Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20160329

And if it is so we have the courts to tell what it means and that is fine on the other branches. Lives as well as he spent too. A discussion about race hosted by the Aspen Institute at the newseum. This is in downtown washington, d. C. Right between the capital and the white house along pennsylvania avenue. They will focus on new attitudes, opportunities, challenge for people of color in the United States in the 21st century. This is expected to run into the afternoon and we will be hearing from several panels of speakers. We will hear first from some the people involved in putting this together at the Aspen Institute as well as the Senior Vice President of diversity at comcast corporation. Later, the state of race in an election cycle, and raised in universities and urban settings. There will be a short break around 11 30 a. M. Eastern followed by discussion with Juan Williams on some of the possible next steps and recommendations for the challenges faced by people of color. We will wrap things up around 2 00 eastern time. If everyone will take their seats, please. Good morning. Welcome to the 2016 Aspen Institute symposium on the state of race in america. Im Kiahna Cassell, project director in the Aspen Institute communications and Society Program. The Aspen Institute, neutral nonprofit aims to foster leadership based on enduring values and provide and nonpartisan venue for being with critical issues. We are delighted you joined us for our sixth annual symposium in partnership with our friends at comcast corporation. This symposium happens to be one of my personal favorites come an Incredible Group of speakers, a great dialogue. Does it get any better than that . I dont think so. We started it with an opening presentation followed by to panel session. Immediately following the panel will then go into our tow town l conversations come at a town hall will be a chance for all of the participants and attendees to dig deeper into the topics discussed throughout the day. For those who are joining the conversation at home we encourage you to join the discussion on social media. Hashtag for the event is state of race. I like to turn the microphone over to our executive director of the communications and Society Program at the Aspen Institute, charlie firestone. [applause] thank you, kiahna. This symposium will explore the opportunities and challenges for people of color in the 21st century. This year we will look particularly at questions of race on campus and on changing demographics and cities, have the effect minorities quality of life. So while we will consider the country has made progress on the racial front we will also examine why race related problems persist. In fact, intensified in the past year, and try to identify kernels of hope that can emerge from our new multiracial reality. The issues of race as we all know played this country since its colonial times, for over 300 years. We have struggled at the time of the adoption of the constitution, during the civil war, jim crow, Civil Rights Era and on to today. Theres been progress all along the way of course, but we still face significant racial issues today and most deal effectively with these issues if our democracy is to survive. Today the dialogue will touch on individual cultural institutional and structural causes of racial problems, looking towards new and Viable Solutions in the context of our panel topics. We will be defining these problems with the purpose of finding solutions, what you, we, and institutions can do to remove racial tensions are in other words, the purpose of this convenient is to do what the Aspen Institute does best, which is divide a safe, nonideological space to have an informed and educator dialogue of the toughest issues of the day. Before we get into our session we want of a few thank you. Worst of all Kiahna Cassell Leslie Shepherd this project for all six years of it and who has really shepherded the hard work of putting it together. Will want to thank Juan Williams who was the instigator of this session more than six years ago, the idea and its been aute with mainstay of this symposium every year. We also want to thank as kiahna started comp has done in our partners in this venture without him would not have been possible with at all and thats the wonderful folks at comcast including brett, johnny, jackie, antonio, and gretchen. All these folks work under the capable leadership of a man who triggered a huge civic portfolio as well as this is one, when he believes in true Racial Equity and puts his name and resources behind that. Please welcome to the stage comcast executive Vice President david cohen. [applause] so thanks very much, charlie. Good morning, everyone. Its a delight to see everyone here today. This annual conversation on race always provides new perspectives and new insights, and its something i truly look forward to every year. Thats a credit to charlie and kiahna and holding the its a credit to juan who asked charlie said had the idea to have this program, and typical of juan come with me as an idea and he pursues it, doesnt just disappear. Hes been an active part of this every year for all six years. I really appreciate your engagement and what youve done to bring this conversation to life every year. And at comcast we are very proud to partner with aspen since the first symposium in 2011. So at the time americas first africanamerican president was gearing up for what turned out to be a historic reelection victory. Now as president obama moves through his final year in office, we are slogging through a brutal and bizarre primary season. And i use that word intentionally. Where there have been too many Company Think one of the more uncomfortable aspects of the campaign has been there have been far too many reminders about the role of race in american politics and in American Society. Sometimes not with the most intelligent discourse around them. Of course, this Long Campaign season has already produced one major winner, the polling industry. Never have so many people been told so many times with so few enlightening results. At the are two in lightning polls that stick in my mind. First, neither of them is very much connection to the president ial campaign. Im thinking of two cbs New York Times polls on Race Relations in america. One taken by some and the other early in 2009 just after president obama took office. In 2009, it reflected the optimism many of us felt at the time. It reported that twothirds of americans believe that Race Relations were generally good. But that message was turned inside out in july of last year when six in 10 americans, according to the st. Paul, including heavy majorities of both blacks and whites felt Race Relations were generally bad. Almost 40 felt the situation was getting worse and not better. I think most of you would agree that the search of pessimism was fed by the number of racial incidents ive talked about last year in my comments at this symposium. Reminding ust am thaica has still not stamped out a chronic disease of racism. Its symptoms can be settled or tragically fatal come and weve learned that people and institutions can be infected without even realizing it. We dont have a cure yet but weve come a long way, including through programs like this one, putting a spotlight on these issues in a fearless come in a fearless way and in a safe environment. I believe that the more critical attention we focus on a different aspects of race in america, the better equipped will be to eradicate this disease completely. So charlie has as you put together a rich and full agenda which is going to get underway as soon as i get off this stage, so going to rush to do that. And we start with richard lou providing an overview of the racially connected events and issues that have gained traction during this election cycle. I know richard will give us some perspective and richard, your presentations have become a highlight of this symposium at im not just saying that because richard is a fallible member of the abc news and msnbc family, and a friend, but because you spent real time in the trenches on all these issues and speaks with an almost unique sense of perspective around the state of race in american politics. We are also looking forward to the First Panel Discussion which is on a timely theme of race and the university or and as chair of the trustees of the university of pennsylvania, its a topic that is a personal interest to me. Because its interesting that while american colleges and universities have made gains in general in enrolling more minority students, but incidents on different campuses have shown us that gains in diversity on campus have not necessarily been matched by gains in inclusion on campus. Black students especially have made clear that they often feel unwelcome and even actively discriminated against. Their complaint supported an observation by sean harper who is an education professor and director of the center for the study of race. He said and i quote simply having more students of color on a College Campus does not ensure that theyre going to deal included and respected. Thats a challenge for Higher Education, and i suspect its a challenge for companies in america and for society as a whole. Our second panel will take up the important issue of shifting urban demographics. The continued revival of americas cities is one of the Great Success stories of the past 30 years, but now weve reached a chapter were met to decide whether this urban renaissance will be inclusive with its benefits touching all people in all neighborhoods. And i think thats the important topic of discussion for our second panel today. I do know that everyone here today is committed to doing whatever you can to correct the inequalities that still compromise Race Relations in america, and keep the virus of race as a. In innovation we want everyones participation in this dialogue today. So for the first time weve scheduled a Town Hall Session for open discussion which is going to be hosted by Juan Williams, and i warn everyone, juan is a host but also an instigator. So if youre in the room youre likely to be called on. And i think thats the goal to really create a dialogue and theres no one better at doing that than Juan Williams. So your participation today can help Bring Solutions to the problem that has for so long stood in between this great country of ours and its ability to realize its full potential. So i want to thank you for being here today and hope that you enjoy the symposium. I begin thanks to charlie and kiahna for the leadership and hard work to put together such a great program. Thanks. [applause] okay, lets get started. Our opening presentation will be from richard lui, who as david mentioned and we all know is an american journalist and news anchor for msnbc and nbc news. He before this was the anchor five years at cnn worldwide, 2007 he became the first Asian American male to anchor a daily cable news show. He has spanned 25 years of Community Leadership and