Transcripts For CSPAN2 Tonight From Washington 20130808

It feels wonderful to be here. I am thrilled to see so many people eager to join in dialogue about where we as a nation find ourselves in the strive towards freedom and it seems particularly fitting that we would have this conversation today, the day after our nation paused its daily business to pay tribute to reverend Martin Luther king jr. s life and his legacy. And it seems fitting that we would have this conversation the day after our nations first black president was sworn in for his second term. Now i know much of the nation has already moved on and president obamas soaring rhetoric about the promise of america, life, liberty, justice and equality for all has already been forgotten by many. And i know that many, many people in america will not think of dr. King again until his holiday rolls around again next year. But i would like for us to pause tonight and think more deeply about the meaning of dr. Kings life and his legacy and what it has to teach us about our nations president. It seems particularly important for us to do that given that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. 50 years have passed. 50 years have passed since kings voice soared over the washington monuments declaring his dream, i have a dream. It is a dream deeply wounded in the american dream. And yesterday while i was watching president obamas inaugural address i heard echoes of kings speech. I have a dream. And when i turned off my television set, i spent a few minutes reflecting on the question. Are all of us, all of us truly welcome to share in this dream, the same dream that dr. King dreamed . Most americans im sure can recite portions of dr. Kings i have a dream speech. Its an extraordinary and very familiar speech. I have are unaccustomed to hearing clips of his speech played over and over, recycled over and over on the radio every january. Theyre the favorite quotes, the favorite lines and now that i have schoolaged children i see how king has explained to them in classrooms. When i was in Elementary School there was no Martin Luther king day. No discussion of his heroism in classrooms but when my children came home from school just the other day, they told me all they have learned in school about kings courage. He was the man who stood up to the bullies, the man who led the children and all colors and walks of life are to hold hands and be judged by the content of their character and not the color their skin. He was willing to die so that all of us could now live his dream. And i find myself conflicted as i listen to my children. Back to me what they have heard in school about this man who believed in kindness and forgiveness and justice and compassion for all. I said yes, yes all of that is true. All of that is true but i feel uneasy. I know that something has been lost in the translation. That sense of disorientation was crystallized for me recently when i read vincent hardings insightful book, Martin Luther king the inconvenient hero. Dr. Harding was one of kings closest friends and advisers marching with him countless times and living around the corner from kings family in atlanta. Harding writes with some ill sorrow quote it appears as if the price for the First National holiday honoring a black man is the development of a massive case of National Amnesia concerning who that black man really was. I would suggest that we americans have chosen amnesia rather than continue kings painful uncharted and often disruptive struggle toward a more Perfect Union and quote. It appears he says as if we were determined to hear our new hero captive to the powerful period of his life that culminated in the magnificent march on washington in 1963 refusing to allow him to break out beyond the stunning eloquence of his eye have a dream speech. Dr. Harding writes code that we would like to forget that it was not the weaver of gentle son madesonny dreams shot down on a balcony in memphis tennessee unquote. He was by 1968 a different even more courageous man, a man ahead of his time. And i can see clearly now that on days like yesterday we rarely honor the man who died. No, we honor that sonny version of him. We honor the men who gave the soaring speech about black and white schoolchildren, a man who trained in integrationist dream. But who was king five years later . In 1968 . Who was that man killed on a motel balcony the man who was marching with sanitationthe man who would come to believe after the civil rights will have already been passed after the stool writes victories at target and one that her biggest battles most important battles still lie ahead and that nothing, nothing short of a radical restructuring of our society held in the hope of making that dream and promise of america a reality. King explained to her reporter in 1967 quote for years i labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions of a society ,com,com ma a little change here, a little change there. Now i feel quite differently. I think youve got to have the reconstruction of the entire society a revolution of values. Frustrated by white resistance to addressing it in any meaningful way and get those family schools, structural joblessness and crippling poverty king told his staff of the southern christian Leadership Conference quote the dispossessed of this nation, the poor live in a cruelly unjust society. They must organize a revolution not against the lives but against the structures through which a society is refusing to lift the load of poverty. So what would king think of us today, of the world we have created in his absence . Would he believe that the nonviolent revolution had already been one . Or had even begun . The revolution of values that he part prayed for . Would he if he could see us today believe that we now share his dream, that we are now traveling the road he was marching . 50 years later have we caught up with king yet . Are we finally on the path that he was traveling in 1963, 1968 . Back in 1969 while blood still stained the motel balcony where dr. King was murdered a poem was written honoring his life in reflecting on his death. The poem was written back when king had only just begun the process of being transformed in our collective consciousness from a troublesome dangerous black figure to a national hero. It was written way back when the memory of kings assassination was still fresh. Tears still spilling among those who loved him. Back then in 1969 the poet carl Wendell Grimes junior wrote now that he is safely dead let us praise him. Build monuments to his glory, saying osamas. Dead men make such convenient heroes. They cannot rise to challenge the images we would fashion from their lives and besides it is easier to build monuments than to build a better world, so now that he is safely dead leave with east of consciousness will teach our children that he was a great man knowing that the cause for which he lived is still a cause and a dream for which he died is still a dream, a dead mans dream. Now that he is safely dead, Martin Luther king, jr. Safely dead, is it true . Is he safely dead today . Is his dream safely dead . I know that many people in this room would say no, no, no. Dr. Kings dream, his spirit is so much alive amongst all of us and its thriving right here in this room. And what better evidence could there be of this band that we as a nation all flaws to pay tribute to his dream. Just yesterday a National Federal holiday. Think about that. A federal National Holiday for Martin Luther king, jr. The man who was once deemed a threat to National Security by the fbi, a radical trouble make her. Is it not obvious that we as a nation have finally caught up with king . We may not be living his dream but dont we share his dream . What better evidence could there be that we just reelected our nations first black president , something that was unimaginable in 1963 or 1968. What better evidence could there be than that beautiful ball to a racial multiethnic gathering on the mall in washington d. C. That we witnessed just yesterday and it was broadcast around the world. Clearly we must be living the dream and sharing the dream, right . It has been said by numerous philosophers and the elections that any society, any civilization must be judged by how it treats its most full mobile members and its prisoners. King waswould no doubt that great with that assessment considering how we fare in that regard i find myself thinking of people like susan burton, people who have cycled in and out of our nations prison system in this era of mass incarceration, in this postking, postcivil rights era a time when our prison population has more than quintupled and ilion to people overwhelmingly poor people of color have been permanently locked up or locked out stripped of the very civil and human rights dr. King and so many others risked their lives for and some even died for. I think of susan whose son was killed by the police. A Police Cruiser barreling down her street in los angeles ran over her 5yearold voip. She received no apology, no real acknowledgment of her loss and she fell into a deep, deep depression, wracked with grief. She ultimately became a did to crackcocaine. Now if susan had been wealthy ,com,com ma if she had even been middleclass with a good job and a Good Health Care plan she undoubtedly would have qualified for many many hours of therapy and counseling. She likely would have qualified for very good legal prescription drugs that would help her cope with her severe depression and grief but no things were different for susan. Impoverished, living in l. A. She became addicted to crackcocaine and thus began her odyssey of cycling in and out of prison for 15 years, 15 years. Every time prosecutors said, just take the deal. We will give you three years rather than eight. This time we will give you five years rather than 12. This time, this time we will cut you away. Just take the deal. We will give you two years rather than six. One plea deal after another, not for offered drug treatment. Only shown to a prison cell. Every time she was released and pushed out onto the streets on able to find work, no housing was sleeping on the streets. Cycling in and out of our prison system for 15 years until i know small miracle she was granted access to a private drug treatment facility. She got clean and was given the job and she decided that she was going to dedicate the rest of her life to ensuring that no other woman would have to go through what she went through and she began by going down to skid row in los angeles and meeting women, prisoners that they would get off the prison bus on skid row. Get an off the bus carrying nothing but a Cardboard Box carrying their belongings, little or no money, turned out on the streets and she would say to these women who are strangers to her, just come home with me. You can sleep on my couch, he can sleep on my floor. He dont have to turn to the streets. I will take care of you. I will give you food. I will give you a safe lace. Just come home with me. Susan burton now runs five safe homes for women in los angeles. Women released from prison. Her organization is called a new way of life. Help finding jobs, helps to reunite women with their families and the aunt that she is organizing formerly incarcerated people to demand the restoration of their basic civil and human rights. Clearly clearly susan has caught on to king but what about the rest of us . Now what i have to say on this point will not a popular. Its its not that funny chervil message that is expected on the day after we inaugurated for the second time our nations first black president. But i believe it to be the truth and it implicates me and it implicates everyone in this room and the truth is this. We have allowed a human rights nightmare to occur on our watch. In the years since dr. Kings death a vast new system of racial and social control has emerged from the ashes of slavery and jim crow. Jim crow. A system of mass incarceration that no doubt has dr. King turning in his grave today. The mass incarceration of poor people of color in the United States is tantamount to a new caste like system, one that shuttles are young people from underfunded schools to brandnew hightech prisons. It is a system that overwhelmingly poor people of color into a permanent secondclass status nearly as effectively as early systems as racial control once did. It is in my view the moral equivalent of jim crow. Now i am always eager to admit that there was a time when i rejected this kind of talk out of hand. There was a time when i rejected comparisons between mass incarceration and slavery and mass impersonation and jim crow believing that those kinds of claims and comparisons were exaggerations or distortions or hyperbole. In fact there was a time when i thought that people who make those kinds of claims and those comparisons for are actually doing more harm than good to efforts to reform our criminal Justice System and a creep achieved greater racial equality in the United States. What a difference a decade makes for after years of working as a civil rights lawyer and advocate representing victims of racial profiling and Police Brutality and investigating patterns of Drug Law Enforcement and attempting to assist people who have been released from prison, reenter into a society that has never shown much use for them in the first place. I had a series of experiences that began what i now call my a way getting. I began to awaken to the racial realities that was just so obvious to me now, that what seems odd in retrospect is that i couldve been blind to it for so long. As i write in the introduction to my book the new jim crow what has changed since the collapse of jim crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society than the language we use to justify it. In the air of colorblindness it is no longer socially permissible to use race explicitly as a justification for discrimination and exclusion and social contempt. So we dont. Rather than rely on race we use our criminal Justice System to label people of color criminals and then engage in all the practices that we supposedly left behind. Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals and nearly all of the ways in which was once legal to discriminate against africanamericans. Once you are labeled a felon the old forms of discrimination in employment discrimination housing discrimination and denial of the right to vote exclusion from jury service is suddenly legal. As a criminal you have scarcely more rights and arguably less respect than a black man living in alabama at the height of jim crow. You have not ended racial caste in america. We have merely redesigned it. Now for those who might think that is overstating the case consider this. There are more africanamerican adults under correctional control today in prison or jail on probation or parole ben were enslaved in 1850 a decade before the civil war began. As of 2004 more black men were disenfranchised and in 1870 the year the 15th amendment was ratified exclusive exclusively denying the right to vote. The 15th amendment prohibited all laws explicitly denied the right on basis of race but during the jim crow era poll taxes and literacy tests circumvented the 15th amendment. And operated to deny africanamericans a chance to vote. Well, today in many states disenfranchisement laws accomplish what poll taxes and literacy tests ultimately could not. Now this doesnt affect just some small segment of the africanamerican community. To the contrary. In many large urban areas today more than half of working aged africanamerican men now have criminal records and are thus subject to legalize discrimination for the rest of their lives. The fact is in some cities like chicago, baltimore, philadelphia , and d. C. , the list can go on, some cities the statistics are far worse. It was reported in chicago and if you take into account prisoners, if you actually count prisoners as people and keep in mind that prisoners are excluded from poverty statistics and unemployment data. That is masking the severity of racial inequality in united the United States. If you actually count prisoners as people in the chicago area nearly 80 of working aged africanamerican men with criminal records are subject to legalize discrimination for the rest of their lives. These men are part of a growing under caste. That caste, a group of people defined largely by race relegated to a permanent secondclass status by law. Now i sign today that when i tell people that i am i now believe that mass incarceration is like a new jim crow and new caste like System People react with complete disbelief. They say how can you say that . How can you say that . Our criminal does system is a system of crime control and folks would stop committing so many crimes we wouldnt have to worry about them being locked up than being stripped of their civil and human rights. Therein lies the greatest myth about mass incarceration that is driven by crime and crime rates. Its not true. Its just not true. Our prison population quintupled in the space of 30 years, quintupled. We have gone from a prison population of about 300,000 to an incarcerated population now up over 2 million. We have the highest rate of incarceration in the world dwarfing the rates of highly oppressive regimes like russia or china or iran. Again this cant be explained simply by crime or crime rates. No, no. During that same period of time that are incarceration rates increased exponentially crime rates fluctuated, went up, went down, went back up again and went down again and today as bad as crime rates are in many parts of the country nationally crime rates are at historical lows. But incarceration rates consistently sore. Most criminologists and sociologist today will acknowledge that crime rates and incarceration rates in the United States has moved independently of one another. Think harsher rates and incarceration rates especially black incarceration rates have soared regardless of whether crime is going up or down in any Given Community or the nation as a whole. So what explains the sudden explosion in the incarceration . The birth of a penal system unprecedented in World History if not crime and crime rates . The answer is the war on drugs and a get tough movement, the weight of punitive nist that washed over the United States. Drug convictions alone just drug convictions accounted for about twothirds of the increase in the federal system and more than half of the increase in the state prison system between 1985 in 2000 the period of the greatest expansion of our prison system. To get a sense of how large a contribution the war on drugs has made to mass incarceration consider this. There are more people in prisons and jails today just for drug offenses than were incarcerated for all reasons in 1980. Now most americans violate drug laws in some form in their lifetime, most do. But the enemy in this war has been racially defined. Not by accident. This drug war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color even though studies have consistently shown now for decades that contrary to put it popular belief people of color do not use or sell Illegal Drugs at higher rates than whites. Now that defies her basic racial stereotypes about who a drug dealer is. Picture in your mind a drug dealer and who you see. There has actually been studies conducted asking that particular question. In the mid1990s a National Survey was conducted asking people to close their eyes and imagine a drug criminal and report what they saw. Over 95 of respondents pictured someone africanamerican. Only 5 of picture someone of any other racial ethnicity so we think of drug criminals in the United States. Studies have consistently shown that people of all races use and sell drugs at remarkably similar rates and in fact were significant differences in the data can be found some studies suggest that white people are more but that is not what he would get by taking a peek inside our nations prisons and jails that are overflowing with black and brown drug offenders. In some states 80 to 90 of all drug offenders sent to prison belong to one race, africanamerican. I know that many people who see the status they oh yeah thats a shame. Thats a shame that you know we need to get tough on them, those folks in the hood. Because that is where the violent offenders can be found. That is where the drug kingpins can be found. Name many people dont realize that this drug for war has never been aimed primarily at rooting out that violent offenders of the drug kingpins. Federal funding has loads to state and local Law Enforcement agencies that boost the sheer numbers of drug arrests. Its been a numbers game. Law enforcement agencies have been aborted in cash as numbers of people were switching to the system for drug offenses for which helps to explain why so Many Police Officers go out looking for the socalled lowhanging fruit stopandfrisk and searching and tossing as many people in an effort to get their numbers up. And to make matters worse federal drug forfeiture laws allow state and local Law Enforcement agencies to keep for their own use up to 80 of the cash, cars and homes seized from drug offenders. They dont have to be convicted, just suspected. Law enforcement can take your cash, seize your car. That is granting to Law Enforcement a direct monetary interests, not ending drug abuse or drug addiction for drug related crime but in the longevity of this war itself. The results have been predictable. People of color have been arrested en masse for primarily nonviolent drug offenses. In 2005 for example four out of five drug arrests were for simple possession. Only one out of five for sales. Most people in prison for drug offenses have no history of violence were significant selling activity and in the 1990s the period of the greatest escalation of the drug war nearly 80 of the increase in drug arrests were for marijuana possession. A drug that has been shown to be less harmful or at least less addictive than alcohol or tobacco and at least if not more prevalent in middleclass White Communities and College Campuses as it is in the hood. But i have waging this war almost exclusively in the hood we have managed to create this vast new racial under caste in an astonishingly short period of time. Where has the Supreme Court been in all of this . Where has the u. S. Supreme court and . Far from protecting the interests of discrete and insular minorities. Far from doing that. The u. S. Supreme court has been busy defending this war at every turn. The u. S. Supreme court over the last couple of decades have eviscerated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures ranting to the police the authority to stopandfrisk search just about anyone anywhere without any probable cause or reasonable suspicion, not a shred of evidence of criminal entity as long as they get consent. What is consent . Consent . Consent is when a Police Officer walks up to a young man. He officer walks up to a young man with one hand on his gun and he says turned around so i can search you. That young man just waved his Fourth Amendment right. Law enforcement doesnt have to have a shred of evidence to support that frisked out that the young man has consented of course believing that he had no ability to refuse consent and walk away. Now you might say what these are just isolated instances but the reality is that these isolated incidents add up to enormous Racial Disparities. The new York Police Department reported that in when youre alone, just one year alone it stopped in frisked more than 600,000 people. One year alone. Overwhelmingly and brown men. But the u. S. Supreme court has ruled that we cannot challenge these Racial Disparities in a court of law. In a series of cases beginning with mccluskey versus campton armstrong versus United States the u. S. Supreme court has ruled explicitly that it doesnt matter how overwhelming the statistical evidence might be. It doesnt matter how severe the Racial Disparities are. Unless you can offer proof of conscious intentional bias tantamount to an admission by a Police Officer or a Law Enforcement official you cant even state a claim for racial bias in the criminal Justice System today. So many of the racial profiling cases that i was litigating 10 years ago cant even be filed today. The u. S. Supreme court has close the courthouse doors to claims of racial bias in every stage of the criminal justice process from stop and searches to plea bargaining and sentencing. So many ways the u. S. Supreme court has effectively immunized to the system of mass incarceration from judicial scrutiny for racial bias much in the same with u. S. Supreme court once rallied to the defense of slavery and rallied again to the defense of jim crow in earlier eras. But of course just being swept into the system with little hope of being able to challenge the bias or tax ticks that got you there is just the beginning. Once you have been swept in and branded a criminal or a felon you were then ushered into a parallel social universe in which the very rights one in the Civil Rights Movement no longer apply to you. You may be denied the right to vote for a period of years or the rest of your life depending on the state you live in. You are deemed ineligible for jury service for the rest of your life if you have been branded a felon. The rest of your life discrimination in employment would not only be legal but absolutely routine. You will be forced to check up ochs unemployment applications asking the dreaded question, have you ever been convicted of a felony . It didnt matter that felony happened a few weeks ago or a few months ago or 45 years ago. For the rest of your life you got to check that talks knowing full know your application is going straight to the trash. Many people will say to me, on, stop me kinks uses for them. When you get out of prison its hard and as tough as if you try hard and he really work at it and put yourself out there some you can get a job. You could get a job at mcdonalds at work or king. Getting a job at mcdonalds is no easy feat if you have a felony record. Housing discrimination perfectly legal and absolutely routine. Public housing projects as well as private landlords are free to discriminate against you and close their doors. Discrimination in Public Benefit is legal. In fact under federal law you are deemed ineligible even for food stamps for the rest of your life if you have been convicted of a drug felon. Unfortunately many states have now opted out of the federal ban on food stamps for drug offenders. Still hundreds of thousands of people cant even get food stamps to feed themselves. Because they were once caught with drugs. What are people released from prison expected to do . You are tossed out on the curb. You cant get a job. You cant get housing. Even food. What are you expected to do . Apparently what we expect people to do is pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in fees finds her costs accumulated back Child Support which continues to accrue while you were in prison and in a growing number of states you are then expected to pay back the cost of your imprisonment and paying back all these fees finds court costs accumulated back Child Support may well be a condition of your probation for parole. And then get this. If you are one of the lucky few, the very few who actually manages to get a job right out of prison up to 100 of your wages are garnished, 100 , to pay back all those fees finds court costs and accumulated back Child Support. What are people from prison expected to do . As we take a step back and this system as a whole, take a step back and see the impoverished underfunded schools. You see the children who are hounded by the the police and stopandfrisk on their way to and from to school. When theyre old enough to drive their cars are pulled over. They are searched. When they are swept in for committing some usually relatively minor crime ones first arrest is usually so relatively minor, the very sorts of crimes that erupted in frequency on middleclass College Campuses that are largely ignored. You are ushered into this parallel social universe, unable to work fine shelter or even food. He stepped back and take a look at this, what is the system seem designed to do . Its designed to send folks right back to prison which is what the the impact happened to pass the time. About 70 of people released from prison returned within a few years and the majority of those who return in some cases do so in a matter of months because the challenge is mere survival on the outside. Now why did we choose this path . How did we get ourselves here, all these years after dr. King has passed away . It is clear to me that in the years since dr. Kings death our nation was faced with a choice. We could continue down the path of dr. King was traveling, the path of compassion, forgiveness, inclusion, hope. We could choose the path that the Poor Peoples Movement he was plotting. He we could join them in the revolution of values he prayed for. Or we could take a different road, a road more familiar when it comes to matters of race, the road of exclusion, division, punitiveness and despair. One day i believe historians will look back at this era of mass incarceration and they will say it was fair, right there at the prison gates that we abandoned dr. Kings dream and took a dramatic uturn, a uturn that would leave millions of people permanently locked up and locked out. We have now spent 1 trillion waging the drug war since it began, a trillion dollars. Funds that could have been used for education, job creation, drug treatment. We are constantly being told theres not enough money to pay teachers. There is not enough money for small class sizes. There is not enough money for jobs programs, for youth. There is not enough money. There is not enough money for poor people. Well apparently we had a trillion dollars and we decided to spend it rather than on education or job creation we decided to spend at building a prison system unlike anything the world has ever known. So what do we do . What do we do now . My own view is that nothing short of a major social movement has any hope of ending mass incarceration and inspiring a recommitment to dr. Kings dream now if you think that sounds extreme, that surely something less would do now consider this. If we were to return to the rates of incarceration we had in the 1970s or the early 1980s before the war on drugs truly kicked off we would have to release four out of five people who are in prison today, four out of five. More than a Million People employed by the criminal Justice System would need to find a new line of work. Most new prison construction and white Rural Communities communities that have been sold on persons that answer to the economic woes now relieved that the prisons are a source