Group everybody together as the same and what america forgets about is at the rugged individualism, its very difficult for us to look at the case, lets just say in minneapolis were george floyd died and Law Enforcement, the first thing we think about we think about, he was a black guy, it was a white Law Enforcement officer. That tells me everything i need to know about why this took place. What happens is when you try to make it an issue that an individual died was black and the person whos responsible for it was white, you eliminate other human beings who should also have the same moral outrage, too much of our time today is spent on this herd mentality. Everybody is an individual first and that individual is solely responsible for that action. We should not be outraged because the race of the person thats the fact that this individual died in a very gruesome and brutal way for no reason at all because what happens is that individual dies it takes away some of our humanity and who we are and while it might happen to someone whos george floyd yesterday its a matter of time before, comes abbecomes us. The moral outrage abyou look at me and look at and you say armstrong is a black guy people know me know that i refuse to rent space to that i am a black guy im a human being, im an american im the son of james and thelma williams. You have to get to know me extend your hand and say hi let us get to know each other. We are individuals because you ask yourself why is it that 80 to 90 of Law Enforcement officers do not commit these kind of heinous crimes and these acts its because they understand response ability, accountability, they know how to deescalate the situation we got to get away of group thinking and start looking at people as individuals and get outrage not because the color of their skin but outrage of what took place. You right in your book and im quoting you that there is no real biological feature to race, its instead a social construct used in all sorts of negative ways based on nothing more than preposition to label rank and discriminate among each other primarily in the contest for wealth and power, can you expand on that . Unfortunately if it were not race it could be poverty, it can be class, it could be socioeconomic background, there are institutions, corporations who take this organization which goes on in our country and profit from it, they profit leaders who make their names they make their way of lives as a result of this Racial Division and they want us to believe that we all are the same that we are bigoted, racist and cannot judge someone like Martin Luther king said not by the content of their character but by the color of their skin. This morning aand i were in the studio i was doing a Facebook Live in the background i had a carbon cutout of former president barack obama and his challenger john mccain and people on my Facebook Live ab i was being asked so much as to why would you have barack obama in the background, what is that about . I said wait a minute, that election represented the progress of america. It showed that most americans have moved beyond this issue of race and bigotry and put people in a box. Barack obama did not win the white house because he was black, he won because they felt he had the best ideas, the best policies for the times which we found ourselves and and what barack obama and john mccain represented to us is that this america remains the city on the hill. Just because somebody agrees a aand had to go to with his policies and decisions he takes. When i explained to them, this is a situation of athere is no other place in any world where a manlike former president barack obama can rise in a country and become president of the United States. We dont talk about that progress enough. When i explained this to them there was this moment like, we are not as racist as they make us seem. You have to make people understand every thing is not black and white just because i have this cut out cardboard of barack obama and john mccain in my background. You referenced george floyd, other people with reference jacob lake, breonna taylor, they would attribute this to the concept of systematic racism. What is your take on that . I grew up in marion South Carolina, which had a huge effect on my life and how i view the world. Those helicon days of with my father and mother and nine brothers and my sisters are the continuous blessing that has fueled the arc of my life now into this Public Square of political, commerce and media. The thing is, its what i said earlier. Its not because they were black, its because nobody should be treated this way. No one should lose their humanity, nobody should be ending up dead and all of a sudden 2 00 a. M. They wake up to a hail of a gunfire and dies for no reason. It shouldnt take five or six months for the community to get outraged and the community to be outraged to bring justice to the system. Unfortunately, i would be foolish not to admit you cannot ignore that there is a systemic racism and racism does exist. It resides in peoples heart because we look at certain people you say, that person is black, this group of black people together they must be criminal, they must play basketball and then he looked at a group of white they must come from the suburbs they must have rich parents and we make all the stereotypes that we make these judgments because these judgments are fed to us by the Mainstream Media by what we read and also some people still feel the generational racism and feed it to their children played out in the classroom and played out in Larger Society. What my parents for me my parents, we did not drink from a trough of racism and bigotry and discrimination. Even though my parents, who grew up in a segregated sharecroppers firm, by the time we were born were able to buy the land where we could