WEBVTT 00:00:02.048 --> 00:00:03.381 This one's personal. 00:00:05.309 --> 00:00:08.596 I know what it's like to have the government say, 00:00:08.620 --> 00:00:10.739 "We're going to kill you in the morning." 00:00:12.314 --> 00:00:15.885 I know what it's like to leave a country on six hours' notice 00:00:15.909 --> 00:00:17.757 and land on someone's couch. 00:00:17.781 --> 00:00:19.282 Because of that, I wrote a book 00:00:19.306 --> 00:00:22.306 on why countries do well and why they don't. 00:00:23.246 --> 00:00:25.269 Let me summarize 250 pages. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:25.809 --> 00:00:27.524 Countries have to be compassionate, 00:00:27.548 --> 00:00:28.698 they have to be kind, 00:00:28.722 --> 00:00:31.198 they have to be smart, they have to be brave. 00:00:31.539 --> 00:00:33.061 Want to know what doesn't work? 00:00:33.085 --> 00:00:36.109 When you govern through fear and you govern through cruelty, 00:00:36.133 --> 00:00:37.533 it just doesn't work. 00:00:38.117 --> 00:00:39.938 You can play Genghis Khan for a while, 00:00:39.962 --> 00:00:41.512 you can play Stalin for a while, 00:00:41.536 --> 00:00:43.497 you can play Pinochet for a while. 00:00:43.521 --> 00:00:45.721 It does not work in the long run. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:46.776 --> 00:00:48.458 And it doesn't work in the long run 00:00:48.482 --> 00:00:51.172 because to govern through fear and cruelty, 00:00:51.196 --> 00:00:53.196 you have to create a division. 00:00:53.855 --> 00:00:56.823 You have to take big chunks of the country and convince them 00:00:56.847 --> 00:00:58.314 that they're not like them. 00:00:59.862 --> 00:01:01.776 That they shouldn't associate with them, 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:03.188 they shouldn't talk to them. 00:01:03.212 --> 00:01:04.569 That those people are nasty, 00:01:04.593 --> 00:01:07.234 those people are criminals, those people are rapists. 00:01:08.701 --> 00:01:11.264 And the country is in danger because of them. 00:01:12.551 --> 00:01:16.392 And if you spend millions of dollars doing that in your country, 00:01:16.416 --> 00:01:18.349 you will make enemies abroad, 00:01:20.097 --> 00:01:22.564 and you will create divisions within. 00:01:23.149 --> 00:01:24.882 And that has consequences. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:25.355 --> 00:01:28.261 Three quarters of the flags and the borders and the anthems 00:01:28.285 --> 00:01:29.832 around the United Nations today, 00:01:29.856 --> 00:01:32.085 they were not there a few decades ago. 00:01:33.577 --> 00:01:35.164 Those lines that are there today, 00:01:35.188 --> 00:01:37.942 those flags were created because somebody said, 00:01:37.966 --> 00:01:39.458 "the Scotts are not like us," 00:01:39.482 --> 00:01:40.823 "the Welsh are not like us," 00:01:40.847 --> 00:01:42.288 "the Basques are not like us," 00:01:42.312 --> 00:01:44.233 "the northern Italians are not like us," 00:01:44.257 --> 00:01:45.736 "the Muslims are not like us," 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.360 the blacks, the whites, the Christians. 00:01:49.442 --> 00:01:51.176 You create "us versus them" ... 00:01:52.347 --> 00:01:53.910 you destroy nations. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:55.173 --> 00:01:57.426 Part of the problem from creating us versus them 00:01:57.450 --> 00:01:58.717 is it's hard to do. 00:02:00.109 --> 00:02:01.283 What you have to do 00:02:01.307 --> 00:02:03.905 is you have to make people believe absurdities. 00:02:05.096 --> 00:02:07.587 And once people believe absurdities, 00:02:07.611 --> 00:02:09.906 then they start to commit atrocities. 00:02:10.239 --> 00:02:11.834 That's the dynamic of this thing. 00:02:11.858 --> 00:02:13.925 You can't create "us versus them" -- 00:02:14.236 --> 00:02:16.434 you can't have the massacres you had in Rwanda, 00:02:16.458 --> 00:02:19.051 you can't have the massacres you had in Yugoslavia -- 00:02:19.839 --> 00:02:22.315 unless if you create this dynamic. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:22.339 --> 00:02:24.632 Let me summarize current immigration policy. 00:02:24.656 --> 00:02:26.474 Let's deter "Them" 00:02:26.498 --> 00:02:29.839 by being as cruel as we can possibly be, 00:02:29.863 --> 00:02:31.996 and let's target their children. 00:02:33.474 --> 00:02:36.267 They are going after the children. 00:02:37.252 --> 00:02:40.410 You have US lawyers arguing that kids do not need 00:02:40.434 --> 00:02:42.950 soap or hugs or showers, 00:02:42.974 --> 00:02:44.907 adult help or a release date. 00:02:45.293 --> 00:02:47.654 Somebody gets pulled over for a broken tail light, 00:02:47.678 --> 00:02:50.435 who's worked here for 20 years, 00:02:50.459 --> 00:02:52.134 gets thrown into jail, 00:02:52.158 --> 00:02:53.681 maybe for life, 00:02:53.705 --> 00:02:55.506 with no legal representation. 00:02:55.530 --> 00:02:59.077 The terrorists that blew up the World Trade Center get lawyers. 00:02:59.514 --> 00:03:02.886 These kids, these parents, they don't get lawyers. 00:03:03.966 --> 00:03:05.165 Governments are telling 00:03:05.189 --> 00:03:07.498 some of the most desperate, hurt people on earth, 00:03:07.522 --> 00:03:11.517 "I took your child, pay me 800 dollars for a DNA test before you get it back." 00:03:12.784 --> 00:03:15.108 Three-year-olds are appearing in court. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:15.649 --> 00:03:19.745 Look, we've all watched these courtroom dramas. 00:03:19.769 --> 00:03:20.944 And it's exciting, 00:03:20.968 --> 00:03:23.777 because the wise judge sits up there, 00:03:23.801 --> 00:03:25.797 and the defense lawyer attacks 00:03:25.821 --> 00:03:27.783 and the prosecutor counterattacks, 00:03:27.807 --> 00:03:30.188 and then you figure out how it's going to happen. 00:03:30.212 --> 00:03:33.252 I want you to understand what is happening right now. 00:03:35.220 --> 00:03:38.700 Prosecutor's there -- it's the tough prosecutor. 00:03:40.450 --> 00:03:43.938 Accusing, attacking, on behalf of we the people. 00:03:45.436 --> 00:03:47.608 The judge is up there, Judge Muckety-muck, 00:03:47.632 --> 00:03:49.380 with his black robes, 00:03:50.381 --> 00:03:52.008 and he's questioning the defendant 00:03:52.032 --> 00:03:54.166 from up there. 00:03:55.569 --> 00:03:57.355 And the defendant is three years old 00:03:57.379 --> 00:04:00.579 and the eyes don't reach the side of the table. 00:04:02.514 --> 00:04:05.314 The defendant does not speak the language. 00:04:05.911 --> 00:04:10.204 The earphones for the translator have fallen off the defendant's head, 00:04:10.228 --> 00:04:15.560 because there are no headphones for three-year-olds in US courtrooms, 00:04:16.498 --> 00:04:19.437 because they are not supposed to defend themselves. 00:04:21.223 --> 00:04:22.889 This makes a mockery of justice, 00:04:22.913 --> 00:04:25.016 it makes a mockery of the prosecution system, 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:27.648 it makes a mockery of who we are as a nation. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:28.143 --> 00:04:29.610 These are absurdities. 00:04:30.443 --> 00:04:31.626 These are atrocities. 00:04:31.650 --> 00:04:33.562 This is unbelievable. 00:04:33.586 --> 00:04:35.601 And we're looking at a bunch of statistics, 00:04:35.625 --> 00:04:37.959 but I want you to understand, 00:04:37.983 --> 00:04:42.282 this is happening to the housekeeper who brought up your kids. 00:04:43.529 --> 00:04:46.989 This is happening to the gardener who took care of your house. 00:04:48.291 --> 00:04:50.839 This is happening to the guy who washed the dishes 00:04:50.863 --> 00:04:53.405 in the fancy restaurant you went to last week. 00:04:55.049 --> 00:04:58.535 This is happening to the people who deliver the newspaper in the mornings. 