I suppose we are. Good evening. Im the president for the Atlanta History Center and its my pleasure to welcome you all tonight professor, author and po et patrick phillips. Patrick phillips received ph. D from nyu. He was a fullbright scholar and a National Endowment for arts fellow and recipient from the translation prize for translation of the works of danish poet. His 2015 poetry collection was a finalist for the book award. Even though we are in the presence of a distinguished poet, tonight phillips will be discussing his first work of nonfiction, blood at the root. A racial cleansing in america. This work tells the disturbing story, by tracing the broader historical phenomena that led to similar violent around our nation, phillips tells a story thats tragically much larger than foresight county. It is a significant work in so much that begins to tell a story about a bunch of people throughout the country who can effectively erase from the historical record. Im excited to welcome a
Seems this is happening every day during certain periods but we are rushing into the street because there is power in these numbers. Host do we know who left cuecue guest we dont. It was one of the demonstrators, that was a night that was probably a few dozen protesters, wasnt one of the massive nights but i remember seeing that, making a note in my notebook that day that it captured a lot of the feeling i have been seeing and hearing from demonstrators. Host what was your experience in ferguson . Guest i went to ferguson two days after Michael Brown had been killed. I was a National Reporter for the post covering congress and very different be. I happened to be free. Had a bag packed, got back from a trip covering up senate race in michigan and we were having a conversation around the office about see what is going on in missouri, what is the coverage plan. I offered i can call from congressional representatives, maybe they will call for a little Investigation Committee get a dc scoop
Many of the people who had taken to the streets the last few years. Theres been a shooting and seemed like its happening for s one it wasnt one of the massive nights, but i remember seeing that and just, and making a note in my notebook that day that it captured a lot of the feeling that id been seeing and hearing from demonstrators. Host what was your experience in ferguson . Guest so i got to ferguson two days after Michael Brown had been killed. At the time i was a National Reporter for the post covering politics, i was covering congress. A very different beat. And i happened to be free. I had a bag packed. Id just gotten back from a trip to cover a senate race in michigan, and we were having a conversation around the office about, hey, you guys see whats going on in missouri, whats our Coverage Plan . I initially offered, hey, i can call some of the congressional c representatives, maybe theyll call for a federal investigation, get a d. C. Ish scoop, right . Finally an editor said,
Of thinking about this proposal thats on the table. Lets thank beth. [applause] and thank all of you for your terrific questions which made for an enlightening discussion and as i said before that this book is on sale outside. Please help yourselves. [applause] [inaudible conversations] im very honored to have a chance to be with you today and to be able to moderate our Wonderful Program on the Death Penalty. I am Michael Gerhardt a constitutional law professor and also i have the honor of being a scholar at the National Constitution center. We have three terrific panels today who are going to be available after the program to be able to sign their books and talking about those books. Although the next panel will start promptly at 2 15. Just to get us started we have on my far left sub122 was judge robert m. Parker and dominant of law into his right ms. Carol steiker the in closest to me is grace and justice on death row widely regarded as one of the nations leading Capital Punishment
Political orientations happened to have come to a conclusion that is similar, but whether they colluded to do it or execute it, i dont see the evidence of that. I believe that the way in our democracy that you respond to points of view that you disagree with is not to try to shut them down, but rather to provide alternatives and america the owner manual, i think, gives a lot of examples of where people have done that. As an example, here in florida, there had been a county which had had an antidiscrimination ordinance that did not include gays and lesbians and other transgender individuals and the Lbgt Community came together with the Business Community and instead of this being exclusively a human rights issue, it became a combination of human rights plus the adverse effect that failure to provide protection to that important segment of the population was meaning in terms of lost jobs, and lost Economic Growth for hillsboro county. That coalition, which came together from different pe