Speaker of the PA House Joanna McClinton's panel discussion on 250 years of American democracy from independence to inclusion at Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.
00:00 - Hear me? All right.
00:01 - All right. Great.
00:02 - My name is Valerie Whitney.
00:04 - I am with the speaker's office policy and communications and its board.
00:08 - Thank you.
00:10 - Thank you.
00:12 - And it is a pleasure to welcome you all here this morning on behalf of
00:16 - speaker Bill Clinton, thank you for joining us for more perfect union
00:20 - from Independence to Inclusion 250 Years of American Democracy.
00:25 - We are grateful for everyone
00:27 - who decided to come here today, but especially to our community partners.
00:31 - Without you, this would not have been possible.
00:33 - So we thank you from the bottom of our hearts as we gather
00:36 - at this historic Mother Bethel AME church.
00:40 - We are reminded that the story of American democracy is not only found
00:44 - in laws and institutions, but in people who fought,
00:48 - who died, who labored to make sure that we are all included.
00:51 - We are the people.
00:53 - And we should never forget that today.
00:57 - You can continue.
00:59 - Today we will reflect on where we've been,
01:02 - where we are today and where we're going.
01:04 - But we must remember in order to get there, we have to do it together.
01:10 - In honor of this wonderful experience,
01:13 - I want to introduce to you guys the Reverend Carolyn Canvas.
01:17 - She is the pastor here at Mother Bethel, and she's
01:20 - going to open us up with the prayer, because it just wouldn't be right
01:24 - to not begin in this holy place with a prayer.
01:28 - So, Reverend.
01:32 - Jean. Oh.
01:43 - Thank you, Miss Whitney.
01:44 - And we say good morning to everyone.
01:48 - And we thank you and are very honored to host you
01:51 - here at Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church,
01:55 - which sits on the oldest parcel of land continuously owned by African-Americans,
02:00 - purchased 235 years ago
02:03 - on October the 10th, 1791.
02:06 - So we're just as old as America,
02:09 - this piece of property.
02:11 - And we are here in the fourth edifice, built in 1889.
02:16 - And so we are very honored to have our speaker, Madame Speaker,
02:19 - Joanna McClinton, and certainly other speakers and legislators
02:23 - who are with us and friends and other elected officials.
02:26 - And so let us share in a word of prayer, a word of invocation, a word of centering.
02:32 - We also want to acknowledge our young people.
02:34 - Let's give it up for our young people who are with us.
02:36 - This morning.
02:41 - Creator God, thank you for this day.
02:46 - Thank you for creating each of us
02:49 - in your divine image.
02:52 - Thank you for gifting
02:54 - all of us with gifts and talents, and may we use them
02:59 - for the building of community.
03:03 - Thank you for our elected officials.
03:05 - Thank you for those who serve.
03:08 - Thank you for the invisible, the people that we do not see
03:12 - who help to help our lives go round.
03:16 - And so we ask for your presence to be with us.
03:19 - And may we do all that we can to build
03:22 - and to be a part of justice working and truth seeking.
03:27 - We also lift up the most vulnerable amongst us,
03:30 - and we ask that your presence and resources will be opened up.
03:34 - And for those even who are on the front line, who serve the most vulnerable.
03:39 - And so be with us.
03:40 - We do pray.
03:41 - And your name we say together. Amen.
03:50 - Thank you.
03:50 - Reverend. Can we give it up for a round of applause?
03:53 - Thank you.
03:59 - It is now my honor to introduce a leader
04:01 - who understands that democracy is simply not a promise written on paper.
04:06 - It's a responsibility we must continue
04:09 - to uphold, to protect and to expand.
04:12 - Speaker E McClinton.
04:14 - Joanna E McClinton made history in 2003,
04:18 - when she became the 131st speaker of the Pennsylvania
04:22 - House of Representatives.
04:31 - She is not only the first woman to hold that position,
04:34 - but the first African-American woman to hold that history.
04:42 - Now, her position is great,
04:44 - but her leadership is about much more than just that.
04:48 - It's about making history matter, about creating opportunity
04:52 - and strengthening representation and ensuring that every Pennsylvania
04:56 - has a voice that is heard and a seat at the table.
04:59 - Today, we reflect on 250 years of American democracy
05:04 - and consider what it means to build a more perfect union.
05:08 - It especially fitting to hear from someone whose own
05:11 - journey reflects the continued story of America.
05:15 - Our progress, our challenges, and our responsibility to those who come after us.
05:21 - Please join me in welcoming the Honorable Joanna E McClinton.
05:31 - Good morning.
05:34 - It's so wonderful to be here while you're standing.
05:38 - Since we were in the house of my Lord, why don't you clap your hands
05:41 - and thank God for this day that he has made
05:46 - so many of us are rejoicing and are glad you can take your seats.
05:51 - I'd like to honor Reverend Carolyn Kavanaugh,
05:54 - who is the pastor of the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
05:59 - Thank you for opening your historical doors
06:02 - for us to have this conversation about democracy.
06:06 - I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge all of my colleagues
06:09 - from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
06:11 - I'd like all the content creators to know we have Republicans and Democrats here.
06:18 - Please stand colleagues.
06:19 - Thank you for your service around the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
06:23 - We are very grateful for all that you do.
06:29 - And in
06:29 - every room that I'm able to be in, I always honor
06:33 - my neighbors for giving me the opportunity to be their voice in Harrisburg.
06:38 - And I always honor my colleagues for electing me to represent our institution.
06:43 - It is something that I take seriously, and I'm so excited that on this morning
06:48 - we will hear from some other historical figures.
06:51 - Let me hear you say living history.
06:55 - Now it's awesome that we have living history
06:57 - not just in Harrisburg, not just in Cobbs Creek, but around our country.
07:03 - And today's conversation about a more perfect union
07:07 - looks and gives us a chance to reflect on our past,
07:11 - how far we have come over the 250 years.
07:15 - Look and examine our present.
07:17 - What are we doing in the now to protect our democracy,
07:21 - to treasure that sacred right to vote and all of our students that are here.
07:26 - Stand up students.
07:27 - If you're in school, stand on up.
07:30 - Make some noise for our future.
07:35 - Thank you for spending time with us today.
07:39 - We were with
07:39 - different groups of students yesterday and I'll tell you what I told them.
07:43 - That gavel is not permanent.
07:45 - These titles that we currently hold are not permanent,
07:49 - and we look forward to the day when we can pass it on to you.
07:54 - And you're here in this moment because your voice matters today,
07:58 - not when you turn 18 and register to vote, but your voice matters today.
08:03 - You are leaders today, and it is in rooms like this
08:06 - at the very age that you are, that you will not only explore
08:10 - your future, but you'll recognize what you can do.
08:13 - Now, when we see the attacks nationally
08:16 - on our right to vote, there is a role for all of us to play.
08:20 - Now, from the wisest to the youngest.
08:24 - So we are appreciative for everyone that's here.
08:26 - And speaking of living history, I want our panelists to join us.
08:30 - We are so excited to hear from the first state of Delaware,
08:34 - the first African-American speaker there, Madam Speaker.
08:38 - Speaker Melissa miner Brown.
08:43 - I'm happy to report she's an Eagles fan.
08:48 - It's not too early for Sunday.
08:49 - Can I get a go bird?
08:54 - Hailing from the great state of New York.
08:57 - We are praying because this brother has a heart in Texas.
09:00 - I don't know why. Because he's disappointed.
09:01 - Every single season.
09:03 - And he will be on Thanksgiving and October 26th.
09:07 - But hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
09:09 - New York's first African-American speaker, Speaker
09:12 - Carl Hasty,
09:15 - welcome.
09:18 - And then we will traverse to the Midwest.
09:21 - Because we are not all coastal leaders.
09:23 - We are going all the way to the great state of Illinois.
09:26 - Please welcome my friend, Speaker Chris Welch.
09:29 - Welcome.
09:31 - Thank you.
09:34 - And those of us who live locally know that the voice
09:37 - that we all hear and respect will be moderating this conversation.
09:42 - Welcome our good brother, Solomon Jones.
09:54 - Let's begin the conversation.
10:04 - Good morning.
10:06 - How's everybody doing? Great.
10:08 - Can you hear me this morning on.
10:11 - Oh, there it is.
10:13 - Let's try it again.
10:14 - Good morning.
10:15 - Can everybody hear me this morning?
10:17 - Welcome to a historic Mother Bethel AME church.
10:21 - In, in South Philadelphia.
10:24 - And welcome to all of our guests, from the various,
10:28 - states around, our country.
10:32 - And this, of course, is the 250th anniversary of America.
10:38 - And Philadelphia really has been at the center of that history.
10:42 - It is a history that, we know what that history is,
10:46 - but that history, has been tampered with.
10:50 - And so as we look at what's happening around,
10:53 - not only Philadelphia at six and market,
10:56 - but also what's happening around our country.
11:00 - I want to look back at what we, the people actually means,
11:05 - in, in the city of Philadelphia and in Illinois
11:08 - and in New York and in Delaware and all around our country.
11:12 - And what it means right now.
11:14 - And so, with respect to the gentleman from New York
11:17 - who came in here with Dallas cufflinks on,
11:21 - so I'm going to start
11:25 - with, with, representative, Joanna McClinton,
11:29 - who is the, speaker of the House of Representatives here in Pennsylvania.
11:34 - And so what does we the people mean?
11:37 - So, Solomon, we are in a day where we
11:42 - the people should mean what it says finally.
11:45 - And I'll start with Representative Johannes of Peter Francis,
11:48 - who spoke so eloquently last night at our ceremonial session,
11:53 - nosotros totals.
11:54 - And I say it right, is supposed to mean all of us.
11:58 - But starting at the inception of this country, it did not mean all of us.
12:03 - We the people meant white men who owned a certain amount of property.
12:08 - Those were the people that we were referencing when we talked about
12:12 - We the People in order to form a more perfect union.
12:15 - But 250 years later, as we look at this crowd, as we see our students especially,
12:20 - we are reckoning with the fact that we are
12:24 - now more inclusive than we ever were.
12:28 - Despite national attacks in our historic parks,
12:32 - with our history being stripped and every effort to make it a race,
12:36 - we are resilient and we the people means that
12:39 - we're still fighting collectively as We the people.
12:43 - All right.
12:43 - And so, Speaker Welsh from Illinois, the great state of Illinois,
12:49 - which includes Chicago, which is a city,
12:52 - that, is in the news a lot.
12:54 - But when we talk about we the people
12:57 - from a midwest standpoint, how do you see that?
13:01 - Well, first of all, good morning, Philadelphia.
13:03 - How are y'all doing?
13:05 - You know, normally I come and I'm a bears fan, and I'm I'm normally I'm popular.
13:10 - Carl got me today.
13:11 - It's so good to be here.
13:14 - I want to thank your speaker for inviting us all to be here
13:17 - in this historic church, and to have this conversation,
13:21 - in this facility, I think means a lot.
