All become an inside game. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer the powerful take more power, wall street rocks and rolls. And even when theyre caught lying and cheating and stealing and running our entire economy with a ponzi scheme thats so big even Bernie Madoff wouldnt have the spine to try it, nobody goes to jail. Everybody gets a pass, nothing changes, and the business of politics as usual goes on. They give speeches. They know arent true. They sign bills they dont read. And when the law blows up in their faces they give themselves another pass. And the media, theyre in on the con, the gravy train. Today, you ask americans, theyll tell you they dont trust the media. Where can you find anyone who Still Believes the media . Folks, Brian Williams isnt the exception. Hes exactly what theyve taught us to expect from them. Its not journalism anymore, its entertainment. Its celebrity, its agendas and its money. And all too often now, a lie is an acceptable way of communicating. We cant trust government to tell us the truth. Theyve already shown us that. The government evidently doesnt trust us. Their surveillance and their oppression through a weaponized irs proves that. Yeah. And people they dont look at this town for answers anymore. Our leaders lie to us. Media swear to it as if their freedoms werent under attack, as well. But ive got news for the media your First Amendment right is not a license to kill the Second Amendment with lies. Your freedom is just as endangered and your lives endanger us all. Every day the media tells us we just need one more law just one more gun ban just one more restriction on the rights of lawabiding gun owners to prevent Violent Crime. The story they should be telling is how few of the laws already on the books are enforced against people who actually do us harm. Armed violent, dangerous criminals. Instead, politicians waste their time and your tax dollars pushing state social schemes and gun laws that only disarm good people. In other words not only do they refuse to protect us, but they also want to deny us the ability to protect ourselves. And every day, of every year, innocent, good defenseless people are beaten, bloodied robbed raped and murdered as a direct result. Folks, when a criminal attacks politicians arent there to protect ya. Laws cant protect ya, and the media lies, they cant protect ya either. Youre on your own. But you know what can protect ya, when no one else can when no one else will . The ironclad absolute safeguard of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. You know, we live in a time when increasingly the most Vulnerable Group among us is american women. We fear for our moms. We fear for our wives, our sisters and our daughters. Because we know how exposed they are. They could be spied upon stalked online, set up for attack through social media or through a kicked down door. How about empowering women to protect themselves by making them stronger. Yeah. The nra has refused to be a Victim Program teaches women how to protect themselves with our without a gun. What if the New York Times or hollywood celebrities or the antigun lobby, what have they done to empower women . All they have done is make women weaker by scaring them, shaming them. The option of owning a gun for their own protection. You dont empower women by leaving them defenseless. And you dont strengthen a nation by taking away its freedoms. We live in a nation where our freedoms are increasingly vulnerable. From terrorists that are crossing our borders or embedded already in our communities to the mentally ill who roam our streets. To a criminal class unleashed upon us by those who refuse to protect us. The failure and false heartedness of those in charge of our safety is going to get more and more of us killed. Lets face the truth right now. We individually are in charge of our own security. Were in charge of our own familys security. And along with law enforcement, were in charge of our neighborhoods, our schools, our towns, our cities wherever we live. Over the past 25 years, while dozens of states have restored the right to carry a gun, Violent Crime has fallen to the lowest level in decades. You dont hear that in the media, do you . Nope, youre not going to turn on evening news and hear that. But too many states refuse to recognize right to carry permits that are issued by other states. And honest, good, peaceful people often go to jail as a result. Lawabiding right to carry permit holders dont pose a threat to anybody except the bad guys. Good guys shouldnt be forced to break the law to exercise their god given constitutional right to protect themselves and their families. Its time for congress to act, Pass National right to carry reciprocity for the entire United States and pass it today even if you dont own a gun or dont care about the right to do so if you care about your freedoms in any of its forms, you belong in the National Rifle association. Why . Just look at history. Over the past decades, by every measure, the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms has gotten stronger than ever. Even as our other freedoms have been slowly, progressively diminished. The credit for rescuing firearm freedoms goes to the 5 million members of a National Rifle association. Those those, those 5 million members share something really important in common. We share determination of standout, speak out, throw the liars out of office shield the innocent from the lawless and defend all the freedoms that we hold dear. So i challenge you. Tell me where you find people like that. Who are absolutely determined to turn this country in a different, freer and better direction. We talk hard truth. We stand on principle. We never waver. We fight and you know we win. We are Charlton Heston vowing from my cold dead hands. I hear people say to me all the time, wayne, what the First Amendment needs is its own National Rifle association. I hear them say, what the economy needs is its own nra. And what our nations military and police deserve is their own nra. Theyre all saying, heres what theyre saying. Theyre saying we need someone to stand up for the things we care about and consider most valuable in our lives. For the nra that always includes our firearms and our freedom to own them. But to defend firearm freedom, we need more than just firearms freedom. One right depends on another. Theyre all cut from the same cloth of what it means to be free people. So the nra fights for freedom of speech freedom of assembly and the right to privacy, too. We fight for the entire bill of rights because its all connected. Where do you think americas safest place is . In the news media . The New York Times . Msnbc . One of the Political Parties . The safest place for American Freedom is the National Rifle association, the safest place for American Freedom is in the hearts of our members. So take back our country from the liars, the cheats the press and the political elites who want to take away our ability to define our own destiny. Join us, join the nra. We truly are freedoms safest place. Thank you very much thank you ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage governor jeb bush and shawn hannity. Weve got a packed house. How yall doing . Were going to have a q a with governor bush. And by the way as a lot of ive got to start with are you mad at your mom because she did say, i dont know if we need another bush in the white house i saw that, actually on the today show when my brother was opening up his president ial library and my mom unleashed this on me on National Television instead of telling me directly. That was a little difficult. But since that time, shes had a change of heart. Yeah. And thats all right by me. Well, weve had your dad and your brother as president of the United States. Yep. You made a statement the other day and said, wait a minute, i am my own man. If i go beyond the consideration of the possibility of running which is the legal terminology that many of the people here are coming to cpac are probably using to not trigger a campaign, if i get beyond that and i run for president , i have to show whats in my heart. I have to show that i care about people about their future. It cant be about the past, cant be about my mom or dad or brother. It has to be about the ideas that i believe in to move our country forward so that we can have high, sustained Economic Growth where more people have a chance at earned success. Because more and more people dont think that system works for them anymore. And for conservatives to win, we need to give them hope that if we create the field of dreams that people can rise up again. Let me ask you, the last time you were at cpac this was picked up i think in the Washington Post today. All too often were, i think you were talking about conservatives, we are labeled and associated with being antieverything. Way too many people believe republicans are antiwomen, antiscience, antigay and the list goes on. I want you to expand on that. Sure. Look. I think the conservatives in washington have been principled on opposing the overreach. And theyve done a pretty good job. The president jammed down the throat obamacare the Affordable Care act and dodd frank and the stimulus. But we have fought in a principled way, increased overreach. Hes now using his executive power to try to carry out his agenda. But over time, we have to start being for things again. And i think what we need to be for is a Strong National defense. Where we are committed each and every day to protect the homeland with these new asymmetric threats that exist that are real. Its not a joke. This is these are threats that not just have an impact in the neighborhood in the middle east or certainly have an impact on israel. It impacts us, as well. We need to stand for a Strong National defense and defense of the homeland. And we need to give people a sense if we started growing our economy again, the middle would start having rising income again. And what you would do to do that is offer compelling alternatives to the failed tax policies the failed regulation policies, a broken Education System, and making sure that people know that were on their side to rise up. So its good to oppose the bad things. But we need to start being for things. Yeah. Heres the deal. Heres the deal. There are a lot of obviously, a lot of committed conservatives in this room. And this is why its a spectacular gathering. There are a lot of other conservatives that havent been asked. They dont know theyre conservative. If we share our enthusiasm and love for our country and belief in our philosophy, we will be able to get latinos and young people and other people that you need to win to get 50. This was governor every article i have read talks about you and a divide with the conservative movement over two issues. Ive read about it. Saw it once in a while . And it has to do with immigration and common course. Lets directly deal with this. Yeah. Now you said yeah they broke the law. Its not a felony, its an act of love. You also said that you support a pathway to citizenship. And when you were governor two other things. When you were governor, you supported drivers licenses for Illegal Immigrants and instate tuition prices for children that werent citizens. Hang on. I want i want to give you an opportunity to address that. Sure. So, on immigration, i wrote a book about this. Instead of people opining about what i believe they might want to read the book. You can get it on amazon for probably 1. 