Transcripts For CSPAN2 Authors On Race In America 20160903

Kicking off with josh king who wrote off script. , aaron follows with a book called political suicide. Author of the book exit right, people who left the right. We finish up with politicians and inegalitarians and Hidden History of american politics. The event is underway now. Please fold up your chairs at the end of the event. The hardworking folks appreciated. Theres also a question answer please, to microphone so we can all hear your intelligent question. Do make your questions a question. [laughter] and politics and prose we are dedicated to generating dialogue in our community through literary events every night of the year, here in our flagship connecticut store, other busboy imports locations and other venues. Tomorrow night we night we are hosting Kareem Abduljabbar for his newest tonight we are honored to bring you a Crucial Panel of voices on race in america. This is a necessary and difficult conversation x we are honored and humbled to have it here at politics politics pro. April ryan is our moderator and the person who brought all these great minds together. April is White House Correspondent and Washington Bureau chief for american urban radio networks. Her white house report is the First National radio feature broadcast directly from the reporthouse, and through it she is the author of the best selling the presidency in black and white. An unwavering dedication to never accepting easy answers. Please help me welcome april ryan. [applause] accepting easy answer. Please help me welcome april. [applause]. Thank you so much. Can everyone hear me . Can everyone hear me . Okay. Well let there be sound. Good evening and thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule and washington d. C. Tonight and for those of you at home to discuss something that is a very impactful and important right now. Issues of race and pleasing, lawenforcement and the community. Tonight on the table we will discuss all of lives to discuss black lives in blue lives. We started out the summer in louisiana with the fatal please involve shooting of a black man. Then we saw the aftermath of a Fatal Shooting of a man who had a registered gun in his position possession. Then more shootings occurred. This time in dallas, texas in retaliation for what happened in the other cities. It was a still very sad. A Police Officer was injured and five were tragically killed. And louisiana, shots ring out again. Three Baton Rouge Louisiana Police Officer skill. And just today, president obama was in baton rouge, louisiana and he met with the families of alton met with the families of alton sterling and also those Police Officers and families who were killed. Not long after that we heard about cities like milwaukee, please involve shootings there. And so on. And just just down the road in the city where i call home and the professor calls home in baltimore, we see no convictions paid six Police Officers charged in the death of freddie gray. They released a scathing report against the Police Department in matters of race but acknowledge the city Police Department [inaudible] these problems of tension in the community and police is farreaching. Here is a fact. I talked with the head of homeland security, jay johnson recently. He said that when theres a problem between communities and lawenforcement, when trust is broken it becomes a National Security issue. Once again, when trust is broken between the community and police, at the National Security security issue. You ask why . Because the Police Department asked us to Say Something if we see something. So the trust is broken if there is a breach. I want to to introduce my great panel this evening. Next to me is michael, a law professor from the university of baltimore. He is an author and International Political consultant. A civil rights, human rights and constitutional expert. His latest book, ghost of jim crow. We also have eddie, please raise your hand. He is currently, you see them on tv all day today. He is currently is currently the chair of the department of africanamerican studies at the william s professor of religion and africanamerican studies at Princeton University in his latest book, democracy and how laced race still slaves the american soul. Also with us today, the esteemed and one and only who has long been recognized for her progressive and insightful observation. She is a labor and colorful commentator. Her latest book is, i will be better off. Cant wait to wait to hear what she had to say. We also have victoria, she is an amazing woman. She has written so many novels and you wonder why the novelist is here, because she has a book out called stand your ground. Stand stand your ground was an naacp image Award Winning book for 2016. She has done so Much Research on the issue of stand your ground, lets give all of our panelist a great round of applause. [applause]. We have one person who is stuck in new york and she sends her apology, joy reed whose book is still on sale here. She is supposed to be hash tagging and sending me a question today so you can hear her voice at least through social media. One thing were going to ask you all today, as, as you are sitting here theres only one thing we ask of you. If youre in the conversation and you are enjoying the conversation, how many of you are on social media and have your phones, i know we told you to turn him down or off. Turned them down and mute it, i want you to bridging the divide. Hashtag bridging the divide. Thats what thats what this is about, its about solution. When we talk about solution and we talk about the critical issue of policing, so many of us are young and we think it is just been happening the last couple of decades or years, yeah, here some a mans going on over here. It is not an issue that just happened. It is an issue that was with jim crow and slavery. I would like to thank politics and prose for having us. I want an cspan for televising it. Im happy to be here with our panelist said thank you for keeping us in line tonight. Im happy to provide sump Historical Perspective on this. In fact the word patrolman dates back a couple hundred years of course to slavery time. That was was when individuals were hired to catch a slave. That is when patrolman comes from. There were patrols to catch fugitive slaves. This issue goes way back in terms of police, community relation. I think doctor king said it best during the dark days of the Civil Rights Movement when he was very discouraged and he said the arc of a more universal law but it bends towards justice. When i think about race in america, criminal justice issues, education issues, economic issues, i think about that arc