13:24 - And I will tell you, you know, coming from the Midwest being the only black
13:28 - speaker, you know, west of here, west of the East Coast, you know,
13:34 - I think about that all the time in my inauguration speech
13:37 - in January of 25, I talked a lot about we the people and what that means.
13:44 - It has truly evolved from when this was first
13:48 - talked about in 1776 and the Declaration of Independence.
13:53 - It's evolved through amendments to the Constitution, making sure,
13:57 - you know, slavery was abolished, making sure women had a right to vote.
14:02 - You know, making sure people weren't
14:05 - discriminated against based on sex and gender.
14:08 - It's evolved on what we the people means.
14:13 - I think it's element.
14:15 - We need to evolve some more, because I think
14:18 - we need to continue to expand what we the people mean.
14:22 - And Illinois, and we are always fighting to make sure
14:26 - folks who have made mistakes in their life
14:29 - are deserving a second chances in a whole lot of states across this country.
14:34 - If you've made a mistake, you've been condemned for life, right?
14:38 - If you've made a mistake and you've
14:41 - done the time,
14:43 - you should be able to have a right to vote.
14:45 - And we need to continue to work on
14:48 - expanding those who can participate in this,
14:52 - American democracy, not, find ways to exclude people.
14:57 - And I just think we need to continue to involve the answer to that question.
15:02 - Every day we go to work.
15:05 - Thank you.
15:05 - Speaker Hastie from, New York.
15:08 - What does we the people mean for you?
15:11 - Well, bringing
15:13 - greetings from the, from New York City.
15:18 - You know, speaking, McClinton mentioned that initially we,
15:22 - the people were only white, male, Protestant, property owners.
15:27 - But over time, it has become more inclusive.
15:30 - But I think what we're facing today is, federal administration is trying
15:36 - to get us back to the original, I say version of
15:40 - We the people where,
15:43 - people of color don't matter if you
15:45 - if you just don't think it's only for billionaires.
15:48 - And so I do think,
15:50 - and this is particularly for those of us who represent blue states.
15:54 - We've been trying as best we can to uphold the,
15:59 - the premises of the Constitution by trying to protect everyone.
16:03 - Immigrants.
16:06 - You know, the stuff that's happening when they pass the, the,
16:09 - the big I call it the Big disgusting or the big ugly
16:12 - bill, which is denying people health care.
16:16 - Denying people food.
16:18 - I think we have to continue to fight,
16:21 - the regression back to what this Federal Aviation
16:25 - Administration like to see is just we those people,
16:30 - speak of Brown.
16:33 - Thank you.
16:33 - Good morning everyone.
16:35 - I just want to say it feels good to be in Philly.
16:37 - I'm, of course, over the bridge in Delaware, but born and raised in Yate.
16:42 - And so
16:44 - when I'm in Delaware, I tell people I'm from Philly
16:46 - because when I tell them I'm from Yate and they think it's in Lancaster,
16:48 - but when I'm in Philly, I can tell the truth because people get it.
16:52 - So anyway, we the people for me, we the people is strong.
16:55 - It's, I think just saying We the people comes with a level of accountability.
17:01 - I think it's important that we celebrate
17:04 - and reflect on this 250th anniversary
17:08 - and really think about how far we've come in America.
17:13 - But I think it's really important
17:16 - that we hold ourselves accountable to and be honest
17:20 - about the fact that we have so much, so much further to go.
17:23 - And we got to be honest about it.
17:25 - Yeah, celebrate the wins.
17:26 - But understand that we can't get comfortable.
17:28 - So when I think we the people, for me it's a challenge.
17:30 - For me, it's a level of accountability.
17:32 - For me, it's taking on that torch and ensuring
17:36 - that we are continuing to create a better tomorrow for the future generations.
17:40 - So when I think we the people, for me, again,
17:44 - it's it's a level of accountability that comes with that statement.
17:49 - So one of
17:49 - the things that that the people do is, is vote.
17:53 - Now when the country was founded, everyone could not vote.
17:56 - It was, the white male property owners that speaker McClinton talked about.
18:00 - But now, at least for the moment,
18:04 - everyone, who is a citizen has the right to vote.
18:07 - Speaker hasty, I want to start this, round of of questions with you because,
18:13 - as Democrats and all of you are Democrats, you're facing challenges
18:16 - both from the left and from the right, and you have midterm elections coming up
18:21 - where, the rules are being challenged,
18:25 - even as ballots are being being sent out.
18:29 - Elections on the federal level by the Constitution are,
18:34 - the purview of the state.
18:36 - How do you protect that and make sure that the states that you all represent
18:41 - still have, authority over elections?
18:47 - We've tried to do a number of things.
18:49 - We, you know, we have who we believe is the greatest attorney general in the
18:54 - in the nation.
18:54 - And Letitia James, who's been probably one of the number one fighters,
19:00 - and, and even a few years ago, we passed
19:03 - that was the John John Lewis Voting Rights Act in the state of New York
19:07 - for instances like this, to make sure that we protected, people.
19:11 - And sometimes things like, oh, don't worry, you know, you have the,
19:14 - the Civil Rights Act and you have the Voting Rights Act, but
19:18 - you can't take it for granted that what we have now,
19:21 - a federal administration is really just trying to turn everything upside down.
19:24 - So we've tried to make sure that we can protect elections,
19:28 - even in this year's budget.
19:29 - Because.
19:31 - And if you've been, watching, we've become the latest,
19:35 - I'd say, installment of, As Ice Turns.
19:39 - And we feel like they are going to try to intimidate people, before election.
19:44 - So even, put, legislation into the budget
19:49 - that discourages Ice from being, anywhere
19:52 - near, voting, polling places.
19:57 - Speaker Brown
19:59 - so this is why it's so important
20:02 - that we educate people on the importance of voting in midterm elections.
20:06 - A lot of times people don't realize, oh, you see what you see on TV, CNN and MSNBC,
20:12 - and all you can think about is what's going on in DC, not understanding
20:15 - that you can get so much done on a state level.
20:19 - And and that's where it starts.
20:20 - That's where I mean,
20:21 - literally from school board to state rep to your statewide elections to Senate.
20:26 - And, and if we can just like really,
20:29 - really strengthen that, we'll be in a better space.
20:32 - We did just pass, House Bill four for four to John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
20:35 - It just got signed into law last month.
20:38 - But also, thank you.
20:42 - But also just looking
20:43 - at other, other and other constitutional amendments, right.
20:46 - Like ensuring that, same day voting voter registration is available
20:50 - to people and ensuring that absentee voting is available to people.
20:54 - We did get those done in Delaware.
20:56 - Of course,
20:56 - it's a constitutional amendment, so we have to we passed it last session,
21:00 - and then we have to come back next term, and we have to do the second half.
21:04 - Now we got unanimous.
21:07 - I mean, we're the Democrats are in the majority in, in Delaware, in the House.
21:11 - But, we got, a unanimous bipartisan vote on that constitutional amendment.
21:17 - Well, we get it next time.
21:19 - I don't know, I don't know, because I don't know if those votes were real votes.
21:24 - We won't know until next time.
21:26 - So we'll see where people stand if we're going to stand on the square
21:28 - or not when it comes to voting for that.
21:30 - But we have to make sure that we educate people
21:32 - on the importance of getting these bills across the finish line
21:34 - so that we can protect our states.
21:36 - Then if we start strengthening our states, then they'll start
21:39 - to feel that impact on a federal level.
21:42 - Speaker Welsh I'll reframe the question.
21:45 - The Constitution gives states authority over elections.
21:49 - That's being challenged.
21:50 - At the federal level, how do you from the state level protect
21:55 - that, that right, of the states to,
21:57 - have authority over elections?
22:00 - Well, I think first, it begins
22:02 - with a true understanding of what our power is.
22:06 - When you know your power, there's a lot you can do.
22:09 - And, you know, there's a difference between federalism.
22:12 - There's a difference between the federal government and states
22:15 - in our federalism system.
22:18 - And in that system, states have rights.
22:22 - There's the federal Constitution,
22:24 - of course, but all of us, we are governed by state constitutions.
22:28 - And, you know, we have a right as state legislatures,
22:33 - to pass laws, in those laws.
22:36 - And we can also change our constitutions and strengthen them.
22:39 - And I got to tell you, when we talk about voting, you know, it's
22:42 - very personal to me because when I first got elected
22:46 - to the state House in 2012,
22:49 - I won my election by 36 votes, 36 votes.
22:54 - My wife thought I was crazy because,
22:59 - election night, I went out and gave a victory speech.
23:02 - I was only up by six votes.
23:04 - I said, we're we're trending in the right direction, honey.
23:06 - We're good. And woke up.
23:08 - I was up by 15 votes, and a week later, they declare me the winner by 36 votes.
23:13 - Eight years after winning an election, the closest in the state by 36 votes,
23:18 - I became the state's first black speaker in our history.
23:26 - You can't
23:26 - tell me every vote doesn't count.
23:30 - You can't tell me your vote doesn't matter.
23:33 - And so when I saw what the Supreme Court did, a few months ago
23:38 - and got our federal Voting Rights Act, the Illinois House,
23:43 - we passed an amendment trying to get on a ballot in Illinois,
23:48 - a question that would put in the Illinois Constitution
23:52 - the same language that is in the federal Voting Rights Act,
23:56 - trying to enshrine that language into our Constitution.
23:59 - Now, our Senate has not taken it up yet.
24:02 - But I trust that I'm working
24:04 - hard to get our Senate to take it up because we're a blue state.
24:08 - We're we got super majorities in both chambers and a governor,
24:11 - that that agrees with our policies and our core beliefs.
24:15 - And so I think as states, we have to find ways
24:18 - to push back on what's going on in this in this country right now.
24:21 - And, and one way we can do
24:22 - that is through our legislative actions and, and through our constitutions.
24:27 - Thank you. Speaker McClinton.
24:30 - Well, I have to start off with the jealousy
24:31 - from all the blue states with the blue houses and the blue Senate.
24:36 - Reverend Kevin also have to pray for me.
24:38 - I'm not supposed to be envious of my neighbors, but,
24:42 - the only bill,
24:44 - that I passed out of the house in my name this session, was the speaker
24:49 - K Leroy Jervis, who's the first black speaker in any state
24:53 - and was the first black speaker in Pennsylvania in 1968,
24:57 - the Voting Rights Act.
24:59 - And that bill would do a lot of the modernizing
25:02 - that, Speaker Brown was referencing the Delaware already has that New York,
25:08 - as Speaker Hastings was saying, already has and that Illinois, is working
25:12 - towards that would provide same day voter registration
25:15 - that would provide an electronic poll book.
25:18 - So all these theories about people
25:20 - voting more than once, you know, like really having full faith
25:24 - and our fair elections and protecting them.
25:27 - But I do believe that when we think about the current threats,
25:31 - many times we think, you know, folks
25:34 - just want to keep people from voting by taking the right away.
