#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Senator Kamala Harris responds to Donald Trump's RNC acceptance speech

Episode Date: August 28, 2020

Senator Kamala Harris responds to Donald Trump's RNC acceptance speech Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris ripped Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic in a speech Thursday designed to prebut #45's appearance at the Republican National Convention.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Jacob Blake shot seven times in the back in broad daylight in front of his three young sons. Seven times in the back in broad daylight in front of his three young sons. As Vice President Biden put it, the shots fired at Mr. Blake pierced the soul of our nation. It's sickening to watch. It's all too familiar.

And it must end. Thankfully, he is alive today. But he is fighting for his life, and he shouldn't have to be. My heart goes out to the Blake family as they endure an ordeal that is tragically common in our country. Joe and I spoke with them yesterday. They are an amazing group of people with extraordinary courage. Even in their pain and their grief, even as they seek justice for their son, they spoke about the need to end the violence and heal our nation. I've had conversations like this with far too many mothers and fathers, but you will see and hear no one with more courage, more character, and more moral clarity.

People are rightfully angry and exhausted. And after the murders of Breonna and George and Ahmad and so many others, it's no wonder people are taken to the streets. And I support them. We must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protestors. We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder. And make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice. Here's my promise to those mothers and fathers and

all who stand with them. In a Biden-Harris administration, you will have a seat at the table in the halls of Congress and in the White House. We all grew up reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, but now we must give real meaning to its words. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Justice. Let's talk about that. Because the reality is that the life of a black person in America has never been. Jacob Blake shot seven times in the back in broad daylight in front of shots fired at Mr. Blake pierced the soul of our nation. It's sickening to watch. It's all too familiar. And it must end. Thankfully, he is alive today, but he is fighting for his life, and he shouldn't have to be. My heart goes out to the Blake family as they endure an ordeal that is tragically common in our country.

Joe and I spoke with them yesterday. They are an amazing group of people with extraordinary courage. Even in their pain and their grief, even as they seek justice for their son, they spoke about the need to end the violence and heal our nation. I've had conversations like this with far too many mothers and fathers, but you will see and hear no one with more courage, more character, and more moral clarity. People are rightfully angry and exhausted, and after the murders of Brianna and George and Ahmad and so many others, it's no wonder people are taken to the streets.

And I support them. We must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protesters. We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder. And make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice. Here is my promise to those mothers and fathers and all who stand with them. In a Biden-Harris administration, you will have a seat at the table, in the halls of Congress, and in the White House. We all grew up reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, but now we must give real meaning to its words. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Justice. Let's talk about that. Because the reality is that the life of a black person in America has never been treated as fully human. And we have yet to fulfill that promise of equal justice under law.

We will only achieve that when we finally come together to pass meaningful police reform and broader criminal justice reform and acknowledge, yes, acknowledge and address systemic racism. We will only come closer to achieving that when we finally come together. We have come a long way in our country toward building a more perfect union. And the time is now, right now, to take the next step forward. And even as we experience this reckoning with racial injustice, we must also confront another crisis, the pandemic that has torn apart so many lives. The numbers that define this crisis are staggering.

We cannot look the other way or allow ourselves to become numb to them. Nearly 6 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus, 180,000 lives lost, more than 50 million claims for unemployment this year alone. We need to see and we need to hear what is happening in our country. The quiet desperation that has taken over so many lives in America. The family packing into their car at 5 o'clock in the morning hoping the local food bank still has something left when they get

to the front of the line. The 50 year old store manager who's been laid off and knows he can't pay the rent on the first of the month. The mothers and fathers stretched to the breaking point working from home while helping their kids with their online classes just trying to hold it all together. The small business owners economic engines of our communities who are shutting their doors every day. The nurse getting ready for her afternoon shift, who has seen so much suffering and death in recent months and wonders how much more can she bear to witness. The family grieving the loss of their grandmother, who's been in a nursing home and who they couldn't even visit over the last three months of her life. The alarming and disproportionate rate at which Black, Latino, and Indigenous families are contracting and dying of COVID-19.

That is the reality of America right now. A reality completely absent from this week's Republican National Convention. Because unlike the Democratic Convention, which was very clear-eyed about the challenges we are facing and how we will tackle them. The Republican convention is designed for one purpose, to soothe Donald Trump's ego, to make him feel good. But here's the thing. He's the President of the United States, and it's not supposed to be about him. It's supposed to be about the health and the safety and the well-being of the American people. And on that measure, Donald Trump has failed.

