This personal whoa whoa. Whoa. That was. In the. Journal today. From testified to and this is Democracy Now. Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its day more criminals. Including the k.k.k. Neo nazis white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as America 2 days after a Nazi sympathizer drove into a crowd of anti racists protesters in Charlottesville Virginia killing one person and injuring 19 President Trump finely condemns white supremacist violence but what steps will the White House take to stop the growing violence we'll spend the hour will be acclaimed author can of coffee cup in his 1st major interview since the end alteration of President Trump. I think one of the problems with the conversation around racism there are tried to based on the book just tried to have around the country is the notion that this somehow only endangers black people. But I'm here to tell you that it is dangerous all of. Tallahassee collets for the hour all that and more coming up. Welcome to. Democracy Now Democracy Now dot org The War and Peace Report I mean the goodman massive protests against white supremacists in the trumpet ministration continued nationwide Monday from the streets of North Carolina where a crowd of activists toppled the Confederate statue and Durham to the holes of Washington where 3 separate corporate C.E.O.'s resigned from President Trump's American manufacturing Council over Trump's failure to quickly condemn the deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville Virginia over the weekend in Durham the crowd of activists shouted We are the revolution as a woman climbed up a ladder looped a rope around the top of the Confederate Soldiers monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse then pulled the statue to the ground as the crowd erupted in cheers. Ok. Thank. You you are in Nashville Tennessee activists rallied around the bust of Confederate Army General Nathan Bedford Forrest putting a black wall over his head demanding the bus be removed from the state capitol in Gainesville Florida workers removed a Confederate soldier statue from downtown while officials and Baltimore San Antonio and Jacksonville Florida all said Monday they would take steps to remove Confederate statues from public spaces major protests were also held in Washington d.c. In Naples Florida in Minneapolis Minnesota where activists burned in effigy of a Nazi and in New York City where thousands of people poured into the streets to protest as President Trump arrived home to Trump tower for the 1st time since his inauguration This is Brooklyn residential Lani Wilson if you marry. If people are going to sit down. The road or right in the United States. We've seen this or you know what to do we stand up we make our voices heard and we do know. We're going to these schools right back to their kids who will have no power in this country they might be up in the White House the boy behind the plastic. Fields they fight when costs play good is the power of the people that makes this country work and we are going to prove in the prove it again and again and again for as long as you have to show there is no place for hate in the United States 3 corporate executives also resign from Trump's American manufacturing Council Monday in protest of Trump's failure to quickly condemn the deadly neo nazi violence in Charlottesville which are rapid after more than a 1000 Nazis Ku Klux Klan members and white supremacists descended on Charlottesville to protest the city's plan to remove a confederate statue of Robert e. Lee on Monday morning the c.e.o. Of the pharmaceutical giant Merck Kenya Frazier who is African-American resigned from the council saying quote America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred bigotry and group supremacy which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal he wrote while it took President Trump 2 days to condemn the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville it took him only an hour to attack Frazier for resigning tweeting quote now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's manufacturing counsel he will have more time to lower ripoff drug prices unquote the c.e.o. Of Intel and Under Armor also resigned on Monday from the council in protest even after Trump made his statement even the company that makes the tiki torches that were wielded by hundreds of white supremacist are. Their torch bearing March on Friday night in Charlottesville has spoken out condemning the white nationalists and their ideology the company take a brand products wrote quote taking brand is not associated in any way with the events that took place in Charlottesville and are deeply saddened and disappointed unquote and that's the extraordinary pressure of the growing street in corporate protests Monday President Trump finally condemned the deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville Virginia which killed one person and injured dozens racism is evil and those who cause violence and it's the more criminals of thugs including the k.k.k. Neo nazis white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans after making his statement Trump refused to take any questions from reporters despite having promised to hold a news conference later and they after a separate announcement cnn's Jim Acosta tried to ask Trump about his Charlottesville statements. You're going to. Hear. Were you know your brother. Or brother. Here or. Are we going to work for. You. Or a career. If you will that's President Trump saying your fake news to cnn's Jim Acosta despite Trump's but grudging condemnation of white supremacist violence he also tried to deflect and distract from this this violence by retreating about crime in Chicago by a far right wing conspiracy theorists the tweet was originally written by the right wing extremist Jack Purcell back known for. Reading conspiracy theory such as pizza gate Trump also failed to succumb to mounting pressure both from within and outside the administration to fire his chief strategist Stephen Bannon former head of Breitbart News which promotes far right wing and white nationalist propaganda the United Nations also condemned the nazi violence in Charlottesville over the weekend this is Farhan hoc spokesperson for the un secretary general and we're against all reason and bigotry we believe that there must be no place in our societies for the violent racism anti-Semitism xenophobia and discrimination that we've seen in Charlotte in