Transcripts For CSPAN2 Open Phones With Ibram Kendi 20170414

sin that jesus is black, got is black. let's take christianity from the church in the streets. let's use christianity to use black america. so i was in that setting. >> when did you become -- and why? >> i married a beautiful,e intelligent woman. we decided to change her names together. we chose candy,. >> what is that mean, what is it signify? >> it's come from a kenyan language and it signifies -- it was special for us.ried a b >> how is winning the national book award changed your life at the university of florida or wherever you are? >> to meet the biggest and best change was that people took us much more seriously in the beginning. more people decided to pick it up and therefore more people were willing to critically engage the history of racism in this country and reflect on the way in which that history is ever present and how we can create a future. i have the opportunity to speak about the book and to look at a number of different forms of communication via social media, talking about the critical issues. >> host: lets your colors have to say and will begin with david in new york. you're on with the professor. >> caller: i'm currently readinl a book called known wolves. m it is a novel. the subject of the novel is black slavery, black man owning slaves.field form i was wondering when i was reading it if you're familiar with the book and how common was the sin the civil war south of for black men to own slaves? >> thank you, i am not familiar with that book, there certainly were black people who own slaves, i told the story of a slave whose first name is peter who is actually the person who told the famous revolt in charleston in 1822. he would be rewarded for becoming a major old slaveholder. he was biracial. there were black people who own slaves. it was very rare. slaveowners in particular white slave owners were trying to create a narrative of right freedom of black slavery. select slaveowners, just like free black people disrupted peta that. >> was the white only black slaves universal at one point? >> mean was it not just in the u.s. but everywhere. >> to a certain extent but then there was talk in the panel there are native american people who enslaved black people and just like they enslaved native american people and in africa there is a history of enslavement. slavery changed with the emergence of slavery andlack capitalism it began to shift in which slave labor became a product or a commodity. people became very rich off of that i wanted to defend it with racist ideas. >> host: another calling in from arlington, virginia. >> caller: i had a question about indian slavery, but i was wondering at what point in the a america what became the united states, the english colonies did it become that blacks could be slaves, blacks are supposed to be slaves but whites yet colonists who came over and i think georgia was a columnist, so when did it become lifelong slavery for blacks but only server servitude for whites?th or maybe i'm just using side of a battle. >> host: lets you from the professor. >> guest: this is something heavily debated among historians of slavery. from my reading of history it appears that from the beginning of the arrival of african people in virginia in 1619, they wereth looked upon as permanente laborers. that doesn't mean some black people over the course of the 1600s were not indentured servants, we also know that at the time the majority ofhistor laborers who are picking cotton in virginia and maryland were whites indentured servants. in the early 1600s there were high death rates. typically permanent is livable black people will cost more money.ooked up so some slaveowners felt there is a better return on their investment to invest in somebody who is cheaper when the death rates were so high. by the end of the 1600s when the number of people living in the colony grew it became a better investment to invest in african people who could be enslaved permanently. so that is when the shift began to happen by the late 1600s. >> nikita is in paterson new jersey, good afternoon.was a >> hello. >> caller: i'm african-american, i love the american people, iber just love people, as far as race is concerned it's like look at the elderly who endured the pain it endured the time that they enslaved and they didn't work -- and you're dealing with the holocaust and the africandlight americans when they came over on boats, they came over on boats and people were picking cotton in working for free. some of those people are young people today have not even endured that.the ti but our ancestors have. so be in our ancestors endured that, why can't they be confiscated for that so they can their children on to a better life and we could come one is a community and we could be happy as being americans. at the end of the day when we we believe, we all bleed red, not purple, orange, green. >> okay thank you, let's hear from the professor. >> guest: i thank you for the question, it's a question is called reparation activists to have been asking for more than a century, they have been asking for the people who are forced to labor and did not get any wages as a result to get compensated.e this is the reason why there's this massive gap in well, why whites have more wealth then blacks some of that is slavery. so it something that people have been talking and advocating for. in terms of why it would take at struggle to get that to happen. you black people who are anti- racist people have to be put in positions of power and these people have to be willing to figure out ways to equalize this nation. right now they're not people in positions of power in our congress, at least not my standpoint figuring to out ways. >> do you consider yourself a reparations activist? >> guest: i think so. i think there's many troops have received reparation. whether it's people who are harmed in the salem witch trial or japanese people. many of these people when most americans agree that those people should be compensated in some ways. other groups as well. i think the only way we canue create some sort of measure of economic equality in this country is by figuring out ways to provide reparation. as a historian of the economic inequality. >> host: in a roundabout wallyhe they question the terms african-american. >> it's interesting, because there's a debate over people and how they should identify or be identified and whether it's black, african, african-american, american. to me there are people who say ineq i'm not non-african american because i don't feel like an american. because of the way there treated by police or because how they're discriminated against in the job market. and then others say i've never been to africa so why would i be some ways connected to africa, i'm just an american. and so clearly there is a lot of discussion within the black community about how to identify. >> where do you