and how it has a bent toward justice but has been a long one. Quebec to the original document, the declaration of independence. We hold these truths that we are selfevident that all men are created equal. A lot of people would say thats a selfevident line not a selfevident truth line not a selfevident truth if you look at what transpired. I wish thomas jefferson, i wish the founders had left jeffersons original paragraph that he wrote in the declaration. I wish they had left it in for the final one. He critiqued the International Slave trade. He criticized king george for kidnapping individuals from a distant land whenever him. I wish the founders wouldve left that in the final declaration. Who knows what impact out a pad on the Abolitionist Movement for 100 years. I am not focusing on the negative, i recognize as many of you do that there have been tremendous changes and progress in this country over that long arc. We have ended slavery, we ended jim crow at the public accommodation we have been elected and reelected our first black president. This is monumental. This is progress. This legislation we have passed antidiscrimination legislation hasnt made a huge difference and many minority families in this country. Let me give give you an example of my own history. My data mail goal both volunteer. Who is your uncle . You may have heard of him, he is one of the longestserving in the country, first africanamerican federal commissioner. Somebody who fought for civil rights in this country until he died in 1998. The judge when he was it you lost in 1952 he won more oral advocacy awards than any other student in the history of the law school. Where he won the prize three judges were there, one, john w davis the had a law firm on wall street. One of the most successful at that time and also two months later he would represent the board of education against linda brown and thurgood marshall. John w davis who im sure did not vote for to win the award, two other judges do, john w davis one up to the three finalists and asked them to congratulate them and asked them to come an interview at his firm in new york. My uncle got neither a congratulatory handshake nor an offer to interview. 30 years later i graduated from that same institution in 1982. I had 1982. I had no honors like my uncle and i graduated thank you lottie. There is a reason for that. We pass laws, antidiscrimination laws. We encourage policies and practices from corporations to open up, to be more inclusive of women and racial minority. Many families have been impacted by this. Progress doesnt mean postracial. I recognize the progress but it doesnt mean postracial. When you look at what is going on today, the going on today, the inequities that exist today they are widespread, 18 1 in terms of wealth accumulation between black and white families today, 18 1 and that is worse than what existed in south africa. I know you want to interrupt me. Thank you. Thank you. Will come back to you because will have audience questions and will now lets go to you at a. Talk to me about the long arc of issues of justice when it comes to the department of justice. They have been issuing pattern and practice statements and studies, talks to me about what were seeing and how it relates historically and to today as it relates to policing. Let me first thank politics and prose and thank you april for this important conversation. Particularly in this moment. What i want to do is kind of narrow the scope of the question. And perhaps begin with what will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Current Commission this is in the aftermath of the riot, the uprisings, rebelling, however we want to describe them. And they tend to account for why American Cities were exploding across the city. The Current Commission report came out with a study that in its initial form was more radical than in its final form. In effect there were two americans and at the heart of the conflict was this relationship with the police, underneath and there were a host of interesting recommendations. Some more progressive than others. Within that report there were a host of recommendations from policing. And we continue to see that. The Current Commission report to milwaukee, what have we seen . We continue to see this antagonistic relationship between africanamerican communities and Police Departments. The department of justice has been pushed, not on, on, we dont want to just do celebrate those but we they have been pushed to do their job so many ways by politics of disruption. Black lives matter, and all of its instantiations have insisted that criminal justice be on the front line. It is precisely the aftermath of the murder of Trayvon Martin. In the aftermath of the deficit murder of Michael Brown and the doj report and the fbi and investigation and of course what they found and what they didnt find, the officer guilty of any crime but they said that the Police Department and ferguson had engaged in a kind of predatory policing that was militaristic to the community. They did it in ferguson, cleveland, newark, seattle, should i keep on going. No keep on going. All of these reports on policing. So much so on policing. So much so that you read this in the news at the seattle tried to hold the city hostage. The judge stepped in and said you need to ask with regards to policing in that community and the union responded will do x if we get a raise. I mean thats fascinating. And then the doj just recently, this is really important filed a brief in the federal case around bail for folks who cannot afford it. For some people to pay like six bail prices and if they couldnt they be in jail. Think of it sandra bland would be alive today if she had 500. Whats interesting about it is that it is progress but its progress as a result of a politics of disruption. This is a result of young people and activists and grassroots organizers putting their their bodies on the line, literally chaining themselves in the lobbies of union halls in manhattan. Interrupting the brunch in manhattan of the top one tenth . Interrupting your commute to work. Home from work, forcing the issue of criminal justice. Forcing the issue in a way that goes beyond the claim of just simply Community Policing code, answers policing, but talking about decriminalization misdemeanors. You can just breathe in the United States break the law. In so many ways. What would it mean to decriminalize so many of the misdemeanors that you reduce the encounter in the contact between pleasing communities. What does it mean to get rid of bales and all the violent crime. What is it mean to decriminalize poverty . So to begin to push the issue, we see from the Current Commission