Former Mayor Michael R. White Explains The Power of Unity: What We Can Achieve
00:00:01 leader from the clergy community and who is just an outstanding leader to all of us come on up Bishop Larry mon senior pastor of Oakwood church I’m m z oood church and the president United P give him a big hand love you Bishop thank you for being here am man let’s get Pastor Aaron Phillips a great big hand calling us here together praise God we’re so glad that that is in the audience today and I’m sure that later on you will be introduced to those persons we’re glad to see all of you and especially for our black men movement and we’re grateful to God for your coming here uh
00:00:41 today let’s bow our heads in a word of thanks unto God because God is so good to us he has blessed us in numerous kinds of ways and we are right now in the last rum for a miracle that we’re asking God to do in this United States of America amen amen we’re believeing God is going to do something especially with men and men who are going to influence women and children we do not undervalue black men in our community today so we’re grateful God for you we’re grateful that we were invited here uh this evening let’s have a word of prayer Eternal God our Father we thank you
00:01:18 for this day that you have made and for bringing us even to this moment in our lives we thank you for all of our family and friends and those who have gathered around us and we thank you for those who we honor as our seniors and as our leaders of this great City even now God we’re believing that some great things are going to happen thank you God for bringing together these thousands of black men that we’re going to see in just a few weeks from now we’re praying that you would Empower them and Empower us to empower our community remind us that yes it takes more than a tribe It
00:01:54 Takes a Family We Are Family we’re committed to that and even now as we move into this election Year we’re asking that you will dispel those darknesses that are around us those demon influences that are occurring we pray that you will give safety even to our leaders on a national basis thank you God for being better to us than we’ve been to ourselves even bless this meal this time of gathering and this Fellowship in Jesus name we do pray for his s and all the people of God said amen God bless you all Bishop L make a big hand thank you Bishop
00:02:31 thank you so much we are gathered tonight because we know how important it is to be engaging the African-American males in this particular election cycle if you haven’t noticed yet this is the most historic event we have in the house right with us right now former council president our great leader The Godfather of Cleveland Mr George fors is here in the house he’s in the house today y’all I got I Mr George Ford is in the house may still command respect I get [ __ ] this speaking about it say his name I get to shake it and
00:03:16 we also are privileged to have the most recent former mayor the longest serving mayor of our great city of Cleveland all of our dear friend mayor Frank Jackson is in the house he is in the house y’all P Frank Jackson in the house yes he is right here and my most beloved leader who I love so much and I’ll tell you when she calls I stand up in attention and give a salute on from the phone I don’t know what I’m talking about she is a international leader if they need somebody to solve the crisis in the Middle East they just need dispatch former secretary Marshall fudge secetary
00:04:10 Marshall fudge is in the house today y’all she’s right here my leader right there I love all right and uh one of the persons who helped us get to this point is with us tonight and he has to leave early but I didn’t want him to uh leave without us a knowledging him to help us convin us uh and push us come together as African-American men in our community he called president council president uh bla Griffin and we thank him for his current leadership judge Ron Adrian thank you Adrian for all that you have done to put us here thank you so much give them a big hand wasn’t they fantastic
00:04:55 yes sir all right we’re going to get ready to uh move right along with our program you get the you hav’t gotten your food please make sure you do that this event is fundraiser for voices for a better future pack and we are concerned about amplifying the voices of African-American men and women across our city the county and our state in this nation today and that’s why we have organized and we appreciate your support as we continue to be tool to engage our community to make transformation happen on a regular basis I want to we had Bishop M here here our thought
00:05:41 Pastor storms any other clergy all clergy would you please stand that’s here Pastor Norris stand Rec we recognize our clergy is here Pastor storms is pastor of St James me Church give the pastor a big hand thank you clergy for being here today and supporting this this is a work that’s bringing all of us together from all of our venues from the clergy Community Faith Community the business community and the elected official political and economic we are privileged we have privilege to have councilman Anthony Harrison I just where he is standing in for our convening leader council
