Transcripts For CSPAN2 Authors On Race In America 20161009

Theres also a question answer please, to microphone so we can all hear your intelligent question. Do make your questions a question. [laughter] and politics and prose we are dedicated to generating dialogue in our community through literary events every night of the year, here in our flagship connecticut store, other busboy imports locations and other venues. Tomorrow night we night we are hosting Kareem Abduljabbar for his newest nonfiction work, thursday we are hosting the author of the makings of donald trump. Please check our website for more information. Tonight we are honored to bring you a Crucial Panel of voices on race in america. This is a necessary difficult conversation and we are honored and humbled to have it at politics and prose. April is our moderator and the person who brought all these great minds together. It was White House Correspondent and Washington Bureau chief through american urban network. Her white house report is the First National radio broadcast rectally from the white house. Through it she has developed a devoted audience who depend on her for honest and challenging reporting. She is the author of the bestselling the presidency in black and white and the forthcoming mothers and race in black and white. Aprils 30 year journalism has been devoted to truth telling and an unwavering dedication to never accepting easy answers. Please help me welcome april. [applause]. Thank you so much. Can everyone hear me . Can everyone hear me . Okay. Well let there be sound. Good evening and thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule and washington d. C. Tonight and for those of you at home to discuss something that is a very impactful and important right now. Issues of race and pleasing, lawenforcement and the community. Tonight on the table we will discuss all of lives to discuss black lives in blue lives. We started out the summer in louisiana with the fatal please involve shooting of a black man. Then we saw the aftermath of a Fatal Shooting of a man who had a registered gun in his position possession. Then more shootings occurred. This time in dallas, texas in retaliation for what happened in the other cities. It was a still very sad. A Police Officer was injured and five were tragically killed. And louisiana, shots ring out again. Three Baton Rouge Louisiana Police Officer skill. And just today, president obama was in baton rouge, louisiana and he met with the families of alton met with the families of alton sterling and also those Police Officers and families who were killed. Not long after that we heard about cities like milwaukee, please involve shootings there. And so on. And just just down the road in the city where i call home and the professor calls home in baltimore, we see no convictions paid six Police Officers charged in the death of freddie gray. They released a scathing report against the Police Department in matters of race but acknowledge the city Police Department [inaudible] these problems of tension in the community and police is farreaching. Here is a fact. I talked with the head of homeland security, jay johnson recently. He said that when theres a problem between communities and lawenforcement, when trust is broken it becomes a National Security issue. Once again, when trust is broken between the community and police, at the National Security security issue. You ask why . Because the Police Department asked us to Say Something if we see something. So the trust is broken if there is a breach. I want to to introduce my great panel this evening. Next to me is michael, a law professor from the university of baltimore. He is an author and International Political consultant. A civil rights, human rights and constitutional expert. His latest book, ghost of jim crow. We also have eddie, please raise your hand. He is currently, you see them on tv all day today. He is currently is currently the chair of the department of africanamerican studies at the william s professor of religion and africanamerican studies at Princeton University in his latest book, democracy and how laced race still slaves the american soul. Also with us today, the esteemed and one and only who has long been recognized for her progressive and insightful observation. She is a labor and colorful commentator. Her latest book is, i will be better off. Cant wait to wait to hear what she had to say. We also have victoria, she is an amazing woman. She has written so many novels and you wonder why the novelist is here, because she has a book out called stand your ground. Stand stand your ground was an naacp image Award Winning book for 2016. She has done so Much Research on the issue of stand your ground, lets give all of our panelist a great round of applause. [applause]. We have one person who is stuck in new york and she sends her apology, joy reed whose book is still on sale here. She is supposed to be hash tagging and sending me a question today so you can hear her voice at least through social media. One thing were going to ask you all today, as, as you are sitting here theres only one thing we ask of you. If youre in the conversation and you are enjoying the conversation, how many of you are on social media and have your phones, i know we told you to turn him down or off. Turned them down and mute it, i want you to bridging the divide. Hashtag bridging the divide. Thats what thats what this is about, its about solution. When we talk about solution and we talk about the critical issue of policing, so many of us are young and we think it is just been happening the last couple of decades or years, yeah, here some a mans going on over here. It is not an issue that just happened. It is an issue that was with jim crow and slavery. I would like to thank