report and now we see that change has happened, not from the beltway out, but from struggles and communities around particular issues. From the outside in. So as we celebrate the progress, we need to acknowledge project mia in chicago. Black Youth Project 100, the train finishers, fight for 15, all of these grassroot organizers who are lifting up the banner of democracy in a moment where we see the most vulnerable under serious attack by the state and its representatives. Its very interesting. Thank you so much for that. Its. Its insightful to listen to your wisdom and understand what is that the foundation of whats going on. Theres some economic peace to this. I want to go to ferguson, ferguson of all places i really try to change the dynamics of what happened there. After the Michael Brown case. We understand they try to raise taxes, to reform the system. And people, does that that work . Does that work after you have a system where theyre focusing in on certain groups and getting revenue from those groups, giving citations just to those groups they can get more money in their coffers for budgetary needs. The ferguson situation trying to read text is from poor who are ready been hit. You have people who you cannot afford to register your car so you leave it in your driveway. This means youre not driving your car, however you get citations for the car that is sitting in the driveway. After you get one you get more than one and then the next thing you know you over 1500 which you did not have. If you had 1500 had 1500 you would registered your car. And then you are arrested for having essentially unpaid warrants and then your spending time in jail. The department of justice found that the way they find people was racially biased and extremely unfair. Ferguson is no different from any number of small places. Lets look at another thing that would happen this week. The judge ruled that their system of elections for the board of education was unfair. Thus they defended the election. Essentially they like people now on an atlarge basis. Three of the Seven Members of the board of education are africanamerican. Where ferguson is much more heavily africanamerican. If they did district elections there before, at at least four of seven africanamericans on the school board. I mean a majority, it would mean that you would be able to do some of the things that ferguson was not willing or able to do. If you look at ferguson and you look at it as a microcosm, you look at the fine piece which is connected to the differential economic status that africanamericans experience in our society. You talk about the Current Commission and the Current Conditions in which africanamerican people live. As lions we have counted since the 1950s the plaque on player rate has been twice that of the white. The poverty rate in the Africanamerican Community is still, at this point about 24 . 40 of our young africanamericans live in poverty. This is more than weve seen in a long time. That number has actually picked up slightly. You mentioned the wealth data and wealth data is astounding. Today is black womens equal payday. That means if a black woman wanted to earn the same as a white man had earned, she would have to work until today, auguse woman there equal payday is april 12 or 13. A latina woman would be working until october. These are some of the inequalities that are basically hardwired into our system. Not to mention the differential levels of homeownership. Not to mention mention the fact that africanamerican homeownership took a real big hit during the great recession. The africanamerican homeownership level dropping. We can virtually, any piece of data that you look at shouts out these inequalities. What is it matter . Wealth matters, first Road Policing because you have something to bail someone out with. Talking about pale, if you have a home you can use the home. More than half of africanamericans dont have a home. Wealth matters in terms of access to education. We know that those zip codes also have better schools correlated with them. So then it becomes a bridge to whether you going to go to college or not. I recognize here in the audience of who is the president of the district of columbia and this is his third time as an hvac president. I have the honor of doing it once and the reason that i mentioned udc and the colleges that our kids are coming out of school, help me if im wrong, coming out of school with five figures of debt. Black kids with the most twice as much as white kids. Then when theyre coming out if they cant find jobs many say why should i go to college . I can find a job. So we see that economic differential literally hardwired into our system. A basic unwillingness to confront them because when we confront them we have to ask, doctor king said theres 40,000,000 poor people in america and you have to ask what kind of society creates 40 million poor people . He said you see, you have to ask who owns the oil, who owns the iron or. If the word world is two thirds water wash we pay water bills . So thats i can work but the fact that thats what king talks about, socialism, distribution, but the, about the division of wealth in the division of labor that is something is something that middleclass folks, black and white are unwilling to confront. Nobody wants to share their wealth. You are so true and what youre saying. We understand that of doctor king and Bobby Kennedy would have lived they would have dealt with issues of poverty together, not just black poverty but overall poverty. This is all connected, this is cyclical and its still all plays into the issue of policing , once again everything is connected. I want to go back to something eddie said. He said that the Wannabe Police situation that happened in florida and that was the George Zimmerman shooting a Trayvon Martin in the center brown plant issue which is really real. I want to go to sandra bland, talk us about the issue of sandra bland, so many people dont understand. There 23 states. For so i want to thank you april and everybody for having me on this panel and politics and prose because im a novelist, i make this stuff up. Oh no, no. So i love what eddie said. For the politics of disruption. The reason the reason i brought that novelist because we do not know about the sandra ground of law. And i researched it extensively. But i found was that law gives people the right to become police. So so not only do we as africanamericans have to deal with the 750,000 police, and im not saying theyre bad, just send theres bad, just and theres 750,000 police out there. But the sandra ground law allows people to become policemen. To carry out justice on the street. We saw this with george the