00:06:27 president bla Griffith who couldn’t be here tonight so he sent his person to take his place that represents city council our dear friend who transformed from County Council to be on the city of Cleveland Council he’s a bad man that’s Anthony Harrison city councilman give him a big hand he’s coming round of applause y’all if you ever need a hyp b you know who to call right my brother Pastor Aaron pH thank you so much for all that you do for us Council start get up here start taking pictures
00:07:05 come on come on up here Council star let’s give up a councilman star C Cleveland War five a fighter a true representative here in the city of Cleveland so listen we are here on behalf of Cleveland City Council president bla a griffin who could not be with us tonight he sends his thank yous tonight it’s very special you know what all of the things that we say we want to do or we need to do or try to do it takes what money it takes money money it takes people like you it takes Sweat Equity it
00:07:47 takes those things together to achieve the things that we are looking to achieve that’s why we are here to support voices for our future P so that way we can come together as a community I know we are here it says black men but as black people as black people that’s right okay that we come together and work hard on behalf of our community that’s right there’s no one else who can tell us about our community am I right that’s right am I right who can tell us about our community nobody but nobody but us and so again we thank you all for being here and supporting voice for
00:08:32 our better future pack we thank you so much again council president bla Griffin can not be with us tonight he sends his thank you he sends his well wishes and he appreciate your time your effort your dollars for coming out and supporting all of us tonight we have a dynamic speaker who’s going to come up after councilman star and I who’s going to share some words of wisdom who’s going to fire us up who’s going to encourage us all to come together and go out in our community black people we’re one of the most reliable voting blocks in America right in America so we need to
00:09:11 hold those who are running accountable make them understand that we are the most reliable voting Block in America so again thank you all for being here we don’t have time to sit around and be compl we don’t have time to sit around and say next time we don’t have that luxury I I know I don’t we don’t we don’t I know you don’t either we don’t so I’m going to pass over to councel and St he’s going to talk with you about a important day that’s coming up next Saturday it is a 1,000 men March we are hitting the streets so we need your uncles your cousins your nieces your nephews your
00:09:46 auntie we everybody to come together coun star and he going to put me behind Harrison like this man he always do that I’m counselor Richard Star War 5 what you got to understand is we can’t complain no more so I remember having a conversation with Ken council president blend Harrison offline I said they always talking about Ohio they always talking about Cleveland not voting and I said when are we going to do something and that’s that for us to be here today so September 28th next Saturday at
00:10:23 Zelma George 11:00 everybody in this room need to be there because we putting th000 men 1,000 boots on the ground we’re going to knock our doors we going to give the correct information not the information that you see on Instagram or Facebook we going to make sure our people are registered got a plan to vote how they going to vote and we going to get it done nobody’s coming to save us we don’t save ourselves so it starts today we right the check it also starts by calling your nephew your son your brother your cousin your best friend your fraternity your sorority your
00:11:07 clery everybody should be there we’re going to knock doors in our neighborhoods we’re going to get the boots on the ground out and I serve as the general with kby to make sure we do this so I’m I am really excited because this is something different I just want to make sure you understand if V did wasn’t important why are they trying to take our vote away right and you got to think about it there’s 34 million of black people in this country 81 million elected Joe Biden so think about it our people can decide rather we are going to be victorious
00:11:52 November 5th so let’s do our part let’s not act like we can’t do something cuz there’s a role we all play so let’s get it done than you thank you General thank you councelor star before we move forward I would like to recognize all of all of the elected officials former elected officials and candidates who are running for office would everyone please stand so you can be recognized we have mayor Blackwell we are in her City tonight mayor Blackwell we have mayor Kim Thomas of Rich Heights my brother ASU M Robinson Rich councilman Cleveland city councilman Joseph
