Tears we cannot stop, a sermon to White America. Why did you think White America needed a sermon . Guest i think Everybody Needs a sermon. Reflectod and to critically upon ones life and to try to understand that we are members of this universe together, cosmic citizens. Spiritually connected whether we religion in common or not. I wanted to talk about the issue that so many of us argue about in private spaces but in public spaces dont have the security among White Americans to grab hold of this issue. What i wanted to do was to remind White Americans that they are equal partners in this they must beand reminded that they should take responsibility for not only the historic legacy of race in this country that their participation race thatters of require our conscious commitment to serious conversation in order to relieve some of the suffering. Host you come to this as an ordained minister. You set the book up in the framework of a service with hymns. Taking it for there, what do you hope that white folks will head out of church after hearing and reading your sermon. What is the biggest take away you want people to know . Guest justice is what love sounds like when its heard in public. The public expression of love is justice and it is important for us as american citizens to arrive at and the only way we can do so is to be honest about the historic white legacy and justice. We live in the United States of amnesia. Im trying to get us to revoke the unitedship in states of amnesia. Host you write in part that you dont get whiteness from your genes but it is an inheritance passed on to us. You say guest it is important for white people to see that color is if is a fiction. An identity that is arrived at as we arbitrarily and our system assigned value or to merit to any given race or nationality or Sexual Orientation or the like. What i want to suggest is that whiteness is a product of not genetic inheritance, it isnt what your parents pass on to you , it is what culture assigns to you. It isnt about a g no typical examination of ones own lineage , it is about a sustaining of power and discretion and ethical insight and understanding economics and inequality. All of that stuff is related to whiteness. That is the byproduct of an attempt of a society to oppose and apply constraint and wait on particular people. Particular case, it is indigenous people. Force thated as a needs to be undone and that needs to be examined and white people are victims of this. Look at president donald trump, appealing to the white, workingclass, that kind of whiteness, the indivisible unit amenity that trump has generated, that we are white together and i think it is a scourge to the nation and i want to ask what americans think about that. You have pretty on race in a lot of your books. What was the motivation for writing this book . This sermon . Guest my motivation was that i wrote this book as it grew from an oped. For lender castile two young black men were killed. Killed by the police. And i had had enough. I had enough before then but now i knew i had to write something. I do put something in the against theargue unthinking kind of assignment of devaluing blackness. Dehumanizing blackness that was going on. Blacke ways in which people had to speak up and white people had to own responsibilities for why things are the way they are. Host our guest, his book tears we cannot stop, a sermon to White America. We welcome your calls. , republicans. , democrats. 00 202 7488002, independent colors. Callers. Ndent recent shootings in years. You framed this book and structured it as a Church Sermon and in this prayer you say, dont let it happen, lord. Please do not let it happen. Say you cannot there to see another black person perish the cousin of the hostility of a society that hates black folks in its guts. Us. An happen to any of it can happen to all of us. Have you always felt afraid for your kids . Guest yes. We have always lived in a society in america where the weaponize in of fear among White Brothers and sisters and those who are charged with upholding the law and serving and protecting us the relations between Police People and communities of color have been there for a while. The smartphone has revolutionized our understanding that many times, black people were telling the truth without recognition. You must have done something you must have smart talk to police. You must have challenged challenge the police. You must have done something that made that Police Person feel their life was in danger. But what we often see is that what white people can take for granted there are many instances where white people are victims of unwarranted Police Action but it happens disproportionately in communities of color. Even barack obama said, you know we are not making this up. We know that with one twitch of the hand or one wrong movement or one wrong gesture, a black life can be ended without compunction or culpability on the part of a Police Person who up executing, judge and jury, a black life that doesnt get to justice in the courts of america. And that is the kind of thing that causes a great deal of fear. Host i dont know if you have grandkids, but is that fear of there . Guest it is being learned. The video that we see that dont often results in a conviction or even before that. A Police Person being charged. These and a films of black life before the world. Executions of black people who are unarmed or who are unjustly murdered at the