Charlottesville Virginia in recent days. Obviously. We condemn any of the violence that affected civilians and we express our condolences to the family and loved ones of the of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to all those who were injured in Charlottesville Virginia James Alex fields Jr appeared in court via video link from jail for his 1st court appearance where he was charged with 2nd degree murder for driving his car through a crowd of counter protesters during the white supremacist rally Saturday killing counter protester Heather higher and injuring 1000 others he was denied bond 20 year old fields as a Nazi sympathizer who in German from Ohio to Charlottesville to rally with the white supremacist before allegedly carrying out the deadly assault with his car more details about fields life emerged Monday he's been accused of repeatedly assaulting his mother Samantha Bloom who is disabled and uses a wheelchair records show his mother repeatedly called 911 to report fields was threatening her or had assaulted her she says he threatened her with a footlong knife had her on the head and spit on her military records show field center of the Army in 2050. But flunked out of basic training less than 4 months later one of James Alex fields high school teachers in Kentucky says he was that Sest with Adolf Hitler and Nazi military history and showed clear Nazi sympathies that the teacher tried unsuccessfully to steer him away from the far right extremist groups are planning a series of protests for this upcoming weekend and at least 9 cities Atlanta Austin Boston Los Angeles New York Pittsburgh Seattle Washington d.c. And in Mountain View California the rallies are being called to protest Google for having fired a white male engineer who authored a sexist manifesto which email to all of his colleagues in which he claimed women are biologically inferior and less capable of assuming leadership roles in the tech industry than now fired engineer has become a hero among far right extremists there are also white supremacist rallies planned for San Francisco in Berkeley California later this month counter protests are already being planned Meanwhile Texas a and m. University has canceled a planned white lives matter rally which was slated to take place on September 11th and its concerns about the possibility of deadly white supremacist violence. A board member of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has resigned in the wake of this weekend's White Supremacist violence in Charlottesville Waldo Jock with tweeted I just resign from the a.c.l.u. Of Virginia Board what's legal and what's right or sometimes different I won't be a fig leaf for Nazis who wrote ahead of this weekend's White Supremacist rally the a.c.l.u. Represented rally organizer Jason Catherine free speech grounds in the case against the city of Charlottesville which was trying to revoke the permit for the event and Boston Massachusetts the New England Holocaust Memorial was vandalized Monday by a teenager who threw a rock through a glass panel etched with numbers symbolizing the numbers to. Tud on the arms of Jews and others imprisoned in Nazi Germany concentration camps it's the 2nd time this summer that Boston is how a cost memorial has been vandalized Boston's Jewish Community Relations Council said quote The images of Nazis marching in the streets of America over the weekend in Charlottesville and now shattered glass once again at the sacred space in Boston are an affront to our Jewish community and to all those who stand up against bigotry hatred an anti semitism. President Trump says he's considering their ring pardoning the notorious former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio who's been convicted of criminal contempt for defying a court order to stop his deputies from racially profiling people then detaining them on suspicion of being undocumented Trump called Arpaio a great American patriot and said he's considering considering pardoning him as early as this week Arpaio is a major supporter of Trump whose policies have included detaining immigrants in a scorching outdoor tent city jail which Arpaio once referred to as his own concentration camp the Justice Department is demanding web hosting provider dream host turn over 1300000 visitor IP addresses of people who visited the website disrupt Jay 20 dot org which was used to organize the protests against President Trump's inauguration the Justice Department is also seeking names addresses telephone numbers e-mail addresses and other information about the owners and subscribers of the website more than 200 protesters were arrested during the inauguration day protesters are now facing decades in prison on trumped up charges the web server is fighting the request and international news in Syria the journalistic monitoring group Broncos being slaughtered silently says as many as 30 civilians were killed and up to 60 more wounded by u.s. Backed airstrikes and shelling in Iraq on Monday the group also says. As the u.s. Led offensive has destroyed the oldest market in the city amidst the ongoing offensive to seize control of rockets from ISIS North Korea says it will hold off on attacking the u.s. Territory of Guam saying they will wait to see what the foolish Yankees will do before making any decisions tensions have been escalating between the u.s. And North Korea President Trump startled the world last week by threatening to attack North Korea with Fieri with fire in theory sparking concerns about the possibility of a nuclear war and response North Korea threatened to hit the waters off the u.s. Territory of Guam home to 2 major sprawling u.s. Military bases residents have spent decades opposing the militarization of our island of their island to see our full interview about resistance to u.s. Militarization of Guam go to Democracy Now dot org Meanwhile in Japan tens of thousands of residents of the island of Okinawa protested over the weekend against u.s. Military bases on the island for decades residents have called for the expulsion of u.s. Troops from Okinawa which houses about 2 thirds of the 50000 u.s. Troops currently stationed in Japan and Venezuela thousands poured into the streets for an anti-imperialist March on Monday to protest President Trump's comments saying the u.s. May launch a military intervention in Venezuela he made the comment on Friday this is the Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir pre-training more than people we do not