Transcripts For CSPAN2 Former Secretary Of State Condoleezza

In the Ronald Reagan Educational Foundation summit. She talked about racial inequality, trust in government and political stability. Elex i am so lucky to be joined by the woman you see in the other panel who needs no introduction. The former secretary of state is now the director of the Hoover Institute of stanford university, doctor condoleezza rice. Im so glad to have this opportunity to talk with you for the next 35, 40 minutes. On behalf of the Reagan Institute. Im really honored to be part of todays conversation and you have this chance to speak with doctor rice. I have to start on a personal note though. We are living in such a stressful time, how are you doing . How are you holding up . Where are you right now . I am in california. And i am doing just fine. Like most workers i am able to work from home. Although i did hear very funny line the other day, im not sure from working at home or living at work. Im finding this time when i am actually pretty productive. I able to do almost everything remotely. I tried to keep up my exercise t routine, i am practicing the piano so that i can wrestled the chopin to the ground. Ive just become director of the hoover institution. But frankly, the time off the road, not on airplanes, allowed me to it make a pretty smooth transition. So all in all, the hapless keeping in touch with friends and family by zoom or by text, it is really quite okay, it is quite okay. 2020 has been, and i have to say first of all it sounds like youre working hard in the ever in their being modest about it. I know everyone i know feels like they are. This has been a year, literally like no other. First and foremost x. 6 million americans have been infected with covid, almost 200,000 americans have died. Another 700,000 people of lost their lives around the world. Size the United States a blow to the u. S. Economy, tens of millions of americans out of work, many people going hungry. The Racial Injustice of george floyd, while fires right now across the western United States, deadly reminder of climate change. Then of course as we are here to discuss, the interruption of education. And questions about this falls election. As if we didnt need Something Else to think about. Words we go backward you go to get your arms around this to understand whats going on . The first thing we have to do is try to keep perspective. It is indeed an incredibly challenging time. It has been rare that we have had so many crises, one after another. Just really challenging the system, childcare institutions very challenging that Good American characteristic of optimism. I think people are not feeling so confident and optimistic. I was just reminded us, were just reminded about president reagan that this country was indeed founded in crisis. This country, should never have really come into being. Remind my students all the time that we are fighting is the greatest military power of the time the third of George Washington troops down with smallpox any day we still cannot victorious. Effect of the civil rights movement. Think if we can continue to pull together, if we remember the stories that are emerging all over the country of the small kindnesses, one american to another, that is really our strength. The communities that are mobilizing talk about a kid who perhaps does not have access to broadband study. That is who we are. Our institutions will catch up. For the time being, i am encouraged and inspired by what i see in every american stepping up not just for themselves but for each other. When it comes to coping which is uppermost in our minds right now, where do americans turn to the right information . Are several different narratives out there who do we trust . I do trust what im hearing from the scientists in washington, i note doctor tony fauci. I. I know doctor burks. They are good people in doing their best. We have a period of voices who may have differing views. And i dont have a problem with people questioning the tradeoff that we are making in society. Its one thing to say from epidemiological point ofpe view, simply stopping the spread of the virus we have to do certain things. We should do everything we can. I wear a mask even when i dont have to. I want to signal to people that i care about your health is much as i care about mine. Also the case that we are having to make tradeoffs and businesses, small businesses. I am hoping were giving them angst chance to start to open. These are people who entire livelihood, entire future is tied up in that business and the ability to reopen. And so we are having to make tradeoffs. And just saying, its just the science is not really fair to all the things we are looking at. We are going to talk here about the effects on education. There are clearly tradeoffs, there are clearly downsides to Virtual Learning for kids k12 i dont mind trying to do my work as a citizen to understand all of the variables that we are looking at. And not just going to one source. I think those of us who really want to understand what we are going through are going to have to try to look at different in multiple voices. For sure. We are going to talk about education at the same time we are in this era where it seems we are having less civil conversation. Less civil exchanges. How important is it that we have the kind of as you mentioned different points of you out there. But shared in a civil way. In a way where people are not raising their voices are shaking fist at eachci other . I would ask everyone to remember we are going through Something Like this. Something that is fundamentally new in many ways. We have done echoes of it back in the past with the spanish flu. As National Security advisor during sars. National Security adviser during sars, seen nothing of this consequence in my lifetime in terms of the virus. Lets approach with a sense that nobody owns the, quote, truth. We are trying to wake our way through understanding and that makes you more