You see, at its most basic level, Donald Trump doesn't understand the presidency. He thinks it's all about him. Well it's not. It's about you. It's about all of us. The people. As a lawyer and advocate, when I would rise to speak in a courtroom, I'd say the following words, Kamala Harris for the people. And that is why I stand today to speak for the people. Because we know the truth. Donald Trump has failed at the most basic and important job of a president of the United States. He failed to protect the

American people. Plain and simple. Trump showed that we in the legal profession would call a reckless disregard for the well-being of the American people, a reckless disregard for the danger a pandemic would pose to American lives, for the devastation it would do to our economy, for the damage it would do to communities of color who have been subjected to structural racism for generations. For the chaos that would upend our daily lives,

make it impossible for many of our children to go to school, make it impossible to live normally and with a sense of certainty. He never appreciated that a president swears an oath before God and country to protect America against threats seen and unseen. It's his duty. It's his obligation to protect us. And yet, he has failed miserably. Here's the thing. Donald Trump's incompetence is nothing new. That has always been on full display. But in January of this year, it became deadly. That's when the threat of a virus that would endanger the world

first emerged. Trump dismissed the threat, but Joe Biden sound the alarm. It would be the beginning of a pattern that persists to this day. Trump telling us not to worry that the virus will quote disappear, that a quote miracle is coming. Joe Biden saying we need a plan, a national strategy, a president who is willing to lead, willing to be a role model for our nation, for our children. Trump still doesn't have a plan. He still doesn't have a plan. Joe Biden released his first plan in March. And here's what you have to understand about the nature of a pandemic. it's relentless. You can't stop it with a tweet. You can't create a distraction and hope it'll go away. It doesn't go away. By its nature, a pandemic is unforgiving. If you get it wrong at the beginning, the consequences are catastrophic.

And it's very hard to catch up. You don't get a second chance at getting it right. Well, President Trump, he got it wrong from the beginning. And then he got it wrong again and again. And the consequences have been catastrophic. And then he got it wrong again and again. And the consequences have been catastrophic. And here's why Trump has been so unwilling and unable to deal with this crisis. First, he was fixated on the stock market over fixing the problem. He tweeted about it consistently during this period.

He was convinced that if his administration focused on this virus, it would hurt the market and hurt his chances of being reelected. That mattered to him more than saving American lives. Second, right at the moment that we needed Donald Trump to be tough on the Chinese government, he caved. On January 24th, he praised the transparency of the Chinese government. He said, quote, China has been working hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. But they weren't being transparent. They blocked public health inspectors from our CDC from getting access and information that they needed to protect American lives. Donald Trump stood idly by and folks it was a deadly decision. Instead of rising

to meet the most difficult moment of his presidency, Donald Trump froze. He was scared and he was petty and vindictive. On a call with governors across the country on March 16th, he told them it wasn't his job to get personal protective equipment to frontline workers. He said, quote, respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment, try getting it yourselves, unquote. On that day, we had about 5,000 cases as a nation. Today we have nearly 6 million. Even now, some eight months into this crisis, Donald Trump still won't take responsibility.

He still won't act. And the tragedy in all of this is it didn't have to be this bad. Just look around. It's not like this in the rest of the world. All we needed, guys, all we needed was a competent president. One who was willing to listen, willing to lead, take responsibility, have a plan, do their job. Well, Joe Biden will be that president. He's got a national strategy. He's more than ready to lead. Every month since March, as this pandemic has unfolded, Joe Biden has updated the steps he would take to save American lives. And he's done it based on what every scientist, every expert, every economist said we should be doing. As president, Joe Biden will put a plan into effect on day one.

Develop and deploy rapid tests with immediate results. Make sure testing, treatments, and ultimately a vaccine reach all Americans, including communities of color who have historically been left behind. Manufacture the medical supplies and protective equipment we need. And make them right here, in America, so we're never again at the mercy of China and other foreign countries to protect our own people. Joe and I will make sure our schools have all the resources they need to be open and safe and effective. Put politics aside and not silence the experts

so the public gets the information they need and deserve. And put in place a nationwide mask mandate. Because in Joe's words, it's not a burden to protect each other. And he says that because the thing about Joe is he knows we're all in this together. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE TRUTH. THE TRUTH IS THAT WE ALL HAVE TO PROTECT EACH OTHER. AND HE SAYS THAT BECAUSE THE THING ABOUT JOE IS HE KNOWS WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.