25:38 - But it is as impactful if you scare people from going to vote
25:42 - because you think Ice is waiting outside for grandma, it's as effective
25:46 - as saying every day
25:48 - on the news that you're going to need a birth certificate and a passport.
25:51 - People aren't keeping up with these trends.
25:53 - They're not studying the news like some of us who are,
25:57 - rooted in politics in this gathering are this morning.
26:00 - So it's also like a blanket of suppression over the vote.
26:03 - So, no, we don't change the law in Washington.
26:06 - So you need a birth certificate or a passport.
26:08 - But we've talked about it so much that you're like,
26:10 - I'm not going out to vote November the 3rd.
26:12 - Like for what? Like I said, who knows what's going to meet me?
26:14 - Is it going to be a mass Ice agent or is it going to be someone
26:18 - demanding paperwork?
26:19 - Want to know where I'm from?
26:21 - Who I am, whether or not I have this right?
26:23 - But I'm reminding everybody that's here, that we have a pivotal opportunity
26:27 - in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and less than 50 something days,
26:32 - we have the opportunity not only to protect the progress
26:36 - that this one seat
26:36 - Democratic majority has made, but we also have a chance to turn the table.
26:41 - You know, when people are interviewing me
26:43 - saying, well, what happened to transit funding, why our skill game is regulated,
26:46 - I say, well, my good friends, in that Republican controlled state
26:49 - Senate have decided they don't want to do their jobs.
26:53 - So the voters have an opportunity to make a different decision.
26:56 - On Tuesday, November, the third, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
27:00 - to see if the things that my friends in New York and Delaware
27:03 - and Illinois are talking about will give us the political power
27:07 - and the will to do the more work to protect the right to vote.
27:21 - Speaker Melissa miner Brown
27:22 - I want to talk about kind of the history that's gotten us to this moment.
27:27 - And it's interesting because there's a movement that says,
27:30 - you know, make America great again.
27:32 - Take America back to something that that it used to be.
27:35 - And so I kind of want to talk about the importance of of history,
27:40 - in your view, at a moment when Lonnie Bunch, the first
27:43 - black, secretary of the Smithsonian,
27:47 - is, is has really been forced out,
27:50 - what is what is the history that's brought us to this moment?
27:53 - And what is the significance of that history?
27:59 - All right, let me I might need you to rephrase that.
28:01 - So you're asking me what is the history of
28:06 - that moment?
28:06 - What is the history that's brought us to this moment,
28:08 - the American history that's brought us to this moment 250 years on?
28:12 - And what is the significance of of the history in this moment?
28:16 - Okay.
28:16 - Well, of course, we all know 250 years ago.
28:22 - All right.
28:22 - You wouldn't even have seen somebody like me sitting at this table, period.
28:26 - And and the thing is, let's not forget that,
28:28 - you know, and it was kind of tough as we started planning,
28:30 - I just mentioned to speaker McClinton earlier how I wasn't really involved
28:34 - in the planning of the 250th anniversary in Delaware,
28:40 - which is the district that I represent, because it kind of gives me heartburn.
28:45 - One of my colleagues said we should we should dress up
28:48 - as if we were, how we would have been dressed back then.
28:52 - And I said, yeah, so I know how you would have been dressed.
28:55 - Are you telling me to throw on a, sheet with some holes in it and be barefoot?
28:59 - No, that's not how I'm going to dress.
29:02 - And I don't think he
29:03 - meant it in that way, but but, you know, it's hard not to to feel that,
29:08 - because that's what was said. But,
29:11 - just knowing how far we've come, I just, I just really think it's important
29:15 - that we really, really, really
29:19 - be truthful about where we are,
29:22 - but understand that we're not we're really not where we should be.
29:27 - We should be further along at this point.
29:29 - I had dinner with my little sister last night.
29:33 - She's 21, actually.
29:34 - Lindsey, stand up and say hi, my little sister here, she's 21.
29:38 - But but it was such a it was such a good moment
29:41 - because our whole conversation
29:43 - was around how to get involved and how to impact change.
29:47 - And if anything, I think it's important that our young people understand
29:52 - and thank you to the young people that are here, but it's up to you.
29:56 - It's up to you to carry this torch
29:58 - for the next 250 years.
30:01 - We can only do so much and we're going to do everything we can.
30:03 - I've been handed this gavel at a time when
30:07 - okay, so let's really talk about it.
30:10 - I mean, of course I became speaker when Trump was elected, right?
30:13 - So that comes with and I'm the first black person
30:17 - to serve in this role, but that comes with a lot of unrealistic expectations.
30:23 - And and it's like it's a lonely place to be because you can't mess up.
30:28 - They're waiting for you to mess up and everything that goes south.
30:32 - It's it's your fault.
30:36 - And you can be the most qualified person in the room,
30:40 - but it's going to be on you.
30:41 - It's a lonely place to be in there.
30:43 - Unrealistic expectations.
30:45 - You have to meet the mark.
30:47 - You can't mess it up,
30:50 - and you have to keep moving forward because
30:54 - I was handed this gavel at a time
30:56 - when there is so much uncertainty
30:59 - in America, and I'm just going to talk about Delaware for one.
31:04 - And I think, if anything,
31:07 - if people look back, if historians were to look back
31:11 - at the time that I was speaker
31:14 - at this time, the time when we have six as a six black speakers in the country,
31:18 - yes, five, six, six,
31:23 - I want them to be able to say that at a time
31:27 - when there was so much uncertainty in this country,
31:31 - they took it on and they fought the good fight,
31:35 - and they expanded people's voting rights.
31:38 - And they, they, they made sure that we work towards a more stable economy.
31:43 - And they made sure that they expanded health care,
31:45 - and they made sure that they protected people's freedoms,
31:48 - because that's the work that we do every single day.
31:52 - And some days it feels like a thankless job.
31:55 - It really does.
31:57 - But we're still going
31:58 - to do it because we have to for the next generations.
32:01 - I hope I answered that, I know I just went like in a whole nother direction.
32:04 - I think my answer was a little more passionate
32:07 - than what then what you were looking for.
32:09 - But, I'll stop there.
32:12 - Thank you.
32:12 - Thank you.
32:12 - Speaker Brown.
32:18 - Speaker hasty, what's the history that brought us to this moment?
32:21 - And what's the significance of it in this moment?
32:23 - So I think the the,
32:27 - the 250th birthday of the nation is,
32:30 - is a it's a symbolic thing, I'd say for us in New York,
32:34 - particularly the black community, Juneteenth is a much more prominent,
32:38 - acknowledgment of a celebration, for us.
32:42 - And it's, and we we have a Juneteenth parade in my
32:46 - district down one of the more busier, corridors.
32:50 - But we also remind ourselves
32:52 - that there's still so many more things that we have to accomplish.
32:56 - And we even acknowledge all of the people of color
32:59 - who've, been killed by gun violence and things like that.
33:02 - So we use these things as a reminder of the work
33:05 - that we still, you know, have to, to get done.
33:09 - The like
33:10 - I said, the 250th birthday of the nation is it's the official.
33:14 - But I think for us, for those of us who are still trying
33:19 - to make this a more perfect union, understand that there's
33:22 - still so much more work to be done.
33:25 - Okay.
33:26 - Thank you. Sir. Speaker Welsh
33:29 - I, I certainly think that
33:31 - any time you have a milestone, like the 250th anniversary,
33:37 - it's it's it's a an opportunity to reflect.
33:41 - And this is certainly one of those reflection moments that we should all be
33:45 - in. You know, when I think about America 250,
33:50 - I think about Philadelphia in 1776, I think that there was
33:55 - the birth of a promise,
33:57 - a promise to all of us.
33:59 - And that promise came after people fought for it.
34:03 - And then
34:04 - there was a reconstruction of that promise.
34:09 - People had to fight
34:11 - for that reconstruction of that promise.
34:14 - And then during the civil rights movement,
34:16 - there was another expansion of that promise
34:20 - because people fought for expansion of that promise.
34:24 - And I think about where we are today.
34:26 - We have 50 states and we have six
34:29 - black speakers, six
34:33 - we should have more.
34:35 - There's a lot of people that are actively fighting for us
34:38 - to have less than six right now.
34:41 - Every day we go into those capitals
34:43 - that we have the opportunity and the blessing to have.
34:46 - There are people that don't want us to have this opportunity
34:50 - because of the color of our skin.
34:51 - I know that, and I look back on where we are
34:55 - through all the promises that we've had and the expansion of them, and I feel like
34:59 - we currently have a federal administration and a Supreme Court
35:03 - that's trying to take back every promise that we've ever been given.
35:08 - And the only way to stop that
35:11 - is for us to fight for.
35:13 - How do we fight for?
35:15 - We got to vote.
35:16 - We got to be engaged.
35:18 - We got to fight like hell like we never fought before.
35:21 - Because that's how we got the promises and the expansions of the promises
35:25 - in the first place.
35:26 - If we want to keep seeing this stuff, roll back, stay complacent, keep sitting,
35:30 - stay idle.
35:31 - But that's not what I'm about.
35:34 - I'm here because I want to fight with all of you and and make sure
35:37 - we're around in another 250 years.
35:40 - Thank you sir.
35:44 - So speaker
35:45 - McClinton, that that history that that I'm talking about,
35:48 - of course, a lot of that history happened right here in Philadelphia.
35:51 - Some of that history has already been snatched off the walls with crowbars
35:55 - and replaced with something else that isn't necessarily the entire truth.
36:01 - And so
36:04 - from a perspective of
36:04 - someone who's here in Philadelphia, where that history took place,
36:10 - you know, what is the history
36:12 - that's brought us to this moment where people are trying to take us back?
36:15 - And what's the significance of that history in this moment?
36:18 - What do we learn from it now?
36:20 - So it's interesting, Solomon, when you look at a larger
36:25 - historical context, there is no good
36:29 - that comes from rewriting history.
36:32 - No good comes from using a crowbar to take off of the president's house.
36:38 - You know, the names of the enslaved people that work there.
36:42 - And they were not volunteers.
36:44 - They had no liberty.
36:46 - They had no rights.
36:47 - They had no ability to say, I'm calling out sick.
36:50 - They were property.
36:52 - I mean, in 2026, for some of us, especially, maybe our youngest
36:56 - folks here in this room this morning and this church is hard to even imagine a life
37:00 - where you don't wake up and get to say, well, I'm going to school today.
37:03 - Now you're going to work because you're enslaved,
37:06 - because you're property and child labor laws were not yet a thing.
37:10 - However, when we see the fact that this federal administration,
37:14 - this white House, wants to continuously take out an eraser
37:17 - and say, oh, that didn't happen, that's not how it occurred.
37:21 - We in this moment have to make sure that we recommit
37:25 - to the promise that is this country.
37:27 - I think about my own family.
37:29 - I didn't ever get to have a meaningful relationship
37:31 - with my father's mom, who I'm named after Joanna McClinton.