come down? >> i can identify as an african-american or black. i recognize i was born in the united states, but from my ancestors came from africa. not only from an ancestor standpoint but culturally. i think african-american culture is large and as a practitioner of african-american culture and a defendant of african slave i consider myself african-american. >> the national book award-winning book is called stamp from the beginning. the history of racist ideas in america. renée is calling in from hampton, virginia. go ahead. >> caller: good afternoon. professor can you, thank you so much for your illuminating comments. especially as it pertains to your book. so the question relates to whether or not you've had an opportunity to read margo's hidden figures, the book that has taken the world by storm and that it illuminated contributions of african-american women to the space race. i was wondering whether or not you had opportunity to read it and whether or not you subscribe to the belief that african-american women have faced a double-edged sword being both black and female, and this is a question for women's history month. >> caller: thank you for a question. not only have i had the opportunity to read the book, i say had the opportunity to meet the author, where both nominated finalists for the naacp image award. she won and i was glad to be there with her and celebrate her winning that a word for that wonderful book. see your question more specifically, i chronicle and chronicling the history of racist ideas, i also chronicle the history of racist ideas about each and every black gro group. one of those black groups are black women. a specific set of racist ideas have been created that have denigrated black women. typically these ideas are at the intersection of race and gender. i classify and others have classified it as gender racism. so i chronicle the ways in which black women have not only been facing obstacles as a result of the race but also their genderpn and class and try to show the ways in which all of these ideas had created notions that had denigrated black women. >> host: book tv has covered margo, talking about her book "hidden figures". racis you can go to booktv.org, type in their name and you'll be able to watch it online at your leisure. the next call for the guest comes from jamil in new york. we are listening. >> caller: good afternoon. young man, i want to thank you so much i'm encouraged by your vision and the piece of history that you have taken. i want to ask you, jay rogers, doctor ben johnson, and other people who delve into this issue, long time ago the other gentleman with you talked about indian, i'm so blessed to have a grandmothers lakota which is suh indian. and having a history that goes back to the civil war and speak to someone in my family when i was young man who actually saw othe freedom count. in the discussions i had with those people who survived reconstruction of those who actually were children when freedom came gave me an opportunity in my life to ber somewhat of an amateur to take part of what we call the so-called civil rights movementl i don't want to take too long. but if one would think that the illusion of us be an inferior, wouldn't it be interesting if abraham, moses, and all of the profits and jesus and mohammed actually look like you and me. if we took some time and look back to see who those people were the perhaps the illusion is not to make us look who we really are so that we would feel this sense of inferiority to give the economic difficulty that we have gone through for history. >> host: we will have to leave it there and hear from professor kendi. >> thank you for that comment in question. and i would say researching nearly 600 years of racist ideas that has suggested that there is something inferior wrong with wl black people, i have found that the only thing that is wrong with black people is that we think something is wrong with black people.ul black people have consumed these ideas as you are talking about. early in the history of racist ideas, one of the things that some of these did was try to rewrite the history of the ancient world. in trying to place ancient egypt in europe or the middle east, trying to racialized the ancient historical figure is white or certainly not black, because as you stated you cannot be worshiping a group, person and then simultaneously say the people who that person may look like are inferior. they had to reshape that history. i was glad that others wereen looking at the true history of the ancient world. >> host: where did the title come from? >> guest: it came from a speech, jefferson davis who at the time in 1860, senator from mississippi and he will go on to become the president of the confederacy of america. he was opposing a bill on the floor of the u.s. senate that would provide funding for educational black people intheyv washington, d.c. he argued is that this nation was created by white men for white men and the inequalities were stamped from the beginning. >> host: color from oakland, california. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. it's a pleasure to speak with you. i appreciate your work and all that you do. what i want to say is slavery who was horrible enough and the main reason for the huge disparity but it is also, the lynchings and all that stuff started after slavery and allr that stuff. blacks being the ones who were able to own property were chased off the properties and thingsfr like that. and today the prison industrial complex these people are forced to work for like a dollar or two a day. they could be incarcerated at this horrible rate. i was wondering what you think the best way for black americans to organize and start these advocacy groups to actually seriously left our reparations. some have jews have, even though the hole did not happen in the united states. our holocaust is still ongoing. what you think the best way for us to advocate. >> caller: first and foremost i think we should recognize black people should recognize that even though you may be black, there are still ways in which you can think there's something wrong or inferior about blackin people. thinking that creates a set of practices and attitudes. if you think is a black person that black people are very are and black people are criminal like, when you see a mass incarceration of black people you are not going to resist it. so first and foremost black people just like nonblack people should think about the way inize which we can become more antiracist. we can't recognize the quality of different groups and that will create a certain set of advocacy groups. the will focus on policy and one other course be in antiracist have advocated for his reparation. they're not at the the candidate in isolation. they recognize that even groups like native americans and poor whites and women in other groups presumably they may see people who should receive