WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.560 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.390 align:middle line:90% Yeah? 00:00:01.390 --> 00:00:07.980 align:middle line:84% Do you have any long-term goals [INAUDIBLE] 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:10.230 align:middle line:84% I wrote an article in The Nation that I would 00:00:10.230 --> 00:00:11.580 align:middle line:90% recommend that people get it. 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:13.410 align:middle line:90% It's a November issue. 00:00:13.410 --> 00:00:15.630 align:middle line:84% And I got a copy just to show you 00:00:15.630 --> 00:00:18.187 align:middle line:84% but I wrote it because I wanted to articulate 00:00:18.187 --> 00:00:19.020 align:middle line:90% some of my thinking. 00:00:19.020 --> 00:00:22.388 align:middle line:84% It's called, "Turning Youth Gangs Around, Throwing Away 00:00:22.388 --> 00:00:24.930 align:middle line:84% Kids." and there's a sentence in here-- a couple of sentences 00:00:24.930 --> 00:00:27.960 align:middle line:84% that says, "What about being tough on crime? 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:30.120 align:middle line:84% It's tougher to walk these streets, 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:31.650 align:middle line:90% to listen to young people. 00:00:31.650 --> 00:00:33.540 align:middle line:90% It's tougher to care." 00:00:33.540 --> 00:00:36.660 align:middle line:84% And I have tried to articulate some of my thinking 00:00:36.660 --> 00:00:38.820 align:middle line:84% about what we can do, because I think 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:42.630 align:middle line:84% we have to challenge this whole idea that our youth are 00:00:42.630 --> 00:00:44.130 align:middle line:90% no good. 00:00:44.130 --> 00:00:45.780 align:middle line:90% That they're lost. 00:00:45.780 --> 00:00:48.450 align:middle line:84% And the only thing left for them is prison and throwing them 00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:49.200 align:middle line:90% away. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:50.220 align:middle line:90% We can't accept that. 00:00:50.220 --> 00:00:52.500 align:middle line:84% We got to say that when it comes to our youth, 00:00:52.500 --> 00:00:54.630 align:middle line:90% there is no lost causes. 00:00:54.630 --> 00:00:56.970 align:middle line:84% That everyone has the possibility 00:00:56.970 --> 00:00:58.530 align:middle line:90% of transcendence and change. 00:00:58.530 --> 00:01:00.460 align:middle line:90% And I have seen this. 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:02.730 align:middle line:84% I have been through a lot of the youth facilities. 00:01:02.730 --> 00:01:05.327 align:middle line:84% I went to the Pima County Youth Facility. 00:01:05.327 --> 00:01:06.660 align:middle line:90% I've been through a lot of them. 00:01:06.660 --> 00:01:09.780 align:middle line:84% I went to-- in California, I went to the Nelles School 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:11.070 align:middle line:90% for Boys. 00:01:11.070 --> 00:01:13.230 align:middle line:84% Several hundred young men in there. 00:01:13.230 --> 00:01:14.565 align:middle line:90% Ages 10 to 21. 00:01:14.565 --> 00:01:17.180 align:middle line:90% 00:01:17.180 --> 00:01:20.550 align:middle line:90% Mostly Chicano, the rest Black. 00:01:20.550 --> 00:01:22.230 align:middle line:90% I had-- there was an assembly. 00:01:22.230 --> 00:01:24.180 align:middle line:90% I talked to all these young men. 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:25.580 align:middle line:90% It was really great. 00:01:25.580 --> 00:01:27.330 align:middle line:84% Well, after I talked, they were telling me 00:01:27.330 --> 00:01:28.955 align:middle line:84% that there was a place called the Nixon 00:01:28.955 --> 00:01:32.580 align:middle line:84% Unit in the middle of this place that was the super hardcore 00:01:32.580 --> 00:01:33.150 align:middle line:90% kids. 00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:37.220 align:middle line:84% 10 to 16-year-olds who had murdered or sex offenders. 