[applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] b1. [inaudible conversations] thank you thank you thank you. The children and Junior Companies are what they see with the dancing drums instructors thank you thank you thank you b17. [applause] i am extending a warm welcome to everyone as we all know but dont forget our history and culture. So for our sponsor for tonight thanking them for 20 years where we can strategize and the family has really sacrificed a lot. And she is a shy woman but 20 years was no joke. I remember when you were in your basement and here we are. And here at the Metropolitan Church founded 1872 it was the oldest piece of land in the city continuous owned by black peopl people. [applause] at this time changing demographics we know that is no easy task to the pastor and ministerial staff. To all the ministry and members of the congregation let the church say amen. And it contributes to the caliber and character we are grateful with jazz and justice. Thanks for being our media partner we are also recorded tonight for cspan. [applause] so this has been a place for people to gather and talk with their discourse. Just a few of the notables who have spoken here to drop knowledge and insight. Anti lynching abolitionists to give his last reach from the pulpit. Titled the lessons of the hour. And here we are yet again to contemplate the same themes to deliberate the lessons of the hour. So by the analysis of two critical thinkers who were proven by the track record of storytellers that they were not deterred by the cacophony the aversion to history in the assertions of fake news. That is on the landscape today. [applause] so now we will introduce. [applause] my dear brother you love d. C. So much with those quality of life issues talking about whats up in washington d. C. [applause] anybody who knows they do not like a lot of praise and very uncomfortable with the enumeration of accomplishments. So, tanehisi. [applause] [applause] i will not embarrass you too much that they were serious about the issues with your research and urinalysis to exhuming those totems. [applause] it is my understanding you cannot hear me . Can you hear me now . It is my understanding and those who either raise their hands at that point or find their way to the floor. First and foremost the title of this book, we were eight years in power it seems to be after reading the book three separate different phenomenon. Obstruction, the Obama Presidency and your writing career. Can you connect those dots . Can you hear me . No. There we go. It isnt working now. [laughter] what a way to start. And it really shows that you write the book with the assumption from when we were eight years in power with black people as a collective group is incorrect. Talk about where the title comes from with the reconstruction era in South Carolina to be suddenly thrust into the coalition. All across the south and it was a moment is change. So before the civil war the majority of people were enslaved and were black so for the first time in the States History to have a real democracy. An older man attended the South CarolinaConstitutional Convention where a coalition of white supremacist of black people in the state with redemption happening all throughout the country. So he pleaded with the group assuming they had some degree of sensibility. We were eight years in power. But turning the state into a state with a functioning system rebuilding this why would strip us or disenfranchise those people coming out of enslavement . And the boys who recounted the story said that miller did not apprehend the White Supremacy but miller was arguing for a good negro government. So they were smart enough and capable enough for these good citizens to matter the model. So while i was working on the book fearing more than bad negro government was good negro government. They did not want them to succeed. All the things that he had done was against black people making the case for White Supremacy. And what they want to do is degrade you. With those accomplishments are arguments for what they want to do. And with the presidency of barack obama. [laughter] you are about to go to the presidency of barack obama with the relationship with the title of the book to see that as part of a familiar cycle. That was a great interruptio interruption. But when i look back it was premised on the same theory put your best face forward. To be scandal free dont be any of those things they associate negroes with. Going down to the very presentation as a harvard law review to be educated, beautiful kids to be the antiracist stereotype but then they were met of good negro government. So to be this antiracist model of the antagonism so during those eight years people dont realize just how shocking this is. At end point you could have pulled the opposition party. Literally not believing he was the president. So this could be presented with an actual person. But they dont believe in any factual way to be open to arguments you are a citizen of the United States but they believe it because they have to. So i saw that occurred again. And with that familiar cycle to run counter to the notion of the illusion that brought obama to power. The notion that obamas election was a part of the progressive Forward Motion that would probably indicate america has changed forever and probably not turned back. So all of the problems that history always wins. And with the election of barack obama i tried to explain how easy it was and how understandable. This was a moment as i say in the book to be on jeffersons plantation new in their heart of hearts they were smarter than washington. [laughter] [applause] i am not even being rhetorical. But jefferson is the father of balancing the budget to be fiscally responsible it was terribly irresponsible. It was an absolute mess. Black folks on their plantation, come on. This is the president . [laughter] so yes. You have the microphone. So with that rapture going into that moment so history reaches out to remind us exactly where we were and