some form of reparation as well. i think there are larger issues at play. it is not just reparations. we first have to take that recognition that there's nothing wrong with black people and we need to be focused on equalizing programs like reparation. >> host: what to teach at the university of florida? >> guest: african-american history. i teach history of racism, antiracism, courses on black power and courses on social movements.s. >> host: how diverse is your classroom? >> guest: my classroom tends to be fairly diverse. most of my class are in african-american studies. so people who are taking those are quite diverse. >> host: politically diverse customer. >> guest: yes. at first coming from new york where i used to teach i was not used to it, i actually like it. i want students to engage each other ideologically and politically.rse asso if everybody agrees is not going to be as rich as if it were debating. so i encourage that in classroom. >> host: to find students today to be more casual about race and perhaps your generation are my generation? >> guest: because of the black livesost: matter movement and because of the events of the last presidential election, i think they actually seem to be, in certain ways more serious.boy i went to undergrad in the early 2000's when we're in the middle of the colorblind nation. those people who are talking about racism were called racist or discriminators. now more and more americans are recognizing the existence of racism and providing a cloud for people to speak to this problem. >> host: nathan from buffalo, new york, go ahead. >> caller: actually, thank you for having the discussion. it's a beautiful discussion. at the same time i would also like to ask, what is his proposal, the earlier speaker that was hosting was mentioning that the reparation should be brought to the senate in regard to an act of congress. what is his position in regard to bring in that proposal to congress in regard to reparation so at least we could have the discussion. >> guest: what i said in the panel of the reparation is going to be a very controversial issue.e. i cannot really speak to his position. i think more or less he was saying that it is very difficult to advance reparation in the court and create the scenario in which you have to bring it through congressional reads. >> host: keith in washington, you are on the air with professor kinde, go ahead. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. i just find that this jeff sessions been nominated attorney general, some of the races and we see in our society today is so anti- -- i don't what i see in our society today really bothers me. the racism is so prevalent. at there is such a voter suppression, the new sports illustrated put pictures there 18 black football players and one white they are so accepted into those athletic programs, walkway from the campus, and the votes are suppressed. it's a sad day in america. . . and with voters depression in those states there 18 black football players and their accepted into those athletic programs. is a sad day in america because. >> what he is speaking to is one of those central issues there are obvious ways that black people make progress that relates to race and there are other ways that progress has not been made for those who have not been incarcerated last few decades is unprecedented. if so what i realized .... .... in studying history instead of thinking of a singular >> how you will have people like in alabama votes being suppressed but football players highlighted. >> don, you are on booktv. we are listening. >> caller: hello, and thank you. professor kendi, i am from new orleans and there is a collage of human beings from that place. i want to find out more about why people from new orleans are the way they are and people from caribbean are the way they are. i came across a book and learned about the homestead act and head right system. these seemed like very racist policies and i wondered if you could espound on them just to enlighten me. >> guest: there are many, many folks that deal with the history of new orleans or louisiana more broadly and the way it being a french colony and that switch in 18 1810. one thing i shared in the text is because of the history you had a number of biracial people in louisiana who some identify as creole and some don't. this group of people who some of them resisted racism alongside the larger or, you know, population of enslaved or free black people latter part of the 1800s. but some of them looked upon themselves as inferior to black people. some of them reinforced the notion that black people are inferior creating this narrative in which they were superior to black people but then rejected ideas when white people said they were superior to them. it was an interesting thing that happened across the nation. >> i would say to don in gerald heights. horn has been on our in depth program. so if you go to booktv.org and type in gerald horn you can see three hours of him discussing this bock. ibram kendi is the author of "stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in america" the winner of the 2015 national book award. >> friday night on booktv in prime time. an evening of our program afterwards. first, professor lisa reports on alternatives to banking in her book unbanking of america. melissa fleming discusses her book, a hope more powerful than the sea. it retells the journey of a jung syrian women leaving syria for europe following the civil war. richard hass examines the challenges to foreign policy in his book, "a world in disarray" and argues for a modern global operating systemment and the parents of the late trayvon martin discuss their son's life and death in "rest in power". watch booktv every night while congress sin is in recess. >> one of the things i loved about the los angeles times festival of books way before i was a book editor, when i was driving there and showing up first thing in the morning because i wanted to be first in line for stuff is that we have all these panels are four authors who are novelist or writing about syria and these are people who don't get to see each other or have conversations so there is a moment where people are saying something that they are just coming up with at that very instant and it is that kind of electric exchange of ideas that can only happen in the moment. >> watch our live coverage of the los angeles time festival of books april 22nd-23rd on booktv on c-span2. >> here are some of the programs this holiday weekend on c-span. saturday at 8:00 p.m., a nasa briefing on the discovery of seven earth-like plants orbiting a sky. >> we are using the hubble telescope to determine if the countries have hydrogen helium. >> followed by a discussion on the pros and cons of genetically modified foods. >> we think all plants are gmo's because there is nothing you buy that is

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