As the students, as
the young leaders here know, the legacy
of this extraordinary
place of education in America
has produced leaders
who have gone on to be
not only national leaders,
but global leaders.
And I'm reminded in particular
this afternoon of two of those leaders,
the late, great John Lewis,
and, of course, the phenomenal
Diane Nash
and what they learned and then taught
was that
if one is to understand
that you are born a leader
and it is just a matter
of when you decide to kick that in,
then you know
that we will see leadership
at every stage of life
if people choose to turn that on.
And we have seen that here in Tennessee
over the last couple of weeks.
We have seen
over 7000
students and young leaders
go to the Capitol to talk about what
John Lewis
and Diane Nash
talked about, the importance of freedom,
the importance of liberty, the importance
of respecting the right of all people
to live,
where they receive dignity,
where they live in a place
that they can be free from harm
And so we are here
understanding the broad shoulders
upon which we all stand those fighters
for freedom and liberty and justice.
Those fighters who understood
the truth must never be stifled
or silenced
when it is on behalf of the people
And so I want to start
by recognizing that Tennessee three
we are here
because they and their colleagues,
the Democratic Caucus
of the state legislature.
And I'd ask you to stand as well, please,
because
they chose to show courage
in the face of an extreme tragedy,
which is that 11 days ago,
six people
three educators
and three babies, nine years old,
were murdered
senselessly
due to gun violence.
They chose to lead
and show courage to say
that a democracy
allows
for places where the people's voice
will be heard and honored and respected.
And they understood the importance,
these three, of standing to say
the people will not be silenced,
to say that a democracy hears
the cries, hears the pleas,
who hears the demands of its people.
Who say the children
should be able to live and be safe
and go to school and not be in fear
they said,
We understand when we took an oath
to represent the people who elected us
our right,
that we speak on behalf of them.
It wasn't about the three
of these leaders.
It was about who they were representing.
It's about whose voices
they were channeling
Understand that.
And is that not what a democracy allows
A democracy
says you don't silence the people.
You do not stifle the people.
You don't
turn off their microphones
when they are speaking.
What life and liberty
that is not
what or the does
and understand
So they turned off the microphones.
They tried to tell them
to sit down and be quiet,
but they understood that the voices
must be heard. Yes,
So think about this.
In order
to make sure the voices were represented
in that place where elected leaders
are supposed to lead in a democracy.
These leaders have to get a bullhorn
set to get
a bullhorn to be heard
Well, you know what?
That happens in a democracy, too.
If the students demand,
if the moms demand,
if the people's demand
is not being heard
by those who should listen
and care.
Right.
And contemplate and reflect
and think about,
maybe I should give this a moment
to listen
give it a fair chance
to be heard.
If I feel like I'm so right,
shouldn't
I have the courage to debate it?
Make your case.
You don't turn off the microphones
right
And then
they do that.
And then guess what?
Because you know what?
Can't have those voices in that room.
Challenging notions
about who should say
what and when and where.
Oh, let's expel them.
Can you imagine?
Let's get rid of them entirely.
Let's remove them.
Not only for that moment.
But remove
these people who have been elected
to represent the people
and let us decide
who should represent the people
What is that?
That is not a democracy.
You can't walk around with your lapel pin
and you're not representing the values
that we hold dear as Americans.
You can't walk around and talk
about protocol.
Protocol and procedures were devised
to require
and allow and encourage
debate and discussion.
And, yes, dissension
Let these so-called leaders
try to shut it down instead
But we're not having that
We're not having that.
And so the thousands of young leaders
who descended on the Capitol and continue
to organize,
continue to require
that the voices be heard
because let's understand,
the underlying issue
is about fighting
for the safety of our children.
Saying that,
you know, our babies are going to school.
It's been years now where they're taught
to read and write and hide in a closet
and be quiet.
If there is
a mass shooter at their school,
where our children
who have
God's capacity to learn and lead,
who go to school in fear
if their back is to the back of the door,
that they don't know what might be coming
through the door,
Our children are being traumatized
right now by this fear.
Parents are wondering and asking
and praying
every time
they send their child to school
or take their child to school, that
their baby might come home safe.
Think about the
underlying issue
You know,
some things are up for partizan debate.
Sure.
And they will be
because that is also
a sign of a democracy.
But on the issue of smart gun
safety laws,
background checks of all
background checks,
the policy is really
pretty straightforward.
It's to say
you might want to know
before someone buys a gun,
whether they've been found
by a court to be a danger to themselves
or others.
You just might want to know
you might want to know
if someone has shown themselves
to be violent
before they can go and buy a gun.
You just might want to know
it's reasonable.
The mayor talked about red flag laws
when we know
and when a community or a family knows.
Shouldn't we listen?
All right.
Shouldn't we listen to assault
weapons or
these are weapons of war, right?
These are weapons that were designed
to kill a lot of people.
Quickly,
no place on the streets
of the civil society
Part of the underlying point
is let's not fall
for the false choice.
We suggest you're either in favor
of the Second Amendment
or you want reasonable gun safety.
Laws.
We can and should do both.
Don't fall
for the false choice
So the underlying issue
is one
that we are witnessing over
and over again.
This community
experienced it firsthand.
Just 11 days ago,
I have been to Atlanta,
I have been to Buffalo,
I have been to Highland Park
and Monterey Park
just in the last several months.
You know, and
and the
thing is, is
that it's not like we're trying
to figure out
how we should deal with a policy
around smart gun safety laws.
The ideas are there.
The issue which gets back to
these three
is that
we need leaders who have the courage
to act
at statehouses
and in Washington, D.C.,
in the United States Congress,
have the courage to act
instead of the cowardice,
to not allow debate and to not allow
a discussion on the marriage piece
of what is at stake
courage.
All right.
You can't call yourself a leader
if you don't have the courage to know
what is right
and act on it,
regardless of the popularity
of the moment.
So I'm going to close with this point
I do believe
that every generation has its calling
and
that there are moments in time
that find you
and require
and depend on your leadership.
And so in particular,
to all the young leaders here,
this issue
is going to require your leadership.
It is
I spent time
as the United States
Senate senator
in the United States Congress.
Before that, I was an attorney general
leading the second
largest department of Justice
in the United States.
I'm now vice president of United States.
And I'm telling you
and I'm sharing that with you.
I'm sharing that with you.
The young leaders here
to tell you, we need you.
We need you
every moment every movement
in my perspective
that has been about progress
in our country
was led
by the
young leaders
like John Lewis and Diane Nash.
And you
in
every one of our
And so we are going to be
depending on you
in solidarity with the work
we will all do.
In our respective positions
to lead.
You speak with such clarity
and you speak
by telling the truth
through a lived experience.
Your voices
are part of the conscience
of our country.
When we need in these moments
in time,
people who have something in them
that is about empathy,
about care
about a sense of responsibility
for their brother and sister
we need you all
and your leadership in this movement
is going to impact people
that you may never meet.
People who may never know your name,
but because of your leadership,
they will forever be benefited
So I say all that to say
we will not be defeated yet.
We will not be deterred
We will not throw up our hands
when it is time to roll up our sleeves.
We will fight.
We will lead.
We will speak with truth.
We will speak about freedom and justice.
And we will march on.