unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> the speaker of the virginia house of delegates, don scott, talked about the importance of leadership, diversity and why voting matters during a keynote address to the national■ panhellenic council. afternoon.s always the pleasure of any leader of an organization to introduce one of their storied an lofty members. and i am not without that pleasure today. the only thing that trumps know.

which adds a little bit more pep in my step. you notice iof pepped up here. but today i have the distinct pleasure of introducing to some, re-introducing to others, an eminent legal scholar,man and legislator. this gentleman, is certainly a storily cla with his and his boots always cost upwards of many thousands of dollars, i can say that he is certainly a true testament to the old maxim that the

-- the an thinks sis, i should say, the old maxim that the clothes make the man. in this case, appropriately fit the man. and i have the distinct pleasure of introducingo you the speaker of the house of the general assembly of representative delegate don scott. no, i'm not done. [laughter] the brother he is need to know who you are -- brotherseed to know whoouso you're going to hat through this a little bit today. as i talk a little bit about you. legislature, don scott has been a champion for reproductive rightslifting worky ensuring a strong, equitable economy is the phraourality for ity for --

plurality for virginia. he also includes strengthening virginia's public schools, care, and affordability. and criminal justice reform. in 2019 speaker scott was elected to represent the people of portsmouth as a member of the rg delegates. and in 2022, he was elected by the members of his caucus to serve asouse democratic leader. now, i'm a native virginian. virgin was one of the very first colonies established, as you know, so in 1620, that's where -- wel where the indentured slaves from africa landed in jamestown. so let me, for those -- older bo

may have forgot, let me just say at scott is elected by his peers as the house democrat leader, that's a big deal. but what i'm very proud to say also, in 2024 he became the first black speaker of the house of delegates in virginia's history. since 1619. [applause] he's committed to■5er democratid winning back the majority for the house of delegates. now, let me tell y virginiaan by the taxes that he pays and where he resides but he's a texan at heart. he was born and raised in let mx children raised by a single mother. this brother, even with few

resources, performed well in schools and eventually enrolled aerodynamickic magnet program at -- aerodynamickic magnet -- aerodynac program and he went to texas a&m university where he was a student leader, was one of the prime charter■ members of the chapter, he was number three, how many were on your lines? 11 on the line. three. i won't talk about that height thing, i won't even go there. because he's a big man in stature. that's one of speaker scott. he even served our nation as a andidate school in rhode island and proudly served as an officer in the united states navy. he went on to earn his law

degree from louisiana state university. was he an officer and acer in the navy, and now an attorney, he had a immediate oric rise in a corporate career with■qhe k.r.a. corporation where he rose quickly to become one of the top three officers in the company. then he actually opened his own law firm and before becoming partner, brother scott now serves his clients as a personal injur attorney and serves the community as an active member of several boards and commissions. brotr

dr. melanda coleson scott who practices dentistry in the norfolk and they are the proud parents of a 14-year-old daughter. brother scott iob member of the bar in virginia, in the portsmouth bar association as well. and criminal defense attorneys and the virginia trial lawyers association. and he's served in many other hg membership in the ewe wreaka club, as well -- eureka club, as well as a lifetime membership in the naacp and v.f.w. post 993 and the american leaningen post 190 -- legion post 190. he's currently an active member, that means he's financial, of the epsilon chapter in portsmouth, virgini distinct plo

introduce to you an alpha phi alpha man, a virginian and my friend, the speaker of the house of delegates of the virginia general assembly, please welcome attorney don scott. [applause]0>h mr. scott: you know when everybody leaves, it's about to get bad. [laughter] all eyes on me. my name's not tupac. good afternoon, brothers. it here. i am overwhelmed for the honor of being here today with the

country and brothers from all of the members of the divine nine.7 i never take the opportunity to speak before anybody, but especially my brother, i never take it lightly. because i know that we're living in some dangerous times right now. there are those who may have forgotten where we've come from. i'm 59 years old, i know i look good for my age. [laughter] but i'm 59 years old. i was born m 1965. march 5 to be exact. anybody know what happened on march 7, 1965? selma, alabama. crossing the edmund pettus bridge. so i know we sometimes little high ha a lotten, we're