00:12:37 Jo my old hand in the back as he called me young a councilman Kevin Conwell we have councilman brother Matt from wardsville Heights Matt Howard War Heights we have former councilwoman saber Pierce Scott with us Y and I see brother Mar KH standing I’m looking through the light we have him with us today as well we have former councilman TJ D cated Cleveland W seven former councilman Bashir Jones w s former retired judge Michael Nelson y’all and I have a table full of giants a table full of giants I walked in I went straight to this table I didn’t think I talk to everybody
00:13:29 else who I got to this table Michael how got Michael Michael Hower former County councilman is running to go back to Cog County Council District to my we have a table full of giants I’m just going to go I’m going to start on my right here former mayor Michael R white is with us I still call her congresswoman so I I it just it hasn’t got out of my system yet but our secretary and former congresswoman Mara pun the greatest council president to ever do this job council president George for our longest serving thereor in the city of Cleveland Frank G
00:14:14 Jackson I I told y’all we not here to play games right we here to get some work done we are here to move Mountain we are here to to get what we need for our community but it starts with us and last but not least we got a bring up the owner of this establishment Mr Joe good evening good evening how’s everybody doing I I want to thank all of you all for coming it’s an honor to be in the presence of of you all I I happen to know secretary fudge the best of all of you all and it’s just a pleasure having you here in our establishment again we we’re senior
00:14:52 cators of Ohio you you thought you were coming to a bowling alley but because of Mayor Annette black well we’ve been able to transform our facility into a state-of-the-art senior center we’ve been blessed with a $632,000 grant from the state of Ohio to be able to expand this facility to to serve our seniors in the way they need to be served we provideed dat Services Transportation home delivery meals the congregate meals do me a favor grab grab my card from your table I guarantee you some of you all know a senior just sitting at home
00:15:30 doing nothing needing to get out needing to do things so please have them give us a call and see what we can do to help them about 20 years ago in 2004 I was dealing with Ken D and his great street team and polling team and 20 years later he’s still doing great thing we got to support this man and let’s give him a round of applause thank you all very much I want to bring to you the brains out of our operation I thank God for this gentleman he we organized this great before we do we get here but thank God
00:16:09 for the vision and insight and the acronym of my dear beloved brother let’s all to see K thank everybody for coming out tonight first get okay thank very everybody coming out here tonight to try to help African amans men and women to further their advancement in the struggle for justice and equality was able to put that together by the help of none other than congresswoman Mara fuzz and when we just started and putting it together she came to me and asked me about an ideas and things that we possibly do to try to keep things going I wanted to help preserve her
00:17:04 Legacy cuz I’m always teaching teaching her about hey we need to get a legacy for you we need to get that going and so voices of a better future is my way of doing that and she singlehandedly gave us the resources to get this thing going she told me she didn’t have time to come here today and she wanted to come as you would say for a a good time not a long time so she can telling me come on man let’s go and we trying to get this together and I’m not going to let her leave here cuz she told me she ain’t want to speak but you going to have to come up here
00:17:36 and say something because I want to thank you in front of everybody for what you’ve done for us thank you I’m going to be very very the reason that I’m so excited to be here this evening is because people think I’ve done a lot of wonderful things and I truly have had a lot of really good black jobs in my life and I’m really pleased and blessed that I have but I learned from the best the people sitting at this table right here are the best political Minds that kaller County and the City of clev have ever seen I’m so glad to be with there cuz I’m getting ready to put all
00:18:30 of them right back on the plane fi with me so thank you gentlemen for being here I will be calling you within the next week or so I we have a president to elect who is my dear friend and who I know will be the president all of us want her to be so I’m going to ask every one of you do whatever it is you can I don’t want to hear the oh I don’t know is she black enough we heard that about a while she blacker than him he’s blacker than than Trump so I don’t want I don’t want to hear that I don’t want to hear why you know she’s a woman
00:19:09 don’t that I that is what I do want to hear is us to support our own people that’s right I want to support our own people she is qualified she has done all the things that are necessary and I just hope that you’ll be supported thank you all so much thank you thank you thank you all right I want to tell you a quick story about how I met congresswoman when um Stephanie tug Jones had passed and became the seat was vacant and there was a few people who was running for that position congresswoman Marcel fudge was running and a few other folks