where we live. Many felt president obama should have spoke more directly and explicitly about race given what happened after his election but for eight years walking on i. C. E. And never fell. And to have a sure footing. [laughter] so the presidency represents the american people. I dont want to be harsh but Bill Parcells has a great saying that you are what you are but with hands and Nuclear Launch codes off to a dude that does diplomacy via twitter. Who was caught on tape bragging about sexual assaults. That is okay. You can be president and do that. If anything i am stunned. But actually having to go back and forth to be elected president twice. Not that i thought everything he did was correct but dealing with a difficult problem of the people who live in this country. [laughter] you can take one position if there is no value but it doesnt actually mean anything. But if you voted for barack obama, you have to understand there will be limits on what this country can actually do and what it will tolerate. People think the presidency is strong and persuasive and moral argument that can produce clear results. Where people anywhere on this earth with a strong moral feeling. I dont see examples of that demonstrated. So look at lincoln with the gettysburg address and with a beautiful piece of rhetoric but none of that would have happened with a group of slaveholders in the south did not go crazy and thrust into a position and the motive at the end of the day that there was a motive beyond that moral idea and that is a recurring theme to see progress for black people to see that all terrier motives. That is rarely if ever moral. Talk about reconstruction. And the third reference to the title of the book that you were unemployed. Eight years later you are not. [laughter] so the Obama Presidency help to jumpstart yours and other black riders careers . When i was writing this book through my own personal journey and looking back and i am in places like this. You see what i have to say or read the book, i have to remain very presentation could have gone a different way. Those eight years were different from the preceding 12. So to put those accolades on you. To take too much credit. And to say what you stand on. I didnt feel i was the smartest person. I was not raised to think and it was the election. To make things more possible. To toil away. Talking about going into public relations. With several awards in the house. So it has to be understood. But during those hard times there are at least two people in this room that are helpful to you. One of them your father. Stand up 17. [applause] and your mother and your wife the 17. [applause] what was the particular way she could encourage you when you were seriously considering you needed to find another form of occupation . So with a brief preamble you are who you are. With 30 years of your life people dont stand up and clap. It is an odd transition. We probably should be not talking about this. [laughter] im sorry, what was the question . [laughter] with this book you made a deliberate and conscious effort with baldwin because you felt one of the things that was most important was the beauty how would you accomplish that . You dont. So with the old cliche shoot for the stars. So it is like how the world came to be. That critical event which i stewed over 15 years angry and just off pissed off long before cell phone video and to accept that community at howard university. And writing some things about prison the president at the time some of those were not kind. Which is my job. And i stand by all of it but myself own rang and i looked it was a really weird number. So i didnt answer. The message said this is not a prank it is the white house. Come down to d. C. Tomorrow to meet with the president. I said okay. I had a feeling about doing this or not. Im going with this heavy artistic impulse. To write with this and i have this on my mind i go to the white house it is me and a bunch of other journalists and they have assigned seating . And you have to sit where they tell you to sit you dont get to choose so my name is here and obama is there. I knew what this was. Say it to my face. [laughter] i wasnt fooled but i was shook. He comes in and shakes hands with everybody i cannot really say what i was thinking so they ask some really weak question and he answers it. But he didnt say my name right. I saw what you wrote the other day. It was like terribly unfair. But it really felt like that. And then to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. To say im not shocked. They think they will pump you that is what i was thinking. You can see all this. And it is a strange number can you come down tomorrow . So i told my wife i am going down again. I am not shook this time of mac. [laughter] and what happened when he met kennedy . You got it. [laughter] i got on the train i was listening to that joint all the way. And it is raining out there to catch this in traffic and i am late. I get out of the cab totally inappropriately dressed. It is raining. Are you coming . But i get there it is a room full of white people except for him. Already in motion. In my seat is across from him. I am ready now. I am not shook. [laughter] he says it is nice of you to join us. So i sit down now i am looking across the board. And remember i dont see myself like that. Im at the Employment Office in harlem. I am watching him talk about you kind of a, foreign policy, environment and tax cuts. With a display of brilliance in the black part says get it left laugh get ready to do what i got to do. So my time comes. So i am overheated. So hold up. And to say yes. Please. I cannot tell you my reaction. Oh my god. You will not beat the president. So thinking about how fortunate it was to be there to take into the highest office in the country. To say this is the moment. And to give me the friendly advice but just go to google fire. They didnt quite get there. But i said i thank you can do it. If anybody can, you can. [applause] to be drafted into freedom and democracy with their