99. And in that book i talk about first and foremost the need to enforce the borders. A great country needs to enforce borders for National Security purposes, Public Health purposes, and the rule of law. Secondly, we need a narrow family petitioning so its the same of every country. Spouse and minor children. Not this broad definition of spouse minor children, adult siblings and parents that crowds out what we need, which are economic driven immigrants. Those that want to come here to work, to invest in their dreams in this country, to create opportunities for all of us. And thats what we need to get to. And so look, i feel your pain. I was in miami this morning it was 70 degrees. The simple fact is there is no plan to deport 11 million people. We should give the path to legal status where they work where they dont receive government benefits. Where they dont break the law. Where they learn english, and where they make a contribution to our society. Thats what we need to be focused on. Let me do a followup. We had we had senator rubio and i asked him the same question. We always hear about spending cuts and tax increases. We always end up getting the tax increase, we never get the spending cut. The congress has tried comprehensive Immigration Reform and it has failed. We have a crisis going on with the department of Homeland Security. My question is why not secure the borders first once its verified secured. Lets do it. Lets do it, man. Then talk about. So instead of having a political argument about this the president did use authority he doesnt have. The courts are going to overrule that. Ive been consistent about that. Thats what a great nation has to do. Theres nothing that holds back the republicans to put a comprehensive plan in place to do that. This nation needs to start growing at a far faster rate than we are today. We have to be young and dynamic for all the young people in this crowd to be able to get a job, purpose and meaning. We need to change the subject to high sustained Economic Growth. Let me ask, i dont want to spend all of our time on immigration, but i want to go through yes or no scenarios with you. Number one, for example, do you agree with conservatives that, say, congress should not pass a Homeland Security funding bill that would fund the president s illegal and unconstitutional amnesty . I think the president i think the congress ought to pass a bill that does not allow him to use that authority. And they should stand their ground. Look, i dont know, im not an expert on the ways washington. It makes no sense to me that were not funding control of our border, which is the whole argument. Im missing something. Do you agree im not an expert on that. The simple fact is that the president has gone way beyond his constitutional powers to do this. And the congress has every right to reinstate their responsibility for what law is about. Yes or no 100,000 people came from Central America. We all watched over last summer, should they be sent home . I thought they should be sent home at the border, to be honest with you. It would have created. Heres the deal the humanitarian thing to do would have been to consistently say from the beginning, dont risk your lives crossing as young people. Dont pay the gangsters in Central America money to get into the country and be processed and now with our broken system it may take threer o four years to process them. It would have stopped the flow. We did that as it relates to in miami and florida. That was exactly what bush 41 did as it related to haitians. And it stopped the flow of people. And people didnt lose their lives trying to come to this country. Let me ask you this i mention this earlier when i had an opportunity to speak to this great crowd here. And that is right now at this point in the country, at this moment in history, we have 50 million americans, nearly 50 in poverty. Nearly 50 million on food stamps. The lowest Labor Participation rate since the 1970s. I want you to connect it to immigration. Shouldnt americans have the opportunity for those jobs first . You say go to the back of the line. But if they go to the back of the line they still stay here and compete for those jobs that are available. Heres the deal. Yeah. You either believe the pie is static. Thats the lefts point of view. And many on the right dont agree with that. But they by their policies, they imply it. And therefore were splitting it up. Someones benefit is someone elses detriment. I believe what we ought to be focused on is growing the economic pie. And growing it at a rate that looks more like the 80s in america. Growing it closer to 4 , not 2 . If we stay in this anemic economic rate, then your argument becomes valid. If we grow at 4 , theres going to be opportunities for all. Its not a zero sum game. Yeah. Thats not how republicans and conservatives think. We dont think that its just all about the government divvying it up for us to get our crumbs. We believe we should pursue our dreams as we see fit. And the more people doing it with the capacity to achieve earned success, the more Economic Growth will take place for all of us. My last question on immigration is going to be, as governor, do you standby the decision drivers licenses . Didnt happen. Didnt happen. You tried. And the other decision about instate tuition rates for children . I do. I do. In fact, that was the instate tuition was passed this year by one of the most conservative state legislatures, i might add, and a conservative governor signed into law this last year. Let me ask you the second big issue. Not by me. That always comes up by when you read about governor jeb bush is the issue of common core. It was interesting. I didnt know until i was researching you that you were the first governor to institute vouchers in the country, was eventually overruled by the Supreme Court of florida. But you were the first governor to allow a voucher system. I think a lot of conservatives believe in vouchers. I want you to address the common core issue. Well, ill do it in the context of comprehensive reform. High standards by themselves arent meaningful. Theyre helpful, theyre better than lower standards but by themselves, if theres no accountability around this. If theres no consequence between mediocrity and failure or excellence, then the system wont move forward. In florida, we took a comprehensive approach. Yes, we did have the first statewide Voucher Program. And we have more School Choice in florida both public and private than any state in the country. And we have the largest virtual school. We have the largest Corporate Tax scholarship program. We have 30000 students that if their parents if their child has a learning disability, they can take the dollars, the state and local dollars and send them to any private school of their choice. We have all of that. And thats improved public schools. We eliminated social promotion in third grade, which was a pretty difficult thing to do. We did all of this, and we raised standards. And my belief is our standards have to be high enough where a student going through our system is college or career ready. And thats not whats happening right now. Is common core a federal takeover . No, its not. And it shouldnt be. Heres where i think conservatives and myself, all of us are deeply concerned with this president and this department of education, theres a risk that they will intrude, and they have as it relates to race to the top. What we should say quite clearly and the reauthorization of the k12 law. I think it may have been on the floor in the house of representatives today is to say the federal government has no role in the creation of standards, either directly or indirectly. The federal government has no role in the creation of curriculum and content. The federal government should have no access to student i. D. Or student information. That the role of the federal government if theres any to provide for more School Choice if states want to innovate with their own programs give them the money to create their own programs. Thats a better approach. I want to give you an opportunity to talk a little bit about your record as governor. You cut taxes. Doing my research. You ended affirmative action. I want to give you a chance to explain earlier today, i was mentioning candidates, some people, ooooh, when i mentioned your name. I want to give you a chance to talk about your record directly to the people here at cpac. Well, first of all, for those who made an oooo sound im marking them down as neutral and i want to be your second choice if i decide to go beyond this. But heres the record, and its a record that may be hard for people to imagine because its a record of accomplishment of getting things done taking conservative principles running on them for starters and having the courage to say, i was for a statewide Voucher Program that i believe we should cut spending, that we needed to take on the trial bar and all the things we did. So we created a world class business climate, 1. 3 million net new jobs were created in eight years. More than any state but one. Dont tell rick perry, but more than texas during those eight years. I left the state with 3 unemployment rate. We made we made Florida Business friendly, and they came and created jobs. Our economy grew by Something Like 3. 9 when the rest of the country was growing at 2. 6 . We have reformed our Education System as i mentioned. And florida it wasnt just the fight that mattered. We actually have led the country in rising student achievement. Kids in poverty now are the leaders in florida. They outperform all of their peers. And most of the categories and other places. Florida is a place where conservative principles have not just helped republicans but everybody. We eliminated affirmative action, shawn. I know there are people who come here and talk about the courage legitimately so of their efforts. I eliminated affirmative action by executive order. There were a lot of people upset about this. But through hard work, we ended up having a system where there were more africanamerican and hispanic kids attending our University System than prior to the system that was discriminatory. One more thing yeah. I left the state. I left the state with 9. 5 billion of reserves. No drunken sailors were around. They called me veto cor leone because we did veto totaling 2 billion. We left my successor 9 billion plus of cash for a rainy day. And then we had the financial meltdown. And so conservatives need to be focused on not spending everything that they have of cutting taxes to simulate Economic Growth so that more revenue comes in peoples pockets and the government gets their fair share as well. Do you think you can lower taxes with 18. 