civil because youre willing to listen to somebody who is different. One of our problems, i will date myself, my family used to watch the brinkley report every night and some watched Walter Cronkite interviewer another generation you watched rather and brokaw and newshour. Now i can go to my aggregator, my websites, my cable news channel. I never have to encounter anybody who thinks differently, when you dont you do think they are either venal or stupid. You really have to make a pledge to get out of our own a go chambers, stop going to be places where people say amen to everything we say, we are reinforced in the rightness and certainty of our opinions and we are willing to listen and if we can begin to get our and share information, we will be better off and ultimately be more civil. Many americans agree with what you said, how did they get motivated to do that, when not hearing that advice at the very highest level right now. We are not hearing it in washington and frankly not hearing it across pennsylvania avenue, is not just 1600 and not just in the congress, i think our leader kept reflecting and you have to have strong opinions and hold them strongly, the word compromises a bad word, but institutions in our founders built our system on the expectation off of what madison called constant, we are going to continually solve our problems and we will have to sometimes win or lose his battle, not consider that person my enemy, move onto the next one knowing that well have the Public Interest at heart, Ronald Reagan was a master at that, he held very strong views and in fact as a specialist, i remember how much he changed our thinking and whether we can confront the soviet union and if we did confront that and Ronald Reagan to go to the other side of the aisle and its always been talked about, sit down with oneill and talk about what was good for america, he could unite across partisan lines to do great legislation we need to ask your leaders to followwe the example, we are not enemies in politics, we have differences, but we are all trying to make america better. We can certainly help and work towards that goal, doctor rice, covid has so many things that we discussed a moment ago, one of the many things that is done, it exposed the divide in our country, the economic divide,in racial divide, certaiy the educational divide, talk for a minute about how you see that, how it happened, its not as if we did not know inequality of opportunity in this country and we did not know there was racism in this country, talk about how you see what happened this year with covid and what is exposed. Covid has exposed the deep end equalities in our system and you put the finger on her to better most obvious, if you are like us and you were telling me you could reduce the news hour from your home, you have lo not lost in becoming continued to be productive, that is maybe the problem when your pet wonders into the room or you have your kids at home at the same time, basically we can keep doing our work, some are saying we are doing better at her work, if you have to go to the restaurant or to the floor, your unemployed, the kind of work that you have, the kind of education that youwo have and how well you are doing through this covid crisis on the worksite and there are so many kids that school is a refuge from about home and were a kid is, he has that inspiring determination to get better and really has to overcome home in order to do it, now that kid is at home, when we think about the potential learning loss, when i was about to be in first grade the state of alabama in its wisdom, if you do not ben chin before october 31, he had to wait a year to gor to school, i was born on november 15, if you think educated parents will let me sit at home for a year, no, my mother was a schoolteacher, took a year off and she taught me at home, by the time she was finished, i was third or fourthu grade, but now think about the parents who dont speak english who cannot help them without homework, who cannot hire the tutor to put together the kidss in pods as some people are doing and parts of our country, the inequality is growing, i am concerned that i dont think that we have enough conversation about this cost shutting down the schools, to be sure i understand the safety concerns in the safety concerns of the teachers, i also understand that this is a very difficult tradeoff that we are making in these kids have lost a year end maybe even more and when you think the school should be doing with the School Leaders should be doing that they are not doing, clearly they have given a lot of thought, there has been analyst meetings, conversation, research that has been done in a short period of time, we look at Virtual Learning, it seems to be many of them, most of them are trying to do the right thing, what else do they need to be doing. Perhaps trying to be more creative, i do think you are right, i do think people are trying to do the right thing but if we can find a way to think not just about what we wouldve done in the classroom in terms of teaching math or science, but also how we are supporting the kids in other aspects and for instance, one thing that widens the gap, after the time you spent virtually on todays lessons, contrast what happened in the home of a poor kid and the kid who comes from parents with needs. I know friends who are healthy and expended learning and continuing to push the kid to keep learning, is that happening for poor kids . , the boys and girls club are trying to help fill the gap with an essay contest and maybe some kind of after School Debate club or something, i think we just cant think the learning laws come from for five hours a day that you are trying to engage in Virtual Learning, its also everything that happens outside the classroom that is tied to the schools that is important, one thing ive been impressed with, there has been aid lot of attention given to the children whom school is a place to get healthy meals because they know people