politics and prose for having us. I want an cspan for televising it. Im happy to be here with our panelist said thank you for keeping us in line tonight. Im happy to provide sump Historical Perspective on this. In fact the word patrolman dates back a couple hundred years of course to slavery time. That was was when individuals were hired to catch a slave. That is when patrolman comes from. There were patrols to catch fugitive slaves. This issue goes way back in terms of police, community relation. I think doctor king said it best during the dark days of the Civil Rights Movement when he was very discouraged and he said the arc of a more universal law but it bends towards justice. When i think about race in america, criminal justice issues, education issues, economic issues, i think about that arc and how it has a bent toward justice but has been a long one. Quebec to the original document, the declaration of independence. We hold these truths that we are selfevident that all men are created equal. A lot of people would say thats a selfevident line not a selfevident truth line not a selfevident truth if you look at what transpired. I wish thomas jefferson, i wish the founders had left jeffersons original paragraph that he wrote in the declaration. I wish they had left it in for the final one. He critiqued the International Slave trade. He criticized king george for kidnapping individuals from a distant land whenever him. I wish the founders wouldve left that in the final declaration. Who knows what impact out a pad on the Abolitionist Movement for 100 years. I am not focusing on the negative, i recognize as many of you do that there have been tremendous changes and progress in this country over that long arc. We have ended slavery, we ended jim crow at the public accommodation we have been elected and reelected our first black president. This is monumental. This is progress. This legislation we have passed antidiscrimination legislation hasnt made a huge difference and many minority families in this country. Let me give give you an example of my own history. My data mail goal both volunteer. Who is your uncle . You may have heard of him, he is one of the longestserving in the country, first africanamerican federal commissioner. Somebody who fought for civil rights in this country until he died in 1998. The judge when he was it you lost in 1952 he won more oral advocacy awards than any other student in the history of the law school. Where he won the prize three judges were there, one, john w davis the had a law firm on wall street. One of the most successful at that time and also two months later he would represent the board of education against linda brown and thurgood marshall. John w davis who im sure did not vote for to win the award, two other judges do, john w davis one up to the three finalists and asked them to congratulate them and asked them to come an interview at his firm in new york. My uncle got neither a congratulatory handshake nor an offer to interview. 30 years later i graduated from that same institution in 1982. I had 1982. I had no honors like my uncle and i graduated thank you lottie. There is a reason for that. We pass laws, antidiscrimination laws. We encourage policies and practices from corporations to open up, to be more inclusive of women and racial minority. Many families have been impacted by this. Progress doesnt mean postracial. I recognize the progress but it doesnt mean postracial. When you look at what is going on today, the going on today, the inequities that exist today they are widespread, 18 1 in terms of wealth accumulation between black and white families today, 18 1 and that is worse than what existed in south africa. I know you want to interrupt me. Thank you. Thank you. Will come back to you because will have audience questions and will now lets go to you at a. Talk to me about the long arc of issues of justice when it comes to the department of justice. They have been issuing pattern and practice statements and studies, talks to me about what were seeing and how it relates historically and to today as it relates to policing. Let me first thank politics and prose and thank you april for this important conversation. Particularly in this moment. What i want to do is kind of narrow the scope of the question. And perhaps begin with what will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Current Commission this is in the aftermath of the riot, the uprisings, rebelling, however we want to describe them. And they tend to account for why American Cities were exploding across the city. The Current Commission report came out with a study that in its initial form was more radical than in its final form. In effect there were two americans and at the heart of the conflict was this relationship with the police, underneath and there were a host of interesting recommendations. Some more progressive than others. Within that report there were a host of recommendations from policing. And we continue to see that. The Current Commission report to milwaukee, what have we seen . We continue to see this antagonistic relationship between africanamerican communities and Police Departments. The department of justice has been pushed, not on, on, we dont want to just do celebrate those but we they have been pushed to do their job so many ways by politics of disruption. Black lives matter, and all of its instantiations have insisted that criminal justice be on the front line. It is precisely the aftermath of the murder of Trayvon Martin. In the aftermath of the deficit murder of Michael Brown and the doj report and the fbi and investigation and of course what they found and what they didnt find, the officer guilty of any crime but they said that the Police Department and ferguson had engaged in a kind of