1 trillion in debt, we have 100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. You can lower taxes and create more Economic Opportunity that will generate more revenue for government than any of the most exotic tax plans that president obama has. Yes. I believe that. Looking at the clock. Let me ask National Security National Defense your brother predicted in 2007, unfortunately, with pinpoint accuracy what would happen if we left iraq too early. We didnt keep intelligence on the Ground Training forces on the ground. Now we have isis. People being beheaded, burned to death, a war on terror thats being waged my question is, what would you do if you were the commander in chief to defeat isis . By the way, and mitt romney was right in the debate about putin. And mitt romney was right about a lot of things that the president just left off about not having a Strong Military. And so our position needs to be to reengage with a Strong Military and a strong presence. We cant disengage in the world and expect a good result. As we pull back, voids are filled. Iraq is the best example of that. So where to from here . We need to reestablish relationships with countries that we have managed to mess up. I mean weve managed to mess up almost every relationship in the world if you think about it. And including canada, which is hard the to do, but weve done it. But egypt, we got it wrong three times in a row in the last few years, jordan the king comes asking for support. Ive yet to see. Perhaps it went covertly, but i havent heard anything. Israel. Israel for sure. Turkey, all of these countries have doubts about america. We need to be engaged in the world, build a coalition to isolate and then put isis around a noose and take them out. And that can be done not by ourselves unilaterally. That has to be done with american leadership. How would you do it . Specifically, what would be your first steps . I like the idea that senator corkers talking about about pushing, creating a safe zone for the creation of a free syrian army, which we shouldve done three years ago but begin that process. I like the idea of not putting conditions of boots on the ground so that we could have the intelligence capabilities and the special forces capabilities to make a difference. I like these ideas. But all of them require reengaging with the neighborhood so they consider it a high priority for their own interest to be able to participate. And the negotiations with iran make this far more complicated. The idea were going to be tripping over finding a deal, creating an unsafe world and basically to legitimatizing the ayatollah in his Nuclear Capability is troubling. All the reports are that this deal that is being negotiated negotiations are going on now that, in fact, have threatened repeatedly to wipe israel off the map will, in fact, allowed to enrich uranium. What would you say to any deal struck before you took office as it relates . Well, first i hope the Congress Acts on this and requires this deal go back for approval in the United States congress. Thats the first step so we dont get to the point where the next president. Because itll be done by executive order is forced to undo by executive order, as well. That would be the best thing to do. We need to be clear there should be no other discussions need to include their strategy of using surrogates to destabilize the region. Simply focusing on whether or not iran has a weapon. Rs negotiating downward where were going to regulate it is bad policy. What is your reaction to a president who cant acknowledge radical islam, or what is your reaction . That theres this is all about Economic Uncertainty and if they could just get jobs. A jobs program for jihadis. The jihadi was a college graduate. And wealthy. Bin laden was rich. This total misunderstanding of what this islamic terrorist threat is very dangerous because it doesnt allow you then to have the right strategy to deal with this. We need to heighten awareness of what this threat means and be honest about it. Which is why, i think, Prime Minister netanyahus visit is going to be really important. Hes going to be able to tell the truth on this. And the American People i believe, are going to reject what president obamas trying to do in iran. Im running out of time. Ive got to wrap up in a minute. Ive asked every other candidate that ive had an opportunity to interview real quickly boxers. That was not the question. Oh. Just checking. The top thank god it wasnt. Ill leave that for nbc news. The top five agenda. If you become president what are your top five priorities in the first 100 days . Undoing yeah right. Undoing the by executive order, undoing what the president has done, you know, using authority he doesnt have. Creating a Regulatory Reform agenda that allows for investment to take place in our country. Presenting to congress a plan to reform our tax code so that we can see inversions happen the other way. Where Companies Invest in our country to create highwage jobs. We need to get back to high, sustained Economic Growth and then send the signal to the rest of the world that were going to be their partner for peace and security. All right. Im going to do our lightning round. But before i do that, a lot has been written about terry schiavo. You used to have a license plate that said choose life. Yeah. Any regrets over the fight . No, we were the first state to have a choose life license plate that helped with Crisis Pregnancy Centers around the country, around the state. And im pro life. I also believe that the most vulnerable in our society need to be protected. And in this case, here was a woman who was vulnerable and the court because of our laws, didnt allow her. They were going to allow her to be starved to death. We passed a law, terrys law that was ruled unconstitutional. I stayed within the law, but acted on my core belief that the most vulnerable in our society should be in the front of the line. They should receive our love and protection. And thats exactly what i did. Where you stand today. Okay. There was an indication in an article today, gay marriage, are you changing your position at all . No, i believe in traditional marriage. Okay. There were numerous reports that you were telling people privately that you are a moderate but then public no. I describe myself as a reagan constitutional conservative. How would you describe yourself . As a practicing reformminded conservative. That ive actually done it. Marijuana in colorado, legalization, good or bad idea . I thought it was a bad idea but the states ought to have the right to do it. I would have voted no if i was in colorado. Okay. Im going to mention a few names. Hillary clinton. Foreign fund raising. Were supposed to do a word association. Yeah, kinda. You did good. How did that work . Very good. Bill clinton. Bubba. All right. Thats pretty funny. I do an impression. How ya doin i want to say hi to the cute chick in the back. Let me get a little bit over here. Stay away from the radio and tv talk hosts. Barack obama. Failed president. Failed president. Theres been a big debate now about the issue of american exceptionalism. Yeah. In your view, do you believe americas exceptional . And why do you love the country enough youre going to go through the difficulty and trials and tribulations of running for office . And thats our last question . Well, i do believe in american exceptionalism. I got to be the chairman of the National Constitution center for a couple of years. Its the center that honors our constitution. And i fell in love with the constitution again being there in its presence. And this president has trampled over the constitution and put aside whether you like his beliefs, or not. I imagine no one in this room does. The fact that he is disrespecting our history and the extraordinary nature of our country by doing what hes done is deeply disturbing to me. I think restoring a love of our country and its heritage and tradition and expanding that love in a way that gives people confidence that they can rise up, that they can live the American Dream has to be one of the prime responsibilities of the next president of the United States. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, cpac, governor jeb bush. Thank you all. Thanks. That wraps up our coverage of this portion of the cpac meeting. If you missed any of todays speeches, theyll be available shortly to see online any time at cspan. Org. Former Florida Governor jeb bush, the final speaker in this series. You may have seen a number of attendees of the conference walk out before the top of his remarks. Thunz7u Washington Times got word of this and posted this story. William temple a member of the Golden Isle Tea Party told the times the party doesnt need another bush in office and the party should listen to the grass roots activists that helped field their gains in the 2014 election. Quote, a lot of peoples were not going to come here because they heard jeb bush was speaking mr. Temple said before laying out his plan at the conservative Political Action conference. He was the one up front in the colonial soldier suit. You can see waving a threecornered hat. That story from the Washington Times. More coverage coming up later tonight with remarks from mike pence. You can see his speech at 9 00 eastern on our companion network cspan. And with several candidates attending this cpac meeting, we want to know your thoughts on a republican president ial field. Log on to our Facebook Page at facebook. Com cspan. You can tweet us using using cspanchat. Writing, if you want a real leader, it has to be scott walker. Irene says, none, theyre all koch puppets. Andtw÷ look at the u. S. Capitol where the house and senate have been in session today. The senate is in recess now. But earlier today, they voted to agree to fund the Homeland Security department through september. Department spending is scheduled to run out at midnight tonight. The measure now goes to the house where members are debating choosing which of their colleagues will go to conference with Senate Lawmakers to reach a compromise on funding. Now, the house also today will take up a debate and vote on a bill that would fund Homeland Security for just three weeks while Congress Tries to figure out what to do with the president s executive actions on immigration. Members just wrapped up a vote on motion on a motion to go to conference with Senate Lawmakers to work out differences in Homeland Security spending. You can see the house live on cspan, the senate on cspan 2. Well hear more on that this weekend when House Judiciary Committee chair Bob Goodlatte will join us talk about how republicans are challenging president obamas executive order to allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States without being deported and how the immigration debate became linked to funding the department of Homeland Security. 3 ovz also the texas federal judge has ordered to block president obamas no deportation order. As newsmakers sunday at 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Here are some of our featured programs for this weekend on the cspan networks. On cspan 2s book tv saturday night at 10 00 p. M. Eastern on afterwards Allan Ryskind talks about the communist party in hollywood during the 1930s. And sunday at noon on indepth, our live threehour conversation with harvard law professor and author lonie gruinier. And on American History tv on cspan 3 saturday at 6 00 p. M. Eastern on the civil war, a discussion about the burning of columbia, south carolina, following the surrender of the city to Union General William Sherman and his troops in 1865. And sunday afternoon at 2 00 on oral histories an interview with Daniel Elsburg on the pentagon papers a classified study on vietnam which he copied and gave to the New York Times in 1971. Find our complete Television Schedule at cspan. Org. And let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us at 2026263400. Email us at comments cspan comments cspan. Org or send us a tweet at cspan comments. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Up next, more House College psychology professor and author david rice explores the meeting and origins of the slogan, black lives matter which became increasingly popular after the shooting of Michael Brown by police in ferguson missouri. He spoke recently in massachusetts. This is just over just under 90 minutes. Dr. David rice is associate professor and chair of department of psychology at moorHouse College. The lab explores expressions of identity balance through engagement, the exploration of varied contacts and personal narratives. Its a lab that works to understand due to elicit behavioral bests. Practical application of this work is found in dr. Rices service to the Gordon Commission on the future of assessment and education and as assistant for Student Success at the college. Dr. Rice is faculty representative for moorHouse Colleges board of trustee and cinema, television and emerging media studies program. Hes helped to develop curriculum for the studys major and minor and advises students. He now serves as faculty for this program and africanamerican studies with a special focus on narrative studies. Dr. Rice graduated from moorHouse College with a bachelors of arts degree in psychology and earned a doctorate at howard university, with a masters in journalism from Columbia University he applies his research to cultural criticism. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal sorry, for the journal of negro education and previously served for the journal of popular culture. Hes previously provided commentary for npr, pri, cbs news cnn, msnbc and his writings and opinions have appeared in the Washington Post, los angeles times, the dallas morning news, the huffington post, vibe magazine ebony. Com and the root. I met dr. Rice a little over a year ago. In 2013 as a Domestic Exchange student at Spellman College, i had the opportunity to enroll in dr. Rices psychology of the africanamerican experience class. His class changed my life. It is our hope that this lecture will challenge you to think about, reflect on and question the world around you. It is with great pleasure and honor that we introduce to you dr. David wall rice. You dr. David rice. Thank you very much. Good evening to all of you. Of course i want to thank president bottomsly and Wellesley College for having me here this evening. Its a big deal to be here. Specifically i want to thank dr. Cameron and in particular black Womens Ministry group that was responsible for bringing me here. You took some of what i was going to say alexis. I want to thank Alexis Griffin also specifically because of the dedication that she had both in the class and in making sure that i was able to come here. She said almost immediately after she took my class that she wanted me to come to wellesley to be able to have a conversation with you all. And she has pushed for some time to make sure that happened. Even though she beat me up significantly around a grade that she earned in the class which was a strong grade but nonetheless she made sure that i was here. So, thank a for that. And my new dear friend, ms. Harris, tyler harris, who made sure i arrived safely and unscathed from the airport. They picked me up in a car that had no window washer fluid in it. So, we were all a bit anxious except for i guess tyler wasnt because she was as cool as a cue cucumber. Thank you for saving my life on several different occasions. So, tonight i want to unpack a few ideas in working of support of the title thats put center in front of us which is make it matter. Central to my conversation with you is honesty intellectual academic and practical honesty psychological agency and the exercise of democratic space and the comprehension and negotiation of narratives. All of this presented and assembled hopefully in a way to make us more aware of how it is we can practically make black lives matter. As has been said and is frequently understood, im a Research Psychologist at base, right . Personality Research Psychologist specifically who looks at narratives in search of expressions and development. Im an asset driven individual that bleeds over into my research which means im looking for the best in all of us. Thats more novel, actually, than you might imagine. With the narrative and journalism stuff, i like to tell stories. So, i hope that you dont mind and youll indulge me a but throughout parts of the talk as i work out ideas with you by telling stories that incorporate observed experiences of others and observable behaviors that ive held personally. All of this is in service of theory and thinking towards praxis that is reasonable, i hope in behavioring social justices in framing fundamental democratic freedoms. Is that cool with everybody, im going to tell stories tonight . Cool. Thats whats up. Honestly, i guess ill start with this idea well, this came up first. Well come to this in a second. Honestly make it matter, full disclosure, ive maintained a history of remaining of having some kind of remove if not unconvinced when i see hashtag anything. It probably shows my age in many respects. It can present strife among other things. The commercialism of it all loses me often. Having a slogan for the revolution is not at all cool if theres no there there. I couldnt see depthness attached. To be sure, i can be critical bought i dont square myself a cynic exactly. Took a picture of myself in a hoodie after Trayvon Martin was murdered, but it felt a Little Hollow to me. And, frankly, it seemed too much about me in much the same way rocking a malcolm x shirt or paraphernalia back in the day felt a little much for me when spike lees biopic came out. Kind of like when tshirts and medallions felt a little much after jay z kind of styledous in the 2001 mtv unplugged. Everybody has all of t things and theres this high degree of commercialism thats associated with it but is there any there there . As an aside, this is where this comes up a little break for us it should be noted i never, ever thought the leather off wooden africa medallion was or ever could be played out. I was pleased to see that Marshawn Lynch donned a few in his forced media appearances before the super bowl just over a week ago, right . You see that there. That was awesome. He said to all my africans in the house did you watch that . It really is dope. Go seahawks. That is for my 7yearold son, who is a tremendous seahawks fan. I told him i was coming to the new england area. He said if you see him tom brady, tell him hello but tell him i was actually rooting for the seahawks. But i think Marshawn Lynch, ee not incidentally put in here. Well get to whats explained by social critic jay smoos when we get to start about public theater. Back to the matter. My characterization of social media in relationship to calls for social justice included my distance from black lives matter. The black lives Matter Movement that emerged in 2012 after the state sanctioned killing of Trayvon Martin. At first my selfspeak in response to black lives matter was a bit like this. It was well, of course, black lives matter. Of course, these lives are relegated to the margins on the regular. Know this. Im a black man who lives in georgia, who grew up in the south, texas in particular. Was and am frequently understood as invisible as object as immaterial and i have a little black boy. So, i understand as the kids might say, the struggle is real. So then black lives matter in a hoodie. I wanted more. I wanted someone to feel the pain and the fear of being a black man or of growing into someone with proverbial cross hairs trained on them as it is for us, North Miami Beach police, for me that eye for an eye stuff was real after trayvon was shot through the heart and the system said it was all good. And that was doubly so with mcbrides killing and then eric garner getting choked to death by the cops and Michael Brown being blown away, and barber and her four children 6, 8, 9 and 10 mistakenly pulled over forofo felony in Kaufman County texas. Pulled out at gunpoint. Girly is shot and killed. Were pleased for the indictment but we would much prefer to have him alive. 12yearold tamir rice is shot and killed. So on and so on. In the face of these flashpoints because certainly this is not exhaustive or representative of the depth of extra judicial killings we experience as black folk within the context of americas noting at least slave time to present but again with these flash points there seemed to be more than protest slogan. To respect the law, keeping in mind, of course this is a law and order that is killing us because were black. I fashion the need for a different type of solidarity. Some romantic sense of revolution that id spun in my minds eye. I was vibing with the burning and the looting because i remember the release i felt being there in 1992 after rodney kings verdict. Perhaps irresponsible. Again, i said, were going to be honest. Also honest for me, was the result of looking through an academic, distant, privileged pat arcual, eliteist lens. In defense of myself thats okay. Its part of processing it all. I argue both perspectives, both sets of feelings are important. Separate or together as they are part of part and parcel of figuring each way through the elegant goo. Also we have to include in that this baseline of heteronormativety and all of this which enslaves even the most well meaning of us. We cant stay in those spaces. Less we render ourselves ineffective in working toward systematic and endemic change and we rationalize ourselves to a point of psychological unhealth. So, the contrast between burning this joint down and social media revolutionaries need to do something more real is i will illustrative of the generous of double consciousness. It has me recalling my initial cast of identity orchestration. Wheres my model . Great. Identity oeshg strags was a framework that privileges multiple narrative identities within the selfsystem toward the end of unity within the self and also with the self relative to society. This theoretical exercise was originally done with young black men in an attempt to complicate us beyond stereotype and beyond invisibility and toward humanity. After this work here and the work of many others, thats broader and deeper still here we are with this absurd need to articulate that black lives matter. To be clear black rage and resistance is a healthy psychological response to a history of white cultural terrorism and acute spikes in the snuffing out of black lives with a pretend democracy for too many black people, young black folks in particular. Some of what ive written with black rage is it must be noted that the malaise of cognitive dissidence that envelopes respectable, in their judgment of the rebellious excuse me. It must be noted the malaise of kog any zantd dissidence that are rebellious and even the peaceable one is bound in a national lie. The lie is that we value black lives and the rage comes because the lie is told with smiles and platitudes, smoking gun in hand and a corporation at the liars feet. The turn is the protest, the anger, the rage, thats the truth. It is healthy and justifiable. But we are told to muffle it conflating as the president has said, theres no violence for police or those that would use this tragedy as vandalism and looting. Defining activist