behest of a Police Person. When you see the petition and ritual of the execution of black life and the dehumanization of black bodies, yes. It has a negative effect on young people and on my grandchildren. Host joining us is michael eric dyson. Lets go to your calls and hear from robert in california. Warmed ifianna am a vietnam war veteran. And i came back and did law enforcement. In the watersed district. There, theyople were told, go ahead, live on welfare. Pushing them to stay on welfare. Entitlements. , icu pushingdyson entitlement. I dont know why you have so much hatred. You and hannity are the same. Learn how to love the other side. And once you do that, write a book not about hatred but about getting together, both countries. Trump is doing the best he can but you are doing the worst you can. Host we will get a response. A magicianrt must be or houdini to see inside my mind to produce this as a fiction of his imagination. This is how race operates. God bless you for your service. As an indigenous person i would suggest that he think about the history of extermination and systemic removal of indian and native peoples in this country. I would suggest you read some history. Today orid nothing before about the entitlement of black america. What im talking about is a Police Problem that is existing in america and needs to be addressed and about a system of racial inequality that needs to be solved. What i didnt say is that how america has benefited from the unpaid labor for quite a while and we had to address the issue of race in this country. And again, the caller underscored the ability to hear or see. Nothing that i said. He took me as a metaphor for his own sense of grief about what it means to be black. A resentment as a police officer. All the black people are on welfare . Allppose that is like help haitians have aids or how nigerians wont go live in hu ts. Ism isind of trump i indicative of what needs to be called out. Say that just want to we only learn to judge people by their character and the actions they take. And we all need to work together. Because we all bleed the color red. Time, all of our ancestors were slaves. Point need to get to the where no one claims victimhood. I dont think that is a good premise for any discussion. Ouret advancement in togetherness for the country. We need to quit being victims. And claiming victimhood and realize that at one time, everybodys ancestors were slaves. Everybody. Not just blacks. Whites were slaves of the whites. The whites were slave to the blacks at one time. We need to get over it. I think mr. Dyson is doing a good thing but it isnt as bad as what he thinks. And i myself and many others judge people by character and actions. Guest that is good. That is derived in a way of Martin Luther when he said i have a dream when my children will be judged by the content of their character. That was an ideal. We do strive for that. What it means that we can be our character but what the caller doesnt understand is that our perception of the persons character is colored by their race. So that one instance of behavior way through the lens of a White American is seen differently through the lens of a black american. When we look at the opioid addiction that is bleeding into africanamerican culture that for arguments sake, when black people in the 1980s were carnage andrug addiction, they were criminalized. They were seen as nihilistic examples of americas underbelly. Super predators who needed to be washed away with drug laws. Epidemic haspioid said we will be sensitive to it. It is overwhelmingly our White Brothers and sisters. Mass or other forms of the drug or the opioid addiction, the president of the United States, trump stands up and banks for empathy. So the character of two people is the same but they are both victimized by addiction. We see the other through the lens of our own perception and experiences. I would that we could judge people on character but we are colored by perceptions. And noticed that unit amenity of vision in the independent caller and the white brother who just called. Whiteness fortunes whiteness forges a connection. Victimhood. That black people are making claims. Wealthy middle class was created by the g. I. Bill. It gave returning soldiers, overwhelmingly white, extra points on a test for employment. Extra help to get into school and to buy a house. Affirmative action. The predicate of your selfhelp. The bootstrap mentality. A mythology in america to believe that without governmental assistance through projects and programs that were perpetuated by political bargaining, White Brothers and sisters were able to generate capital, buying a home which is an elevator into the middle class but then told everyone else to do it on their own. Host echoing some of what you write in the book. And white seemck to operate in different universes with worldviews that are opposed to one another. Peddling wares in a marketplace host why not . Was unableck obama to speak as forthrightly about race as he desired. Some of that may have had to do with his disinclination to be emotional about race, which is a good thing but on the other hand, his ability to speak before a catastrophe occurred. He led from behind when it came to race. His intellect was brought to bear with his loathing of the need to get involved with race because he didnt want to be categorized as the black president. A guy who was disinclined to speak about race. Americans who were