Transcripts For WETA Tavis Smiley 20100826

Financial literacy and remove obstacles to Economic Empowerment one conversation at a time. Nationwide is on your side. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis starting tomorrow night, we will bring you a unique look at new orleans five years after hurricane katrina, courtesy of my recent visit with an oscar winning film maker. Tomorrow, we will see the city through the eyes of a Xavier University president dr. Norman francis, who is at the forefront of bringing back the college community. His views on the ups and downs of this journey. Friday, well introduce you to a family that had to indoor both the hardships of the storm and the stereotypes surrounding their muslim religion. Their story is particularly relevant in the National Debate right now over the proposed mosque near ground zero. Tonight, dave walker, a veteran reporter and columnist of the timespicayune, who has been covering television and media for the paper for more than a decade now. It always a pleasure to have you on the program. What do you make of all the renewed focus . Every network, every cable outlet, all the focus on new orleans now, is that good or bad . It is a combination of both. I spent the weekend compiling the list because it is so long. Everybody here is bracing for what it is the coverage will be, because it is so complicated even five years after the storm. It is complicated because it what has happened here recently even. I think people are concerned that the story be told in all of its complexity and fullness, but i also think people want the duality of the situation to be told, the fact that much of the city that people know and love is intact and functioning and a great place to come visit. At the same time, there are parts of the community, some of my neighbors are still on their knees. The coverage has to encompass all of that, now especially, it is more important five years after. Tavis it is it possible to tell the story in its complexity and fulness given there is a tendency to go back to all of the footage of what was five years ago . I think there is this tendency to talk about the politics of what happened or did not happen five years ago. Can the story and all of these various recounts by the various networks and others, can it be told in its complexity and fullness . I think so because there has been progress on a lot of fronts. I think that aspect of the story can be believed for anyone coming here to do media reports from new orleans. I think one of the things that really troubles people here is when the inevitable broll under whenever the story is is flooded streets, and that was a long time ago. We are still living with the aftereffects of all of that, the failed levees and floats, but there has been so much happening here the failed levees and floods, but there has been so much happening here, much of a positive. There is a revolutionary change in the schools happening right now. I think that story is still far from being resolved, how it will turn out. We dont know. I think in all aspects of society, there are stories for the correspondence to pay off that highlight a lot of the positive growth. Tavis how have you stayed on top of your game . How have you covered this story when you are human, too . You have a family, you have neighbors. How does a reporter stay focused on the story when theyre trying to make it themselves . Well, i knew the minute that i saw the water five years ago and i said this to my wife i said this will be the less story that i ever right. She also works at the paper, and she understood some aspects of katrina and the flood was going to be in everything that are right at the paper until i retire. It is a central organizing the event in the city, a moment right now. You sort of resolve yourself to it. I have been honest, i have watched a lot of the stuff that will be on the air through the weekend. Critics get advance copies, and some of it is difficult to watch. The stuff that has been most difficult for me personally to watch is anything that has footage from the media. Lou to the storm. From the media predlude to the storm. I think one of the things that brought a lot of people through this is you try not to think about what it was like before the storm. The decadeslong challenge of rebuilding the city for both your children and ancestors at the same time, you partition that time of your life. Flooded baby pictures are a problem, no matter the household, and you sort of get over that and you block it off in your mind and focus on the test. That said, the task this week is incredible. There is so much focus on new orleans, and i think that is good. I trust the people who have been here the most, and i would include you in jonathan in that group. I trust that group to tell the story as best they can and tell the story as it deserves to be told. I am fairly confident that what people will see watching television, i am hoping it is a fairly accurate representation of where we stand. Tavis so much of it gets blamed on the media. Take me back five years ago and tell me whether you think the media did a pretty good job of telling the story so that the American People could be in touch with what was happening there. We beat up the media, some of it deserved, but give me your assessment of how they have done on this story five years ago . At the last minute, i left town before the storm made landfall so i could be somewhere where there was electricity to watch the coverage, a decision my boss and i made at the last minute. Otherwise i would have stayed through the worst of it. Im glad i got to see the coverage because i think you could make the case that in many cases, the media, the reporters who were here were the true first responders. You and your colleagues actually had to inform the government what was happening at the convention center, and there are lots of stories like that. I think a lot of those people who were here in the worst had their right was burned by what they saw, and have not let the story die they had the image seared into their memory and have not let the story die. I think sometimes people think the message of poor new orleans is damaging to the