‘We Still Live In A Nation That Has A Profound Injustice’: Cory Booker Lays Out Inequality In America

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During a press briefing on Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) discussed the reintroduction of the Equality Act.

Transcript

00:00So I'm so glad that I'm going before him, because you never know how long he's going to talk.

00:06But thank you, Cory Booker, for your leadership, and I'm pleased to yield to you.

00:14Thank you, Nancy Pelosi. Give another round of applause for one of the most incredible leaders

00:18I have ever had the privilege of serving next to. We are here again,

00:23reintroducing a bill. I'm proud to be an original co-sponsor, but there are trailblazers

00:31in Congress behind me. Champions that have defied the sad truth of our America, that we still live

00:38in a nation in the majority of states, that you can post your wedding pictures online, but still be

00:45denied. Still be denied the ability to stay at a hotel in your community, or be fired from your

00:53job without legal recourse. We still live in a nation that has a profound injustice.

01:01The Equality Act is on the right side of history, and right now we stand in the cold shadow of

01:09injustice. And so here we are again introducing this bill, but it is not a normal time

01:16that we introduce this bill. We introduce it in the backdrop of a president

01:20that in his very campaign singled out in opportunistic bigotry,

01:30the trans community. We stand here in the backdrop of a time that LGBTQ Americans are being targeted and

01:38singled out for heaped upon more injustice. This is not a normal time in which we are standing up and yet

01:47again reintroducing a bill with moral urgency. I've been thinking a lot about my own rights

01:57recently. Because you cannot attack the fundamental rights of anyone without threatening the rights of

02:07everyone. I've been thinking about my own rights to walk down the street and not be disappeared by un

02:17uniformed individuals and swept away. I've been thinking about my due process. I've been thinking

02:22about my free speech rights. Because when free speech is attacked anywhere in this nation, it is a threat

02:29to free speech everywhere. I've been thinking about my liberty, my ability to organize. The very rights

02:38that have been given to us in the constitution are still not the rights that are enjoyed by everyone in

02:43our country and certainly not the rights of the LGBT community. And so today I want you to know we

02:51reintroduced this bill with attitude. We reintroduced this bill with swagger. We introduced this bill with

02:59confidence because there are a lot of people who are hearing our voice right now that don't understand

03:05that they are implicated. There's no bystanders in history. When injustice is in our midst and you say

03:12nothing and you do nothing, you are part of the perpetuation of that injustice. We call upon all Americans,

03:21not just LGBTQ Americans. We call upon all Americans, not just to be allies. Don't be allied only. Be implicated.

03:33Don't just be allied only. Remember our history, the horrors of our history. During the Middle Passage,

03:41when one African was chained and thrown overboard, all Africans were on that boat that were chained

03:49together were pulled under. Remember our history and the courage of men and women in the trench warfare

03:56in Europe, who saw one person go down and risk their lives to run into danger to carry that person

04:03off. Understanding that we stand together or we fall together. This is one of those voices. This is one of

04:11those moments that we need your voice. So I say in conclusion very simply this.

04:16There are Americans today that are worried, that are afraid, that need to hear from you. There are

04:26Americans today that are afraid to go to their grade school because they're still being bullied

04:30for who they are and how they love. There are people today that feel so tired and so worried that this

04:38nation will not stand for what it says we should stand for. And so I say to those people that we will

04:47speak up, we will stand up, that Americans will stand up. I say to those people, remember what the

04:53good book says, that weeping will endure through the night, but joy cometh in the morning. I remind

04:59those Americans that even the truth when crushed to the ground after lie, after lie, after lie, that the

05:06truth will still rise again, that this is still one nation under God, that we still swear an oath of

05:13liberty and justice for all, and that we will not stop until freedom rings from every coast in this country,

05:22that freedom rings for every person and every soul, that freedom rings for every American, no matter who you

05:28are, race, color, or creed, LGBTQ American, or straight ally, that we declare that the arc of the moral

05:36universe is long, but it doesn't bend automatically. We declare today and every day, until justice is

05:43established in this land, until the Equality Act passes, we declare that we, the people, will grab hold

05:50of that arc and pull and bend it until we live up to our promise in a country and truly are free at

05:58last, free at last. Thank you very much.

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