admit into our culture he can play realist Lords of the United States government it seems to us delirious attitude was threatening attitude ago you get into the threat more in Israel with weapons because simply all the previous means of this could not be consummated according to the wall yelling that maybe the North American imperialists have removed their masks and have gone directly to military aggression that they have completely removed the masks on Monday Vice President Mike Pence defended President Trump's comments about a possible u.s. Military intervention and Venezuela. It's an atrocity the urge for the law to stand by while the sway will allow the city to do it we will not stand by it that is where the more it's important to know the reason for aid that. The field stay in the soil. Is the security and prosperity of our entire industry or in the people of the United States of America as well as some of the largest oil reserves in the world vice president Mike Pence made those comments in Colombia but he is now in Argentina as part of a regional tour across Latin America and Sierra Leone mudslides triggered by massive rainfall have killed more than 300 people near the capital Freetown the number of casualties expected to rise the search and rescue teams are still looking for thousands of missing people increased rainfall is been linked to human driven climate change and in the occupied territories 5 Palestinian journalists were released from Israeli custody Monday in the Israeli occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip the journalists were arrested by Israeli authorities last week on charges of quote leaking sensitive information to enemy groups unquote human rights and press freedom groups say Israel has been increasingly cracking down on freedom of the press and Palestinian journalists Israel is also trying to shut down Al-Jazeera us office in Jerusalem and revoke the press credentials of Al-Jazeera as journalists in Israel this is a Mark the way head of the Palestinian independent commission for human rights. During the few past months almost since last March we are witnessing a regression in the freedom of speech in the freedom of journalism in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and it is a result of the escalation in the dispute between Palestinians and it might be because of what is happening in the region of regional conflicts that can have a negative reflection on the Palestinians and those are some of the headlines This is Democracy Now Democracy Now dot org The War and Peace Report I mean he couldn't . And on one can solace welcomes all of our listeners and viewers around the country and around the world. We turn now to look at the fallout from Saturday's violent white supremacists protest in Charlottesville Virginia where a 20 year old Nazi sympathizer killed one anti-racist activists an engine more than a dozen others when he intentionally drove his car through a crowd of counter protesters on Monday the driver of the car James fields appeared in court for the 1st time President Trump initially failed to directly blame white supremacists for the bloodshed in Charlottesville saying the violence was committed by quote many sides on Monday I'm it's growing Street and corporate protests Trump finally condemn the deadly white supremacist violence as I said on Saturday we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred bigotry and violence it has no place in America and as I have said many times before no matter the color of our skin we all live under the same laws we all salute the same great flag. And we are all made by the same almighty God. We must love each other show affection for each other and unite together in condemnation of hatred bigotry and violence we must read discover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans racism is evil and those who cause violence in its day more criminals and thugs including the k.k.k. Neo nazis white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans but that was President Trump speaking on Monday Meanwhile foreign policy has revealed the existence of a recent f.b.i. And Department of Homeland Security bulletin that concluded white supremacist groups were quote responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 2000 to 2016 more than any other domestic extremist movement on quote the f.b.i. And Department of Homeland Security report went on to state quote racial minorities have been the primary victims of white supremacist violence the 2nd most common victims were of the Cole Kazan's and other white supremacists perceived that all the white supremacy is perceived as disloyal to the white supremacist extremist movement despite the f.b.i. And Department of Homeland Security findings that trump administration recently cut funds to organizations dedicated to fighting right wing violence was the nation grapples with what happened in Charlottesville Virginia we turn now to the best selling author Tom Haas a cotes the national correspondent for The Atlantic where he writes about culture politics and social issues he's the author of Between the world and me which one to 2015 National Book Award for nonfiction and the author of the forthcoming book titled we were aid. Years in power and American tragedy Hasi It's great to spend this hour with you I want to start by asking your response to what happened in Charlottesville and then to President Trump's actions and response. Sponsors that it's predictable. You had 8 years before President Trump the situation with the opposition party basically ran. In opposition to the president on a platform of Finley based to racism and it doesn't mean that the politicians themselves were outright racist but when charges of birth tourism came up no one repudiated when the House majority leader at the time John Boehner. Claimed the president had never worked a real job no one repudiated it when you're getting rich called the president of the United States a food stamp president no one repudiated it and so you found yourself in a situation in the 2016 election where all of that I hate and all of that racism have misspoken the party's base and so the idea that President Trump what I don't trust with him become president that he would you know become the winning candidate is not surprising at all and that Trump himself you know with the stroke of birth the resume who has this long history of racism is himself going back to the 1970 s. When he was accused of housing discrimination