more individual so and fled from that. That is one of the more difficult things for critics to understand . Because we dont give ourselves enough credit. One of the big admonishing things dont allow them. So wherever your curiosities go. So that led me back to my people and my community. So i came to understand. Because africanAmerican History does not exist over here. [applause] but they dont get that. This is the colors of the rainbow and this is one color. But if you are attempting to study American History you fundamentally misunderstand. [applause] i dont mean that rhetorically but literally with the onset of the civil war that the 4 million enslaved blackpool where the largest concentration of wealth in the country that you think that is a side note that you dont get it. That you dont get it. Perspective of writing, i dont want to say that but i will say africanamerican culture is rich. A certain crop of riders the notion is we have to go to them we cannot learn to talk like them or do what they do then we cant really advance. That is not your culture that isnt what i knew. That wasnt my heritage. Just like any writer have to come you are. I think folks get that now but they didnt. In the background of why you did that was how you were raised. Your father occupy the world of black nationalists that you left nationalism but it never left you . That is how i was raised. My name. But in order to expand or frankly go out and fight i had to know more than that traditio tradition. I was not raised in a particularly religious house. Forgive me. [laughter] that somebody had died for your sins. I am so sorry. [applause] i can only speak to who i am. But i was raised with that idea. But i had to see thing. I had to get that because honestly i wouldnt understand even my own people. And you talk about those riders looking for the individuals said mr. Coates essentially giving more power while looking for those areas of Common Ground presumably by you. How do you respond . I am not interested. [applause] i leave it to thomas to find the gray area. I will just use his name i will use his name and leave it to him but this is war. There is no place for that it is not my expectation any jewish person would find Common Ground with the nazi. [applause] so if that gives white power okay then more power to them but that is not where i come from. I come from a particular tradition i use that to see as much truth that they can in the world. I dont see Common Ground with sexes or islamic folks or homophobes. [applause]. The condition latera senator she abandoned the scholarship for rhetoric and became a u. S. Senator after serving the nixon administrati administration. This goes back to the earlier question. Moynahan is brilliant, but there is a discrepancy when people have power and dont have power. Part of the privilege and the disadvantage of being white in this country is you dont have to no black people but if you are black you want to go anywhere then you better know white people. Why is it when white people get in a room and is analyzing and doing this then there are no other black people in the room then they seek to find a Common Ground. Theres a way people presume they are too smart. Moynahan ultimately did that. Even before he became a senator, you can find in his notes writing to nixon, urging or at least raising the issue that they are in fact mentally inferior. This is like the this is like the creme de la creme and you cant see it. They didnt have to have he should have shrink from that. I dont know, its just a different time. At the time of the report that you found which never realized at that point pledge of the conditions had to do with empowering. They said they must have jobs even if you have to take them from women and i thought that was interesting because there is another way of formulating that thabut that wasnt the formulatn that he used. Are we feeling it through today as i is because having been like myself is it possible and will not end with trump what do you mean by that . There are a suite of things you say the most cogent to that is there is an idea in the country of political noise and things that are not prescribed in the wall for the reasons of fear and the voters and the electorate they do not violate. Theres been a long history past they stepped over the line and believed that was too far. Trump has proven that that was not too far. We are being saved in many ways by his incompetence and ignorance. [applause] but it disguises how dangerous this could really be. If there were somebody for instance, and there is, somebody should legalize and julie knows what they are doing and how to use the government in an effective way, that is a terrible, to the future. And i dont know how that is not the realization that we dont have to do any of this anymore. He got elected. Thats the sense. I can do whatever and become president. Its this notion where they see if im twice as good i can become president. And there is a counter notion from trump i dont have to do anything. I can be twice as bad and the president. I think we are going to suffer from that one for a while. I awhile. I am about to relinquish the microphone. You can start whining about one of the microphones i have a couple more questions. On reservations and on my president was black, you combine the reporting with analysis. It goes back to the point i was making about moynahan as a kind of intellectual move and then he didnt have to meet the people he was writing about, and that is always dangerous. I find i am my best when i have to counter or balance whatever systemic analysis i see from a distance with what has actually happened is a really important check. By doing that, you put yourself in that category of public intellectual and become a reporter. You end up a book by suggesting that even fewer have come to the end or youll be studying it in other ways using new tools. Are you concerned that you have become aware that you might become a public intellectual written about who interprets for the society of whats going on