predatory policing that was militaristic to the community. They did it in ferguson, cleveland, newark, seattle, should i keep on going. No keep on going. All of these reports on policing. So much so on policing. So much so that you read this in the news at the seattle tried to hold the city hostage. The judge stepped in and said you need to ask with regards to policing in that community and the union responded will do x if we get a raise. I mean thats fascinating. And then the doj just recently, this is really important filed a brief in the federal case around bail for folks who cannot afford it. For some people to pay like six bail prices and if they couldnt they be in jail. Think of it sandra bland would be alive today if she had 500. Whats interesting about it is that it is progress but its progress as a result of a politics of disruption. This is a result of young people and activists and grassroots organizers putting their their bodies on the line, literally chaining themselves in the lobbies of union halls in manhattan. Interrupting the brunch in manhattan of the top one tenth . Interrupting your commute to work. Home from work, forcing the issue of criminal justice. Forcing the issue in a way that goes beyond the claim of just simply Community Policing code, answers policing, but talking about decriminalization misdemeanors. You can just breathe in the United States break the law. In so many ways. What would it mean to decriminalize so many of the misdemeanors that you reduce the encounter in the contact between pleasing communities. What does it mean to get rid of bales and all the violent crime. What is it mean to decriminalize poverty . So to begin to push the issue, we see from the Current Commission report and now we see that change has happened, not from the beltway out, but from struggles and communities around particular issues. From the outside in. So as we celebrate the progress, we need to acknowledge project mia in chicago. Black Youth Project 100, the train finishers, fight for 15, all of these grassroot organizers who are lifting up the banner of democracy in a moment where we see the most vulnerable under serious attack by the state and its representatives. Its very interesting. Thank you so much for that. Its. Its insightful to listen to your wisdom and understand what is that the foundation of whats going on. Theres some economic peace to this. I want to go to ferguson, ferguson of all places i really try to change the dynamics of what happened there. After the Michael Brown case. We understand they try to raise taxes, to reform the system. And people, does that that work . Does that work after you have a system where theyre focusing in on certain groups and getting revenue from those groups, giving citations just to those groups they can get more money in their coffers for budgetary needs. The ferguson situation trying to read text is from poor who are ready been hit. You have people who you cannot afford to register your car so you leave it in your driveway. This means youre not driving your car, however you get citations for the car that is sitting in the driveway. After you get one you get more than one and then the next thing you know you over 1500 which you did not have. If you had 1500 had 1500 you would registered your car. And then you are arrested for having essentially unpaid warrants and then your spending time in jail. The department of justice found that the way they find people was racially biased and extremely unfair. Ferguson is no different from any number of small places. Lets look at another thing that would happen this week. The judge ruled that their system of elections for the board of education was unfair. Thus they defended the election. Essentially they like people now on an atlarge basis. Three of the Seven Members of the board of education are africanamerican. Where ferguson is much more heavily africanamerican. If they did district elections there before, at at least four of seven africanamericans on the school board. I mean a majority, it would mean that you would be able to do some of the things that ferguson was not willing or able to do. If you look at ferguson and you look at it as a microcosm, you look at the fine piece which is connected to the differential economic status that africanamericans experience in our society. You talk about the Current Commission and the Current Conditions in which africanamerican people live. As lions we have counted since the 1950s the plaque on player rate has been twice that of the white. The poverty rate in the Africanamerican Community is still, at this point about 24 . 40 of our young africanamericans live in poverty. This is more than weve seen in a long time. That number has actually picked up slightly. You mentioned the wealth data and wealth data is astounding. Today is black womens equal payday. That means if a black woman wanted to earn the same as a white man had earned, she would have to work until today, auguse woman there equal payday is april 12 or 13. A latina woman would be working until october. These are some of the inequalities that are basically hardwired into our system. Not to mention the differential levels of homeownership. Not to mention mention the fact that africanamerican homeownership took a real big hit during the great recession. The africanamerican homeownership level dropping. We can virtually, any piece of data that you look at shouts out these inequalities. What is it matter . Wealth matters, first Road Policing because you have something to bail someone out with. Talking about pale, if you have a home you can use the home. More than half of africanamericans dont have a home. Wealth matters in terms of access to education. We know that those zip codes also have better schools correlated with them. So