00:01:37.220 --> 00:01:39.080 align:middle line:84% And I told them I wanted to talk to them. 00:01:39.080 --> 00:01:41.180 align:middle line:84% And they said, well, nobody's ever talked to them. 00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:42.410 align:middle line:84% And I really said, you know what? 00:01:42.410 --> 00:01:43.618 align:middle line:90% I want to talk to these kids. 00:01:43.618 --> 00:01:44.270 align:middle line:90% Can we do so? 00:01:44.270 --> 00:01:45.380 align:middle line:90% They arranged it. 00:01:45.380 --> 00:01:49.430 align:middle line:84% When I walked into the Nixon Unit, there's two tiers. 00:01:49.430 --> 00:01:50.670 align:middle line:90% The kids are living-- 00:01:50.670 --> 00:01:54.230 align:middle line:84% there's only one hole that you can see them through. 00:01:54.230 --> 00:01:57.530 align:middle line:84% And they opened it up and it was dark. 00:01:57.530 --> 00:01:59.420 align:middle line:84% And they turned on the lights and these kids 00:01:59.420 --> 00:02:00.920 align:middle line:84% were coming out of there blinking 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:03.620 align:middle line:84% their eyes because they hadn't been in the light. 00:02:03.620 --> 00:02:06.110 align:middle line:84% And we had them sit right in the middle, you know, 00:02:06.110 --> 00:02:07.430 align:middle line:90% and we started talking. 00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:09.199 align:middle line:84% And we-- I was just telling my story, 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:10.970 align:middle line:84% and they laughed and they cried and we 00:02:10.970 --> 00:02:12.262 align:middle line:90% went through all these changes. 00:02:12.262 --> 00:02:14.928 align:middle line:84% And after we got through, one of the guards says, you know what? 00:02:14.928 --> 00:02:17.420 align:middle line:84% I'd never seen these kids show any emotion but rage. 00:02:17.420 --> 00:02:19.430 align:middle line:90% That was the one emotion. 00:02:19.430 --> 00:02:22.040 align:middle line:90% One of the kids came up to me-- 00:02:22.040 --> 00:02:24.850 align:middle line:84% 16 years old-- came up to me and I was just 00:02:24.850 --> 00:02:25.850 align:middle line:90% going to shake his hand. 00:02:25.850 --> 00:02:27.770 align:middle line:90% He went and hugged me. 00:02:27.770 --> 00:02:29.450 align:middle line:90% And he said, you know what? 00:02:29.450 --> 00:02:34.630 align:middle line:84% I never felt probably Mexican until I heard you talk. 00:02:34.630 --> 00:02:36.710 align:middle line:84% And I could see a glow in his eye. 00:02:36.710 --> 00:02:38.770 align:middle line:90% He was already changing. 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:40.630 align:middle line:84% I asked him what he was in there for. 00:02:40.630 --> 00:02:44.150 align:middle line:84% Two murders and 11 murder attempts. 00:02:44.150 --> 00:02:48.430 align:middle line:84% As far as this society goes, he ain't going anywhere. 00:02:48.430 --> 00:02:51.178 align:middle line:84% But that's why we got to see it differently. 00:02:51.178 --> 00:02:52.720 align:middle line:84% I'm not saying that there's miracles. 00:02:52.720 --> 00:02:54.430 align:middle line:84% I'm not saying that you do this and everything's-- 00:02:54.430 --> 00:02:56.262 align:middle line:84% I work with all these kids in Chicago. 00:02:56.262 --> 00:02:58.220 align:middle line:84% Six of them now are sitting in the county jail, 00:02:58.220 --> 00:03:00.160 align:middle line:90% including my own son. 00:03:00.160 --> 00:03:01.390 align:middle line:90% But it's worth doing it. 00:03:01.390 --> 00:03:02.830 align:middle line:90% It's worth having done it. 00:03:02.830 --> 00:03:05.260 align:middle line:84% It's worth having walked the streets with them. 00:03:05.260 --> 00:03:07.850 align:middle line:84% Because if we don't do it, who's going to do it? 00:03:07.850 --> 00:03:08.980 align:middle line:90% You're thinking Congress? 00:03:08.980 --> 00:03:10.610 align:middle line:84% They're doing-- you know, what are they doing in Congress? 00:03:10.610 --> 00:03:13.360 align:middle line:84% They're setting it up so that their only future's prison. