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Good morning everyone.

Thank you Chanelle and thank you Marc for that warm introduction.  [Say something personal here about your work with Marc].

It has been a privilege to work with both of you as we continue our efforts to discuss and tackle the issues in the ways many others will not.

I’d like to acknowledge my fellow Congressional Black Caucus Members who are joining me today. If you all could please stand. [Say something personal about working with Members of the Caucus].

I am honored to be your keynote speaker this morning and I thank you for continuing to not only recognize the Congressional Black Caucus for its work, but for continuing to be partners with us as we advocate for polices that create economic opportunity and equity for communities of color and vulnerable populations in this country.

As we all know, there is still much work to be done.

Just last week, the National Journal published a story asking if the President has done enough for Black America.

I’m not a fan of the media continually trying to place a wedge between the President and African Americans, but of course, I can’t write the stories or tell the truth to readers for them.  However, this one did mention some of the grim statistics that describe the state of our community:

Black unemployment remains double that for whites.

The median income gap between white and black households has hit a record high.

Blacks have half the access to health care as whites.

The gap in homeownership is wider today than it was in 1990 with African-Americans twice as likely as whites to have suffered foreclosure.

The net wealth for black families has dropped by 27.1 percent during the recession.

One in 15 African-American men is incarcerated, compared with one in 106 white men.

Although African Americans are 13.8 percent of the U.S. population, we represent 27 percent of those living below the poverty line.

Equity and equality.        Fairness.            Justice.          The fundamental right to vote.

150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation and 50 years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the pillars on which both these milestones in our country stood, seem to be slipping from underneath our feet.

Within the past eight years, the values for which people of all races and ethnic backgrounds fought long and hard to secure in this country have either been attacked or are eroding away.

We have lived and seen many successes but the American Dream and the accomplishments of our past are in danger.

You see, threats to our civil and economic rights today look very different than they did 50 or 60 years ago. The battle is far from over.

As I wrote in my State of Black America piece, Americans are no longer being attacked by vicious K-9’s, or being thrown up against brick walls with fire hoses. Many of the injustices of today have a much more delicate face and are talked about under new, more subtle names.

One name is “debt and deficit reduction” or “sequestration” at the expense of seniors’ health and well being, and our children’s education.

Another is the fight against full implementation of the Affordable Healthcare Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare”, that guarantees access to healthcare for all Americans.

Millions of dollars in the Affordable Care Act were committed for community health centers that provide access to quality healthcare services in underprivileged areas like mental health series, free preventative screenings for women and seniors and lower cost drugs – critical services that Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are working to protect.

I also hope you all haven’t forgotten about the Supreme Court’s review of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The decision has not been made, but with phrases like “racial entitlement” being thrown around by Supreme Court Justices, we seem to be in some serious trouble.

And let us not forget comprehensive immigration reform, which is both a black and brown issue.

Three million black immigrants live in America.

Black immigrants are traditionally more educated than other populations, yet they steadily earn lower wages than similarly trained immigrant and migrant workers.

In 2011, black immigrants faced the highest unemployment rate of any foreign born group in the U.S.

Without the advocacy of the black immigrant community with the work of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Rep. Yvette Clarke, Rep. John Conyers, among others, their voices would have never been heard in this debate.

Thousands of future immigrants from the African continent would have been traded for those from countries considered more “favorable” to employers, and the issues we all face as people of African descent such as racial profiling, criminalization and stagnant economic mobility would have gone unacknowledged.
 

I promise, these are the types of decisions and deals being made today in Washington, and if you blink, you may miss them.

That’s why, when people ask me if the Congressional Black Caucus and organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League are still needed and relevant, I remind them of these challenges.

I remind them that when no one who can speak to the experiences of our community is seated the table, policies and programs that jeopardize our well being are put on the table, and no one is there to make sure they are taken off.  

I, Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and everyone in this room must remain committed to ensuring our voices are heard in these debates and in these conversations.

We must continue doing our work behind the scenes and in front of the camera when necessary, advocating to make sure people of color are heard.

For more than a century, the Urban League has been focused on creating economic opportunity for African Americans and people of color in urban communities by ensuring we have a voice at table.

For more than 140 years, African American Members of Congress have done the same.

I ask that you continue to set and prioritize your organization’s agenda, while remembering how much we rely on one another to get things done.

The whole is much, much greater than the sum of its parts.

Thank you again for having me and honoring the CBC this morning.

We look forward to the work we will continue to do together.