00:19:57 was running for that position and I was helping a gentleman who’s now judge Michael Ryan run for that position we thought that hey we should put a young man in that position should be in that position and run and we sat out to go out and run for that position once we got there and we went through the process of doing that uh we got there that morning and realized that we wasn’t going to win everything was locked down and everybody’s was with Marshall fud and I talked to Michael and we said hey you know what you ought to get up there give a great speech but after you get
00:20:29 speech you need to give all your votes to Mara fudge and your support to Mara fudge and let’s just bow out Grace for we did that and as a result of that I saw her in the corner she saw me and she said make sure you call and I looked at her I said she just saying that saying that to everybody she shaking hands with everybody and I’m looking like man I done messed up I got the congresswoman all mad at me I was on the other side of everything with Stephanie tub Jones I’m really in a bad spot and and I didn’t call her I went on and did some other things and we were out at another
00:21:03 event somewhere she saw me and she said I thought I told you to call and I said oh [ __ ] you going to talk to me huh so I said all right I’m going to call her I gave her a call she asked me to come over to her Congressional office I came over to her Congressional office and when I got there she was taking off her furniture and doing things she was asking me all these questions do you have kids you’re married just going through all these questions and it’s strange that you remember every little thing at something in people like she probably don’t even remember the story but I
00:21:33 remember everything that happened and she said to me then she said are you married you got kids she’s going through this whole thing and I’m sitting like why you asking me all these questions then she said I want you to be my political director and I was like your political director I said you do that everybody going to be people look at me and they think I’m a troublemaker star that’s what they used to call me they still call me a troublemaker that’s what they said and I said everybody think I’m a troublemaker and I’m labeled that and you don’t want that smoke
00:22:03 everybody GNA be mad at you and she said I never thought you was a troublemaker I never thought you to be a troublemaker I thought you were somebody who fought for what they believe in and if you somebody me she said so if you believe in me that means you going to fight for me and I said you know what I was ready to open up a can right then because I knew right there that this was where I wanted to be and ever since then we’ve been rocking now I been hardheaded we had our ups and downs and I had stay but in the end she stuck in there with me through all
00:22:39 my misell words and everything else that I did over the years she surely stuck in there with me and I wanted to truly tell you thank you for everything you did thank you for alling us to get this Pro started and we will continue to work in your majesty to make sure that we do the right thing as long as we will also want to honor to the rest of the gentlemen that at the table with us uh mayor Frank Jackson has always been somebody that I can rely on and we had our share of battles and everything else do the thing but we always came out on top
00:23:13 and was good Mr George fors and his family has always been very good to me and I’ve always keep me in and I always had good things and always looked out to me over the years and I was had the honor of working with them the gentlemen that I’m going to bring up now is going to be our keyot speaker and what’s most interesting about him is that in my generation everybody like to say oh ken I’ve been working on campaigns back when L Stokes oh congresswoman this is for years we going to find a way to get it in your car but we bought that thing for
00:23:48 you we got everything we think that you would like to ins side there so I want to get you for that um so everybody always say Ken I was working on campaigns I was part of L Stokes campaign George uh luk Stokes Carl Stokes and that kind of thing and all of these folks I talked to they were all younger than I am and I sat back and was like well kind if I didn’t work on any of those campaigns it’s hard for me to believe you guys did and I tell people all the time I said I’ve been canvasing since I was 11 years old nobody believes that nobody believes
00:24:34 that I said my first campaign I worked on I was 11 years old and here goes that story that this man might not believe or remember but this what happened to me also outside plan I grew up on a street called kton 930 K the greatest community in Cleveland Glenville and I know it’s the greatest um Community because I started my podcast and I’ve been interviewing hundreds of people and every time I interview him I asked him when you came to Cleveland when your parents came to Cleveland when you started where you start at and most of those people said they started