as aggressor when terrorist been has visited upon him or her. Rage here is the real. Cathartic and common sense. A hammer or tool that can be situated it is a truth we are told to tuck into a preinvestigatored sense of democracy that asks us to. Rage is a psychological offense in its truth telling. And i think attachment to hegomonic norms that allow us to other assessing attempts at liberation is a psychological defense also explaining of course black lives matter is dismisses ive in a way that allows for an alignment with a dominant group removing the immediacy of object fiction from you because to realize you could be arrested for breaking into your own home or killed for getting skittles and iced tea and having on a hoodie or for asking for help after your car stalls or choked to death because youre alleged to be selling loose cigarettes on the block, thats a lot to process. Its a lot to realize my son, the 21yearold innocence that i work with every year from morehouse and Spellman College is me. I can be killed because of the width of my nose, the spring of my hair the thickness of my lips and tint of melonin in my skin. Perhaps as defining myself as exceptional in some way. No my name is david wall rice, as ive been introduced and i belong to an Exceptional Group in so much as we black people have employed agency in face of a society that hands and shoots us lead but we continue to float or rice as great may yeah angelou echoes. They are bound in truth telling. For us i suggest in being intellectually honest setting aside the respectability we occupy by default in this room with one another. If we place at center the respectability, our dominant cultural golden ticket, as it were, we lose sight and lose touch with not who were like this read as the brother sister on the corner, but rather lose sight and lose touch with the fact that we are the brother or the sister on the corner. Even if and when it be a virtual corner, tagged as in graffitied with the call to arms black lives matter. It can present as ever so nuanced, this distancing of ourselves from authentic seflsz. Or communities that our parents are come from or grandparents have come from. The willy wonka that is the formal academy makes distancing even easier. My contention to my students, who i charge as being responsible for liberation studies no matter their major or their discipline is that privileging respectability is colluding with a singular oppressive culture and that is opposite the type of education that we need from and for those who comprise a 21st century democracy. Noon my case my students helped me jolt. From the fog after hearing of mike brown being gubed down like a rekals trant slave, hot body on the pavement for hours. They said, dr. Rice, use twitter. So im dwallrice. Facebook page and Instagram Account but tweeting to me presented problematic for a couple of reasons. Chiefly because theres so much information and then i never know quite what to say. I feel all this pressure i should Say Something really profound and im often at a loss of words at least in terms of a 140 characters. That said on the evening of november 24th 2014 i was drafting an exam for my black psych class to be taken the next day. As you might recall, thats the same day there was the announcement that a grand jury would reveal its decision whether or not to indict the officer who shot mike brown. Inment ways i compartmentalized my feelings around this. I knew i wanted my exam for these students to ab replied and not be basic. I was pushed from a tweet from a student in the class. There it is. d. Wallrice, how are you feeling await for the verdict . I said focus on exam relevant. Then a link to a california news reel piece following greer and cobbs in San Francisco as they rifted on black rage. But that wasnt enough because another student followed with, so, dwallrice, if this man isnt indicted our class should be spent what we should do to help. True that. I didnt write that. We need to do that based on what youve learned and not feelings only. We have the capacity, do it. I finished the exam tweeted it so it could be done in real time. It was due at 2 15 the next day. Then the decision to not indict was announced and i had to go downstairs to the treadmill to put some physicality on the bull i was watching on television and then i got a phone call from yet another student asking for direction as she and two other spellman student Exchange Student from stanford ms. Ali and one from duke, and morehouse students from black cy class were holed up deciding what to do. They took to heart the title of the exam they were tweeted. The title of that exam was, make it matter. And they did. With a significant first step they organized a walk of solidarity for ferguson before and beyond that went from morehouse to the cnn center in northwest atlanta. Though many of them didnt finish the exam on time and i had a heat discussion with them about that nevertheless these students made me proud to be a part of their community. They showed and shared that we matter because were here. And they continued to employ activism these many months later. Theyre in my office. Dont they look great . I love them so much. They continue to employ activism these few months later and a lot of it has to do with defining the problem, asking the right questions and applying the appropriate actions accordingly. Of course that has a lot to do with research and psychology. And other research, right . Right 1234 come on, yall. Its worth noting they found the process of activism does not necessity being on front street to theyre seeing the real work and struggle comes from the strategy behind but perhaps including the commercial for the struggle, at the grammys or at the oscars at sporting event dujour. This is the strength of police colors which is more than a slogan or commercial or trite social media revolutionizeing. The three explained the movement, and i quote this from texts on their website, black lives matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extra judicial killings of black people by police and vigilantes. It goes beyond the narrow nationalism that can be prevent within some black community. Keeping straight black men while our sisters take up roads in the background or not at all. Black lives matter affirms the lives of black, queer and transfolks, women, all black lives along the gender spectrum. It genders those that have been march marginalized. It is a tactic to rebuild the black lives demonstration here with you i want to focus a bit more on the ideological of black lives mattering which then assumes action and the implicit call to make black lives matter or to make it matter. Lonnie for a really long time. Shes super dope. In my classes i often play a recording of her talking about the importance of ut lidzing our democratic space. Amplifying or demonstrating your voice as a value and significant in the for the people government. Leveraging your democratic space and the realization and execution of ones agency, i see as being bound one to the other. Agency, of course is a social cognitive theory that defines one who employs the construct as intentionally influencing her functioning in life circumstance. Bandura continues. In this world, personal or in this view personal influence is part of a causal structure. People are selforganizing proceed active, selfregulating and selfreflecting. Theyre not simply onlockers to their own behavior. They are contributors to their life circumstances and not just products of them. So then the0]kfn exercise of your democratic space, your making it matter, is consequence of how you influence your psychological functioning in life circumstances. Everybodys cool with that . So, if we consider the folks in this room, we can note there is an amount of privilege we possess. Because we have the luxury of pushing and pilg and stretching these ideas together in an effort to shift paradigms rather than only having to deal with the real that comes to us. It is a privilege to be at moreHouse College, at Spellman College, at harvard, m. I. T. , wellesley. Its a privilege to be a man within pate arcy to be white in a white supremacist tiered racist society understood as individual, institutional and cultural. A privilege, i contend, is rooted in a moral imperative that says, this privilege comes with a price, with a responsibility. That responsibility is to figure how to employ your capital your agency, your democratic space in a way that is helpful to the whole of society. How to make who it is and the assets associated your special flaifrg of democracy how do you make that matter. Practicing black lives matter using who you are to create a context in which black folk can affix their awareness and abilities to liberation and freedoms from socialized and psychological oppression. This leans heavily into honest selfassessment and politicking with others to figure the best and most effective fit for you to community. This level of invested agency also necessities that you as an]3ohw instrument of social justice are aware of the influences that inform where, how, when where and why you act toward self and others in a particular way. Understanding narratives are pivotal in this regard. In short narratives are story that frame, guide and ground behavior. Personal narratives are vital to individual psychological unity and public master narratives inform how it is we socially identify and how we behave. Narratives also have a lot to do with implicit biases. Weve heard a lot about that in common parlance when were talking in the media about race and racism. With implicit bias and race the idea is an unconscious self takes cues from a stereotype, and ill argue a storied reservoir of information about capacity or comportment based on race or culture and engage accordingly, so then race doesnt exist or persist even among those who claim theyre not racist. Weve been exposed to that before, right . We know that stuff. With this in mind, music television, movie, news and other media are not at all trivial in shaping behavior. They exist as powerful socializing behavior because they reinforce dominant narrative that bolster, define and disrupt personal narratives that can influence personal behavior. Lets connect the dots. From the standpoint of ones personal psychology, selfnarratives or life stories help to define who you are by creating psychological cohesion or psychological unity. Dan mcadams life story of identity. Dr. Mcadams is at northwestern, asserts that People Living in modern societies provide their lives with unity and purpose by constructing internalized and evolving narratives of the self that demonstrate complex relations between individual lives and cultural madernity. I was born in d. C. , i consider it home, but es sishlly i grew up in california and texas. I married here and partnered with x, live here, work here, all this provides a script that allows for my life to click together comfortably in my minds eye. Then there is more sense making of the self. As a result of those common narratives shared with others. How is it that i might be further affirmed by hearing similar narratives to mine from others suggesting my story is in fact, valid or normal or healthy. This is how i maintain visibility within society. In her book more beautiful, more terrible , amman terry has a chapter on racial narratives that helps bridge what im