into the 1990 s. When he called for the death penalty for the Central Park 5 who were later exonerated in 1900 when he claimed that he didn't want black people counting his money and his casinos. That that person at that figured out political figure within use that same energy that was in the party to become president and the reaction would be violence is predictable it's lamentable but it but it's predictable and no one should be surprised Well I want to ask you with this unite the right Rally and these resurgence now of white supremacist publicly throughout the country largely and. Under the symbolic of protest against the taking down of these various Confederate monuments and statues of around the country your sense of how this the saving of these could federal. Statues because they're broadly in call of this of this a promise movement Well it makes sense I mean civil war was the most lethal war in American history. Casualties in the Civil War melts more than all other was other American wars combined more people die and there was a World War 2 World War One Vietnam. And that was a war for white supremacy it was a war to erect a state in which the basis of it was the a slave myth of black people and so that you know these forces that you know I discussed you know really you know bubbled from the base of the Republican Party and that trump neck you'd be activated would then rally around the cause of the Confederacy makes complete sense we're going to break and then come back to this discussion one time Hosty coats national correspondent for The Atlantic where he writes about culture politics and social issues his forthcoming book will be out in October it's titled we were 8 years in power an American tragedy This is Democracy Now we'll be back with time Hosty in a minute. How. It was a new democracy now right here in the community radio for the Guinness and valley. Want to once again think of the community members who show their support during our brief semiannual pledge drive. 3 of the fastest pleasure as in history have been in the last 2 years and we are excited to see that our support is not just strong but growing stronger Stay tuned for National Public Radio's All Things Considered 5 pm and thanks again from k b e t. To our tremendous family of listeners. Stay tuned. Maybe we know that together. Is that. I do. Know. That this little light of mine by Odetta this is the song activists were singing Monday in Nashville Tennessee as they rallied against the bust of Confederate Army General Nathan Bedford Forrest putting a black cloth over his head and demanding the bus be removed from the state capital it's also the song that clergy sang on Friday night as they held a gathering in a chapel at the University of Virginia as outside hundreds of torch bearing white supremacists March past This is Democracy Now Democracy Now Dot or the war and peace report I mean the good men with foreign Gonzales Well massive protests against why supremacist in the Trump administration continued nationwide on Monday from the streets of North Carolina where a crowd of activists toppled a confederate statue in derm to the halls of Washington where 3 separate corporate C.E.O.'s resigned from Trump's American manufacturing Council over his failure to quickly condemned the deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville Virginia over the weekend in Durham the crowd of activists shouted We are the revolution as a woman climbed up a ladder looked to a rope around the top of the Confederate Soldiers monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse and then pulled a statue to the ground as to a crowd erupted in cheers. Meanwhile in Nashville Tennessee activists rallied against the bust of the Confederate Army General Nathan Bedford Forrest putting a black cloth over his head demanding the bus to be removed from the Capitol in Gainesville Florida workers removed a Confederate soldier statue from downtown while officials in Baltimore San Antonio and Jacksonville Florida all said Monday they would take steps to remove Confederate statues from public spaces and major protests were also held in Washington d.c. And Naples Florida in Minneapolis Minnesota where activists burned in effigy of a Nazi still with us for the hour best selling author Tom Hasi coats the national correspondent for The Atlantic. He is the author of the tween the world and me which won the 2015 National Book Award for nonfiction author of a forthcoming book an October we were 8 years in power an American tragedy and we are talking to him in his 1st major broadcast interview since President Trump was inaugurated this weekend described the group's time Hosty what they represent and the significance of President Trump taking 2 days to speak out against white supremacist violence. Well I'm. Having a bit of difficulty. I guess generating much much much outrage here. I don't know what people expected. Given Donald Trump's record given that he has somebody you know in the White House right now advising him you know who is the publisher for Breitbart media bright by media is named after the same gentleman who basically framed Shirley Sure Rod during the Obama administration Steve Bannon was the publisher bragged about Breitbart being the platform for the all right yet right is who was protesting and so the notion that Donald Trump. When he has you know folks who provided a platform right in his in the White House would come on provide some sort of strong statement against white supremacy I don't know what I expected and comes from. He is who he said he was you know you can say a lot about trouble you know he didn't hide it he is exactly who he said he was and so I think the expectation you know he will morph into some strong you know opponent all of full of white supremacy even the kind of blatant white supremacy you saw on display is solid so I think is misguided. I want to ask you in that same vein that he is who he said he. Who he was during the campaign he established a presidential advisory commission to look into the issues of voter integrity and your conduct what you get your reaction to what's been going on now in terms of turning turning the entire political process of voting upside down by going after those who are already being disenfranchised Yeah I mean I you know not not not to be repetitive here but again I mean it it fits right along with with what do you. With what he said you know and again I you know because I think what happens is that