DONALD TRUMP SAYS THERE'S NOTHING HE COULD HAVE DONE TO PREVENT ALL THIS DEATH. HERE'S THE TRUTH. BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN HAD A PROGRAM CALLED PREDICT THAT had a program called Predict that tracked emerging diseases in places like China. I'm going to repeat that. The program tracked emerging diseases in places like China. Trump cut it. They detected a team and created that team in the National Security Council to global health and security, dedicating them to the work of global health and security and biodefense.

Donald Trump eliminated it. They implemented standards for nursing homes to improve infection control. Donald Trump is erasing them. Before the virus hit, Trump made our country vulnerable. After it was struck, he failed to do what was necessary. As it continues, he's making it worse every day. Just this week, just this week, the Social Security Administration said a cut to Social Security, like the one Trump is proposing, would end disability benefits within one year and end all benefits within three years. So let me be as clear as possible.

If Donald Trump's extreme proposal goes into effect, the checks that American seniors are relying on, that you rely on to pay your bills, to buy your medicine, to live, will stop coming. The very people who have suffered so greatly in this crisis, it's unthinkable. And in the middle of a health crisis made worse by his own actions, Donald Trump is in court right now trying to throw out the entire Affordable Care Act, including the protections it provides for people with pre-existing conditions. So that means if you are fortunate enough to survive COVID-19, insurers could deny you coverage for treating any long-term effects. to survive COVID-19, insurers could deny you coverage

for treating any long-term effects. Now, President Trump won't tell you any of this at the Republican convention tonight. And we all know he's not changing. The president he has been is the president he will be. But we have a chance to right these wrongs and put America on a better path forward. One where the leaders we elect listen to the experts and follow the best medical guidance to keep us and our families healthy and safe. One where we take meaningful action against systems

and traditions of oppression. One where we stop fanning the flames of hate and division and treat one another with the respect and the dignity that each one of us deserves. As Joe Biden said in his acceptance speech, we have a choice between the light and the dark. I believe America will choose the light. Thank you. of billions in funding for education, health programs, and more. Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. Good evening, everybody. As you've seen by now, this isn't a normal convention. It's not a normal time.

So tonight, I want to talk as plainly as I can about the stakes in this election. Because what we do these next 76 days will echo through generations to come. I'm in Philadelphia, where our Constitution was drafted and signed. It wasn't a perfect document. It allowed for the inhumanity of slavery slavery and failed to guarantee women, and even men who didn't own property, the right to participate in the political process. But embedded in this document was a North Star that would guide future generations, a system of representative government, a democracy through which we could better realize

our highest ideals. Through civil war and bitter struggles, we improved this Constitution to include the voices of those who'd once been left out. And gradually, we made this country more just, and more equal, and more free. The one constitutional office elected by all of the people is the presidency.

So at a minimum, we should expect a president to feel a sense of responsibility for the safety and welfare of all 330 million of us, regardless of what we look like, how we worship, who we love, how much money we have, or who we voted for. But we should also expect a president to be the custodian of this democracy. We should expect that regardless of ego, ambition, or political beliefs, the President will preserve, protect, and defend the freedoms and ideals that so many Americans marched for, went to jail for, fought for, and died for. I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for President.

I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision, or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously. That he might come to feel the weight of the office. that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously, that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.

But he never did. For close to four years now, he has shown no interest in putting in the work. No interest in finding common ground. No interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends. No interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.

Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't. And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone, while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before. Now, I know that in times as polarized as these, most of you have already made up your mind. But maybe you're still not sure which candidate you'll vote for, or whether you'll vote at all.