work for our parents and not work for what they call the man my parents realize even though we we might want to judge with a broad brush, people are not good because theyre white theyre not good because theyre black, theyre good because the character, virtue, values, what they choose to do them a discipline, hard work, sacrifice, making a difference to children to raise good families and be involved in their sons and daughters lives. This has to do with character and having a value system in place and character in place that gives your children the best shot at becoming conservative citizens to this american melting pot. We try to take everything about race, everything about gender, we lose the true perspective of human thriving aband freedom isnt perfect human thriving is imperfect. Were not can ever have perfect. Everything is in perfect. Its always abut we must admit as i mentioned with the story with president barack obama, america is still the shining city on the hill. America is no longer the great place it once was but america still is because we are still a young country, still an experiment and we have made phenomenal progress and that progress we should always celebrate. If you want to talk to our guest Armstrong Williams, 2027488000 for eastern and central time zones. 2027488001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. You can text us at 2027488003. We will have a chance to talk with our guest for the hour, will take a brief break at 9 30 p. M. But you are talking with Armstrong Williams, radio tv talkshow host and author of what black and White America must do now prescription to move beyond race. Rosemarie starts us off from florida. You are on with Armstrong Williams, good morning. Mr. Williams i would just like to say you have a lot of good points on what you are saying. Keep going, you are probably listening to yourself. Im so sorry. Mr. Williams, i was very interested in the last speaker you had, mr. Brian, im very interested because you are saying everything is not about race, which its not but things become about race. Thats the problem. When things become about race because of the color of your skin, or things happen to you, tragic things happen to you or you do something tragic because of race and then because of your race then you are being judged, then that makes it about race. I came from a wonderful big family that didnt teach me racism, i remember all of those things i was a product of the 60s i could not understand all the hatred and bigotry because i was not introduced to that in my family. When i came into the world and i saw those things, i was appalled about however it came. Now its 2020, we still have this racist problem. Yet, sir, it is mostly director to people of color. I respect you very much but its obvious that its directed more to people of color. Okay rosemarie, thank you very much. My father taught us that you cannot group people together, he wanted us to have a different experience than the ones that he and his forefather had endured and from your perspective, im going to challenge you a little bit, thank you so much for what you had to say. What you say is true i would not argue with that because that is your perspective, thats what youve seen, that is what you have experienced. But dependent on where you are in america and depends on what you are exposed to, your experiences can be quite different. Yes there is no question if sonja white decides to make a judgment about you because of your race whether Law Enforcement officer, somebody in the grocery store, someone in the shopping store once a profile you because they make these assumptions that have been reinforced by something thats happened to them in their life, something theyve been told, yes they have power to impact your life but theyre not the only ones to have that power. Black asians hispanics anybody else whos in a position of power can also make the same judgment about somebody else based on their own stereotype. This is why i said to you that your experiences, you cannot argue with it, you can say i was in stamford connecticut over the weekend i was reminded that during my days at the eeoc which i forgot about when i worked with justice frantz thomas that we been forced the Greenwich Fire Department to integrate, they did not want to have blacks. Obviously that was about race, people make these judgments and it so ignorant. But the issue is, you cannot Group Everybody the same. Lets say if you had a situation where you learned your daughter had been raped by someone who happens to be white. Would it be fair but the next day you run into somebody white you assume that all have the capability of raping your daughter . That person could be the most pathetic and experience the things they experience, they may have experiences with their own daughter may have been raped or a situation so what im saying to you even though you have that hurt, you have that pain, you cannot take that pain and make a decision that every group is the same because it breaks my heart when people use headlines in the media they make blacks out to be in bottling drugs, the criminal, black people are so much more than that. They are in corporate america, in medicine, parents are raising kids that thrive and do well in classrooms, they have this moral compass, this strong faith in god, their church, their communities, no group of people should be grouped together no matter what happens to you. My point is, we have to get back to the individual personal responsibility, accountability because until we get back to dealing with this instead of saying evereadys capable because they looked that way just like not all white people are serial rapists, not all muslims are terrorists, we get into this group thing and this is what the media and other institutions have conditioned us for. Im saying