then it becomes a bridge to whether you going to go to college or not. I recognize here in the audience of who is the president of the district of columbia and this is his third time as an hvac president. I have the honor of doing it once and the reason that i mentioned udc and the colleges that our kids are coming out of school, help me if im wrong, coming out of school with five figures of debt. Black kids with the most twice as much as white kids. Then when theyre coming out if they cant find jobs many say why should i go to college . I can find a job. So we see that economic differential literally hardwired into our system. A basic unwillingness to confront them because when we confront them we have to ask, doctor king said theres 40,000,000 poor people in america and you have to ask what kind of society creates 40 million poor people . He said you see, you have to ask who owns the oil, who owns the iron or. If the word world is two thirds water wash we pay water bills . So thats i can work but the fact that thats what king talks about, socialism, distribution, but the, about the division of wealth in the division of labor that is something is something that middleclass folks, black and white are unwilling to confront. Nobody wants to share their wealth. You are so true and what youre saying. We understand that of doctor king and Bobby Kennedy would have lived they would have dealt with issues of poverty together, not just black poverty but overall poverty. This is all connected, this is cyclical and its still all plays into the issue of policing , once again everything is connected. I want to go back to something eddie said. He said that the Wannabe Police situation that happened in florida and that was the George Zimmerman shooting a Trayvon Martin in the center brown plant issue which is really real. I want to go to sandra bland, talk us about the issue of sandra bland, so many people dont understand. There 23 states. For so i want to thank you april and everybody for having me on this panel and politics and prose because im a novelist, i make this stuff up. Oh no, no. So i love what eddie said. For the politics of disruption. The reason the reason i brought that novelist because we do not know about the sandra ground of law. And i researched it extensively. But i found was that law gives people the right to become police. So so not only do we as africanamericans have to deal with the 750,000 police, and im not saying theyre bad, just send theres bad, just and theres 750,000 police out there. But the sandra ground law allows people to become policemen. To carry out justice on the street. We saw this with george the mermen and other. Exactly. So i wrote the book because so many people did not know the law. One of the things that i know a lot about from readers is that they did not want to read a Nonfiction Book about all of the facts. So i figured if i kind of of sugarcoated it and put it right inside the story filled with drama and all of that i would get the point across about the facts that sandra ground is a law, legal law to kill. Its illegal license to murder. It seems to only work when our boys are on the ground. When i was doing the research for this novel i found out that about when it is a white person using stand your ground versus a black person it works in about 17 of the time. Black to white works less than 1 . This was justified by two different studies. So that is whether it is a stand your ground to state where there are 23 states that have a stand your ground loss. The first law came into thousand five in florida, so when i wrote the novel i decided not to put it in florida because i knew most people thought thats not me, you dont have to worry about that. Thats for seven people. So i put the book in pennsylvania. Reviewers were saying to me i cant believe that victoria made a mistake like that and they researched it. Theyre like oh my god. Its 23 states. Think about instruments of tor toor and what happened at the level of production. With black bodies, with with regard to coal and, the technology that led to the cities like birmingham. Theres not only the digital divide, and technologies that memorefficient, their surveillance. That participate in a certain kind of policing. So whenever i hear, in response to the question of criminal justice, more police training, it means more money for a certain kind of surveillance, that we have to be very cautious about. Another conversation we can have, many africanamericans, not involved in technology, our children, are not going into that segment and that segment of society and you step in there, 93,000 dollars a year and they are not there yet. Thats another issue. My question is, as follows, what would i say are the most significant affects of the voter i. D. Laws, and what would you say are the most important laws. Im calling you. Your family. Very good question. Voter i. D. , Voting Rights, is at, the critical aspect of civil rights today, as well as he he n connol mix. If you look at the voter i. D. Laws goes back threeyears ago, to the Shelby County Supreme Court decision. We add Voting Rights act passed in 1965, people died, and they were beaten, like congressman lewis, in order to see this Voting Rights act pass. The legislation we have ever had. Four years after its passage, so what happened threeyears ago . You had a Supreme Court decision, 54, Shelby County, which struck down a portion of the Voting Rights act, the coverage portion of the Voting Rights act. Why is that significant . Because this coverage portion was dealing with states that had a history of discrimination, in voting. As soon as the Voting Rights act was struck down. Most of these states, these states would say its not discriminatory and we could debate that. So why is it so