00:04:58.559 --> 00:05:00.048 This is your community, 00:05:00.072 --> 00:05:04.261 these are the people who have lived side by side with you. 00:05:05.467 --> 00:05:06.633 Treated you well, 00:05:06.657 --> 00:05:07.856 treated you with respect, 00:05:07.880 --> 00:05:09.126 taken care of your kids, 00:05:09.150 --> 00:05:10.729 taken care of your grandparents. 00:05:10.753 --> 00:05:13.126 This is Luis, this is Laura, 00:05:13.150 --> 00:05:14.300 this is Jaime. 00:05:14.918 --> 00:05:16.609 This isn't some abstract, 00:05:16.633 --> 00:05:18.428 "Oh, it's happening at the border" -- 00:05:18.452 --> 00:05:21.319 this is happening in our community, right now. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:23.765 --> 00:05:25.114 And the danger in this stuff 00:05:25.138 --> 00:05:28.773 is once you start normalizing absurdities and atrocities, 00:05:28.797 --> 00:05:31.392 people think that those instruments are legitimate. 00:05:31.416 --> 00:05:34.386 So you get school boards sending out letters like this: 00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:35.870 "Dear Parent, 00:05:35.894 --> 00:05:40.044 because your kid owes lunch money to the cafeteria, 00:05:40.068 --> 00:05:42.596 the result may be that your child will be taken away 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:44.331 and put in foster care." 00:05:44.355 --> 00:05:46.131 This is going out from school boards 00:05:46.155 --> 00:05:47.322 because people think, 00:05:47.346 --> 00:05:50.880 "Well, that seems to be an instrument of deterrence." NOTE Paragraph 00:05:53.219 --> 00:05:55.139 When you board an airplane, 00:05:56.147 --> 00:05:59.273 before kids, before first class, 00:06:00.164 --> 00:06:02.136 soldiers in uniform board. 00:06:03.981 --> 00:06:05.848 Some of them are immigrants. 00:06:06.545 --> 00:06:09.378 Here's a contract: join the army, 00:06:09.402 --> 00:06:11.679 serve your term, be honorably discharged, 00:06:11.703 --> 00:06:12.853 get citizenship. 00:06:14.243 --> 00:06:16.363 We are rescinding those contracts 00:06:16.387 --> 00:06:18.253 after they have been signed. 00:06:19.442 --> 00:06:21.838 And if those soldiers are killed in action, 00:06:21.862 --> 00:06:25.799 we are deporting their wives, and sometimes, their children. 00:06:25.823 --> 00:06:27.895 These are the people who protect us. 00:06:27.919 --> 00:06:30.252 These are the people that we honor. 00:06:30.617 --> 00:06:31.847 These are the brave. 00:06:31.871 --> 00:06:33.593 And this is how we're treating them. 00:06:33.617 --> 00:06:36.561 These are not the people who cross the border illegally. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:36.585 --> 00:06:39.918 Once you start allowing this kind of behavior, 00:06:39.942 --> 00:06:44.434 it normalizes into a society, and it rips the society apart. 00:06:45.045 --> 00:06:48.136 Countries are built on the hard work and grit of immigrants; 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:49.626 we are all immigrants. 00:06:50.165 --> 00:06:52.522 We just came at different times. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:52.546 --> 00:06:57.554 Fifty-five percent of this country's main businesses, 00:06:57.578 --> 00:07:01.125 the most successful businesses in this country, the unicorns, 00:07:01.149 --> 00:07:05.101 are built by people who came as foreign students or as immigrants, 00:07:05.125 --> 00:07:07.895 and they're the founders or the cofounders. 00:07:07.919 --> 00:07:10.680 Well, here's what's happened over the last three years 00:07:10.704 --> 00:07:12.760 to the best brains in the world. 00:07:12.784 --> 00:07:15.093 Forty-two percent of them did not get visas 00:07:15.117 --> 00:07:17.045 or chose not to get visas. 00:07:17.411 --> 00:07:19.903 This is how you wipe out an economy. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:19.927 --> 00:07:22.193 This isn't about kids and borders. 00:07:22.863 --> 00:07:24.013 It's about us. 00:07:25.696 --> 00:07:28.481 This is about who we are, who we the people are, 00:07:29.387 --> 00:07:31.453 as a nation and as individuals. 00:07:32.601 --> 00:07:34.668 This is not an abstract debate. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:37.852 --> 00:07:39.692 A lot of us like to think 00:07:40.732 --> 00:07:44.071 if we had been back when Hitler was rising to power, 00:07:44.095 --> 00:07:45.903 we would have been out in the street, 00:07:45.927 --> 00:07:48.641 we would have opposed him, we would have stopped Mengele. 00:07:48.665 --> 00:07:50.331 A lot of us like to think, 00:07:51.276 --> 00:07:53.228 if we had been around during the '60s, 00:07:53.252 --> 00:07:55.355 we would have been with the Freedom Riders. 00:07:55.379 --> 00:07:57.910 We would have been at that bridge in Selma. 00:07:57.934 --> 00:07:59.084 Well, guess what? 00:07:59.661 --> 00:08:01.217 Here's your chance. 00:08:01.241 --> 00:08:02.582 It's now. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:02.606 --> 00:08:05.741 And as you're thinking about this stuff, 00:08:05.765 --> 00:08:07.169 it's not just the giant acts, 00:08:07.193 --> 00:08:09.328 it's not just go and block the bridge 00:08:09.352 --> 00:08:11.419 or chain yourself to something. 00:08:12.148 --> 00:08:14.751 It's what you do in your daily lives. 00:08:14.775 --> 00:08:19.918 The Harvard Art Museum just opened a show 00:08:19.942 --> 00:08:23.456 on how artists think about immigration and building a home somewhere else. 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:26.410 And people come out of that show and they're pretty shaken. 00:08:26.434 --> 00:08:28.292 There was a blank wall at the end. 00:08:29.658 --> 00:08:32.753 And the curators did something that usually doesn't happen -- 00:08:32.777 --> 00:08:33.927 they improvised. 00:08:34.554 --> 00:08:36.917 They drew four lines, and put in two words: 00:08:37.515 --> 00:08:38.703 "I belong." 00:08:38.727 --> 00:08:40.299 So you come out of this exhibit, 00:08:40.323 --> 00:08:42.371 and you can take a picture in front of it. 00:08:42.395 --> 00:08:44.815 I can't tell you the impact that has on people -- 00:08:44.839 --> 00:08:47.092 I watched people come out of this, 00:08:47.116 --> 00:08:49.537 and some of them sat in front of that picture, 00:08:49.561 --> 00:08:52.490 took a picture, and they had a great, big grin on their face, 00:08:52.514 --> 00:08:54.580 and some people just had tears. 00:08:55.173 --> 00:08:57.236 Some people hugged and brought in strangers, 00:08:57.260 --> 00:08:58.997 others brought in their family. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:01.796 --> 00:09:05.574 Small acts of kindness go a long, long, long way. 00:09:06.677 --> 00:09:08.621 There is pain going on in your community 00:09:08.645 --> 00:09:10.245 like you cannot believe. 00:09:11.025 --> 00:09:14.089 So next time you're with a cab driver who may be one of "Them," 00:09:14.113 --> 00:09:16.438 according to certain people, 00:09:16.462 --> 00:09:18.620 give that person an extra five bucks. 00:09:20.025 --> 00:09:22.627 Next time you see a hotel maid, 00:09:22.651 --> 00:09:24.584 thank her and tip her double. 00:09:25.895 --> 00:09:28.283 Next time you see your gardener, 00:09:28.307 --> 00:09:30.331 you see your nanny, 00:09:30.355 --> 00:09:31.712 you see somebody like this, 00:09:31.736 --> 00:09:34.291 give them a great, big hug, and tell them they belong. 00:09:34.315 --> 00:09:35.845 Make them feel like they belong. 00:09:36.856 --> 00:09:38.189 It's time for big policies, 00:09:38.213 --> 00:09:41.935 but it's also time for big acts of kindness. 00:09:43.206 --> 00:09:45.110 Because we have to reclaim who we are, 00:09:45.134 --> 00:09:47.201 we have to reclaim this nation. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:47.712 --> 00:09:50.593 (Voice breaking) And we cannot sit there 00:09:50.617 --> 00:09:52.768 and watch this shit going on. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:53.791 --> 00:09:56.402 This has got to stop, it's got to stop now. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:57.196 --> 00:09:58.373 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:58.397 --> 00:10:02.682 (Applause)