not talking about it and that didnt allow us to have the greatest intelligence of barack obama brought to bear in a perceptive about theive fashion issue of race and it left a vacuum. To talk aboutwant race . Here is a guy who talks about it all the time. Trump. Mexicans and muslims and the xenophobia. It created a vacuum and avoid. My bible tells me that if we kick a demon out and we dont put something in its place, Something Else will come in. We didnt speak about this in a straightforward fashion and we have seen the replacement of the house of american identity with the next occasion of the demonology of racial bigotry that our president unfortunately continues to engage in. Host we hear from mike in california on the independent line. Caller good morning. Yes. Tonight at 7 00, Pacific Standard time on a. M. 720, they will expose the phony race baiters that our government has, left and right. He is a reverend and is realistic about the problems tearing the country apart. I hate to say it but you sound like an elitist. Host why does he sound like an elitist . Why do you say that . Caller trump has never said anything racist that ive ever heard, in my life. Number one. And i think you are pushing the racism bit too far. Like tearing down the statues. I think you are person who would tear down the statues. And you sound like a black elitist like reverend wright. You are taking a few racist in the country and making it look like the majority of white people hate black people. And thats a big mistake. You have kind of address this already but anything else . Astonishing the magical powers of the callers to observe my intent and to outline the anatomy of my social recommendations without reading me or talking to me. Assuming that im saying things that i havent said. On the other hand, but we talk about racism and youve never trump . Acism for donald a story in the New York Times yesterday that appeared about immigration look at the credible claims that donald trump in the white house was lamenting haitians, all of whom had aids. Was it 2. 1 . Not great but not every haitian has aids. His disparaging comments about nigerians or africans. More broadly. The reality is that we have a president who has been xenophobia and who has had a travel ban that targets muslim countries in unfair manner. Spoke about mexicans as the scourge of american democracy. About a private businessman that had to be scorned by the department of justice and others and was sued for the racial practices. Ad onok out a fullpage the perpetrators of central park and then when discovered they did not commit the crime refused to repent. Here is a man who is trapped in white ideology. Mr. Ban in who used to be there, there perpetuated legacies so im trying to talk about my perspective on donald trump but in terms of being elitist, that is another word for saying there is an uppity black person out of his order and space. You say you want intelligent people but then you get mad when we go to school and i get a phd too smart and elitist . No, we are american citizens trying to export the panoply of gifts given by god and working to make a way to shoot our way into the larger privilege of society and to say, White Privilege is real. Lets share the privilege and not be blind and defensive about calling into question the practices of racism in america. Host that story you are referring to is front page of the New York Times. Trump reshapes immigration. In florida on the republican line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Mr. Dyson, i would wonder if you think that you coming on tv and about ourto us whites whiteness and White Privilege hate to even more than we may hate you . Maybe not . Maybe that is just the way you feel about things . And this is just the way it is . I dont believe there is such a thing as White Privilege. Im sorry. I cant go along with that. You define, for someone like that, what is White Privilege . Let me to find White Privilege. You have more money than me, your kids go to a nice school. The what is one of the greatest privileges of whiteness . Too good on the street and meet a cop and live to tell about it. You have to have the presumption that as a white person you are not out to do me harm. That the pretext of your humanity is not rooted in stereotypes or the belief that you, as a white person are out to do damage to a community and must be treated with a kind of disregard for your humanity. The reason black lives matter rolls up was because the lives of black people were not being recognized. Privilege is participating in a society that and to worry decent human being that rewards you for hard work, as it should but that discourages others from recognizing the rewards of their hard work. And that creates segregated spheres of recognition that, unfortunately give some people more than they give others and without assigning value in terms of money and capital, the presumption that on an everyday basis, this person before me wants the same person that wants the same thing i want and wants the same thing i do and i should treat them with respect and assume that they have integrity. Talkis partly what we about. He started by do you you want think coming on and talking will make us hate to even more . All, if you are ready hate me . I am pushing the boundaries of justice so we can understand. All of the should be able to participate in that. I dont hate you, brother. I dont hate you. I dont presume that white