significant . Because you will of these states passed it, and, recently, you had three federal judges. You dont need to listen to had i gone game both them. They say they have a a discriminatory intent. They were all passed by republican legislatures, in response to the reality, that most blacks and that my moreties , vote democratic today. Thats a result of course, support for the civil rights legislation, and other things that have happened. Once again, its Important Note that some of the things that states have done, more than one form the of i. D. Not having to have an id but one for form, and against students, and, who are if you go for them, you live there, and, nine months of the year and you should be able to vote. But if it says you live in dc you may not be alowfed to vote. So, students and often on the elderly is important to note. In addition to all the other sneaky stuff it does. Because, you can still register to vote. You still have 30 days. So make sure you, at some level have your act together, because that is critical election. The police, mr. Trump has invoiked the second amendme and i am end up with more of the laws. But some of the other things, closing polls early. Changing sunday voting. And all those that oppose, get a preacher, and walk the folks from the church to the voting booth and theyre trying to cut that the back. So we have to be vigilant, and make sure, that the Lawyers Committee for civil rights have set up hotlines. Its our responsibility that we vote and take other people to vote. And make sure that they can start reversing. If a your concern to the board of election supervisor, if you want to vote or register, you have to, and theyll be able to help you. This one is from kenny, how would you respond to somebody who advocates for stand your ground . I just dont understand, another thing when you were just talking about, it, and guess who pushes these laws, and, the n. R. A. That was a shocker to me. But, it was. I just thought it was people in a room sitting around saying okay, but its the n. R. A. , who is pushing it in each and every state and go back and find out whats going on in their states. Im a country boy, in mississippi. And, i want to resist the conflation of hunting culture, with stand your ground. So it is true, in the south, guns are a part of everyday life. Theyre not framed, in the way they frame them. A set of assumption thats inform a alec based piece of legislation. Quoting malcolm x, the future prepares for it today. What are ways or do you have advice in terms of black youth can engage in forms of political disruption. What do you mean . Well there are different forms, for me, in terms of more radical thing, meeting with political officials to get antidiscrimination n. A. A. C. P. Orinstitution beautiful struggle. I would like to give that to a woman who is president of a college. Thank you for the question. Let me give a shout out to black lives matter. Those young people have [applause] they changed the terms and conditions of discourse, and they have forced us to look at the policing issues, and, he ran for mayor in baltimore, was, he didnt just talk about policing, and economic issues. What i want to encourage young people to do is to vote. Do not believe that it doesnt matter. And, we have a saying, voting bells, in the election. We had Voter Participation rate of 98 . So you can vote. And dont vote on your own. Take ten people with you. And second, read, read, read. So that ive prepared to have political conversation that you need to have with others. When you talk about n. A. A. C. P. , if it, in your area does not seem to move as quickly, run for an office or better yert, take over an naacp. I was a activist. Baby, baby panther, and i believe that, activist, knowledge and activism go together. Stay engaged and stay involved, and, you talk about those, the future belongs to those who prepare for it. Start, with your friends about which is going to run for public office. We need younger voices out there, because, everybody is not going to make it. But if you have a group, and, it can be tremendous. Ten blocks from where freddy gay was arrested and where the riots occurred. As law professor i would stress, in this democracy, the most powerful weapon is a license to practice law. You can change the rules. You can make the rules better. It is enormous. With respect to economics, and college debt is it true that the children of Congress People have no debt because they dont have to pay. Is there something that should be with the equal justice. And you know, the whole issue, around mass incarceration. And thank you so much, i am not i wear of any law. Many, a lawyer, many colleges,. [laughter] okay. Thank you. I just dont see that theres any law. That some members have with colleges in their district, but i dont think theres anything legal about that. Equal justice project. Its so important, 4,000 people who were lynched. We have no comment raising of them. We dont know, there was a marker put up. And several people were killed. It took you, and i think what theyre doing, and that is history that we cannot ignore. The whole, you know, the brother asked a question about southern culture, and i thought lynching was part of it. Have a marker at every place where someone has been lynched. So their name is known. And a museum in alabama. Thank you so much for your question and for your answer. We want to keep it going because we have a lot of people. Thank you. We have so many people in line and we want to get to as much people as we can. Right here. And, yale drama, the question is, somebody mentioned that there was a disparity between blackandwhite, 801, 181,. Would anyone like to guess where that money went . It wasnt burned. It didnt evaporafor rate. It is still here. The