people get too focused on Donald Trump and forget that what this comes out of is a long campaign over especially over the past you know 10 years or so especially during a time when we had our 1st black president where people sought to cast a the president as an illegitimate and I was basically set that you had a majority of the opposition party to believe the president was not a legitimate president and then the notion of vote for voter fraud was taken up across the party by some of the same Republican politicians who are now coming out and denouncing Donald Trump they may Donald Trump don't trump is not you know separate from and you know you can't come out of the last minute you know now that somebody has been killed now that somebody is dead and pretend that you know we had no part in this this is the result of a process Donald Trump did not appear by magic and so with when you see him taking up this is form one on a legit voter fraud. Going out and soliciting the names from various states of voters it's right in line not just with with Trump said but with the rhetoric of the base and of many of the politicians in the Republican Party over the past 8 to 10 years and your response to those who are focusing on the Confederate statues around the south right now and actually thing is equally as an Durham yesterday taking them down. I'm happy to see it 1 2 2. I think I'm happy to see him I'm happy to see dad that sort of awareness I came up in a period where so like Dukes of Hazzard was on t.v. And paced people just basically accepted the Confederate flag and I sort of even as African-Americans knew there was something deeply wrong with that it's good to see you know that there is some sort of mass movement moving that direction I will say that there is some danger. If it simply stops it taking down statues I think the basic problem and I think honestly as countries prove you know prove that it is self to itself over and over again is a real lack of understanding of what the Civil War was 'd and what its consequences when the fact that we live with it you know even today and so I just you know I support the removal the statues but. I just want to make sure that we're not you know skipping over a conversation you know by taking down symbols or saying Ok that's nice that's over one of those busts was the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest and you wrote a piece about him what like in 2009 called Nathan Bedford Forrest has beautiful I was I did a. Piece was about I don't want people to think like it was just you know a lot of Nathan Bedford Forrest but it was about how we award a certain kind of romanticism to Confederate generals and why they had a food and so a lustrous of you know over the past really so since you know that the end of the civil war in the Movement for the lost cause and so it has been this this movement toward glamour and you know glory and a kind of cowboy mystique to Confederate generals and ignore the fact that people like Nathan better far as for instance a person perpetrated the massacre at Fort Pillow where he you know murdered in cold blood African American soldiers before the Civil War was a slave trade a literally had what he called a negro markets where he vended black bodies and people forget that instead what you get is the sort of swagger and glory and the mythology of the old Confederacy. In the end in your book that's about to come out one of the things you talk about is that the femur that white America has of good negro government and you make 0 references to the Civil War as well did your I guess it's a theme that you've often raised that the lack of attention the study of the lessons of the Civil War But at the same time you also say that the Obama administration is a good negro government also in many ways helped to feed white supremacy Could you elaborate on that yeah sure I mean the book take it takes his title we were 8 years in power from a gentleman who stood up in a c. 9511 of the black congressmen a point during during Reconstruction immediately after slavery and as South Carolina was basically seen mentioning the disenfranchisement of African-Americans he said you know listen we were 8 years in power and he listed all the great things that the African-Americans really the Multi Racial government you know a tremendous experiment in democracy to follow the Civil War you know had accomplished your reforming really forming the 1st public school system you know our reforming the penal system just the list of governmental accomplishments that they had done and he creates trouble to understand why folks would then perpetrate this act of disenfranchisement given how much South Carolina had advance during this period in the great w.e.b. Dubois pointed out that the one thing white South South Carolina and feared more than bad Negro government was good negro government it was precisely the fact of having made all of these accomplishments because they ran counter to the ideas of white supremacy they gave this in France the the disenfranchisement movement of the Redeemer's they feel and I don't think it was very different under under President Barack Obama I think it was in fact you know his modesty it was the lack of radicalism was the fact that he wasn't you know out you know fire bombing or you know throwing up the Black Power sign to do it so I said that made him so. Scary because I think what folks alternately fear is Africa is a kind of the ease with which African-Americans you know could be integrated you know into the system because it assaults the very ideas of white supremacy in the 1st place you write in your book. Talking about Trump and leading the birth their movement against President Obama after his cabal of conspiracy theorists forced President Obama to present his birth certificate Trump then demanded the president's college grades offering $5000000.00 to anyone who provided them insisting Obama was not intelligent enough to have graduated from an Ivy League college and that his acclaimed memoir Dreams of My Father of My Father have been ghost written by a white man if you can talk about that push from birth or risen to know what President Trump is doing today and what you'd like to see him do and one of the things he said yesterday is that he had met with his attorney general Jeff Sessions who would be leading a federal investigation into what took place and Charlottesville does that give you any. Comfort Tennessee Absolutely not absolutely not what