talking about more substantially. Of course, she says a lot of good stuff. For our purposes i want to enter where perry distinguishes between narratives and stereotypes, which is an important distinction. Paraphrasing professor perry within the 21st century wannabe post Racial Society we more easily dismiss stereotypes understanding they are generalizations that dont serve well in experiencing or engaging others substantively. Narratives, again, perry is talking about racial narratives but here im going a little further. Narratives are different because they are by which we identify and place ourselves within the world. So, if were telling our life story, if were attaching ourselves to others life stories or attaching ourselves to other narratives, theres this cognitive processing that takes place that we make sense of the world in these certain ways. The stories that are being told about us about others or to us we begin to internalize and synthesize and in that becomes very, very important for us to become aware of. So, master narratives relative to identity are further explained beautifully by Research Psychologist Cynthia Winston and historian Michael Winston and what they state, and this is paraphrasing, within racialized societies persons construct the personal collective and cultural dimensions of their identity in part within the context of the racial ideologies that present themselves in master narratives of race. The narrative features of these master narratives are reinforced by the institutional and structural features of society as well as through the political and economic realities that automatically create limited opportunities distributed by race. A persons identity is a psychological dimension of personality that functions to integrate past present and anticipated future Life Experiences to answer perplexing and complicated questions. The ones we all ask. Who am i as a person. What does the life mean in the social context in which i live. How do i bring unity and purpose to my life through how i think about myself and who i am. And how do i fit into the adult world. We look at broad stories and we can incorporate these at least into part how we understand or experience people because of the storied nature by which we understand self and the cognitive processing that helps to splice truths of our lives with perceived or possible truths that are presented in other stories. And we often behave and engage based on that understanding of how things go. Again, our selfreflection is important but as important is how it is we assume and incorporate and highlight broad narratives because of the influence of positive or negative. If black lives matter then what of the explicit and implicit narratives we take in and that help to form our context relative to how it is that we respect and appreciate self. Our relationship to society and our fit within it. There is the ability to psychologically undercut our agency if the depth and breadth of narratives about us are so offcenter that they con found authentic seflsz and relationships based on how we are understood and how we understand ourselves. So heres a little bit of an example here. So this. Bam anybody know who this is . Scandal, right . So we have olivia pope the president and some dangerous whats the thing called . Oh there we go. So, interesting thing is. Were very excited. This is not in the parlance of you young people to throw any shade but i want to make sure were looking at exactly whats going on here. We as a society have celebrated chandra rimes and greys anatomy and and the other one tay diggs is on. So, we wanted to respect and understand that. I think this is dangerous. Why could scandal be perceived by me as dangerous. Let me help you out so you dont have to say it live on cspan. So olivia pope here reinforced stereotypes about how black women can be. So i happen to watch scandal. So, olivia pope in the last couple episodes because i caught up over the weekend, i have on demand, so the last couple episodes, the Season Finale shes dancing around to Stevie Wonder and she says, i choose me. Im not choosing between the president or b3 anyway. Im not choosing. Im going to have both of you. I want the sunshine and whatever else. Shes not choosing right . Shes going to be partnered with both of these men. As episodes progress into the new season or midseason shes kidnapped and everybodys looking for her. She says, look im whats up. The president digs me. Hes going to do whatever he has to do to find me right . And so then to escape, she says, this is like spoiler alert right . Im sorry. I have to do it, though, dr. Cameron. She says look captors why dont we put me up for sale . Were going to put me on sale to the highest bidder because we know that the president will either pay for me or other people will pay for me because me as a sexual object is to valuable to this person, right . So the thing is we feel very i dont think im pulling too much thread here, right . I think that the thing that becomes important for us to look at is how comfortable we are as a society with having certain types of stories about us that are put out there. How is it those think about the world we live in what it is our personal value its and what it is our relationships look like, right . Its curious to look at. My relationship as a man a developing man growing up in this Media Society we live in how i begin to relate to my partners. That bction an interesting question. Thats rhetorical, at least, until the q a part. This is one thing thats important to look at. Oh i have to press it twice. Boom, here we go again. Beast mode. Marshawn lynch. Anybody know about Marshawn Lynch. Hes awesome. Thats the first thing. Marshawn lynch is awesome. The big hubbub for him around media days in the nfl is that he was not wanting to give interviews in public right . There are stories he has an aversion to speaking publicly. People on his team have taken up for him and then he came out and spoke publicly but said you all know why im here right . Im here so im not going to get fined. On youtube you can find this, theres a critic by the name of j. Smooth who talks about this interplay between Marshawn Lynch and the owners of this buck f we are going to reduce them to narratives. If were going to reduce them to narrative terms, we can look at them that way, right . In terms of there being owners of someone and theyre going to do what it is they say they need to do. So, if we talk in that way, jay smooth points very well out for us this theater of disobedience right . Where Marshawn Lynch is actually skirting the line of what it is he needs to do in order to not be fined but still maintain this unadulted presentation of himself. Thats important. Its important to look at narratives this way. Remember i said im really digging assets. Im doing that. Whats being done within and across media that can show strong demonstrations of how it is youre going to value self and or family and community. He actually said that. He said, you know, you all all largely immaterial to me in terms of the pr machine. The people i care about are my family, the folks i go home to. Thats really important to look at because theres so many other stories we can easily pen about him, right . Important to look at. Oh, my kid loves him and he wants to go to berkeley because of him, too. Sorry, didnt mean to bring flashbacks there. Oh, this is jay cole. Wow. So jay cole is a notable artist, right . He has an album that just came out. Whats it called . 2014 forest hill drive. So the interesting thing about jay coal i know who he is because im older and know who jay z is and i know jay cole signed rock nation and showed up on the blueprint album and all that. The interesting thing is he called morehouse in advance of his album released and he he said he wanted to speak specifically to a psychology class about what it looks like to be successful pe he said he wanted to talk to a psychology class, and he talked to them, you can find this on youtube somewhere, he talked about what success looks like. Its not the flash you might see on television. We know that he graduated from st. Johns right . I think its magna. I think hes magna cume laud graduate. He went and talked to a group of students who number 20. Interesting thing is this is what it looked like outside of our building as people began to tweet one another that he was there. Jay cole, i think not only what he did in terms of coming to morehouse and speaking but if you listen to album, its full of a whole bunch of different stuff but there are important and good and narratives about what his life looks like that are communicated that i think we can all be affirmed around and within, okay . Oh i love her. Ava davarney. Shes dope. The thing about being a director and an advocate for not only the film selma but what has gone on in terms of a history of civil rights is so remarkable because of how it is shes been vocal. When they concerned about how lbj was presented in the film, she said to Rolling Stone and im paraphrasing, i was not interested in writing or developing a white savior piece. I was interested in talking about the people of selma. That is profound to be able to say it on her level right, with the movie in front of her. She could let it speak for itself. That kind of speaking truth to power is really, really important. The lead actor, the brother david whats his name . So david daushg im not nigerian. No, but you said it correctly. Say it one more time. So david is also very powerful. Theyre partners in this right . So one of the things that he said on mlk day. Theres a Martin Luther king jr. Day service thats held at Ebenezer Baptist church in atlanta and he was brought up to speak. And he gave a very, very powerful speech overall and part that i honed in, that i brought to my class is, he said were not used to as society or hollywood in particular having black people who are at the center of their own narratives. In telling about themselves and being unapologetic about being good or valuable or worth something. That becomes something thats very important for us to be able to look at. Who and how these folks are talking about themselves and the communities they come from. Dear white people. Good movie. The reason i thought it was so powerful is because this speaks directly to why it is and how it is black lives matter, right . The intersectionality thats presented in this film is profoundly important. And i think that those types of narratives and having a writer and director who is black whos talking about inexperience becomes vital to amplify, all right . So, this is actually on the foldout of ilmatic, which celebrated its 20th Year Anniversary last year. If you look at a documentary about kind of the making of the film and the impact of it, the thing that really impressed me with respect to that narrative is that naz talks about being intelligent. He talks about some of the things he faced along the way and all that kind of stuff but in the end they Start Talking about all the folks who are in this picture and the large number of them that are either dead or in jail. Now, that can certainly be viewed as typical pathology and deficit orientation. But i think to recast that and to look at it, he talked about how folks in this picture did not necessarily get along that well. But for the sake of what it is they were trying to do in the sake