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VI UPDATE U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS 08-7-2024 | Nobel Women Press Conference Legislature USVI August 7, 2024 · 0.4 hours · gov Source recording https://youtu.be/qxkMp45wmOw Status This is a working transcript produced by machine from a recording of a public proceeding. It is a finding aid, not an official record of the Legislature. Transcribed by VI Update, using OpenAI Whisper large-v3-turbo, run locally. Not reviewed by a person. Reliability Automatic transcription, UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording before relying on it. Speech recognition splits spoken digits and wraps figures mid-number, so a dollar amount, a vote count or a bill number can be wrong in a way that reads as correct. Speakers are not identified: automatic speaker labelling was measured unusable and removed. Public record The underlying proceeding is a public record of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. 3 V.I.C. § 881(a) defines public records to include all records and documents of or belonging to this Territory or any branch of government, or any "department, board, council or committee of any branch of government" · which names legislative committees by category. § 881(b) gives every citizen the right to examine and copy such records, and the news media the right to publish them. (The open-meetings chapter, 1 V.I.C. § 254, does NOT reach the Legislature: § 253(b) expressly excludes it and its Standing and Special Committees. § 881 does, and it is § 881 that confers the right to copy and publish.) The Legislature broadcast this proceeding publicly itself. The source recording is not ours, is not hosted here, and remains with its publisher at the link above. Rights To what we added · the transcription, its arrangement and its description · we assert nothing. A verbatim transcript is mechanical rather than authored, so there is likely nothing in it to own; to the extent any copyright is nonetheless found to subsist, it is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Please copy it, quote it, index it, train on it, republish it, mirror it, sell it. Redistribution is the point: a public record with one copy is one fire from gone. No permission is needed, and none is ours to grant or withhold. Music playing Music playing Music playing Music playing Good morning! Good morning! 0:00:00 Good morning everyone! Good morning Nobel women who are here present and accounted for. Good morning to all senators, members of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women, Nobel Board, guests, sponsors, and journalists, and journalists present. We also thank the listening and viewing audience for tuning in on Facebook, YouTube, Roku, the legislature's app, via in HDTV and WTJX who's also covering this stream. I am Karel Sheridan, Executive Director of the legislature of the Virgin Islands and it is my pleasure to serve as moderator for this press conference. This press conference concerns the 39th National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women, Annual Legislative Conference. Now we will call it the Nobel Conference moving forward. 0:02:29 It is off to an awesome start. So we will open this press conference with a word of prayer from the legislature's chaplain, Virgin Islands legislature, I have to be specific in this audience, our legislative chaplain, Reverend Charles Brown. Let every head be bowed. This is the day that the Lord has made and we shall rejoice and be glad in it. 0:03:35 We thank you God for the vision and mission of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women. We thank you for the programs and the platforms that advance black women in the fields of public policy and civic engagement. We thank you Lord God for their willingness to network and build support systems for black women in public policy and organizational leadership. So God we, as they have come to our blessed Virgin Islands. We welcome them with open arms. Knowing how important organizations like these are. Endow them with your Holy Spirit Lord God. So that this might not just be a place of relaxation and fun, but we might be about the work of building our people brick by brick. 0:04:14 Thank you Lord for organizations like the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women. May your presence continue to be with us long after we leave this place. Amen. Amen. Amen, Reverend Brown. Yes, we are son, son and fun, but we are also economic policy. We're also education and we are also about uplifting our Virgin Islanders. 0:05:16 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 1 of 4 Legislature USVI · 08-7-2024 | Nobel Women Press Conference We are an HBCU, our University of the Virgin Islands provides free tuition to children who have graduated from our local school system. So without further ado, I will now introduce the Honorable Tanya Anderson, Senator of the Georgia State Legislature, but also the President of the Nobel Organization, Senator Anderson. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Thank you, Correll, for that wonderful introduction. I have to say that Nobel Women is on the move. We're on the move so much that we finally made it to our 39th annual legislative conference right here in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. We have not just brought the excitement, but partnership to let our sisters on the Virgin Islands know that we appreciate them. We appreciate the leadership, the partnership, the ability to stand together with policy in mind, with people in mind, so that we can make the progress that the people that we serve need. And so today is such a wonderful start to our conference around equity and social justice is a theme that I have for the next few years for Nobel Women. And we do focus on economic equity. We do focus on education equity and concerning specifically our HBCUs. So I'm more than honored to hear that the University of the Virgin Islands is a tuition-based, free-based university. And I can't wait to visit this afternoon with our 3G program, which is our black girls in tech, middle school and high school girls. And I'm so super excited because this is the work that we are called to do. We know that at the end of the day, if we don't stand up for the least, the lost or the left out, then they may be left out. And it's our responsibility and our job to continue to stand for our communities so that black and brown people can have that equity and justice, education, economics, and empowerment. So at the end of the day, we are here to create policy. The policy creates the change that we need to see in our communities. 0:06:00 And I'm so super excited to be here with our sisters. People thought, well, why are you going to the Virgin Islands? I said, we're not just going to the Virgin Islands to go. We have business to attend to. And guess who's hosting us? Our sisters who look like us from the Virgin Islands. Oh, there are black senators in the Virgin Islands. Oh, now that validates their question as to why we're here. We are here in a partnership to make sure that every woman of Nobel is supported from Iowa to L.A. to Utah to Fort Lauderdale, Miami. We are here to make sure that every woman -- 380 plus women of Nobel women -- feel supported and feel empowered. With that, thank you, thank you. With that, I am going to just ask for a show of hands of every Nobel woman here today. 0:08:19 Look at how strong and powerful we are. And I am so super excited and honored to be -- to serve as the president. And it is absolutely a privilege to be able to partner, as I said before, with women from other states. With that, I am not going to belabor the moment because it is a beautiful, beautiful day. And I want to bring up our beautiful sisters who are our co-hosts from the St. Thomas and St. Croix. The lovely senators, Donna Frank Gregory and Maurice James. Please, let's give them a warm thank you -- not a warm welcome -- a warm thank you for being gracious hostesses. 0:09:18 All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning. And of course, I can't say it enough, but we -- I am -- we are super delighted, super appreciative of the fact that you said yes to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Thank you so much for being here. We know that we have a long day ahead of us -- a long exciting day ahead of us. But I have to say this: I'm every woman. It's all in me. Yes, we are every woman. So it's so important for us to embrace each other. I want you to enjoy this week. Take in the policy part. Taking the wellness part. But guess what? I want you to take in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Because we want you to come back. We want you to come back. So I'm going to take this opportunity to introduce my co-host, my co-chair, Senator Maurice James. 0:10:04 Good. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Fred Gregory. Good morning. And when we say welcome to the U.S. Virgin Islands, we're talking about not only St. Thomas, but St. John and St. Croix. We means all of us. Well, we like to say here, all of we. Yes. Which means all our islands, all our peoples, and we want you to enjoy. We know that -- and we hope -- that you will come back and you will visit all three. Actually, there's another island, Fort One, a small one, Water Island. So when you come back and visit us, enjoy. But while you're here, take in everything. Welcome again. 0:11:06 Thank you. Thank you. I'm sure that you guys noticed that we all dress in this beautiful print. It's called Madras. Yes, it's called Madras. And we do have a Virgin Islands Madras. I'm not seeing it here, but I think that we have it in the -- Oh, my Senate President. He's wearing the tie, the Madras tie. That's the Virgin Islands Madras. The 30 -- I think the 32nd legislature actually made it our official dress material. So this is who we are. But being the people that we are, we are very given people. And we wanted to see our President dress like us today. 