real situ situation of it is why were you booed off of off out of Ferguson and you use that as like that something of having some ground while at the same time our children are sitting here dying and you're advocating that we stay peaceful and calm while we're getting gunned down in the streets this is not something that shows that you have solidarity with us as black people at least the poor people that don't make it to college and don't get avoided by the police because you might Sue man what are you doing to show solidarity with the people who are being killed and someone saw there with Ferguson would you ask him for money after going there and speaking on the death of a child how is this how are we looking to these people how are we looking just he asking how is he even standing up for us he's not he's sitt there looking at his own interest and that's why he speaks about America over and over again about like it stood up for us at all when it from the beginning it's been about putting us in bondage CU slavery never ended 13th Amendment it's called prison and we're sitting here dying day after day and we're sitting here with a president is supposedly black but he dropping bombs on black children come on man good thank you for your question well I think it I think his concern is real and and his pain is real first of all uh I went to five continents marching against the Iraq War which I thought was wrong when it happened uh I went to jail to fight to free Mandela I also went to jail to free me and so I think that this struggle is not a new struggle it has continuity uh and I would hope even when Brothers go off like this because their pain Embrace their pain uh and embrace them do not let him get away love him until he feels better about himself uh I may add that um I have a new identity uh revj Jackson that's my Twitter number how many how many of y'all on Twitter uhhuh at re and Facebook like me Reverend Jessel Jackson Senior and our Instagram coming [Applause] [Music] soon

Channel: UW Video

Views: 8,285

Keywords: UW, Civil Rights, University Of Washington (College/University), Jesse Jackson (Politician), minorities, racism, Public Policy (Field Of Study), sciences, social sciences

Id: WYCIddUKRmA

Length: 90min 13sec (5413 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 04 2014