Transcripts For CSPAN2 Interview On The Presidency In Black And White 20160417

The white house and why do you write about it . I have been covering the white house for 18 years. I write about it because it is very important. The leader of the free world, it is especially now with the first black president beyond the fact that he uses you want a picture of him writing some bill or signing actual issues affecting america. What makes up his thought process, sending boots on the ground in syria to fight isis, in his mind what he thinks about womens issues or what he feels is rate. Everyone needs to know what the president is thinking, i have to be privileged to be one of the few people in this country who get a chance to get an up close view of the presidency and the president of the United States and people need to her about it. Host what is the black and the white . Guest the black and white is cyclical, something that continues to happen since the enslavement of africans in the country, there is a problem with race in this country and it is yet to be fixed. We saw the Civil Rights Movement in the 50s and 60s and major laws but there is still an intrinsic problem in this country that needs to be fixed. Today we are now seeing tension between the black community. Not saying we dont support Law Enforcement, we do support Law Enforcement wholeheartedly but there has to be a weaning out of that policing. There is a problem in this nation and a lot of the problem is settled and some of it is overt. I talked to president obama recently on a flight going to selma and he is here to close the gap. The gap still remains so there are still gaps in the station that need to be closed and hopefully the next president will deal with those issues but this is an issue that is not going away. We have not been able to get it right yet. Other countries are watching us. Host if someone picked up the presidency in black and white will be here personal stories about you working in the white house and if so what do they want to share . When the person picks up the presidency in black and white, three president in recent america give various views, various stories, stories firsthand of the president s themselves. On the record from barack obama, bill clinton, laura bush powell, Condoleezza Rice and a host of other people and some of the things that happen in the white house when it comes to race. I remember a story, one of the most compassionate stories of my life, going to the art gallery a few feet from the white house when laura bush, descendents of slaves in alabama, and i will give you a synopsis ultimately the first lady scored all the way around and at the end these black women, five black women, i do not believe were republicans, they were so happy. They embraced the first lady in a huddle and started printing thank jesus and started crying and a descendent of a slave on my mothers side, fifthgeneration brought tears to my eyes. There are a lot of human stories that so many people can relate to in this book and it is about you and me, not just black but white, all of us coming together. Host people go to booktv and type in april ryan we will see a big panel that was held, and author panel, what was that . Guest a Panel Discussion on race. The author talks about criminal justice. We had joy read who wrote the book pratchett. And author himself who is in various books that i was the moderator and we had a serious civil discussion on issues of race and from authors who have written about it and researched it who are experts in their field and we had a Panel Discussion, people from all walks of life, various people who actually were in the audience and asked about it as questions, it was a great discussion, the beginning of the discussion that needs to happen in the station and we thank you for booktv and politics and prose and we are going to do that in february. Host april ryan from the white house and presidency in black and white. On your screen Catherine Hall almost ready for the next panel to begin. Booktv live coverage of the Annapolis Book festival will continue. Booktv tapes hundreds of other programs all year long. Heres a look at some of the events we will be covering this week. At the Wilson Center in washington dc for terry lott and his look at the life of missionary john birch, the namesake of the Political Organization of the john birch society. On thursday at George Mason University in fairfax, virginia, economist and historian Deirdre Mccloskey on how nations build wealth. Also at the free library of philadelphia that evening for pulitzer prizewinning historian Annette Gordon reed and jefferson scholar peter boat offs talk on the intellectual life of thomas jefferson. Next saturday we will be live from the Folder Shakespeare Library in washington dc with the 400th anniversary of the death of william shakespeare. There will be short talks on the bard by the likes of Supreme Court Justice Stephen breyer, actor cow pen and journalist Clarence Page followed by your calls with the Folger Library director Michael Whitmore and shakespeare scholar ellen mckay. That is look at the other programs booktv is covering this week. If these events are open to the public look for them to air in