Following on Hillary's policy outlay earlier in the day, Hillary went to Kansas' City and the National Council of La Raza to speak about some personal stories involving her early efforts to register Latino voters, as well as taking care of Latino youth in her church back in Illinois.
She brought a number of the stories that she had heard on the road in Nevada, in Vegas, and told those stories to NCLR's audience. Good times!
Snippets and video from the event below.
The youtube video is here
Full transcript here
Choice bits, applaud lines:
“Now we’re standing again. But we’re not yet running the way America should.
“There are nearly 6 million young people in America today between the ages of 16 and 24 who are not in school or at work. And the numbers for young people of color are particularly troubling. Nearly 15 percent of all Latino youth cannot find a job.
“Yet corporate profits are at near record highs. Paychecks, however, have barely budged.
“Families today are stretched in so many directions, and so are their budgets.
“The out-of-pocket costs of childcare, college, and health care are rising a lot faster than wages. I hear this everywhere I go.
“The single mom who talked to me about juggling a job and classes at community college, while raising three kids. She doesn’t expect anything to come easy, but if she got a raise, everything wouldn’t be quite so hard.
“Or the grandmother who works around the clock providing childcare for other people’s children. She’s proud of her work but the pay is barely enough to live on, especially with the soaring price of her prescription drugs.
“And then there’s Juan, the DREAMer I met in Las Vegas. His dad lost his job in the recession. Then they lost their home to foreclosure. But they didn’t quit. They started a pool cleaning business. They quickly expanded from three pools to 50. And Juan told me with so much pride that he and his dad were not only supporting their family but helping others as well. If they can manage to keep growing, they can put memories of the crash behind them for good.
“And I will emphasize another key ingredient of growth that often goes overlooked and undervalued: We need to break down barriers so more Americans participate more fully in the workforce – especially women.
“We can’t afford to leave talent on the sidelines, but that’s exactly what we’re doing.
“Women who want to work should be able to do so without worrying every day about how they’re going to find or pay for daycare or what will happen if a child or relative gets sick.
“It’s time to recognize that quality, affordable childcare is not a luxury – it’s a growth strategy.
“And it is way past time to end the outrage of so many women still earning less than men on the job.
“Just ask yourself this: How can it be that, on average, Latinas still make just 56 cents on the dollar compared to white men? And then do the math. All this lost money adds up. For some women, thousands of dollars every year.
“Now, you probably heard Governor Bush say last week that Americans just need to work longer hours.
“Well, he should tell that to the farm workers breaking their backs picking fruit in Southern California.
“Or he should tell that to the dishwashers working their hands raw in the kitchens of Las Vegas. Or he should tell that to the nurse who stands on her feet all day, or the trucker who drives all night, or the fast food workers marching in the streets for better pay.
“They don’t need a lecture – they need a raise.
“I will crack down on bosses who exploit employees by misclassifying them as independent contractors or even stealing their wages – which happens too often in too many places.
“And I will fight back against efforts across our country to undermine worker bargaining power. You know, Republican governors like Scott Walker have made their names stomping on workers’ rights.
“And practically all the Republican candidates hope to do the same as President. Well, I will stand up to these attacks. If we want to get serious about raising incomes, we have to get serious about supporting union members.
“And I don’t have to wait to become President to take a stand right here and right now against the divisive rhetoric that demonizes immigrants and their families.
“It was appalling to hear Donald Trump describe immigrants as drug dealers, rapists, and criminals. He’s talking about people you and I know, isn’t he? He’s talking about people who love this country, work hard, and want nothing more than a chance to build a better life for themselves and their children.
“And when people and businesses everywhere rejected his hateful comments, did he apologize? No. He doubled down.
“It’s shameful. And no one should stand for it.
“So I have just one word for Mr. Trump: BASTA! Enough!
“And to all the other Republicans running for President: Why did it take weeks for most of you to speak out?
“You’re normally such a talkative bunch. Suddenly you have nothing to say?
“We are not guaranteed anything in life, and our country is not guaranteed anything either. Every generation, we have to keep investing. We have to keep the guarantee of a better future alive.
“So this campaign will be filled with all kinds of speeches and rhetoric. But let’s keep focused on what really matters. Because we can’t turn away from the challenges we face today. Otherwise we will not recognize our country.
“We have to stand up together. I’m running for President not because I think I alone can solve any of these problems. I’m running because I know that we have to work together. I want to be a convener and a catalyst and a colleague in solving problems, like so many of the ones that you individually, in your communities, through your businesses and organizations, and certainly through NCLR have tackled.
“And it’s so important, I think, for all of us to realize that we have to hope to give every child the same chance that we have given to our own.
“That’s what motivates me. It’s what’s motivated me my entire life.
“You know, when I was about 10 or 11 years old, I signed up at my church – in the suburb of Chicago where I lived, the Methodist Church – to babysit on Saturdays for the children of Mexican migrant farm workers. And one of our mothers – there were a group of four or so of us who had done this – one of our mothers would drive us out and stay with us, because we were so young, while the older children went into the fields with their parents.
“And we would take care of the little children. We would play games with them, we’d read to them, we’d try to get them to take a nap – not easy.
“And we would wait for the parents and siblings to come back.
“I remember like it was yesterday. The first time at the end of this long dirt road, the old ramshackle bus that transported the family members to the fields came back around 6 o’clock. The children we were babysitting could not contain themselves, they were so excited. And they immediately burst free from us and began running down that road.
“And as their mothers and their fathers and their uncles and their aunts and their big brothers and their big sisters got out of that bus, those children were lifted up and embraced by people who were tired, who’d worked all day, but who loved their children so much.