people hate black people. At there is a complicated premise of whiteness out there. When i talk about whiteness, look at the unanimity of vision. Republican line, independent line, democratic line. You all say the same thing. Host to get a chance to preach that often . Guest yes. I have wonderful students, must most of whom come from White America. They are wonderful students who are self reflecting. Studentse serve the drawn to me ourselves selecting but i get a wide range of people. Latinas, native people. Indigenous people all across the board. We have an incredible time. This class semester i taught a class on white writers on blackness and i also taught a class on beyonce. If you think youre getting mad about this stuff i say about whiteness, weight and hold on until the homosexual stuff. How it all interacts and converge, it says a lot about who we are as americans. Host lets go to missouri. Caller the reason im calling im a vietnam veteran. Died in vietnam, trying to and in thes ideology countries all supremacy. For white whatever political philosophy says. It has increased. [indiscernible] years, white200 people have killed more of us than any other race of mankind, combined. Like st. Paul said, [indiscernible] roman empire. Doomed the nation. It is the reality of what i see happening in my country. We have to practice what we preach. That is the reality. [indiscernible] destroyed their own country. There was a lot there. Thank you for weighing in. Guest thank you for your service. Condolences to the families who laughs who lost loved ones defending the democracy that was traced back to the greek philosophy and the like. His point about empire is fascinating. Talking about white supremacy. And what we mean is that the conscious or unconscious belief that there is an inherent inferiority of a group. And the weaponize thing in defense of boundaries of States Economic order that rests within those states. And the ability to exercise and leverage the authority of a country against another. To justify going to war. The notion of imperialism is real. What to caller is pointing to is the vast network of belief and behavior that is operationalized once people think we have an becomes about race. When we think we are better than somebody because of race. And then we start treating it to skin color and religion and by sexualtion, gender and orientation. What we have to do is deal with it. He made an interesting point is that white people have killed more of each other than anyone else in the world. Debating with Rudy Giuliani about the Police Aggression towards African American people, he said, look. That is a small percentage. But the lion share of it is black people killing black people. Black on black crime. If you want integrated killing, have integrated communities. ,eyond that is that they say ok why are you obsessed with terror in america. In many people have died terror attacks and how many white on white crimes have occurred . Thousands. So if we are looking at statistics and crunch the numbers, the reality is that in america, white people have a but whychance of dying are we obsessed with muslim terror and not terror we see in our own midst. Charleston. The weaponize thing and the tiki torches. The president saying there was no different between antifascist people, who you can have critiques of, and those who notcarrying the banner and see as him in this country. Those are the issues we have to address. Host you write about the o. J. Simpson verdict as being a defining moment. Tell us a little bit why . And your phone call from o. J. Simpson after the verdict . I think oj did white and black people see different universes. N oj was found not guilty i didnt say he was innocent, not guilty. That is a legal concept. Black people were doing the Cabbage Patch or whatever was popular in the mid90s. Not becauseon is black people thought he was innocent, necessarily. But what they saw is that we have been victims of the criminal Justice System that has consistently turned us a blind eye. Have been ignorant of the calls and claims of black people for years and decades, more than a century. That this system is not fair. Prosecutors are often involved forays that are destructive black people. Not taking seriously our concerns about police. Not brought to justice. There is disparity. If black people do crack than they are put in jail for 20 years but if white people do cocaine, they take 2000 to even get them five years. So the disparity in terms of sentences and getting kids kicked out of school earlier and earlier and detention which becomes a feeder into jail only look at mass incarceration and all of that stuff, the reality is that there is a tremendous injustice in the criminal Justice System. We have been trying to say that. With oj. D it if black man had the same money to hire a lawyer to get the justice that white people and the rich in this country received. I did get a call from o. J. Simpson and i appeared on the today show and he said some things about oj that were disparity and i got called up. I was scared. I had a conversation for 45 minutes. A highly intelligent guy who offered to come to my class in it was a fascinating call and it revealed so much about race and perception of race in america. Moneyand he had the best to get the lawyers offices case. I dont the i said that directly to him on the phone. He said, do i call you reference, dr. . Earlier i had blackthere is nothing about o. J. Simpson