history of amount is, as he mentioned earlier. This is the most economically advance taken uses set up, that has o kurt. I dont know if anybody saw the doctor, and he talked about the value of american slaves, that, the money went to slave owners, and it went to those who were benefiting from the labor. Much of the wealth was built on the back of slaves. Do you believe, in an issue called repper raising. Thank you for being honest. I may not agree with you, but, lets be clear it is not just simply writing a check. No its about repairing and indeed the institute for the black world, the organization, has as commissioner on repper raisings and we have a tenpoint plan for repair. It is called c. R. S. Ill tell you what that means later. But, the 10. Plan for repair, so its not about everybody getting a check, it is more about repairing a community. The other thing i want to say, when you talk about welfare and slavery, it was the met thought by which they were able to expand. Because as soon as a plantation owner,. And, they were engaged in giving me loans. So, when i always say, harry ut tubman and john parker was an enslained man who led 900 people off. And, i just look at it as doctors and property, taken. It has something to do with the housing market, and, past for the great society, and, the fair house, they never implemented it. And 12 years later, the reagan application app. It happened and the reagan revolutions charge was to dismantle the great society. And here you have a history of slavery, and, producing dual labor markets, of the full, full, locking black people out for full participation in the economy and social life of the society. You have a moment of breakthrough brought about by virtue of grass routes organizing. And, by 1968, its all attacked. So you have 12 years of really trying to implement so when we ask why, we have a 13 dont 18 now. Right. 18 now. So, when you ask that question and you do not place it is in the context of the history of the value gap, the history of racism, then youre disremembering. Once again look at this, you talk about one issue and it all branches out into another. For those that have your cellphones. I dont want to want talk become that and we have a quo that. We are all talking together, trying to find the solution and understand the dynamic of history and how it plays a part. Who would like to tackle that question. The issue and, you know, we used to wear a teeshirt, and its a black thing you wouldnt understand. And the idea was that you had to enter into our experience, and to engage in it. What you have to do is be committed to justice. You have to be mindful at all, in all moments. So it is not about, how do i enter as white person, i dont have black experience. Are you committed to justice than ever then youre committed to this work, period. Thats what i wanted to say. [laughter] i think Langston Hughes instead better. In his poem, dream of freedom, he said this dream today, and battle back against the wall. It must be saved for all. It doesnt matter, whether you are black, white, red, black or brown. Your commitment to the values of this society. To the values of this society, which is of course, equality. I know baldwin, wrote a lot about identity, and one of the things that i love is, how he wrote about how whiteness came to be. You had to seize being german or irish or jewish. Often times the jewish identity is swallowed and the narrative that the white narrative has to be a narrative thats a ethic narrative down, we understand, each other better. Understand what, how irish people were treated in the north. Probably as badly as africanamerican people. They were not enslaved. They had signs who said no irish need apply. Boat sides are self righteous they dont listen. Theres no communication. How do we get some humility, and real communication into the issue. One side has the legal use to deathly violence. Its not equal. That is example. You tell me. What do you mean it was an example. The, when youre communicating you listen and you ask questions, you dont throw accusations. Okay, let me Say Something. I dont think they were throwing accusations, speaking from the knowledge of being africanamericans. Let me say one thing to you. As someone from baltimore, the first thing, many people see when i walk through the door, they dont see me as a White House Correspondent they see my color. They dont see us as people. And it is who i am. Who everyone else is here. We can walk with all the legal degrees and Supreme Court, but you are still, in some parts of this world, and country, a black person. And they call us other words. So it is per se vif. I hear what you are say, killed like you to watch the videotape of this, and see if that is not self righteousness. Withwith all due respect. I dont think that anyone is being self righteous. I think that when you you said the people are very angry, and righteous and the blue lives people are. What one might do is not look at moment in time but look at the evolution and why these things occur. The black lives matter young people feel as the poem that you read, back up against the wall. They have seen their comrades shot, for nothing, and the woman, being humiliate and he had a baby in the car. I dont know how you can justify that. Weve had so many cases on your side but on the police size i do understand, they are the people we call when were in trouble. But we do not need folks who have a license to kill because they have a badge. Too much has happened. You have a little old man the man cant hardly walk straight and they have given him a taser and a gun. And he shoots somebody in the back. Osar grant, he said i mistook my taser for a gun. But, we have to look at it, Oakland California Police Officers, in the 1960s were recruited