their childhoods in hard labor. john holman, al jazeera, mexico. and as always there is lots more on our website, al jazeera.com and plenty of news at al jazeera.com. harsh reality growing up in black in america. what some parents feel they have to do to protect their kids. black votes matter, why so many african-american men are missing at the polls. black lives matter, it's a phrase and a movement aimed at raising awareness at what the group's founders call antiblack racism perm yalting our society -- permeating our society. it began after george

zimmerman shot trayvon martin. it gained momentum after michael brown and others. black lives matters are making views clir to candidates. including hillary clinton. she met with several members in a meeting described as tense and raw. here is a reason for that. former president bill clinton signed harsh sentencing laws that had a disproportionate affect on black members convicted of violent drug crimes. sent to 1 million of the population of 2.3 million is black. that's 40%, greater than the 13% blacks represent in the overall u.s. population. for the record, hoirnt acknowledged -- hillary clinton acknowledged that the laws had undesirable consequence, and said america has not recovered from its original sin. now, it's also important to acknowledge that

black racial matters raged in america . president obama, was the first black president, and the first u.s. president to visit federal prison as he looked at the federal justice system that everyone agrees is broken. while at the prison he said "there but for the grace of god." it was an acknowledgment of the sad fact that one of every three black boys born in america will end up in prison at some point in their lives. >> the harsh reality is despite the progress blacks made in america. or because of it, parents of black children are having what is long called "the talk", with their kids. the goal is how to ri main safe in a country that treats black differently to whites, and where many blacks do not feel safe. research shows the tone of the talk has become ominous in recent years. some say resem building talks

during the jim crow era. we have the story. and some of these images you see are disturbing. [ chanting ] >> reporter: dash cam and cell phone videos strikes at a wound. for generations parents warned black children tread carefully around white authority. >> i don't believe caucasians have the same conversations. >> reporter: this sergeant has been with the police department for 25 years. son. >> i have a 17-year-old son. i feel bad, but i have to have those same conversations with

him on what he needs to do. if he's had an interaction or officer. >> reporter: the talk about brutal treatment of slaves and later their descendants during the jim crow area. lynchings by white mobs were so common to make the talk a mart of life and death. this is a harvard sociologist of education, her research focused time. >> so lynchings that occurred between 1880 to 1946, they occurred because breeches of racial etiquette. >> reporter: images were mortalized in songs, like "strange route", performed by billy halliday. ♪ black bodies swinging in the breeze ♪

♪ change who hanging from the . >> i think of america as a tree and i think of african-americans fruit. >> reporter: these are victims. >> yes, so if america is a tree and african-americans are a strange prut. the talk is analogous to the growth ring. the talk, as this growth ring tells us about the racial customs of country over time. >> in my research, what i find is in each growth ring the talk it different. the second is a civil rights movement. before the civil rights legislation, you have to imagine that's emancipation up until civil rights. that's the period of racial terrorism. talk there conveys messages that communicate to children that

they need to show fear and deference in the interaction with figures of authority, and white people. >> reporter: after the civil rights act was passed, the talk under went a change protecting new legal perspectives, changes that were celebrated in popular culture. yet the success of some african-americans in business has not squashed the unease. >> myself as an officer. there has been times when i have been travelling and stopped on the road. when i see the lights in the rearview mirror, i don't now how well trained the officer is. more people have recorded and witnessed police brutality in a continuous reel. at the same time the number of

african-americans imprisoned with felony convictions soared into the millions. these are some of the reasons the talk has reverted to an older more ominous itself. >> some parents raising sons now grew up hearing you have to work hard, you need to be 10 times as smart because of the way the system is set up. things are not going to be given to you. they are not telling their sons you have to work twice as hard to stay alive. and so that is a difference. >> in the wake of protest, following the deaths of michael brown, after encounters with white police officers, new york's white mayor admitted he was having the talk with his mixed race son. >> as families have all over this city for decades, he has to take special care in any

officer. >> reporter: we know what is different between the jim crow era and today. yet you are telling me that the talk is the same. defeat. >> if this is the same, what is missing between the jim crow era and 2015. a disruption of the racial order. so during jim crow, that was anticipation, that was a disruption. i think now president obama, himself embodies breach and etiquette. i think the demographic shift is a breach. that is the numbers where they are changing. >> reporter: by some estimates. half of the children are not white. they are making progress. >> what does it mean to be black in merge?

>> that's a difficult question. it means one thing. there isn't a single answer. we are sitting and having this conversation in a harvard classroom under presidency of a black president. every day there's a hashtag. somebody else has been killed, died in police custody under circumstances. what does that mean, how do we move into this ring, this next tree's growth ring. how do we change what is happening. how do we change it so the talk changes, evolves, so there isn't a talk, to parents are not having to prepare their son for death the vast majority of american interactions with law enforcement do not result in death. and don't often involve violence, did you get a sense that the talk is pervasive and prevalent, and necessary. >> it is pervasive.

the reason is death is a concern. and more importantly and regularly, the concern for parents is once a child is involved in the criminal justice system, his or her life is changed. their life-time earnings, the ability to get in schools. all the opportunities are diminished. and even states won't be able to vote. they will not participate in what it means. >> reporter: what is the talk in african-american households, different to talks that other minority kids may get. for example, muslims in america. post this world. in its effect, similar, because children. they don't want their child to be that martyr that everyone answers for. but for americans, it speaks to a large expectation because it is not just the parents who are warning their children. those parents are acting on the

expectation of authority figures. you need to train the chimed. >> the fact that parents work opening. >> talking to their children, string them as slaves train their children to behave and not speak out of line. there's a tradition that african-american families have to homed. of. >> it's an ugly way to put it, it's absolutely correct. >> thank you for that. coming up, i'll speak with an african-american who says having the talk with your kids is a big waste of time. you'll hear why. >> the whole neighborhood was under 20 feet of water. >> a decade after hurricane katrina, soledad o'brien investigates new orleans divided recovery. >> white home owners and black home owners had a very large gap.