00:25:08 in Glenville before they mooved anywhere else Glenville was the stepping stone for that but I grew up on the where it was a lot of different people Brenda Hall uh and others who were very tight-knit on that street at the Time Michael White at that time lived right across Mayor Michael White at that time lived across the street from directly across the street from me his parents live Three Doors Down I grew up on there riding big wheels and turning around in his driveway and his mother coming out screaming at us to get out the driveway and don’t turn
00:25:39 around in the yard to him living across the street and decided that he was going to run for counsel when he decided that he was going to run for counsel what he did was he came across the street he knocked on the door and he told my grandmother that I’m want to run for city council and I wanted your son and the rest of the kids are going to work on my campaign to help us do that and I tell people this story also and nobody believe this we worked all day and all night for years for nothing but a Happy Meal from McDonald’s that’s all they a Happy Meal from McDonald’s and
00:26:15 we did that for years the Glenville Festival was a a piece of uh history that came out of that we produced the Glenville Festival worked on that for many of years and having that being part of the makeup of what we’ve done is what led us here today led us here to the point that I decid when we decided that it was time for us to have to come together and bring people in to talk about the Next Generation the next thing that we ought to do it was very hard for us to figure out who we could get to do that and then a few names came in and a few people asked me to
00:26:49 consider Mayor Michael White I put it out in the atmosphere and a lot of people jumped on it and thought it would be great because we hadn’t heard from it in a while getting him to do it was not easy and I just want y’all to know that that was not easy I hadn’t put my best on after get that one down and I sat down we had bre and I talked and I talk and I talk and I talk to he said going do it and so he’s here today so I everybody Stand Up Round of Applause I know Michael good evening everyone evening I have to apologize I got to reorganize this
00:27:45 Podium for a minute I have to tell you I don’t know whether uh this is a political speech or it’s a reunion um I just want all of you to know before I I start my remarks that I really enjoy seeing uh so many of you um so many of you in this room have a file in my mind things we done together either serving at City Hall or serving in Glenville or serving a cause that we all thought was important so many of you in this room did it because you were committed not committed to me but committed to a better day for Cleveland a better day for our people
00:28:34 and especially a better day for our children so I want to really just say before I begin my remarks that I appreciate it so much to my dear friend secretary Marshall that sound good secretary Mar since I had known since she was in high school team teacher at a huff Elementary School wow the former counsel President George Forbes former mayor Frank ja to all the elected officials in clergy here today and especially to Mayor Blackwell who City we are in today but especially to all of you my brothers and sisters I want to thank you for this invitation I want all of you
00:29:31 to know that I don’t want you to get any bright ideas that I’m on the circuit because I am not you might think that I am here first and foremost because of the importance of this event but that would only be partially true you might think that I am here tonight because of the importance of this national moment in our electoral process but that would only be partially true you might even think that I am here because I deem this to be a test drive to the political comeback of all time in Cleveland politics I want to assure you that is not the case when I was asked to appear here today
00:30:13 I turned it down in fact I told k d that I wanted to sleep on it when I went to bed I was a yes but when I woke up I was a n so I said I respect the brother I respect expect what he’s trying to do but I didn’t return from my farm to get on a speaking Circle so I I wrote out a check I asked him to come have coffee with me he did and 30 minutes later I was a yes again I must say to all of you the reason that I have not come to return to politics is not because I’m disillusioned with politics but when I retired from politics I wanted it to be complete no teasers no revisits
00:30:58 to the good old days and definitely I didn’t want to redo my attitude was not born of a concern about what I had spent 32 years doing it was because I believe to all of us there is a season that’s right I’ve had my season I’ve had a good season for political service now my season is here to help where I can help the next generation of leadership but not to be in that leadership but to help in their season they are the future they are at the center of the stage they are the ones who are going to lead us now so people like my friend Frank Jackson and