in mississippi, alabama, and, they went to get the most, to co lield with the black panther party. That is prescription for disaster. I agree. I think communication between parties that are in dispute is critical. One of the reasons im delighted to see so many, is because the credit belongs to those who are willing to enter the arena. Well never make progress. So i believe that communication between black lives matter and those that are concerned about Police Behavior and those who represent the police are very important. Key, though, is we can make changes. When you look at whats happening today, we need better Community Policing. We need increased training, we need cameras on every Police Officer and we need Police Officers, to be responsible when they to do something wrong. When they express the rage of grieving over our families, the baby was 15 yearsold, and, 4yearold daughter, its okay, im here. Fouryearsold trying to comfort her mother to be, to express in that moment and to have someone say im being self righteous. Thats our reality. This is not the same, this is not say, that we have some moral position. That we cant be wrong. We cant be open to being convinced overwise. Says what are you doing . The officer says, the park closes at 9 30. And his partner comes around the cruiser, and they both lean in, and says it closes at 9 30. And he says, we dont want any trouble were leaving right now. I could have lost him right there. Thats not self righteous nice. All in by that by how many thousands. Because we hear about them, and we wont hear about baby boy unless he tells it. We all have a story of a young man, that gets stopped, and who has been, those stories dont make the stats. Heres what i want to do, and lets have a real session right here. Now, i know, from baltimore, i have been racially profiled and stopped, and, i want honestly here. How many minorities have been in a situation, with police hands are going up already. This is reality. I thank the gentleman for his statement. Hold your hands up high. Whats so important about this, every time this happens, we find ourselves in the moment of having to convince others, that it is real. Ask how many white people . No. No. No. Hold on. Hello. I have the floor. Now since, hold on. I hear you. Now that you say you want to know how many white people. Okay, lets do that. How many white people have had situations, that gentleman back there who said we were self righteous. Because you went through the same thing. Yes or no. Okay. So, but do you understand, that, the reason why this is being, were having this conversation is because theres a discease in america. In my home area. I just met him tonight. One related about what whites do and you focus on the word justice and again you did, and, a few minutes ago we talked about the equal justice initiative, and, if you havent read just mercy and you dont know about the work,shim you. My students, in every class at Community College reads his book because it is the essence of fighting, not just mass incar ser raising but the injustice that exists in our society. It is documented. And i encourage you to learn more about his work. Justice initiative. This is a not paid for commercial. [laughter] but, im getting back to one of the questions, that i thought was a question that we were going to address tonight, that maybe we didnt. It ties in with the discussion of technology. And the technology, that we didnt discuss tonight and the technology of cameras, and, the cameras, that the body cameras, that police are taking, and using, and, some, in some Police Departments, in baltimore, more and more police are going to have body cameras. So im just interested in your reaction to the pros and con, twhoarve. S to talk about it. The pros and cons of body cameras, in this world of police, and minority community. Let me say this. The accountability component, when it comes to policing, is now more evident because there is a call for body cameras. Its not required. Theres the issue of the cost. But the bottomline is, we are now seeing, in the black community, we have been talking about it for years. But now you see it and you understand our truth. Thats not whatever you said it was, sir, being self righteous. Its the truth. I believe that that is one of the best pieces. Theres an evolution, when it comes to race. And i believe thats one of the best pieces that is coming out, in 2016 that we see the videos, this young woman the boldness, to live stream after her fiance was shot. It takes lot to hold back the tears. To see your brothers, that could be my brother or father, and my uncle. As a community, i speak for a large portion. We are there, brothers and sisters. So, i think that piece,. You had something about what happened in baltimore, the stor yes, but theres a story in baltimore that people dont know about, that they are talking about. Everybody knows that of freddie gray and six officers not being convict and we did have a Police Officer who had shoot individual while os ground. And two other Police Officers came and testified at the trial as to what he did, and he was convict. And that hasnt been covered. Justice was done in that case. It has several components the police testified against another Police Officer that did wrong. The victim survived and was able to testify, very fortunate. Basically white folks have to be willing to believe, white folks have to be willing to believe that all police are not good. You will get people who tell you, its like, they drank some koolaid. But, they are good. No, they are not all good. Some cities you have 18yearold. Your frontal lobe is not fully developed, impulse scroll not fully developed, until you are in your 20s. Not sure. I noticed this in the beginning, and, how are you going to be