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:16.090 align:middle line:84% And I'll tell you something like I told all the people I've 00:03:16.090 --> 00:03:17.940 align:middle line:90% been talking to this week-- 00:03:17.940 --> 00:03:21.030 align:middle line:84% they're building-- they got 200,000 new beds 00:03:21.030 --> 00:03:22.320 align:middle line:90% that they got to fill. 00:03:22.320 --> 00:03:24.770 align:middle line:84% And it's like that movie, Field of Dreams. 00:03:24.770 --> 00:03:25.350 align:middle line:90% Remember? 00:03:25.350 --> 00:03:26.910 align:middle line:84% If they build them, they will come? 00:03:26.910 --> 00:03:29.220 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:29.220 --> 00:03:31.380 align:middle line:84% If they build them, they will fill those cells. 00:03:31.380 --> 00:03:32.340 align:middle line:90% It'll be our kids. 00:03:32.340 --> 00:03:33.810 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:03:33.810 --> 00:03:36.120 align:middle line:84% If we build colleges, if we build schools, 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:38.580 align:middle line:84% if we build programs, those kids will go there. 00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:41.650 align:middle line:84% If we build prisons, they'll go there. 00:03:41.650 --> 00:03:43.795 align:middle line:90% Society directs social energy. 00:03:43.795 --> 00:03:45.670 align:middle line:84% And right now, the government is directing it 00:03:45.670 --> 00:03:47.590 align:middle line:90% towards putting our kids away. 00:03:47.590 --> 00:03:49.630 align:middle line:90% And we got to say no. 00:03:49.630 --> 00:03:51.580 align:middle line:84% How come schools are closing down, 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:53.560 align:middle line:84% libraries are going bankrupt and everything, 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:55.630 align:middle line:90% and they're building prisons? 00:03:55.630 --> 00:03:57.540 align:middle line:84% This is the thing we got to challenge. 00:03:57.540 --> 00:03:58.900 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] Thank you. 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:02.225 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:02.225 --> 00:04:04.130 align:middle line:90% 00:04:04.130 --> 00:04:04.640 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:04:04.640 --> 00:04:07.436 align:middle line:90% 00:04:07.436 --> 00:04:09.300 align:middle line:84% I have a request and I have a comment. 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:11.237 align:middle line:84% The request is, later on would you [INAUDIBLE] 00:04:11.237 --> 00:04:13.154 align:middle line:84% if you don't have other plans, I was wondering 00:04:13.154 --> 00:04:15.609 align:middle line:90% if you would read [INAUDIBLE]. 00:04:15.609 --> 00:04:20.149 align:middle line:84% And then the comment is, what is in your understanding, 00:04:20.149 --> 00:04:23.006 align:middle line:84% what's the relationship between [? militarism ?] 00:04:23.006 --> 00:04:28.700 align:middle line:90% and gang [INAUDIBLE] 00:04:28.700 --> 00:04:30.890 align:middle line:90% I'll tell you a really good one. 00:04:30.890 --> 00:04:33.710 align:middle line:84% There's no way you're going to stop gang violence as 00:04:33.710 --> 00:04:36.560 align:middle line:84% long as you have a gang mentality running 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.060 align:middle line:90% this government. 00:04:38.060 --> 00:04:38.750 align:middle line:90% And it is. 00:04:38.750 --> 00:04:39.950 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:39.950 --> 00:04:40.975 align:middle line:90% I'm going to tell you-- 00:04:40.975 --> 00:04:42.915 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:42.915 --> 00:04:46.220 align:middle line:84% You deal with the gang up there, you can deal with the gangs 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:47.750 align:middle line:90% down here. 