mermen and other. Exactly. So i wrote the book because so many people did not know the law. One of the things that i know a lot about from readers is that they did not want to read a Nonfiction Book about all of the facts. So i figured if i kind of of sugarcoated it and put it right inside the story filled with drama and all of that i would get the point across about the facts that sandra ground is a law, legal law to kill. Its illegal license to murder. It seems to only work when our boys are on the ground. When i was doing the research for this novel i found out that about when it is a white person using stand your ground versus a black person it works in about 17 of the time. Black to white works less than 1 . This was justified by two different studies. So that is whether it is a stand your ground to state where there are 23 states that have a stand your ground loss. The first law came into thousand five in florida, so when i wrote the novel i decided not to put it in florida because i knew most people thought thats not me, you dont have to worry about that. Thats for seven people. So i put the book in pennsylvania. Reviewers were saying to me i cant believe that victoria made a mistake like that and they researched it. Theyre like oh my god. Its 23 states. Since 2005 we didnt even hear about this law until the whole George Zimmerman case, and then you realize it doesnt work for us. Maries saw alexander shot a gun into the ceiling. And she said i was standing my ground because my husband was around all the time. And the same prosecutor who was not able to convict George Zimmerman was able to convict the woman who had a license to carry a gun, who knew how to use a weapon, who shot it into the ceiling as a warning shot, but its against the law to fire a warning shot. [laughter] so she did the wrong thing. And with that [laughter] with that, hashtag bridging the divide. We have a great panel, and joy reid has chimed in on twitter. Thank you, joy. Now, were going to go to questions at this time. If you have a question, please go to the microphone there. Were asking for questions. But i want to this out to the panel as we wait for those to come to the microphone and also from twitter. John, do we have someone from twitter already . Come on to the microphone, john. Youre very socially media aware. Facebook and twitter. I dont like it when people [inaudible] i said, i do facebook and twitter. I dont do the ones where people send pictures of their food, because i dont want to look at it. [laughter] but i do do facebook and twitter. And i have a great team. My assistant, latoya, is here, and i have another brother who keeps me hooked up with social media. The Technology Question is important because were now looking at manager around access to capital something around access to capital. And what we know from any number of economic reports is that there is very little access to capital in Africanamerican Community. I was looking up some numbers today. Only 4 , 4 of all blackowned businesses have mows. So most of them employees. So most of them are one person. Only 4 . When you look at loans, the way that loans are given to businesses, africanamericans have so much less access to loans. Again, because of the issues of access to capital, the income and wealth data. Africanamerican people earn about threefifths of a whites earnings. The average white family right now about 52,000 a year. Dont quote me on the exact number, about 52,000. Average black family, 33,000. A little more than 60 . Technological investments tend to be expensive investments. And so if youre talking about businesses, as an example, at this point in time you cannot respond to a federal rfp more some departments unless you do it electronically. And what is a federal rfp . Its a request for a proposal. So the department of minority business developments wants to do a study on minority be business development, youve got to get them back in there via email. I dont know how many people ive heard all these stories of folks who, of course, they went waited to the last minute, and the internet went down, and they couldnt get the proposal many on time. Technology requires capital. Capital is a huge piece of the gap. And nat irvin, who i happen to know im glad hes watching hes done all this stuff about futuristic work, about looking at the future. And what we know is the digital divide, essentially, means that africanamericans and others are on the net at differential numbers, that some of our rural areas are not properly wired. Again, africanamerican pop tolation disproportion nately in rural areas will not have access. Basically, at the end of the day, distribution in a capitalist system can be summarized by billie holliday, them that got to give. [laughter] theres another side to technology too. Its not just simply about gadgets and the things that dr. Malvo has just laid out. There are technologies of racial surveillance. Technologies around racial subjugation. I mean, think about the technological advances that had to be made in order for the slave trade to happen. Ooh, yeah. You think about instruments of torture, instruments of bond withage. Think about of bondage. Think about what happened at level of production visavis black bodies with regards to cotton, with regards to coal. Think about [inaudible] and the Technological Developments that led to the building of cities like barreling ham. So part of what we wanted to say is its not only the digital divide, but there have been technologies developed that actually make more efficient surveillance of black bodies be, that participate in, right, a certain kind of policing. So whenever you hear in response to the question of criminal justice more police training, right, more police on the streets, it means more money, right, for a certain kind ofns surveillance that we have to be very, very, very, very cautious. A certain kind of surveillance, that we have to be very cautious about. Another conversation we can have, many africanamericans, not involved in technology, our children, are not going into that segment and that segment of society and you step in there, 93,000 dollars a year and they are not there yet. Thats another issue. My question is, as follows, what would i say are the most significant affects of the voter i. D. Laws, and what would you say are the most important laws. Im calling you. Your family. Very good question. Voter i. D. , Voting Rights, is at, the critical aspect of civil rights today, as well as he he n connol mix. If you look at the voter i. D. Laws goes back threeyears ago, to the Shelby County Supreme Court decision. We add Voting Rights act passed in 1965, people died, and they were beaten, like congressman