able to communicate. Thank you so much. I would have never known. I have something thats going into this conversation issue, from facebook. From a young lady, and she said, this goes into the campaign. She says why does donald trump think it is acceptable to speak, on. He is pandering to everyone and he put out a full page ad, when the central park five were accused of the wilding. They werent even guilty. Hes he is winging and nodding to undecided white people who could not dream of voting for a racist. Or at least a blatant racist. Im talking to you. Hes talking to them. So, i mean, trump, you know we all,. [applause] we have to, and you guys have been wonderful and you have stuck with us tonight. Have you enjoyed the conversation . Have you really enjoyed it . Thank you. The floor is yours. Come close. Were not going to bite you. If you could share with me, your perspective of how obama has dealt with the issue of race. Before we start, its a very complicated situation. Im going to say, everyone has their differing opinions. Who would like to pick up this cross. [laughter] can you set the tone . Well, thank you. This is my book its called are we better off . In the book i talk about president barak obama and race. What we have to remember, is that he is a president of all america, not of black america, that he did have two years, where he could have done a lot. He didnt maximize that opportunity. And then he got these crazy republicans were obstruction nists at every turn. In fact, even as he was elected, there was as pass tor, in arizona who was praying for his death. When you pray for the president s death, the f. B. I. Comes to see you. They let that man get away with that. As the president i give him a b. On race matters, something closer to a c. , cminus. I i wish that he had done more and there are opportunities, there have been, and, i dont think hes taken advantages. Thank you. I think i call him a confidence man. Oh. Selling the snake oil of hope and change. I. I hear greens. I wrote it. I cant take it back. You have a lady standing up and shes trying to see what it is. One way in which i can crystallize that point is at the town hall meeting after the shootings of sterling, and christmas steel, and, the dallas Police Officers. You saw the a. B. C. News, disney, town hall and the way president barak obama engaged, in that conversation around race. Had little to nothing to do with black people. He was in, that the moment, the paperback edition no youre not kidding. He was the interpreter in chief. Trying to convince white america, of the reality of racism of the reality of inequality. So he didnt change the frame. He gave us a lot of hope, a lot of rhetoric. But it turned out to be snake oil. Do you believe that a. B. C. Read that conversation . I believe it was both of them. I think, president barak obama was standing his ground. And i think, i do. I think that he he i really do. I think he tried to, and he has never the same experiences, as many of us, as africanamericans. I tried to convince a good friend of mine. His parents, his father was into the slave. Did not come here. Totally different experience. He was trying to may noor through this entire thing, and did he make mistakes . Yes. But, i dont know very much people who havent. [applause] im happy to speak on president barak obama as a professor, im delighted to evaluate him. I give him an aplus on anger management. Wow that was a good one. That was good. [laughter] now we can all agree that one. In the spirit of time ill stop right there. I could evaluate him that was great. I tend to be less critical of president barak obama than many others because i think you need to evaluate him in two categories, not one. Legislation, and then rhetoric and i think what happens, people look what the he has said and when he did the beer summit, when he dealt with race he saw his poll numbers drop. And as a politics, and they want one thing, a second term. He made a judgment. When you look at his initiatives i give him a lot of credit. If congress, and professor mentioned a congress, if they had gone along with many, we would have reduced many of the ghosts of jim crow that exist today. We would have reduced many of those. I have the last word. Thank you so much. Im going to say this. You can clap. [applause] [laughter] but, now, for me, im a White House Correspondent, been covering president s for 20 years. But i say this to say, it is hard to grade a president and judge. It takes about ten years. But one thing i will say about this president , race and policy make particulars will follow him. Whether it is in the oval office or whether it is post oval office. There is an evolution when it comes to issues of race. We have been dealing with this for hundreds of years, and for anyone to think in four years, that this will all be solved is mistaken. But what i will tell you is, assessing him, there are things that he could have done, and things that he couldnt do. One thing, i know the issue of race, did guide his decisions. If he had not done what he did, he would not get a second term. This is something that i put in my next book. [laughter] i know. Hold on. Shameless plug. But there was a president who integrated the u. S. Military, yes. Truman. Yeah. He integrated it, and he could have been one of the greatest ever but the reason why he wasnt, is because of that because of race. Many people are saying, this president could be considered one of the greatest but one of the only reasons is race. I will leave you with this. I thank you, hold up your book. Thank you all for contributing in this great civil conversation, third installment. Thank you, and brad, c. Span you are all that. Thank you all and there are books for sale, get your books now. We are signing right now