appearances at community events. He has worked with the u. N. Foundation, the state department, various universities. Hes an ambassador for plan international, the epilepsy foundation. He has worked on the board of ngos including on homeless housing, and human trafficking. Hes an active columnist and many publications that you read, including both local newspapers and National Papers such as the usa today and politico. Richard received his bachelors from berkeley and his mba from the university of michigan. And weve invited him to lead us off today with a presentation on the year in race and looking particularly at this election cycle and some other issues that will lead into our panel. So please welcome richard lui. [applause] good morning to all of you here and thank you so much, charlie firestone, Kiahna Cassell, as well as david cohen who has always put together a fantastic event here. And thank you to my good friend, Juan Williams, from the networks ratings are always have to buy the competition. Or kind of get that backwards but that was my not so in situ you joke, wasnt it . Thank you as always. I learned so much watching you every day, as you did great work that you do. It is an honor to be back at this important discussion that we are about to have this year and the past five years as well. Thank you again all. This java to start with a story that im working on right now, and in uncommon still fashion obligation with you before actually as. Just dont tell anybody. Dont tell david. I fielded wednesday and friday. And my editor and i were in the dark booth yesterday coming monday for many hours. It will air on msnbc in the coming weeks. So without obligation or without first, with you. In the lead up to 1964, birmingham, new york, chicago, crackle over racial inequality spent bricks and bottles were thrown spirit that drove that voter turnout to century long eyes. 94 of nonwhite voters giving Lyndon Johnson four more years. In 1992 the reginald stamey beating 55 died in the los angeles riots. That after four officers were acquitted in the rodney king verdict. Voter turnout rose five percentage points. We must not permit this country to drift apart further. 77 of nonwhite voters choosing bill clinton for the white house. He said i didnt know i was the candidate. Might of the same forces be at work in 2016 . With recent prices including the Trayvon Martin shooting, ferguson falling come and eric garner killed on camera. We are getting less traction in the president ial conversation. And thats where we would like to see it more intensified. Luis gutierrez hears about the topic. He works six days a week to get up to vote for Latino American groups and clr. Today at a pork toledo restaurant in atlanta by puerto rican restaurant. Black people and latinos and all of that stuff, thats always a conversation got subject. And another swing state of nevada, Police Brutality concerns not a common topic she has about. New republican registered after skipping 2012. I want to get into like ferguson, stuff that happened in the past that racism. People need to open their eyes and see the big picture. This is very much at the top of their agenda and weve done a number of research and polls on this come and it still ranks always in the top three. The top three of new voters is registering 14 each day. Each registration is like gold to whoever i smiled when she reaches 20 each day. Regardless of party they know its these new voters, they are the ones who decide in places like ferguson will be remembered on election day. Richard lui, msnbc, las vegas, nevada. So as you can see from that report the state of race this year is pretty hard to describe than it was last year. And when we look at the headline leading at the 2015 the overflow of the things the state of race as has been said by david and charlie so for. When it all sat together last you on the mark on some of the stories ive been fortunate i had to report on. Unnamed Trayvon Martin and eric garner, freddie gray and Michael Brown come to some of them. I started lester. I started lifting this is as welcome center, new york, baltimore and ferguson. One moment stood out for me from that year even to do as i reflected on how we which are todays hours together are president of the United States, two years after his reelection in 2014, having to stand in front of the cameras, americans watching his picture on the right side of the screen, they are killweight mud in front of them, on screen left, cars and communities on fire. You remember the. He pleaded for calm that evening hour it was the first africanamerican president watching africanamerican communities that looked like 1964 in 2014. It was a flashback of unfortunate irony. Everybody wanted only to be just a flashback. This year id like to start with what journalists are asked to do, that is to give him a bit of context and it is difficult given the limited experience ive had. That context asks if this election were remember those difficult times, those recent figures of Race Relations that we were just seeing on the screen. While simultaneously those years being a period of the most historic advances in race. Context tells us we must look as much, look forward and look back together. So looking back is were i will start at the completion of two administrations of the countrys first minority president. Record voter turnout and representations of minorities that we have seen so far, not only in places of politics but also ports, business and in communities. That gaps on College Campuses almost 70 are saying Race Relations are the same or better than five years ago. But students disagree. 58 say theyve witnessed an active discrimination. The numbers according to 538 get worse on campuses with less diversity. So also looking back, the economic numbers, well, they are good why some counts. The stock market stretching towards 18,000, unemployment in some states at 20 or 40 euros. Minimum wage is going in some states, housing prices growing even more yet your but if the average american in, is in the middle class, the economic power says, has shrunk by onefifth nationally. Going down by over 20 . Half a million ever can still have a home last night. They did not. And at any time 50,000 veterans are homeless, 1. 4 million of them at risk of being homeless at any time. The majority of all of these, minorities. Then theres that quintessential american question, right . Who wants to be a millionaire . Well, if youre white or Asian American p5, the odds to become a millionaire, 15. Thats the highest. And if you are looking or africanamerican, the odds are much tougher for you. One in 15, says forbes. But numbers of course as all the snow in this room dont paint the entire picture. For Asian American pi they also represent the highest group of the hidden poor. In my home of new york one in four live in poverty or they are the worst off come the exact opposite of the model minority. So we must look deeper. Looking back theres also the industry that we were describing that i mean, and thats news. The last year saw some amazing developments. The first africanamerican and asianamerican broadcast network anchor. Nbc news is lester holt, sits at the chair never seen by a minority ever before on any network. Msnbc holds a bs blog begin the only Latino American male to anchor a Daily National Cable Network program this past year. Looking back theres also the news itself. This was an unexpected year as we all know and for recent headlines of terror attacks not only in the United States but across the world. I was rushed to both pairs and San Bernardino in the last several months to contest one of the storylines was, that antimuslim communities were no go zones. On my third day in paris i went to one of those no go zones. One of those no go places. Its an area about 40 minutes outside of downtown paris. Im near drove me there. He was a taxi driver. He came to paris five years before from syria and lived in affordable at the time to get three children. Young father but he stayed in a simple condominium for two years. He learned french but his english was not that good. And my friend was also not that good. So during our ride it was three hours long we spent together. We did something my parents could not do. We talked to each other using a translation app on our phones. Try it. He took me to the market very what he used to shop when he lived there. Where family shopping we stopped at a version of a french muslim mcdonalds. I ordered six sandwiches. Amir helping reduce choose with the translation app along the way. A fish sandwich, a burger or two and thats a win. We then walked across the street to grab a coffee that he used of coffee a. Amir explained to the proprietor in arabic that i would like a coffee. The owners face was as you can probably imagine a bit quizzical. I imagine he was probably thinking Something Like, who is this asian looking person . Who spoke english, hanging out with a muslim friend, and why are they speaking with each other using their phones . In french and english and not arabic. And why did you people have a large bag with six sandwiches and it . And so that is how it went. Amir, the no go zone, was not overtly necessary and no go zone. It was like most large u. S. Cities with nice, okay, and rough areas. The places where children play, the places where families went on weekends, and the places drugs were sold. That night after being dropped off at my hotel, i had my six hamburgers but i begin to until those rappers to try each adventure the ones i could not finish. Very american, obviously with way too much for sitting in front of the. Then i got the word. They had captured the planet of the terror that theres terrorist attacks. Where . Where i was just at hours before. And narrative continued that evening. The are no go communities for muslims of muslims in paris. But i asked what about amir . Just like the narrative of muslims in americas persistent, as weve seen, it was the after San Bernardino what i spoke to some and that local community. The leader at the mosques who told me yes, that killed had attended my mosque not too long ago. But what he did was not of islam. Understandably care is something to fear. One result has been a push for all muslims to be banned for a period of time coming to our country. One and a half billion muslims worldwide. To my grandparents two of my crimpers can do this country in 1909. They came here illegally. They bought the name lui pretended to be real usages. My grandparents real last name was wong. My real last name is wong. Tragedy as an illegal name to be honest. Im a descendent of undocumented immigrants. Why . There were two young teenagers skirting the law, the older law when they were in love. The outlaw was the first ever created in u. S. History that outlawed a certain nationality, the chinese exclusion act of 1882. It said or anything of the government of United States the coming of chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities. Outlaw a certain religion, might be seen to be of the same order. Or