if we get back to judging abmaking the individual accountable and meeting the punishment for that individual i think we move toward progress. Also in the Justice System whether prosecutors whether the courtroom, even Law Enforcement in the courtroom and the prosecutors cannot protect people because of the class or because a relationship doesnt matter to me who was committing the crime, whatever the law is on the books, nobody should have a path from two crime. The beautiful thing we respect on death and nature is that it treats everybody the same. Nobody gets a pass. Mankind must derive to become like that and when people begin to see where everybody is treated the same and equality there is a possibility for equality for all even though people make different choices in life, god makes us all equal but we make unequal decisions and make unequal choices but let that be for the individual and their own personal dont allow law and the courts and institutions to be a part of that thats the role that government, the government can put laws in the book to stop this, nation to a certain extent but government cannot legislate much in a persons heart. Thats a journey we must do ourselves the hardest work what i do every day the hardest work i do is working on myself 24 hours a day and thats what people refers to do. We look at the problem somebody else has i find that when i work on myself 24 hours a day the world automatically improves around me. Let me step in to introduce richard from albuquerque new mexico, hello. First of all, i want to Say Something here. You must be a democrat eventually because you are confused. All these crimes and all these corruptions have been in democratic states. The leaders are democrats, bro. You have to deal with your own people there. The blacks back in the slavery days were republicans. How can you talk the way you do and consider yourself a democrat yet there was a republican that said set the slaves free. All the republicans have the civil rights movement. Harriet tubman was a republican. All these people here that are are democrats are confused. We will let our guests respond. I think hes clearly must understanding what im trying to communicate this morning. Im a thirdgeneration republican, my family never left the party of the lincoln and while you may point out the fact that a lot of this protests and chaos taking place are in states where you have strong democratic leadership many people may conclude that what use must also conclude a lot of states we have democrat mayors, governors and Law Enforcement where this is not taking place. I dont think this is happening because the mayor or governor happens to be a democrat, i just think these leaders believe that somehow or another they can engage protesters these looters and come to reasonableness but a lot of these spoiled kids or spoiled brats dont know what they are protesting and why they want to burn down certain areas of america, so point is, they are not doing it because there democrats, look at what happened to the mayor of portland where he had to come around to realize now they want to burn his house down because he could never reason with people who take socialism over capitalism who despise the america way of life. They want basic things for free, they dont want to work for it. The kenny britt respect the farmers and the ethics and the sacrifice is for office to be where we are now. What they do in their rebellious way they protest in a way they feel their answer is to destroy businesses. What the mayors of these governors of the states have to realize is that you cannot reason with this and you got to enforce the law and say whatever you want to say about President Trump but Law Enforcement is very important to endless craziness about defunding police, can you imagine the police are the pillars of our community the pillars of our society. They are the ones that keep law and order and this is exactly what these people call themselves antifa and have no interest in the progress of america. All they want is chaos. I would say there are fraction of the protests, most of these protesters want good they want to see obviously these people are being brainwashed, youve got to follow the money trail but obviously their intentions are no good and the we must boot them out and punish them to the fullest extent of their law immaculate said because the state has caved into this and succumb to these protesters that its because there democrats, its a lack of leadership a lack of character and lack of understanding that no one respects leadership. You have to enforce the law. Your last comment, i must say, you have gained my respect because the previous speaker really did not but in both speakers im hearing a lot of passion and racial competency. Im going to read out these number, number of homicides in major cities, im getting out exactly what you just punched, black lives matters, kudos, but when there is black on black crime where is black lives matter . Where is protesting . Where are the black people up in arms when our sons kill our other songs, black on black crimes. I think we all need to focus on, its not just when Police Officers shoot black males in the back, its also when our own sons shoot our own sons in the back. Please Pay Attention to that everyone, lets stay focused on the real problem and its just violence in general. I think he is spot on. All lives matter. We talked about black lives matter, listen, americans are in this together. Whether you want to like it or not are respected or not. You cannot escape whatever is befallen to america but falls to you and we got to respect and honor and protect all lives, all circumstances. That is the human experiment. That is the moral striving we must all engage ourselves in. You must not say because somebody is white they cannot understand young