37:35 - She was born in the 1920s, and she passed when I was very little.
37:38 - But I spent a great deal of my life, my first 40 years with my mother's mom,
37:43 - and she would tell me, you know, she was born in 1931 and pass
37:47 - four years ago that, you know, I said, granny, you know, when did you vote?
37:51 - The first time,
37:52 - you know, because we all remember our first time voting, you know, I was 2000.
37:56 - I don't I hear laughs on one side of the other.
37:58 - But I turned 18 that year.
37:59 - I was so excited about oh, anyhow, I got excited.
38:05 - My granny said, I don't even remember the first election
38:08 - because it wasn't like I turned 18 and I voted because you couldn't.
38:12 - She couldn't.
38:13 - She turned 18 and she could not vote in North Carolina.
38:16 - That was not legal.
38:20 - Not like, oh, well, what does she need to do?
38:23 - It wasn't an option when she got her license.
38:25 - They didn't say.
38:26 - And are you registering to vote, miss Minnie MacGyver?
38:30 - It wasn't an option.
38:31 - So in this, our 250 years later,
38:35 - with all these attacks, we have to make a commitment.
38:39 - One thing this country has been is in fact.
38:42 - And Rep Cephas referenced it in her great speech last night,
38:45 - a promise, but one that has lagged
38:48 - hasn't always kept up with what is on paper,
38:51 - and we've got to see and reexamine what was put on those
38:55 - first papers right in this community 250 years ago.
38:58 - And where are we lagging behind in this hour?
39:01 - And how do we make sure that our children don't grow up the way my granny did?
39:06 - In a world where it depends on who you are, who you love
39:09 - and where you live, and what your color of your skin is,
39:12 - which we cannot control any of those things I just listened.
39:15 - And how you pray, like, how are we going to, in this modern age,
39:20 - make sure that we don't see a resurgence
39:24 - of racism, of misogyny, of, you know, stop signs and barriers
39:29 - that say, oh, you can only go this far because that was our country for so long.
39:34 - And many of us, especially millennials, we had a childhood that was free,
39:39 - unlike my mothers that did say you couldn't use a water fountain.
39:42 - We'd have that. Growing up.
39:43 - My mom did. She grew up in segregation.
39:45 - She's still living, but we did not live in our lifetime seeing that.
39:50 - So knowing that our country now
39:52 - wants to regress and go back to a place where it was not great,
39:56 - where people fought and bled and died for things to change,
40:00 - we have to have some urgency like we've never had in the past.
40:05 - Not thinking about 2020.
40:06 - Ford has behind us. That's over now.
40:09 - I think about 2020.
40:10 - In a pandemic, can you believe that was six years ago?
40:12 - What are we going to do in this year?
40:15 - And the time that God gives us to say, no, we are not going to allow our country
40:20 - to have a dim light when we're supposed to be.
40:22 - What was written in those papers?
40:24 - A city on a hill.
40:25 - Let's be that city on a hill.
40:27 - Let's be that light.
40:28 - Let people still want to come and be here.
40:30 - Because they say, this is where freedom rings.
40:43 - Speaker hasty, tomorrow is nine over 11.
40:46 - It is the 25th anniversary of,
40:49 - an attack on America that, in many changed many things about the way
40:55 - we travel, about the way we live, about the way we secure
40:59 - our country.
41:02 - As that is celebrated in New York tomorrow.
41:07 - How are you thinking about
41:08 - the place of that in, in our history?
41:11 - Today,
41:15 - for for for New York
41:17 - when this happened, 25 years ago was actually primary day,
41:21 - for us, it was the primary
41:23 - for the New York City mayor's race.
41:27 - And so we
41:29 - so everyone was off in, doing that.
41:32 - And then when you started to hear what happened,
41:36 - you weren't sure whether it was an attack.
41:38 - I mean, you saw,
41:42 - Air Force, fighter jets flying all over New York.
41:46 - And the first thing everybody did was just make sure
41:48 - that all of your relatives were was safe, closed schools.
41:55 - But, last week, myself and the,
41:59 - Andrew Stewart-Cousins, who was the first black woman to be the
42:04 - leader of a legislative body in this, in this nation, we actually went
42:07 - and laid a wreath and there is a 25th anniversary memorial at.
42:14 - They're going to, show the families tomorrow
42:17 - and it'll be open to the public.
42:21 - But when you go to that site,
42:24 - and for those of you who have never gone, I urge you to go.
42:29 - But it will take you right back to that, to that day
42:32 - and what you were doing on that day that many, artifacts from,
42:37 - you know, from what happened that day.
42:41 - There's a
42:42 - a fire, a fire truck,
42:45 - that was part of, what happened there all day.
42:48 - And so it really does come back to you.
42:49 - So it becomes a moment, really, of, of reflection,
42:54 - and, you know, in New York and even in this country and, and,
42:59 - I was just I met with some, the firefighters union.
43:03 - And I'm saying to myself, I don't understand why it's so hard for,
43:08 - the first responders to continue to get health care
43:12 - and just every year, people are popping up with, with more and more cancers.
43:16 - And I'm like I said, someone said it shouldn't be this hard.
43:18 - You know, if you a first responder and you were there
43:21 - and you get one of these strange cancers, I mean, it's,
43:24 - you know, what it should be about.
43:26 - So, so for us in New York,
43:28 - it's really about a reflection of what happened, what happened that day.
43:32 - You know, I always remember when I was young and we would, you know,
43:35 - drive from, you know, Philly or Delaware
43:38 - or, you know, a family in DC and Maryland.
43:42 - When you would drive north, the first thing that you would have seen
43:45 - is the is the Twin Towers to let you know that you were close to home.
43:49 - But now, as you do it, you see the Freedom Towers.
43:51 - So I'd say it's really become, a real day of reflection,
43:56 - on what we can do, particularly for the first responders, as well.
44:01 - What does that mean, speaker Brown for for America,
44:04 - I guess as a country, because it was the one moment where
44:09 - I felt like when it happened that a lot of the barriers
44:12 - kind of kind of melted away for a moment, about a week.
44:17 - What does it mean for America as we reflect
44:19 - on on 9/11?
44:23 - It's interesting
44:24 - because my 911 story, and, Lindsay, I don't know if I ever told you the story,
44:28 - but my dad worked on Wall Street, and I actually was on the phone with him
44:33 - as the, second plane had gone through the building.
44:38 - That was the last day of his employment.
44:41 - He has not worked again since.
44:43 - He doesn't.
44:46 - When?
44:47 - When I think about what my dad experienced on 911,
44:49 - I think about the importance of equity in mental health care.
44:54 - Something that we still don't see
44:57 - in our in our, in our states, just equity in education
45:01 - around mental health care, behavioral health care, that it is health care.
45:05 - But there is such a vast difference and an inequity in that space.
45:11 - So I get a little emotional
45:13 - when I think about that day
45:15 - and how it impacted my father
45:19 - because it impacted me,
45:21 - because I had a different father after that, that.
45:26 - And now, you know,
45:27 - my dad has not worked another day since 911.
45:31 - But,
45:33 - when I think about that tragedy,
45:36 - I don't think we're too far away from that today.
45:39 - When you look at everything that we're seeing,
45:42 - just evil in our country,
45:47 - I mean, wars left and right,
45:50 - just bullying, intimidation.
45:55 - We're not we're not too far away from another situation like 911.
45:58 - Unfortunately, we should be in a better space than we are now.
46:04 - So, so so that's that really
46:07 - it bothers me because we cannot
46:10 - feel like we're in a safe space to continue to move forward
46:14 - without the worry that we can experience another incident like that at any moment.
46:19 - So. So that's that's scary for me.
46:21 - And then of course, the attack on the Capitol
46:25 - and everything that we're seeing around, around the country
46:29 - happening in churches and, and our legislative buildings,
46:32 - and we go to our speakers conferences and, and we talk about how we can
46:37 - how are we going to go back to our states and enhance the security for our
46:41 - for our state capitol and for for our legislators?
46:45 - When I think about unmarked packages at my front door and the whole bomb squad
46:49 - at my house for hours just to open an empty box,
46:53 - intimidation,
46:57 - and and even like
46:58 - speaker McClinton in her detail that I see, you know,
47:01 - and the importance of it because we're just in so much
47:06 - unrest right now.
47:09 - So when
47:09 - I think about not just 911, but where we are today,
47:13 - what I just once again,
47:16 - I look at our young people
47:19 - and I'm just I'm, I'm, I'm our young people give me hope.
47:24 - That's what I will say.
47:25 - Having having dinner with my little sister in asking how can I impact change?
47:31 - You know, our our young people are so energized.
47:35 - They're so energized.
47:36 - I look at pictures of my my great aunt and uncle from,
47:40 - from back in the late 60s and 70s and I and I see them at protest and I
47:45 - and when I, when I see those pictures, I look at our young people today
47:48 - and that's the direction that we're going in.
47:50 - That's that's what we're in right now.
47:52 - And that's what gives me hope that we're going to get to a better place.
47:55 - I know we will, because our young people are so energized and ready to move
48:00 - and ready to close these gaps, and I know we're going to get there.
48:03 - So I just I try not to get weary at times like this,
48:07 - because I know that I'm going to be able to I'm going to see the impact
48:10 - that our young people are going to have on, on, on our future.
48:14 - Thank you so much.
48:21 - Speaker McClinton, when you
48:22 - think about 911, and you think about now
48:26 - what what impact does that piece of history have on this moment?
48:31 - Well, I think everybody here who was alive, and not,
48:37 - you know, a toddler or a baby, you know, can really remember where you were.
48:41 - I was a student at LaSalle, and, I did my classes,
48:46 - so I only had classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I'd gone to my 8 a.m.
48:50 - class and, went in the Union building to get some breakfast
48:54 - and then went back to my house that I shared with four other women at the time.
48:58 - And everybody was crying.
49:00 - And I'm just like, what happened?
49:02 - Why, what what's going on? Like.
49:05 - And they're like, we're under attack.
49:07 - And I'm like, who's under attack?
49:09 - And then you know, we're looking at the news.
49:12 - And my one roommate,
49:15 - her family, is in Washington,
49:18 - and my, cousin,
49:21 - who lived in Maryland but worked at the Pentagon, I'm
49:24 - thinking about, oh, my gosh, why, what happened to her?
49:27 - I did not, unlike Speaker Brown.
49:30 - And thank you for sharing about your father.
49:32 - I did not have any personal family or friends in New York City or working on,
49:37 - Wall Street, but it was just something difficult to understand
49:41 - how something like that could happen.
49:43 - And I remember I was a junior and I had one professor that,
49:46 - for the rest of my time at school would say, everything is different now.
49:51 - Everything is different.
49:52 - Two jumbo planes flew in, two flew in the buildings.
49:55 - I mean, once a week he would go off on.
49:57 - Everything is different now.
49:58 - What are we doing now to have more and better integration
50:02 - so that we understand other people and other people understand us.