lewis, in order to see this Voting Rights act pass. The legislation we have ever had. Four years after its passage, so what happened threeyears ago . You had a Supreme Court decision, 54, Shelby County, which struck down a portion of the Voting Rights act, the coverage portion of the Voting Rights act. Why is that significant . Because this coverage portion was dealing with states that had a history of discrimination, in voting. As soon as the Voting Rights act was struck down. Most of these states, these states would say its not discriminatory and we could debate that. Im fearful that his election might mean, as you say, that well end up with more of thesee stand your ground laws. Th some of the other things that go with voting, closing pollste early, changing sunday voting. R right. You get a preacher on sundayn walk the folks from the church to the voting booth, but theyre trying to cut that back as well. So we have to be very, verysn vigilant and make sure organizations like the Lawyers Committee for civil rights under the law have set up hotlines, other people have set up hotlines. Its our responsibility to makee sure not only that we vote, but that we take other people to vote, and that we make sure these laws can start working on reversing some of them. And also e take your concerno to the board of elections supervisors. If you want to vote or register, you have to go to your local board of election supervisors, and theyll be able to help you. Yes, john. Ive got another question with, this one is from kenny. To the panel, how would you respond to somebody who advocates for stand your ground by referring to the southern culture and values . You know whats interesting about that, because ive had people say that, that thats just what we do in the south. Fo and i say what do you do in the south, kill people . I dont understand what that means, because the law is just a license to kill. Its not a license to what the law says, because a lot of people dont know this. What the law says is you have to duty to retreat. In the past the law was that you had to retreat. But you have no duty to retreat. And the major problem with the law is haha its opposite is that its opposite what we teach our children on the playground. We teach our children theres no need to escalate a fight, theres no come on. All he did was Say Something to you. Walk away. But then when you become an adult, we put a law in place in order for you to do opposite what we teach children. I just dont understand it. Another thing, when you were just talking about the second right amendment. Guess who pushes these laws in all of these states . The nra. That was a shocker to me. I dont know why it was a shocker to me [laughter] but it was. I just thought it was just like people in a room sitting around saying, okay [laughter]r] but its the nra whos pushing it in each and every state. And you would just tell people to just go back and find out whats going on in their states. Im a country boy from mississippi. Born and raised on the coast in a small town. See, i actually went to magnolia high school. Finish and i want to resist the conflation of hunting culture with stand your ground. Yes. Right. So it is true that in the south guns are a part of everyday life, right . But theyre not framed in the way that stand your ground frames them. Right. So we want to be very careful when we have this kind of collision between hunting culture, right, and a set ofra i assumptions that inform an alecbased piece of legislation like stand your ground. All right. Yes, sir. Quoting malcolm x who states that the future belongs to those who prepare for it today, from the position of the black youth, what are ways in which or do you have advice in terms of how black youth can specifically navigate the political sphere and engage in forms of political disruption . What do you specifically mean . Well, there are different forms of political disruption. For me personally in terms of a more radical instance by engaging in black Political Institutions by meeting with political officials to get antidiscrimination policies enforced you talking about the naacp . Yes, or an institution in baltimore called leaders of a beautiful struggle. Okay. And and i would like to give that to the woman who is the president of a college, college of women, who knows youth mindset. Well, thank you for the question, and first of all, let me give a shout out to black lives matter. I happen to think those young people [applause] theyve changed the terms and conditions of discourse as far as im concerned. They have forced us to look at the policing shire policing issues, but also other issues. The policing issues, and, he ran for mayor in baltimore, was, he didnt just talk about policing, and economic issues. What i want to encourage young people to do is to vote. Do not believe that it doesnt matter. And, we have a saying, voting bells, in the election. We had Voter Participation rate of 98 . So you can vote. And dont vote on your own. Take ten people with you. And second, read, read, read. So that ive prepared to have political conversation that you need to have with others. When you talk about n. A. A. C. P. , if it, in your area does not seem to move as quickly, run for an office or better yert, take over an naacp. I was a activist. Baby, baby panther, and i believe that, activist, knowledge and activism go together. Stay engaged and stay involved, and, you talk about those, the future belongs to those who prepare for it. Start, with your friends about which is going to run for public office. We need younger voices out there, because, everybody is not going to make it. But if you have a group, and, it can be tremendous. Ten blocks from where freddy gay was arrested and where the riots occurred. As law professor i would stress, in this democracy, the most powerful weapon is a license to practice law. You can change the rules. You can make the rules better. It is enormous. With respect to economics, and college debt is it true that the children of Congress People have no debt because they dont have to pay. Is there something that should be with the equal justice. And you know, the whole issue, around mass incarceration. And thank you so much, i am not i wear of any law. Many, a lawyer, many colleges,. [laughter] okay. Thank you. I just dont see that theres any law. That some members have with colleges in their district, but i dont think theres anything legal about that. Equal justice project. Its so important, 4,000 people who were lynched. We have no comment raising of them. We dont know, there was a marker put up. And several people were killed. It took you, and i think what theyre doing, and that is history that we cannot