black kid dying for no reason in chicago and continuing to die and they cannot participate in this. I may have never given birth to a child because im a man but i can certainly from talking to women and experiencing with them and talking to them and being in the labor room i can get a feel and compassion and understand the labor that person endured. I dont necessarily directly have to lose a child or be the victim of these movements or having my business is burnt down because ive had this human experience. Ive lived, i read, ive seen and experienced so many things that we have the compassion, thats why i feel so strongly about this. We dont feel because we are black, we dont cry because we are black, we dont get angry and upset because we are black and white is because were human beings, thats what god has given us. The wind blows in all direction we all see the same we should only abthe caller is right, until we begin to see we almost be a part of this. We almost stop this. It doesnt matter about the race of the person who is suffering, or that which is causing it. What matters is a piece of humanity stripped away and destroyed when somebody dies for no reason at all and its just a matter of time before the story and the narrative become bussed and we waited too long we are all in this together we cannot escape it its gonna take everybody resolving this effort to move forward and make progress. Delhi from white plains georgia, go ahead and jump in with your question or comment. Hi mr. Williams. People sometimes use class and property as a proxy because peoples color are disproportionately affected by poverty in america, poverty is also often a route or cause of crime. How does poverty as an institution fit into your ideas or model. Thank you for the question, it is so important we talk about the American Dream. Im going to tell you something thats going to really shock you. They will tell you ive never experienced racism, ive never been impacted by it, its never marginalized me, ive had all kinds of businesses from real estate to hotel and our television stations across the country, its never been a part of my experience. I could never say have lost an opportunity because of my race, i know someone will say this guy is crazy but they assume because i am black that i did not experience racism is racism indepth of itself. And assume because someone is white that they cannot experience racism and bigotry and ask dominic dissemination is crazy. I make this point that its one of the things my parents taught me you can have all the progress in terms of civil rights and but youve got to create wealth peoples must believe they have an opportunity at the American Dream, when people can create wealth, create opportunities, give their children a better education give them a better life, have better choices of where they live, people find themselves happier and more in congruency in the nation we live. So often even with the Great Society program the welfare programs, while it was a noble idea and wellmeaning, what it did is created absolute state of poverty, its a horrible assumption to believe that poor people want you to give them something that they dont want to work for it. They resent that kind of thought process. People want to work and earn their way of life. When their children get up in the morning they want to see their parents getting ready to go to work and when they come back home they want to know their parents work hard and not just sitting on some couch being lazy going to the mailbox and getting the check out of the box. Theres a very small percentage of people in this country that are lazy and give into that mindset tontil you create oppor thats the next revolution for me in america when you give people the opportunity to create the American Dream they are more peaceful, more giving and they are more progressive in moving this country forward. And there is nothing wrong with creating wealth, wealth is created mentoring institutions must world and especially in the area of philanthropy, mentoring. People realize they can have a part of the American Dream instead of watching tv and watching celebrities and watching others, they have these dream lives. People must believe they must have it for themselves. This is why the immigrants story is so important people break their necks, lose their lives and change their lives, shed skin to america because they believe that where they are coming from with various creating wealth and business they can realize the American Dream. Within five or six years their vision american becomes true, that means a better life for their families and generations to come. When it comes to economic opportunity, you can see not everybody gets that chance. Listen, im going to probably surprise you. I believe everybody has the opportunity. Everybody has a chance, the bible tells us that the poor will always be among us and people take that to mean, people are going to be poor because they make different choices, blah blah blah, i think what the bible tells us that people like myself and others, which im so thankful thankful for my blessing, every morning i think god for his grace and mercy every night and throughout the day, i dont think im anything special even though i have a strong work ethic, strong values, abi can never explain why he blesses me so richly but what i want to do this week, because he does, i want to bless others. Not in a way where i want to go out and boast that im supporting this or that cause but privately i think its more important to give than it is to receive. It so more important to empower than to be in power. Back to the party your question, not everybody has the same parents. I have the best mother and father in the world. I had the best department of Health Education and welfare growing up, my mother and my father. The