for desperately needed jobs in their community and very often prisons are advertised to provide for more benefits of these communities than actually deliver but nonetheless so many of these communities now believe that their economies depend on prisons. Those prisons across america would have to close down. Private Prison Companies now are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and doing quite well and even in the time of economic recession. Those companies would be forced into bankruptcy. This system of mass incarceration is so deeply rooted in our social political and economic structure its not going to just fade away or downsized out of sight without a major of people, a radical shift in our public consciousness. Now i know that there are many people today who will say oh you know there is no hope of ending mass incarceration in america, no, no. There is no hope. Pick another issue. Just as many people were resigned to jim crow in the south and would say yet back, yeah thats a shame. Its a shame but thats just the way that it is. I find so many people today view the millions cycling in and out of our prisons and jails today is just an unfortunate but in the alterable of american life. Im quite certain that dr. King would not have been so resigned. So i believe that we are truly truly if we are truly to honor dr. King, if we are to ever catch up with king we have got to be willing to continue his work. We have got to be willing to go back and pick up where he left off and do the hard work of Movement Building on the behalf of poor people of all colors. In 1968 dr. King told africans its time to come to transition from a Civil Rights Movement to a human Rights Movement. Meaningful equality said could not be achieved through civil rights along without basic human rights, the right to work, the right to shelter, the right to quality education. Without these human rights he said civil rights are an empty promise. So in honor of dr. King and all those who labor to and the old jim crow, i hope we will commit ourselves to building a human Rights Movement to and mass incarceration. They movement for education, a movement for jobs ,com,com ma not jails. A movement to end all these forms of legal discrimination against people, discrimination to deny basic human rights to work, to shelter into food. Now what must we do to begin this movement . First i believe we have got to begin by telling the truth, the whole truth. We have got to be willing to admit out loud that we as a nation have managed to recreate a task caste like system in this country. We have got to be willing to tell the truth in our schools, in our churches and their places of worship behind bars and reentry centers. We have got to be able to tell the truth so that a great awakening to the reality of what has occurred can come to pass. Because the reality is that this new caste like system doesnt come with signs. There are no whites only signs anymore. There are no signs today alerting us to the existence of a system of mass incarceration. It in prisons today they are out of sight and out of mind. Up to hundreds of miles away from communities and families that might otherwise be connected to us. And the people who cycle in and out of these prisons typically live in segregated impoverished communities, communities that uppermiddleclass folks rarely come across. So you can live your whole life in America Today having no idea that this system of mass incarceration and the harm it reeks even exists. So we have got to be willing to tell the truth about what has occurred, pull back the curtain and make visible what is hidden in plain sight so that an awakening can begin and people can begin to take the kind of creative constructive action that this moment in our history surely requires. But of course there is a lot of talk that consciousness raising is going to be enough. We have got to be willing to get to work. And in my view that means we have got to be willing to build an underground railroad for people released from prison, an underground railroad for people who want to make a genuine break for real freedom. People who want to escape the system and find work ,com,com ma find shelter and be able to support their families, find the true freedom in America Today. We have got to be willing to open our homes, open our schools, open our workplaces to provide safe spaces of support for the families who have loved ones behind bars today. How do we create the safe places . One thing we can certainly do, we can begin to admit our own criminality out loud, our own criminality because the truth is we have all made mistakes in our lives. We all have. All of us are sinners, all of us have done wrong, all of us have broken the law at some point in our lives. If you are an adult you have rocha and the law at some point in your life. I find that some people will say oh yeah i am a sinner. I have made mistakes but dont call me a criminal. Dont call me a criminal. I say well okay if you never drank underage. Thereve maybe never experimented with drugs. The worst thing you have done in your entire life is go 10 miles an hour over the speed limit on the highway you have done more harm than someone smoking erewhon in the privacy of their living room. There are people in the United States serving life sentences for firsttime drug offenses, life sentences. The u. S. Supreme court upheld life sentences for first time drug offenders as against an eighth amendment challenges that such sentiments were cruel and unusual and the u. S. Supreme court said no, no its not cruel and unusual punishment to sentence a young man to life imprisonment for a firsttime drug offense even though virtually no other in the country in the world that such a thing. So we have got to end this idea that the criminals are, not us. And instead say they are but for the grace of god go i. All of us have made mistakes in our lives taken wrong turns that only some of us have been required to pay for those mistakes for the rest of our lives. In fact president barack obama himself has admitted to more than a little bit of drug use in his lifetime. He has admitted to using marijuana and cocaine in his youth and if he hadnt been raised by white grandparents in hawaii ,com,com ma if he hadnt done much with his illegal drug use on predominantly white College Campuses and universituniversit ies, if he would have been raised in the hood the odds are good that we would have been stopped and he would have been first. He would have been searched he would have been caught and far from being president of the United States today he might not even have the right to vote depending on the state he lived in. So we have got to recognize that building this movement is about ensuring the future of all of us so they can all dream big dreams and join in this project of the american dream. This is a movement we must build on behalf of all of us. Its not about us and them, the people we imagine are the criminals. But of course building an underground railroad and creating safe spaces isnt going to be enough either. Just as in the days of slavery it wasnt enough to shuttle a few to freedom one by one on the underground railroad. It wont be enough for us to open our hearts and our minds to a few one by one. We are going to have to be willing to work for abolition. That means working for abolition of this system of mass incarceration as a whole. And that means ending the war on drugs once and for all. Ending it. We must shift to a Public Health model for dealing with drug addiction and drug abuse and stop investing billions of dollars locking people up in prisons and jails cells rather than investing in education and drug treatment and job creation in the communities that needed them most. And we have got to end all these forms of legal discrimination against people released from prison, discrimination that denies them basic human rights to work, to shelter, to food and last but not least we have got to shift from a purely punitive approach to dealing with violence and Violent Crime in our communities to a more rehabilitative and restored if one. One that takes seriously the interest of the victim, the offender and the community as a whole. We have got a lot of work to do and if it seems like too much, if it seems like you cant possibly be done keep in mind that all of these rules, laws, policies and practices that constitute this mass incarceration they all rest upon one core belief and it is the same belief that sustained jim crow. It is the belief that some of us , some of us are not worthy of genuine care compassion and concern. When we effectiveeffectively challenge that core belief this whole system begins to fall like dominos. A multiracial multiethnic human Rights Movement must be born one that is rooted in the awareness of the dignity and humanity of all people. And its got to be a multiracial and multiethnic because although this warrant drugs may have been born with black folks in mind it is a war that has destroyed the lives of people and communities of all colors. And we see this same get tough rhetoric and divisive racial politics that helps to give birth to the drug war now leading to another prison building boom, this one aimed at suspect did illegal immigrants. So we have got to be willing to connect the dots and killed a multiracial multiethnic human Rights Movement on behalf of of all of us. But before this movement can truly get underway, a great awakening is required. We have got to awaken from this colorblind slumber that we have been in to the realities of race in america and we have got to be willing to embrace those legal criminals. Not necessarily their behavior but them, their humanness. It has been the refusal and failure to recognize the dignity and humanity of all people that has been the Sturdy Foundation for every caste system that has ever existed in the United States or anywhere else in the world. It is our task i firmly believed and not just mass incarceration, not just the war on drugs but to it and its history and cycle of caste in america. Then and only then can we say with pride that we are finally catching up with king. Thank you so much for having me tonight. Thank you. [applause] [applause] [applause] well okay. Can i take a moment here . Sorry folks. We are going to take some questions now. If folks want to ask a question we have a microphone over there and a microphone over there. Just, and lineup and we can ask some questions. Do you have any questions for professor alexander . Is this on . Okay. You made a believer out of me. Interestingly i hear our incarceration rates are higher than what north korea reports. See we are the world leader in imprisonment. My question is him on nondrugrelated incarceration incarcerations is there still a racial bias . Well, there are right and racial biases to be found at every stage of the criminal justice process and while some of this bias clearly you know is related to conscious and intentional biases that are unstated but nonetheless held, i believe that much of the bias is unconscious bias and stereotyping. Police officer who sees a group of young black man walking down the street with their pants sagging down may think to himself i am going to do my job. Im going to jump out and frisk them and see if they have got anything on them. With good intentions, i am doing what i should do to keep this neighborhood safe. Now, that same officer may see a group of young white kids walking down the street and the thought would never cross his mind to jump out of his car and have those kids spread out on the pavement and frisk them. That officer may not hold any equally intent a evil intent to those young black man that those unconscious biases about who looks like a criminal and who seems like there to no good play out over and over again hundreds of times in one city. I mentioned adding up to these disparities and the same is true with prosecutors. There are studies published in the San Jose Mercury news for example showing prosecutors displaying considerable biases and charging about who seems to be given a good deal. Who is worthy of a Second Chance . Who seems like they are somebody who is just a tough kid who cant be turned around in the book should be thrown at him so these unconscious biases play themselves out in all kinds of crimes and types of offenses but when we talk about Violent Crime it is important to acknowledge that rates of Violent Crime are much higher among black man than among white men. That is a fact. Rates of Violent Crime are much much higher but as William Julius wilson points out in his excellent book when work disappears, Racial Disparities and Violent Crime disappear when you control for joblessness. In other words if you compare white jobless men with white jobless men are Racial Disparity in Violent Crime disappears. That exists to makes all safer, and yet it insures that the norms population will be locked out of employment, locked out of housing, and trapped in a perpetual undercast. We stand back and express surprise that rates of violence and other crimes are higher in those communities. And in fact, i think we have to ask ourselves why on earth would we create the very conditions that we know are likely to create violence . Why are we so willing to invest in building prison rather than job creation and education . The very things that we know are the ingredients of help driving safe and caring communities. So i think thats its important to recognize the ways which bias plays out. All of these discretionary decisions that are made throughout the system. It also plays out in how we as a nation invest our resources. And who we are willing to treat as disposal and who we view as having a future and deserving of the kind of resources that will ensure them, you know, a path of meaningful opportunity. Thank you. That answers me question. Thank you. [applause] good evening, professor alexander. You said we need a revolution. My thing is during the era of jim crow. You noticed the Financial Hardship of create separate but equal help break down the system of jim crow. Started writing laws that we couldnt that america couldnt find separate but equal laws, schools or classroom settings. So would this era of mass incarceration. What are some of the economic kind of things question we can use to kind of break down the system. 