 Many of you met The next brother I'm going to bring to the stage at the open of the 2015 reform conference in sort of Washington, D.C. sort of you know The thing you know, I've had the very great good fortune to get to know Jason so much better than I did just that first time when we did the opening plenary and Especially as we begin to think about what the history of Mexican Americans and mass incarceration is we don't talk about that Very much, although I guarantee you that if you live in places like Texas, it may be all you think about and The thing about Jason and what I want to say, you know being a family member of several people who were incarcerated is that it's I don't know if it's Easy to explain What it means to come home from prison after your life has been disrupted for decades your family relationships Everything and yet hit the ground Running to make change to call people to action to call people to order to never Equivocate to be there at midnight or at noon. That is who Jason Hernandez is I'm asking you to welcome him to the stage For those who don't know me in here My story real quick. I was sentenced to life without parole plus 320 years in 1998 And only through the good grace of a man that was understanding named President Barack Obama that I am here today a Few months ago people used to ask me Jason do you think Trump will carry on Obama's clemency initiative and I used to laugh just like you did today And I said if Trump had the authority he would probably put my ass back in prison But now I don't joke anymore Because I feel that for those that are under federal supervised release that there was a spotlight that is upon us I know what I think I know what it feels like to be here undocumented because if you're here undocumented at any given time You can be arrested detained and incarcerated and just as I am on federal probation I can be arrested detained and incarcerated Because even though I have my papers I am on paper and as I should refer to earlier and something that she's reminded me of is that For those that know me you were never supposed to know who I was you were never supposed to hear my words see my face I Was supposed to die in a federal prison like so many of my people have before me and like my brother was murdered in 2002 Indeed it is a miracle for me to be here right now with you and for the last year The last year that I was the first year that I was out of prison I used to walk around and I remember I would be in a restaurant I would be Working I'd be in my car and I used to say I'm not supposed to be here right now, right? And then a year ago. I said You know what? That's that's bullshit. I Am supposed to be here. I was never supposed to go to prison for life without parole for selling drugs My brother was never supposed to be murdered in a prison because he was an addict None of my people were some millions of my people and your people were never supposed to be incarcerated on this war on drugs Which is a war against minorities now I want to read you something real quick because times are gonna get hard and I want you to remember something that James Baldwin told his nephew It will be hard, but you come from a sturdy peasant stock men who pick cotton Damned rivers built railroads and in the teeth of the most terrifying odds Achieved an unassailable and monumental dignity You come from a long line of great poets some of the greatest poets since Homer and one of them said the very time I thought I was lost my dungeon shook and my chains fell off We can all be free. We cannot all be free until we all are free. Thank you so much for having me here I love all of you