I would like to see him doing is resigning and leaving the White House I have no expectation. For the president I certainly have no expectation for I mean this is like where we are we're we're we're in a house of mirrors right now with Jeff Sessions is the one who's going to bring the white supremacists to Justice Jeff Sessions who was denied a federal court ship because you know it was you know thought that his proximity to you know surrogates most of Alabama was was much too close to the no faith no more faith than one should have you know in Fox's being appointed to guard the henhouse . We and I say we as a country now I say we as a country is I put myself in that we elected a president who openly courted and openly activated the forces of white supremacy in this country in order to become president we now have to live with the consequences of that. And I just I don't see much you know changing certainly not in the next 4 years I expect more it is not less and are you disappointed because some degree that President Obama has maintained relative silence since he left the presidency I guess following in the footsteps of George Bush who basically receded from. From the public scene for quite some time now because I don't. I'm not convinced that would do anything. You know I'm not convinced that would bring the country you know in any closer together I think if anything what he would do if he were more Amel to Donald Trump when you have to understand is Donald Trump's very essence his very identity is the anti Obama you know he doesn't really have. Independent thought beyond the idea that if this country could have a black president it must be able to have Donald Trump as its president that's his core animating theory I mean it was a piece I think like just last week in Buzz Feed was talking about you know Trump's foreign policy and its basic deal is is Obama for it well I'm against it you know and that's not just from that's a substantial portion of Americans who also voted for Trump who obviously you know still at least to some extent shot at you know point of view so I don't know that. I don't know if there's any way around this I'm no one's coming you know around the mountains to save us we did something you know we handed over the nuclear codes we had over you know the safety of. Of our entire country to somebody you know and now we have to live with that. And another incident on Saturday in Charlottesville Virginia white supremacists were captured in a photo and also video beating a 20 year old African-American protester down during Harris who's a hip hop artist and assistant special education teacher at an area high school Harris later described the attack to the Los Angeles Times the gold standard here it was located there as they will get there they did I think we got like here they need to rush we're here here like right here in this old way right here right in front of the police station is right here are you here no this is going to be in our love it was Ok and he really did i believe me but I gave everything I don't like to lose courage is that it will that go to the last time I get over that I'm the only bruise there that you know that they can deal with there are that you know . The care and. Recovery is similar to over but a little better but it cuts and very little money monies available for people to go the way they was beaten up very badly they were hitting him smashing him with sticks and now there's been a lot of criticism of the Charlottesville Police Department over all law enforcement I think they brought in something like a 1000 officers for this that they just stood there and I mean he was right by a police station but overall and I was wondering your thoughts about this and it also goes back to Jeff Sessions now the attorney general named after 2 Confederate . Leaders right Schaeffer send a Davis regard their regards to do such a direct good and as head of the and as attorney general is leading the movement to stop the consent decrees would that would see the Justice Department over see cities like Ferguson and their police after the killing of Michael Brown. I was infuriating it is absolutely absolutely unfair I mean I just want to pick up where you just left off and that is with Ferguson and one has to do 2 to really understand the aura of the situation you have to try to imagine black people in say Ferguson showing up some of them with you know guns some of them dressed in militia outfits some of them with shields some of them with clubs and you have to try to imagine and then having them brawl in the streets with Count to protest this and you don't have to try to imagine the police doing nothing and I think that just fails the test I just don't think you know that there's a nuff imagination to perceive that you know that as a possibility I was watching those scenes you know in in Charlottesville on Saturday and I was amazed I mean I should not be amazed I mean it pretty much follows as you know the basic theory but it is just amazing to see you know the police absolutely do nothing on the one hand and then when you see all these other cases you know I magine if that was you know how black folks responded when Aragon had been choked to death imagine if that was how black folks responded to a mere Rice and we came out and guns and and militia gear I mean does anyone think the police would just sort of stand back like that. We're going to break and then come back to this discussion townhouse Eco's national correspondent for The Atlantic he has a new book that is coming out in October we were 8 years in power an American tragedy This is Democracy Now we'll be back with Tom Haas in a minute. To . Hold tight pricing came here on Democracy Now democracy now doubt or of the war and peace report I mean the good men with Gonzales. Let's turn for a minute to some of the voices from the rally that took place this weekend after the terror and Charlottesville where had their hire 32 year old paralegal activists deeply committed to show social and racial justice was killed as she was run over hit by a car that had driven into protesters the counter protesters against the white supremacists Donald Trump was concerned at that point talked about violence on all sides this was the sounds of protest outside his Trump Tower on 5th Avenue. a lot of those resent resentment My name is John big I am with rising resist the terror that I felt when I saw the burnings or choose the pictures and I could actually