00:31:39 people like my friend George forb our job now is to take what we have accumulated to take what we have learned and to use it to help the Young on that are coming along but I want all of you to know tonight why I finally said yes why I had to say yes I said yes because I learned the fact about my past that I had forgotten during the effort to bring me here this person who talked to me and talked to me K was so persistent so eloquent and after a moment I realized that I had to heed this call I had to be here tonight I had to do this I’m here because of the young
00:32:20 man I met in 1978 45 years ago I was 27 he was 11 he lived a few doors down the street for me I was this determined upstar who would be coun in war 24 and that 11y old boy was Kenneth David D now here I am here I am and here he is to be perfectly honest I didn’t remember K from so long ago but all the memories all the times came flooding back to me he was there for my first run never make he was there when everyone said they will crush him and spit out the pieces in the lake area and he was there he and his young friends where are you Ken he and his young friends Roy
00:33:18 Patrick and Dwayne they didn’t care about the odds they didn’t care about politics they didn’t care about the money they didn’t care about the issue they made up their mind that they were going to be with me and they were with me day and night and yes for a svch from McDonald’s because I had no money they helped me not only to become councilman of War 24 but they helped to launch my run for May passed out literature for Mike White as I did decades before when I passed out literature for Carl soaps how can I say no to this how can I say know that this young man who kept the faith for
00:34:01 these many years is now a grown man with his own family with his own children probably teaching them about their responsibilities to their people and the cause of freedom and the fact that kimal named his children forgive me if I’m trespassing named his children Anthony Kennedy liberty and justice should tell you a lot about what’s in this brother’s heart right so here I am down to the invitation I thank you for the heaing my call 45 years ago just as I heed Carl CO’s call 60 years ago at the age of 13 we all have to stand on the shoulders of others in our pursuit of Freedom
00:34:45 you think that Camala Harris is just running for president and yes she is Camala Harris is pursuing Freedom she is pursuing Justice she is trying to develop hope for people who have not had so it’s more than see I didn’t know at the time what I was what it was going to mean to Kendal I didn’t know what Carl Stokes L Stokes Arnold p and George Lawrence fors were going to mean to me but I am here to tell you today I stood on their shoulders I showed them they showed me the way and I want you to know this evening that it was
00:35:28 it was not all tea and crumpets because it was not I worked with and served all four men and I learned everything they taught me and everything I could GLE from the their way of being political Geniuses some of the best political Geniuses this community has ever seen we along the way but we never differ about the way forward there’s never a debate about freedom for black there was never a debate about let’s just pause for a moment maybe relax there was never that debate it was always about our North Star that same North Star of
00:36:09 Freedom that is always shown bright and when we were in even when we were in deep grasses as a people pastures in Georgia Mississippi or Louisiana chains hanging down from our side see we have always looked to that North Star see generations of folks sometimes do differently about the way forward but they don’t differ about that North Star they don’t differ about the goal or just where we have to go pursuit of that North Star Keeps Us unified George Lawrence fors brought me back to Cleveland I was 24 he brought me back to be the campaign
00:36:49 manager for Loos and then he hired me to be an aid at City Hall he then fired Me 2 years later because I had the audacity to walk in his office and say I intend to become a counsilman of the city of cand I’m going to run for war 24 and George I’m going to win and he sat in that chair that he always sat in me on the couch watching him do his business he thought I was just there to be with my boss I was soaking up everything he said everything he did and so he looked at me he stared at me he has long legs and so then he pushed his legs back from his desk and he looked at the only
00:37:32 way a political father could look at his son my heart started fluttering until he said you got to get the hell out of here so he did everything he could to beat us but we won anyway so people thought that we’d never be together again my first night in city council sitting next to my mama who was completely oblivious to the politics swirling around her surrounded by hundreds of War 24 residents who were in the chamber that night to see me sworn in and to see me sway Dragon but it said they saw who they thought was the dragon make me the first ever freshman to
00:38:20 sit on the finance committee of the Cleveland City Council in its entire history they would then see us go BN to be unrelenting allies there was a time when people said George for’s enemies were Mike White’s enemies and Mike White’s enemies although I had a lot fewer than he did ge’s enemies they would also go on to see us as those unrelenting allies George teaching me as Charlie K taught you that’s what it’s all about they would also go on to see us become moral of combatants and now here we sit me the speaker and George Lawrence fors as my personal guest along