disorder. Americans today are now caretakers i believe of an important privilege. Weve enjoyed when the most expensive periods of our countries acceptance of diversity. But we also have seen one of the most expensive periods of the challenges the diversity. The last few years of trayvon and eric and freddie, and more, showed us how to extremes can exist in a dichotomous world, but they can exist simultaneously. There is a good state of race, and there is the bad state of race. The good state of race is mortified than ever with advances in many places and corners that would surprise anybody ages ago and certainly the likes of Martin Luther king junior and cesar chavez. However the bad seed raise taxes back to the Civil Rights Era of painful anguishing conflicts. It hurts us a generation, it hurts baby boomers and those of the goal generation to watch every time. Millennials and plurals today are tweens. Asserts them because they strive and leap forward on equality both ideologically and actually no generation before. It is the new that will keep the hope and the energy of the good state of race alive for the old. So for todays symposium i went to speak to the new, the voters who this day and as you want to pull the lever for the first time, that american privilege so many of our relatives have fought for. In florida on thursday, lynette, register to vote for the first time. A married couple telling me they talked on the way over to the restaurant on good friday. And in front of them was the National Council of love rossa working to get out the vote. He wanted their wages for all. Thats what apis vote was working to get out the vote and register them. Tony, she told me she promised her father she would always vote. He taught her it was her honor. She said she never broke her promise with her father and even those years after he passed away. Virtual, grandchildren she says, you must vote. There was surely no, her parents brought her to america from asia decades ago. She sat with me wednesday in nevada at a Voter Registration table. In a retirement career she wants to do what her father taught her to do, do not take anything from this country, he told her, that gave you an opportunity. You must give instead to america. Notice all these folks, they look back as they look forward, and their name is gives energy to the old. They are hopefulness o on the state of race reflects out today fewer men and women are islands. Viewer to stand alone. More empowered than ever. This state of race must use its newfound advancement. Not sit by the sidelines and enjoy the accomplishment, or it risks losing what it has recently gained. Todays state of race i would say that is still much to be done. Thank you. [applause] thank you, richard that will be a great leadin to our first in which be moderated i Juan Williams, political analyst for fox news, former columnist for the Washington Post and Senior Correspondent for npr, the author of six, now seven books including the eyes on the prize and three bestsellers. He is interviewed the last five president s and Supreme Court justices, leading political and business figures. Next week they will be releasing his newest book, we the people, which is a modernday look at modernday figures who are firming the vision of the founding fathers. So be on the look out for we the people by Juan Williams. And please welcome juan and the rest of the panel who he will introduce. There you go. [applause] thank you. Please, ask the panelists to join me. This is nailah harpermalveaux from yale university. [applause] to my far left is Phoebe Haddon who is the chance to workers. [applause] this is Deray Mckesson, one of im sorry . Deray mckesson. Clearly now running for mayor of baltimore, is that right . Congratulations. [applause] and Eduardo Padron come he is the president of miamidade community college. [applause] well, welcome. We are here to take a look at how young people on College Campuses are responding to so many of the themes we heard raised earlier by david cohen and by richard. I wanted to begin by asking chancellor Phoebe Haddon of rutgers who is by the way a scholar of implicit bias and raised in society how she sees her role as chancellor in dealing with race and the changing face of race on americas College Campuses. Thank you, juan. Many say ive spent the last three weeks in a sort of surreal journey took him to talk about this issue. Three weeks ago i was in south africa, and i was traveling with our students. And we arrived in Cape Town University and spoke to students, the dean of the law school at cape town is an indian woman who actually was being at albany before going to become the dean at cape town. Wonderful story. We talked about student unrest, and their come if you dont know, there is great unrest about inequality. It is about income inequality. Its about race. Its about two little too soon two little and too long, and it is in the context of revolution that has created disappointments. I then went on to come back here and join campus contact about our universities here are dating with issues of race and poverty in their own institutions and in their cities. We talked about race. We talked about two little too long. We talked about the same issues and about a sense of disappointment in where we were. But those University President s were also talking about Civic Engagement and anchor institutions as way of dealing with these issues. Contextualizing, highly impact focus work that engages students. I then came back to my campus, and we are planning a 60s retrospective thats doing on next tuesday. And that well focus on Rutgers Camden as it was in the 60s. It will also be at context for talking about too little too long, student unrest both in the 60s as well as today, and have refocused on it. So it seems to me that Higher Education has an opportunity to talk about these issues in many different ways. And it is critically important i think for universities to have the for a for talking about these things. The problem is when there is not the opportunity to have frank and honest conversations that is mediated, facilitated and where students have trust in each other as they talk about this. Thank you. I want to know turn two president Eduardo Padron and ask you as the president of College Campus tell us a bit about how you do with the changing demographics of the tensions it grates on a College Campus. Well, i feel very strongly that colleges and universities are not only the best hope, but the best opportunity to change the whole situation with race in america. But before we are able to do that, i think universities really need to move into the 21st century. I think universities have the best opportunity to be incubators of institution. To become the dream factories that allow people to reach the American Dream. You know, i cannot think of a better equalizer in Society Today than colleges and universities come if they deliver the right thing. If you think back to the 20th century and most americans would go into factories and offices, make a good wage and become part of the middleclass, frankly universities and all the entities they represent, all the exclusively and selectivity, it was not a big issue because most americans could achieve the American Dream why working hard. Today, thats not possible. The American Dream today requires that people in the 21st century acquire the knowledge and the skills to be able to succeed in american Society Today. So going to college today and being able to be part of the inclusion process is a must if we as a nation want to be able to ask for and maintain the position in the world. So thats what really has changed and thats why it makes the work that we do as colleges and universities so very important. The fact of the matter is that our universities and colleges today with many wellmeaning people, you know, the effort to include minoritys come if you look since the 1980s, for example, the number of blacks and hispanics has more than doubled in colleges and universities. But lets not be confused. Diversity is one thing, inclusion is something else. And the fact of the matter is that institutions today need to find a way to really get a sense of belonging to all the students who come to university, provide a vehicle for them to really be able participants were. Many of the issues we see today, many of the problems, many of the wrongs that we see in the incidence of various universities are only symptoms of a bigger problem. And o the only way were going o solve that is vibrant a creating a culture of inclusion that is fair basis, that is by design, and im not naive do not think that you do that overnight. That is a process that takes time but you have to start somewhere. If that means to me that diversity should be at the center of the decisionmaking inclusion and diversity at the center of decisionmaking, at the center of everything that is important at the university, and not something besides. You see, i see university the first thing they do is rush to a point of diversity. I believe the president s of universities need to be diversity in chief. [applause] and once the president assumes about role and make sure that all the students have an equal opportunity, because universities are not different than general society. We know that talent is universal. But opportunity is not. At universities and how is it should be the centers for opportunity, is the domain of everyone. So what im very hopeful that things can be much better, we still have a long way to go. Thank you, trying to get very interesting. Again, we hear this theme has been brought up now by david cohen, richard lui, that we see increase demographic diversity on campuses, not necessarily increased inclusion. Can ask you something . Hang on. Lets finish up this part of our panel. So nailah harpermalveaux, im terrible was first named. You are at yale obviously an elite educational institution. What we think about diversity in terms of numbers, i think just as weaver from president padron, this increase diversity at the tailback, the question is about increased inclusion and reflection of of the broader is that well hear about in a moment from Deray Mckesson that are impacting america nationally. How are you at you. Dealing with the changes yale what our students feeling in terms of inclusion and in terms of the broader issue in society . Sure, yeah. Welcome i think both richard lui and david cohen made great points about the tension between these two seemingly polar opposite narratives of racial progress and then on the other hand, kind of racial violence and they continue to brutality. And i think as a student come especially students of color, we are also dealing with attention and the congress owes kind of in the middle as both products of racial progress. Unocal i would not be able to go to school like yale if we were 50 or so years ago. But also seen people that both look like us and look like a families and we share a kinship with, just editing indiscriminately brutalize before our very eyes sometimes. And so i think its that sort of