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:51.230 align:middle line:84% When they did the Persian Gulf War, what was that? 00:04:51.230 --> 00:04:54.650 align:middle line:84% The drive-- the great drive by, as I call them. 00:04:54.650 --> 00:04:57.680 align:middle line:84% When they went to Baghdad and didn't even have 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:01.040 align:middle line:84% to see the faces of the people they were bombing and could do 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:03.338 align:middle line:84% it on a video screen on an airplane 00:05:03.338 --> 00:05:05.380 align:middle line:84% and they could just see the target boom like it's 00:05:05.380 --> 00:05:08.060 align:middle line:84% a video game and blow people away, 00:05:08.060 --> 00:05:11.450 align:middle line:84% 100,000 men, women, and children that weren't soldiers 00:05:11.450 --> 00:05:12.920 align:middle line:90% were killed in there. 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:16.640 align:middle line:84% And it's the same way that we dealt in the barrio. 00:05:16.640 --> 00:05:19.100 align:middle line:90% We saw Sangra as our enemy. 00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:21.080 align:middle line:84% We didn't even see them as human beings. 00:05:21.080 --> 00:05:23.908 align:middle line:84% We had to dehumanize them so when we got them, 00:05:23.908 --> 00:05:26.450 align:middle line:84% we didn't have to feel that pain that they were human beings. 00:05:26.450 --> 00:05:28.242 align:middle line:84% And drive-bys are perfect because you never 00:05:28.242 --> 00:05:29.660 align:middle line:90% have to look in people's eyes. 00:05:29.660 --> 00:05:32.480 align:middle line:84% You never have to see their pain, that sorrow. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:34.310 align:middle line:84% You never have to see their mothers crying. 00:05:34.310 --> 00:05:36.185 align:middle line:84% All you have to do is see, they're the enemy. 00:05:36.185 --> 00:05:36.740 align:middle line:90% I kill them. 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:37.250 align:middle line:90% Boom. 00:05:37.250 --> 00:05:38.810 align:middle line:84% And walk and laugh all the way home 00:05:38.810 --> 00:05:40.310 align:middle line:90% because that's what we did. 00:05:40.310 --> 00:05:42.980 align:middle line:84% And that's the same mentality that runs this government. 00:05:42.980 --> 00:05:44.780 align:middle line:84% It's like this thing about gun control. 00:05:44.780 --> 00:05:46.730 align:middle line:84% How in the world can this country 00:05:46.730 --> 00:05:49.430 align:middle line:84% control guns when it is the number one arms 00:05:49.430 --> 00:05:50.990 align:middle line:90% dealer in this world? 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:51.920 align:middle line:90% It can't do it. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:55.343 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:05:55.343 --> 00:05:58.770 align:middle line:90% 00:05:58.770 --> 00:06:04.872 align:middle line:84% To go along with that, I [INAUDIBLE] 00:06:04.872 --> 00:06:15.420 align:middle line:90% and especially [INAUDIBLE] 00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:16.920 align:middle line:84% And if you do anything from fear, 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:19.590 align:middle line:84% you already made the first mistake. 00:06:19.590 --> 00:06:21.510 align:middle line:84% Fear is never a good reason to do nothing. 00:06:21.510 --> 00:06:24.870 align:middle line:84% I mean, well, when you're getting killed or something 00:06:24.870 --> 00:06:25.830 align:middle line:90% that may be true. 00:06:25.830 --> 00:06:27.930 align:middle line:84% But I'll tell you how this fear works. 00:06:27.930 --> 00:06:30.222 align:middle line:84% And Natalie, I don't know if you heard about this case. 00:06:30.222 --> 00:06:33.720 align:middle line:84% This happened like two or three weeks ago. 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:35.960 align:middle line:84% Two taggers were in the Hollywood underpass. 00:06:35.960 --> 00:06:36.890 align:middle line:90% Just graffiti. 00:06:36.890 --> 00:06:38.130 align:middle line:90% OK, it's a terrible blight. 00:06:38.130 --> 00:06:40.070 align:middle line:84% They call it a blight and everything else. 00:06:40.070 --> 00:06:42.650 align:middle line:84% This guy, 35-year-old white guy comes in there 00:06:42.650 --> 00:06:45.320 align:middle line:90% armed with a concealed weapon. 