{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-delivers-commencement-address-at-morgan-state-university", "Warren Delivers Commencement Address at Morgan State University", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 14, 2018\n\t\t\t Warren Delivers Commencement Address at Morgan State University \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t \"Two sets of rules: one for the wealthy and the well-connected. And one for everybody else. Two sets of rules: one for white families. And one for everybody else. That's how a rigged system works. And that's what we need to change.\"\r\n\r\n\"Everyone will tell you to work hard...But I'm here with a bolder message:  It's time to change the rules...Rules matter. And you have the power to make this country a more perfect union -- make it the nation you want it to be.\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t Video (YouTube) Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren\r\n(D-Mass.) today delivered the keynote address at Morgan State University's\r\n(MSU) December Commencement Exercises. In her remarks to nearly 500\r\nstudents graduating from the largest of Maryland's Historically Black Colleges\r\nand Universities (HBCU), Senator Warren discussed the importance of changing\r\nthe rules so that everyone gets a fair shot at building a future. The full text of her remarks is available below. Senator Elizabeth Warren: Morgan State University Commencement\r\nAddress\r\nBaltimore, MD | December 14, 2018\r\n**As Prepared for Delivery** Hello Morganites! Thank you President Wilson. Thank you Board of Trustees. And I want to take a moment to thank a champion and fearless leader in the\r\nfight for social, economic and racial justice for being with us today. Your\r\nCongressman, and my dear friend and long-time partner in so many fights,\r\nCongressman Elijah Cummings. This iconic place is a shining example of what HBCU's have embodied in this\r\ncountry for over one hundred years - institutions that cultivate leaders who\r\nfight for equality, justice and opportunity. It is my honor to be here\r\nwith you. Morgan State University - what a great motto you have. \"Growing the\r\nfuture, Leading the World.\" That's a lot of pressure to put on you guys. Especially right\r\nnow. Especially when some of you may have partied too hard last\r\nnight. I see you back there-already nodding off. Probably should have had one\r\nmore cup of coffee this morning. I know what graduation speeches are supposed to be-short and\r\nforgettable. But I'm here to pay respect to you for this honorary degree,\r\nhere to say something that I hope will stick with some of you for a\r\nwhile. I'll do my best to keep it short. I want to tell you a story. I grew up out in Oklahoma. My daddy worked a lot of different jobs. He\r\nended up as a janitor. He and my mom had three boys who all eventually\r\nwent to serve in the military. And then there was me. The\r\nlate-in-life baby. The surprise. When this story starts, it was just the three of us left. Dad at\r\nwork. Mom at home. Me in junior high. Then, Daddy had a heart attack. He survived, but even after he got out of\r\nthe hospital, he couldn't go back to work. The bills piled up. We\r\nlost our family station wagon. Late at night, after I was in bed, my mom\r\nwould close the door, but I could hear my parents talk. I learned new words,\r\nwords like mortgage and foreclosure. Heavy words. One morning, I went into my folks' room, and my mother had her best dress\r\nlaid out on the bed. You know the dress. It's the one that only came out\r\nfor weddings, graduations, and funerals. She was crying. She kept\r\nrepeating: We will not lose this house. We will not lose this house. She was fifty years old. She'd never had a regular job-and she was\r\nscared. Scared and crying. But she put on that dress and walked down to\r\nthe Sears and got a minimum wage job. That job saved our home-and it\r\nsaved our family. That story is etched on my heart. That story is who I am. For a long time, I thought this was a story about my mother. About her\r\ncourage and her grit. Also a story about what women will do to take care\r\nof the people they love. A story about hard work. But, eventually,\r\nI came to understand that story...is also a story about government. It's\r\na story about the rules our government makes that have an enormous impact on\r\nhow we live. When I was a little girl, minimum wage was enough to cover the basics for a\r\nfamily of three. Today, a full-time minimum wage doesn't pay the rent on\r\na median two-bedroom apartment in any state in America. That same kind of\r\njob that saved my family fifty years ago wouldn't even keep a mama and her baby\r\nout of poverty today. So what happened? I'll tell you what happened: Washington changed the rules.\r\nWhen I was a little girl, the guys in Washington set the minimum wage based on\r\nwhat it would take to support a family-a family like mine. Today, the people\r\nwho set the rules worry more about Walmart's profits than they do about how any\r\nsmall family will survive. Sure, life is about grit-hard work matters. But the rules matter\r\ntoo. And a mama who works her heart out today at minimum wage-a mama who\r\nworks every bit as hard as my mama did-is stuck with a set of rules that are\r\nrigged against her, and those rules are set by a bunch of politicians in\r\nWashington who sure aren't looking out for her. Hard work matters, but the rules matter too. When I think about our house, I also think about how the rules set in\r\nWashington could have dictated an entirely different story for a family that\r\nwasn't white. So let me tell you one more story. It's also a story about rules. Here you sit at graduation. A lot of you are moving-right now.