believe that that was something that was happening this day and age and they were thinking about I was thinking about that a person was killed yesterday protesting Nazis in the United States that really blew my mind just that concept that what we fought for in World War 2 with the fight against the Nazis our grandfathers our fathers. Our grandmothers worked on World War 2 It's to stop this and now we have to deal with that in 2007 seeing that somebody is dying because of white supremacy and Nazi isn't it that that literally blows my mind that I but it's so hard thing. For you to be there. So that those were the voices of dissent on Sunday after the Charlottesville terror last night as President Trump came home 1st time since his inauguration and late last night there were still a 1000 people outside his residence now that's the grassroots response and then there's the corporate response one Yes Well on Monday morning the c.e.o. Of pharmaceutical giant Merck Kenneth Frazier who's African-American resigned from the council saying quote America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred bigotry and group supremacy which one counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal unquote Well it took President Trump 2 days to condemn the violence of the white supremacists in Charlotte Charlottesville it took him only an hour to attack Frazier for resigning tweeting quote now that Ken Frazier of pharma has resigned. I'm from President's manufacturing Council he will have more time to lower ripoff drug prices unquote the c.e.o. Of Intel and the c.e.o. Of on their armor also resigned on Monday from the council in protest even after Trump made his statement Monday. Your sense of how these corporate executives now also bucking and saying we're not going to be part of this anymore. I mean I guess it's good to see you but you know again I just go back to that is. He is who we thought he was this is this is not new for Donald Trump Steve Bennett did not suddenly you know materialize in the in the White House Donald Trump has a record and so I just you know. Maybe it's just me but I'm sort of amazed that people are sort of just you know throwing up their hands and saying I'm shocked you know that President Donald Trump of the foremost proponent of the race is birth a myth did not give an appropriate response to white supremacy violence in Charlottesville Can you talk about what you just referred to before your response what you think Trump should do You said resign Can you play this out what would that look like if President Trump were to resign and why haven't you offer me to advise about what he would he should do but I you know I think if he read you know obviously if he resigned Mike Pence would become president you might not still see these kind of overt you know the displays and an open displays of white supremacy it would not shock me as the investigation into the voter rolls that that you talked about earlier continued. Certainly you know I think state level this sort of a gerrymandering has been going on now for some time to you know ingenuity states that you know black folks you know have the power of votes a is deluded would certainly continue I would expect that Jeff Sessions and his efforts to roll back the reforms on criminal justice would continue I would expect no action for instance on the sprawling income inequality I would expect that could be continued assault on Planned Parenthood to continue and so I you know obviously I'm not trying to defend Donald Trump here but I think people really need to get that he did not come out of nowhere you know it's nice to see that people at this late hour you know denouncing Trump I mean folks denounce Trump you know when he was caught on tape bragging about sex sexual assault you know in a few months later some little stand saying people was still standing with him you know so I did I don't put much faith in it because it's not individual in and of itself. It's an it's an entire system it's a political apparatus you know working all it all in concert and so I think if you were you know willing to stand you know with a president you know who bragged on tape you know again about sexually assaulting someone I don't know why the line is now I understand somebody's got killed but I'm not sure why the line is here I want to get back to a quote from from your book. Where you've talked about the importance of the of those 8 years when President Obama was in the White House that you believe he was one of the greatest presidents in American history that he was quoting you he was phenomenal the most agile interpreter and navigator of the color line I had ever seen he had an ability to emote a deep and sincere connection to the hearts of black people while never doubting the hearts of white people this was one of the core This was the core of his 2004 keynote in a Marxist historic race speech during the 2008 campaign at Philadelphia's Constitution Center and blinded him to the appeal of Trump so his belief in the heart of white people you feel also blinded him to the dangers of of a trump Could you expound on that. There are certain qualities that are required to do would be required to become the 1st African-American president. The office of presidency is necessarily limited in a particular way you represent all Americans you represent all Americans in their you know most beautiful ambitions and you represent all Americans and their moral limitations also so when we think about great presidents throughout history what I think about my you know of the presidents who are you know hold of Abraham Lincoln Ulysses Grant you know is that you know I can certainly find you know periods of moral limitation periods where I feel I think they didn't do the right thing Abraham Lincoln was a man who urged African-Americans late into the Civil War to leave the country to you know a role in a scheme of colonization to depart because white people would never accept them as Americans you know and same time he was who wrote enough to be you know as my friends on the cob often says shot in the head in defense of white supremacy So you're talking about you know limits from the get go and I think to. Be the 1st black person to be the 1st African-American to inhabit the Oval Office you have to have a sense of white people that I would say most African-Americans do not have you have to you would have to have a degree of trust and degree of belief in fact I would go so far as to say that we would