Ben Carson on how to reduce likelihood of living in poverty
Former HUD secretary discusses steps to closing the wealth gap on 'Your World'
This is a rush transcript of "Your World with Neil Cavuto," June 1, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right, thank you very much, Martha.
We are waiting to hear from the president of the United States. He is in
Tulsa, Oklahoma at this hour, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the
biggest racial massacre in this country's history. To this day, we still
don't know how many lives were wiped out that day, some say into the
hundreds.
The president using this as an opportunity to even the playing field, as
the administration has called it, and increase contracts for minority-owned
businesses, minorities, period, expand mortgage lending to the minority
community, and a host of other things that are being planned.
To Casey Stegall right now in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ahead of the president's
remarks -- Casey.
CASEY STEGALL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Neil.
In fact, we expect the president's remarks, as you said, within the hour.
And it's going to include a whole lot of stuff, specific plans and
policies, he says, that are designed to help African-American communities
thrive in this country, everything from real estate, to businesses, to
education.
And the backdrop could not be more fitting than here in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
the site of one of the worst, if not the worst, racial incident of violence
in U.S. history, 100 years ago, the Greenwood district, known as Black Wall
Street, up until 1921, when a white mob attacked the neighborhood and
burned almost everything to the ground.
At least 300 people died. And a century later, there are still a handful of
survivors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESSIE BENNINGFIELD RANDLE, TULSA RACE MASSACRE SURVIVOR: We're not all
equal. So, we all -- should all be equal, regardless of color, creed,
anything, but we are not. That's a big thing, in my mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEGALL: Now, President Biden also met with some of those survivors this
afternoon, while also touring the Greenwood Cultural Center.
Part of the plan to be announced shortly is to reinvest in what are called
underserved communities by, the president says, expanding access to
homeownership, for example, and small business ownership as well -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Casey Stegall, thank you very, very much.
So, is this coming at a time the administration recognizes could be too
little, too late, but that they are going to make up for that time?
Ben Carson, the former secretary of housing and urban development, better
known as HUD, with us right now.
Secretary, always great to have you.
The administration is saying this is long overdue, that is, leveling or
trying to level the playing field for blacks and others who have been
behind the eight ball when it comes to getting mortgage lending, business
recognition, and a whole host of other things. What do you think?
BEN CARSON, FORMER HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY: Well, it was a
topic of much discussion during the previous administration. And I think we
made a lot of progress.
I don't think that it really does any good to sit there and say we did
better than you did. But what we really need to do is build on what each
administration previously has done.
When you look at what's happened over the last 100 years, there's been a
vast improvement. Is there still room for more improvement? Absolutely. And
when we're talking about making more grants available for small and
disadvantaged businesses, as communities, I'm all for that, as long as we
don't attach a particular race or color to it.
Let's deal with those who are disadvantaged, those who are small, those who
have lack of opportunity. That's what this country is about, providing
opportunities for people.
CAVUTO: Now, the one argument I think the president is going to make,
Secretary, is that, by almost all the numbers, at least the conventional
numbers, mortgage application approval, homeownership, African-Americans in
general trail, and sometimes substantially trail, white homeowners and
potential homeowners.
Do you agree that there is a problem there, or is this a statistical
anomaly?
CARSON: There is definitely a problem there. Particularly when we're
dealing with wealth and wealth gaps, homeownership is the key factor.
The average net income of a renter is $5,000 net worth. The average net
worth of a homeowner is $200,000. That's a 40-fold difference. So we should
be looking at, what are the reasons that that discrepancy exists?
And you can throw money at it all you want. We have been doing that since
Johnson's Great Society. And that hasn't really helped. What really did
help quite a bit just recently is creating a situation, an economic
situation, by having an appropriate tax structure and regulatory
environment that caused businesses to blossom.
And there were so many businesses being created. They were looking for
people to work there. The black unemployment rate went down not to a 10-
year low, not to a 20-year low, but to the lowest it's ever been. The
wealth gap was starting to be filled.
And what that tells you is that the way you fix that is, you create the
right environment. You don't just grow government and throw more programs
at it.
CAVUTO: So, Secretary, depending on what we hear out of the president,
he's not been short on spending, to what he says turn an economy around and
move us in the right direction.
Now, by the latest math, his budget is a $6 trillion-plus budget. And I
just wondering. He says the difference with his and his plans is that he
pays for them. Do you think, A, that he does pay for them? And, B, do you
think we need that spending?
CARSON: I certainly wish we did have a way to pay for them right now.