50:07 - And to Speaker Brown's point,
50:08 - we're not finding ourselves at a point of vulnerability
50:11 - when we think about just the brutality of this federal government.
50:15 - For almost two years, it's been heartless,
50:19 - and it's been two silent on the other side of the aisle.
50:23 - They are treating people with no respect or dignity, people
50:28 - who came here to do better, people who are trying to send money home.
50:32 - It's horrible. It's been terrible.
50:34 - So when we think about where we are at 2026 and that has been 25 years,
50:39 - thank God we've not had another attack where so many
50:43 - first responders ran to something that people were trying to get out
50:46 - of big buildings and get out of downtown and get out in lower Manhattan.
50:50 - Thank God we haven't seen another plane go down in Pennsylvania
50:54 - that was going to hurt more people.
50:56 - But we have to also recognize that our policies
51:01 - are impacting
51:02 - our perception around the world.
51:05 - What we are doing and every election
51:09 - is impacting what people view of us around the world.
51:13 - For a very long time, we were the gold standard,
51:17 - and now right in this old North America, our neighbors are saying, oh, you want to
51:22 - play games, you are going to be paying ten times on everything.
51:26 - It's really outrageous and we shouldn't feel outraged and powerless.
51:31 - We should feel outraged and empowered.
51:34 - We have the decisions to make and when we go and vote.
51:38 - But beyond just voting is a very large part.
51:41 - We have to keep having conversations like this and keep engaging our students
51:45 - so that they are aware.
51:46 - Because our students didn't have the life capacity yet to be here
51:50 - when such an awful thing occurred on American soil.
51:54 - Thank you.
51:56 - Thank you.
52:00 - Speaker Welsh.
52:03 - Yeah,
52:04 - I tell you, I too have a story about 911.
52:09 - And I can't believe tomorrow.
52:10 - It's been 25 years as someone that has a 14 year
52:14 - old son and 12 year old daughter who have no idea what 911 means,
52:18 - to a lot of us, for me, it feels like it was just yesterday.
52:23 - I was a a young attorney practicing law
52:27 - at a downtown Chicago law firm, and I had just gotten to the office
52:32 - and literally hysteria, immediately happened.
52:36 - When I got in the office,
52:37 - they were rushing us out, saying, we got to get out of the city
52:41 - because they believed a plane was coming for what was then
52:45 - known as the Sears Tower, which was two blocks from our office.
52:49 - And, we later find out that it's believed that
52:53 - the plane that was brought down here in Pennsylvania
52:57 - was the plane that was headed for Chicago.
52:59 - But literally we were all rushed out of the our buildings, our skyscrapers
53:03 - that we were in. We were,
53:06 - actually rushed out of the city.
53:08 - And I'll never forget the panic
53:12 - of that day, of that moment and then being glued to the coverage and,
53:17 - being in this space, I can't help but be a student of it,
53:22 - and I, I listen to my sisters, madam speakers here this morning.
53:27 - And as we reflect on America 250 and we reflect
53:32 - on the things that are going on, I just ask us all in this,
53:35 - place of worship that we're in to keep our country in prayer.
53:40 - We need to continue to pray for our country, pray for our elected
53:43 - officials on the federal level and the state level and the local level.
53:47 - Because
53:49 - this moment could happen to us again,
53:53 - the perception of America, a lot of people don't like us right now.
53:58 - They don't like us right now.
54:00 - They think we are bullies.
54:03 - And what we have to be
54:05 - afraid of is, is someone else
54:09 - wanting to wake up and attack us like they did 25 years ago.
54:13 - And I think the way we changed the way the world feels about us
54:17 - is we have to make sure we stay engaged, we get to the polls,
54:22 - we take people with us and we help change that perception.
54:27 - But in the meantime, we truly need to stay.
54:30 - Stay faithful, to our Lord.
54:32 - We need to stay in prayer and pray for our country.
54:36 - Thank you very much.
54:37 - So I want to ask about this.
54:40 - You can let.
54:45 - I want to ask about this moment in the power that,
54:47 - state legislatures have right now.
54:51 - Ben Franklin, when he was asked after the Kansas, constitutional convention
54:56 - what kind of country had been created, he said, a republic, if you can keep it.
55:00 - And that's profound right now,
55:03 - as we see many of the safeguards, many of the guardrails,
55:06 - many of the checks and balances challenged, stretched and broken,
55:12 - what can state legislatures do and what can you do
55:17 - as speakers of one of the houses in state legislatures?
55:21 - What can you do in order to protect American democracy
55:26 - when it's really being challenged?
55:28 - It's stretched right now.
55:30 - Speaker McClinton, I'll ask you that first.
55:32 - Thank you so much. Solomon.
55:33 - I had to look over to Representative Mary Isaacson.
55:35 - Is this still your district?
55:37 - All right. Thank you for welcoming us again.
55:39 - We were having a session in her district last night, and she famously
55:43 - says as she holds the seat that Ben Franklin once held,
55:47 - I famously said, Ben Franklin wasn't thinking about me, but here I am.
55:53 - I got to laugh at your own jokes
55:57 - then. They're really funny.
55:58 - But no, seriously, we have a great opportunity
56:03 - as state lawmakers
56:05 - to remind neighbors that first of all, we're in charge of elections.
56:10 - That is the biggest thing, that the states are in charge of elections
56:14 - and that we, in Pennsylvania are, governor Josh Shapiro,
56:20 - our, Secretary of state,
56:23 - they continue to reassure us all that
56:27 - we will not have any federal interference with our elections.
56:31 - We will not be threatened by this administration that demands,
56:36 - you know, names and addresses and rolls and people's private personal data.
56:41 - We are not releasing that,
56:43 - to anybody because it's not the federal government's business.
56:47 - We as state legislator, as state legislatures
56:50 - are in charge of elections and protecting people's rights to vote.
56:53 - And that is most sacred and fundamental.
56:56 - And then there are so many other parts of life that we as state
57:00 - lawmakers, impacts.
57:01 - I'm looking at my friends that created the Pennsylvania Black Maternal Health
57:04 - Caucus Representatives Seaforth, Meigs and Currie, who have,
57:08 - for the first time in modern time, put at the forefront a conversation
57:12 - protecting our women as they are giving birth because for too long, women
57:17 - that look like us, have been three times likely to die,
57:21 - if not during childbirth the first year postpartum.
57:25 - So we applaud and celebrate the fact that you all have changed the law
57:29 - in Pennsylvania, that if you have state health care now, you have a free doula
57:33 - that is life changing.
57:34 - That's the power of state lawmakers being able to change resources
57:39 - and reallocate funding to make sure that we're addressing needs.
57:42 - I see so many students here.
57:44 - One of the power of state legislatures in Pennsylvania, sadly, was at the bottom
57:49 - for funding our schools.
57:50 - But that is something that we continue to correct with every budget
57:53 - we did the third installment, of $1 billion investment into public education.
57:59 - So state legislatures have power.
58:02 - We are not in charge of Ice.
58:04 - We are not in charge of the president.
58:06 - But we do have power and we do good work, and we are able to double
58:10 - down on the policies that create even I see our chamber president,
58:14 - good economic environments for people to want to come here and do business,
58:18 - not losing jobs to Delaware. I said it.
58:23 - Luke is in there right?
58:27 - So since you mentioned Delaware, I'm
58:29 - going to go to Speaker Brown, from Delaware.
58:32 - What what power?
58:34 - Do state legislatures have to help to maintain our democracy
58:40 - when it's really being challenged from the inside?
58:43 - And and how do you plan to use that power as speaker in Delaware?
58:48 - I will I'm going to add on to what speaker McClinton said,
58:51 - you know, at a time when democracy is being tested, it's important
58:53 - that we don't retreat from that, but we actually dive right into it.
58:57 - But it's important to stay woke, because when we pay attention to what's
59:00 - happening on the federal level, we make sure that we secure our bag,
59:03 - our camel, our state, strengthen our state, strengthen our foundation
59:07 - right here in Delaware or next door in Delaware.
59:10 - But, for instance, you know, speaker McClinton
59:13 - mentioned, black maternal health care.
59:17 - We saw that the mom the bus
59:18 - was taken and taking some time to get over the finish line and in DC.
59:22 - So what did we do?
59:23 - We passed the 2022 Delaware Omnibus Act, which was seven bills
59:27 - to improve health outcomes for for all moms and babies in Delaware.
59:31 - We saw that reproductive rights were under attack.
59:34 - What did we do?
59:35 - We we secured our we secured the right here in Delaware
59:38 - to make sure that we didn't have those issues in Delaware voting rights.
59:42 - Got it done.
59:43 - Expanding opportunities, getting it done.
59:46 - So it's important to pay attention to what's happening on the federal level.
59:49 - So as we see them, we see the president and his folks try to unravel things.
59:54 - We quickly secure those things in our states.
59:57 - 930 So that's what we've been doing literally every single day.
01:00 - 03.932 But it goes right back to voting.
01:00 - 08.437 We can draft thousands of bills, but if you don't have the votes
01:00 - 12.809 to get them across the finish line, then they're just paper.
01:00 - 14.910 That's not a law.
01:00 - 18.947 So that's why it's really, really important to ensure that people vote.
01:00 - 24.553 Because, like speaker one said, every single vote is important.
01:00 - 26.054 36 votes.
01:00 - 29.091 I have a colleague who won her election by 14 votes.
01:00 - 32.095 What if those 14 people chose not to vote?
01:00 - 34.229 She wasn't a one.
01:00 - 37.499 We are one member away from a super majority, which will allow us
01:00 - 40.202 to get these constitutional amendments over the finish line
01:00 - 42.939 without having to rely on the other side of the aisle.
01:00 - 45.607 Every vote
01:00 - 50.846 matters, or else we're just drafting bills and we're speaking about them.
01:00 - 52.080 And you, we'll see them
01:00 - 54.683 on the front page of the paper and we'll talk about how important it is.
01:00 - 57.887 But if you don't have the votes to get it across the finish line,
01:00 - 00.889 the law will not be passed.
01:01 - 03.458 So people have to vote.
01:01 - 06.462 I had a conversation and I won't I won't drag this line, but I was
01:01 - 09.931 I was out, knocking doors for one of my colleagues who's in a tough
01:01 - 14.671 primary, and I had a conversation with a gentleman who said he doesn't vote.
01:01 - 18.441 And so I felt like I needed to take the time to sit down and have a,
01:01 - 20.342 a further conversation with him.
01:01 - 21.710 And I and I sat there, he was sitting there
01:01 - 24.012 and he was smoking his weed on his front porch.
01:01 - 26.248 And I sat down and said, okay, we're going to talk.
01:01 - 28.850 And I figured since he was smoking weed, that was the best time to really,
01:01 - 31.386 you know, engage. Because now let's get let me get you thinking.
01:01 - 33.155 Let me get you thinking a little bit.