Maybe you're tired of the direction we're headed, but you can't see a better path yet. Or you just don't know enough about the person who wants to lead us there. So let me tell you about my friend, Joe Biden. Twelve years ago, when I began my search for a vice president, I didn't know I'd end up finding a brother. Joe and I come from different places, different generations, but what I quickly came to admire about Joe Biden is his resilience,

born of too much struggle. His empathy, born of too much grief. Joe is a man who learned early on to treat every person he meets with respect and dignity, living by the words his parents taught him. No one's better than you, Joe, but you're better than nobody. That empathy, that decency, the belief that everybody counts, that's who Joe is. When he talks with someone who's lost their job,

Joe remembers the night his father sat him down to say that he'd lost his. When Joe listens to a parent who's trying to hold it all together right now, he does it as a single dad who took the train back to Wilmington each and every night so he could tuck his kids into bed. When he meets with military families who've lost their hero, he does it as a kindred spirit, the parent of an

American soldier, somebody whose faith has endured the hardest loss there is. For eight years, Joe was the last one in the room whenever I faced a big decision. He made me a better President, and he's got the character and the experience to make us a better country. And then my friend Kamala Harris, he's got the character and the experience to make us a better country. And in my friend Kamala Harris, he's chosen an ideal partner who is more than prepared for the job.

Someone who knows what it's like to overcome barriers and who's made a career fighting to help others live out their own American dream. Along with the experience needed to get things done, Joe and Kamala have concrete policies that will turn their vision of a better, fairer, stronger country into reality. They will get this pandemic under control, like Joe did when he helped me manage H1N1, and prevent an Ebola outbreak from reaching our shores. They'll expand health care to more Americans, like Joe and I did 10 years ago, when he helped craft the Affordable Care Act and nailed down the votes to make it the law.

They'll rescue the economy, like Joe helped me do after the Great Recession. I asked him to manage the Recovery Act, which jump-started the longest stretch of job growth in history. And he sees this moment now not as a chance to get back to where we were, but to make long-overdue changes so that our economy actually makes life a little easier

for everybody. Whether it's the waitress trying to raise a kid on her own, or the shift worker always on the edge of getting laid off, or the student figuring out how to pay for next semester's classes. Joe and Kamala will restore our standing in the world. And as we've learned from this pandemic, that matters. Joe knows the world, and the world knows him. He knows that our true strength comes from setting

an example that the world wants to follow. A nation that stands with democracy, not dictators. A nation that can inspire and mobilize others to overcome threats like climate change and terrorism, poverty and disease. But more than anything, what I know about Joe, what I know about Kamala, is that they actually care about every American. And that they care care about every American, and that they care deeply about this democracy. They believe that in a democracy,

the right to vote is sacred, and we should be making it easier for people to cast their ballots, not harder. They believe that no one, including the president, is above the law, and that no public official, including the president, should use their office to enrich themselves or their supporters. They understand that in this democracy, the commander-in-chief does not use the men and women of our military who are willing to risk everything to protect our nation as political props to deploy against peaceful protesters on our own soil.

They understand that political opponents aren't un-American just because they disagree with you. A free press isn't the enemy, but the way we hold officials accountable. That our ability to work together to solve big problems like a pandemic depend on a fidelity to facts and science and logic, and not just making stuff up. None of this should be controversial. These shouldn't be Republican principles or Democratic principles. They are American principles. But at this moment, this President and those who enable him have shown they don't believe in these things.

Tonight, I'm asking you to believe in Joe and Kamala's ability to lead this country out of these dark times and build it back better. But here's the thing. No single American can fix this country alone. Not even a president. Democracy was never meant to be transactional. You give me your vote, I make everything better. It requires an active and informed citizenry. So I'm also asking you to believe in your own ability to embrace your own responsibility as citizens, to make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure. Because that's what's at stake right now, our democracy.

Look, I understand why a lot of Americans are down on government. The way the rules have been set up and abused in Congress make it easier for special interests to stop progress than to make progress. Believe me, I know it. I understand why a white factory worker who's seen his wages cut or his job shipped overseas might feel like the government no longer looks out for him, and why a black mom might feel like it never looked out for her at all. I understand why a new immigrant might look around this country and wonder whether there's still a place for him here, why a young person might look at politics right now,

the circus of it all, the meanness and the lies and conspiracy theories, and think, what is the point? Well, here's the point. This President and those in power, those who benefit from keeping things the way they are, they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can't win you over with their policies. So they're hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote and to convince you that your

vote does not matter. That is how they win. That is how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life and the lives of the people you love. That's how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well-connected. How our health systems will let more people fall through the cracks. That's how a democracy withers, until it's no democracy at all. And we cannot let that happen. Do not let them take away your power.