They're going to fall on the laps of our children, our grandchildren, the
people who are following us. And that's why Thomas Jefferson wisely said
that it is immoral to steal from future generations. Yes, there is going to
be a significant price...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: But wasn't your old boss doing that? Secretary, wasn't your old
boss doing that?
I'm not casting political aspersions. It's been a bipartisan buying binge,
right? So, who are you, representing that administration...
CARSON: Oh, there's no question. there's no question.
CAVUTO: ... or others from prior administrations, to judge what's
happening now?
CARSON: As you may recall, when I was running for president, that was a
big deal for me, talking about deficit spending...
CAVUTO: I remember.
CARSON: ... and what we are doing to those in our future. And it doesn't
matter who does it, Republican or Democrat. It's the wrong thing to do. And
we can't use what one did as an excuse to put it on steroids for the next
group.
We need to start thinking about all of our people, what we need to do for
them.
CAVUTO: So, when we look at this spending that's coming up, and then the
administration is saying you're making investments here, particularly in
the housing area, for minorities, and that a rising tide will lift all of
those boats, do you believe that?
CARSON: We have already seen that it does.
But we also ought to be looking at some of the real reasons that that
wealth gap exists. The Brookings Institute did a very good study on poverty
a few years ago. And they concluded that there were three or four things
that a person could do to reduce their likelihood of living in poverty to 2
percent or less.
Now, that should perk all of our ears up. What are those things? Number
one, finish high school. Number two, get married. Number three, get a job.
Number four, wait until you're married to have children.
Just do those things, you're very unlikely to live in poverty if you do
those things, and you're much more likely to be able to realize the
American dream.
Our policy should be aimed at things like that, not at just throwing money
at people, without providing the appropriate background in order to use it
correctly.
Case in point, we're all familiar with the stories of people who win the
lottery. Sixty percent of them end up worse than they were before. So, when
you just throw money at a problem, without really understanding what you're
doing, you're not necessarily doing people a favor.
And I think a lot of people in the minority community just say, get out of
our way. And let's have a flattening of opportunities, so we are all on an
even playing ground.
CAVUTO: All right.
CARSON: And stop trying to manipulate us and manipulate everything that we
do.
CAVUTO: Ben Carson, very good catching up with you again, sir.
Thank you very much for taking the time, the former HUD secretary, Ben
Carson, under Donald Trump.
On the left of your screen, some of the survivors -- yes, there are
survivors of the Tulsa attacks a century ago -- hearing from President
Biden today about belatedly making rights from wrongs, including increasing
government contracts for small minority businesses and expanding business
opportunities for minorities in general, as well as new opportunities in
the mortgage arena, where black acceptance of mortgages is running about an
eighth what it does for whites.
It depends on the community and the city that you're looking at, but, by
and large, the president with a large financial commitment to say, we can
turn this around, but will also caution it will take a considerable amount
of time.
When he speaks, we will go there.
I also want to update you on a cyberattack. You remember, a few weeks ago,
we had Colonial Pipeline affected. And that did lead to a run-up in gas and
related prices.
Now one against JBS, the big beef processor, that knocked a lot of the
company's operations offline and has now wiped out a number of systems that
control meat and meat prices. We're told as well that the target was these
meat processors, or this one in specific -- specifically, and that one-
fifth of the U.S. beef capacity has been wiped out by this attack.
We will keep you posted on that.
More after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, taking you live right now to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The woman introducing the president of the United States is Lauren Usher.
She is a descendant of a survivor of that horrific day 100 years ago, in
which hundreds of blacks were killed in what was an economically thriving
area until that time.
Many say that it cast racial progress back for decades, all dating back to
that. The president hopes to correct a lot of that by evening what he calls
the playing field for minority-owned businesses, for those seeking
mortgages, and a host of systems in place to help businesses not only
thrive in the African-American community, but thrive in the very place that
were burnt to the ground 100 years ago.
Again, we thought it would be a good idea to go to this Lauren Usher, since
she does represent a survivor of that horror a century ago.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
LAUREN USHER, DESCENDENT OF TULSA RACE MASSACRE SURVIVOR: ... with his
community to stop a mob from breaking into the jail and lynching a black
teenager named Dick Rowland, sparking the backlash, which ended in the
grievous massacre.
My family worked to get these charges against J.B. dropped posthumously. I
know how lucky I am to have this family history passed down from generation
to generation.
This history was the one thing that they were not able to steal from us.