ignore. The whole, you know, the brother asked a question about southern culture, and i thought lynching was part of it. Have a marker at every place where someone has been lynched. So their name is known. And a museum in alabama. Thank you so much for your question and for your answer. We want to keep it going because we have a lot of people. Thank you. We have so many people in line and we want to get to as much people as we can. Right here. And, yale drama, the question is, somebody mentioned that there was a disparity between blackandwhite, 801, 181,. Would anyone like to guess where that money went . It wasnt burned. It didnt evaporafor rate. It is still here. The history of amount is, as he mentioned earlier. This is the most economically advance taken uses set up, that has o kurt. I dont know if anybody saw the doctor, and he talked about the value of american slaves, that, the money went to slave owners, and it went to those who were benefiting from the labor. Much of the wealth was built on the back of slaves. Do you believe, in an issue called repper raising. Thank you for being honest. I may not agree with you, but, lets be clear it is not just simply writing a check. No its about repairing and indeed the institute for the black world, the organization, has as commissioner on repper raisings and we have a tenpoint plan for repair. It is called c. R. S. Ill tell you what that means later. But, the 10. Plan for repair, so its not about everybody getting a check, it is more about repairing a community. The other thing i want to say, when you talk about welfare and slavery, it was the met thought by which they were able to expand. Because as soon as a plantation owner,. And, they were engaged in giving me loans. So, when i always say, harry ut tubman and john parker was an enslained man who led 900 people off. And, i just look at it as doctors and property, taken. It has something to do with the housing market, and, past for the great society, and, the fair house, they never implemented it. And 12 years later, the reagan application app. It happened and the reagan revolutions charge was to dismantle the great society. And here you have a history of slavery, and, producing dual labor markets, of the full, full, locking black people out for full participation in the economy and social life of the society. You have a moment of breakthrough brought about by virtue of grass routes organizing. And, by 1968, its all attacked. So you have 12 years of really trying to implement so when we ask why, we have a 13 dont 18 now. Right. 18 now. So, when you ask that question and you do not place it is in the context of the history of the value gap, the history of racism, then youre disremembering. Once again look at this, you talk about one issue and it all branches out into another. For those that have your cellphones were talking together. Not black to black, not white people talking to white people, and i dont want to talk about that now. We are trying to civilly find a solution and find out how history plays a part. Who would hike to tackle that like to tackle that question . The issue around white identity, around black identity, you know, we used to wear a tshirt, its a black thing, you wouldnt understand. Taaughter]ldnt. Enter into our experience, and to engage in it. What you have to do is be committed to justice. You have to be mindful at all, in all moments. So it is not about, how do i enter as white person, i dont have black experience. Are you committed to justice than ever then youre committed to this work, period. Thats what i wanted to say. [laughter] i think Langston Hughes instead better. In his poem, dream of freedom, he said this dream today, and battle back against the wall. It must be saved for all. It doesnt matter, whether you are black, white, red, black or brown. Your commitment to the values of this society. To the values of this society, which is of course, equality. We have a great constitution. We just need to live up to the true meaning of that constitution. One of the things, he wrote about how whiteness came to be. You have to cease being german or irish or jewish and often times the jewish side is swallowed by the white identification so you have to give up that other stuff for the narrative, the white narrative and ethnic narrative, when you begin to break the ethnic narrative we understand how irish people were treated in the north, probably as badly the only thing they have is they were not they have no irish need apply, women who were maids and raped freely because irish had left them. Oppression capitalist oppression is about exploiting differences so when you lump all the white folks to gather you are saying we are going to be the same. You are the ones now who are different. What is important in this racial conversation. Thank you. When i hear people speak from black lives matter and the Law Enforcement side it seems to me both sides, some of the things they say are true and some of them are wrong but both sides are totally selfrighteous, when someone is selfrighteous there is no listening and when there is no listening there is no communication and how do we overcome that . How do we get real communication into the issue . One side has legal use of deadly violence. It is not equal. This is an example. What i dont know how y dont know how you can justify that. On your side and i do understand the people called we are in trouble, we need Law Enforcement but we do notol nee folks with a license to kill because they have a badge. A little old man in oklahoma, they have given him a taser and a gun and he shoots somebody in the back. I am looking at the killing of oscar graham who says for a gun. It waste we 3 times what a gun ways. I have not had my hands on either one of them much to everybodys relief i am sure. Police officers in california, in the 1960s were recruited from mississippi, alabama, louisiana. To collide with the party. This is a prescription. This is a prescription for disaster. Got it. Got it close. I think communication between parties in dispute or in conflictrt is critical. One reason i am delighted to see so many tonight is the credit belongs to those who are willing to enter the arena and stay what they believe, we will never have progress without that communication. I believe communication between black lives matterves and thos concerned about Police Behavior and those who represent the police are important. The key is we can make changes, we can make things better. When youin look what happened today, we need Better Community olicing, increased training, cameras on every Police Officer and we need Police Officers to be responsible when they do something wrong. We need police to be