recovery, but my fear was the story would go away. I personally am grateful that a lot of the National Media has not let it go away and has continued to look hard at the problems and the positives here. We have plenty, and its still a good story, even though it is not so great to live it. From the perspective of the people who are coming here, i get it. I am hoping that the mass of the coverage does not result in a takeaway of people asking, why would anyone live there . Because the problem that can be highlighted in that kind of coverage might lead you to that conclusion. I am hoping that the culture, the food, the music, the things that drive the people who made the choice to come back and work through this, i hope those things are represented and demonstrate to people that think that makes new orleans great is still present. Tavis you know that question will be asked, why would you go back, why would you live there, the city is still a bowl geometrically speaking. Why is it you and others choose to live there . I can answer that by mentioning a few things i know on the beat, things i would recommend to viewers, things i think that answer that question. One is hbos treme. I think it celebrates the weight that culture saved the city the way that culture saved the city and saving individuals at the same time. I think that answers the question. As far is living in a bowl, there is a piece that will be in theaters that is an examination of the levees and the wetlands that proves the problems are solvable and there is a solution out there that could complete the protecting of the city. Clearly, i dont think i need to make the argument that the place that gave the world Louis Armstrong and Harry Connick jr. , that place needs to be preserved and restored. And i think there are aspects of the coverage that i think will get you that and will balance the stuff about crime and police, and the fact that tens of thousands of us are still not back, all of which are legitimate stories, but it is the balance i think that i and other viewers will be watching on this, as a form of surveillance. But we are hoping to cover strikes that balance. Tavis for those who decide to come back, for those who have chosen to stay and rebuild their lives and their beloved city, there is, i sense, a price to pay for that. What i mean is this, i have been to memphis many times, but if you live in memphis, it is my sense when i go to that city that that city still has a generation of people who still feel the weight and burden of being the town in which dr. King was assassinated. I still feel that, as sure as my name is tavis smiley, there is a cloud over the city that they were the place in which dr. King was murdered. I ask whether or not there is a psychic the fact, a cloud that will forever hanging over the city even when it is rebuilt, of what the government allowed to happen there, what the government did not do to save residents, etc. . I dont think there is any question, that is the baggage that we all carry. By we, i mean americans. It is something that i dont think a lot of people will ever get over. I understand that completely. What happened here was a failure. Americans were failed, not necessarily new orleans, but americans. In some ways, i think that sort of fuels the fight for the people who stayed and the people who never left and the people who come back, because it just adds another element of the challenge to what is already overwhelming in some cases, but which the rewards are repeatedly proven worth it. To beat in this city after the super bowl was a glorious. Was glorious. Tavis i imagine. He is dave walker, a wonderful writer for the new orleans timespicayune. Dont forget, tomorrow night on this program, we will share the true story of dr. Norman francis and the story of putting the Xavier University back online, and the story of a family. We will focus on katrina, five years later. Dave walker, we love you, and appreciate you coming on. Thank you, tavis. Tavis up next, how the immigration debate will affect the midterm elections. Stay with us. Alfonso aguilar is the executive director of the Latino Partnership for conservative principles, who previously served at the u. S. Office of citizenship under president bush. Thank you for coming in. Let me start with this because i think it will framed conversation. You believe the Republican Party, the gop, is a natural fit even now for hispanic voters. I dont quite get that, so explain it to me. I think hispanics are inherently conservative. There are prolife, they believe in traditional marriage, hispanic businesses are growing three times as fast as the natural average, so Ronald Reagan used to say that conservatives latinos are conservative, they just dont know it. So they have the values, but they vote for the Democratic Party. They vote for the Democratic Party because historically, democrats have reached out to latinos. They think of jfk, Bobby Kennedy doing the work with cesar tshamba says, so traditionally they feel with cesar chavez, said the traditionally feel comfortable with the Democratic Party, but their values align with the Republican Party. What we need to do is reach out and explained it would feel more comfortable with our party. Obviously, what we have to do is also reach out to the Republican Party as the conservative establishment and educate them about the values and aspirations of latinos so they understand they are not liberal but actually very conservative. Tavis respectfully, the Republican Party can sell and focus millions on a campaign to reach out to the hispanic voters. The only problem with the Ronald Reagan statement about latinos is it is very ignorant, as if they do not understand what is important to them. Latinos understand where they stand on this immigration debate. The party could sell all day long, try to pull them all day long, but on the issue is the party is wrong and that is why theyre not getting the votes, yes . Well, not really. The problem with the immigration debate is is oversimplified. The media, i think, has simplified this issue, trying to say republicans are a anti immigration and anti hispanic. At the same time, latinos are not happy with the republicans making