best brothers and sisters to this day our father left us a huge estate, a farm which we keep in the family. White stays in the family because we get along so well. My father and mother drilled in us that we had to get along could never be conflict and why do i bring that up . When theres not conflict in my home, when i can get along so well with my brothers and sisters, its very easy for me to interact and build relationships outside of the family. The Family Structure always impacts you. My parents taught me what work ethic was by busting my chops in those tobacco fields. My parents taught me what its like in the garden by bailing hay, taking care of cattle and taking care of swine, a lot of young people dont have that today. Be here these terms called virtues and values and work ethic and sacrifice and we make this assumption that they know what it means. What weve done, weve taken in so many interns from the innercity and matters to us not whether they are black or white, black people are not the only people who come from impoverished backgrounds, people of all walks of life. We celebrate the human spirit and what it takes is a lot of work. Teaching them how to rise and have respect because of a man goes up on the household particularly with a woman whose abwhat she emanates and that household is bitterness toward the father and that translates to bitterness towards men. You got to help that young man to ask respect male authority. Learning work ethic, getting to work on time, once they begin to make progress, then you have the pay them you got to pay them. You do well here, make progress, you get paid. When you do something really phenomenal, you get a bonus and he began to see that young person transform at about six or seven months. Taking people out of poverty, taking the environment and giving them another experience and another narrative is so much work, its hard work. You might never make money on it at all but whats more important is that you are growing men and women for leadership for the society. For us its not enough to talk about creating wealth, no person circumstances are the same. You got to be willing to make the sacrifice to give people opportunities to create wealth and also roll them along the way. Weve got hundreds of interns, hundreds of students coming through our companies over the past several decades, not just because of what ive done and been blessed with, what i see in the Larger Society where they contributing and where they started from the make them realize, they say the American Dream is possible, but you have to have mentors. You gotta have heroes and she roes. They want someone to be honest with them because they really want abso many young people are dealing with the opioid crisis, depressed, suicidal because their lives have no meaning. We have a response ability as human beings who been given so much to go back, even though the parents do the best they can, we have a responsibility to go into these communities and connect people. I know young people who have never met a white person in their life that the stereotype of white people. I said there is no such thing as white people, its human beings get to know people. Sometimes i walk by the Capitol Hill Police i have Young Brothers with me i go glad hand the police, shake their hand, they said you touched the police officer. Nearly got shot. I say no, thats my friend thats my brother. They dont realize they are so nice they are human, oftentimes in households and through media and the narrative they believe Law Enforcement are monsters. They dont have the best interest at heart. You got a response ability to break down these stereotypes. That people are not just in uniform, they are individuals, families, experiences and they have feelings just like you and what youve got to do a step out of your comfort zone and get to know people. We will introduce you again to this is robert, tucson arizona you are on with Armstrong Williams. Thank you for taking my call. I agree with many of the things you just said mr. Williams, i have two quick questions. Black people want to work with the police to stop black on black violence in our communities, bottom line. You have to develop trust with police in our community to do that. Weve seen too much over time. That has to be addressed and dealt with head on. Weve seen corruption, this has the aggressive policing tactics has to stop. My two quick questions, what are your thoughts on our president ial leadership regarding Race Relations specifically charlottesville, thats where you lost me. Thats where you lost a lot of people, they are not good people on both sides of that, it hurts even to think thats where our country is. Number two, the statutes and monuments were designed to keep minorities in their place by seeing who has the real political power. Those are my two questions i would like to hear you address them. Thank you caller. I was talking to senator tim scott earlier in the year and we were talking about charlottesville and the president s decision and how he told me he was in the white house and clearly told the president he was wrong he picked the wrong side, he didnt say the right things and he did not heal the country. He said he had no idea what the president s reaction would be that the president was very humble, very accepting and he said to senator scott, what should i do now . That would surprise a lot of people because often time the president is painted as a monster, all about himself, yet you hear these stories from senator tim scott how the president embraced him, how empowerment zones were created, Second Chance programs to get blacks out of prison everyone has a narrative. They have their image and perception of who the president is in the print that narrative but talking to someone whos into intimately involved with the president