but the bottom of his shoes. But when he said that, i said, you can call me mike. You dont even have to call me mr. Dyson. Guest i used to live in new britain. Caller you did . Guest i did. I was the director of the poverty project that try to think about sociologically challenging poverty. I had a great time there. Im fond of it. Host go ahead, barbara. Isler what im going to say shocking but i believe it shouldnt be in the darkness. My fouryearold granddaughter is a biracial child and she is beautiful and smart and i call her my bridge child. Born, i believe this is the way the future is going. A good bridge. She started prek this year. She came home and ask me casually one day in the fall, a nigger . Is i was shocked and i said, where did you hear that . And she said on the bus, going to school. These are fouryearolds. It is disconcerting that this is reaching down into the next generation. Are going to deal with this in this country. I dont. Guest it is a huge problem. 4yearold, a fouryearold and when i spoke earlier about the humanization of black people, the perpetuation of a legacy and inequality, division of skepticism and stereotypes, that stuff is handed down. It isnt genetic. It is a wordofmouth, a kid on a bus hearing the word. And hearing what comes with that and learning there is a difference between me and the other person. , equalracial person inheritance if it is black and white by racialism then it has an inheritance drive for both cultures but it isnt just genetic. Why is it that america, a biracial person is also seen to be black . Because the overwhelming reality is that, phones and genetics and determine ournt understanding of race, culture does. Society does. Systems that structures reward or discourage. That is the reality of race in america. Host here is tom on the republican line. Caller i would like the gentleman to understand that him being in the business of improving race relations, you need to understand human nature. As behaviorists, we like to be behaving like we do. Trying to overcome some basic psychology of humanity, which is hard to do. I, for example, i dont go to the city. People behave in a different way there in general. I dont want to be around muslims because they behave in a different way. I want to be around people who behave in the set of behaviors that i like, including music and ways of expression and leaving one another alone. So all of these things contribute to me being a behaviorists and some people might perceive that as racist. I thought we were going to a distract that psychology. In one sense, he is absolutely right but im sorry to disappoint our callers. Because it doesnt remove the possibility that race has crept in to crevices and cracks of your own ideology. You dont want to go to the city because you dont take that and you dont like muslims because they dont behave the same way it is a narrow understanding of the world in which we live because behavior tells you, genetically, in terms of evolution, that we have advanced circumstances and survived and drive when we are challenged. And with systems and ecology is in order, called upon to produce in the process of evolution, that is the product, set of conditions that give us a sense of our own destiny. It is the giveandtake between nature and nurture, geography and geology and the human organism and how we adapt. Sense, it may be an Adaptive Behavior to believe you are a cave your wrist because you like what you like and you like other people who like what you like. Doht work with music you like people who like oldschool Country Music . Hank williams versus garth brooks . Those decisions dont impact other peoples lives. But when you only want to deal with christians and you dont like muslims, it would be different if christians were to themselves and muslim sector themselves but it doesnt work. This leads to the mistreatment of muslims. Looking at stereotypes of who they are. We dont associate with them because they have not been invited into our homes and our minds. They have the same concerns that we do. So when we overcome natural affinities our caller presumes that his behavior rests upon his own likes and the likes are as natural as he brits but like the air you breathe, molecules and atoms are conditioned by where you live. You may breeze clearly with clean air if you live in suburbia. There are environments that have dust. Psychologyed by the and the culture in which we live. And we have the imprint of the prejudices. Then will be behaviorists the only determination of race and ecologically is in the heterosexual paradigm is if you can mate with that person and produce a child. Hindu, across muslims, christians, whether you read the holy koran or the art of motorcycle maintenance. In ans what behaviorists objective sense would tell us i think this is a reproduction of the public to of prejudice and i think like calls on like. The very basis of White Privilege is looking up folks who like who are like you. I am giving extra love to the white people that i know. The possibilities and the connections. Jobs are not found by looking in the paper anymore. , you haveo Network Affiliations and associations. People who interview people and say, i like you because you look like me. If you have a name like shin you may not get called back for a job then an Associates Degree who is white or uneducated. Tois a really tricky thing talk about just people i like. Budgetars the imprint of us and the imprint of