But as thankful as I am to know my history, I understand that history has
no firm line to divide it from the present. Just as there are survivors
still with us today from this tragic event, the mentality of the mob to
declare that there will never again be another Black Wall Street in Tulsa,
that mentality also still survives in many institutions and, unfortunately,
in many people's hearts.
Today, we welcome President Joe Biden here to stand beside us as we
continue the fight for justice for the survivors and descendants of the
Tulsa massacre. He understands that, as a nation, we are and we must be
strong enough to confront the dark periods of our history, with a bold
agenda of equity, repair, and healing.
J.B. Stradford died without seeing justice for the crimes against him and
his community. But I am sure we will see justice in my lifetime, thanks to
the efforts of all of you here joining us today.
And now I introduce to you President Joe Biden.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(CROSSTALK)
USHER: Thank you so much.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Well, thank you.
Please, if you have a seat, sit down.
And I got to make one check.
I just had to make sure the two girls got ice cream when this is over.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: Imagine how excited you would be when you're 4, 5?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Almost 5.
BIDEN: Almost 5 years old, coming to hear a president speak.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: My lord. In my faith, we call that purgatory.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: Lauren, thank you for that gracious introduction.
And in case, you're wondering, I -- in Delaware, we are a small state. We
have the eighth largest black population in America and we have one of the
most talented members of Congress.
And so if I didn't walk around and pay my tribute to Lisa Blunt Rochester,
my congresswoman, immediately, that would...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: How are you, Rev? Good to see you.
We've got a distinguished group of people here and I want to thank Lauren
for sharing the powerful story and helping the country understand what's
happening here.
And to all the descendants here today and to the community and civil rights
leaders and the members of the Congressional Black Caucus that are here,
thank you for making sure that we all remember and we never forgot.
You know, there's a verse in First Corinthians that says, for now, we see
in a mirror dimly, but then face to face, now I know in part then I shall
know fully.
It is -- I just toured the Hall of Survivors here in Greenwood Cultural
Center, and I want to thank the incredible staff for hosting us here.
And...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And if I didn't say as my father would say, please excuse my back.
I apologize.
But the tour -- in the tour, I met Mother Randle, who is only 56 years old.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: God love her.
And Mother Fletcher, who is 67 years old. And her brother, her brother, Van
Ellis, who is 100 years old, and he looks like he's 60.
Thank you for spending so much time with me. I really mean it. It was a
great honor, a genuine honor.
You are three known remaining survivors of a story seen in the mirror
dimly, but no longer. Now your story will be known in full view.
The events we speak of today took place 100 years ago, and yet I'm the
first president in 100 years ever to come to Tulsa.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I say that not as a compliment about me but to think about it, 100
years, and the first president to be here during that entire time.
And in this place, in this ground to acknowledge the truth of what took
place here. For much too long, the history of what took place here was told
in silence, cloaked in darkness, but just because history is silent, it
doesn't mean that it did not take place. And while darkness can hide much,
it erases nothing. It erases nothing.
Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous they can't be
buried no matter how hard people try. And so it is here only, only with
truth, can come healing and justice and repair, only with truth, facing it.
But that isn't enough. First, we have to see, hear and give respect to
Mother Randle, Mother Fletcher and Mr. Van Ellis.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And to all those lost so many years ago, to all the descendants of
those who suffered, to this community, that's why we're here, to shine a
light, to make sure America knows the story in full. May 1921, formerly
enslaved black people and their descendants are here in Tulsa, a boom town
of oil and opportunity and a new frontier.
On the North Side, across the rail tracks that divided the city already
segregated by law, they built something of their own, worthy, worthy of
their talent and their ambition.
Greenwood, a community, a way of life, black doctors and lawyers, pastors,
teachers, running hospitals, law practices, libraries, churches, schools,
black veterans, like the man I had the privilege of giving the Command Coin
to, who fought, volunteered and fought and came home and still faced such
prejudice.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Veterans have been back a few years helping after winning the First
World War, building a new life back home with pride and confidence who are
mom -- and they were at the time, mom and pluck -- mom and pop, black
diners, grocery stores, barber shops, tailors, things that make up a
community. At the Dreamland Theater, a young black couple holding hands
falling in love, friends gathered at music clubs and pool halls and at the
Monroe roller skating rink. Visitors staying at hotels like the Stratford.
All around, black pride and the professional class and the working class
who live together side by side for blocks on end. Mother Randle was just 6
years old, 6 years old, living with her grand mom. She said she was lucky
to have a home and toys and fortunate to live without fear.