in this nice hotel, but we forget, we've only been living years.o-called democracy for 59 shortly thereafter was when the voting rights act was signed, in august of 1965. so it's appropriate now that we convene today to talk about the importance of voting and specifically black men voting. because if you're paying slippage around what it really means to be american right now. not just to be a black american, but what democracy means. a fight now, where we're going to continue to be a democracy -- whether we're going to continue to be a democracy. , volunteered to get out of an east texas town called jasper, te■zs. anything to get out of there. he lied about his age so he could go serve, so he could prove to folks that he was a man. that he could prove to folks that he was worthy to be american. i'm the son of a korean war

sr*efplt my father -- veteran. my father. who jasper and went to prairie a&m university. so i needed folks to unta say io no one on my ownership of this land. erica. [applause] our ancestors who came here in bondage, not far from where i live right they came. the first slaves that came into virginia. they came right down the street from where i live and not far from where i serve now. i carry that energy with me as i walk into these rooms.■ years ago i was a single mom,

you always -- so some of y'all that grew up with a father, it's cool. i don■f't begrunganything, but when you don't grow up with a father, you have to develop other skill setbe your mother. and mothers can be very protective. my mother used to always say, keep your head down, don't say nothin d a good job, don't mess it up. but i kept wanting to do more. m university, a p.w.i.,out figurig out, there aren't many black students here. it's a large school in texas. there were about 500 black students on campus. soou culture and i think a lot of us now are fighting to maintain our own identity and cultural identity. and a graduate from a&m went to the navy, as i said, got out,

went to l.s.u. law school. in my third yea what you don't hear in my pretty bio, is i caught a federal drug conspiracy, crack cocaine conspira. in my final semester of law school. i'm in the law library studying and the feds come in and rush the library. re me out -- perp walk me out of the library. i had to fight to get bond. pass. for my finals.■ and a couple months after that i was being sentenced to a 10-year sentence. most folks wouldavga up. the judge told me i would never be a lawyer. i settled three cases last year forillion so don't feel sorry for me, y'all. [applause] i'm rich. [laughter] don't feel sorry for me. but i want you to understand, i was blessed, i had this

i had this praying grandmother. and when i went away, my grandmother would tell me, i'm going to see you while i was away, as i said, i wasn't there with my fathe thisy father became -- he became one of my best friends. so sometimes, you know, the bible says, i'll make your endings greater than your beginnings. and so my father would come and see me■■ lung cancer. some of y'all don't have it no more, but brothers had a big afro. my father had a big ole fro. when he came to see me e a withering man -- he was a wither of heuf self. and he had never given me a whole lot at that time but he had served in the military and

he left his policy to me, one of his four kids, he left his life insurance policy to me. it wasn't a lot. maybe $30,000. so i'm in jail, that became the basis for where i am today. when i came out, i bought my first house with that money. i was able to take some of that moy, to my brothers, my sisters. the mentality that i have is always family first. and so i say all of that to sayy right now? we have to make some tough decisions and i think right now, you know, we've always talked about this american dream. but i'm telling y'all, we're living it right now and we have a duty, because all of us in this room, w wouldn't be here if we were not comfortable in some way. and we've been blessed with so much. and we have a duty to speak to th these. and if you've gone through anything, it makes you have

empathy for others. it makes you want to work to helpso my mentality is until everybody's free, nobody's freen i ran for office, you know they tried to dog me out. they likedy past and all of that. so in 2019 when i ran, let me back up. told me i wasn't going to take the bar. told me i'd never take the bar. i got out of law school in 1994, nevert out of jail in 2002. i took the bar for the first time in 2014 in virginia. i passed it on the firstry [applause] not because i'm smart. but i'm going to outwork everybody. see, and that's what being black and being the first ain't no good if you're not excellent.

