Larry Elder

"We've Got a State to Save" Rally

Tennis Court at the Home of Colleen and Buck Johns

Newport Beach, CA

August 21, 2021

[DEMOCRACY IN ACTION transcript of video posted by Errol Webber]

Now when I started running I knew that it was going to be vicious. I knew the, the media was going to do whatever they could to stop me because I'm taking on some powerful interests. I'm taking on the teachers union because I support choice in public education. The money should follow the child rather than the other way around. Do you know that 75% of black boys here in California cannot read at state levels of proficiency, and those levels are not high. Seventy-five percent. Half of third graders cannot read at state levels of proficiency, and those levels are not high.

I went to Crenshaw High School, that was the high school that you saw in the movie "Boys in the Hood." Two-percent of kids in Crenshaw High School are math proficient. Now who sends their kids to a school where only 2% of the kids are math proficient if they have an option out? I want to give them an option out. I want the parents to be able to put their kid at a private school, a charter school, a religious school.  [inaud.] government school

The teachers union adamantly opposed to that. Why? Because the teachers are not automatic union members and because they don't get those automatic dues. Now, the majority of black and brown parents living in the inner city support choice in school. Teachers union adamantly opposed to it for reasons I just now mentioned. By the way, 80% of the government school educated kids in California, those in government schools, 80% are black and brown. These are the ones that the left claim they care about it.

Now, there was a study years ago that asked where public school teachers sent their own school aged kids. [Audience member: "To rivate school"] Don't get to the end of the movie yet. Ten-percent of American families put their kids in private school. Six-percent of black families do. Forty-four percent of Philadelphia public school teachers with school aged kids have their own kids in private school, four times the national average. Thirty-nine percent of Chicago public school teachers have their own school aged kids in private schools. LAUSD, twice as many public school teachers with school aged kids have their own kids in private school. That's the equivalent of opening up a restaurant, putting up a sign saying, "Come on, come on in, please eat the food, because we sure won't." The people that know the school system the best aren't putting their own kids in it, but they're telling you to do it. It is outrageous. The first step toward leaving poverty is to finish high school, one where presumably you can read, write and compute at grade level.

I knew I'd be taking on some very powerful interests, saying some things that the left does not like people to say. You know that Lyndon Johnson launched the so called War on Poverty in 1965. At the time, 25% of black kids entered the world without a father married to the mother, 25%.

And Obama once said—I love to quote left-wing people—you know who Obama is right? Obama said a kid raised without a father is five times more likely to be poor and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and 20 times more likely to end up in jail.

Today, the percentage of black children brought into the world without a father married to the mother is close to 70%. Twenty-five percent of white kids now enter the world without a father married to the mother. Half of Hispanic kids enter the world without a father married to the mother. Forty-percent of all American children enter the world without a father married to the mother. Now what's happened between 1955 and now?

What we've done, what they've done with the welfare state is they've incentivized women to marry the government, and they've incentivized men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility. By the way, when I said that the media leaves off in the latter part: they've incentivized men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility. So those of you from CNN make sure you put the whole thing there,

The public sector unions, public sector unions here in California. My goodness. You have lifeguards making $100,000. Now we want our first responders, our cops, our firefighters to be paid well, to have good pensions. But when you are working somewhere where you're making way more money than the same job in the private sector, there's something seriously wrong.

And the largest, most powerful union in California is the teachers union. The largest affiliate is United Teachers of Los Angeles, and they were adamantly opposed to returning to in-person education, even after the CDC said with precautions it could be done. But they had a few conditions. They said they'd return if a couple of things were met. One, defund the police. Number two, single payer. What that has to do with K through 12 education is beyond me, but those are the demands they were making. And by the way, they said the movement towards in-person education was being led by white supremacists. How many white kids are in the LAUSD? Maybe 10%; overwhelming majority of them are black and brown and Asian American. But they said the reason for the pressure to open up the schools was because of white supremacy.

In Wisconsin, Scott Walker took on the public teachers union, took on the public sector unions, and he ended up getting, facing a recall election. He got death threats. His house was trashed. The capitol in Wisconsin was trashed. But he got it done. He restricted their bargaining to wages, not to benefits, no more discipline. He got them to drop the automatic dues, and if you were a public worker and you wanted a raise above inflation, you had to go to the voters for approval. And he got them to contribute to their health and their pension plan for the very first time. He took on the very powerful public sector unions, and I intend to do the same thing here [inaud.].