02 saying that it was kind of like this is helped this is added to. People are getting paid off of this. And money is getting put in it. How can we hit them in the pocket kind of thing . Yes. Its a good question. I think its important first, though, to emphasize that jim ceo didnt collapse because it was too expense toif provide equal Educational Opportunity for black folks as compared to whites. There was no effort to try to provide equal Educational Opportunity for black folks and separate system as compared to whites. What lead to the collapse of jim crow had a lot to do with how the United States was being viewed in the aftermath of world war ii when black, you know, service men were returning home from fighting for freedom abroad, and returning home to suffer second class status and being hung from trees. These events. Being broadcast around the world. Tarnishing americas image of leader of the free world, and standing up, you know, against tierney. And jim crow collapsed because a Mass Movement that arose that shook the foundation of the system itself. But i agree with you that we can weaken the foundations of any system of control by challenging its economic base. That certainly was one of the strategies that lead to the class of apartheid in south africa. The movement, you know, urging, you know, universities to divest from south africa, corporations to divest from south africa, you know, scare the daylights out of, you know, the south Africa Government as they feared investment being pulled from their country in moral outrage over the apartheid system that existed there. There are young people today who are talking about pursuing divestment strategies in the era of mass incarceration. Meaning divesting from private prisons. The United Methodist church announced they decided to divest from private prisons bhap is a church doing investing in private prisons in the first place . Churches, you know, invest in pensions and mutual funds; right . Very often we dont know what companies our mutual funds are invested in. Private prisons have been become profitable. Many investment port portfolio include private prison of a Profitable Company that any institution ought to invest in. Is this institution were in invest in private prisons . I dont know. What churches are invested and have funds in private prisons . I think a i did i have divestment campaigns directly as well as any mutual funds or pension plan that has even one penny invested in private prisons could be very helpful in crippling the private prison industry. I think it can be a tool for raising consciousness, awareness about the system of mass incarceration as a whole. I believe that fewer one in ten prisoners today are held in private prisons. Even if we got rid of private prisons, we would still have a system of mass incarceration today. I think those kind of divestment campaigns can help to raise consciousness. It can be an important part of movement as well as boycotting companieses that will not hire people with criminal records. You know, there have been a number of companies that courageously said were going hire people who have felony records. Were going give people a fair shot at employment, and if we begin to celebrate and honor those companies while publicizing those companies that wont give people at an interview, of getting in the door. I think that can be Something Else that helps to raise coachness and contribute to Movement Building. Ultimately, i dont believe that this movement should be about dollars and cents. Ultimately, we have got find a way to build a new moral consensus and build on the work that dr. King was doing, and, you know, force all of us to reckon with what we have done, and inspire genuine care, compassion, and concern for the least advantage in our society. I think what youre describing can be a part of that. We cant reduce the movement at all. Thank you so much. Thank you. In your book, you mention several judges who have given up their courts who have resigned because the harsh sentences they are expected to give for drug offenders. Have any of the judges stepped forward of leaders and said my can lead people to the revolution . Theres a wonderful organization that i would recommend people to check out which is called Law Enforcement against prohibition. This organization is comprised entirely of judges, prosecutors, Police Officers, Police Chiefs who now believe that the drug war has caused vastly more harm than prohibition itself. These are people who spent their lives, even careers as drug lawyers and come to the conclusion that the harm caused by the drug war is so vastly outweighed that it has to be abandoned in the entirety. You can check out the westbound. I have a lot of resources, videos, you know, and the like that really feature some, you know, important voices within the Law Enforcement Community Calling for changing course. Thank you for pointing to us in leadership. Growing up a poor man, i was sitting here thinking about how less fortune i am not to be in the system. I some acquainted people who i know that in this system sort of by mistakes. You wonder, they are good people. How do we determine now . I know you spoke on you fill out an application. You say yes im a criminal. Yes, ive been to prison, how do we get to a form where we can give them a Second Chance . I cant understand my heart hurts for them. One particular guy who i know is a great guy, made a very serious mistake he didnt make the mistake. He was caught up with the person. The person who made the mistake. He also paid the price. How do we turn this around to give this person a Second Chance . First, im a supporter of ban the box initiative. They are campaigns that have been successful in a number of cities and jurisdictions to remove the box on employment questions asking the question have you ever been convicted of a felony . I believe the city of philadelphia removed the question from all city employment applications. There are a number of jurisdictions around the country, cities, counties that have embraced the ban the box movement, and have removed the box from employment applications. Now of course employers may still consider prior criminal history, once the person had an interview. But what removing the box does is gives people a chance. Gives people a chance to at least get an interview. At least to get share foot in the door. So they can make their case that they deserve a chance and whatever mistakes they may have made in the past did not bear upon the current job they are being asked to perform, or that they are well beyond the type of activity that landed them in jail in the first place. So i think everybody should have that shot, and i also think that, you know, the reality is that, you know, for people convicted of drug offenses, you know, they are in a position that i think is unfair be it be those who drink alcohol regularly or alcoholics. You have people who have alcohol problems, who struggle with alcohol. They dont check any boxes. Theres no background checks that reveal their history unless they have been caught in a guy dui or Something Like that. My own view is people who, you know, have some kind of drugremitted conviction. They are the type of things that shouldnt be held against people because they happen to be caught. As opposed to someone on a College Campus caging that kind of activity and everybody thinks they are being kids. And theyll grow out of it. I think that we really have to be very careful about the extent to which we view criminal convictions as even relevant to the particular type of jobs that people are applying for today. I support very strong kind of antidiscrimination position against people who have prior criminal records, unless its directly relevant to the type of job they are applying for. Thank you. How you doing . Hi. I want to thank you for coming. My question is for a student or anybody else out here in the crowd who want to be more involved actively in the profession of the movement, what can we do other than informing other people of what is actually going on and doing more research ours . What can i do to get active in the movement . Excellent question. One thing you can do is think about forming a student against mass incourse ration organization on campus. These groups have been forming on numerous colleges and universities around the country. Theres one at howard theres rowing. You go on my website new jim crow. Com and get Contact Information about who to contact kind of joining that effort and linking up with other student groups around the country who are wrestling with the same question how can young people begin to play a meaningful role and take leadership in the building the movement to end mass incarceration. On the website i list a bunch of resources and organizations you can consider contacting, you know, you can begin to work with if you choose, if they are doing work locally. I think the priorities consciousness raising, working toward supporting people as they are released from prison. So finding out in your community what are the reentry centers, what form of support can be provided. Also getting to work with organizations like the Drug Policy Alliance and many other organizations that are operating nationally to repeal harsh drug laws that exist, you know, here in this state like other states to get involved in ban the box initiative. Repeal bans on food stamps. All of the things i described there are people undoubtly that have begun the work locally. If they havent, to really think seriously about forming your own organization. One of the things that worries me most about, you know, this point we are in in building the movement. Theres really no grassroots organizations that exist today on a National Level that have as its primary mission ending the system of mass incarceration. And so some of the work that needs to be done may not have begun in your community. Who is going to do the work if not you . If not us . We have got begin somewhere, and i so encourage you to check out my website for the list of organizations and resources. Think about forming your own Student Organization here, also, get together with likeminded souls and think seriously about what kind of organizations need to be built, perhaps. You know, in your own community to go do the work that lies ahead. Thank you for your question. Thank you. I would like that thank you for your presentation. It was very insightful. The question i would like to ask you that overall typically when many young people are arrested for drugs, they tend to level a lot of charges against them. One such charge, which is very difficult to beat is conspiracy. Conspiracy yes. Host conspiracy to sell drugs. Someone who was deported told me that conspiracy is one of the hardest charges to beat. What thought or solutions do you propose i dont know if to remove such a charge from the book because conspiracy can applied in such a broadway. Thank you so much for raising that question. And, you know, many people dont realize until you are charged as being part of conspiracy that something as simple as passing messages to someone. So and so called. He wants do you meet him there. You need a ride . Ill give you a lift. You may have some vague sense what is going on or maybe you dont really know what is going on. But the prosecution sure thinks you do and it takes one overact in support of the the conspiracy and the overact could be giving someone a ride. It could be passing metsz ankle messages. You know, it could be something extremely minor. Many women find themselves charged as cospiritters because the prosecutors are after their boyfriend or husband or some man they know who they think is involved in drug conspiracy. They will charge them as a cospirit unfortunately many women who either dont actually have the knowledge to be able to snitch or because of their own conscious wont allow themselves to snitch on someone they care about. Find themselves do far more time than the person charged as the principle in the crime. These conspiracy laws are very dangerous and unjust. And ought to be changed and conspiracy laws just like drug laws themselves can be changed. Requires a demand, it requires organizations. It requires us to become educate about the nature of the law. And insist that legislators do what it takes to ensure that people are not en . Arked by them in the way you described. Ensnared by them in the bay you you described. Thank you. We have time for three more questions. Well take the first question starting here and go back and forth. Hello. Thank you for coming. Thank you. I think your message needs to continue to spread. What i would be remiss if i did not talk about my college surrounding this topic. As i was sitting there, it was a slow motion going through my mind. I had a lot of internal conflict. I guess im thinking about this possibly should be an internal black community discussion, there is stale notion of personal accountability that im thinking about, and i guess my question is does it play a role in the Mass Incarceration Movement . Because i have a lot of family members and friends who know better and continue not to do better. And make bad decisions and dont hold themselves accountable. Part of me is still struggling with low do we balance the act of the the external things versus the internal . Does personal accountability play a role with this . How do we deal with the. . Excellent question. I think personal accountability playses a role in it for all of us. We have to take responsibility for the choices we make in our lives. We also have to take choices, take responsibility for the choices we make collectively. And it seems to me that we have be willing to heap an enormous amount of shame and blame on poorest, most vulnerable in our society. And accept no responsibility collectively. For having set people up to fail and keep them trapped. So yes, yes, yes of course everyone has got to take responsibility for their own actions. There is absolutely a role for personal accountability in the conversation. I think we have to expand the conversation beyond personal accountability. And ask the question you made a mistake. Now what . The reality is people of all colors make mistake. In fact, we many of the same kinds of mistakes. Some people are punished far more harshly in a unrelenting fashion. Some people who make the same mistake like barack obama went off to college. Go on to law school and get to be president of the united. Right. I think we have to be willing to look at the kind of mistakes people make, with an open heart, an open mind, and make choices about how we respond to the mistake in a way that honors their humanity, their dignity, and based in awareness, as a society we need to be safe. We need to honor peoples basic human rights to be able to live in a community that is safe and secure. A child growing up in a crime riden Violent Community who has to worry about, you know, tbul lets fly bullets flying through the air. Her human rights are being we have got to hold each of us individually accountable. And do so in a way that honor each others basic and create save and thriving community. We cant simply resort to shame and blame and get caught up in a wave of punitiveness and ultimately denies the basic humanity of those we claim to care about. Thanks. Thanks. My name is james lewis. I would like to thank you for bringing this presentation to this area of the country. I think you need to especially here in this area. I have a concern. I like your approach so you taken to this. Like a root cause analysis of what has caused the massive incarceration of so many africanamericans and you have used data and statistics to lay out. My question has to do with where is the africanamerican churches when it comes to getting involved . What has happened to them . We seem to run from data, we seem to run from root cause analysis. We seem to become so lack dais call area in the area. What do you recommend to the Church Leaders to what we should do address the issue . Yes thank you i agree of people and faith and conscious have such an extraordinarily Important Role to play. Ed at this moment in our nations history. So many people of faith, including myself. We claim to care a lot about compassion, forgiveness, we claim we talk a good game, you know. When it comes to being willing to stand up against these kind of injustices too long too many of people in faith have remain silent. I am encouraged in recent years, faith leaders are waking up and the conference which is a networking