of his album, they sat there and were together with one another. Thats a powerful commentary in what Community Looks like. Naz is only successful because of and i invite to you take a look at this documentary because of his mother, who is the core, his father who is important and his brother. And so that kind of relationship and to his friend il will who passed, who was shot. That type of interrelatedness to community, to make sure you amplify that community s so important for us to recognize and to look at when were validating black lives and making black lives matter. Just an example. One of many, right . You know who this is . Jean gray. Shes awesome. She just did some big acting debut on two broke girls monday night on cbs. She came to morehouse and spellman and gave some talks to my black psych class. When ferguson popped off, we were talking to her and she said it would be inauthentic for her to cut a record that was looking at ferguson for maybe a typical way, kind of pushing back and all that stuff, and she was looking at her personal agency and what she could do. What she did, in columbus circle, she was part of a hug station. So she just gave hugs to people who needed a hug. That is profound, right . Seemingly insignificant, perhaps, but profound. She really sick afterwards. She didnt say she wouldnt do it again. But those type of stories, theres a couple more here ill try to go through. The trials of muhammadmuhammadali . Anybody see this . I would suggest you see it. Its on netflix. Muhammad ali is a hero to me and to many folks. The interesting thing about this is it shows the political stand he took and the repercussions of that political stand, which we kind of are able to romanticized but it goes into the specifics of it. The more important thing, though, is it looks at his exwife, it looks at his brother, it looks at folks who were around him. Again, it reinforces what it looks like to be a part of a community. So often when were with an american society, we look at this rugged individualism. Somebody that pulls themselves up by their boot straps. I think these narratives become profoundly important because they demonstrate how black lives are interacted one with another within the larger fabric of the United States and again, how and why they matter. Lets see this is from saturday night live a couple weeks ago. One thing i did about this dangelo story is why de it. Anybody hear the story behind that . So deangelo was shook when he heard there was a nonindictment in ferguson for mike brown. So he said the only way the story is, the only way he knew how to do something was through his music. So he put out black messiah. How he characterizes the album this is after 14 years of having not put an album out, right . The way he characterizes black messiah messiah, he says its not necessarily black people. We can all be black messiahs one to another, right . We can all deliver salvation if we understand, invest in community and value one another. And so his album is dope music alley. Its difficult to hear what hes singing with, but you read the lyric sheets becomes important to do, right . This is an outline of a piece he did on saturday night live. And is there anybody else . Oh man. Im sorry, yall. I went all the way back . Im sorry. What happened . I have to do it all over again . Gentleman bit nachl michael render. Are you familiar with him . He goes by the stage name killer mike. Oh, yeah killer mike k. M. So killer mike actually i met in the airport. And i was moved by his most recent incarnation, which is as a part of a group called run the jewels. So its a great album. Theres social kra seekcritique and stuff i see as being so valuable. Were getting on the airplane together. I tweeted and i said hey mike you need to come to the department of psychology and sit dourn and talk with some of the students here. So, he friended me and tweet med back and he said, when do i do this . Not trying to stalk you or anything. You have to be delicate there. We landed. I went back and forth with him. We talked on the phone. We developed a way for him to come and teach this class i teach now, black men, black boys, in the psychology of modern media. Hes committed to three lectures. He gave his first one yesterday. And hell give another two. Hell come in and out of the class. I cant say enough about him because of how invested he grew up in atlanta how invested he is in community and how it is he charged the students who were in that class that he shared with me yesterday, he charged them to make sure that they werent interloepers in their own community. The responsibilities he said they needed to assume. Those are my examples of personal interactions or commentary on the media spaces that are out there. This is a picture thats powerful to me. This is my black is this this is black men, black boys psychology in modern media a year ago now. They wanted to take this picture as part of a final picture. What it is does this thing work . Im going to mess something up. Lets see. Oh man. This thing right here. To morehouse, what moreHouse College used to do all the time, they had this poster that had all these different flavors of morehouse men. Some were in uniform, some just had on a backpack but there was this diversity that was there. So, i put this picture up because we really need to know what it is your narratives look like. So, the popular narratives are easy to look at to deconstruct, to celebrate or critique. But what is it your narrative looks like . Not only that, but how is it important for you to put your narrative in your own lifes story as center . You all have got to have the courage and the confidence to be able to do that. To assume agency. To assume your life matters in a way that is demonstrative to others about how it is they can value and be a part of democracy. Im almost done. As i explained and inferred in several of my researches, we understand self and identity within a social system. Personal interactions and experiences are primary and because of the framing capacity of modern immediate, yeah it is also a significant artery by which self definition and definition of our community is achieved. nxtn so, if black lives matter then we have to at the very least be aware that make making it matter is part of leveraging presentations about who we really are is valuable enough to communicate to others within our sphere. If we are to make it matter, then we look at who we are and whatever discipline or position and amplifies the assets who are to kor and our hue minimumty. We help rewrite those master narratives that would suggest black folks as being in the margin or others. We center us within the democracy making enterprise better that demand accountability for our humanity by us and through the body politic. This is one way to make it matter. The fine lines are our individual responsibilities and the struggle for paradigm shifting and revolution in the pursuit of liberation. Black lives matter, indeed,k . n, because of you and because of this you and i have a lot of work ahead of us to make sure we make it matter. That work includes honesty assuming our democratic space with an orientation and fully considering narratives that have the capacity to be destructive or to redefine black people with whole and healthy identities that are community bound. This is of course, who we really are, right . So finally, all lives matter. And, of course, folks haveqac÷ started kind of coop the black lives matter and talk about all lives matter. Of course, all lives matter. But its crucial to focus on the urgency of attending to black lives and our status within the United States. And doing this with and for black lives matter we develop a path and a structure to extend beyond this finite space to the realization of a true american democracy for black lives and beyond. Thats it. [ applause ] so im happy to engage any pushback to try and answer any questions. I look at this as a collaborative effort. So everything that i say i dont expect to necessarily be understood as the gospel. So i welcome kind of a critique and pushback. So any questions or comments, please. It was perfect . Oh, they said no. First, thank you for your lecture and your. S and your work. I was wondering as a blogger and as an aspiring journalist, what major influence do you see in incorporating these narratives and how do you think hypothetically the coverage would have changed if more narratives were included in ferguson, et cetera, et cetera . Well you know, the more that you incorporate authentically who black people are, the lesskt you have to articulate that black lives matter. And so that again becomes a profound important statement. The fact that that has to be said demonstrates that theres some disconnect between who and how it is black people are. For us to say black lives matter and for to us say, yeah, we do need to tell folks that, so the more that we have those narratives, whether they be fiction and or whether they be authentic, i mean, the less we have to you know, assert ourselves. Its a shame that we have to say black lives matter. Its ridiculous. But it persists as this Ralph Ellison talks about this invisibility. There are these assumptions of who you think i am. Its not based on me at all. Its based on most easily we could say these stereotypes. Here again i argue its based on the narratives we put forth about us that people assume to be true, ourselves included. Thank you for quet. Nhcn thank you for your lecture. Thank you. Give me a minute to think about this because i always find it interesting when we talk about giving differentm narratives of what it means to be black or what it means to be africanamerican. And sometimes i wonder if its our responsibility because sometimes, just like you said, its ridiculous to have to say all black lives matter. Is it also not ridiculous to think we arent all a monolith and we do have different narratives. Thats something i struggle with. So whats the question . Do you think its ridiculous that we have to kind of say we have to present these different narratives in the media or that we shouldnt just be perceived to have different personalities different backgrounds and different forms of life . Yes, i think its ridiculous. We shouldnt have to have the responsibility 37 quite honestly, not Everybody Needs to assume that responsibility. The reason i gave this lecture to you here is i think you have the responsibility. To whom much is given, much is expected. So you all have this tremendous privilege. I think that becomes important for us to recognize so that if we sit in a seat of privilege then we have to exercise that responsibly. Im standing here because my grandfather, who well, i wont go into that story. I stand here because of the folks who come before me. Because of the sacrifices they made, because of the things theyve said because of you know the way they position their lives so that i could be here, my job is not just to get an education and to get money and live the fiction thats the American Dream it really is to help to liberate others. Thats why i went to moreHouse College, right . And so i see the charge of being at wellesley as largely similar. The reason that you all collapse in this space is not so that can you have this basic experience of being smart and demonstrating that to the ong world. Its how is it that are you going to use the education you