Do not let them take away your democracy. Make a plan right now for how you are going to get involved and vote. Do it as early as you can and tell your family and friends how they can vote too. Do what Americans have done for over two centuries when faced with even tougher times than this. All those quiet heroes who found the courage to keep

marching, keep pushing in the face of hardship and injustice. Last month, we lost a giant of American democracy in John Lewis. And some years ago, I sat down with John and a few remaining leaders of the early Civil Rights movement. One of them told me he never imagined he'd walk

into the White House and see a President who looked like his grandson. And then he told me that he had looked it up. And it turned out that on the very day that I was born, he was marching into a jail cell, trying to end Jim Crow segregation in the South. What we do echoes through generations. Whatever our backgrounds, we are all the children of Americans who fought the good fight.

Great-grandparents working in fire traps and sweatshops without rights or representation. Farmers losing their dreams to dust. Irish and Italians and Asians and Latinos told, go back where you come from. Jews and Catholics, Muslims and Sikhs made to feel suspect for the way they worshipped. Black Americans chained and whipped and hanged,

spit on for trying to sit at lunch counters, beaten for trying to vote. If anyone had a right to believe that this democracy did not work and could not work, it was those Americans, our ancestors. They were on the receiving end of a democracy that had fallen short all their lives. They knew how far the daily reality of America strayed from the men. And yet, instead of giving up, they joined together and they said, somehow, some way,

we are going to make this work. We are going to bring those words in our founding documents to life. I have seen that same spirit rising these past few years. Folks of every age and background who packed city centers and airports and rural roads so that families wouldn't be separated, so that another classroom wouldn't get shot up, so that our kids won't grow up on an uninhabitable planet. Americans of all races joining together to declare, in the face of injustice and brutality at the hands of the state, that black lives matter, no more, but no less.

So that no child in this country feels the continuing sting of racism. To the young people who led us this summer, telling us we need to be better. In so many ways, you are this country's dreams fulfilled. Earlier generations had to be persuaded that everyone has equal worth. For you, it's a given, a conviction. to know is that for all its messiness and frustrations, your system of self-government can be harnessed to help you realize those convictions for all of us. You can give our democracy new meaning. You can take it to a better place.

You're the missing ingredient, the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully lives up to its creed. That work will continue long after this election, but any chance of success depends entirely on the outcome of this election. This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that's what it takes for them to win. So we have to get busy building it up by pouring all our efforts into these 76 days, and by voting like never before for Joe and Kamala and candidates up and down the ticket so that we leave no doubt about

what this country that we love stands for today and for all our days to come. Stay safe. God bless. my unfiltered video in just one moment. As our community comes together to support the fight against racial injustice, I want to take a second to talk about one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard. Not tomorrow, but now. Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 Census today at 2020census.gov? Now, folks, let me help you out. The Census is a count of everyone living in the

country. It happens once every 10 years. It is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. The thing that's important is that the census informs funding, billions of dollars, how they are spent in our communities every single year. I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas, and we wanted new parks and roads and a senior citizen center. Well, the census helps inform all of that and where funding goes. It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted, which means

a potential loss of funding services that helps our community. Folks, we have the power to change that. We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years, funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends. Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord,

law enforcement, or any government agency. So please, take the 2020 Census today. Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. In America, everyone counts, and the 2020 Census is how that great promise is kept. Respond today online, by phone, or by mail, and help inform hundreds of billions in funding for education, health programs, and more. Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. Good evening, everyone. It's a hard time, and everyone's feeling it in different ways. And I know a lot of folks are reluctant to tune in to a political convention right now

or to politics in general. Believe me, I get that. But I am here tonight because I love this country with all my heart, and it pains me to see so many people hurting. I've met so many of you. I've heard your stories. And through you, I have seen this country's promise. And thanks to so many who came before me, thanks to their toil and sweat and blood, I've been able to live that promise myself. That's the story of America. All those folks who sacrificed and overcame so much in their own times because they wanted something more, something better for their kids.

There's a lot of beauty in that story. There's a lot of pain in it too. A lot of struggle and injustice and work left to do. And who we choose as our president in this election will determine whether or not we honor that struggle and chip away at that injustice and keep alive the very possibility of finishing that work. I am one of a handful of people living today who have seen firsthand the immense weight and awesome power of the presidency. And let me once again tell you this. The job is hard.

