what happened to tyre and why. and more importantly, they have questions about what they can do about it, how they can be different, how they can create a different type of society. and so, when nick snow won in iraq putting together how to be a young anti racist, we wanted to provide young people with that guidepost, so they can be part of transforming this country. so important to think about the transformation and, in a way, all of us are the youth that are watching and wondering what this young experiment of a country could really be. ibram x. kendi, thank you so much today. thank you for having me. well, my home state and minnesota and governor is signing a bill, in fact, did sign a bill into law that protects abortion access. the question that many are asking across this country of ours is is this the blueprint for other states? governor of minnesota tim walz joins me next. over the last 100 years, lincoln s witnessed a good bit of f history.
the family of tyre nichols speaking out tonight from the historic mason temple in memphis, tennessee, the very church where dr. martin luther king gave his famous i ve been to the mountaintop speech the night before he was assassinated. joining me now to discuss, ibram x. kendi, director of the boston university center for anti racist research, and co-author of the brand-new book how to be a young anti racist. ibram, i m so glad that you re here joining me today, thank you. and i want to take note of location first we re talking about. i mean, this is the very place
best gambler in the world. janie just wants to have a light filled with beauty and love and play and the light and joy. and to have that portraits set against the ugliness, in many ways, of the jim crow south is really, really potent. it still resonates, right? it s a fundamentally human desire to have a beautiful life. even under the circumstances. it is the universality of this book. dr. amani perry is a director of african american studies at princeton university. ibram x kendi it s the founding director of the boston university center for anti racist research. i m not done with them. i will say this more where that came from. i m going to continue the conversation with imani perry and ibram x kendi, and in a few days, you will be able to stream the extended cut of this on peacock. that s it for me. thank you, for catch me back here 10 am eastern on velshi.
over the course of the 20th century. dr. kendi, we finally see the title, the reference to their eyes were watching god, in chapter 18 of the book during a hurricane. the passage in the book reads, the wind came back with trump or fury, and put out the light for the last time. they sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls, and their souls asking if he meant to measure their puny might against his. they seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching god. end quote. tell me about this moment. let me actually just share, i think, what it meant to me and the beauty about fiction is that we can all interpret it in different ways. you know, towards the end of the book, zora also writes janie stating that there are two things everyone needs to do for themselves.
there is this person who is not formerly educated, but she has this passion for life. she s imaginative. she desires play and creativity and the like. and in a way, her sons voice actually supplements what janie is yearning for. we have hurston s incredible use of language and the way in which she draws from the folk vernacular to build these beautiful sentences. you have her best friend, phoebe, janie s best friend, and any ways, janie it s making her case to. she s explaining her life. she is a person who was rejected by many for not fulfilling expectations of respectable woman, and phoebe actually is an audience, in many ways, the public art akin to. we actually begin to empathize with janie through her eyes. dr. kendi, this is an interesting situation where we have a book that young people should read, or at, least should have access to, but