attention that a lot of the student activists are spreading out the acting is also to say holding a university that we love accountable for kind of the values that it espouses in its Mission Statement come in its brochures, and kind of why we came to yale. Became to yale for opportunity also because we thought it would be this conclusion but we thought they would be a prioritization of students of color and a faculty of color. And so we are actually trying to hold a scuba accountable for kind of the things they say that theyre going to do. You said brutalized. I mean through social media, on video. As richard lui pointed out speeded are you talking students or people in the Broader Society . Im just talking about these two kind of narratives where in some ways we are straggling between. But theres also sometimes where these incidents kind of view in some ways carry on over to College Campuses. So recently i think about a year ago at yale a student come a friend of mine, a senior was held at gunpoint by a new Haven Police Officer because he matched the description of someone who is stealing from yale campus, right . So its moments like those we see kind of a crossover in the wide angle but more blurred. And then the incidents that happened in november i think also show more of a complete picture of what racism on College Campuses look like today. We want to come back because theres a lot because theres a lot into but i wanted to turn to Deray Mckesson and ask you as someone who is so in touch with the pope, ma process in america. Weve heard again from richard and from dave and others about ferguson, what happened in new york, staten island, what happened come and went nose down in florida with Trayvon Martin come and to increase presents a public protest. How do you view College Campuses and how they are responding to the protests on greater American Society . Yes. I think about the identity city across the country, hundreds of protests in many colleges as well. When i think about protest unsolicited understanding that it is about to john q. Public. Telling the truth in public is so much about protest has been. We stood industries to use a body to tell the truth. We disrupted is to force people to tell the truth. Understand a protest in and of itself without the edge. Protest creates space for the edge. I think about the College Campuses. As the top of the dems inclusion is about culture. What does it feel like on campus. What we have seen, people saying this doesnt feel right. It doesnt feel like a place of honor. That allows me to be my best so. I think thats important. Im also sensitive to understand institutions are designed to outlast people. People. They know you will graduate at some point and they will outlast you. That is a particular challenge College Professors have come in addition to the famed book bigger something about editing to so many colleges where all of a sudden the world looks at them. They can become, the media changes the way people tell their stories, which is its our because on one end like people need the stores to be amplified it on the other hand, like when i seems that you come and interview people or tv, all of a sudden the spirit of protests and unrest changes a special on College Campuses which is interesting. Im also mindful of places like yale, theres a group of students who are marginalized within yale economically. They are organizing carefully and light touch will important, the inclusion. People on Upper West Side to detect whether coulter feels detect whether coulter fiercely and nobodys complained about that. When kids at yale do, theyre so privilege and how do they talk about what coulter feels like. Thats important, people of a right to feel safe and valued whatever their communities or. Thats important. I think about protest is come im interested to see how to give the College Protest and sustained over time given that institutions are designed to outlast, like people, they view a town hall and get everybody into a room and get someone with a ph. D in something to tell you, you know . Progress is coming. Like that is sort of what happens to it like the turn of the college activism, the response to college activism. What weve seen is people push against the. Continue to push and press. It seems so simple, you change a master from yale and harvard. Does things seem like a cosmetic change. You can recruit more tranced instead of no neutral gender background and that is diversity with no inclusion. I think what weve seen is protest to force these conversation into the public space and we the people cannot ignore. The last thing because i know this is a big deal, at one point when protesters call for professors to be disciplined. There is something about that i think about twitter in the classroom as a loss to radical spaces in america. I think about the classroom, both of them are places with the idea still matters. Like the way people think about ideas still the currency at a think as powerful and i love twitter. Politically. In the classroom to there is something but what happens when professors provide an academic venue for racism, like an academic cover for bigotry. I think weve seen that happen into places. I think about the cost of incident. Some people, what school . Was at yale is the protester called for their professor to be disciplined. What happened speak with she can probably explain better than me. So around halloween, this is one of the incidents that transport a lot of protest at yale. The iac which is the editor Cultural Affairs committee, a group of the administration sent out an end of basic we sang please be wary students come to visit educating people about comcome to try the two were offensive costumes on halloween. Things like block this, turbines. Of the associate master of a college sent an email in response to that same that students can if they had a problem with costumes should either look away or start a conversation. She in some ways linked yale students are paralleled yale students to five year olds playing dressup and that people should have the right to wear offensive guard or b be even transgressive. Hold onto mobile. s win over the incident is about to finish your thought. People use that to talk about free speech. Some people felt like i was an academic venue for racism, that give somebody an academic setting say that people can be offensive because we will learn from it. Without acknowledging that is an unsafe environment for some people, right . I think what i worry about in the public conversation that that the document. They dont believe in free speech. You know, if i walk down the street saying heil hitler, people responded to in a way that will be responsibly posted that, nobody would be that was free speech. Thats not it. That has to enter the public space to the our colleges have been proactive after the protest. But what do they mean when you know theres an endowment where something from somebody whos a slave owner . We just give th the money back without protest the people that want to process. I dont ever want to put this together protest is when people feel like they have no other option. Its like the only way to force the truth into the public sphe sphere. Hang on a second. So let me just say, so what we are dealing with is the culture on the campus as well as inclusion in terms of the opportunity to be on that campus for educational reasons. So when we are talking about Something Like this, there is an emphasis from, i think what i will call the establishment in american life, that inclusion is the priority. That having more people of color, more women, more not only racial but also ethnic and religious diversity on campus, is a triumph in this area, given where weve been in American Society. What we are seeing go from the students is this emphasis on inclusion once they are there. That they insist that they have a sense of longing, an agency to change whats going on. You spoke about the campus as one of the places, the safe places for change in American Society. Useusage what was the other. We will come back. But College Classrooms as a safe environment for that change. But the broader establishments response often is, you have a seat at the table. You are at yale university. What are you complaining about . And we come back to this notion that its freedom of speech. If you want to have competing ideas come if you want to say that some are racist, misogynistic, hostile, then you have to be, like deray, able to articulate your position and feel free to do so without calling someone a racist. Chancellor, can you do that . So let me say that inclusion has to be understood in the context of whether or not an institution has an equity approach him to their community and if there is not equity, if there is not a sense that youre entitled like everybody else and that there is no sense of privilege that is predominating an approach, then you equity. Package of equity, then you get those kinds of conversations. Hold on a second whats equity on a College Campus . Everybody is a student so everybody company, is equity in terms of you are at the table at rutgers thats not enough. Okay. But thats what the society is compete to get into your school thinks. Boy, that student got into canton, right . Okay. And has the applicant as weve heard from others today to take a step up in terms of Economic Opportunity what you called a think kind of other called it a knowledgebased society as opposed to a strong act society to get into the middle class. When i talk about equity im talking about a sense that everyone has the right and the tools to be able to come to the table and had a discussion. So im not simply talking about whether you are there, but whether give the resources available, whether there is a student centered approach to education that is welcoming. And whether you can have the ability to move out of that student environment and into the real world. And to our educational institutions now like yours and mine will be focused on that equity, the notion that people have, must have the means to be able to thrive on that campus. Not just to be there. Spewed what does thrive mean . Does that mean to succeed academic or to feel comfortable culturally speak with both took both. It has to be both because you cant thrive academically if youre feeling under siege. You cant thrive if you dont have the support of faculty and staff and other students who view you as part of the community. And its up to the teachers and the faculty and staff to provide a welcoming community, but also it starts with having enough resources so people can thrive. And so equity also has to come with the university. I define university by the people who labor the. The students as well as of the faculty and the staff that has to be a reflection of the community a and the society. We often talk about diversity. We talk about the student of the progress weve made in bringing more people of color. But the people who labor at the university have to be equally reflective of the society and the committee. And thats we have