Mother Fletcher was 7 years old, the second of seven children, the youngest
being Mr. Van Ellis, who was just a few months old, the children, former
sharecroppers, and they went to bed at night in Greenwood, Mother Fletcher
says, they fell asleep rich in terms of the wealth, not real wealth, but a
different wealth, a wealth in culture, and community and heritage.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: But one night, one night changed everything, everything changed.
While Greenwood was a community to itself, it was not separated from the
outside. It wasn't everyone, but there was enough hate, resentment and
vengeance in the community. Enough people who believed that America does
not belong to everyone and not everyone is created equal. Native Americans,
Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Black Americans, a belief enforced by
law, by badge, by hood and by noose, that speaks to that, lit the fuse.
It lit it by the spark that it provided, a fuse of fury was an innocent
interaction and it turned into a terrible, terrible headline allegation of
a black male, teenager, attacking a white female teenager.
A white mob of a thousand gathered around the courthouse where the black
teenager is being held, ready to do it -- still occurred, lynched that
young man that night. But 57 black men, including black veterans, arrived
to stand guard. Words were exchanged and then a scuffle, then shots fired.
Hell was unleashed, literal hell was unleashed. Through the night and into
the morning, the mob terrorized Greenwood, tortures and guns, shooting at
will. A mob tied a black man by the waist to the back of their truck with
his head banging along the pavement as they drove off, a murdered black
family draped over the fence of their home outside.
An elderly couple knelt by their bed praying to God with their heart and
their soul and they're shot in the back of their heads.
Private planes, private planes dropping explosives, the first and only
domestic aerial assault of its kind on an American city here in Tulsa.
Eight of Greenwood's nearly two dozen churches burned like Mount Zion
across at Vernon AME.
Mother Randle said it was like a war. Mother Fletcher says all these years
later, she still sees black bodies around.
The Greenwood newspaper publisher A.J. Smitherman -- Smitherman penned a
poem of what he heard and felt that night, and here's the poem. He said:
"Kill them, burn them. Set the pace. Teach them how to keep their place.
Rain of murder, theft and plunder was the order of the night."
That's what he remembers from the poem that he wrote.
One hundred years ago, at this hour, on this first day of June, smoke
darkened the Tulsa sky, rising from 35 blocks of Greenwood that were left
in ash and ember, razed in rubble.
Less than 24 hours, in less than 24 hours, 1,100 black homes and businesses
were lost. Insurance companies -- they had insurance, many of them --
rejected claims of damage. Ten thousand people were left destitute and
homeless, placed in internment camps. As I was told today, they were told,
don't you mention you were ever in a camp, or we'll come and get you.
That's what survivors told me. Yet no one, no arrests of the mob were made,
none. No proper accounting of the dead. The death toll records by local
officials said there were 36 people. That's all, 36 people.
Based on studies, records and accounts, the likelihood -- the likely number
is much more in the multiple of hundreds. Untold bodies dumped into mass
graves. Families who at a time waited for hours and days to know the fate
of their loved ones are now descendants who have gone 100 years without
closure.
But, as we speak, the process -- the process of exhuming the unmarked
graves have started.
And, at this moment, I would like to pause for a moment of silence for the
fathers and mothers, sisters, sons and daughters, friends of God and
Greenwood. They deserve the dignity and they deserve our respect. May their
souls rest in peace.
My fellow Americans, this was not a riot. This was a massacre.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Among -- among the worst in our history, but not the only one, and
for too long forgotten by our history.
As soon as it happened, there was a clear effort to erase it from our
memory, our collective memories, from the news and everyday conversations.
For a long time, schools in Tulsa didn't even teach it, let alone schools
elsewhere. And most people didn't realize that, a century ago, the second
Ku Klux Klan had been founded, the second Ku Klux Klan had been founded.
A friend of mine, Jon Meacham, I had written -- when I said I was running
to restore the soul of America, he wrote a book called "The Soul of
America," not because of what I said.
And there's a picture about page 160 in the book showing over 30,000 Ku
Klux Klan members in full regalia, Reverend, the pointed hats, the robes,
marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D. C.
Jesse, you know all about this.
Washington, D.C. if my memory is correct, there were 37 members of the
House of Representatives who were open members of the Klan. There were
five, if I'm not mistaken -- it could have been seven -- I think it was
five -- members of the United States Senate open members of the Klan.
Multiple governors were open members of the Klan.
Most people didn't realize that, a century ago, the Klan was founded just
six years before the horrific destruction here in Tulsa. And one of the
reasons why it was founded was because of guys like me who are Catholic.
It wasn't about African-Americans then. It was about making sure that all
those Polish and Irish and Italian and Eastern European Catholics who came
to the United States after World War I would not pollute Christianity.