What are these people doing? Crime is up. Violent crime is up—in San Francisco, in Oakland, in Los Angeles, in San Diego. Just the other day Barbara Boxer, the former senator, got mugged; her cell phone was taken. Let's hear it for cell phones, right; I don't want anybody cheering Barbara Boxer getting mugged. And just a few months earlier, Gov. Gavin Newsom was attacked by a mentally ill homeless person, but for his private security, who knows whether or not he might have been hurt. Now how many of us are able to have private security around us? And the people who are hurt because the crime is going up, are the very black and brown people living in the inner city that the left prides itself on caring about.

Defund the police, are you kidding me? $150 million diverted from the LAPD, and they put back some more money after the crime went up. Just days before Barbara Boxer got mugged in Oakland, the Oakland PD complained about money being diverted from his police department.

And then we have this ridiculous narrative that the police are engaging in systemic racism. Again for CNN and MSNB-Hee-Haw, I know I speak quickly; I'll slow down for you. It is a lie. It is a lie. It is a lie.

Study after study after study has shown if anything police are more hesitant, more reluctant to pull the trigger on a black suspect that a white suspect. It's a lie. But you know what it does. It has an effect, it's called the Ferguson Effect, sometimes they call it the George Floyd effect. Most of police work—any cops here? Of course.

Most of the police work, as you well know, is discretionary. You can choose to respond to radio calls; you'll get paid the same, or you can get out of your car when you see something suspicious.
Why do that? If you're white, you're gonna be accused of engaging in systemic racism, if you're black, you're gonna be called an Uncle Tom, if you're Hispanic, you'll be called tio taco. As a result, cops are pulling back, called passive policing as opposed to proactive policing. Crime goes up. When you increase, when you minimize the chances of a bad guy being caught, being incarcerated, being convicted, duh, crime goes up. And the people again most hurt are the black and brown people that the left prides itself on caring about.

We have two left wing DAs in San Francisco and in Los Angeles, both of whom are facing recall elections. They believe in cashless bail. They're not charging criminals to the fullest extent of the law. They've gotta go. And I'm gonna be urging their recall as well.

By the way, I mentioned the LAPD has diverted $150 million. Some of it was put back for youth programs. Now, why do they need the youth programs? Because of the family being destroyed. I just mentioned earlier, the odds of somebody committing a crime, dropping out of school goes up dramatically. So the left doesn't want to deal with the causes; they want to deal with the effects. They're really good at addressing the effects, or trying to. Ignoring the cause. That is the number one problem facing this country, number one problem by far, by far.

We also have a rise in homelessness. This country has never been more affluent. How can we have a rise in homelessness? Because their attitude is housing first. Meaning let's not deal with why people on the streets in the first place. Let's build houses, by the way for more expensively than would be the case if the private sector built them. You haven't dealt with why people are on the streets in the first place, primarily because of mental illness and because of drug abuse. They need to be treated. And the government can't do that. This is for religious organizations, mosques, synagogues—let them adopt the street, adopt the block, treat them. And then I'm going to, when I get up there, declare a public emergency on homelessness so I can suspend some of these rules and regulations that prevent contractors from building developing low cost housing so we have somewhere to put them.

I spoke with Dr. Ben Carson, who used to be the HUD Secretary. He told me at the end of their term they had a program. The largest owner of land here in California, as is the case in most states, is the federal governmen. Large parcels of land, that wouldn't be subject to the environmental rules and regulations that prevent people from building low cost housing, had struck a deal with Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, to deal with homeless people by treating them first, and then getting them somewhere to go. And I asked for a copy of the plan. It is viable. I said Dr. Carson, I've been making a lot of promises about dealing with the homeless, am I going to be able to do it? He said, absolutely. Just follow the plan; there is a plan.

Now, there's a water shortage here in California. I was just up in Kern County, talking to farmers, oil and gas people. And they told me like a light switch after Jerry Brown left, and they said he was far more sensible than you'd think, in comes Gavin Newsom like a light switch, all of a sudden more permits, more regulations, more rules, more expenses. And I said is that because he appointed different people to the various commissions or gave them different marching orders? They said I'm not sure. All I know is like a light switch, it was worse. That means like a light switch, I can make it better, and I intend to.