01:01 - 37.526 And so but it was, it was interesting because every thing, every reason
01:01 - 41.730 for why he didn't vote about politicians don't do anything I had a rebuttal for
01:01 - 45.668 and I had not just a rebuttal, but facts to show him that he was wrong
01:01 - 47.069 and he just didn't know.
01:01 - 50.073 He literally said, I have a felony,
01:01 - 53.576 I can't vote, I said, wrong, we fix that already
01:01 - 55.911 two years ago.
01:01 - 57.245 Where you been?
01:01 - 00.282 So I mean, every single thing that he talked
01:02 - 03.286 about access to health care, no fixed,
01:02 - 05.954 affordability?
01:02 - 07.355 Nope. Right here.
01:02 - 09.558 We're already doing these things.
01:02 - 10.592 So I'm like, what you need?
01:02 - 13.228 So I did send him the link to register to vote because I'm like,
01:02 - 16.231 you need to vote like, you have no idea what you're missing out
01:02 - 18.500 on, but your vote will be the reason why all these things
01:02 - 21.837 you're complaining about get unraveled and don't happen.
01:02 - 24.974 You're going to be the reason why these things move backwards. You.
01:02 - 28.710 So again, states have the ability
01:02 - 32.181 to pass these laws and strengthen our states state by state.
01:02 - 37.353 But we need people to vote so we can get these bills across the finish line.
01:02 - 46.795 So, Speaker Hasty,
01:02 - 49.799 one of the things I've been wondering about, because it
01:02 - 53.835 certainly people have talked about voting, as a solution,
01:02 - 56.839 and certainly voting is a solution,
01:02 - 59.941 but this isn't a normal time.
01:02 - 03.512 And you have, a federal government that's really looking
01:03 - 05.413 at trying to disrupt voting.
01:03 - 07.783 That's what it looks like, in my view.
01:03 - 10.552 And so suppose this isn't a regular election.
01:03 - 14.222 Suppose the worst happens, right?
01:03 - 19.228 And and there is some disruption to voting, you know, what are the plans?
01:03 - 22.330 In New York, blue city, very blue city,
01:03 - 26.101 to protect people's right to vote
01:03 - 29.105 in this upcoming election.
01:03 - 33.809 I'm not sure to what tell me your question.
01:03 - 37.112 So the question is, what if this isn't a regular election?
01:03 - 38.593 What are the plans to protect voting?
01:03 - 43.319 I feel like for us in New York,
01:03 - 49.191 we often feel like the rest of the nation looks to us,
01:03 - 53.696 to provide leadership and and, sometimes a way out of the woods.
01:03 - 55.897 And so something very serious to us.
01:03 - 58.901 And, you know, fortunately, in New York, we have
01:03 - 03.072 I have a supermajority in the assembly in the Senate is, one
01:04 - 06.475 vote short of a supermajority, which I think they will get.
01:04 - 12.113 But we actually do kind of work well with the governor when it comes to,
01:04 - 15.885 trying to step in where we feel like the federal government has come up short.
01:04 - 19.188 And as I mentioned earlier, about us trying to,
01:04 - 22.657 continually pass legislation like I have members that something happens
01:04 - 23.459 on the federal level.
01:04 - 26.462 They put it in the bill, you know, that very same day.
01:04 - 30.265 And so we try to come up with ways to counteract
01:04 - 32.367 what we believe that the federal government is doing.
01:04 - 37.006 And I also say this particularly to states that have Democratic attorney generals,
01:04 - 39.876 they have an
01:04 - 44.346 association of them that they are like at the ready to go into court
01:04 - 46.248 when they see that some of these things happen.
01:04 - 49.886 Although the, of course, the Supreme Court is run by,
01:04 - 52.988 you know, so
01:04 - 54.990 very strong majority
01:04 - 57.994 of Republicans, there's still a lot of federal courts
01:04 - 01.062 that have judges that will do the right thing.
01:05 - 05.166 And I think so, besides legislation, I think you have to stand ready
01:05 - 08.738 to go into court as soon as something, something happens.
01:05 - 10.805 I'll ask you that same question.
01:05 - 14.610 In reference to, Chicago and of course, the entire state.
01:05 - 17.379 If this isn't a regular election, you know what?
01:05 - 20.383 What plans are in place to protect people's right to vote?
01:05 - 22.285 Yeah.
01:05 - 26.588 You started out by saying, you know, Ben Franklin said that it's a republic
01:05 - 28.123 if you can keep it. Yeah.
01:05 - 32.528 He should have said if you fight for it, it's a republic.
01:05 - 37.199 If you fight for it over and over again and, you know,
01:05 - 40.602 being a leader of a state chamber,
01:05 - 44.874 you know, we're in a unique position to help lead that fight.
01:05 - 47.309 Every day we go to work.
01:05 - 49.945 You know, in this, in this role
01:05 - 52.949 that we're in, we know that state
01:05 - 55.016 legislatures
01:05 - 58.020 truly are laboratories of democracy.
01:05 - 01.257 You know, in the House,
01:06 - 04.059 our members are the ones that are closest to the people
01:06 - 06.628 because we're up for election every two years.
01:06 - 07.862 You want to know what the people think?
01:06 - 10.598 Look at the House of Representatives.
01:06 - 13.501 And I can tell you right now
01:06 - 16.071 that we have to continue to fight
01:06 - 19.075 like hell to protect that system.
01:06 - 22.378 And in Illinois, similar to what,
01:06 - 26.314 has been done and, New York and Delaware
01:06 - 30.386 and Pennsylvania, we're using our power in the legislature to pass laws.
01:06 - 33.789 You know, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for mail in voting.
01:06 - 36.826 Those six votes on election night became 36 votes
01:06 - 40.730 because every vote that came in the mail was for Welch.
01:06 - 42.598 2012 was the
01:06 - 45.601 first year Illinois went to mail in voting,
01:06 - 48.536 and my campaign decided to invest in mail in voting.
01:06 - 50.705 And people were laughing at us.
01:06 - 52.974 And so, as Representative Welch,
01:06 - 55.677 everything I've done has been to help invest
01:06 - 58.346 and, you know, strengthen mail
01:06 - 01.517 in voting for including putting money in our budget
01:07 - 06.055 to fund the Attorney General's office more than it's ever been funded before,
01:07 - 09.391 to lead those fights in court
01:07 - 12.628 against this administration that's trying to take those rights away from us.
01:07 - 17.132 Our attorney general was in court last week fighting to protect the right
01:07 - 20.302 for mail in voting, which they're trying to take away from us in this election.
01:07 - 26.142 Yeah, we have to fight and keep fighting and never forget it in Illinois,
01:07 - 30.346 not just in our laws that were passed, I talked about changing the Constitution.
01:07 - 32.781 My first year as speaker.
01:07 - 37.153 We changed the Constitution by putting workers rights in our Constitution.
01:07 - 42.091 A lot of folks tried to make Illinois a right to work state, by law.
01:07 - 45.026 And we said, well, we don't want that to ever happen.
01:07 - 48.067 If they're going to change, they're they're going to change the Constitution.
01:07 - 49.631 We actually put it on the ballot.
01:07 - 53.702 And the people of Illinois voted to make sure Illinois is a workers rights state.
01:07 - 56.739 You have a right to collectively bargain and join a union.
01:07 - 58.673 We put it in our Constitution.
01:07 - 00.809 We have
01:08 - 03.144 we have worked.
01:08 - 05.680 Illinois is a 100% pro-choice state
01:08 - 08.116 because of the laws that we put in the place.
01:08 - 12.053 We saw that the Supreme Court was going to reverse Roe versus Wade,
01:08 - 15.057 and we put some things in place that if they were to do that,
01:08 - 17.992 it wouldn't impact Illinois in a negative way.
01:08 - 21.596 And right now, Illinois is a place where a lot of women come for
01:08 - 24.600 reproductive health care because of the laws that we put in place.
01:08 - 27.068 And I mentioned at the beginning of this conversation
01:08 - 31.173 how we're working right now to try to put voting rights
01:08 - 35.411 in our Constitution, seeing what they were going to do.
01:08 - 39.013 And they did it, at the Supreme Court level yet again.
01:08 - 44.085 And I'm hoping that in our 2028 election on the ballot, the Illinois voters
01:08 - 47.523 will vote to put the Voting Rights Act into our state constitution.
01:08 - 48.557 Thank you.
01:08 - 54.162 So I'm going to give you guys one minute apiece to talk about, the next 250 years.
01:08 - 57.633 We've talked about, the history that's brought us to this moment.
01:08 - 01.370 What do you hope to see in the next 250 years?
01:09 - 04.806 Speaker McClinton, we'll start with you.
01:09 - 07.809 So when my, team and I big shout out to Val
01:09 - 10.813 Whitney, let's give her a big hand for working so hard.
01:09 - 12.614 So, please, let's take it up. Here you are.
01:09 - 14.215 I'm looking for you.
01:09 - 17.786 Well, we were talking about what to call this discussion.
01:09 - 21.189 Val has some excellent ideas, and,
01:09 - 24.193 I said, well, I think we should choose a more perfect union,
01:09 - 29.098 because that is what we are continuing to strive for and work for.
01:09 - 34.269 So as we look at the next 250 years, I want the folks to look back,
01:09 - 38.908 on this generation that existed at the Semi-Colon Centennial and said, oh,
01:09 - 40.341 they were in the fight.
01:09 - 43.011 They were engaged. They were resilient.
01:09 - 47.917 They were making sure that they didn't have just great grand titles,
01:09 - 51.554 but their opportunity to serve came with a real impact.
01:09 - 54.055 They say if you're going to hit somebody with a punch,
01:09 - 55.757 you gotta have some power with it.
01:09 - 59.093 And we want this time that we have and we are stewards,
01:09 - 02.463 we know that this is a time and a season and in our country
01:10 - 05.567 right now, in our communities and in our statehouses.
01:10 - 11.540 So while we have this opportunity that we work hard as possible
01:10 - 15.611 to bring about change and to remind everybody that we engage with
01:10 - 20.848 is that it's bigger than our individual titles, because we all have the power
01:10 - 25.019 collectively to be the change and fight for every single day in our communities.
01:10 - 27.089 All right. Thank you. Speaker Welch.
01:10 - 30.659 Yeah.
01:10 - 33.662 It's my hope that
01:10 - 37.232 we're here another 250 years celebrating.
01:10 - 39.200 500 years of America.
01:10 - 42.204 And the only way we're going to do that is if we
01:10 - 46.341 we all work collectively, to continue to fight, to preserve that.
01:10 - 47.475 Right.
01:10 - 51.880 And I have told our caucus, since I've been speaker, that
01:10 - 55.550 in the role that we're in on the government side,
01:10 - 00.121 not the political side, on the government side, every time we get the opportunity
01:11 - 03.559 to walk into that Capitol, that we're playing an infinite game
01:11 - 06.894 and and playing an infinite game,
01:11 - 09.397 we're not playing to win the game.
01:11 - 12.066 We're playing to keep the game going.