The flames from those burning crosses torched every region of the country.
Millions of white Americans belonged to the Klan, and they weren't even
embarrassed by it. They were proud of it.
And that hate became embedded systematically and systemically in our laws
and our culture. We do ourselves no favors by pretending none of this ever
happened or it doesn't impact us today, because it does still impact us
today.
We can't just choose to learn what we want to know and not what we should
know.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We should know the good, the bad, everything.
That's what great nations do. They come to terms with their dark sides. And
we're a great nation. The only way to build a common ground is to truly
repair and to rebuild.
I come here to help fill the silence, because, in silence, wounds deepen.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And only -- as painful as it is, only in remembrance do wounds
heal.
We just have to choose to remember. We memorialize what happened here in
Tulsa, so it can be -- so it can't be erased. We know here, in this
hallowed place, we simply can't bury pain and trauma forever. And, at some
point, there will be a reckoning, an inflection point, like we're facing
right now as a nation.
What many people hadn't seen before or simply refused to see cannot be
ignored any longer. You see it in so many places. And there's greater
recognition that, for too long, we have allowed a narrowed, cramped view of
the promise of this nation to fester, the view that America is a zero sum
game, where there's only one winner.
If you succeed, I fail. If you get ahead, I fall behind. If you get a job,
I lose mine. And, maybe worst of all, if I hold you down, I lift myself up,
instead of, if you do well, we all do well.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We see that in Greenwood.
This story isn't about the loss of life, but a loss of living, of wealth
and posterity and possibilities that still reverberates today.
Mother Fletcher talks about how she was able to attend school in the fourth
grade and eventually found work in the shipyards as a domestic worker.
Mr. Van Ellis says has shared how, even after enlisting and serving in
World War II, he still came home to struggle with a segregated America.
Imagine all those hotels and dinners (sic) and mom-and-pop shops that could
have been passed down this past 100 years.
Imagine what could have been done for black families in Greenwood,
financial security and generational wealth. If you come from backgrounds
like my family, working-class, middle-class family, the only way we were
ever able to generate any wealth was in the equity in our homes.
Imagine what they contributed then and what they could have contributed all
these years. Imagine a thriving Greenwood and North Tulsa for the last 100
years, what that would have meant for all of Tulsa, including the white
community.
While the people of Greenwood rebuilt again in the years after the
massacre, it didn't last. Eventually, neighborhoods were redlined on maps,
locking black Tulsa out of homeownerships.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: A highway was built right through the heart of the community.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: ... was talking about our West Side, what 95 did to them after we
were occupied by the military after Dr. King was murdered.
The community cutting off black families and businesses from jobs and
opportunity. Chronic underinvestment from state and federal governments
denied Greenwood even just a chance of rebuilding.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We must find the courage to change the things we know we can
change.
That's what Vice President Harris and I are focused on, along with our
entire our entire administration, including our housing and urban
development secretary, Marcia Fudge, who's here today.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Because, today, we're announcing two expanded efforts targeted
toward black wealth creation that will also help the entire community.
The first is, my administration has launched an aggressive effort to combat
racial discrimination in housing. That includes everything from redlining
to the cruel fact that a home owned by a black family is too often
appraised at lower value than a similar home owned by a white family.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And I might add -- and I need help if you can answer this one -- I
can't figure this one out -- Congressman Horsford.
But if you live in a black community, and there's another one on the other
side of the highway, it's a white community, it's built by the same
builder, and you have a better driving record than the guy with the same
car in the white community, you're going to pay more for your auto
insurance.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Shockingly, the percentage of black American homeownership is lower
today in America than when the Fair Housing Act was passed more than 50
years ago.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Lower today. That's wrong. And we're committed to changing that.
Just imagine if, instead of denying millions of Americans the ability to
own their own home and build generational wealth, we made it possible for
them to buy a home and build equity into that -- into that home and provide
for their families.
Second, small businesses are the engines of our economy and the glue of our
communities. As president, my administration oversees hundreds of billions
of dollars in federal contracts for everything from refurbishing decks of
aircraft carriers to installing railings in federal buildings, to
professional services.
We have got a thing called -- I won't go into it all. There's not enough
time now.
But I'm determined to use every taxpayers' dollar that is assigned to me to
spend going to American companies and American workers to build -- that
build American products. And, as part of that, I'm going to increase the
share of the dollars the federal government spends to small, disadvantaged
businesses, including black and brown small businesses.
Right now, it calls for 10 percent. Going to move that to 15 percent of
every dollar spent will be spent...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I decided to do that.