outrageous statements. Support for barack obama among latinos has gone down dramatically since the beginning of the year. You are right, latinos are very independent. What Ronald Reagan tried to say is we need to reach out to them to explain our views because they dont understand sometimes where republican stand. Tavis but on this issue, alfonzo, with a Hispanic Community and the rest of us, we do know where republican stand on this. No, who was the last to push against Immigration Reform . It was george w. Bush. He spoke to the entire nation and the oval office, to all americans about the need for comprehensive reform. The term comprehensive reform comes from the bush years. Tavis i agree with that, but bush is no longer in office, john mccain is, and he stood where bush did but he has done a 180. That is what the media says. John mccain believes in a guest worker program. Tavis are you saying that you support i want to be clear are you saying that you support john mccains position on immigration . This john mccain right now . You support his position on immigration . I believe he Still Believes in Immigration Reform and i would still vote for him. Tavis why . I dont support barack obama because he is pandering to latinos. Tavis he is pandering . Mccain from the get go has been wanting to work on emigration. Barack obama told latinos the first year of his administration he would work on immigration. He did not. Then he said, i will propose my own plan and submitted by the end of 2009. Did it happen . No. Now he says, july of an election year, he wants to work on reform. That is adding insult to injury. But second, and this is important, and that is the problem of this debate that is not substantive, he has not outlined what the principles of reform are. George bush said clearly we need to defend Border Security, but we also need it in a guest worker program. Barack obama is only saying that we need border sections and legalization. That is not reform because you need guest worker programs. Tavis here is the disconnect, you keep going back to bush. He is no longer in office. Hold on. We have to deal with republicans who are in the senate and will manage this debate if it gets off the ground. Bush, pardon my english, it aint got nothing to do with that. A lot of people believe barack obama has not been aggressive as president on this issue as he promised he would be nsc should be, no argument, but it as he said he should be and he should be, but i cannot believe that you support the view about the tea party i have not said that. Tavis you are talking that a party that wants to reverse the 14th amendment is worthy of hispanics . I agree with you, i am speaking as a conservative, not a republican. My mention of bush is to say in recent history, we have had republicans that supported immigration. Tavis fair enough. Including john mccain. Tavis the old john mccain. I would agree with you that the Republican Party has been hijacked by a small minority of restriction tests that control the immigration debate of restrictionists who control the immigration debate. I would not say that the tea party stands against Immigration Reform because they dont have a position on it, but i would say there is a small minority of republicans that hijacked this issue, who support the anti immigration groups. Politico just issued a poll last week that shows 50 of Republican Voters support Immigration Reform. In my conversations with members of congress, staffers on capitol hill, i hear republicans saying we want to work on immigration, we want Immigration Reform, but they are silent. They remained silent because of that small minority. They are afraid of them because they fear that there will be labeled. Tavis why is it your position, then, that the democrats are weak on the issue of immigration, republicans are becoming cowards on the issue of immigration i agree and i have said that publicly. I believe that republicans have to stand up, show leadership, and go back to the principles of reagan and say were the party of opportunity and a free market. We should reclaim this issue and promote Immigration Reform. Tavis but until they do that, why do you believe they are a natural fit for hispanics, who obviously put this issue at the top of their agenda . I think it can be a natural fit. If we go back to the principles of reagan, hispanics would be very comfortable with the hispanic party. I dont want to make generalizations about latinos sang that democrats are the party of latinos and saying that democrats are the party of latinos. I think latinos are independent and smart and this upcoming election they should look at the candidates. Recently, harry reid said he could not understand how a person of hispanic heritage to be a republican. That is ridiculous. They will look at the candidates. My organization, the Latino Partnership for conservative principles, has launched a campaign in california to encourage latino is to vote for their values, and we encourage them to vote for carly fiorina. That is a candidate who is staunchly republican, prolife, protraditional marriage tavis and supports the arizona law . But is for doing something on immigration, strengthening Border Security in creating a guest worker program. The vast amount of americans do not support the arizona law but support Immigration Reform. Tavis we are out of time. Send your letters to alfonso aguilar. Not me. Send your letters to alfonso aguilar, not me. Thank you for watching and keep the faith. For more information on todays show, visit tavis smiley at pbs. Org tavis hi, im tavis smiley. Join me next time as we visit new orleans and Xavier University president dr. Norman francis. That is next time. We will see you then. All i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. Im james. Yes. To everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. Nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. With every question and answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve Financial Literacy and remove obstacles to Economic Empowerment one conversation at a time. Nationwide is on your side. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the National Captioning Institute www. Ncicap. Org