among black folks for having no significant effect on the actions . Ive always thought about that but i point out that they didnt publish that a say in the news. He published it in the village voice. You are if you are a writer, journalist, you are interpreting the reality for other people. If your subject is black people and if at any moment it becomes a case that large numbers of people decide they are interested in what you have to say thats just what is going to happen. It is a measure of our for instance if large numbers of people decided that they wanted to see what he had to say, i dont even have to say that. The majority of people that read crisis of a black intellectual or not that white. Its just numbers. There arent that many of us in the country. At some point, that is going to be the case and it is always true. I think it speaks to something deep and true. [applause] have about black people. The majority are not black. I think that it is important that you not let that interpretive rule dominates your perspective but you dont find yourself out there shoveling and dancing for people that you dont want i dont worry about who comes to read. I want to make sure that my motives are in the correct place and whoever comes after that im not concerned with that. [applause] thank you for your wonderful writing over the years. A lot of your work deals with examining institutions whether it is housing authorities or what have you and how policies affect black votes and their ability to acquire wealth of obtaining justice in some respects, but i was curious if you have an account or perspective about the black family itself as an institution and not something that is acted upon, but something that has the ability to affect black outcomes and if so, is there anyway to talany way totalk about that wig a black conservative frameworks or the politics of respectability . [applause] im going to be that person. The first book the beautiful struggle which is all about family, all about fosters, its all about everything you just said. I dont think that theres anything wrong fo with that tals about the importance of family and anything wrong with talking about the importance of having as many kids as you can, for people that are interested in children being there. I think the problem comes in when you suggest that is the reason in any way, in any way why every nickel of wealth by people and white people have a dollar. When you start trying to explain broad systemic issues in that sort of way, when you try to explain this incredible discrepancy of black men incarcerated to some miniscule number wha would you say thats because we dont have fathers around is a suite of questions you immediately go to. The American Government is not god. But it collects in taxes and 80 uses them in a particular way and when that weight is being used specifically to remove wealth through the communities and documents throughout the book, they tend to be some effects and when that happens literally for centuries there will be some effect of the agencies and i think a private conversation that you have with your children and i had with my son and my wife had its very important. Never forget what they took from you. You just cant lose sight of that, not as an excuse but as an accurate statement of what actually happened. [applause] thank you so much for being here today. Im not going to be as [inaudible] my question is its the way you write you spoke earlier about how you admire james baldwins writing, but there is something about the way you write and present the argumentation. When i read about your life it was interesting as a researcher in a lot of ways and that comes about when you write you present a lot of facts and its very clear on where you are going in as a professional when i need workspaces they are referencing the work saying i am playing with these issues and they are talking about it in a way that as you said earlier they may see a perspective they didnt see previously comes wit to the quen directly is have you examined what do you think about the way that you present argument for the way in which you write and tell the stories that make them appealing and interesting to the people in a way that maybe others have not . The rule nothing forward as you cant ask a question longer than mine. [laughter] [applause] i do, i do. Its okay, it is a good question. [laughter] i do. I think about how many things i read and i asked myself, somebody will make a conclusion and i will say wait, how do you know thats like whats behind that and i go through the same process when im writing. I will joke. So if i tell you this country was built on slavery you wouldnt have an america without slavery, i wouldnt just say that and keep going. Heres why. And its always very important to say heres why. You can make what would sound like extreme statements but as long as you have the research and citations to prove it, thats very important and it doesnt mean people would automatically agree. They have their own reasons. So thats the most important thing. Youve written about many issues near and dear to my heart, reparations, criminal justice, barack obama, the list goes on and on. But then theres the issue that deals with unresolved issues since the time since the end of the civil war and issues that are beginning to become called 2. 