are paying a lot of attention to that, i also think you have to Pay Attention to the activity side because thats a part of the extended learning and i know teachers are tired and they have their own issues at home and it is hard but somebodys got to take a look so the after School Environment is equal in a sense for kids across the spectrum. I want to keep coming back to the particular education aspects of all of this, in the meantime as we mentioned, this is been a year for racial reckoning ifti u will, a hard look at social justice, protest across the country initially after the death of george floyd in the vast majority but some leading to violence, my question to you, we know there has been Racial Injustice, what is different about this moment. You wrote an oped in early june that you hope that his death was not in vain in the u. S. Could you move on to d positive action how do you think will happen to him sitting in try reckoning on race in america. Interestingly, when it happened when we are made angry by what we saw, dehumanization of a human being, the response for me was very encouraging ines birmingham, alabama if black man died at the hands of police, it wouldve been a footnote in the newspaper, let alone people going out to protest, i was initially very encouraged by that but i am worried that it somehow been hijacked by people who want to tear the system down, there is far too much in portland and seattle and really what is happening with painting all Law Enforcement with a broad brush that theyre all racist, we just cannotwh go there, i thk the response that i most appreciated for and the sense, people of all colors and all ages want to think this is not okay if i look at what happened in the 60s, there was a protest, we remember thelma and montgomery and we just remember the great john lewis in the marches and i was a kid in birmingham and i remember the inotest in the park next to 16th park where the little girls were bombed, we came to the 57th anniversary in september 15, i remember the protest and the violence in the police dogs, i also know that it was not just protest that got us to 64 and 65 in civil rights legislation, it was the agenda, it was the use of the court, the dem naacpall and have been taking since the 30s could find places that they can break downe segregation, you he to use the institution in addition to protesting, i would also say to every american as they tried to say in the washington, each of us have to decide what our role is going to be in bringing racial justice, it is really ae hard issue, my dna is 40 european, that is because my greatgrandmother was the daughter of i have ancestors who were slaveowners and slaves, this is a deep wound in america, this is in our founding, each of us have to say what can i do, what conversation can i have, what are my most concerned about in terms of the impact, if it is the impact of race educational differences, what can you do about it, maybe as small as what you would consider insignificant but it is not go to work at a boys and girls club, do something personal int your community, tt is how americans have always responded, 300 million of us have that attitude. No question there is individual responsibility and what about responsibility, what role do you think that they play in wrestling with this. Our political leaders have to set cones and we need a tone that brings us to gather, not that divides us, they also have an obligation to think about what we need to do in terms of systems and infrastructure so for instance, police reform, we know that we need to have police reform, just before the courts got landmark criminal justice reform, so we can get it done and we do that are crossed partisan lines, trying to take that again is important and i also think we need to look at education, if you dont have access to broadband, its not like having electricity or running water, how about a National Project on broadband, we need some National Projects, how about national service, ive been a big advocate along with crystal and others in getting people to do voluntary national service, a lot of kids are taking a gap, what are they doing with the gap year, maybe you can study but maybe you can also find a way to go into a neighborhood that you and otherwise not know those people,to and help and get to know them. When we get to know each others human beings and we recognize whatever difficulty we are going through, there are people going through much more difficult circumstances and we are made better for. Along the entire spectrum from what leaders can do in terms of legislation infrastructure to what we individually can do, we have a real opportunity to address Racial Disparities and the which is brew is when rachel disparities me poverty, that is when our country is most challenged. How do you get that attitude across to americans who do not recognize that there is for whatever reason that they have been exposed to, the information, they have been educated or for whatever reason that they do not recognize the Racial Disparity and they dont recognize education disparity, how should we be getting the word out and frankly changing peoples minds and hearts. You have to change peoples minds and hearts by meeting them where they are and you have to change their minds and hearts by not kneeling at them, i think americans know theres Racial Disparities but it is not helpful if the discussion of the Racial Disparities comes with a heavy dose of recrimination and guilt, ive been telling my friends, i do not want your guilt, i do not need it, i would like to know what do you think you can do about the fact that we are not colorblind, probably never will be but we need to act, what can you do about it, if we do this in a way that i am weapon eiseman my identity against you, its all about recarnation, told about tilt, people are simple going to tune out and i think that is partly what you are seeing, there is also a happy responsibility of those of us on the other side of thee