01:11 - 12.968 We're in.
01:11 - 14.636 The game should go on and on and on.
01:11 - 17.640 Long after I'm speaker, long after I'm a representative.
01:11 - 20.008 Illinois is going to be around.
01:11 - 22.777 And so my goal every time I walk in that building
01:11 - 26.548 is to pass policies to help make Illinois a better state.
01:11 - 30.318 I want to leave the place better than I found it.
01:11 - 32.954 And I do that through the power of policy.
01:11 - 36.825 And it's my hope that all of us collectively work in state by state
01:11 - 41.562 across this country that we leave our, our, all of our states in a better place,
01:11 - 44.566 that hopefully our country to a better place and that we're here
01:11 - 47.903 and another 250 years celebrating America.
01:11 - 49.738 Thank you, sir. Speaker Hasty.
01:11 - 55.110 You know,
01:11 - 58.113 I look at this in a, in a in a number of ways
01:11 - 01.617 and that,
01:12 - 05.219 You know, I often tell,
01:12 - 08.223 people that, you know, elected officials,
01:12 - 11.660 promise you that they're going to cure all of society's ills.
01:12 - 15.631 They're not telling you the truth, but it is our job to just make it a little bit
01:12 - 19.234 better than we than we than we left it.
01:12 - 23.005 And, you know, for me,
01:12 - 26.542 I hope and I, you know, I don't want to make it seem like
01:12 - 29.644 we're in the same place that we were 250 years ago.
01:12 - 32.246 Obviously we're not, but we still have so much more work to do.
01:12 - 36.150 But I would just say as a nation, I would hope that we get to the point,
01:12 - 40.421 like all the other industrialized nations around the globe,
01:12 - 45.727 that actually provide health care to every single, person in the country.
01:12 - 46.895 And I also hope that
01:12 - 49.530 we get to a point,
01:12 - 53.802 where this country is just not so relying on guns.
01:12 - 57.004 We have decent civilian hands.
01:12 - 00.275 We have, over 400 million guns in this country.
01:13 - 06.415 And that's not including, the military and, and in law enforcement.
01:13 - 10.251 You know, I've gone to, when I travel to Europe
01:13 - 15.657 and you watch the news, not one story of someone getting shot by, killed by a gun.
01:13 - 21.262 So I think that this country has a lot more maturing to do to really protect.
01:13 - 25.600 So I would hope, you know, if they cryogenically freeze
01:13 - 29.004 us, freeze me and I wake up 250 years from now
01:13 - 33.142 that I would see that everybody in this country has health care,
01:13 - 37.045 and we just don't have this, this reliance on guns.
01:13 - 39.181 All right. My tools. Thank you, sir.
01:13 - 46.789 Speaker Brown, one minute.
01:13 - 51.125 You know, we're living in a time where there's so much uncertainty right now.
01:13 - 53.227 I really
01:13 - 56.432 I so many people have lost hope in democracy,
01:13 - 01.236 and I really just want there to be a day when we can see that
01:14 - 05.040 that hope has been instilled in people.
01:14 - 08.376 I, I mean, I'm honored to serve as the
01:14 - 11.380 the first black speaker,
01:14 - 13.848 but I, I don't want to be the last.
01:14 - 17.519 And I can't wait for a day when there's no more first,
01:14 - 23.325 when it's just the norm to be black and to be in this leadership role.
01:14 - 25.560 So I can't wait for that day.
01:14 - 28.496 And I believe that that day will come.
01:14 - 32.033 I also, you know, I can't wait for the day.
01:14 - 32.768 Like Speaker Hasty
01:14 - 35.409 said, when we talk about health care, I want people to believe that
01:14 - 39.508 if they just
01:14 - 42.877 put an effort, they can help impact that change.
01:14 - 45.279 You don't have to be the speaker at a house.
01:14 - 47.682 You don't have to be a state legislator.
01:14 - 50.251 You can be an advocate. You can be an activist.
01:14 - 54.455 You can be a doctor, a nurse, a teacher, a person
01:14 - 56.257 who's on the ground helping in the community.
01:14 - 59.361 But everybody has to play a part for us to get there.
01:15 - 02.497 In Delaware, you know, when we talk about
01:15 - 05.667 black maternal mortality, that's a real thing.
01:15 - 09.270 But just by passing the omnibus in 2022,
01:15 - 13.475 we literally reduced the black infant mortality rate by 19%.
01:15 - 16.110 It can happen.
01:15 - 18.946 You can do it.
01:15 - 21.215 So I want to get to a point where the gaps on
01:15 - 24.219 disparities are so narrow that they hardly even exist.
01:15 - 24.753 Yeah.
01:15 - 28.256 And I know that it's possible because I've seen the data.
01:15 - 29.690 Data doesn't lie.
01:15 - 30.659 I've seen the data.
01:15 - 33.561 You I've seen it happen right in Delaware.
01:15 - 36.932 So I want to get to the point where people continue to believe
01:15 - 40.702 in the hope of democracy and believe
01:15 - 44.940 that that we can get to a point where we treat people like human beings.
01:15 - 48.743 You know, when I when I look at the work that I do, I first of all,
01:15 - 50.011 I never thought I'd be speaker at a House
01:15 - 51.779 or even a state representative, to be honest.
01:15 - 53.848 I literally ran for office because my patient died
01:15 - 56.518 and I just wanted to change that long because I was so mad.
01:15 - 57.953 And then I
01:15 - 01.956 got here and I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so much that needs to be changed.
01:16 - 06.894 But when I, when I, I use my nursing background in politics,
01:16 - 10.499 because if you just take a moment and you assess the situation
01:16 - 15.102 and you think about how you can address that situation
01:16 - 19.508 and you just stay measured in that space, you can close the gaps.
01:16 - 21.342 You can bring people together.
01:16 - 24.813 I do have this weird ability to work and be able to work across the aisle.
01:16 - 28.683 And, and I use my health care background as the reason
01:16 - 30.518 why I'm able to do that, because like
01:16 - 33.487 when I'm like jumping into a situation, I run with the code team.
01:16 - 37.726 I never was like, before, I offer CPR, are you a Democrat or a Republican?
01:16 - 41.128 Should I save you or not?
01:16 - 45.133 Even though I was tested once when the atheist was in the chamber
01:16 - 48.503 and he actually fell on the marble floor,
01:16 - 50.838 and I was like,
01:16 - 52.673 am I supposed to help?
01:16 - 55.677 Or is God sending a sign
01:16 - 56.511 anyway?
01:16 - 58.179 You know,
01:16 - 58.513 I didn't.
01:16 - 01.382 I paused, I don't he got up. He got up.
01:17 - 04.386 God was sending a sign.
01:17 - 08.222 But anyway, no, I just want us to get to a point where
01:17 - 12.060 we can respect each other and we can close the gaps on disparities.
01:17 - 15.464 And we can no longer have to say that these are the first.
01:17 - 17.632 Thank you, speaker Brown speakers.
01:17 - 20.635 Much appreciate it.
01:17 - 21.802 Speaker McClinton
01:17 - 24.739 yes, we have a special presentation
01:17 - 28.175 coming up in one moment, with April James from my office.
01:17 - 32.179 Please get ready with let's thank Solomon Jones,
01:17 - 36.517 from Wake up with word from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
01:17 - 40.955 A very known author and commentator and organizer.
01:17 - 45.560 Man up who thank Speaker Hastings from New York.
01:17 - 47.461 We'll see you on the football field.
01:17 - 50.332 Yeah. Thanks. Speaker. I'm Allison, Cowboys.
01:17 - 53.801 Thanks, speaker Melissa miner Brown.
01:17 - 57.071 And thank my good friend from the great state of Illinois Speaker Chris Wells.
01:17 - 02.010 We are so grateful for these speakers traveling and traversing to be here.
01:18 - 05.913 I'd like to thank all of my colleagues from the Pennsylvania State House,
01:18 - 09.950 State Senator Art Haywood, media burrow, mayor.
01:18 - 12.820 I saw mayor Joy Washington with us.
01:18 - 17.025 I saw a Philadelphia city councilmember wearing his district Mark squealer.
01:18 - 20.762 I saw Philadelphia City councilwoman Rue Lansdowne,
01:18 - 24.599 I saw Philadelphia City Councilman Jimmy Harrity.
01:18 - 29.670 And we have lots of organizations that are part of this,
01:18 - 31.772 the chamber, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business
01:18 - 35.811 and Industry CEO Luke Bernstein, thank you for joining us.
01:18 - 39.213 The Dennis family of the Dennis family farm.
01:18 - 41.182 Where are you all? Please stand.
01:18 - 45.987 This is the oldest continuously owned black farm in America.
01:18 - 48.457 It's in Susquehanna County.
01:18 - 53.462 Thank you for being here.
01:18 - 57.098 Thank you for partnering with us.
01:18 - 00.568 We have, from the Philadelphia mayor's office.
01:19 - 04.106 I saw Archbishop, Mary Floyd Palmer.
01:19 - 05.673 I saw Bishop speaks.
01:19 - 09.877 Thank you for being here from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.
01:19 - 12.480 Thank you for being here, Amber Harris.
01:19 - 16.752 I know you're high up vice chair, vice president, something like that.
01:19 - 20.855 She's also got a day job where she is the executive director of the Pennsylvania
01:19 - 22.723 Human Relations Commission.
01:19 - 24.792 Thank you for being here, Amber.
01:19 - 29.563 We have the Philadelphia NAACP president, Kathy Hicks.
01:19 - 31.298 Thank you for being here.
01:19 - 36.103 We have the Black Legislative Leaders Network by Jasper Hendricks.
01:19 - 38.072 Thank you for joining us.
01:19 - 41.909 We have Masterman High School students will ahead and stand up.
01:19 - 44.712 Layla Hunt, thank you for being here.
01:19 - 47.381 We have from my district Motivation High School.
01:19 - 50.819 Please stand up motivation high school go jags.
01:19 - 53.020 Thank you all for being here.
01:19 - 55.523 Also from my district and Rep Curry's.
01:19 - 58.359 We have Vision Academy Charter school students.
01:19 - 00.928 Thank you all for being here.
01:20 - 03.398 We're so grateful to have you
01:20 - 06.333 trying to read my handwriting.
01:20 - 08.068 It is a challenge.
01:20 - 10.704 The Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women,
01:20 - 13.708 thank you all for partnering with us.
01:20 - 18.979 Delta Sigma Theta sorority, incorporated.
01:20 - 21.515 Madam president from Philadelphia alumnae was here.
01:20 - 23.651 Tiffany Wilson, my neighbor and friend.
01:20 - 25.085 Thank you all for being here.
01:20 - 30.257 The black Democratic women of Montgomery County, the Federation of Democratic Women
01:20 - 34.562 from Indiana County, the Lawrence County Democratic women.
01:20 - 36.030 Thank you for being here.
01:20 - 39.300 The Three Rivers Democratic women, thank you for being here.