We have not added to our water infrastructure in 40 years in any appreciable way, when the state was half the size. Are you kidding me? We have all these bonds have been passed for more dams more reservoirs, more underground storage, and still almost half of the water when it rains—and it does rain here—drains right in the Pacific Ocean. How can that be? What are you guys doing? I'm gonna declare a public emergency on water. We kind of need water.

And I was in Israel for my 21st birthday, the eternal city of Jerusalem. Let's hear it for Israel. Guess which desert country is now water self sufficient because of desalinization plants. Israel. And we can't figure this out? We have a little body of water called the—they have a little body water called the Mediterranean; we have a little body of water called the Pacific Ocean. We can't figure this out? This is nuts. And to the extent that there are rules and regulations that have stopped many of these projects all ready to go, when I get up there, they are going to be suspended or waived. We need water here in California.

I just did a joint conversation with Congressman Doug LaMalfa up in Northern California. Our heart goes out for those who are suffering from the Dixie fire. And he talks about how Gavin Newsom claimed that he cleared 90,000 acres of fallen trees which still was a drop in the bucket compared to the 500,000 acres that outgoing governor Jerry Brown recommended that we do. It turns out he only cleared away 13% of what he said, so he misled—I don't like to use word lie—misled by a factor of seven. We've had a war on logging so the logging industry is only a shell of itself. Trees are growing far too thick. And this is just common sense; they need to be cleared. You need better management, better fire suppression management, and you're going to get it when I get there.

Now, crime has gone up, homelessness has gone up, the cost of living through the roof. California now, the average home, price of a home in California has just hit $800,000. That is 150% the national average. And Leo Ohanian, the brilliant econ. professor at UCLA, a frequent guest on my radio show, says the average price of a home in California is 50% more than it would be but for environmental rules and regulations, like CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. As I said I'm going to declare a public emergency on homelessness, so we can build more housing. We're probably a million units short, at least, here in California.

And all sorts of plans are not built because the developers realize what's the point? I remember there was a project in Ventura County called Amundsen Ranch some years ago, 15 years ago. And was supposed to be 9,000 housing units. [Audience member talking] You're one of those who beat it. Well, there were 9,000 units that were supposed to be built. In any case, there are development projects that are stopped because developers are afraid that if they even try, they're going to be held up and held up and held up. In campaigning I've talked to a lot of developers, and one of them told me that he had a project for 2,000, excuse me 20,000 homes. Got sued. Cut it down to 10,000. Got sued. Cut it down to 500. Got sued. Ended up approving 200, as opposed to 20,000. All because of the environmentalists that stop almost anything; they believe you put a spoon in the dirt, it has a negative environmental impact, and they get sued. And that is one of the reasons why housing is so expensive in California.

And for the first time in our state's history—we're talking about 170 years history—people are leaving California. And not just the millionaires and billionaires that Bernie Sanders [is] talking about. It's people making between 50 and 100k, and the number one reason they cite for leaving is they cannot afford a house.

There's a magazine called CEO Magazine, been around for 17 years. And for 17 years it asked CEOs, which is the best state in which to do business, which is the worst? For 17 years, Texas has been determined to be the best based upon taxes, based on spending, based upon the power of the public sector unions, based upon things like unfunded mandates, based upon whether or not there's a business friendly atmosphere. For 17 consecutive years, California has been determined to be the worst state in which to do business, and that is why middle class people are leaving. We're gonna reverse that.

Now one of the many reasons I decided not to run, or initially I was not going to run, is because I knew that no matter what I did, no matter what I said, the media would come after me. So I was ready for this and they have, especially in the last few weeks, when it was obvious we're going to win this thing.

Governor Gavin Newsom has finally started using the L-word, Larry Elder. Has made all sorts of claims about what I would do to California. Oh my goodness, it's going to be Armageddon if I become governor. I'm going to roll back the clock. I'm going to reenact slavery. I mean it's just stunning. The L.A. Times has done I think three hit pieces in the last week, saying that I am the face of white supremacy. I may be a lot of things, but do I look like a white supremacist to you?