\r\nAnd a lot of you will think about owning homes someday not too far out. Houses are important. Sure it's a place to mount your diploma, or paint a\r\nwhole bedroom blue and orange. But homes also matter for hard core economic\r\nreasons. As people pay off their mortgages, they build real wealth. The\r\nnumber one retirement plan in America is pay off your home and live on Social\r\nSecurity. And, if grandma can hang on to the house until she dies, she passes that\r\nhouse-that wealth that it represents-to the next generation. This is how\r\nwave after wave of families have not only taken care of themselves, it's also\r\nhow their children have done steadily better. At least, that's how it's\r\nworked for tens of millions of white families. For black families, it was\r\ndifferent. Look at the rules. In 1935, the federal government started subsidizing home\r\nmortgages, making it easier for working families to buy homes and build\r\nwealth. But not for everyone. As part of the FHA program, the federal government officially adopted a\r\npolicy of redlining, a practice that effectively denied home mortgages to\r\nfamilies of color, and that meant they didn't get the same chance to build\r\nwealth or to pass wealth down to their kids. The results? By the\r\nearly 1960s, for every dollar of wealth the average white family had, a\r\nnon-white family had less than 15 cents. Finally, during the 1960s, redlining was banned. And over the next\r\ntwenty-five years or so, black families started building more wealth. The\r\nblack-white wealth gap began to shrink. And that might have been the end of the\r\nstory. But in the 1990s, as more black families were buying homes and building\r\nwealth, big banks and sleazy mortgage lenders saw an opportunity. They targeted\r\ncommunities of color for the worst of the worst mortgages. And bank regulators,\r\nthe guys who are supposed to work for the American people, looked the other\r\nway. The results were catastrophic. *Black homeownership rates are\r\nnow lower than they were when housing discrimination was legal. Today, the\r\nblack-white wealth gap is bigger than it was back in the 1960s. Sure, there's a lot more going on-educational disparities, a broken criminal\r\njustice, access to credit. I picked just one example-housing-but as a\r\ncountry, we need to stop pretending that the same doors open for everyone.\r\nBecause they don't. I'm not a person of color. And I haven't lived your life or experienced\r\nanything like the subtle prejudice, or more overt harm, that you may have\r\nexperienced just because of the color of your skin. Rules matter, and our\r\ngovernment-not just individuals within the government, but the government\r\nitself-has systematically discriminated against Black people in this\r\ncountry. Ultimately subprime mortgages spread far beyond communities of color, and it\r\neventually wrecked our economy. During the crash of 2008, millions of people-black, white, Latino and\r\nAsian-lost their homes. Millions lost their jobs. Millions lost\r\ntheir savings-millions, tens of millions, but not the people at the top.\r\nThe bank CEOs just kept raking in the money. Two sets of rules: one for the wealthy and the well-connected. And one for\r\neverybody else. Two sets of rules: one for white families. And one for\r\neverybody else. That's how a rigged system works. And that's what we need to change. --- So this brings me back to you. Everyone will tell you to work\r\nhard. Teachers. Parents. Coaches. And I agree. Under\r\nthe rules of commencement speakers I am required to say, \"Work\r\nhard.\" And you should. But I'm here with a bolder message: It's time to change the rules. Let\r\nme say that again for those in the back. Change. The. Rules. Rules matter. And you have the power to make this country a more perfect\r\nunion -- make it the nation you want it to be. The work will be hard. The rules didn't rig themselves. People with power and\r\ninfluence rigged the rules to line their own pockets. And I'll let you in on a\r\nsecret, they plan on keeping it that way. The rules are rigged because the rich and powerful have bought and paid for\r\ntoo many politicians. And if we dare to ask questions, they will try to divide\r\nus. Pit white working people against black and brown working people so they\r\nwon't band together and demand real change. The rich and powerful want us pointing fingers at each other so we won't\r\nnotice they are getting richer and more powerful. But here's the deal: In a democracy, what happens next is always up to us-you and me. And\r\nthere's a lot more of us than there is of them. --- As politicians try to turn us against each other, as they sell out to Wall\r\nStreet, to big oil companies, big drug companies, and big student loan\r\ncompanies, as the President of the United States kisses up to autocrats and\r\nundermines voting and basic democratic institutions. Even in the midst of all\r\nof that, I look at you and I am optimistic. You have power, real power. And here's how I know. Power has already\r\nshifted to you. It starts with democracy. This year the overall electorate was younger\r\nand more diverse than any midterm in recent history. You are causing a\r\nmuch-needed earthquake in our political system. And it's not just at\r\nelection time. You are organizing-and you are changing America. Even in the face of so much injustice and frustration and cynicism, the\r\nClass of 2018 is the most diverse, most vibrant, most hopeful generation of\r\ngraduates our nation has ever known, the most engaged voters and volunteers,\r\nthe most creative and determined activists. I see it everywhere. People in the fight. Living legends of the civil rights\r\nmovement partnering with high school kids to take to the streets. People building alliances across every line, every barrier: women and men;\r\nmarried and single; gay, straight, and trans; rich and poor; urban and\r\nrural. Most of all, people who never thought of themselves as activists are\r\nembracing their power, claiming their seats at the table and demanding change. --- My mother worked hard-but the truth is that America gave her a chance to\r\nsave our little family, and I'm grateful down to my toes for that opportunity.\r\nAnd I want everyone to have that same chance. I want this to be an America\r\nwhere hard work means real payoff, an America where the rules work the same for\r\neveryone. That is the true promise of our democracy. It's a promise worth\r\nfighting for. So here's to you, the Class of 2018! You are the future of America. I'm\r\nhonored to fight alongside you. Let's make this a country that reflects\r\nour best values, the country that works for all of us. Thank you! ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-delivers-commencement-address-at-morgan-state-university"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4073250349611044, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}