00:06:45.320 --> 00:06:47.540 align:middle line:90% Starts challenging these kids. 00:06:47.540 --> 00:06:50.340 align:middle line:84% So they're turning around and says, hey, man leave us alone. 00:06:50.340 --> 00:06:51.110 align:middle line:84% You know, all this kind of stuff. 00:06:51.110 --> 00:06:53.000 align:middle line:84% One had a screwdriver but he apparently 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:54.917 align:middle line:84% had the screwdriver to break through the fence 00:06:54.917 --> 00:06:56.270 align:middle line:90% so he can get through. 00:06:56.270 --> 00:07:02.690 align:middle line:84% Anyway, the guy pulls out the gun and shoots the both kids. 00:07:02.690 --> 00:07:04.640 align:middle line:90% One of them is killed. 00:07:04.640 --> 00:07:08.078 align:middle line:84% The kid with the screwdriver is shot in the back. 00:07:08.078 --> 00:07:09.620 align:middle line:84% He was on his-- he was turning around 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:11.300 align:middle line:90% and he shot him in the back. 00:07:11.300 --> 00:07:14.320 align:middle line:84% When the police got the guy, they were-- 00:07:14.320 --> 00:07:15.420 align:middle line:90% well, this is murder. 00:07:15.420 --> 00:07:16.700 align:middle line:84% You can't just kill people for nothing. 00:07:16.700 --> 00:07:17.283 align:middle line:90% You know what? 00:07:17.283 --> 00:07:19.400 align:middle line:90% They let him go. 00:07:19.400 --> 00:07:22.250 align:middle line:84% They let him go on the grounds that it was justified. 00:07:22.250 --> 00:07:24.560 align:middle line:84% That he had a fear of these kids. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:25.790 align:middle line:90% That a kid had a screwdriver. 00:07:25.790 --> 00:07:26.960 align:middle line:84% Even though the kid that had the screwdriver 00:07:26.960 --> 00:07:28.320 align:middle line:90% was actually walking away. 00:07:28.320 --> 00:07:30.055 align:middle line:84% I mean, how can you be fear when somebody's walking away 00:07:30.055 --> 00:07:30.650 align:middle line:90% from you? 00:07:30.650 --> 00:07:31.580 align:middle line:90% They let him go. 00:07:31.580 --> 00:07:33.080 align:middle line:84% And then when people were pissed off 00:07:33.080 --> 00:07:35.163 align:middle line:84% and the community was saying, how can you do this? 00:07:35.163 --> 00:07:37.550 align:middle line:84% All these people, the public, went out in support. 00:07:37.550 --> 00:07:39.440 align:middle line:84% They brought him food in the jail. 00:07:39.440 --> 00:07:40.670 align:middle line:90% This 35-year-old guy. 00:07:40.670 --> 00:07:41.600 align:middle line:90% I'm glad you did this. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:43.010 align:middle line:90% Taggers are bad. 00:07:43.010 --> 00:07:45.410 align:middle line:84% When we have a situation where property 00:07:45.410 --> 00:07:49.250 align:middle line:84% is more important than lives, then we're really in bad shape. 00:07:49.250 --> 00:07:51.200 align:middle line:84% And this is what's happened in our country. 00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:54.270 align:middle line:84% Fear is driving what we do, and we can't let it happen. 00:07:54.270 --> 00:07:57.350 align:middle line:84% We can't let Newt Gingrich's people decide the policies. 00:07:57.350 --> 00:08:00.140 align:middle line:84% We can't let people who don't know anything about us, 00:08:00.140 --> 00:08:02.390 align:middle line:84% don't have to walk the streets, to make 00:08:02.390 --> 00:08:03.890 align:middle line:90% decisions that affect us. 00:08:03.890 --> 00:08:05.960 align:middle line:84% If we don't make our own decisions, 00:08:05.960 --> 00:08:07.460 align:middle line:90% then that's not democracy. 00:08:07.460 --> 00:08:08.720 align:middle line:90% And I'm for democracy. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:11.690 align:middle line:84% I just can't stand it when people say, Oh, we're going 00:08:11.690 --> 00:08:13.960 align:middle line:90% to make decisions for you. 00:08:13.960 --> 00:08:14.460 align:middle line:90% You know? 00:08:14.460 --> 00:08:16.900 align:middle line:84% And that's what's happening today.