the relations. Because most students of color today and colleges and universities did not see reflected in the people who are at the leadership positions. They do not see they cannot aspire to something be like the president or the dean or that professor because they dont see them in the staff. You know, as long as we continue the model that have prevailed in america and to be honest, all over the world in terms of universities being centers of exclusion, thoroughly ranked on the basis of exclusivity and many other factors, selectivity, you know, whats happening is about its very difficult for people of color, ethnic groups, religious groups to really have the kind of participation in these institutions. But as i said before, our key to our well being in the 21st century. We can no longer afford not to have this institution be victims of participation, and Everything Else that will equip citizens to her to be successful in Society Today. This is not the 20 center anymore. So we need to find ways of defining 20th century to a. Allow the students to push and to be able to succeed. Let me interrupt. That means graduate. Does exactly what i want to ask you about, because i think what your describing is giving people especially people from disadvantaged communities opportunity to have a first rate education, and you spoke about using the to go in the Broader Society. But is that the emphasis or is a more this cultural issue weve touched on, a sense of inclusion on the campus . You cannot have one without the other. Success to me is defined of students who come from illegal, have a sense of belonging under able to graduate and a published the goals that they can do university for. Also being accepted into university dropping out after six much for your or not being able to complete. That doesnt do it. Thats what i am saying. Destiny of diversity, thats wonderful. Unique amount of inclusion necessary and assistance. Support, assistance spent for academic attainment over cultural comfort . For both. You cannot detach one from the other. And that is key and i have seen it and it is possible. Its not something that is impossible to accomplish but it takes a big change of mind. It takes creating a culture that is totally different from the culture that prevailed on many campuses throughout America Today. Student centered. Deray, when you this conversation do you think its kind of pretentious, given the harsh reality that we see lead to protests in the Larger Society speak with i think they are right. People, im mindful that people dont want a protest. Theres not as much time to focus on the skills for some people in mr. Madigan dont break. You have to figure it out and be part of the work. People dont want a fight. I dont want to stand in front of the middle of the street because it was the right thing to do at the right time. A great example is they went to the meetings that nobody responded until people did something else. Well, when people are protesting on the streets, when you have a situation like fergus then, how does it translate to the university of missouri . It . To show people their power to participate. Many in ferguson at the beginning so they could actually end in this treatment that was a real thing they could do. So many people not that we were so many people, they would like i can use my body. I can use my power in my voice. They want people of color. It manifests in two ways. One story that has never told. It is told by everybody but us to the way people tell their story is not an social media but with their body. It was again this tallied in public that is so central. But i agree the importance of equity and also making sure that theres a real sense of inclusion. How can colleges get in front of it . Students are not the only people that no problems on the campus. The same way we contrasted with and police, there are people in administration to watch these and faster and dont do anything until someone tries to have it been meaning about it. So what is the role for University Leaders to get in front of the stuff that people dont have to protest question or so what is the role for student leaders as they try to deliver on the emphasis in lucian to academic payment and success. I think what he said was really important about knowing what you are fighting for before things get out of hand. Many other places that students know whats wrong. The students know we need more diverse faculty and they need them only to be hired, but retain and resources need to be put forth to Cultural Centers and departments to focus on its issues. The students and others the culture that needs to change and have been telling administration about it. I think it takes some time to actually realize your voice be heard realize theres an example here that we can use to say here is a constant thing that needs to change and here is the way forward for the universities. The demands are put forth the idea were a way forward. The good thing about how the administration handled that afterward was that they did respect the samantha in a lot of ways and made an effort definitely to try to address some of them. When they come back to a concrete wall brought up that was the Halloween Costume in campus. And the business i work in american media, oftentimes this is feared as vcl students are some kind of sensitive and they have terms like microaggression if someone is walking down pennsylvania avenue and they saw kids dressed up like simpson house, they would say how outrageous. How deeply offensive. I cant go back to class today because my heart is hurt. They would say it is these people are asked or i get the joke or whatever. Thats an understandable point of view and in a month apartment that makes enough. But i think what is hiding is like a bigger issue. And so what the issue here is that an administrator is telling telling is basically speaking for mostly majority white student saying it is okay for you to wear costumes and engage in racial rack with a set expense of the safety of black students. Are they attacking people . Now, bodies eisai bodies. If i see these frat boys dressed up and i think its offensive to me, how does that impact your body . Well, it impacts our bodies as a whole because as he said theres microaggressions, but stereotyping is a huge thing we have to deal with it stereotyping that stuart undervaluing humanization and Police Officers feeling like it is okay for people to shoot people because theyre automatically seen as dangerous. I think it is all a part of one of his son in which these little offenses can turn into bigger problem and can really kind of invalid the mindset of americans and have already enveloped the mindset of americans. I want to remind you that you can be marginalized within a privilege setting. Talking about the College Campus. People can be marginalized in a sense of privilege. If nobody picked up trash they are calling somebody. People can be marginalized and setting the privilege. Inc. About yale where yes it is a privilege setting a world that they are in a different part of the American Society, but still has racism, still has. They asked this year and have the right to Say Something about it. That is the culture. I can say my daughter was actually a law school during this time and she wrote hours and hours about microaggression , about implicit bias. Her classmates are condescending. They did not value the construct that she was utilizing in part because theyve never experienced this kind of downgrading. Really what happened was there was no meeting of the minds. No way of mediating this discussion until video president interceded and a way that compromised their learning opportunity. For the entire year. We can talk about shape up and shipped out and be prepared. But if you are in supposedly a community where you can thrive and you find that you dont have a support system that enables you to do that, that really does compromise the ability. Colleges and universities, some of them have allowed cylert existences were you may be at yale, but you are not talking to this group of students or that group of students. The university is allowed that to happen thats what i said at the beginning. You need inclusion by design. What needs to happen is to create an environment that doesnt allow that to happen. The socialization process allows students to really learn from each other and be able to overcome the lack of understanding of people. But if you go to university and sleep in the dorms where only the students sleep and you only have these groups, you are not going to get the maximum benefit from that experience. Most of the students by gail have not had the experience of living with other people before. The construct that they make about socialization is very, very damaged by a whole lifetime of not having the chance. And that is because we live we all live such segregated lives throughout the time that we grow up, where we go to church, our communities. So how we build these new communities and i am in full agreement how he built them in a way that really brought the case to community is going to be critical for the 21st century because we can survive this way. One of the important things i think we have to think about is whether we can in fact not have a student centered cynically engaged community of learners because if we dont have that, we wont have success in terms of graduation for student because they will drop out of not be engaged. We wont have the ability to build the cities that we are a part of as part of Public Institutions particularly the private as well. And we wont be able to actually teach our kids the values of a multicultural society. Ive been reading about controversies on campus with regard to segregated housing, minority students request to a black dorm, hispanic dorm. Youre talking about the importance of People Living together to achieve these discussions. To talk about the effort towards inclusion. How do you feel about these or it common dorm separate dining hall, how do you feel about this . Is it good . Not good at all. I dont think this helps accomplish what we know as to what gordon. But we dont accomplish that, our best hope for the future was never going to accomplish it anywhere else because its the greatest opportunity we have in America Today i sleep worrying people to colleges and universities to have done have the proper experience for them to be able to finish and go out into society and be leaders and people that are agents of change. In other words, prepare them to go into a most deep racial society. In 260. Obviously i am the end and i think that is very true. I do think we should talk about bias given want this, though. They live in an environment for its majority white and other classes are majority white. So i think sometimes we would like to retreat into a space where we feel more comfortable, where we can find other people that share some of the values indexed herein is and where we can commute together. That is kind of the reason we are searching for these places. But we should also think about is in