of several thousand progressive black churches decided to make a mass incarceration one of their primary commissions, you know, for the foreseeable future. They actually created a faith based study guide for my book to be used in congregations to arise awareness and encourage people to explore the relationship between their faith and spirit commitment and what we see in the area of mass incarceration. So there is movement afoot within faith communities picot is a multiracial, multiethnic faith based as one of their main goals. So there is change in shifting attitudes to be seen within the faith community. I couldnt agree with you more that much, much, much more work needs to be done. Ultimately being the worlds leader in imprisonment, locking people up and subjecting them, that is not a morel issue spiritual crisis to which the church ought to speak and respond. Begin to speak up and out with courage. Thank you. Thank you. The last question. How do we get, like, you dont see too many blacks together to help young black people find the truth. I feel we are struggling to find the truth. I how you feel. How can we help that . Yes thats an excellent point truly, if you are to watch mainstream news, or Mainstream Media today you are not going to learn anything useful about the system of mass incarceration or really any of the other pressing. Its important to become creative about educating their community. Ic the internet and social networking provides real opportunities to sub verge the dominants messages we receive from the Mainstream Media and to circulate video and articles and materials on line to as many people as possible. Theres no substitute for coming together in person. Posting to facebook is great but coming together in person to have study circles, to have film screenings, to have forms where the issues are discussed and debated are essential, i think, to raising the level awareness and consciousness and building a movie that depicts the strug of a young man or woman coming out of prison and the challenges they face and the heroic effort in this case make we have to take responsibility for educating ourself and our own Community Using at means at our disposal. Thank you. [applause] senator ben carden, what is on your Summer Reading list . A book by my former colleague in the house john lewis. Away came together to congress together. What an wonderful person i had a chance to serve with. Im looking forward to reading about his life and becoming more involved to make sure people know his story. Let us know what youre reading this summer. Tweet us. Post it on our Facebook Page or email us. Coming up on the next washington journal, they talk about the story on a little known Intelligence Division within the dea. Kevin of the boss boston globe talks about his history in organized crime. And the details of the federal case against him. Later a discussion with dr. Crammer director of the National Cancer Institute Division of cancer provision. Changing the definition of cancer will reduce unnecessary treatment. Washington journal is live every morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. If we turn away from the needs of others, we align ourselves with those which are bringing about this suffering. You thought take advantage of it. Obesity in this country is nothing short of a Public Health crisis. Somebody had their own agenda. [inaudible] i think a turn at the window on the path to what is going on with american women. She becomes the chief confidant in the way only one in the world he can trust. Many of the people who were first lady were writers. They were writers. Journalists, they wrote books. They are, in many cases, more interesting as human beings their their husband. If only because they are not first and foremost defined in limited but political ambition. Its Edith Roosevelt white house. You are a little breathless and too much looking down and too much fast. I think in every case the first lady is really done whatever been her personality and interest. She later wrote in her memoir she said i myself never made any decision. I only decided what was important and when to present it to my husband. You stop and think about how much power that is. Its a lot of power. Part of the battle against cancer is to fight the fear that accompanies the disease. She transformed the way we look at these and knead possible for countless people to survive, and as a result. I dont know how many president s realistically have that kind of impact on the way we live our lives. Walking around the white house grounds, im constantly reminded about all of the people who have lived there before and particularly all of the women. First ladies influence and image. A cspan original series. Produced in cooperation with the White House Historical association. Season two premieres september 9th. We explore the first ladies from roosevelt to u michelle obama. Next an event from 2003 with former House Speaker newt gingrich. He stopped in pennsylvania to talk about his book about the civil war titled getties berg. Its twenty five minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i loved it and thought it was the most effective. Create. Finish the book last week also. He loved history book. Is that right . He left [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] we have plenty of well, we set up here about twenty five minutes ago. Okay. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] thank you so much. These are 140 years old. [inaudible conversations] its the same [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] hes gotten heavier or added some weight. He did. Who is he [inaudible] one of the delegate of virginia when they first decided [inaudible conversations] he was just the [inaudible] while they were doing the war with Robert Duvall which was doing the somebody said they liked duvall. He was so good. He looked so good. I see turner up there. Yeah. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] daniels speech. Yes. [inaudible conversations] its just amazing. Ready . Thank you. Okay. You have to do this in the studio or in the field. You had to do it just before you were ready to shoot a photograph. You couldnt do it ahead of time. This was known as pouring the plate. So any dust particles, bugs anything else that happened to fly in the plate as you were doing it are part of the finished picture. That is ether. Its going to create a film on there. This is ultra additional film wasnt film originally meant film on a glass plate. Thats right. The substance we use was actually a lid liquid bandage. If coagulates this film or that covering over the wound. They still use it today. That was an [inaudible] by 1875 they were off to somethings else. It was easier, and thats where you start seeing photography become a hobby and less than a profession. You still, of course, had the professional, but now common folks it was easier to do. With this type of photography you need three things. The mind of a [inaudible] if you dont have all three you wont be doing this. Okay. Now its evaporated. It goes to a [inaudible] hang right here. Ill. Right back. The first time you take the picture. Yes. Never done it before. One of our formula books is right here. This is 1862. This is where we gate lot of our formulas from. This is also his photographers handwritten notes. [inaudible] doesnt have his name in there. Hes written everything. We did get it i want to show you another [inaudible] how long does take . About three minutes. Is all. [inaudible] looks like a tall thin aquarium. Its a formula . Silver nitrate i did solved in water is what it is. There was a photographer in the 1860 named richard. This page out of a book explains what he did. He was from baltimore. And he went to richmond and photographed other dpig tear dignitary including president jefferson davis. He come back and [inaudible] he agrees not to sell anymore. He takes the name off the back and continue to sell under the confederate supporters. And geoff davis [inaudible conversations] did anything happen to him . He was in jail for [inaudible] the guy is a photographer in baltimore. Yes. Went to richmond and goes back to baltimore; right . And going literally pull them out in volume two. And sell them publicly. Thats what were going to be using on you today. [laughter] actually you had to photograph richards camera. [inaudible] all right, perfect. Very proud. Chins are up. Its okay to blink your eye. You cant move. Ready, counting. You can move. [inaudible conversations] watch clesly as we put it in the solution. You want to get this on camera. Wow. Thats neat. Thats unbelievable. That turned out very nice. There you are 140 years ago. What did you think . [inaudible conversations] that looks great. You are actually [inaudible conversations] well run whatever copy you want. Some of the little visiting cards to europe. Okay. Well do one more. Do we have time for that . [inaudible conversations] [laughter] [applause] pleasure meeting you. See you later. [inaudible conversations] nice to meet you. [train whistle] [train whistle] [train whistle] [inaudible] hello i think we are supposed to walk this way. How, hi, how are you . Good see you. Good to see you. [train whistle. ] let me thank you for coming out on a warm day. I grew up up the road. I have some longterm ties here. My coauthor is going to Say Something in a minute. A delight to be here along with our families and talk about ideas and have a chance to sign some books. Tom is a great historian of carol county, maryland and dramatically [applause] when we work through our version of the college we concluded that the decisive battle could have been fought in carol county between and the time he spent with us going across the county was absolutely valuable. Any who read the novel will see how much its enriched by the knowledge that tom brought to bear. We are thrilled to be here. We wrote the book as first of a threevolume series. In part because we think too often people just memorize facts and dates and places with no understanding who they mean. We are trying to develop what we call active history of taking any particular moment in time. Whether churchill in 1940 or George Washington and valley force, or the current moment, for that matter. We take any moment in time and say all right you have the opportunities, you have all the information, so you to operate if you look at our model of the Army Northern virginia we think in military experts who read the book believe its technically correct about what could have happened. The pace they could have moved. What the matchups might have been, we also try to stay within the frame work of the personalities. What might they have done in that kind of a setting. And we think getting people to look at history in terms of not just what happened. But what might have happened it makes a much richer and more exciting kind of experience. To see how challenging and close fought a battle it was. It was part to argue they scrolled had other outcome. I think its one of the places where you really see a series of events that change history. You can easily imagine different set changing them. We give you one version. There were at love other versions that could occurred. I hope those who decide to look at the novel i hope you find it interesting. It sets the stage far volume two. It hasnt been enough to knock lincoln out of the white house and the north of the war. The last page of this novel ends with lincolns telegram to general graham congratulating him on winning and orders him to bring his army to harrieses burg to enlee. It could have move about two weeks. So lee has it a volume two. What does he do with the damage and stay on it . We have a useful exercise to go through think about military institute but political history and diplomatist history. What would have happened with france and britain. There were roits in new york city and elsewhere against the draft after winning at getties berg on the union side. What might have happened. All the page one headline had been the union defeat. We think there are a lot of interesting things to explore. Our hope is people will be drawn in to that coming to visit places where you see history come alive and you realize what price people paid for the union to survive and freedom. Let me turn to my colleague who was just a remarkable historian in his own right as well as great writer. We have a very close friendship but also a professional team work that is a lot of fun. As well as pretty creative and dynamic. Bill, why dont you come up . Thank you. [applause] i called to check it arrived. And the first comment was its heavy. [laughter] those are a little envy use in modern garb. Ill make a couple of quick comments. My hero Joshua Chamberlain referred it to as a vision place of seoul. We worked on a novel for five years, a lot of Research Went to it. We hope you read it. Also i urge you to visit the vision place of seoul fop me the great miracle of is this. If i can see a show of hands. How many are from the south define themselves as southern in their viewpoint . North . Where else where else in the world today could such a war have been fought for 600,000 dead and yet only 25 years later the men who fought in the war could come on this very trail are reunion arriving by train at the 50th and 75th reunion and the 140 anniversary. We meet here as brothers, sisters, fellow americans who honor both sides. I will simply close if we can have a moment of silent reflection or prayer for those who did give the last full measure devotion here and all the wars in american history. We can celebrate our anniversary of independence. [silence] thank you. God bless america [applause] God Bless America [applause] a signing station in airconditioning [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] youre the boss. Im just the passenger. [inaudible conversations] the train will be moving in a we recall westerly direction. Does it go parallel to [inaudible] you might want to explain that at some point or have bill explain it. [inaudible conversations] you want somebody to do the narration, if that makes sense. [inaudible conversations] i think you or bill give the narration. You know more about the town than i do. Its your train. [inaudible conversations] how are you . Arent you warm . Very warm. [inaudible conversations] im a big fan of yours. Good. I have to get your autograph. Blow the whistle . Maybe on the way back. Hey, guys. You have a lot cooler ride. [laughter] its a pretty ride. Say hi to everybody. How are you . How are you doing . Thanks. Good. [inaudible conversations] i think thats what he said. They say in order to get him to washington. They are so worried about an effort to assassinate him on the way to washington. At through ambassador to keep the rebellion from happening. Harlem came very close defeating and its union really kept it. He knew that he had to keep an eye on denver and kentucky and delaware. That was really something that kept the balance. Part of why we are intrigued is because we will have this take place in northern maryland. Sitting there having to decide what he does and how we does it. If he cant really create if he can get him to join the confederacy yes isolated washington. It is a very interesting kind of it gives you something to think about. Very emotional. [laughter] baltimore will probably be the central. It will be a great topic. How are you . [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] representative greg walden, what is on your Summer Reading list . I just finished a victory lap, political stuff. That talks a lot about persuasion, digital data, and tell the world of campaigns has changed. I am hoping this summer to get to the biography of jefferson which i have on my pile. Then i have a new one on roosevelt, teddy roosevelt. A big fan. The Reform Movement and just as energy and style and also i have one that deals, i think, mainly with his time down in south america. It should be interesting. Let us know what you are reading this summer. Tweet us booktv, posted on our Facebook Page, or send us an email. Thursday the center for American Progress hosts a forum on how Small School Districts can become more effective by consolidating. To see it live starting at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Council chairman vincent gray faced a contentious and expensive election in d. C. , raising nearly 5 million in an attempt to hold onto his seat. Vincent gray raised solely only 1 million. An effective chairman. Shortly after he took office in 2011 brown who had also run for mayor told the Washington Post that he was paid and promised a job in exchange for disparaging during the election. Soon discovered that much of the story was true. They uncovered an even bigger secret. Basically you had a campaign that was going on, the regular campaign. Then you had another set of folks who were in an office right next to the great campaign. During the campaign there is so much going on. Several workers actually complaining several official workers complaining about the other workers because they felt that they were getting pain more. A lot of confusion as to who was paying them. And not you know, it was not until one year later that folks started putting things together while federal investigators began asking questions and realized, wait a minute, the folks who were next door, we cannot find any record of them in the Campaign Finance records that we see. How did those folks get paid, and it was in charge of them . Nikita stewart let such corruption in d. C. City politics sunday at 8 00 on cspan two n a. The u. S. Agency for International Development held its Education Summit wednesday in washington d. C. A former unicef executive director Carol Bellamy spoke about education for children in conflicts ounce. You can see this event in its entirety on our website, at cspan. Org. Here is a look. We cannot say that everything worldwide to as you know, and all the materials, the number of schools has dropped from over 100 million in 2000 to 60 million in 2008 to 57 million in 2011. More good news. There are two problems. As you all know, progress is slowing. In africa, it is flat line. Second, this progress has bypass children in conflict. As their reason to save the children report attacks on education shows, these children account for around one quarter of the worlds Primary Schoolage population, but about half of those out of school. Whats more, they account for a greater share of children out of school today than they did just a few years ago of some 45 of some 42 in 2008. The impact is appalling. Children in conflict affected countries are more than three times likely to be a Primary School than children and other lowincome countries. Secondary enrollment rates are nearly onethird lower. These countries have some of the largest gender disparities and the lowest literacy rates in the world. And, again, as you know, stills schools are still in the firing lines, seen as a legitimate people caught in the crossfire. A couple of examples. Unicef estimated the education of 700,000 children in mali had been disrupted by the conflict of the past 12 months. Syria where conflict has shattered what was almost universal primary enrollment by the start of this year almost 400,000 schools have been destroyed to occupied, or used for something other than education. By april this year, 22 of the countrys 22,000 schools were unusable for education purposes. 1500s schools have been destroyed or damaged. Next, facebook coceo o Sheryl Sanberg discusses her career choices and experiences and challenges facing women seeking leadership rolls the United States. This event of the Computer History Museum in mountain view, california is an hour and 15 minutes. [applause] lets begin by thanking the Computer History Museum for putting on this seminar along with the sponsor. Such an interesting place to the listen, learn, not only understand history but the future. Thank you, john, everybody. [applause] i met Sheryl Sanberg in the the late 90s when she was running what appeared to be about onethird of the treasury department, impossibly young and smart, she impressed all of us was what she did in the Clinton Administration in the first and second terms, so when it came time for her to choose a job, it became pretty obvious that she should be at google. So she and i chatted. And i figured, this is somebody who we can use as a genuine employee. Really smart people, and she came in and wander around, work on our financing, learned the business, and then she figured out that we needed to have a different sales force. And the subsequent six years she bill to what is today somewhere around 20 billion established their recruiting processes that led the company to its current excellent condition. To say her contribution at cspan. Org was astounding is understated in terms of the number of people she hired. Probably about half the company and did all sorts of things in terms of customer service, marketing, and so forth. Then, shockingly, shockingly [laughter] she shows up and says, i am going to go work for mark. I said, how could this be . [laughter] i mean, is there something wrong . No, no, no, no. I am interested in this area. Okay. Well, whenever. [laughter] we did various things to try to recruiter. Shockingly she did extremely well. And, in fact, she repeated this excess a second time, which is really not an often occurrence in our industry. Maybe once or twice. I thought, well. Pretty impressive. She is doing well, some abc decides to write a book which immediately becomes a number one bestseller. So i have no idea what she is going to be doing as her next encore. We are talking about is one of the great leaders of our industry and today, of course, very, very serious subjects. And i think of this woman, think of someone who has built to multibillion dollar businesses already and has a lot ahead of her. So, with that, i think it is extraordinary. I wanted thank eric who hired me at google when no one else would. Yes. As i say in my book, give me the best career advice of my career or which im sure we will get a chance to talk about. We all get to do the things we do because of great mentors and advisers. Ericas been that through google and through facebook, which she was lovely about, and through everything and have done. The book she has written is just extraordinary. [laughter] i think [laughter] what are they laughing at . They really like your book. They think it is great. They think it is a best seller. Okay. Lets try ticket serious. These are serious subjects. Why did you write this book . Frankly, you are busy. Right . As you are. Jack, but you are like seriously busy. [laughter] you know, no matter how much progress has been made the world is still overwhelmingly run by men. Im your im shocked. I am not sure how well this going. [laughter] [applause] it kind of pestilence, diseased climate change. I forgot that one. Gridlock in washington. What has been happening is we have that great progress. It is still true that men run every industry and government in every country in the world. And that means that when the decisions are made the most impact are worlds womens voices are not equally heard which is true in the public board room, that town hall. So i wrote to try to address the issue and talk openly about the stagnation women are facing at the top and to give practical advice to both women and men who want to do their part to change that. I would like to recover some of the topics in the book which i actually really enjoy that big is great and recommend you all by. I suspect every Single Person in this firm has already bought it. Fiske if you have not we will be holding a book signing. Of give you an example. I will read this sentence, in addition to the barry years, women have barriers that exist within ourselves. We hold ourselves back in ways both big and small by lacking selfconfidence, not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning in. Finish that thought. This, i think, is the rationale for the movement, what you are doing, the extraordinary social phenomenon that now the extensive use of facebook, might offer, to make all this happen. Women are held back. Women have had 14 percent of the top jobs in Corporate America for ten years. You taught me. You taught me very clearly that trends that go up for a long time tend to go flat for a long time and not go up again. They often go down, and so you have to be worried about that. Held back by all sorts of external barriers, institutional , that Public Policy, institutional barriers, discrimination, and all that is important. We are held back by the internal as asian and stereotypes. You were at my wedding, so you remember. My brother stood up and give a toast and said, high. We are the younger brother and sister of Sheryl Sanberg, but we are not really her younger brother and sister. Were really her first employees. Employee one and two. Because she never really played as a child. She just organized other childrens lives. [laughter] everyone laughed. It is funny. It was funny then. It is funny now. They said it with love, but there is something that is not funny about that just because of what they were saying was i was a boss of the liberal. Were you all bossy little growth . Absolutely. The question is how do we experience that because of the stereotypes . Little boys are almost at never called bossy because when he leads there is nothing to note. That is expected. When a little girl leaves or organizes other kids, she is bossy, which we are communicating carryon. So it is those stereotypes that we internalized. Everyone can do this. Get to a meeting tomorrow at work and what will people say relative to the same level opposition more men and women sit in the front and center, and more women sit on the back inside. Metaphorically and reality we hold ourselves back as well. If we will fix the problem for women in leadership, we have to solve the external barrier and the internal barrier. In the book you talk about the problem of an executive woman at the table. You point out that some leaders who are ceo actually see this interruption phenomenon and call it out. It is the only way, in your view and i agree with, to get this behavior where men just dominate the conversation and interrupt women like i am interrupting you. [laughter] this is an interview. It is not interrupting. This is not count. What happens is that more women than men get interrupted at every level. So i have seen you do this as well. When that happens, he will interrupt and say, i would like to hear what she is saying. When you run meetings to go around a table and ask everyone what they think which accomplishes the same thing. The point is that all of us need to do this. What is important, it is not just ceos can do this. The most junior person in the room, male or female, can interrupt and say, i would like to hear what she is saying which is a power move. And something that will get everyones great respect. So that pieces of lean in is if we understand the stereotype and call them off, we can change them. Host in the book you talk about the situation in education. And you point out that what has now become declared, we have a crisis of men and now women in the educational system. Roughly speaking and these are broad generalizations, female performance in math and science on a broad basis is roughly better than men, higher than verbal and math. Always exceptions. Fiftyeight, 59 percent of women are now completing college. What has happened . When these women graduate from college, we are producing an extraordinarily talented women into the workplace. What happens to them . Are the men holding him down . Are they being discriminated against . Friday failing to act . How would you describe it . Theyre is a huge cohort of women that are your age and slightly below come into the workplace changing it and yet they have not gone to the top. Guest thats right. The answer to what happens is all of the above. The woman graduate at higher levels than men and get more entrylevel jobs. So every year fewer women than men get promoted. By the time you get to the top youre at 14 in the United States and there is not a single country in the world that does not have 95 percent of its Top Companies run by men. Its naturally goes like this, some of them leaned the work force of the can afford to do so, some state, but cannot host in a book you talk about the fact none in psychology called the stereotype trap where people underperform if they are told there are a member of the stereotype. The thing that is one of the things driving these behaviors . Guest and explains. It is so important to say that this is the same thing. Stereotypes, if you become aware of a stereotype you will act in accordance. This is why if you remind boys and girls that they are boys or girls read before math tests they check off and more as. Boys do the same man grows to worse. If you tell the same girls read before math test, girls do really well, they better. Our stereotypes of boys i that they are better at math and science. Goes on to perform. More boys are computer scientists. I put my son seven years old last summer and i teach tech camp. Their children up to the parents are making that decision. Of the girls, i put two of them and with my niece and her friend. [laughter] you know, this is silicon valley. Wake up. Parents, our generations to my age, putting their boys in Computer Science camp at seven and not their gross. That stereotype. That boys are being told they are better and there will be because they put to the Computer Science camp. We dont ascribe qualities to women. When a man leaves it is natural and when a woman leaves it is not. If you are a man here, please raise your hand if anyone ever told you are too aggressive and work. A few. [laughter] if you are a woman, please raise your hand if anyone ever told you you are too aggressive at work . That response i think we are clear. [laughter] guest you have to ask yourself, more aggressive, men or women . Host well, more women brought up their hands. Clearly more aggressive. That was a joke. [laughter] i mean, one of the great things about your book is you take people through some of these phenomenon. Another one that you talk about is called the imposter syndrome which also i think drive some of this behavior. And what you say, for example, is men and women are susceptible to the imposter syndrome, but women tend to experience it more intensely and be more limited by it. The beauty is you vacillate between extreme egomaniac and a complete feeling of im a fraud. How does that play out . First, is it true . It sounds like it is. How does it play out in your view in the minds of women who are trying to succeed in the workplace . Guest you dont believe you own your success. The data tells us that given the same