00:39:08 with mayor Frank Jackson and secretary Maran fud you see no matter what happens in life no matter how bad you may think it is no matter how tough you may think the decision is no matter how badly you believe you have been you have been mistreated you can’t ever forget the shoulders that you stood on all the dark period of our relationship I never forgot those shoulders and I thank all of you here today for being here you honor me and Jo do fors I want you to know you honor me the most because I am here in part because of you so you see I’m standing on the shoulders
00:39:56 of others specifically GE fors L Stokes Arnold py and Carl Stokes because if there had never been a Carl Stokes there would never have been a Mike White I am here today to tell you that we all stand on the shoulders of others because we do there Comes A Time in which we must pay that gift forward and that is the stage of my life that I find myself in I must tell you today my brothers and sisters how grateful I am to God that he made these small scy shoulders strong enough big enough broad enough for a k to stand on for a Jeff Johnson to stand on and yes for a Justin to
00:40:39 stand on 28 we must sh up ourselves you must Shore up yourselves these moments are not just for the few of us not just for the secretary not just for the council president not just for the mayor these moments are for all of us there are so many young people across our city who need some shoulders to stand on they need examples of how to live that life how to fight for that North Star and that’s what you’ll be doing on the 28th showing the way and saying collectively stand on our shoulders let us pursue our North Star together that is why I supported Justice B for mayor and still do and
00:41:25 it’s that is why I support blade as city council president I’m proud to call him my Council that is why I had to be here on this road with you tonight I had to be here with you I had to be here with the K I had to tell him after 45 years how he helped me how he launched helped me launch my campaign I had to pay it for but I had to come here and I had to say my thanks to him as we get ready to elect the first woman to the presidency of the United United States of America and we will woman the presidency of the United States and we will who this woman just so happens to be black
00:42:11 yes Michelle Obama you’re right to see her at the convention did you see her at the convention yes Michelle Obama you’re right maybe the presidency secretary fudge is a black job it is imperative that we honor those of upon show as we stood but we must also recognize and March reverently into the future there must be more Barack Obamas there must be more Cala harrises there must be more Warriors men and women working to make a better day for our children so this March is about in part that we must continue to look inexorably to our door star we must pursue life liberty our
00:43:00 children can have their dreams chase their dreams and yes catch their dreams that’s what September 28th is all about it is about taking more of these steps together it is about showing this community who we are and what we stand for it is about all of you showing the strength of our men the unity of our men and the wisdom of our men and it’s a moment of note that you black men have decided to take and own not just to take it but you’re going to own it bless you my brothers have one of the most talented black women to ever enter politics but you do more
00:43:49 you show this town you show your neighbors you show your neighborhood you show families but especially our children what black men can do to nudge that needle that fight for Freedom forward when we’re unified we only win when we’re UniFi if you want to ask me tell me Michael what is the greatest lesson you ever learned that’s right the greatest lesson I ever learned it was when George and Lou and Carl and Arnold were together the thing fell but when they were together they never lost that’s right and they ensured at all times in my training that there was never any air any space
00:44:33 any controversy between them and if there was a disagreement they went in the back you didn’t see it on Channel 3 you didn’t see it on Channel 8 you didn’t read about it on Facebook it wasn’t a Facebook there they always ensured that when they came out and we saw them they were together that’s a Lon that’s a lesson you need learned that lesson at all time there is nothing nothing that we disagree about that is more important than our Unity that’s right there is no issue there is no other individual there is no amount of politics that is bigger for us to defy the need for Unity
00:45:15 so as I rush to my close I want you to know today that I’ve not only come to talk about the bridges that brought us here to this specific moment I’ve come to exort you to the Future I want you on November 6th yes I said November 6th I want you on November 6th after the last vote has been counted and Donald John Trump has been dispatched to the hell he so rich I have to tell you I quite I don’t quite know where he’s going but I should have love to be there when he got there nice back so on November 6 when Mr Trump has been dispatched and Camala Harris