And the reason for this is because I've made the bold assertion that racism is no longer a major problem in America. It isn't. Now again for the media, I'm just hoping that you may use some of the sources I'm using to advance my argument because I try to use left wing sources whenever I can.

In 1991, a man named Orlando Patterson, who is a black Harvard sociologist—I never met a sociologist who is conservative, and he's no different; he voted for Obama twice. In 1991 he said, America, despite his problems, despite its flaws, is the least racist majority society in the world, provides more opportunities, more benefits for black people than any other country in the world, including all of those of Africa. Did I speak too quickly?

One of the last times I was on CNN—I used to be on CNN regularly—all of a sudden, that's stopped; I don't know why. One of the last times I was on, I was on the Don Lemon show. And I pointed out that in 1997, what's that 24 years ago, Time Magazine and CNN did a joint project. They asked black teens and white teens about racism. 1997. And they asked him whether or not they thought racism was a major problem in America, and both black teens and white teens said yes. But then something interesting. They ask black teens, whether racism was a major problem, a minor problem, or no problem in your own daily life? Eighty-nine percent of black teens called it a minor problem or no problem in my own daily life. In fact, more black teens than white teens said and I'm quoting, failure to take advantage of available opportunities is a bigger problem than racism. 1997, 24 years ago. That was before Obama got elected, before Obama got reelected.

Speaking of whom, when Obama was running in 2008, and he was beginning to get some traction—he had not yet passed Hillary as a frontrunner, but he was gaining, otherwise "60 Minutes" wouldn't have had him on.  And he was on "60 Minutes" for the first time. Steve Croft was the correspondent. I think Steve Croft's still there, right? [audience response] You're the only one here who watched "60 Minutes" still. And Croft said, Senator, if you don't win, will it be because of racism? And Obama said, "No. If I don't win, it will be because I have failed to articulate a vision that the American people can embrace." I was at home. I said, hallelujah. I'm not going to vote for him—tax, spend, regulate, soft on national security, soft on immigration. No, but at least he's not what I call a victocrat.

Fast forward. What happened to that same guy? "Racism is in America's DNA," he said. The first time Gallup ever asked, "Would you vote for a black president?" was 1958. 38% percent of Americans said yes; now only 3% said they would not. If it's in our DNA how did it change. 

2007. Obama's running for the nomination on the Democratic side against Hillary and John McCain and Mitt Romney are running on the Republican side. Gallup asked what percentage of Americans would never vote for a black president? 5%. 5% said never. What percentage of Americans would never vote for female? 11% said never. What percentage of Americans would never vote for a Mormon? 24% said yes. What percent of Americans would never vote for a person who was as old as John McCain would have been—72—had he won the election? 42%. Obama had a lower threshold than these white politicians. What are we talking about here?

Obama gave a speech at a black church in 2007. He's talking about how much racism there is in America. And he said the Moses generation—referring to the generation of Martin Luther King—has gotten us 90% of the way there. He said my generation, the Joshua generation, has to get us that additional 10%. I thought that was reasonable. You know, there was a FOX opinion poll in 2002: 8% of Americans believe Elvis is still alive, 6% believe you send him a letter he will get it. So maybe there's 2% you can work with. 90% of the way there.

And then he gets in there and what does he say? The Cambridge Police acted stupidly. You remember that? That was his first opportunity to change the debate. Because even people who didn't vote for him were proud of the fact that America could vote for a black person, that MLK's dream of evaluating somebody based on content of character rather than the color of his skin was realized.



And then shortly after he gets elected his good friend, Henry Louis "Skip" Gates from Harvard, is coming back from vacation, and he forgot his door key. He was with a driver and he and the driver broke into his house. A neighbor saw this, and called 9-1-1. Don't you want your neighbors to call 9-1-1 when they see something suspicious? So a cop shows up very politely, sees Skip Gates in his house, doesn't know he belongs to the house, politely asked him to come out show ID. And Skip Gates says, "I'll come out if your mama tells me to come out."  Really? Harvard professor. And what did Obama say? I'll tell you what Obama should have said. He should have said, "I talked to my friend Henry Gates about last night. I said Skip, what are you doing? The cop's doing his job."