gave me hope that he was able to admit he was wrong. He was willing to do something about it that he wanted to get it right. The good news is that my father taught me another lesson that everybody has a past every sinner has a future and everybody can change. As long as the president is willing to change and get better and have humility, steadfastness and want to hear honest thoughts and truth from others that gives me hope. Im not going to judge the president for all the things the media abut i take seriously my respect for senators tim scott and the fact that the president was willing to learn and make progress thats hopeful for all of us that we are imperfect beings but willing to make change. As far as the statues and monuments, though statues and monuments with we move every monument and statute to heal the racial wounds today and bring about change that america deserves so we can move on and deal with real issues, i think most people would embrace it fully but its not gonna change anything. Its an emotional tirade. Though statues represent history of people. Its not always about race and its not always about bigotry. Theres much more deeper than race and bigotry and equally important we should also represent African Americans from human slavery abtheir history should be equally armed in those places, that is why you have the African American museum of history and culture on the mall. Something that was pushed by former president george bush former president obama when he had the inaugural ceremony she gave former president credit. What im saying is instead of removing monuments, you dont want to alienate anyone from having a cause to defeat the vestiges of racism. Just add more to it than the entire history of americas represented and not just one side. Moving statues does absolutely nothing but create more chaos, more people disconnected from the movement and what we want to do is bring people together the goat everybody has a perspective you should not be afraid of the idea, i think more than racism and these other isms today the Biggest Issue in terms of bigotryonation today is thoughts and ideology for. You can have a conversation with someone today and say your supporting speech and they want to kill you they call you a racist. Its freedom of speech. Is no different someone says theyre supporting biden and connollyabwe should celebrate each others experiences and no matter for me i have a strong value system. I have a strong belief system and no matter how much ive invested in my value system and my belief system over the last decade if someone takes me to a higher truth i will abandon my ideology, i will abandon my philosophy, is the truth i will embrace because its the truth i see not being right or wrong. Deborah and south bend indiana, hello. Good morning. Mr. Williams. Good morning deborah. In my opinion is this, anytime a society refuse to accept a peaceful transition of power, you allow the world when of chaos to come in. You cannot continue these tumbleweeds until we get back to peaceful transition of power regardless to what the political environment is. Everyone has an opportunity to practice their beliefs and you guys refuse to allow this man his opportunity to show you what he thought he could do, everybody jumped up and hollered, no, no, thats why we are in the chaos we are in until you get back and shake this man hand and say congratulations in the presidency abso we can get our society back in order. We are tired of fighting, we dont have to do this. All you guys got to do is give that man, a thank you. Very interesting call. Respect is very important and i think when you disrespect the will of the people you have this civil unrest. I think the American People should decide the fate of our president he is our right president , respect him i respect all office, theres many things he has done as president that all of us as americans should be proud of, obviously the perfect thing we want to focus on is thats the only narrative that is only story but in november and no matter what the polls tell us we heard before when he was challenged by Hillary Clinton he had no chance of winning but i respect the american voter. I respect the will of the people and whatever the American People decide on november 3 as who would lead this country for the next four years, that is who i Armstrong Williams will embrace as my president in the United States. I respect democracy, there will be a peaceful transition and i think we should respect the will of the people. We dont have time to fully examine but in your book you talk about the relationship you had with a South Carolina senator strong thurman, remind people who years and the relationship he had. He was a former segregationist and my father wanted me to meet him because he show that the foreman life was stable and there were other opportunities for our brothers and sisters to create a way of life for our families and to continue the legacy of my mother and father summer father introduced me to some of ai will never forget when i met him i said to him i hear you are racist i thought my father was gonna knock my side job at center thurman chuckled and said you seem like a bright young man, when you graduate from high school and decide to go to college send me the resume and come in turn for me and figure out a farmer racist or not its the internet most interesting mentorship that all people are equal have dignity and one of the most miscarriages of justice and our society is when our Founding Fathers who fought against british tyranny and raising taxes where we could have the respect and dignity of our own and we were able to the American Revolution to we became enslaved and enslaved our African Brothers becoming hypocrites of the very things we do become free america with our own identity and constitution he said