0:11:45 So I'm going to ask her to come up before we introduce our Senate President. I'm going to ask her to come up. Yes. Because we actually made a Madras outfit for you. Yes. So we're not going to take it out the bag. So when she shows up for the luncheon today, you guys will see it. It will be a surprise. But thank you so much. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I won. I won. I won. I won. I won. 0:12:34 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 2 of 4 Legislature USVI · 08-7-2024 | Nobel Women Press Conference So let me take this opportunity to introduce you to my Senate President, our Senate President, Senator Novo E. Francis, Jr. Thank you very much, Senator Fred Gregory, and of course, Senator James, and good morning to everyone. Or as we say here in the Virgin Islands, especially on St. Croix, good morning. Good morning. Yes. 0:13:03 So I'm the taunt among the roses. No pressure. So we'll try to get through this. Good morning. Welcome to Senator Tanya P. Anderson, President of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Nobel Women, members of the board, conference chairwoman, the Honorable Donna A. Fred Gregory, and co-chair, the Honorable Maurice C. James Esquire. Media present and all gathered here today. It is my pleasure to be here for the opening of the 39th Annual Legislative Conference of National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Nobel Women. This press conference will kick off what is sure to be an exciting and dynamic week of wellness, thought-provoking sessions, fun, food, and fellowship. And before I continue, I walk with a little bit of a backup today, knowing that I was the only male here, Senator Javon E. James, Sr. 0:13:33 All right. We in the U.S. Virgin Islands are so pleased to host the country's premier organization, black women legislators committed to increasing government and nonprofit and corporate leadership. Since its inception in 1985, the Nobel Organization has been in the forefront of advancing black women in the fields of public policy, public service, and civic engagement. I look forward to the opportunity to participate and converse on issues affecting our community, from health technology to education and economic equity. These are complex and multifaceted issues that will take time, innovative partnerships, and resources to address. Now is the time for important discussion such as these, and I look forward to hearing the outcomes generated through this conference, and being part of the work to put these impactful ideas into practice. 0:14:39 I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to mention the Virgin Islands legislature, and the Virgin Islands community has benefited from strong leadership of black women to include: Senator Ruby M. Rouse, Lorraine L. Berry, Alicia Chucky Hanson, Liliana Bellardo de O'Neil, Cleone Cricky, and of course, Janet Millen-Young. I am thankful that I stand on the strong shoulders of these impactful and hardworking women who have helped to shape my political career. 0:15:48 I am also privileged to work in the 35th legislature alongside some dedicated women legislators, hardworking, and compassionate individuals. Senator Donna A. Fred Gregory, Senator Marie C. James, Senator Diane Capehart, Senator Alma Francis Heiliger, and of course, Senator Carla J. Joseph. Finally, I would also like to extend my appreciation to Ms. Karel A. Sheridan, her executive director of the Virgin Islands, and the extraordinary ladies, some of which are here today. 0:16:23 Please come up real quickly, those ladies that work along with Karel Sheridan, real quickly. Ms. Sheridan? Jamila? These extraordinary ladies of the central staff team so ably assisted in putting this conference together. Delegates, enjoy our wonderful food, beaches, outstanding hospitality on St. Thomas. And please, leave some money here, deposit some money here. Spend, again, we have great jewelry. 0:17:01 We have wonderful homemade rum here as well. And, you know, certainly some delicacies that you can take back to your family abroad. Thank you very much. God bless the United States Virgin Islands. God bless each and every one of you. Good care, please. All right. I think that closes our press conference for today, unless our president wishes to say something. And I just would like to share this because my Senate president gave me that thought as I was standing here. So, while the legislature has been around for many, many years, he called some significant women. And three of those women served as Senate president. Me, I, being one of them, yes, I served as the last female Senate president. 0:17:42 We've only had three Senate presidents in the entire, what is it, history of the Virgin Islands legislature. So, I share it with you. Seventy years that we've had just three women. So, you know we have work to do. And we know that women are definitely on the move. There's no question. So, I just want to thank you guys again. Enjoy. Questions? Okay. All right. So, Anderson, I think there are questions. Yes, President Anderson. We have the media here with us. And, of course, our media loves to ask questions. So, we're going to allow them to do that. All right. Good morning. Asking questions is our bread and butter. Good morning. Judy Schimmel for the Virgin Islands Source, asking the ladies of Nobel. 