pass things like Saw this bill that we just saw this week and that was the only way I think somebody was going to be president the catch is that at the same time that you extend that belief it blinds you to what actually can happen and we can actually can come out of it like the election of a Donald Trump Tennessee as we begin to wrap up I wanted to go to one of the stories that got so much attention that you wrote and that was the case for reparations Interestingly we had Wes Bellamy on before these mass protests and a white supremacist rally this weekend he's the vice mayor of Charlotte's fail the only African-American city councilman one of 5 and he is the one who is originally pushing. For the statue of Robert e. Lee to come down he couldn't get that approved and instead though he got something like an $8000000.00 reparations fund to deal with equity in Charlottesville and it was after that was passed that then they just moved ahead is that right want I mean you were just with West Bellamy in Austin and at a conference of progressive cities where they said Ok we're going to take that down to where he was able to get the one final vote of 3 to vote on the council to then agree to also take down the statue but before that the White Council member Bruce tried to placate him by agreeing to an equity fund for the for the black community . In Charlottesville they've incurred to me this might be a potential at the local level at the municipal and state level for politicians to begin demanding equity funds as a form of reparations to beginning it from the ground up instead of from the national government down and that's where all of this began and Charlottesville and if you can comment on that issue an issue that you were not originally for reparations and what in the hood look like today as even today after the terror attack West Bellamy is on the air talking about how important it is once all the media leaves to talk about equity and the critical institutions of Charlottesville that have remained for so long in the past separate and unequal Well see this is welcome with democracy now right because I just got informed and I actually was unaware of all of that but I think there's 3 points you know honestly to 2 things and the 1st thing is that if there were to be reparations in this country I actually think it would happen like that I think it would be a series of small local cases based on very very specific claims we think of reparations this grand sort of action you know the Supreme Court passing judgment as this that black folks are owed x. Number of 1000000000 a trillion dollars Congress perhaps passing a bill. President and then united there being this national reparations fine it's not so much that I'm against that but I suspect what will actually happen to what would actually happen in terms of a practical thing is you would see folks look into specific instances of Virginia offenses I believe you know how to reparations fund for African-Americans who were denied access to public schools in the wake of the response to Brown versus the Board the sterile sterilization cases in North Carolina where black women were sterilized they were reparations claims made on their behalf the torture of African-Americans in Chicago by John Birch a gentleman who worked for the Chicago Police Department a rep a successful reparations claim was made there I think I think you would more see it in that sort of way and so you know I'm happy a to you know see that happening in Charlottesville but I'm also happy to the gentleman who didn't stop there I think oftentimes people think you know what we win this you know that means the end of all struggle and we can go home and you know just relax and have a beer I'm happy to see continue to do these grassroots movements to give you hope right now across the country yes they're all we have though we have we have a smile when I see him I'm happy to see him. All we have right now and in the White House you have Steven van and there's questions whether Hill remain but of course there have been those questions for many months right now you have Sebastian Gorka who has Steven Miller these are well known people who represent this white nationalists. It's strange this thread where you have Steven Miller on one of the advisors to President Trump actually holding the White House news briefing last week and saying perhaps the poem by Emma Lazarus give me your tired your poor should be removed from the Statue of Liberty that it shouldn't have gone out there to begin with It wasn't a part of it originally Right right I mean these these these folks represent the worst in us and I represent they were the worst in America and again I cannot emphasize that the path was laid by a mainstream. Double politicians who heard you know this birth of business you saw all those who heard you know people you know consistently lobbing racist attacks at the president and did nothing and just stood aside and so you know the idea that the party would then be taken over by a much more extreme a much more vocal sort of white supremacy it is not shocking if you did nothing you know if you didn't speak up you know during. The Obama era when these you know claims of racism where he's ties of racism would being lobbed if you just stood aside you're part of the problem you're part of how we got here you know you don't get off by you know after somebody has been killed in Charlottesville you know making a statement you know about white supremacy at this late hour after the fruit is already and knowing that they are Tallahassee thanks so much for being with us that does it for our show is forthcoming but we were 8 years in power I mean the government would find solace. Support for Katie u.t. And democracy now comes from Habitat for Humanity going to some valley a nonprofit housing organization providing homeownership opportunities for income qualified Gunnison County residents. Additional support comes from town e-books and rumors coffee and tea house serving Allegro organic coffee and fine loose leaf tea County books stocks new books and can special order anything drink coffee read books fight evil. This is cave you teak rest of you and k g n i Conason the news from n.p.r. Is up next. I've been down many different groups but not all of those people were neo nazis believe me president trying to express a sympathy for the cause of white nationalists rallying in Charlottesville for Tuesday August 15th this is All Things Considered.