terms of responsibility. If the dollarsign students of color to be the people that hold up the olive ranch . Or is that also one white dude in and administrators to have stakes in this issue . You to disagree because i think the president right here, you can speak for yourself, but your emphasis on preparing young people to go out and understand youre coming into a white majority, delete setting at yale. We do practice how to be with the majority white all the time. Thats the thing. We do it all the time. I dont think it is either or. We can provide opportunities for people to answer and we can give them save space. Now, this was an either or choice here. Are you in favor of the allblack, all hispanic dorms, dining hall, et cetera or not . Im not answering the question. It chancellor or president has to act responsibly. Its not either or. Official as a student and i say i want to save space picking up on your point because i dont feel comfortable and i want to save space and this is my black dorm, would you say . You dont get a chance to do either or. Yes i do. And the chancellor. I can do that. Talking about is. We live on this distant part of campus and we do everything in our own corner. Theyve said we want to be a part of it, too. How do we make sure the experience israel and ive had conversations with Football Players a big universities. Somebody picks my classes for me. That is the love experience when you think about that in student that to have the best possible academics didnt send postcollege careers. So we have come to the end of this spacebar discussion. We have about 15 minutes for a questionandanswer period with two microphones set up your basket, and identify yourself and ask a question. Do not make a speech. I definitely am equipped by what i do for a living. Unique rabbit, president and ceo of the Consumer Health foundation. I went to georgia tech in the 90s and i remember six months in thinking all the janitors, all the best drivers were black and all of my professors are white. I left there thinking i was just a replication of our society. Do you think really, all four of you, that you can create this bubble of a university that allows everyone to thrive within a society that actually is not like that at all. Let me interpret your question. Dont go away because he might come back if you said and did most people want to hear about when you said twitter in classroom or safe spaces for this kind of discussion. What we hear from the question is what effect it theres extra things about the Larger Society but appeared you see my professors and the top of the academic ladder are white people of a certain privilege and class the bus driver, janitor, there are people of a different race and class. I can see that. So is the classroom to save space or is it a place where you should be thinking i am trying to achieve something to break barriers from my family, my community, get the credential family. So that i can make a difference. But i said as radical spaces in america. To your question, im a Human Capital working to School Districts in Baltimore City of minneapolis for thats replicated as well. Bus drivers, janitors, we replicated data. Lets just say we have some exception. Their son opportunities to think about Skill Development for people who traditionally had the disadvantage jobs. Is the universe the allowing to act for free. Can access the opportunities . Moving away from what sets people off again into the spirit with the idea of knowledge and repaired and acknowledged the disparity exists. The repair is the commitment to ending the disparity. Some of it has to be Skill Development and some of it has to be focused on hiring development within the ranks. When you have a program that exclusively workers . Will you actually do the work and that is the repair work . Some universities are hard to acknowledge. The president knows this stuff is happening but they dont have the majority. You know, they are making the move, but the repair work as were the hardest of his. Most people do the abolishment on the campuses. I think we should go on. Thank you for your question. Good morning. I am jackie watt. Thank you for the lightning discussion. Our question is in light of your discussion today, what are your thoughts on the role of historically black universities . And their significance today. Today. So not in terms of protesting campus life, but the role and importance of historically black colleges and universities . Yeah, i say that i had a 20yearold son who had an incident at a school in connecticut and is now in washington we am just having conversations with him is now very enlightening to me and he heard your discussion. You feel safer now . A mac absolutely. This conversation is exactly what youre saying. He feels at home. He feels like he can succeed. He felt he had to try to fit in. A child who grew up extremely comfortable and went to these Great Schools and lots of money spent and lots of money being spent in connecticut. Definitely, a small amount of diversity, no inclusion in an incident has to happen for him to start to understand the world. I am sad is apparent because they think hes lost his innocence. But its been interesting. I think he feels validated. Let me bring this question to you at your overwhelmingly white campus ikea university. How would you think about an historically black college and would you see that as a contrasting save space for a young academic, is that fair . Especially a black male. Well, historically black colleges have provided an amazing world and still provide an amazing role for black students because in a lot of ways, we are consistently trying to navigate those waters. In some ways tried to mold ourselves into what we are due to be around in majority white campuses. Often, many of us feel tokenized or stereotyped. And so i can understand definitely the role the colleges still play in making many people feel like they are at home and like they can succeed and actually the cpu board professorships and positions of power they can aspire to. There is no question that historically black institutions continue to play a very Important Role precisely because many students in order to feel welcome, embarked to feel included they have to go institutions. Whats wrong in America Today is no american should have to be confined to specific institutions because they are not able to succeed to feel safe, to feel welcome at the institutions had the same obligation to make students feel positive about opportunities they have to grow in this institutions. Let me just come back to this question, but then you have to go out into the broader world. So you can come from washington d. C. Which until recently was majority black and have lots of black leadership on this leg in the light. But then you have to go maybe work in miami for filet or someplace and you say wait a second, now i feel not so secure and have a reason not to achieve. But thats not what happens. The data support that people from historically black institution ive institutions that are providing safe spaces rise fair and then go want to thrive in their careers and work lives. I am for maximizing choice. Theres lots of opportunities to create institutions where people can decide where to go. Or go to several places, hopefully graduate within six years or so. The experience in terms of protest. [inaudible] historically white . There is something about what happens to fight everyday. Fighting to be seen, to be heard, to be valued. That doesnt necessarily set you up to learn in the best way. My sister went to amt and when i think that experience is, she didnt have to fight for many things around visibility that can be seen their value and people who had in mind. She got to participate and that was really powerful. I agree about choice. Different campuses served differently im not really important. Making sure campuses served often mean that there is something about the exhaustion and a lot of that with protest and colleges. I think about ways to the most places it to come learn. It is not common like if somebody calls you articulate because you put a sentence together. It is not bad. I think that is real. There is immense privilege. People are like i didnt know summer was a verb. But that was a rail for so many people. [laughter] what does it mean to be marginalized in the community of privilege. Im asking you about the protest of the real needs, can turn, frustration and america along the lines of racial brutality just to be blunt about it. You see a difference in terms of the response im historically black College Campus or historically way. The question of inclusion, and around race it is different because there are significantly less white people about issues of inclusion of, sexism, those issues are real. I think when you see them protest, it is used more so because it is to not play lower or taken the protest of the larger community. Think about students who sat down with hillary in atlanta. Sort of pushing the larger system and structure to do right by black people. We have another question. Eduardo, your institutions are among the best in graduating lowincome people of color. What we know is in fact we have 6. 7 million opportunities in our society disproportionately latino and black and only one out of 100110 people in our country will earn a ba. So how can you counsel low income young people of color about pursuing a college to grieve when we know that actually so many universities do a disservice to their students and students wind up with tremendous death and without a credential that allows them to pay it back. Let me ask president petrone. Fighting a start. Well, this is a good question that requires a long answer so ill try and bring it to the front. The fact of the matter is our institutions that were very similar in that regard. The community has to have a sense of ownership. It must be a place from the very early years students look forward to go into that institution. You know, we work with the high schools and even with the student very early to bring them to the college, to bring programs, to include them in extracurricular activities. We work to pair his not understanding the financial risk and pay at a number of activities yearround with young people in our community to be able to understand the colleges for them that as an afterthought or something for other people. As a result of that, at my institution we have today the largest institution in america. We serve 165,000 unit and also the most diverse. We value it more africanamericans are more hispanics every year than any other institution in this country. [applause] the reason for that the reason for that is as i said before, our sense of inclusion has been by design to make sure youre especially at lowincome students come in 68 of my students are low income. 