A lot of the problems we're having in our society with cops is because a lot of people aren't complying. My father told me if I got pulled over by the police, make sure your left hand is at 10 o'clock, make sure your right hand is at two o'clock, say "yes sir," say "no sir," make sure your paperwork is in order, and if you you've been mistreated, get a badge number and deal with it while we're alive.

"Skip, what are you doing? I talked to my friend, Skip Gates last night, and I said Skip, you're a role model for crying out loud, you're a Harvard professor. And instead of cooperating you copped an attitude." I told Skip, "This is what makes things worse." What he should have said. What did he say? "The Cambridge Police acted stupidly." No they did not. And you have to push this phony narrative of systemic racism. "If I had a son he'd look like Trayvon." I'm not even sure what that means. What does that even mean?

He invited Al Sharpton in over 70 times, Al Sharpton. Is MSNBC here? Al Sharpton has a TV show on your network. This is a man who became famous by falsely accusing a white man of raping Tawana Brawley, has never apologized for it. A grand jury found the whole thing fraudulent, and Al Sharpton demanded that if the man he accused of raping believed that he was wrong, sue me, sue me. He was sued. He was found unanimously liable by a multi-ethnic jury. Didn't pay the money for two years; transfered all his assets into his wife's name. The only reason he paid it is because he ran for president, thinking it would be a burden, so his rich buddies passed the hat and paid it off.

This man is a Democrat kingmaker. Google "Al Sharpton and Democratic kingmaker." All the candidates went to New York and kissed his ring. Biden, Kamala Harris, Beto O'Rourke, they all went there to kiss his ring. This is the man who said about the 1991 Crown Heights riots—one Jewish leader in New York called it the most serious pogrom in the history of this country. He's right in there, stirring it up. "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house. We'll get it on."

In the streets of Ferguson before one word of testimony was taken—as you know the cop was exonerated. No justice, no peace. The whole thing was fraudulent .Michael Brown did not have his hands up, did not say don't shoot, but Al Sharpton right there stirring the pot.

You know there is a surveillance tape of Al Sharpton agreeing to do a crack cocaine deal with an undercover FBI agent. Google it; it's there. $5 million light in taxes at one point. Google t. And I am the black face of white supremacy. Really? What is this guy? He's one of the biggest, biggest in this country, has a show on MSNB-Hee-Haw, and he is a Democratic kingmaker. Write that down. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it.

We saw it, we saw it. And I'm the black face away supremacy, because I dare suggest that racism is no longer a major problem in America. Tis guy is a Democratic kingmaker. Connect the dots, Who's the problem. Honestly.

And I was accused of all sorts of things, I'm Larry the misogynist. Sigh. I wrote an article 21 years ago, in which I was quoting a study from the Annenberg School of Journalism, which is connected to the University of Pennsylvania where Joe Biden's granddaughter attends school. And the article was entitled "The SHE Issues." SHE stands for Social Security, health care and education. And in the article, I pointed out, according to this study, women cared more about Social Security, health care and education than did men; men cared more about taxes, the economy and foreign policy. They asked 25 questions of men and women. Men knew more than women did in 15 of the questions, they knew the same in nine, and women knew more in one. I quoted the study, and I quoted a professor who's still there, a left-wing professor, who said the reason that women knew less than men knew about these questions is they get their primary source of news from local news. And she said, and I'm quoting, local news, makes you dumber, end of quote. I didn't say it ; she did. Again, I didn't say it; she did. And by the way I watch a lot of local news; imagine how smart I'd be if I didn't. Just saying. So I'm a misogynist because I wrote that article 21 years ago? Out of all the articles I've written—I've written over 1,200—that's the best you can do?

I've also written that there are more men with more women in college than men. I've also pointed out that now there are equal numbers of men and women getting admitted into medical school and law school. That was not mentioned. And I pointed out that young women in L.A., Chicago, New York now make more money than young men. That was not written though. They ignore those. Out of all the columns I've written, that's all you [inaud.] to come up with.

I also had an allegation that I waved a gun at somebody. I've never waved a firearm, loaded or unloaded, at anybody. Beyond that, the other allegations are too ridiculous to respond to. This is the best you guys can do? They're scared. They are scared.