how we have artificially imposed some entrance on others. Host you taught a class on why do you think it is that White America has readily accepted lack music and pop culture going back 70 years but has been able to accept other parts . Guest e. On say is accepted as long as she is singing. When she said, stop shooting us wait, wait, wait. It is on the video. Oh my god, now she is black. Now he is she has gone from an incredible artist to a black woman. We love the products of blackness but we dont like the people who produce the products. Lebron james is great, entertain us. Beyonce, entertain us. Dont demand that you are treated with equality. That the people who are not as rich as you is treated with respect. Jayz, talking about criminal justice . The culture entertains and ires host on the independent line. Caller good morning. Happy holidays. Know, i live in a city with a population of 12,000. There is no black community. Where have i go, 99 of the time, i am the only black person there. And i have no problem with white folks. Many people in my family are white. It is a wonderful thing. I was raised that way. But i believe many people are blinded by the whiteness. Beyond their own whiteness. They live it. And there was a conversation with some people i know and they say no, you know, black people do but not you. Youre different. And i was kind of hurt by it. He does know. I am just as black as the rest of them. I am kind of ok. Thatesnt change the fact when im not around and even sometimes when i am around, my blackness they are blinded by it. They say she is not really black. So we can say anything we want around her. Just go there it is. For more articulate than i could say it. She has no problem with white folks. Many white folks and her family. Many people dont see privilege because they live it. Story about aus fish who asks about water. You dont know water because you were in it. Defensiveness involved. Why are you lumping us together . Why do you judge us as one group . When it is illegitimate . But this is more broadly about coming to grips. Music, i did this by myself. You didnt build that, yes, i did. All a lot of help from these people. It is important because people dont want to share the bounty, when people were undeserving. Icanamerican and latinos the undeserving poor. Sense, White Privilege continues to be of the witching intopt which brings people cooperation. And from his book, he writes host lets hear from ellen in massachusetts. Go ahead. Caller happy holidays. Agree want to say that i with everything mr. Dyson has said. I am a White American. Upset thattionally the people that called an earlier and the things that they said. Against what he was saying. He voices things that ive felt for a long time, so well. And i think we need to be educated by him. Who are sor people intelligent and to have studied and lived it. Thent to say that this is first thing on tv that has made me feel better about all of the horrible things that trump and all the people who dont really. Elieve it has made me feel so horrible and i really want to support you. Died i hope we can come together some day and try to fix this criminal justice thing. All the things that divide us that should be uniting us. Thank you cspan so much for having mr. Dyson on. And i want to thank him for working so hard to educate people and realize that this this such a problem of what is going on today. With what is going on. Thank you, so much. Guest got bless you. God bless her. Multiple condolences to you for the loss of your son. What a horror and a tragedy and god bless you. And bless you for supporting the spirit of what im saying here today. I profoundly appreciate that. It is difficult for many White Americans to acknowledge some of the things and saying. A nation where fox news reinforces stereotypes and prejudices. And the neutrality of the rest of the media where they are just investigating and calling it like they see it. Is that for years and years we have colored our perception of the other. Not only the media but also the academy in the Broader Society or hollywood or television. So many institutions of american creativeont encourage self reflection that im calling for. And i want to thank helen for her wonderful remarks. All im asking White Americans to do is to think seriously about this. I dont come with a grudge. I am a longdistance runner. Batonying to hand off the. Host the president at maralago for the holidays. Saying the fake news refuses to talk about how big and strong our ace is. They report fake news. Despite only negative reporting, we are doing well. Make America Great again. Mr. Dyson. Ll for caller a lot of people, many of them in our cities. So what happened . Housing and the urban development and i worked for that department for 33 years so i know what im talking about. You are talking to one of the few guys that knows a small group of guys got together and d and went around the country and went to chicago and baltimore and boston and l. A. They bought the worst sections of land because it was the cheapest. And they financed and developed and to this day, manage those projects. , as mr. Dyson should know, there are 42 million black people in the country today. I dont know exactly are doing well. You educated blacks and Football Players and beyonce and barack obama doing well. They dont have to worry about racism. The 60 that are living in the projects, those concentrated areas, lets fastforward 50 