00:46:14 enters the White House through the front door front door the front door door on that day no six I want all of you to call the question because you see there’s more work to be done I want you to pause the question on why today in the year of Our Lord 2024 our employment rates in Cleveland and Beyond are still two to three times out of the way community I want you to call the question of why we continue to see too many killings in our neighborhoods too many young people playing with guns too many young people using those guns I
00:46:57 you just like in city council George to call the question on why too many of our children remain victims in an inadequate school system that stucks their dreams and diminishes their I want you to call the road I yes I want you to dispatch John uh Donald Trump yes I want us all to watch Cala Harris walk into the White House but after that’s done we have to call the road yes on November 5th let’s take care of business and then we must remember November 6 and we have only won battle it’s a mighty big battle it’s a battle to be proud of
00:47:34 it’s a battle to pause and feel good about but at the end of the day it’s just a battle so therefore my brothers and sisters on November 6th after all the voting machines have been put away after all the literature has been swept up and put in the garbage can after all the pats on the back telling everybody what a great job you did we must march on we must march on we must join and support our brothers and sisters at City Hall at the board of education of the County Administration Building
00:48:10 and help them to win these battles on behalf of our people we must keep marching because there stands yet a war to be won the war for True black equality in America a war to rid our neighborhoods of drugs of Despair and hopeless award to banish the isms of our country racism sexism anti- gayism anti-semitic anti- Arabic we must do all of that because ultimately one day all of us should stand together and we should repeat after one of our most famous brothers when he stood on the mountain top and said free it last yes sir free it last sir thank God Almighty thank
00:48:58 you come on let’s give another big hand of praise for the one and offly Mayor Michael L White that was fabulous May white we have a gift for you I know you want to talk pretty ladies my pretty I know um that’s a beautiful moment somebody grab that picture right there come on get hand to pra I want to make sure the team all you cameramen While y taking all these pictures make sure you get a picture with me the secretary mayor white George for and mayor Jackson nobody get all right it is I’m so glad y’all doing
00:50:22 that thank you all those cell phones that is beautiful I’m serious I’m glad to see that people understand the power that’s in this room that is a beautiful thing to see that is a beautiful thing to see yeah most people just don’t understand we understand GL see other folks understand this is an historical night great BR this is historical night isn’t it that has have these folks in here in the room together it is so important let me before I move on we do the mayor just B couldn’t be here tonight like president counsil president but his mother
00:51:11 is here stand up Sister Nichols please stand up that’s mayor just B’s mom is in the house give her big hand the mayor’s mom is in the house Lord thank you for being here Mom thank you okay to thank thank I want with Not Me by myself I got pl we want to before we uh leave I just want to tell everyone we we have done some amazing things with the voice of the better future pack our very first fundraiser was held with the clergy Coalition out on 260 and you earlier this year we raised over $10,000 for that effort we had a great
00:51:55 effort all the CL Community came we had Dr Bast spoke as well as Anton seite excellent program so this is actually I think our third fundraise our third fundraise of here so we’ve been doing things in the community we have been having barers shop talks all across our community and now you hear other people duplicating that we’ve had several barers shop talks talking to these young men and women about the importance of voting and being engaged and why this is the most critical both and and most critical both that we have in our L of this year all right all right pictures
00:52:38 all right we have one more got nothing we ain’t got nothing else to okay don’t forget if you have not Don you can donate for better future back you can check that out and uh we get ready b b we bring the B back up play a little soft music is Reverend lris here re lris gone all right all right we’re it is Friday night we know what we need to do on Friday night so we getting ready to close this place thank you for these great moments that we have in our community thank you for the memory thank you for the history but most of all thank you
00:53:20 for the future that is so bright together as we stand in unity together in christes name we pray amen you’re dismissed take all the pictures you need but don’t take