45 live in poverty and that should be enough reason for them to be able to achieve and evaluate. It is a state of mind. You have to work out every day and your staff needs to reflect that community any 200 that it they need to be passionate about it. Thats what makes it. This hardware, but the kind of work we must do and its our obligation and duty. We have a similar kind of posture and have Great Success stories as well. I think the important point in response to your question is the good news is that there are large Public Institutions now, Public Institutions better funded consortia to mixtures didnt have the resources and to graduate. There are schools that are like ours, Research Regional universities that get the kind of support and there are liberal arts colleges that continue to get the support that is access focus as we are describing, but also equity focus. Really interested in success. So you do have a multiplicity of choices today. You have to be very deliberate and looking at colleges. You have to give advice about it and should not choose them blindly. We should all know the terrible stories of debt ridden institutions, eight cap ridden student who dont have the support of their institutions because they really arent interested in success of graduation. The focus on graduating, staff that supports people, Civic Engagement qaeda connection to the community and an opportunity to thrive in a community. We have time for final two questions on allstar break here. Jamila bay but wtf w. Radio. This is for everyone quickly. I know we are out of time. For students in colleges for the first time who are starting to understand that they are active participants, old enough not to take part in a democracy. They are all enough that their speech can become political and can become recognized. I want to know what this current climate in your opinion is doing to further encourage that as we talk about demographics of voters, knowing that these 18 plus year old who are really seeing their speech as Political Movement are now going to the polling places sometimes for the first time in this climate and i wonder how schools, how colleges are supported not. Dont stop there. How colleges are supporting political involvement in this Election Year . Ask him i guess. Start there. There we go. You want to just answer whats going on at yale . I think what her passion is getting not just how political act to this amount campus may be translated into more of political act that the nationwide. I think that you see at definitely in the upcoming election with kind of how Bernie Sanders in some ways has really taken off in a lot of young peoples minds. Specifically on College Campuses. Yes, specifically on College Campuses. People are really cannot the status quo, we look in our political system and saying this isnt necessarily working for us and we have much more leftist ideas and we are thinking of things in a different way and we want a leader that kind of reflects that. Thats interesting because what he said donald trump. Way. I think is that the other end of the spectrum. At the campuses dont go trout. They go sanders. I think it has to do with maybe people as political leanings and not necessarily inking that shrub has a way forward, that he has been that he is in a lot of wasted i said in that burning is definitely not the status quo in some ways, that he is more he is more looking at including everyone. Just on this point, d. C. The concerns on campus go into the Broader Society . Do you see it today in the election season . In the election season i do. I think students will vote much more than they have in the past. We have a final question. Good morning. I am omar powers, physician by trade the Vice President at the African American alliance. The question i have from the beginning for mr. Richard believes about the state of race, components and religion as well and also when you describe the halloween incident in those discussions about their turbans and no headscarves could be insensitive. On the College Campuses and universities, and are we see the same insecurities of vulnerabilities on a targeted group says hes been in the past of africanamericans and hispanics who may feel somewhat intimidated by cultural things happening in society at large. If so are we attacking now but the same vigor we attack racism is blatant but identifiable africanamericans or hispanics versus people who are also equally potentially vulnerable. To go through the entire panel. Definitely. You know, we do without the same way we deal with all the other issues. We want to make sure those students have the right to feel comfortable, to feel safe. I think we have an obligation to make sure we protect it. Yes. I think we are talking about microaggressions, but also stereotyping that annoy has to do with not only black and hispanic students, latino students, but also religious minorities, especially those you might be able to tell from their draft or where they might be from an people might make stereotypes out of those out of those assumptions. I would only add that what we actually seen on College Campuses and this is showing up digitally as well. People are making anonymous statement that are racist and a whole host of ways because the geographic out. Or twitter and things like that you see a reality in ways that i dont think colleges have wanted to well yet. They see all the comments and they are very specific that they know it happened and we see it come up that way. I want to come to the point about religion. You are specifically referencing people. Insane to hate is not only happening started visibly on campus, but digitally. People are saying islam of public things about people on campus. At the harder thing to manage than you can figure out who saturday, where it came from because the volume is also increasing. You see College Campuses this sort have caused the arrest visibly. And even further and race. We were fortunate early this fall to have a Student Organization of young men and women to come forward and say we are muslim and we are not your enemy. They invited the rest of the campus to come and talk with an imam and several other members of the community who are muslim entry to it half hours, students about 300 in the room were afraid to say what they wanted and get a response. The really important part of it is they have asked for and supported folks they are who help them frame some of the discussion but also verification of a religious good as well. One of the students that its wonderful to be in an institution where you feel able to trust your fellow citizen and student and have this kind of events. When nondefined as people wanted to talk, but to enough hours. We have come to the end but i want to say in terms of the state of the race and the Aspen Institute in what was done for six years, then i think a model of smart intense discussions that avoid nothing and ask all of us as americans to do with race and a set schedule way that could lead to further change. We are here for the chain and as a result of conversations that move us forward, conversations like this one. I just want to ask you to join me in thanking Eduardo Padron, join me and thinking Deray Mckesson and join me and thanking chancellor phebe hatten for rutgers cap this. Thank you all for coming. [applause] [inaudible conversations] stick around because we are going to have a very quick stage change. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] lets bring the next pamela. As we transition to the next panel, which will be on the changing demographics in large cities. We are pleased to welcome to moderate this, while al jazeera is still on the air, the acre of americas inside story, a distinguished journalistic career, chief National Correspondent for the pbs newshour before that, host of National Public radios talk of the nation, the author of three books, many articles and chapters. A household name and really a household voice. A familiar voice to all of us. Please welcome ray suarez who will introduce his panel. Thanks a lot, charlie. I was really pleased to be asked to moderate a panel particularly because ive had a fun sleep or this story for my entire life. Growing up in brooklyn, working as a reporter in new york, los angeles, chicago and washington d. C. , places that have seen decades of transformation. I have covered it as a reporter. Ive written about it. The book is still in print and makes a lovely gift. You know, i think this is the story that we tell each other about the way we live through other forms. Neighborhoods change all the time and they change for a wide variety of reasons and a wide variety of ways. Lately we have been talking about it nationally in the context of gentrification. Neighborhoods have changed in a lot of ways. I was in a neighborhood in cleveland a couple years ago were right in the middle of a neighborhood that was still well populated with a close element tree school because the surrounding area had aged in place and there simply were not enough children to keep an Elementary School open in that neighborhood. That is a form of demographic change that we dont talk about very much. Sometimes we automatically assume that economic change also means racial change, both for a neighborhood on the way up or on the way down. You can go to a lot of neighborhoods around the country, especially now with his economic change underway with no visible racial change. Yet the expert patients, the aspirations of the people arriving are very different from those ideas about what the place is and how life is to find better are the people who are already in place. And it provides a big challenge for ngos and for government. You allow this to go on organically . Do you allow it to simply proceed and see what prevails there is government a necessary actor in the chama to assure a certain insistence on equity and insistence on social justice. The needs and desires of the longterm residents had to be in and heard us know if any of desires of the people who are for single demographic change and changing the numbers and making us look at this place. I have a great panel to do this with. And i will go from right to left. It is a special rather than political designation i assure you. Stephanie Rawlings Blake of baltimore, maryland. The last time we spoke was at the Democratic Convention in charlotte and she is a champion for her city. Todd phillips says rice said the city, formation of over 50 Community Organizations in 33 cities around the country, around human rights and housing. Mayor michael nutter, recent past mayor of philadelphia, currently senior fellow at bloomberg philanthropies. And sue chan, member of city council of fremont, california. I will start with you. I was recently in philadelphia beating that a swell restaurant that my High School Daughter was with me assured me was way too hip for me and a neighborhood called fishtown. It is a place to watch it happening moment a moment what we are talking about in this panel. So we look at fishtown. Do we walk along the street and say this is great for there some other things you have to think about before you assess what is going on on the urban landscape. Thank you. You always have to think about it. Its not just fishtown. It is Northern Liberties which maybe 20 years