Just imagine if, instead of denying millions of entrepreneurs the ability
to access capital in contracting, we made it possible to take their dreams
to the marketplace to create jobs and invest in our communities.
The data shows young black entrepreneurs are just as capable of succeeding,
given the chance, as white entrepreneurs are. But they don't have lawyers.
They don't have -- they don't have accountants. But they have great ideas.
Does anyone doubt this whole nation would be better off from the
investments those people make? And I promise you, that's why I set up the
National Small Business Administration that's much broader, because they're
going get those loans.
Instead of consigning millions of American children to under-resourced
schools, let's get each and every child three and four years old access to
school, not day care, school.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: In the last 10 years, studies have been done by all the great
universities. It shows that it would increase by 56 percent the possibility
of a child, no matter what background they come from, no matter what, if
they start school at 3 years old, they have a 56 percent chance of going
all through all 12 years without any trouble and being able to do well, and
a chance to learn and grow and thrive in a school and throughout their
lives.
And let's unlock more than an incredible creativity and innovation that
will come from the nation's historically black colleges and universities.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I have a $5-billion-a-year program, giving them the resources to
invest in research centers and laboratories and high-demand fields to
compete for good-paying jobs in industries like -- of the future like
cybersecurity.
The reason why they don't -- their students are equally able to learn as
well and get the good-paying jobs that start at 90,000 and 100,000 bucks.
But they don't have -- they don't have the back -- they don't have the
money to provide and build those laboratories.
So, guess what? They're going get the money to build those laboratories.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: So, instead of just talking about infrastructure, let's get about
the business of actually rebuilding roads and highways, filling the
sidewalks and cracks, installing streetlights and high-speed Internet,
creating space, space to live and work and play safely.
Let's ensure access to health care, clean water, clean air, nearby grocery
stores stocked with fresh vegetables and food, that, in fact, deal with...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I mean, these are all things we can do.
Does anyone doubt this whole nation would be better off with these
investments? The rich will be just as well-off. The middle class will do
better, and everybody will do better.
It's about good-paying jobs, financial stability, and being able to build
some generational wealth. It's about economic growth for our country and
outcompeting the rest of the world, which is now outcompeting us.
But just as fundamental as any of these investments I have discussed is
maybe the most fundamental, the right to vote.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BIDEN: The right to vote.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: A lot of the members of the Black Caucus knew John Lewis better
than I, but I knew him.
On his deathbed, like many, I called John to speak to him. Rev, all John
wanted to do was talk about how I was doing. He died, I think, about 25
hours later.
But you know what John said? He called the right to vote precious, almost
sacred, he said the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democratic
society.
This sacred right is under assault with incredible intensity like I have
never seen, even though I got started as a public defender and a civil
rights lawyer, with an intensity and an aggressiveness that we have not
seen in a long, long time.
It's simply un-American. It's not, however, sadly unprecedented. The creed
"We shall overcome" is a longtime mainstay of the civil rights movement, as
Jesse Jackson can tell you better than anybody.
The obstacles to progress that have to be overcome are a constant
challenge. We saw it in the '60s, but, with the current assault, it's not
just an echo of a distant history.
In 2020, we faced a tireless assault on the right to vote, restrictive
laws, lawsuits, threats to -- of intimidation, voter purges and more.
We resolved to overcome it all and we did. More Americans voted in the last
election than any -- in the midst of a pandemic, than any election in
American history.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: You got voters registered. You got voters to the polls. The rule of
law held. Democracy prevailed. We overcame.
But, today, let me be unequivocal. I have been engaged in this work my
whole career, and we're going to be ramping up efforts to overcome again.
I will have more to say about this at a later date, the truly unprecedented
assault on our democracy, an effort to replace nonpartisan election
administrators and to intimidate those charged with tallying and reporting
the election results.
But, today, as for the act of voting itself, I urge voting rights groups in
this country to begin to redouble their efforts now to register and to
educate voters.
And June...
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And June should be a month of action on Capitol Hill.
I hear folks on TV saying, why doesn't Biden get this done? Well, Biden
only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the
Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican
friends. But we're not giving up.
Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed the For the People
Act to protect our democracy. The Senate will take it up later this month,
and I'm going to fight like heck with every tool at my disposal for its
passage. The House has also worked on the John Lewis Voting Rights Act,
which is critical to providing new legal tools to combat the new assault on
the right to vote.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: To signify the importance of our efforts, today, I'm asking Vice
President Harris to help these efforts and lead them, among her many other
responsibilities.