punished. One of the problems when you look at baltimore and other places is when the police do wrong, we dont adequately punish them. That needs to be addressed. We support the police but we weed out bad police. I know we have a question. I am not going to allow the demand that white people be comfortable to dictate how i express my rage. This key. Part of the reason why we are in this mess is because there is a refusal to confront the ugliness of who we are. When africanamericans express the anger and rage around having to engage in this public ritual of grieving over our families, Allison Stirling was 15 years old, 4yearold daughter i am here. 4 years old trying to comfort her mother, trying to express righteous indignation in that moment and have someone say i am being selfrighteous. That is what i want to say. By virtue of that we have a moral position we cant the wrong, we cant be open, cant engage in dialogue. If i sugarcoat what is happening, i told the story of my son, did everything right. Rich isnt part of providence to hit the uturn, pulled up on the side of the road and hit in the face, looks at the bushes, says what are you doing here . Doing and assignment and the park closes at 9 30. The partner comes around the cruiser, they both lean and as the park closes at 9 30, my baby says we dont want trouble, we are leading right now. I could have lost him right then. That is not selfrighteous. Multiply that by how many thousand. We will hear about Allison Stirling, fernando casteel, we wont hear about this until he tells it. We have the story of a young man who has been they dont here is what i want to do. Lets have an real session rig here. I have been racially profiled and i want honesty here. How many minorities have been in a situation, hands are going up already. This is reality. I think the gentleman for his statement, hold yourha hands up high. We find ourselves in the moment of having to convince others that it is real. Lets ask no, no, no, no, no, hold on, hold on, hold on. Hello, hello, hello. I hear you but now that you say how many white people lets do that. How many white people, raise your hahand, how many have saide were selfrighteous, because you went through the same thing, say yes or no, okay, but do you understand the reason why we are having this conversation is because theree is a disease in america when it comes to race, i say it again, a disease. A person who teaches issues of race in my home county. We are all getting hot. We need to calm down. We need to have civil discourse when it comes to this issue because you will not move mountains if you are angry. You have got to be civil. I need jesus right now but it is okay. I did want to pick up on two comments. Talk to the microphone. Wanted to pick up on two of eddie s. Glaude, jr. s comments, one related to the gentleman about what whites do, you focused on the word justice and a minute ago, a few minutes ago we talked about the equal justice initiative. If you dont know about the work Brian Stevenson does, shame on you. My students in Community College read this book because it is the essence of mass incarceration and the injustice that continues to exist in our society, documented in a palpable way and i encourage you to learn more about his work, the question i have, Brian Stevenson, equal justice initiative, this is not a paid for commercial. I am getting back to one of the questions i thought was a question we would address tonight that we didnt and it ties in again with the discussion of technology and the technology we didnt discuss tonight and the technology of cameras, the Body Cameras Police are taking and using and some Police Departments in baltimore, police have body cameras so i am interested in your reaction to the proplaps and cons of body cameras in this world of police and minority communities. Let me say this real fast, talking about the issue of criminal justice, when it comes to this administration i can say one thing for sure. The accountability component when it comes to policing is now more evident because there is a call for body cameras. It is not required because the cost of storage and the cost of the unit, the bottom line is in the black community we are talking about it for years, you see the visuals and understand the truth that that is not whatever you say it was being selfrighteous. I believeha that is one of the best pieces. There is an evolution when it comes to this thing called race in this country and thate is o of the best pieces coming out right now in 2016 and we see the video this young woman had, the courageous nurse to live stream after her fiance was shot. I am a mother of two Little Princesses and to see that is touching for that little child, mommy, i am okay. It takes a lot to hold back the fear of that could be my brother or father or my uncle or cousin, there but for the grace of god go i. I am not speaking for everyone but i speak for a largey, porti. We are there, the keeper. I think that peace is one of the most critical pieces ever in this whole evolution of policing, the dynamic of the community. That is one of the biggest pieces. And you have something about what happened in baltimore. There is a story in baltimore people dont know about. Everybody knows about freddie gray and Police Officers not being convicted but we recently had a Police Officer who shot an individual when he was on the ground and two other Police Officers came and testified at the trial as to what he did and that has not been covered nationally unfortunately but justice was done in that case and had several components. The police testified against another Police Officer that did wrong. The victim survived, and was very fortunate but we had a courageous district attorney, Everybody Needs to be aware of that case as well as what happened with freddie gray. Body cameras are an absolute blessing and the recording technology, is a blessing. Rodney king anyway, the recording shows the limit, body cameras have their limitations. They can be turned off. People say things like what angle was it from, and more information is not necessarily enough information all the time. Basically white folks have to be willing to believe that all police are not good. You get people who tell you they are drinking koolaid, the police are good. They are not all good. I am not happy any white person i am often gratified. I want somebody to say this does happen. It does happen. Maybe only 5 are bad actors, maybe only 1 but 75 go along to get along. The thin blue line is alive and well. Not necessarily tell it unless something happens. Police have to be willing to pull each other and one of the things we didnt talk much about this weekend, we talk about so many other