ago Northern Liberties did not have a name and became Northern Liberties. Folks moving to kensington. You know, when i was out the Sin City Council it was manioc on main street. Philadelphia, kind of the quintessential city of neighborhoods. Theres a lot of change in our city. Philadelphia is one of our strengths. I was talking earlier in an interview. This is about what people want to do and how they want to live together. Philadelphia, one of the most historic city of United States of america has also seen the largest percentage increase of melinda population of any major city in the United States of america. Theres a lot of activity going on between and among neighborhoods. People find most places, most of them and this is ultimately about respect. Respect of culture, respect to feature by how once folks have been in the neighborhood as well as they open them up on new people, quote, unquote good people just come into the neighborhood or who are new to philadelphia. So its really about managed growth. Its about zoning which dont let your eyes when sober. These are important concepts. Its about managed growth, smart growth. A real bidding is not the most precious thing in the universe. Its really about working with Community Folks coming neighborhood people, and respecting those who have been through the rise, the following resurgence of the community and that the new folks dont automatically project the feeling that while we are here to save your neighborhood, you should be grateful that we just showed up. Were making Property Values go up. My grandmother used to remind me to be house rich and cash poor. Just because the value of the house when that doesnt mean i can pay taxes. People should not be forced out of their neighborhood, pushed out of their homes because they cant pay taxes. There are steps the government can and must take to preserve the great history, the folks who made the neighborhood what it is while at the same time responding to the fact that it is moving possibly in a new direction and everybody has to figure out how to live together. Neighborhoods especially in a place like philadelphia have been changing for centuries. How to make it to the place where we say but now we have to preserve. When my parents moved from south philadelphia in the mid50s, was a big move for some africanamerican families. The big move up was to move to west philly. We were the third black family on the block be a better time i was 10 or so there were three white families left. Pretty significant change in a relatively short period of time. Now it is like probably 99. 8 African American and latino and maybe some other folks. Change will happen. It is the one constant in life. You look at philly. We look at africa and america and maybe italian and irish and another three blocks you got latino and asian or whatever the case may be. Ill basically in the same neighborhood. They figure it out. It takes leadership and support from community leaders, communitybased organizations, ngos and others actively engaged. In philadelphia we have a Human Relations Commission because at times there are conflicts. Someone has to be the valid fair party to step in and say hey, everybodys here. Nobody is moving. What is the conflict . What are your not understanding . Youve got a live and figure it out. What does that imposition into the market place look like . Who needs defending and from what . I want to start by addressing your question about the process for neighborhoods. Neighborhoods change, cities change. For the work we do, and what we focus on is this type of change is not by accident. Its actually systemic and structural in nature. What do i mean by that . Two things in particular. The process of change we are looking not come to a blog multidecade history of Public Policy that illustrated investment in many urban communities. I live and work in San Francisco aside from my national purview. But if we seen . A history grad night. Urban renewal, the fact that federal transportation policies, creation of suburbs from urban centers, all these things went in to create five or six decades of really, really systemic structurally driven investment. Our analysis is that type of disinvestment creates conditions for a place like west oakland or the michelin district had now become very, very highly profitable in terms of that kind of potential to profit from what is relatively cheap land and housing values to a surrounding that is being very demand driven. So one, i think it is important as we talk about this process of change to actually name the structural and the ways in which Public Policies and public revenues have actually driven the process. The second thing i would say is while change happens all the time, the real question might ink is how do we ensure that changes equitable . They have previous cycles in previous rounds of neighborhoods and communities changing over. But when White Communities last commissioned combo when the irish communities like the neighborhood and when irish and portuguese folks loved another way folks left east oakland, they went somewhere better. They move to the suburbs. At that time, the suburbs are a great place to be and with better schools, better homes, better quality of life. However, the equity question is when workingclass communities of color displaced in their neighborhood, they are not going somewhere better. But we see nationally right now a suburbanization were suburbs are actually not that better place to be. They are moving from west oakland or east oakland right now. You can with a place like fremont, pittsburgh and the cities are well known, well documented to have no health infrastructure, no transportation infrastructure. It is basically very, very poorly researched communities were the only thing they have going for them is the fact their rent is relatively cheap. You exchange the fact that you now can afford housing for a threehour commute oneway back to oakland where you shop, but your hairdresser, go to church, children go to school there, job as they are. So it is a question as to whether this Current Space of what is a natural progression of change is actually benefiting. So i think it is the systemic future and the nature of whether or not change creates greater equity in greater opportunities or if in fact it causes further racial inequity. There are winners and losers in this process constantly. They would be disingenuous to say otherwise. At the same time, one of the things fortunately, unfortunately, just the way it is dimmick cera shareholder able to demand to be left alone in place as ownership. It is the unfortunate truth that the way we assign an value space in this country that owners can put an anchor in the ground. Renters cannot. They get moved, shifted, downgraded, shunted good things happening. As we watched gentrification and a place like the bay area certainly, its actually quite often and doing quite well on the backend. The renters take what they can get. And what youve just described is the process of that happening. I think actually a lot of black displacement has actually been black homeownership. So just to say a few things about the question of homeownership and tendencies and how these things play out. One thing i start by saying is in 2013 to 12 in this country provided a total of four months to back homers documented. Most of the displacement from east and west oakland have been displaced. We often talk about the concept of false choice. Is it a choice to take a buyout when you bought your house in 1972 or 18,000 you can now sell it from someone. You know, the last days of gentrification we saw it in the bay. There were people coming with bags of cash to make 600 or 700,000 cash offers to homeowners knocking on their door saying i will buy your house in its current state today with the money in this bag. But what you exchange . It doesnt work out when you essentially lose your community, lussier social era day. It is well documented, political power being broken up. The fact that these neighborhoods then i saw you, but the fact that voting blocs, latino voting block, black voting blocs are being broken. A lot is being sacrificed for a onetime payment. And it is not clear. We dont know today yet whether its going to work out over time that we determined that there is a longterm benefit to actually taken a buyout. This country is becoming majority. But im in baghdad that is a charity established 25 of the largest metropolitan senators in is country are true about the mayor said the Council Sitting up here, maybe not in fremont. But in oakland and San Francisco, for example. In new york, many, many places. We have to make the decision as a country whether or not regardless of your homeowner or not, we value all the stakeholders in our communities. We recognize people have legitimate contributions and therefore a legitimate right to determine their ability to not based entirely on this question. Mayor, your city has faced depopulation. The challenge of controlling and consolidating geography of what to do about abandoned homes and underpopulated neighborhoods. How have you coped with that and how a few cotton Baltimore Betty for what is next . Great question. I was talking to mayor nutter earlier in Public Service for more than 20 years. And ive seen the changes in many of baltimores neighborhoods. Many not in a good way. So i met when i became mayor had an opportunity to do things differently and i wanted to create an elimination plan that really worked for a city. So i challenged my housing commissioner and his team to come up with a Market Driven strategy, one that works for baltimore that will help us undo decades of this investment and abandonment. So we created a vacancy value and ive been very, very pleased with the multipronged approach but we are working with communities. We know the market will take years to catch up with that community, but it does have an they have to live with vacant trash strewn lots. What weve done is created almost 900 Community Green spaces working with volunteers in the Community Members to design so they can use it to be a place of peace and beauty instead of just trash and things like that. We created incentives for people to move into the city and incentives that people can layer layer we asked employers to work with us and then they can layer our incentives. For example, people that work for Johns Hopkins that want to live around the hospital have gotten up to 40,000 at the closing table for homes. So we have created those opportunities. We have cut red tape and the process of buying a cityowned vacant property. What we are seeing is the investments that we are making our quadruple the citys investment and demolition. What we see is that his leveraging more development. We are blessed to be stabilizing the flight and taking advantage of some of the great neighborhood and honestly taken advantage of the pack people are being price tag around us in d. C. We work hard to make sure people understand baltimore is an affordable alternative and that is leveraging additional