level of performance men remember they are slightly higher end women remember their slightly lower. We also know that if you ask a man why he was successful, you know host i have to read this to you. As demand to explain their success and you will typically credit is out in a quality and skills. Never. Completely wrong. Im sorry. Ask a woman the same question and she will attribute her success to external factors, insisting she did well because you worked hard work got lucky or had help from others. Guest and she does not say that, others will say it about her. What happens with the impostor syndrome is that relative to levels of preponderant you are more self confidence. The amazing thing is i just heard a whole book on this subject and it is still happening to me. After my book was done, published in matter, we had a meeting at facebook, a meeting of the Senior Management team. An issue that for years, our senior technical leaders, we both wanted facebook to do something no one else did. Over the last couple of months people decided, you know what, we have this kick off meeting and i talked about bringing it myself to work. As at the meeting saying, i am so grateful we are here today because for all these years i really believe in this. No one else did. I thought maybe i was wrong. So fantastic. J looks up i knew cheryl and i were right and you would all come around. [laughter] so i am Facebook Messaging with jay. Can i use your name in that story . Absolutely. He is the nicest guy. I write, i will make sure you dont look egotistical. Oh, im not worried about that. [laughter] i mean, inconceivable that i would have any reaction like that. And jealous to levels of performance. We continually do that. It is an adjustment. What i say in my book is, i cant change how anyone feels. How you feel, how i feel because i am still doing this, but i can know that as a woman i am sitting next to on average five people like jay and know that he feels self confident and of the data. When women apply for jobs and meet all the criteria and then when they meet some and help women and myself to just. Host by the way, you shot one of our shows. She really can motivate in a business situation. This is literally how she did all these things, by getting people to feel very strongly and the passion that you just noticed. A little snippet of the success of Sheryl Sanberg right in front of you. It will come back to the whole person idea, which i think is important. I am interested in the stereotype and perception and so forth. They govern all of us. You talk about experiments of likability, success and likability are positive for men and negative for women. You remember that as part of the recruiting that you did, we studied correlations of mail questionnaires versus female questioners. When men would hire people, they would correctly predict the person they hired success of it was a man, when they scored the likelihood of female success it was anti correlated. The position was exactly wrong. I am quite concerned that the stereotype bias, even in and nice, liberal, wellrun company is quite profound speech to the gender bias we all feel, myself included. One thing that happens is as women get more successful and powerful they are less like ten as amended more successful and powerful they are better liked. What is important to understand is that it is true of women and men. Often someone will say at work, she is not as well liked. Someone tries to point out it is gender bias. Women dont like her also. Gender bias attacks all of us because we are always calling little girls and boys. That gender bias holds in all of us. I have it, too. I find myself in these patterns. It is admitting that where theyre making it safe to admit that, really important part of the answer. Host want to talk about how to deal with these things as a woman in the workplace or men reacting to it. One of the things that has been covered the most about your book is a vice you have about negotiations. And i agree with the way you describe this. So let me prompts the question by saying the you observe that women are much less likely to go for the extra part of the negotiation greedy tell stories of your own life where you your inclination was to accept the offer, but your brother or friend or whenever said, ask another. And you actually make a suggestion for how women should process this. End the way you summarize it is, when you go back for the offer, the second offer, a man just says, hey, i want more. What is your problem . The woman, and your advice, is to legitimize the request. This is very important. They have not done this well, the women i have worked with compared to the man. Guest because of the stereotypes and biases we have, if the man negotiates for himself as we all like him. He is supposed to want more. He deserves more. If a woman negotiates for herself, that is an important distinction. Women can negotiate on behalf of others just as well as men. It is of a problem. It is when they negotiate for themselves. Host you describe this as crossing a minefield backward in high heels. Guest which is difficult. Host i am sure it is. Guest almost as scary as a chapter on terrorism. You guys have to read this book. That chapter is truly host can we get back to your book . Guest when women negotiate for themselves and do the same thing men do, they might win the negotiations but will be disliked and pay a penalty in terms of future advancement and relationships. So this is really important. Host their will pay a price and absolutely pay a penalty. Guest the data is super clear. When women negotiate for themselves, they have set legitimize it. As long as we are not going to be treated equally we might as well understand the terror stereotype. So when women negotiate a half to legitimize. Say Something Like, i i did this in my book. This is the only time will be on opposite sides of the table and you remember that youre hiring me to run this. You want me to be a good negotiator. Reminding the person that these skills and bring to the table. Other things people do, i say in the book, data shows you can legitimize your advice by saying someone else told me that do it. Say, i talked to a supervisor in the tell me to. All these articles, people are marching in and asking for advice and saying, Sheryl Sandberg told me to ask for race. [laughter] [applause] guest i mean host a profound salary escalation an otherwise non growing businesses. Guest when i suggested you legitimize it added that have me in mind. Someone in the company. Host the best investment you ever made. 14. 40 percent off your local bookstore. Guest when they say Sheryl Sandberg wants me to get a raise, i do. Joking aside, women get paid 20 percent less than men for the same jobs in this country. It is not just a problem for industry women get paid 23 percent less , 0. 77 to the dollar in this country for the same job. That is not a problem just for the women who can come to the Computer History Museum and work in our industry where people are well paid. That is a big problem for single mothers out there. 30 percent of our children in this country are being raised by single parents, almost all single mothers. That is a big deal. White lean in is about is equality and equity throughout our country. We have to change that. Host you talk a little bit about career advice. Guest so much fun. No, no, no. Host no. I was not prepared. Guest in my book, the best advice i ever got was from eric schmidt, and i talked about it, but never with eric schmidt on stage. [laughter] the way it went is i was thinking about joining google. Google, i loved it and was excited to work with eric, but there was this totally non job. So i had a charge of all my criteria. Host this is, by the way, a typical Sheryl Sandberg. All of these detailed analyses. Host as spreadsheet of all my criteria. Google that none of them. The other offers met all of them. I came to eric with my chart and send everyone to take the offer, but like my chart. It does not need any of my criteria. I have no goes, no responsibilities. He put his hand on my paper and said, dont be an idiot, which is excellent career device. I mean, that alone was worth the price of admission for this. But then he said what is the best career advice i have ever heard and have passed on to hundreds of thousands of people. He said, get on a rocket ship. Google is a rocket ship. We dont know what you will do exactly, but if you off are offered a seat on the rocket ship, dont ask quasi. What he said is when industry is doing well everyone strives. Extrapolating from that the advice i give people is go where your skills are needed. Not everyone can join the hightech rocket industry, but there are areas of every company, of every industry, different specialties where your skills are more important, and theyre is a growing need for them. I think that has been the most important career advice i got and i am thankful to you for it. Host thank you very much. Lets return to the book. I want to go back to i am still upset about this 77 percent no. Guest and glad. I am, to. Host well, we agree. When you talk about child care and the decision to have children, its obviously up complicated decision for professional women. One of the problems you describe is that unless you are in high tech and they dont have stock options, the math is not work. To me when i look at the single mothers with kids and so forth, i can imagine how tough their lives are. If any single component of their life in a day breaks down, like a car or whatever, it is a major crisis. Is the solution to that how do we solve this core problem . I have to have a family. You point out in the book that women are doing the majority of household and kid work, for better or worse. How do we solve that problem . The biggest area i worry about is a single mother with all this pressure on her. It is amazing to me that women can get through this. Guest is true. The child care issue, the lower end of the income spectrum, very clear that we need Public Policy reform and institutional reform. We need jobs that are more flexible. The only developed country in the world that does not offer one day of federally paid for and mandated maternity leave. Something like 40 to 50 percent of women in this country and men dont get as singlestick date paid, a single one, to take care of a sick child or deal with maternity or paternity. We must offer affordable child care and deal with these issues. Nothing of is more important. On the other end of the spectrum, what happens to women is they sometimes do the math wrong. They like what theyre making today, collegeeducated women whose salaries will go up to afford child care they need overtime who look and say, right now if i pay for child care i barely breakeven. Why do it . A story from my friend in the book could get that calculus a while ago and was about to drop out. Someone said, wait a second. Stay in and make more money. She stayed in. Ten years later her salary covers plenty of child care and all kinds of other things. We need both Public Policy reform and better negotiating for women, and women to look ahead at what is coming. Host and in the but you talk about this in the context of choice of a husband. And you say, i truly believe the single most important career decision a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner into that partner is. You go on and let me just read a quote. My advice is today all of them, bad boys, boys, commitmentphobic boys and a crazy boys, but do not mimic mary m. Guest facts. Host the good things that make bad boys sexy do not make them has been us. Guest fact. A very good advice. Host i am just reading from your book. Guest i stand by my advice. You can date whoever you want. It is marriage or life commitment, however one does that. If you are a woman and thinking about making that life commitment, you dont have a problem because to women or men will split household responsibilities fairly evenly. When you get a man and woman in an ongoing relationship and everywhere around the world when do the majority of house work. So as a couple of man has one job and a woman has to. 70 percent of mothers are in the work force and they are in the fulltime work force and cannot leave because they need the money to support the family. And they are doing two jobs, while there has been has one. I know no women who have jobs like mine or any other women who occupy positions of leadership. Most of us have husbands and children. All of us have supported hasbeens, all of us. Host i can actually say that having attended the wedding , he is, in fact, perfect. [laughter] as she goes into his perfect as, which is true. But in the but you also describe algorithms that sorry, procedures that women can use [laughter] a little test. People she explains the way she would do dating is that she would determine if the boyfriend would support, arrange a date and at the last minute reschedule and see how he handled it. And if he passed that test, the next day would be scheduled and then it would turn out that she had to fly to somewhere like sao paulo and she he had to fly there, too. Did this work . Guest actually very happily married and happy ted share her story. That was more of a story then advice. [laughter] but however it is an important point. I tell women, date whoever you want, but marry someone who wants equality and thinks women should be strong. If you want to be in the workforce and think that women should work who will support you and support does not mean, yes, dear, is fabulous free to get a job as they sit on the couch. It is getting up in the night to change the diaper. That is what it takes. Men have successful careers and lives helping them all along. Host it your point i am sorry to interrupt the speech to go ahead. Host you point out that there is a myth that female ceos are not married. Not only happily married but have Strong Families and manage to work it out. Guest like men. And so what happens and the reason this is so important is because the lessons and expectations we have are so deeply held. So i will ask you another question. If you are a man, please raise your hand if you work, have children, if anyone has ever said to you, should you be working . [laughter] dont be shy. Exactly. If you are a woman, and you work and have kids, please raise your hand if anyone has ever said to you, should you be working . Our assumption is that men will do both and women will not. Women have to choose, and that is wrong because, in fact, most women have to do both. We have an economy and society where most women have to work and most women and children. So they are doing both. All of our narrative is how women cannot and should not do both which is just unfair to women. Host a point at which a woman has a significant addition to the decision to have a child, she is now confronted by the reality of this very limited amount of time of which i have always thought is like to short and i think you would agree, certainly western new york is a real problem, forced to come back to work with tremendous child care, staying up all night and all of that. You talk in the book about how eventually the solution is to give up sleep. And so guest which is a bad solution. Host clearly a bad solution. Furthermore, you give advice about life in this which is sort of another one of these four messages, i think. The way you would argue perhaps you are projecting your list