don't show up black and don't be excellent. so my mentality is, when i did that and i passed the bar and i started■ practicing, and i madea name for myself in my community, and there were a lot of people who told me, you're doingel mam. boy, you need to sit down. [laughter] you're making good money. these people are going to mess they're going to put all your business in the street. you know that's how your mama talk to you, right? [laughter] no, but, that same woman who was in that courtroom judge made tht pronouncement of that sentence, when she thought i was only going to get a slap on the wrist because i'd never been in trouble before,ears and she yeln pain, i heard that same woman yell announced don scott was elected

to the house. [applause]when i saw her walking to the gallery, i was good that day. i was composed all day. but when i walked through that gallery, everybody standing and clapping, and■u■■ mther sit when and gave her a hug and i say, look at you now, helen scott. we have an obligation and a duty to those who have come before us, who made sacrifices. i mean, i think we get -- we're so, we forget the trauma that's been put in our communities. that we carry in our blood. i think we get so comfortable sometimes forget the shame, embarrassment, humiliation and physical torture that folks had to endure just so we could be here right now. i never forget it. and when i walk into those rooms, into that general assembly, i seehose ghosts. i see those people who had to

empty people's spitoons i see people in that same general assembly, the oldest, continuous, democratic elected body in the western hemisphere, used to take care of those people, who did not treat them as human. who would talk about their rights as though they were not there. i ■■

vote, and i believe in democracy. you got another guy whoution for a couple of days. and everybody's making a big deal about age. you got an 81-year-o tt es in democracy and you've got a 77-year-old that doesn't and we ain't talking about no big differences here. the man's 77. make it make sense for me. what i'm hopeful that as this thing continues to grow, that you will take on this and shoaledder this responsibility -- shoulder this responbi come out of prison ando what i did. they don't believe that they even have an opportunity to achieve the american dream.ey st jail on them. and every time somebody looks at them, that's all they want to m. my bank account's fat. with he can talk about it all day. you all want to reminisce, let's

reminisce. but at the end of the day, i need y'all to understand where i am today. we're talking about how we move■ forward. so at the end of the day we have an opportunity, i'll continue to believe, to tell a different story. especially us as black men, and reach out to our folks to get them to process. because, you know, y'all need to see my office that i'm in right now. the speaker's office in a genera it's nuts. it's huge. i got two huge conference rooms. huge office. they did not build that thing with my black behind in mind.■p? [laughter] if they had known i was coming, they'd have stopped construction in june. they just opened. [laughter] so i always say, god has an amazing sense of humor. the same thing y'all threw away,

he'll clean it up, pick it up and put it out front. i got elected in 2019, i took my oath in 2020. four years later i'm getting sworn in as the speaker of the house. that's nothing but god. and i know that so i know i have a responsibility. [applause] when i came in to virginia, to the house, the house -- the democrats had not been in the majority in 20 years. i got elected in 2021. i mean, 2020. we had not been in the house, in the majority, in 20 years. we immediately lost the next election. it was so bad i got elected minority leader. get the black ex-felon to fix this thing. that's how bad it was. [laughter] and so at the end of the one thing that i understand that beats everything is hard work. and discipline.

and one of the things that folks disciplined. and they told me i couldn't raise money. you're black, we never had a person in this position berebleo raise the money i broke the fundraising records. because i'm good at asking folks for money. broke the fdraisi records. between my election this time in november to january when i was sworn in, i raised $1 million. we can do it, y'all. don't let anybody tell you you can't. it's what you do, what you see when you look in the mirror.■1 [applause] i'm going to close right now but i just want to say. this one of the proudest days i had was, after i was electeddedi hadn't talked that much. the former governor of virginia called me and we went and had breakfast.