have the inte electrictive competence youre developing, not the training and how is it youre going to apply that in ways that make the world better for women, right or for lbgtq, transgendered folks, black foilgs, how is it youre going to place yourself in your agency or your democracy and make the world better . That sounds that oftentimes sounds so grandiose but it really isnt right . It really isnt it. We have the responsibility. I have the responsibility to be here and to Say Something. Not just to kind of be here and give live. Did that make sense in terms of it did. I want to make sure were not just taking and youre like, you didnt even say anything. Questions, comments, pushback . So thank you first for being here. Thank you. I was a little confused on the question is there any there there. Can you explain that a little more . I can. In the beginning what i was saying is that i was talking about having some distance from kind of blacklivesmatter. To me it seemed a lot of commercial. It seemed all beef and no substance. There was a lot of hashtags and dieins and all of these kinds of performances but what was undergirding it, right . So what is this movement, right, supposed to be . Well, the creators of black lives matter say its not a moment. It is a movement. So if its a movement, then we have to figure out how it is we attach ourselves to it in whatever ways that is going to make us most impacting. And then progress or perform accordingly. So, what i was saying in the very beginning is that and this really is this really is kind of my what i was talking about at the front end was my psychological Defense Mechanisms right . Hashtags, whatever. Its easy to distance yourselves from these things when you dont have to deal with the immediacy of it. When mike brown was killed, that stuff hurt me. You know . That stuff hurts. Because its not like he was the most reebt or he was an anomaly. It was like lined up. Mcbride getting blown out because her car stalls and shes trying to ask for some help . And were talking about young, black lives 37. So to just put a hoodie on or just to put a hashtag in front of some words and a cool picture, theres no there there if thats all that it is. How is it youre occupying and employing activism . Thats what i was trying to say. Thank you. Thank you for quet. Yes, please. Know you mentioned that were all privileged to be in this particular room or to be at the institutions that weve been in, and youve been morehouse, howard youve been to columbia and you seem to have a really good grasp of that. You said that privilege shouldnt be a negative thing. So how have you found you have been able to navigate that privilege while still being able to make impactful change . My mama. I mean it really is. My mother and my father. The people that i surround myself with. My partner my wife. Those are folks that helped to ground me. And so may mom my mom came here for it was the junior experience. My mom went to vassar. My dad went to yale. So i recognized that as being some sort of privilege and something thats important, but they came from my dad grew up in d. C. , my mom came from segregated, virginia. Portsmouth, virginia specifically. Grandparents went to virginia union. Granddaddy was at norfolk state. So again looking at how and why it is that they did what they did, they did it so that they could open doors for folks like you. I would dare say that my mom would be so moved i know shes moved that im here giving this talk. Hey, mom, how are you. So i know shed be moved to see me give the talk, but to see all of you all here, you know when she was going through whatever she was going through at vassar, which was tough she got an education for a reason. And so for me it was always thought, well of course youre going to college just like youre going to the first grade. And the reason that youre going to college, the reason that youre getting a doctorate, the reason that youre getting caked up with all these degrees right is not so that you can just brag and boast about how smart you are. It is so that you can use those tools to make some type of substantive change to speak truth to power. Right . When youre in positions to be able to do so. So the way that i negotiate and navigate is by surrounding myself who are most like my heroes my parents. You mentioned something about respectability politics and you mentioned also being an active in your communities after you get educations. For people who collude with the you took all the notes. How would you respond to those people . Because oftentimes you read in the newspapers who say, well, yes, black lives matter but then they counter with, what about black on black crime . Which to me speaks of respectability politics because you kind of lump them all in the same group. So how would you respond to such people . Have several seats sir. You know thats an interesting question because respectability politics is so curious. Really when people employ that, what theyre doing is they are colluding because they are attaching themselves to this normed culture that is easily able to other people. Its like, oh, well i got a suit and a tie on so im able to step over here with them. Whats that guy doing over at the liquor store . He needs to pull himself up. Ingot an education and my parents went to such and such. And it is not understanding or appreciating or respecting the context within which were growing and developing and having to negotiate our lives. And so what i would say to folks who would say that what about black on black crime, yeah, its a problem. Know what im sayin . And we can always i dont even get into the argument of well, you no he its always going to be intracultural in terms of violence and all that kinds of stuff. Im not interested in that. Yeah its all a problem. Right . But right now what im concerned with is you blowing young black lives away. So lets deal with that. How is it that i mean you changing the conversation that were having does not obfuscate us from the reality of whats going on with respect to how it is that black bodies are understood as being disposable. Period. So it can be by us. But it certainly can be by you. And so lets figure out how we deal with that. You just placing the responsibility back on me. Im assuming the responsibility. Black lives matter. I really want to curse. But black lives you know . They matter. You know . Why are we even getting in this kind of conversation . It makes no sense whatsoever. And a lot of that is i think this is what i was presenting in the beginning is this kind of you dont even want to believe or think about things. Its almost like when i teach black psychology we talked about this i think when you were there, alexis, too to really think about black folks as being slaves. Chattel slaves. Being owned. Being depreciated belou how you value a pet. Being burned, being lynched being raped. Have something the child cut out of your belly. I mean thats some horrible horrible, evil stuff. And so for folks to say, why dont you just get over that, no. No. All of this stuff is systematic. It is related one to the other. So what has to happen is we have to be honest and tell truths. Whats up with black on black violence . Yeah, it sucks. We got to deal with that. And people are dealing with it. But now how is it that youre going to deal with how it is that youre contributing to o oappreciateohio opression and killing of black bodies. Try to do it off camera. So hi im courtney. I also want to thank you for your wonderful lecture. So when you mentioned scandal i felt like you watch it but very critically. But i hear a lot of people criticizing the show because of olivias relationship with the president and the infidelity in the show. And just as you were speaking about how to keep the conversation on like the significant part of the black lives matter and not just let allowing people to overt the situation to black on black crime. How can we create a more complex conversation over olivias relationships and the relationship that black women get in rather than just saying that the show is problematic because shes in this complicated relationship or maybe this is portraying black women in a negative way because in reality black women do find themselves in that situation. Theyre not the only ones. All women at some point might find themselves in that situation. How can we from maybe a psychological perspective create a more complex conversation over those relationships . You have a more complex conversation by having greater presence in terms of the stories that depict black lives. Right . You have more of that. But i think it also becomes important and this is kind of my qualifying statement is that i understand that i am a black man. Right . And i understand the society in which i live. And i understand that i have a position as ally in many different ways. But that still is going to color in many ways how it is that i assess and define things also. So i dont mind kind of being pushed around, to be like, well you really got to consider this also. But we have more narratives that talk about black women in different ways. You know . When you have olivia pope thats complex and she does a fierce walk and all that kind of stuff. She like walks and means it. Have you seen her walking . She is serious. Right . Shes cold. She can dress. Shes articulate educated and all that stuff. I hate that i just said shes articulate. Anyway, does all this great stuff. But when you have the counter balance of that as being loving hiphop or the counter balance of that being real housewives of atlanta. Or the counter balance being whatever woman is objectifying is being objectified and hurling somebody over the table by their hair and all that kind of stuff. When you have that as kinds of when im talking this is how i look at black women as depicted in the media. When you have that look at the violence thats depicted on that part of my community. Right . So when im looking for positive images of black women im so glad to have ava devarnay. Im so glad to have dr. Kim. Im so glad to have dr. Shettal at spelman. There are all these folks that tims very proud to have as different parts of my community to look at. We just need to ive used this word over and over again. But we need to amplify those figures, those images and those stories. But id love to, and do go back and forth about scandal. Because i think it is a powerful piece of television. Its something that folks are invested in. But we have to be critical of it, in the same way that we have to be critical of beyonces flavor of feminism. Right . And thats hard to have conversations about. Especially for me because there are a lots of folks that i love and dig who are public academics who would be like david, oh my gosh, hold on. Because im part of the bbee hive. But i think not having those conversations and putting it front and center really allows us to escape some of the responsibility im saying we have to assume also. Okay. Then lastly, i really like your word amplify that youre using a lot. I just wanted to say that. But i wanted to sort of bring attention to the show blackishcy ellis ross is a professional, she works in a dock tr. Her husband is a professional. So there are other expressions of black womenhood and professional black women on television and we need to amplify them by supporting and watching. Youre right. Youre right. Thank you