01:20 - 41.402 There have been so many organizations and partners.
01:20 - 44.573 I saw my friend Carmina, thank you for being here.
01:20 - 46.040 Black voters mattered.
01:20 - 49.044 I get everybody I probably didn't do not get me.
01:20 - 52.046 I'm following a script.
01:20 - 52.614 Valerie.
01:20 - 55.617 Whitney, please close this out.
01:20 - 56.985 Hello.
01:20 - 59.220 Thank you, everyone, for coming out.
01:20 - 03.325 I sincerely hope you enjoyed the program and you're able to take something away.
01:21 - 06.360 Most importantly, I hope you remember that we are
01:21 - 07.995 the people we have always been.
01:21 - 09.797 And we will always be.
01:21 - 12.433 Without us. There is no America.
01:21 - 13.567 So don't forget that.
01:21 - 16.470 Especially when you go to the booth in a couple of months.
01:21 - 18.305 So we have a couple presentations.
01:21 - 20.207 First, I'm going to have the reverend come back up.
01:21 - 23.611 She would like to do a special presentation for speaker McClinton.
01:21 - 25.947 And then we have a citation
01:21 - 30.150 that April, Janes will be presenting on this.
01:21 - 33.154 Like so much interest and know
01:21 - 35.990 many our fans with Martin Luther King.
01:21 - 39.627 Thank you, Miss Whitney again on behalf of Mother Bethel, we thank you,
01:21 - 43.231 Madam Speaker, and our other speakers who have joined us.
01:21 - 46.267 And so on behalf of Mother Bethel A.M.E.
01:21 - 46.534 church.
01:21 - 50.038 Speaker, if you would come, we would like to present to you,
01:21 - 53.608 this watercolor of Mother Bethel
01:21 - 56.610 and pray that you would enjoy this
01:21 - 00.014 in your office, in the state, in the legislature.
01:22 - 03.018 So we thank.
01:22 - 06.421 You thank you for your leadership and.
01:22 - 12.694 Until.
01:22 - 22.203 Thank you, speaker.
01:22 - 23.704 And please enjoy that.
01:22 - 26.708 And also we have a little something for speaker
01:22 - 30.344 Michael Brown, for Speaker Wells, and for speaker Heastie for you
01:22 - 33.348 to take back with you celebrating black excellence.
01:22 - 34.616 Not those yet.
01:22 - 35.716 Those right there.
01:22 - 39.787 Celebrating black excellence as we have been celebrating black excellence
01:22 - 43.891 from America's beginning and paying homage to our founder, Bishop Richard Allen.
01:22 - 45.859 So we pray that you will enjoy these.
01:22 - 47.895 And also one for you as well, Mr.
01:22 - 48.964 Jones. Thank you.
01:22 - 51.066 And then we
01:22 - 54.502 want to send something home to our legislators who are here with us.
01:22 - 56.770 We want you to ring the bell for justice.
01:22 - 59.908 And so we have a semi Quinn Centennial Bell for you to take back
01:23 - 03.478 to your respective offices, to our legislators that are with us,
01:23 - 08.283 and to just keep doing the work that you do in order for the fight
01:23 - 10.351 and the struggle for freedom. Amen.
01:23 - 12.386 You can get them out. Amen.
01:23 - 14.922 And then one last speaker, if you just allow me this,
01:23 - 19.461 this is super special to have the Dennis family with us.
01:23 - 23.131 They are lifelong enemies.
01:23 - 27.135 And so we want to gift you a watercolor as well, to take back to the farm
01:23 - 33.040 and pray and know that we love you and thank you for the generational history
01:23 - 35.542 that you continue, and also the work of preservation.
01:23 - 40.148 So on behalf of Mother Bethel, we say thank you and enjoy this.
01:23 - 48.456 Because there.
01:24 - 00.935 Reverend, we
01:24 - 04.338 have a citation from the Pennsylvania House for the Dennis family.
01:24 - 07.007 Also, I was going to do it after the program
01:24 - 10.244 because everybody's been so patient, and I know the press wants to talk
01:24 - 12.079 to the other speakers momentarily,
01:24 - 14.548 but I figured we should just take a photograph right now.
01:24 - 17.785 So let's celebrate the Dennis family and the legacy they have
01:24 - 20.789 in this nation.
01:24 - 36.838 And. I.
01:25 - 07.168 Sure.
01:25 - 22.684 April.
01:25 - 25.687 James.
01:25 - 30.824 Thank you, Madam Speaker.
01:25 - 32.860 Let's give our, panelists
01:25 - 36.196 and moderator, another round of applause, please.
01:25 - 36.865 Thank you.
01:25 - 39.868 Thank you for that stimulating discussion
01:25 - 44.072 on behalf of Speaker Joanna McClinton
01:25 - 48.876 and the Pennsylvania General Assembly, I want to acknowledge again
01:25 - 52.080 that we're sitting in two centuries of history.
01:25 - 56.551 So we want to acknowledge that history by presenting,
01:25 - 59.621 the pastor with a citation.
01:26 - 02.456 And it reads as follows.
01:26 - 05.559 Whereas as our nation commemorates
01:26 - 09.030 250 years of American democracy,
01:26 - 12.099 we proudly recognize Mother Bethel
01:26 - 17.070 African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 419
01:26 - 22.243 South sixth Street in Philadelphia, whose extraordinary history of faith,
01:26 - 25.813 freedom, courage and self-determination
01:26 - 29.250 is deeply woven into the American story.
01:26 - 32.653 And whereas Mother Bethel was founded
01:26 - 36.291 in 1794 by Bishop Richard Allen
01:26 - 41.396 following the courageous actions of black worshipers who sought freedom
01:26 - 45.600 from racial discrimination and the right to worship with dignity.
01:26 - 51.171 In 1816, Allen united Black Methodist congregations
01:26 - 55.376 to establish the African Methodist Episcopal Church,
01:26 - 59.480 the first independent black religious denomination
01:26 - 03.718 in the United States, and became its first bishop.
01:27 - 06.720 And whereas Mother Bethel stands
01:27 - 11.158 on the oldest parcel of real estate continuously owned
01:27 - 16.497 by African Americans in the United States, and its present sanctuary,
01:27 - 19.766 completed in 1890, continues
01:27 - 22.770 a remarkable legacy of black ownership,
01:27 - 26.341 institution building, and religious independence.
01:27 - 30.378 The church is recognized by the National Park Service
01:27 - 33.615 for its national historic significance,
01:27 - 39.053 and Whereas for more than two centuries, Mother Bethel has served as far more
01:27 - 43.658 than a house of worship from its roots in the Free America
01:27 - 48.596 African society and Bishop Allen's advocacy against slavery,
01:27 - 52.432 and for equal rights, the church has stood as a place
01:27 - 56.971 of spiritual refuge, community service, civic engagement,
01:27 - 00.608 and the continuing pursuit of freedom and equality.
01:28 - 03.977 And whereas, it is especially fitting that
01:28 - 08.449 a more perfect union from independence to inclusion,
01:28 - 12.053 250 Years of American Democracy
01:28 - 15.590 convenes within this historic sanctuary.
01:28 - 20.228 While Philadelphia helped give birth to America, democracy
01:28 - 25.600 Mother Bethel bears witness to generations of African Americans
01:28 - 28.803 who insisted that America's promises
01:28 - 33.074 of liberty, equality, religious freedom,
01:28 - 37.412 and full participation must belong to them as well.
01:28 - 41.382 And whereas Mother Bethel's enduring legacy
01:28 - 45.820 reminds us that the American journey toward a more perfect
01:28 - 49.691 union has been shaped not only in halls of government,
01:28 - 52.826 but also in churches, communities
01:28 - 57.765 and courageous acts of ordinary people determined to make freedom
01:28 - 01.202 more complete for the generations that followed.
01:29 - 04.772 Therefore, I, Joanna
01:29 - 08.643 McClinton, speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,
01:29 - 12.079 proudly recognize and honor Mother Bethel
01:29 - 15.149 African Methodist Episcopal Church,
01:29 - 20.321 its pastor, the Reverend Carolyn Cabaniss, and its congregation
01:29 - 25.059 for their extraordinary contributions to African-American history,
01:29 - 28.896 Pennsylvania history, and the American story
01:29 - 31.598 on the occasion of a more
01:29 - 35.236 Perfect Union from Independence to Inclusion.
01:29 - 38.606 250 Years of American Democracy,
01:29 - 42.276 I offer my profound gratitude to Mother Bethel
01:29 - 46.681 for opening the doors of this sacred and historic sanctuary,
01:29 - 50.418 and for more than two centuries of faithful witness,
01:29 - 54.221 courageous leadership, and steadfast service in the continuing
01:29 - 58.225 pursuit of freedom, justice, and a more perfect
01:29 - 01.229 union.
01:30 - 04.364 One more line
01:30 - 08.635 Reverend Cabaniss is the first woman pastor of Mother Bethel, so
01:30 - 12.973 she too is living history and made headlines
01:30 - 16.009 when she was appointed to be at this congregation.
01:30 - 17.744 So I asked the speakers to join us.
01:30 - 20.748 And then you can conclude us in prayer as we start.
01:31 - 17.505 Yes, ma'am.
01:31 - 18.206 Thank you sir.
01:31 - 19.406 Thank you again.
01:31 - 23.477 We let's give it up for speaker McClinton and Speaker Ryan, a Brown and Speaker.
01:31 - 25.679 He's the speaker. Welsh.
01:31 - 28.014 And again, on behalf of Mother Bethel, we also want
01:31 - 31.018 to thank our Mother Bethel family for being with us.
01:31 - 32.786 You're more than welcome to tour.
01:31 - 34.287 The museum is downstairs.
01:31 - 36.923 It's real cool down there.
01:31 - 37.725 So feel free.
01:31 - 38.726 It is open.
01:31 - 41.661 So let us stand as we depart.
01:31 - 43.196 Much we've shared together.
01:31 - 44.565 We thank Mr. Jones.
01:31 - 48.068 Much has been shared much as dialog.
01:31 - 53.508 But now let us depart to serve creator God, mother and father of us all.
01:31 - 56.944 Thank you for gathering us together in this place.
01:31 - 02.282 Thank you for the inspiration and thank you for the dialog.
01:32 - 06.354 Thank you for all the stirring and also the commitment
01:32 - 10.258 to do our part to build a more perfect union.
01:32 - 12.292 Thank you for our young people.
01:32 - 15.897 Thank you for all of us who have come together from our various backgrounds.
01:32 - 17.430 We pray for our city.
01:32 - 20.066 We pray for all communities represented.
01:32 - 21.935 We pray for our commonwealth.
01:32 - 26.440 We pray for our governor, our speaker, all elected officials on all levels.
01:32 - 29.509 And we ask that your peace will be with us.
01:32 - 33.915 Let peace begin with each of us, and let us go forth in love.
01:32 - 36.317 In your name we do pray. Amen.
01:32 - 52.733 In the.
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