in my mind itin that tomato garn with the god father and i'm michael corlione and he tells me, -- no, i'm joking. he playbook that he had accumulated, the wisdom. and how to carry yourself in this position that you're in now. that. we got an obligation, y'all, to get these young brothers involved, get them engaged and promote them. my staff is the most diverse staff in the general assembly. my speaker staff, most diverse staff. i'm intentionally diverse. i don't never want to beonly bl. some folks like that. they got one of us in here. no. i want to bring others want to . i want somebody to take this spot from me, i want to keep it warm for a young brother. so i'm hoping that as y'all

continue tag through y'all continue to go through this, i know it's hard. we got many roads. we got to be father, brother, provider, go out there and get it. we got a lot of pressure on us. so, you know, people are always talking about why the sororities are so mucre brothers, they have different responsibilities. different pressures. i ain't going to say that. but what i'm trying to get y'all to weave this all in. the people that founded this un■ty never pectd"ed us to be where we are now. >> right, right. mr. scott: they had this greatgn are created equal. they didn't see us as men but they said those words. all men are created equal, certain inalienable rights. the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of■k

we believed them. our people heard those words, saw the hypocrites saying it, but we said, we're going to make this come to fruition. and that is the fight that we continue to fight and that is your obligation that you must continue to fight with right now. we and more. it is time for us to continue to do this fight, make sure that we amplify and align ourselves with the people who share our values. not with the entertainment foolishness. not machismo foolishness. but with the people that actually care about the same things that we care about. i'm going to close with this. pe are stupid sometimes. they always vote democrat. ■wh do they vote democrat? we're not asking for them to do something for us. we're voting against the people who might do something to us. we just got common sense.

[applause] we just got common sense. we know -- they're not -- they think we're we vote for the people that's not overtly racist. this ain't hard to figure out. it's not always about policy. it's how you are treated or you're looked at in the eyes as equal or not. and if you're not, can youmand ? and i think part of that is we have to feel comfortable going into those rooms, making demands. and getting to the table. because you not at the table, you're on the menu. and so we have an obligation to be at that table, to continue to fight and here's an opp this is the last thing i'm going to say. i talk about money a lot. because it's reality. and we got to understand what people care about. you can't get a message out without money. you can't educate a child without money. you can't do anything. sometimes we get so idealistic that we forget it takes money to

ma work. and so while we're in these rooms and these folks are asking us to make contributions, you got to make a s make some sacrifices to put the money into the till so that we can continue to grow and produce leaders -- young leaders for tomorrow and grow politicians like me, people who will stand up and say, all i ran on was criminal justice reform when i came in. and protecting voting rights ec. you got to have the money. so i'm hopeful these conversations and we grow this thing, this room needs to be packed next year. i'm going to do part because i'm going to bring 20, 30 people in a bus next year. i got the budget for it. we're bringing some people up here next year at least. everybody in this room needs to oom next year. this room is too small for us next year. can we agree on that? [applause]

i'm going to close with this, y'all. the first obligation of the first black speaker is to sure there's a second black speaker and a third black speaker and a fourth black speaker and a fifth black speaker. [applause] so i'm hoping that y'all will continue to help me with this. , appreciate it. [applause] >> the house gaveled out now after working on infrastructure and naming of a federal building in detroit after a civil rights activist rosa parks. later this week the house will consider a bill that would for

tiktok chinese parent company to diversities ownership or face a with an. live coverage when t house returns here on c-span. >> president biden released his fiscal year budget for 2025 that raises taxes for the wealthy according to the white house. it would expand the child tax credit and provide additional sy agency and other agencies. house speaker mike johnson released a statement about the potential impact of the president's proposed budget and reads ins4■é part, the price taf president biden's proposed budget is another glaring reminder of this administration's insatiable appetite for spending and the democrats' disguard forcal on tuesday robert hur wil mishaf

documents. watch the judiciary committee hearing live on c-span 3. c-span d online at c-span.org. >> housing and urban development secraryx marsha fudge will leave her role according to the white house march 22. in a statement she announced h retirement and thanked president biden for opptuty to serve. president biden released a statement reading in pt, on day one she got to work rebuilding the department of housing and urban development and ov t past three years has been strong voice for expanding efforts in generational wealth through homeownehiand lowering cost and promoting fairness for america's renters. secretary fudge was the second black woman to lead h.u.d. n the congress is in session we look at the week ahead. to do that this week we're joined by jack, on

government funding f,