Just a quick note about my mother and father. My father came to California in 1945. My father worked two full-time jobs as a janitor cleaning toilets, at Nabisco brand bread and another bread company called Barbara Ann bread. On that income, he had a stay-at-home wife, my mother, who was able to stay at home until the youngest of us was in middle school. My father bought a house in South Central still in our family, good news for us, that is now worth $600,000. Someone couldn't work three or four jobs with an eighth grade dropout education, and go from poverty to middle class like that now because the price of housing is so high.

My father left home when he was 13 years old, was kicked out of the house by his mother, who had a series of men each one more irresponsible than the other one. My last name, Elder, is not the name of his biological father. He never met his biological father. Elder was some man who was in his life the longest who was abusive to his mother, abusive to him when he tried to stop the abuse. My father came home one day at the age of 13 and started quarreling with his mom's then boyfriend. The mother sided with the boyfriend, threw my father out of the house, never to return. You're talking about a black boy, Athens, Georgia, Jim Crow South, at the beginning of the Great Depression. I defy very many of you to find somebody that had hand up like that. My father said he went down the road, he did whatever he could—picked up trash, became a shoeshine boy, became a hotel valet, ultimately got a job as a Pullman porter on the trains. Came out to California one day and it was sunny, people seemed to be more friendly. And my father said he was amazed he could walk in the front door of a restaurant and get served. My father always had some crackers with him and tin cans of tuna because you never knew if you're going to be able to get a meal in the South. So we made a mental note, maybe someday I'll relocate to California.

Pearl Harbor. My dad joins the Marines, Any Marines here? And I asked my dad why he joined the Marines. He said Larry, two reasons. One, they go where the action is. Number two, I love those uniforms. My dad was stationed in the island of Guam. He was a staff sergeant in charge of cooking for the colored soldiers.

War is over. He goes back to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he met and married my mom [inaud.]. Let's hear it for Tennessee. And he was told, when he tried to get a job as a short order cook, "We don't hire niggers." Went to the unemployment office. They said, you went to the wrong door. My dad went out in the hall, saw colored only, went to that door to the very same lady who sent him out. She just want him to know what the rules were. My dad came home to my mom and said this is BS I'm going to California where I was before the war, get me a job as a cook, and I'll send for you.

Walks out to L.A. for a day and a half. He's told, "I'm sorry you don't have any references; where are your references? I need references." My dad said I need references to make ham and eggs? This time, only one door at the unemployment office. Lady said "I don't have anything." "What time do you open?" She says nine. What time do you close? She says five. My dad sat in that chair for a day, day and a half. Came back up. She said "I have something for you ,don't know if you gotta want it." My dad said, "Of course, I'm going to want it. What is it? I'm starting a family." She says a job cleaning toilets. As I mentioned worked 10 years cleaning toilets at Nabisco, 10 years cleaning toilets at Barbara Ann Bread, went to night school two or three nights a week to get his GED, and cooked for a family on the weekend for additional money. The man never slept. That's why he was so grouchy all the time.

And my dad said to me, Larry. just follow the advice I've always given you and your brothers. Hard work wins. You get out of life what you put into it. You cannot control the outcome but you are 100% in control of the effort. Before you complain about what somebody did to you or said to you, go to the nearest mirror, look at and say yourself. "What could I have done to change the outcome." And finally he said no matter how good you are, how bad you are, bad things will happen. How you deal with those bad things will tell your mother and me if we raised a man.

I have been asked over and over and over again, "Why is it you don't believe that America is systemically racist?" And whenever I ask for an example, no one can really come up with— They talk about inequality. We talked about the biggest inequality, and that's the percentage of kids who are brought into the world without a father married to the mother. But I said this, so let's just do this. Get your magic wand out. wave it over America, remove every smidgen of racism from the hearts of white America. Now everybody white thinks like Mother Teresa.

Do we still have a situation where 70% of black children enter the world without a father married to the mother?

Do we still have a situation where 50% of the homicide victims in America are black, almost all the perpetrators are black?

Do we still have a situation where the number one cause of preventable death for young white men is accidents, by car accidents?

Do we still have the phenomenon where the number one cause of preventable deaths for young black men is homicide, almost always in the hands of another young black man?

Do we still have the phenomenon where a young black man is eight times more likely to be murdered compared to a young white man?