things but i would like to see a better educated team. In some cities you have Police Officers as young as 18 years old. Psychologists will tell you your frontal lobe is not developed, impulse control is developed until you are in your 20s, there should never be a poll office. Mesh Police Officer 18, 19, 20 years old, should never be a Police Officer who has not had adversity training. Embedded in a black community with a black officer and we need so much more diverse city, just had a case that community, not a signal, 10 of the officers spoke spanish. How can you communicate . O we have to be willing to talk about this in harsh terms, Police Officers behave this way with 0tolerance and maximum tolerance for dealing with adversity. Thank you for the information on my frontal lobe. I would have never known. Going into this conversation from facebook, she said this goes into the campaign. Why does donald trump think it is acceptable to generalize black issues when speaking to predominately white audiences to where we are and speaking . He has pandered to every stereotype there is. Hehe put out a fullpage ad, 100,000 in the new york times, it turned out they were not even guilty. He is not talking to black people. He is winking and nodding to undecided white people who cannot dream of voting for a racist, he says i am talking to you, donald trump i wont spend my time talking about donald trump. Everything he does reminds us why this election is so important and why it is so important Hillary Rodham clinton certainly we already knew she was an imperfect candidate but we are all imperfect human beings. We look at the list of what she has done and what she said she would do, she is a superior candidate. You have been wonderful. You have been wonderful. You have enjoyed the conversation. The question in the floor is yours forur the moment. Come close. Share with me your perspective how obama has dealt with the issue of race. Before we even start it is a complicated situation. Everyone has a different opinion. Who would like to pick this up . Go for it. Can you set the tone . Julianne malveaux, set the tone. This is my book. I talk a little bit about president obama and race. What we have to remember about president obama is he is president of all america, not of black america, he had to be 2 years of the whole congress and senate, maximizing the opportunity and then got republicans essentially were obstructionists at every single solitary turn. Even as he was elected in phoenix, arizona, was praying for his death. Ordinarily when you pray for the president s that the fbi comes to see you but that didnt happen, they let that man get away with it. As a president i give president obama a be on race matters, probably give him something closer to a c. I wish he had done more but he hasnt and there were lots of constraints but also there have been opportunities for him to do more and i dont think he has taken advantage of those opportunities. I call him a confidence man selling the snake oil of hope and change. I hear groans, audible groans. I cant take it back. A lady standing up to see what you are saying. I can crystallize that point in a town hall meeting after the shooting, the dallas Police Officer, use our the abc news town hall, the way president obama engaged in the conversation around race had little to nothing to do with black people. He was in that moment as i call him and the paperback edition which is coming out in january. You are not kidding, go ahead. He was the interpreter, trying to convince White America of the reality of racism and inequality in this country. Didnt change the frame, gave us a lot of hope and rhetoric around change the turned out to be snake oil. Do you believe abc led that conversation . It was both of them. I think president obama was standing his ground. I really do. He has come at it from what he thought was the best. I really do. I think he tried he never had the same experiences as many of us as africanamericans. Aa good friend of mine his parents, his father was not a slave, did not come here but with a totally different experience and at any given point he was trying to maneuver through this entire thing and doing the best he could. Did he make mistakes . Yes but i dont know many who havent. [applause] be change as a professor im delighted to evaluate, that is what i do for a living. I give him an a plus on anger management. That was good. That was good. We can all agree on that one. In the spirit of time i will stop right there. I try to be less critical of president obama than many others because you need to evaluate him in two categories, not one. Legislation and rhetoric and people look at what he has said a lot, when he did the beer summit the first time, he saw his poll numbers drop and as a politician which he is, most first term president s want a second term, he made a judgment. When you can his legislative initiatives i give him credit. Of congress as Julianne Malveaux mentioned, a Recalcitrant Congress of Congress Went along with many of his proposals we would have reduced many of the disparities we talked about, the ghostt of jim crow that exist today we would have reduced many of those with this legislation. I have the last word and i will say this. [applause] for me i am a White House Correspondent covering president s, this is my third president i say this to say it is hard to judge a president. It takes ten years was one thing i will say about this president. The historic nature of who he is, race and politics always follow no matter where he is weather in the oval office or post oval office. There is evolution when itn cos to issues of race. We have been dealing with this for hundredswe of years and for anyone who thinks in four years or eight years this will all be solved, you are sadly mistaken. What i will tell you is assessing him there are things he could have done and things he couldnt have but the issue of race did guide the decision particularly in the first term. He would not have gained a second term as president of the United States but i will leave you with this, something i put in my next book. I know. Hold on. Shameless plug. There was a president who integrated the us military, truman, integrated the us been one ofuld have the greatest president s ever and the reason he wasnt is because of race. Many say this president could be considered one of the greatest president s of the United States but one of the only reasons is race. I. Will leave you with this, thank every one of you. Thank you for contributing, thank you politics and prose, cspan, you are all there, thank you all, get your books now. We are signing right now. Thank you for coming out and having a civil discourse