it would be the achilles heel of america we would continue to pay for the issues we see today will continue unless good men stand up and decide to do something. I respect him fully because i realize it while people may judge someone based on their past, youve got to understand people can change, they can become different they can become better and strong thurman more than anyone else maybe realize that you can look at somebody black, white, you have to see people by getting to know them. Thats why in my own circle of influence i have such a Diverse Group of people not because they are jewish black or white or muslim or hispanic or european its because they share my values. I developed a trust and, artery develop this collaboration that we do on many fronts and people have to stop getting caught up in stereotypes, thats why you trying to move statutes of something that happened 100 years ago pete someone who mightve said something racist, not politically correct 10 years ago its pretty outrageous people have the right to change and if people believe people cannot change and they made peace with themselves and with their god and you continue to punish them, then we lost the moral high ground and never make the progress necessary for america to continue to be great. Lets hear from brian in miami beach. Thank you for taking my call. Good morning brian. Good morning. I would like to bring the conversation back to where you are talking about the creation of wealth. I think the wealth gap is a big issue with the protesting we have right now. As we can see, its not just black people protesting, also white people protesting with the black people talking about the disparity in the country. I feel that the creation of wealth would encourage both white and black people to bring the country together. A lot of times we find the country is divided into two with the haves and havenots but we often forget that there is three parties that are populating the country, the haves, havenots and elites. While the haves and havenots are fighting each other about wealth and race, the elites are still bringing in money like crazy while jobs and everything have gotten better, at the same time, the wealth gap has gotten larger and larger. Your people are so settled in terms of student loan they dont feel they will get a fair shake and have the kind of success their parents have but i know these guys, my buddies jacob block, i got my chance over the last two years sort of a renaissance with me with my buddies, jacob gash, i thought at one time young people were not part of the American Dream but it took me into this place called Silicon Valley people were creating these Million Dollar companies, making these investments. Not necessarily because they come from families of wealth because they take advantage of technology and take advantage of innovation they give back to philanthropy. I said wheres the diversity in creating this kind of wealth and opportunities and i challenged it even over the last several months theyve gone back to try to find other minorities that otherwise wouldnt have these kind of opportunities. While we may want to say that young people are not making progress. Ive had this renaissance the last several years where hes jumped for making incredible strives in terms of wealth, poverty, they care about that class issues and have this value system in this virtue system which gives me tremendous hope, someone like myself the hope of a generation to support them. I look at somebody like amisha is a conservative for us and you seen her on tv shes beginning to create this wealth and brand and perspective she has us perspective thats very important what we have to do is empower these young people. Its not enough to say the young people dont have a piece of the American Dream but people like myself theres many like us who create wealth and success is not enough for us we have to create the next generation of voices are political fronts and create opportunities because thats how true legacy in america and while it might not be the same in the world where i am in washington dc and marion South Carolina, i take care of those communities where we are and we can really make a difference because thats america, america is so connected and theres no more six degrees separation its like two degrees separation. Giving people the opportunity to realize the American Dream is not only theirs but they can pass it on for generations. From philadelphia pennsylvania will hear from debbie. I see armstrong you are still welldressed. I heard some interesting statements i heard you say even though theres racist policies sounds like your neighbor live is hope and change where did i hear that from before. The piece on this wealth this country was built on stealing from one community to the other. That created wealth. Some things just have to be corrected before they can be changed. Those statues even though it may seem like they might not matter they matter to the people that put them up there. That mindset still exists because i heard you say that youve never experienced racism, i heard the call or put you in a category that someone some people would consider racist. He automatically exhumed dominic assumed you were a democrat because your black pizza there are some buzzwords going on even in your conversation that people are fighting about today. Thank you. I appreciate your comment and and i really respect your position but what i respect your position on the statues and it seems to me you can empathize with those that want to remove them, heres what i ask, i asked you to sit down and have a conversation with someone who foley has 180 degree opinion on the statues. Listen to their discussion, listen to your perspective because i dont just get in my positions based on how i feel, have many conversations with people, i