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Pete Buttigieg: “If our economic and our political and our social systems…”

Featuring: Pete Buttigieg, Democratic | Former Secretary of Transportation, Former Mayor of South Bend | National

Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC

Published April 12, 2026 | Video Starts at 31:59

I think it is vitally important that we fight back the temptation to be about restoring everything to the old way. Because the reality is, If our economic and our political and our social systems were serving us well, we wouldn't be here. Right? All of that is what led to all of this. And so we have to make clear. (31:59–32:06)

CLAIM

Asserts that current economic, political, and social systems are inadequate.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Pete Buttigieg

“Black unemployment fell by more than half.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 08:46-08:49
“The biggest single project in the country, the gateway project right here, $16 billion to take care of a 100-year-old tunnel.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 12:50-13:00
“The Secretary of Defense intervened, overruling his own secretary of the army in order to block the promotion of black crimson colonels…”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 19:03-19:16
“The safety of the traveling public is one of those core functions that should be beyond politics.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 02:43-02:51
“The president eventually said he was going to do an executive order to make sure [TSA workers] got paid.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 02:59-03:06
“There's actually a bipartisan compromise to fund everything in Homeland Security except the pieces that need to be negotiated, including…”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 03:16-03:28
“The House isn't even in session. So they're not even pretending to be trying to fix this problem.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 03:33-03:40
“If federal funding created or contributed to a problem, then federal funding ought to be part of the solution.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 05:55-06:03
“When we supported a vision in Atlanta to the stitch that takes, I think it's 75 and 85 that cut right through the heart of town, put them…”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 06:09-06:19
“When we fund work in Toledo or Milwaukee in order to make those roads safer, everybody's better off.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 06:18-06:29
“Some of the folks over at Fox News and other places lost their minds, as if I said something that you're not supposed to say.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 06:58-07:06
“When I took office, our poverty rate was around 25%.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 08:31-08:34
“Our per capita income was about $18,000.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 08:35-08:39
“Our unemployment was in the double digits.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 08:38-08:41
“Poverty in the city and black poverty in the city fell.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 08:49-08:54
“This administration has adopted a seek and destroy approach to anything that even looks like it might have something to do with helping…”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 10:16-10:31
“They got rid of the money to do it literally for no other reason than neighborhood Access and equity was in the name of the bill.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 11:39-11:48
“The president said he was killing it...because they didn't like the provisions to make sure that it was delivered in an equitable way.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 13:05-13:20
“Decisions about what happens with those federal dollars flow through a state Department of Transportation or even a city or a county forums.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 14:15-14:24
“They take away dollars for a transportation improvement that will reconnect a neighborhood or make a place safer.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 14:41-14:48
“This is about making sure that people and businesses who have been excluded get a chance to compete, get a chance to participate, get a…”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 18:09-18:22
“Atlanta's black middle class today has a lot to do with the then mayor Maynard Jackson insisting that the airport project was fair in…”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 18:21-18:41
“We could be doing so much better as a country by ensuring that people get that chance to compete, get that chance to deliver.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 19:56-20:05
“There was a recruiting, I would say emergency in terms of supporting, recruiting and retaining the drivers that we need.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 21:23-21:32
“We were able to see a dramatic increase in black drivers getting a chance to be part of that career and getting a chance to contribute to…”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 22:22-22:34
“Part of what they're doing is making it impossible to do things like use your driver's license to register to vote.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 24:07-24:15
“We're talking about eligible U.S. citizens whose right to vote should never be interfered with.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 24:30-24:39
“Just because you get to vote on paper doesn't mean you actually have that right if they're throwing up all of these barriers.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 25:21-25:27
“If you have to wait more than one hour in line to vote, do you really have a right to vote that's being enforced?”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 25:35-25:43
“We don't have until then to act now. And so I think the important thing now is to make clear just how many people are going to lose their…”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 26:04-26:14
“We're not in this war because we had to be. We're in this war because he wanted to be after specifically promising not to launch these kinds…”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 27:45-27:56
“When you get up in the morning, you can have a glass of clean, safe drinking water.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 32:24-32:28
“Get in a vehicle and go on a road that is in good condition to a job where one job is enough.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 32:27-32:33
“Drop your kids off at quality public education that is well funded.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 32:35-32:40
“Come home knowing that you have health care that you can actually afford.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 32:40-32:44
“Get to a house that you can actually afford to live in.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 32:43-32:46
“Nothing is stopping us but ourselves and our leadership.”
Pete Talks with Rev. Al Sharpton, Live at National Action Network in NYC | Uploaded April 12, 2026 | 32:48-32:52