With her leadership and your support, we're going to overcome again, I
promise you, but it's going to take a hell of a lot of work.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And finally, we have to -- and, finally, we must address what
remains the stain on the soul of America.
What happened in Greenwood was an act of hate and domestic terrorism, with
the through line that exists today still.
Just close your eyes and remember what you saw in Charlottesville four
years ago on television, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, the KKK coming out
of those fields at night in Virginia with lighted torches, the veins
bulging on their -- as they were screaming. Remember? Just close your eyes
and picture what it was.
Well, Mother Fletcher said, when she saw the insurrection at the Capitol on
January the 9th (sic), it broke her heart. A mob of violent white
extremists, thugs, said reminded her of what happened here in Greenwood 100
years ago.
Look around at the various hate crimes against Asian Americans and Jewish
Americans, hate that never goes away, hate only hides.
Jesse, I think I mentioned this to you. I thought after you guys pushed
through with Dr. King the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act, I
thought we moved.
What I didn't realize -- I thought we made enormous progress, and I was so
proud to be a little part of it.
But you know what, Rev? I didn't realize, hate is never defeated. It only
hides. It hides.
And given a little bit of oxygen, just a little bit of oxygen by its
leaders, it comes out of there under -- from under the rock like it was
happening again, as if it never went away.
And so, folks, we can't, we must not give hate a safe harbor.
As I said in my address to the joint session of Congress, according to the
intelligence community, terrorism from white supremacy is the most lethal
threat to the homeland today, not ISIS, not Al Qaeda, white supremacists.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: That's not me. That's the intelligence community under both Trump
and under my administration.
Two weeks ago, I signed a law, the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which the
House had passed and the Senate. My administration will soon lay out our
broader strategy to counter domestic terrorism and the violence driven by
the most heinous hate crimes and other forms of bigotry.
But I'm going to close where I started.
To Mother Randle, Mother Fletcher, Mr. Van Ellis, to the descendants and to
all survivors, thank you. Thank you for giving me the honor of being able
to spend some time with you earlier today.
Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your commitment, and thank your
children and your grandchildren and your uncle -- and your nieces and your
nephews.
To see and learn from you is a gift, a genuine gift.
Dr. John Hope Franklin, one of America's greatest historians, Tulsa's proud
son, whose father was a Greenwood survivor, said -- and I quote --
"Whatever you do, it must be done in the spirit of goodwill and mutual
respect and even love."
How else can we overcome the past and be worthy of our forbearers and face
the future with confidence and with hope?
On this sacred and solemn day, may we find that distinctly Greenwood spirit
that defines the American spirit, the spirit that gives me so much
confidence and hope for the future, that helps us see face to face the
spirit, that helps us know fully who we are and who we can be as a people
and as a nation.
I have never been more optimistic about the future today than I am today. I
mean that. And the reason is because of this new generation of the young
people. They are the best educated, they're the least prejudiced, they're
the most open generation in American history.
And although I have no scientific basis for what I'm about to say, for
those of you who are over 50, how often did you ever see, how often did you
ever see advertisements on television with black and white couples? Not a
joke.
I challenge you. Find today, when you turn on the stations, sit on one
station for two hours. And I don't know how many commercials you'll see,
eight to five. Two to three out of five have mixed race couples in them.
That's not by accident. They're selling soap, man.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: Not a joke.
Remember old Pat Caddell used to say, you want to know what's happening in
American culture, watch advertising, because they want to sell what they
have.
We have hope in folks like you, honey. I really mean it. We have hope, but
we've got to give them support. We have got to give them the backbone to do
what we know has to be done, because I doubt whether any of you wouldn't be
here if you didn't care deeply about this.
You sure the devil doesn't come to hear me speak.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: But I really mean it. I really mean it.
Let's not give up, man. Let's not give up. As the old saying goes, hope
springs eternal. I know we've talked a lot about famous people, but I'm --
my colleagues in the Senate used to always kid me, because I was always
quoting Irish poets.
They think I did it because I'm Irish. They think I did it because, as --
we Irish, we have a little chip on our shoulder a little bit sometimes.
That's not why I did it.
I did it because they're the best poets in the world.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: You can smile. It's OK. It's true.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: There was a famous poet who wrote a poem called "The Cure at Troy,"
Seamus Heaney.
And there's a stanza in it that I think is the definition of what I think
should be our call today for young people.
It said: "History teaches us not to hope on this side of the grave, but
then, once in a lifetime, that longed-for tidal wave of justice rises up
and hope and history rhyme."