It requires clear-headed judgment, a mastery of complex and competing issues, a devotion to facts and history, a moral compass, and an abilityiding belief that each of the 330 million lives in this country has meaning and worth. A president's words have the power to move markets. They can start wars or broker peace. They can summon our better angels or awaken our worst instincts. You simply cannot fake your way through this job. As I've said before, being president doesn't change who you are. It reveals who you are. Well, a presidential election can reveal who we are, too. And four years ago, too many people chose to believe that their votes didn't matter. Maybe they were fed up.

Maybe they thought the outcome wouldn't be close. Maybe the barriers felt too steep, whatever the reason. In the end, those choices sent someone to the Oval Office who lost the national popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. In one of the states that determined the outcome, the winning margin averaged out to just two votes per precinct. Two votes. And we've all been living with the consequences. When my husband left office with Joe Biden at his side, we had a record-breaking stretch of job creation. We'd secured the right to healthcare for 20 million people. We were

respected around the world, rallying our allies to confront climate change. And our leaders had worked hand in hand with scientists to help prevent an Ebola outbreak from becoming a global pandemic. Four years later, the state of this nation is very different. More than 150,000 people have died, and our economy is in shambles because of a virus that this president downplayed for too long. It has left millions of people jobless. Too many have lost their health care. Too many are struggling to take care of basic necessities like food and rent. Too many communities have been left in the lurch to grapple with whether and how to open our schools safely.

Internationally, we've turned our back not just on agreements forged by my husband, but on alliances championed by presidents like Reagan and Eisenhower. And here at home, as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and a never-ending list of innocent people of color continue to be murdered, stating the simple fact that a black life matters is still met with derision from the nation's highest office. Because whenever we look to this White House for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division, and a total and utter lack of empathy. Empathy.

That's something I've been thinking a lot about lately. The ability to walk in someone else's shoes. The recognition that someone else's experience has value, too. Most of us practice this without a second thought. If we see someone suffering or struggling, we don't stand in judgment. We reach out because there, but for the grace of God, go I. It is not a hard concept to grasp. It's what we teach our children.

And like so many of you, Barack and I have tried our best to instill in our girls a strong moral foundation to carry forward the values that our parents and grandparents poured into us. But right now, kids in this country are seeing what happens when we stop requiring empathy of one another. They're looking around wondering if we've been lying to them this whole time about who we are and what we truly value. They see people shouting in grocery stores, unwilling to wear a mask to keep us all safe. They see people calling the police on folks minding their own business just because of the color of their skin. They see an entitlement that says only certain people belong here, that greed is good and winning is everything, because as long as you come out on top, it doesn't matter what happens to everyone else. And they see what happens when that lack of empathy is ginned up into outright disdain.

They see our leaders labeling fellow citizens enemies of the state while emboldening torch-bearing white supremacists. They watch in horror as children are torn from their families and thrown into cages, and pepper spray and rubber bullets are used on peaceful protesters for photo op. Sadly, this is the America that is on display for the next generation, a nation that's underperforming not simply on matters of policy, but on matters of character. And that's not just disappointing, it's downright infuriating, because I know the goodness and the grace that is out there in households and neighborhoods all across this nation. and the fear and truly open our hearts, we know that what's going on in this country is just not right.

This is not who we want to be. So what do we do now? What's our strategy? Over the past four years, a lot of people have asked me, when others are going so low, does going high still really work? My answer? Going high is the only thing that works. Because when we go low, when we use those same tactics of degrading and dehumanizing

others, we just become part of the ugly noise that's drowning out everything else. We degrade ourselves. We degrade the very causes for which we fight. But let's be clear. Going high does not mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty. Going high means taking the harder path. It means scraping and clawing our way to that mountain top. Going high means standing fierce against hatred while remembering that we are one nation under God. And if we want to survive, we've got to find a way to live

together and work together across our differences. And going high means unlocking the shackles of lies and mistrust with the only thing that can truly set us free, the cold, hard truth. So let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is. Now, I understand that my message won't be heard by some people.