0:18:35 With the coming Democratic Convention coming up, how do you anticipate what you will represent when it comes time to speak up for an emerging woman leader here in the United States? Thank you for that question. And I'm so glad that you asked. Nobel Women is deeply and delicately involved in enforcing, or I shouldn't say enforcing, or ensuring that we have a first, as we always seem to be, first black woman president. First woman and first black woman. So, that's two firsts. It's two firsts. 0:19:32 Right. And at the end of the day, what we want to make sure that we are, what we do, is that we are reaching out in our communities, expressing how very important it is that if we're talking about equity and justice and implementing policies around that, that they understand that health care, access to health care, access to better jobs and a strong economy, that is 0:20:21 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 3 of 4 Legislature USVI · 08-7-2024 | Nobel Women Press Conference the answer for America. So, we are intricately involved in making sure that our communities are aware and getting them not just registered, but back to the polls. Thank you very much. Follow-up question. When the convention comes in, it's Chicago, I believe, will representatives of Novell be there on the floor in their individual capacities as lawmakers or as an organization? Well, we are a non-partisan organization, so we have to remain individual representatives. Fortunately, after all of the years that I've been in politics from city council, mayor, state rep, now state center, this is my first time ever even running and qualifying and making it to be a delegate. So, we have Nobel women who are delegates and we will be represented in the room individually, but we will come together collectively to strategize. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. 0:20:59 All right. We only have one member of the media. Okay, we have an additional question from Legit TV. Africa Harrigan from Legit TV. My question is how did Nobel women decide to come to the U.S. Virgin Islands and how will you assist the U.S. Virgin Islands in gaining equity on a national level? I love these questions. 0:21:44 So we came to the Virgin Islands because what usually happens is there is a call out to our states to see who is willing to host. And your leaders answer the call. That was an easy yes for us to respond to. And so, the partnership started. We had, you know, a few bumps and bruises because of the weather and the change and everything, but we bounced back from that because we're resilient women. We're resilient black women. And so, we came to the Virgin Islands based on an invitation. Not just because it's the Virgin Islands, but because the work is being done here. 0:22:19 And it's easy to partner with people who are already doing the work. So, equity, access to health care. And that's the goal of Nobel is to bring collectively all of our states together to be a national voice because when we send a letter, when we send an email, when we make a call to Congress or to the White House, they respond. What happens to our letters getting to Congress, it is read into the record. It is put on the record that this is an issue that the committee needs to review and to consider. And we are bringing our sisters along from the Virgin Islands and every other state that we represent. All right. Thank you. 0:23:04 This concludes the question and answer portion. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us today. This concludes today's press conference. Thank you once again. Thank you. Thank you. This concludes today's press conference. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 0:23:49 People named in this transcript SUSPECTED, and a finding aid only. Names were matched by machine against the spellings used across all 426 of our transcripts, and the title is the one used in the room. Being named here is NOT evidence that a person attended or spoke · only that the name was said. Speech recognition mishears names, so a spelling may be wrong even where no alternative is offered. 4x Senator Marise C. James the surname alone also matches: Javan James; Giovanni James Sr heard in this transcript as: James, Marie C. James, Maurice James 3x Senator Fred Gregory the surname alone also matches: Donna A. Frett-Gregory; Donna Frett-Gregory 2x Senator Alma Francis-Heyliger heard in this transcript as: Alma Francis Heiliger 2x Senator Carla Joseph heard in this transcript as: Carla J. Joseph 2x Senator Diane T. Capeheart heard in this transcript as: Diane Capehart 2x Senator Javan James heard in this transcript as: Javon E. James Sr. 2x Senator Novelle Francis heard in this transcript as: Novo E. Francis Jr. 1x Senator Donna A. Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donna A. Fred Gregory 1x Senator Donna Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donna A. Frett-Gregory Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 4 of 4