Let's make it rhyme.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
BIDEN: Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: All right, you have been listening to President Biden on this
100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, which stands as one of the
most brutal in American history, saying, as painful as it is -- quoting the
president -- "Only in remembrance do wounds heal. We just have to choose to
remember, memorialize what happened here in Tulsa, so it can't be erased."
And in that effort, the president outlining an aggressive new measures to
narrow what he calls a serious racial wealth gap, including providing more
federal grants for small minority businesses and initiatives to address the
inequality of mortgage lending, right down to home appraisals.
He has reversed a number of Trump era rules that he said were getting in
the way of that kind of progress.
Let's review this right now with Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics. We have
also got Deneen Borelli with us, and last, but not least, Democratic
strategist Marjorie Clifton.
So, Tom Bevan, if I can begin with you, we don't have a breakdown on the
cost of all of these initiatives. We do know that the federal government
carries a pretty big lever when it comes to prioritizing projects. In this
case, that will be dramatically boosted for minority-lending initiatives.
How do you think this will go?
TOM BEVAN, CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR, REALCLEARPOLITICS.COM: Well, I
don't know.
I mean, Joe Biden talked about that we have too long had this narrow view
of zero sum, I win, you lose, type thing. And he talked more in terms of
rising tide lifts all boats. That's typically been the sort of the
Republican philosophy, but Joe Biden is now employing it, but employing it
in the sense that the government is going to be the one that's going to be
lifting the tides by all of this spending and all this investment.
And he's going to do what he can to try and shrink the racial wealth gap
with it. So, we will see how that turns out.
I mean, historically speaking, Neil, it hasn't worked out all that well.
But that's certainly what Biden is proposing right now.
CAVUTO: And I think he acknowledged as much, Deneen, to Tom's point, when
he spoke about some of the progress on homeownership and the like -- I'm
generalizing here -- that, with all the money that's been spent over prior
decades, it is lower now statistically than it was.
And I'm just wondering if he accidentally stumbled upon an issue that
critics are going to raise. Well, if money were the answer, we'd have an
even playing field. And we don't. What do you think?
DENEEN BORELLI, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, sure, Neil.
Let me just say that what happened in Oklahoma was absolutely a tragic
event, and Americans must learn our history to not repeat it.
But I got to tell you -- and I'm being sincerely honest here -- President
Biden is a propagandist and a hypocrite, period, because Kamala Harris took
his head off during a debate. Everyone knows that. And the man supported
segregationists early on in his political career to get an upper leg, James
Eastland, Herman Talmadge.
He supported George Wallace, who blocked the doorway of black
schoolchildren to enter a school, George Wallace, who said -- and I quote -
- "Segregation -- segregation today, tomorrow, forever."
And he also supported former Klansman Robert Byrd, the former majority
leader in the Senate, former Klansman, grand cyclops, whatever that means
he had to do to get that title. Joe Biden is a hypocrite, and he is a
propagandist.
And too bad that audience does not know that.
CAVUTO: All right, well, I think, if you look at his recent actions,
Deneen, and the source -- the course and the overall context of his career,
I would respectfully disagree with that characterization. But...
BORELLI: He's been in politics for a long time...
CAVUTO: All right.
But...
BORELLI: ... and has not done...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: ... for black Americans.
All right, well, let me -- let me -- Marjorie, let me step back and just
look at how likely it is that any of this stuff comes to pass.
He's got a very pricey infrastructure package, a $6 trillion budget. That's
something that impacts people of all races and all income positions. Can he
get this done?
MARJORIE CLIFTON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I mean, I think what he's
calling for is a transformative view of how we approach these issues.
And part of that transformation has been his. And he's acknowledged that,
and the steps like acknowledging the massacre happened and talking about
how we repair what has happened and interrupt systems that are creating
barriers to black Americans in a disproportionate way to white Americans.
So, I think the question is, are people willing to invest, to shift away
from what has become cyclical poverty, which has become cyclical
devaluation of homes and things that are creating unnecessary barriers.
And so it depends on how you look at investing. Do you look at it in terms
of outcomes in the long term?
CAVUTO: Right. It's still early on, right?
CLIFTON: Yes.
CAVUTO: And, to his point, the president's own point, of course,
acknowledging that a lot of the money that has been spent to address
everything from poverty to dealing with the poor in general, spent a lot of
money here, and we still have poverty, and we still have the poor, and we
still have a lot of problems.
He wanted to put a change and a stop to that. Whether this is that answer
or a step in that direction, we just don't know.
What I do know is, "THE FIVE" is now.
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