We live in a nation that is deeply divided, and I am a Black woman speaking at the Democratic Convention. But enough of you know me by now. You know that I tell you exactly what I'm feeling. You know I hate politics, but you also know that I care about this nation. You know how much I care about all of our children. So if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this. If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don't make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it. I know Joe. He is a profoundly decent man, guided by faith. He was a terrific vice president. He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic,

and lead our country. And he listens. He will tell the truth and trust science. He will make smart plans and manage a good team. And he will govern as someone who's lived a life that the rest of us can recognize. When he was a kid, Joe's father lost his job. When he was a young senator, Joe lost his wife and his baby daughter. And when he was vice president, he lost his beloved son. So Joe knows the anguish of sitting at a table with an empty chair, which is why he gives his time so freely to grieving parents. Joe knows what it's like to struggle, which is why he gives his personal

phone number to kids overcoming a stutter of their own. His life is a testament to getting back up, and he is going to channel that same grit and passion to pick us all up, to help us heal and guide us forward. Now, Joe is not perfect, and he'd be the first to tell you that. But there is no perfect candidate, no perfect president. And his ability to learn and grow, we find in that the kind of humility and maturity that so many of us yearn for right now. Because Joe Biden has served this nation his entire life without ever losing sight of who he is. But more than that, he has never lost sight of who we are, all of us. Joe Biden wants all of our kids to go to a good school, see a doctor when they're sick, live on a healthy planet. And he's got plans to make all of that happen. Joe Biden wants all of our kids, no matter what they look like, to be able to walk out

the door without worrying about being harassed or arrested or killed. He wants all of our kids to be able to go to a movie or a math class without being afraid of getting shot. He wants all our kids to grow up with leaders who won't just serve themselves and their wealthy peers, but will provide a safety net for people facing hard times. And if we want a chance to pursue any of these goals, any of these most basic requirements for a functioning society, we have to vote for Joe Biden in numbers that cannot be ignored, because right now folks who know they cannot win fair and square at the ballot box are doing everything they can to stop us from voting. They're closing down polling places in minority neighborhoods.

They're purging voter rolls. They're sending people out to intimidate voters, and they're lying about the security of our ballots. These tactics are not new. But this is not the time to withhold our votes in protest or play games with candidates who have no chance of winning. We have got to vote like we did in 2008 and 2012. We've got to show up with the same level of passion and hope for Joe Biden.

We've got to vote early, in person if we can. We've got to request our mail-in ballots right now, tonight, and send them back immediately, and follow up to make sure they're received, and then make sure our friends and families do the same. We have got to grab our comfortable shoes, put on our masks, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast too, because we've got to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to. Look, we have already sacrificed so much this year. So many of you are already going that extra mile. Even when you're exhausted, you're mustering up unimaginable courage to put on those scrubs and give our loved ones a fighting chance. Even when you're anxious, you're delivering

those packages, stocking those shelves, and doing all that essential work so that all of us can keep moving forward. Even when it all feels so overwhelming, working parents are somehow piecing it all together without childcare. Teachers are getting creative so that our kids can still learn and grow. Our young people are desperately fighting to pursue their dreams. And when the horrors of systemic racism shook our country and our consciences, millions of Americans of every age, every background, rose up to march for each other, crying out for justice and progress. This is who we still are.

Compassionate, resilient, decent people whose fortunes are bound up with one another. And it is well past time for our leaders to us to add our voices and our votes to the course of history, echoing heroes like John Lewis who said, when you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. That is the truest form of empathy. Not just feeling, but doing. Not just for ourselves or our kids, but for everyone. For all our kids. And if we want to keep the possibility of progress alive in our time,

if we want to be able to look our children in the eye after this election, we have got to reassert our place in American history. And we have got to do everything we can to elect my friend Joe Biden as the next president of the United States. Thank you all. God bless. All right, folks, back to that Rolamark unfiltered video in just one moment. As our community comes together to support the fight against racial injustice, I want to take a second to talk about

one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard. Not tomorrow, but now. Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 census today at 2020census.gov? Now, folks, let me help you out. The census is a count of everyone living in the country. It happens once every 10 years.

It is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. The thing that's important is that the census informs funding, billions of dollars, how they are spent in our communities every single year. I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas, and we wanted new parks and roads and a senior citizen center. Well, the census helps inform all of that and where funding goes. It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U. S House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted,

which means a potential loss of funding of services that helps our community. Folks, we have the power to change that. We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years. Funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends. Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord, law enforcement, or any government agency.

So please take the 2020 Census today, shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care.

Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.