0 [inaudible] spent over 40 years in prison and a Counterintelligence Program only you i feel can attempt this issue and put it front and center. Are you going to do it . [laughter] [cheering] [applause] talk about your marching orders. [laughter] probably not. [laughter] im sorry. The problem is, i can do what i can do and what i can get to. Theres so much. Ive got to talk to you about this [inaudible] i cant say anything. [laughter] there is so much. Trump did this rollback of Birth Control production and i think that like black and brown women in a state like texas or down southsouth, you know what i mead i think about how one could just with eyes that in the same way that i just with eyes housing. I think about all of the servicewomen and Public Employees in wisconsin when they destroy the unions and how one could historicizing that. I think about like guns. Any relationship between the nra and when did the nra becomes [inaudible] i dont know, i dont actually know but i think about like gun violence and how i could historicizing that. These things take a year or year and a half of research to do each one, they dont have to do anything. I was working on something. Having to track down and he said it would be small. You dont have to do any of that. This is how evil wins because you dont have to do the work to be good to be right, to be on point it takes so much like this political presidency. I would have to dig into it in ways that people for years said they just dont have to. They just toss it off. They dont have a fact checked or think about anything. Forgive me if this is important and im sorry but its an important thing. Im in the middle of this thing written in the New York Times about me, and in the article im going to say this. An article that said selfmade millionaire and long time [inaudible] [inaudible] i would like to be a selfmade millionaire. Im not. I am not and they didnt even check it. I would love to be black in harlem but i dont actually live in harlem right now. I wrote them and sai in and sait to correct that. I dont need to send you Financial Statements or where i live but you didnt check that at all. You know what they told me . They said since you cant provide Financial Statements which record prove why would you write us saying that . I said wait if i write to the liberty in atlanta can say he has five kids out of wedlock that he doesnt claim they will say where are the receipt you get to do this to me like you get to be wrong and thats the story that i go through over and over and over again. So, what we need is more people. We need more people. [applause] i get so much why are you not covering this. Like i can sort of toss this off and just sort of spit it out. What we need is more people to write. Im not going to get to harlem, you must know this as a lawyer you can take on everything. You just cant. You try. [laughter] lets think about being writers, like we need more people. [applause] given the history i found a selfmade hardcover some two. But we are running out of time so you were the first one. I read your book this weekend and it is fantastic. The First Casualty of the fake newsfake news,so i want to hear. Without getting any proof of the remarks when it came up later the theory of the good and evil government and attempting to appear a certain way without actually checking the results i found that so upsetting. Probably the most exciting moment i had in the administration because here you have a really profound way and they just sold her out. I have no other way to do that and i dont want to hear it wasnt my decision, i wasnt involved. The buck stops with you. So, i when i talked to her, her rendition of it was i just got a phone call. And i thought about that dude that arrested henry louis gates. You are the last question. [applause] make it good. Im going to try. I would be interested to know how your experience is for so many for the last hundred years its been a really life changing experience and need some kind re conceptualized goal. Didnt do the same for you and if so, how . It might be unpredictable. I didnt realize how work like what it means that america is 400yearsold and the ability to actually resist White Supremacy. I was shocked to get over here and the black folks in france would say we book to you. They have this way of talking about themselves like we dont have anything to gather, we do this or that. You know what i mean. And they look it up, like we are on it and thats a real thing. There is no for instance little stuff that we take for granted. But a black church, you can find mosques or like going back to richard allen, the naacp, theres a brother organizing something and it was based off the naacp and he said that unlike 2007. It was a different space and ive got to tell you i gained a lot of respect for the political Organizational Skills of black people in this country granted we have the advantage of having been here over a much longer period of time, but it really changed that for me in terms of the vocabulary that i have. Speaking of the vocabulary, how did that improve your french . [inaudible] [laughter] whats up with that . [laughter] ladies and gentlemen, tanehisi coates. [applause] if this program is of interest here are suggestions for further watching. The author of the National Book awardwinning stamp from the beginning and Msnbc Chris Hayes wrote a column. Both of these offers have been covered by booktv on cspan and you can watch them and booktv. Org. Type in the authors name as the book in the search bar to watch the programs online. Every month for the past 20 years one of the nations top np nonfiction authors has joined us on our program for a fascinating three hour conversation about their work. Now, just for 2018, in depth is changing course. Weve invited 12 fiction authors onto the set. Offers of historical fiction, National Security thrillers, science writers, social commentators like colson whitehead, brad meltzer, Geraldine Brooks and many others. Their books have been read by many throughout the country and around the world. So, if you are a reader, plan to join us for in depth on booktv. Its an Interactive Program first sunday of every month that lets you call and talk directly to your favorite authors, and it all kicks off sunday, january 7 at noon. To stellar interviews in one day. New students asked hard questions about Immigration Reform in the dream act. Ruskin students to choose a provision of the is constitution and create a video. The competition is open to all middle and high school students. 100,000 in cash prizes will be awarded. The grand prize of 5000 will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. The deadline is january 18. Cspan, or history unfolds daily. 1979, cspan was created as a