have these fears debates in my Office Every Day with my staff and many of them dont share my philosophy or my view on the world but i find that im better, i dont want my thoughts in my writing and i broadcast to be in a vacuum. I want people to challenge me i want to get a different perspective so ive gone to different places another thing they remind me of an people dont want to hear this theres nobody living in America Today that has anything to do with the racist path of our founding father and what those statues might represent. These people are aball i ask you to do is collaborate bring in more Strategic Partners to have this conversation and find yourself an uncomfortable situation with someone who totally disagrees with you and be open to change or at least enhance the way you think and come to a better understanding and better solution. The book is what black and White America must do now a prescription to move beyond race. Armstrong williams is the author, mr. Williams, thank you for your time today. I always appreciate cspan one my favorite platforms, thank you for having me. Thank you for listening thank you for your comments and god bless you and god bless this great country of ours known as the United States of america stop heres a look at some Publishing Industry news author and anthropologist david graber last died last week at the age of 59. He was a political activist involved in the occupy wall Street Movement and was the author of several books including bestselling bolshevikchief executive of bertelsmann the Parent Company of Penguin Random house expressed his interest in acquiring simon and schuster, currently owned by viacom cbs and is the Third Largest publisher in the same trailing only Penguin Random house and harpercollins. In other news, penn america, a nonprofit Literary Organization that champions Free Expression of writers around the world has named novelist and pulitzer prizewinning playwright actor as its new president he succeeds novelist Jennifer Egan who led the organization for the past two years. Also in the news, mpd bookscan reports that print book sales were up just over seven percent for the week ending august 29, adult nonfiction sales continue their recent gains up four percent led by john meachams new book about the late congressman john lewis titled his truth is marching on the estate of t. S. Eliot has donated 20,000 pounds to help keep the brontc personage museum childhood home of 19th century novelist Emily Charlotte and brontc open, the museum has forecast a loss of 500,000 pounds due to the coronavirus pandemic. Booktv will continue to bring you new programs and publishing news, you can also watch all of our archived programs anytime at booktv. Org. During a Virtual Event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of california former defense secretary robert gates took a critical look at the use of u. S. Power around the world since the end of world war ii, heres a portion. How the United States gone from a position of supreme power, probably unrivaled since the roman empire in every dimension of power in 1993 to a country today beset by challenges everywhere. I thought about how did that happen . How did we get here . I began looking at all of the major Foreign Policy challenges hed had since 1993 thinking about what we had done and what we had not done that contributed to that decline in our role in the world and our power in the world what i came up with was a set of nonmilitary instruments of power that played such an Important Role in our success in the cold war against the soviet union and largely been neglected and weathered after the end of the cold war at a time when we continue to fund our military, we basically dismantled all of the nonmilitary influence and power from diplomacy to economic leverage to Strategic Communications and more, we could go into that later. As i looked at the situations at these challenges from somalia and haiti in 1993 and others, right up to our relationship with russia and china today north korea, it occurred to me that we had failed in many respects to figure out how to compete with these powers outside of the military realm. The reality is, of the 15 challenges i write about for all practical purposes i considered 13 to be failures and thats why in the title the word failures comes first, there are a couple successes and important successes and some lessons to be learned from those as well. But we had a lot of problems during that 27 year period and i would just conclude by saying, the wars in iraq and afghanistan both began with very quick military victories. The problem i identify whether iraq and afghanistan or somalia or haiti or others was that once we had achieved military victory, we then changed our mission, we then decided to move to trying to bring democracy and reform the governments of those countries and thats where we ran into failure. To watch the rest of this Program Visit our website booktv. Org and do a search for robert gates or the title of his book. Booktv and primetime starts now. First, nation colonist Eric Alterman argues that the honesty of u. S. President s has eroded and carter page former Foreign Policy advisor for Donald Trumps 2016 president ial campaign on how he was investigated by the fbi and justice department. This evening pulitzer prizewinning reporter karen Kevin Sullivan and mary jordan talk about the investigation impeachment and acquittal of President Trump on our Author Interview program after words. Sarah sanders reflects on her time serving as the White House Press secretary for the Trump Administration later tonight cnn chief media correspondent Brian Stelter offers his thoughts on the relationship between President Trump and fox news. Five more Schedule Information on your Program Guide or online booktv. Org. Heres Eric Alterman