If the answer to this series of questions is yes, I submit to you systemic racism is not the problem, and critical race theory and reparations are not the answer.

The way Gavin Newsom shut down this while ignoring science, while having his own children enjoy in-person private education, sitting up there at the French Laundry restaurant with the very people that drafted the mandates—they were not wearing masks, not engaging in social distancing. One of the very first things I'm going to do assuming the vaccine mandates and mask mandates are still in force—I don't drink coffee, but I'm going to repeal them before my first cup of tea.

There are going to be some major changes up there, and that is why they are so afraid, and that is why they pulled out the race card, and the gender card, and whatever cards. We'll find out what they do, what they say about me tomorrow.

I want to leave you with a couple stories about my mom. My mom would not be happy if I left without a few stories about her. My mother always told my brothers and me, "No one can make you feel inferior without your permission."

My mother was tough. I used to tell my mom if she'd ever gone into politics she'd have been governor. If she'd gone into crime she'd have been Jack the Ripper.

One day, I read a poem in class. It was in African-American studies. By the way, those of you who listen to me on the radio had never heard me use the term African-American unless I'm quoting somebody else. I'm an American who's black. I'm an American who is black. All of us could have a hyphen if we wanted to. We're Americans, I am an American who is black.  But the course was called African-American literature so I'm just repeating what the course was called. We read a poem by poet named Countee Cullen goes like this,

While riding through a Baltimore so small and filled with glee,
I saw a young Baltimorean keep a'looking straight at me,
Now I was young and very small and he was no whit bigger,
So I smiled, but he poked out his tongue and called me nigger,
I saw the whole of Baltimore from May until September.
Of all the things that happened there, that's all that I remember.

Well I was upset. The teacher was upset. The class was upset. She talked about how this kid was always going to feel like a second class citizen. always going to have a permanent scar on his pscyhe, never really feel part of the American system.

As I was walking home, I knew my mother was going to have a different reaction to it, but I wasn't sure what it was gonna be. So I walked into the kitchen. She was stirring a big pot of greens and frying my favorite chicken wings. I said, Mom, we read a poem in class; I want to get your reaction to it. She said how's it go? It goes go like this; I read it to her.

While riding through a Baltimore so small and filled with glee,
I saw a young Baltimorean keep a'looking straight at me,
Now I was young and very small and he was no whit bigger,
So I smiled, but he poked out his tongue and called me nigger,
I saw the whole of Baltimore from May until September.
Of all the things that happened there, that's all that I remember.

My mom took the spoon out of the pot, hit it on the side, and said, "Larry, what a darn shame he let something like that spoil his vacation. How many wings do you want?"

No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.

Finally, let me just leave you with this. I've been speaking a long time, longer than I was told. [inaud.] My girlfriend Nina and I were in Santa Barbara. If anybody saw "Black Panther," the movie. Okay, demographically it's not exactly Wakanda. So I'm on the 101, getting ready to get on the 101, and I said, let's pull over, get some gas first, because we were kind of low. So we pull over to this gas station, and as I'm getting out of the car, I hear a deep male voice go, "Hey, want a banana?" I know. And I'm trying to assess the situation, not sure what I'm going to do, depending how big the guy was, whether he was armed, I don't know. I look up, and it's a white guy standing next to SUV, the trunk is open, and there's this big bag of bananas in it. And he's talking to a white homeless guy who's picking through a garbage can right next to his car. So I said to the driver, "Hey, I thought you were talking to me. I was gonna accuse you of systemic racism." He starts laughing. I said, "I think I'm still gonna accuse you of systemic racism, How come the only guy you offered a banana to is that white guy over there?" So the homeless guy is laughing. And I said, "I don't even like bananas." The homeless guy is doubling over. "You're a funny guy; you're a funny guy." I said "I'm here all week, [inaud.] minimum, throw something in the tip jar." I get in the car and I say, "Nina, did I just ask a homeless man to give me a tip? I'm going to burn in hell."

Thank you so much for having me.  [inaud.]  We have a state to save. [inaud.] in the tip jar.  ElectElder.com  ElectElder.com. May God bless you and may God continue to bless the United States of America. Thank you so much for coming out. Thank you so much.

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