making self. The case did not exist, but now you have teth accept. Embrace the messiness of life. Embrace the mess. Rejoice in the complication and dont be frightened. You can always change our minds. I know. I have had four careers in three has been. If you also in the books say under enormous pressure, running this extraordinary structure that he built at google. Obviously have help but under enormous pressure even with the perfect husband, you decided to meet your time and have had to give Something Else. Did you give up organization . You obviously your work performance did not suffer. I know because i would have told you. You manage to pull it off. How did you do it . Guest what happened, man said to me, you want that hire the most efficient person out there, hire a mother. A woman is as i will take this job, work 83, a fulltime salary, and be your most productive copy editor and something you could measure and he said she is. I was relatively efficient i thought before children. No, my gosh. I was not. Host by the way, you were really efficient. Guest once i had children, every minute became precious, and it became precious for other people. My tolerance for unnecessary meetings which was never that i went way down and what is happening to women, working women, working mothers, we compare ourselves on favorably on both sides of the ledger. We compare ourselves to our peers at work, largely man, who have fewer home responsibilities than we do, and we fall short. We compare ourselves at home to the women who are at home fulltime. We fall short there. As a working mother you can spend your entire life feeling bad. When you dont people will do it for you. I have a story in my book about dropping my son off, you know, the public school. I dropped them off in kindergarten on st. Patricks day wearing his favorite blue tshirt. Woman opens the door and says, is st. Patricks day. He is supposed to be wearing green. I said, really . Really . And lucky he has a tshirt. [laughter] this would never happen to my husband. If he dropped the summer in this anti should the same woman would open the door and say you are such a wonderful father for driving your son to school today. Im a woman. Of course it did happen to me. I did what everyone would do which is spent my entire day worrying about the green tshirt. Should i try to target and buy a green tshirt . Should be the annoying mom with a green tshirt in my sons class . Host by the way, the man when effort and the entire transaction five minutes later. Guest correct, but five minutes later i called my husband and explained how everyone has a green tshirt. Our son. I it will be my fault. And my husband just laughed and said, you know what, our son learned something so important today. He learned he does not have to be like everyone else. And that is the difference because my husband and i do the same with their children. I feel guilty of this time even today having written a book telling everyone not to feel guilty. My husband thinks he is a hero. [laughter] he is a hero. A hero. And the differences about letting ourselves off the hook. Most of the things we do we do 80 percent of them host the way i would express that is redefine the situation youre in to the success. Guest that is 80 . Doing the best you can. Host one of the things you talk about which was news to me was primary care giving expectations for mothers have gone up. We somehow think that people are spending less time with their parents, their kids, but of the last couple of decades the number has gone up by 60 percent by my math. Host guest it is really important. Working women and mothers, all of us, expectations are going up to the Wonderful Technology that eric and others have built, people work longer hours. Grandmother said, work in my generation was 95 and i was hit. No one had cell phones. There was no android. You could not be bothered. We all work longer hours. Mother and has gone through this same expectation. If you think about what parenting was, my mother was a work at home, stay at home mother, fulltime. We did not have played dates she arranged. There was no such thing. We rode our bicycles down the block and played. It is called sociologists call it intensive monitoring. The data shows a fulltime mother working outside the home today spends as many hours engaged in direct child interaction as a nonworking mother did in the 70s. It is an amazing thing to understand. Host by the way, that is a pretty hopeful statement. Kids will be pretty good. Guest when i figured out i was spending as much real time with my children working fulltime as my mother did we actually talked about it and it turned out to be true. Boy, was that a relief. These expectations of fulltime and more than fulltime work and intensive monitoring are really hitting women. It is not possible to do host i want to finish up and get to questions. You talk in the book a little bit about how women treat other women. You also when you went to facebook faced lets just call it increased scrutiny because you were a woman because you were seen and ultimately truthfully correctly as someone who would become a very significant power source in the industry overall. Fantastically talented and has now gone through this. They dont listen to me at all. And to me if you have in here from madeleine albright, a special place and help for women who dont help other women. What is the message here . What do you want women to do based upon this sort of set of criticism . Guest a lot about women not helping other women, and some of it is true that in a world where only one woman will get to the top it made sense that those women were super competitive. I dont think that is true anymore. Every company i know wants more women, not less. The other thing that is happening is we have different expectations for men and women network. If a man is asked for a favorite work and does it, everyone is super grateful. What a great guy. If he doesnt he faces no penalty. He is busy. He has to do. If a woman is asked for a favorite work and does not do it, she faces real penalties in terms of promotion, salary increases. And she does it, no one is particularly faith thankful. Legitimately need to other women because they feel competitive. The competitiveness that is rooted in our own insecurity, and we need to face that and support each other, and some of it is different expectations. The fundamental observation as it turns out were 50 percent of the population. Host sure. Guest right . And if we Work Together and there are no more mommy wars things change. At been working with one of the most important sites about bringing women who work in the home and work force together. Were publishing this week. Letters to thank our mothers for mothers day, and we are all doing it. Women need to support each other because when i think about the women who are at home, i can either feel insecure because i dont feel like i am a mother, or i can feel grateful for everything theyre doing at my kids school in my community in the same thing for those mothers looking and mothers like me you are working in think if we can feel better about ourselves and stop beating ourselves of some much we can also be more generous to reach other. Host lets talk a little bit about the book and the book tour and reviews and so forth. A typical carries a you have, you managed to launch into this a full blast. And number one on the bestseller list for the past two months, likely to be there for many months to come. Essentially unleased a global conversation that is incredibly important. Lets start by asking, what is the stupidest criticism that you have ever heard of you in your book . [laughter] the steepest one. Guest no one has criticized my buck. Everyone loves my book. [applause] i think the criticism i dont think is that the awful as saying that i dont believe that other things need to change other than internally. The criticism that this is not founded. I am blaming women. It is very hard to decide. Host those of you just did not read a book at all. I also do a lot to explain why we are holding ourselves back. Encouraging women is not the same thing as blaming, and that distinction is one host it is missed that as well. The semester to us metric question, the most sophisticated criticism, the criticism that has been the most accurate. Guest the best criticism of my book is one i struggle with a lot and it is sophisticated. In trying to change stereotypes i am embracing them. For example, i tell women to smile and say we and justify their passing asks for promotions and raises which is embracing a stereotype. Acknowledging that you will be more successful getting a raise if you smile and say we. I do not want you to embrace the stereotype to change it and death struggle with this so much in the book and decided that i am pretty much a pragmatist. The world is what it is. There will become a ceo and people will ascribe leadership to women and the next generation wont have to smile and say we. Host this is sort of feminism 2. 0. Seriously. A specific view, lots the correct one, that women need to be in power and treated the same. Feminism 2. 0 to my way to do this which gets you into power. Guest what happened for me, i struggle with getting bad advice on negotiating and then decided the following, when i negotiated in youre one of the people that taught me how come my to my team, you go into that room and win or lose before you go into the room. It is how much you understand about the other side. I decided that empowering women to understand the stereotype and use it to their advantage was part of preparing well for a negotiation. It is still hard for me. It is fair criticism. Host lets get some of the audience questions. Did your point really get across . Did people really understand it . Guest eric makes an amazing point in the book. Revolutions are easier said easier to start and maintain. And so i dont know if this is a revolution, but i wanted people to notice that women were stagnating, to understand the stereotypes holding his back and for men and women to try to change in. I have been look, if you are a business person and write a book, the real risk is no one will read it or care. I am gratified that so many people have read it and it is doing well. It has been a week speed the real question is, what happens now . Does anyone remember that when too many women are called aggressive from now work so long from now . My book will do as much as it can to try to help women. All of us come together. We hope you join us. This close to 175,000 participants. If you go on to facebook and like us, we are there. We want men and women, but it is unclear unclear what happens from here, and it will take so many more voices to lead men and women, trying to chase the stereotypes. Host another question, however you responded to the critical feedback of the book and the movement . As it changes anything about your approach . Can be modified anything based upon the reception and that cavalcade of comments thrown against it . Host guest i dont think there is anything that has been said about my book that i did not actually try to address in my book. What people said was not surprising. The volume completely shocked me. Host but your book and another level talks about that because you point out that women face greater scrutiny. It is called recursion. [laughter] history. [laughter] guest i think, you know, is trying to i set this up with debbie and others as a book but a community. We did it in an open way. On our website, the community exists on facebook. By its very nature the community is created by the community. One of the things were helping people do is set up circles, groups of men or women, usually starting all over and is exciting to see. A circle is whenever people wanted to be. We envision them probably as women who were meeting, maybe in the same industry or different industry who would meet once a month and support each other. I heard today that there are a group of circles being started by fathers and dollars. Fathers and their daughters are starting circles. Never thought of that. Brilliant. Love those fathers. Daughters are so lucky. And so what we did, created a platform. The computer museum, we put out idea is. People run with them. As your book does so well, we dont control this. Your book is very clear that the internet is the first thing we invented that we dont control. Host unleash the movement. Guest we have tried. We unleased the community. Where it goes, we will try to follow and try to support. Host what was a pivotal transitional even norman in your career that define to you are what you did with your career and was it something you anticipated work did it occur randomly . Guest so many of them. Certainly during google with you understanding the mission and how important it was to me in one of is doing. When eric recruited me to google , our initial conversations were all about what google was doing in the world. Host im sorry to interrupt you. One of the simple secrets to motivating people is give them a mission to change the world and they will work for you hard. Guest thats right. When eric and i, first at google. Just announced as chairman. About to be ceo, but the world did not know. Derek would say, look at what google is doing in the world. My greatest hope is all of those women who have gotten raises and the daughters whose fathers are having monthly meetings with them to give them the selfconfidence to believe that they can do anything. Host the same success with female mentors to you have had with male mentors . And that corollary question, how you make yourself available. [laughter] host this question is not in the book. One of the worst questions to ask a stranger, anyone, will you be my mentor. It is interesting. Ive only worked for a man. Have had a couple of the male mentors combat mainly men because i have worked for men. One of the points i make in the book is that if we rely on only women to mentor women we will never succeed because there are not enough that the top to mentor of the women. There are unspoken things that have held us back. So a man and a man in a room having a meeting alone or maybe at a bar having a drink looks like business, mentoring. The man and woman being alone or having a drink looks like an older man and younger woman meeting alone. Lets be clear. If were talking about getting more women into positions of power, you know, 86 percent of the people in power or men and older than the women trying to get there. This is all about not just making it safe, but cheering on man to spend time alone with women. Host in fact, you tell the story. A very good friend of mine. I could friend in new york city treats men and women equally. Guest thats right. I did not know him when i wrote the story. I imagined sense. Host a fantastic guy. Guest 15 years ago he announced monday that he did not feel comfortable having dinner with women, so he would have no dinners. Host he had dinner with his family. Guest but none at work and was basically saying i understand and m what i am saying is lets make access equal. An interview for me, and he was asked, will you have dinner along with women. He said absolutely. As part of my job. Some women to have some men will say yes and some will say no. Either way, lets make it explicit and equal. Host examples of subtlety that we have overcome. More questions from the audience. Maybe some people can assemble