years. They have been in those projects for 50 years. They pass on an empty apartment. Guest look, there is no doubt that Public Policy has been driven by racial consideration. What is interesting in his compelling analysis there is that black people burned down their own homes. They were burning down homes sold to them for higher the market value that were not worth much at all but for which they were being exploited. Paying for food in neighborhood calledwith civic core ghettos or slums that overcharge them. It was questionable with the sugar content so there was a specific exploitation of the vulnerable. The vulnerable pay more money for less. If you are living in a neighborhood, you may be paying more than whole foods. A. B. That is before mr. Bezos took over from amazon. The poor are often pay more, have a black or brown tax added to them, and it isnt selfdestruction, it is the destruction they are encouraged to commit, the harry carey emotionally and culturally that is fostered by a system that has sent them the signal they are disposable and dehumanization carries on in america. He talked about 1968 in the riots. What lasted that . Economic inequality. What lasted that . Thanks not investing in communities. What led to that . Metropolitan roofing was quickly put down, black people were sent off to white schools for a while. There was a resistance of my kind versus the other kind. Stop a lot of violence, whites against blacks. You are looking at 1968, the end of the process. Look at how white violets has shaped so much of the year of race in america and the possibility of existing in society. I was in detroit in 1967 when the urban rebellion occurred. Off . Id like people go because Police Brutality was listening. Body was the police were Occupying Forces in africanamerican communities and we were tired of it. The looting and burning seem to be self distracted but even more was the silence that black people had struck as a bargain for receiving the pivots of american society. Is it is a far more complicated problem. We have to talk about urban horror, and wee have to speak about the complicity of dominant whites culture and the perpetuation of legacy. Many of those rapidly segregated to this day. Host lets get a couple more calls. Kimberly in sun city, california, independent line. Caller i cannot thank you enough today. You have lifted my spirits. Your revolutionary justice and words are of power and i am elated this christmas eve. I want to thank you for your work and being here. See you in the streets. Guest thank you, my love. How kind of you. What a beautiful christmas gift. To either of the cleanse, love and support. You can imagine, given the calls this morning, it is more rare than i would like but more pervasive i am sure then more people recognize. I never get hopeless about it because i meet so many White Brothers and sisters who come up to me and all cultures who say, keep it going. Keep what you are doing. It is important. I take courage and consolation from your words and thank you for that christmas gift. Host michael dyson, the book is tears we cannot stop a sermon. To White America a Georgetown University print sermon to White America. Thank you. Guest i love this program. Host we want to open phones for the remainder of the program. It, is how to be part of the number for republicans, 202 7488000. Democrat Ambassador Haley 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. All others 202 7488002. First, we wanted to show you some recent decorations and festivities and activities with Holiday Themed programming, including the White House Christmas decorations and the National Tree lighting ceremony. President trump 1870, ulysses s. Grant signed legislation making christmas a federal holiday. And i sort of feel with doing that again. That is what is happening. Days of ourliest nation, americans have known christmas is a time for prayer, worship, gratitude, goodwill, peace and renewal. Melania and i are full of joy at the start of this lesson season, with thrilled to think of the people across the nation and continent, whose experience are lifted by the miracle of christmas. For christians, this is a holy season. The celebration of the birth of our lord and savior jesus christ. Story begins 2000 years ago with a mother, father, their baby son, and the most extraordinary gift of all, the gift of gods love for all of humanity. Whatever our beliefs, we know that the birth of jesus christ and the story of this incredible life forever changed the course of human history. There is hardly an aspect of our lives today that his life has not touched. Arts, user, culture, law, and i respect for the sacred dignity of every person everywhere in the world. Year at christmas time, we recognize that the real spirit of christmas is not what we have. It is about who we are, each one of us is a child of god. That is the true source of joy this time of the year. That is what makes every christmas merry. And that is what we remember todays beautiful ceremony, that we are called to serve one another, to love one another, and to pursue peace in our hearts and all throughout the world. Washington journal continues. Nost we continue with ope phones on any issue we had discussed or Public Policy. 202 7488001 for republicans. Democrats use 202 7488000. And for independents and others, 202 7488002. Inwill hear from gina alexandria, virginia. Democrat line. Caller good morning, cspan. Thank you for taking my call. I