>> the residents forced to flee. >> escorted onto a plane by gun point without someone telling me where i'm going. >> and the city's future. >> why should a business come here when this neglect has been allowed to go on? >> an america tonight special, katrina: after the storm.

we've been talking about the talk that african-american parents have, warning about the reality of race and law enforcement. we heard about research suggesting that the talk has taken an ominous tone. akin to fearful tone of the jim crow era, despite or because of the strides that blacks made since the civil rights area over the 1960s. cofounder of project 21, initiative of the national centre for research. groups

promote the views of african-americans. contrary to what many believe. cooper says race is irrelevant to american lives, where they are black or white. joining me from houston, thank you for being with us. have you heard talk of the talk becoming more prevalent, changing tone. are you familiar with the talk? >> i'm familiar with the concept, but based on much of the discussion that i have heard and your audience heard, and what i read about this in the about it becomingan important, probably wouldn't meet the test of a ponzi scheme for sales in local communities. this misrepresents the true reality. in the hands of each and every american and until particular black americans are the tools necessary for success and

achievement. and this so-called talk doesn't give good advice. in fact, gives bad advice. >> have you - did you ever talk like that? >> when i grew up, i grew up in the post civil rights era, and there was no need for me to be concerned about what interactions or communications that i was having with people that i might meet randomly. did i ever meet big ots, did i meet racist, of course i did. did it stop me getting my education, getting through law school. no, it didn't. in 2015, the effects of people who wear hoods has almost zero effect on us, but the cultural choices of career criminality have a lot more to do with what lives. >> we

talk to many people. african-american, those that worry their kids interaction. they are okay until they have the driver's licence. kits can enter the criminal justice system. we know a disproportionate amount of americans in the criminal justice system. >> you don't believe there's a height risk in interactions between african-americans and the police. here is a tip. don't enage gauge in rape, don't engage in robbery, car jack of course, and you'll be amazed how easy it is to avoid encounters with law enforcement. it is that that people are concerned about. what parents ought to say or the mayor of new york ought to tell

his child, the most important risk to life and limb in his life is from a black male between the ages of 16 and 24. it is not a man in blue, and it is not a white guy. the elevated risk will come, and the center for disease control has recognized one of the number one killers of black men or other black men. >> that elevated risk is so high. they have it as the number two cause for black men. >> and statistics are correct. it doesn't take away from the construction that the tensions between young black men or police. i'm not asking who is to blame. i'm saying is the conversation valid. kids might get their lives saved by learning a different way of behaving around police. >> they'll learn a great thing

by applying themselves in classrooms. they'll learn a great thing by deciding not to get... >> you heard... horace, i'm not looking for a lecture on how to bring up kids. piece. >> i reject it. i reject it. it is... >> the black police officer who was about the same age as you and me talking about the fact that he is concerned about whether the police officer who pulls him over, if adequately trained, and he told his son to be worried about it. i'm not asking you whether these people are to blame. i'm asking whether or not you relationship. >> there is - there is no elevated risk for people minding their own business, who happen to be black, and the encounter with law enforcement. there is, however, an elevated

risk of being a career criminal. and what will happen. the only reason we don't have that information is you look back over time. vacation. >> a report on what the police in ferguson, missouri do, targetting blacks. would you agree there's an elevated risk, if you were in ferguson, missouri, you were historically in an elevated risk being pulled over by the cops. having an interaction that i would have had, not by virtue of say. >> you can't play the numbers game. in ferguson. there are a larger number of minorities that are going through community, and that are getting stop. that is normal and expected. >> is there the police. they are targetting

is that true. >> i read the report. it purports to show that the risk is occurring, because blacks run 13% of the population, there were two-thirds stopped. they have to ask what is the percentage of people whose cars stopped. break that down. all of a sudden they have no elevated risk. we need to stop the numbers game. when you start the numbers game. you are going to end up with conversation about why so many young black men between the ages of 16 and 24, end up being robbers, the rapers and those that commit mayhem. that's nothing to do with the draw on drugs. >> that is a good conversation to have in terms of relationship between education or policy.

i'm only talking about the relationship that black men and young black men have, and what the parents say to do. you are saying there's no value, there's no value at all in parents having a conversation. >> there shouldn't be any need for a parent to say if the police officer pulls you over, do not attempt to shoot him. do not shove him. do not punt them. no. there's no need for such a conversation. what conversation that needs to happen is when your teacher tells you - do your homework, when you meet a lady that you like. decide if you are going, that you are there for the long haul. that you are truly going to apply yourself, and instead of exploiting a system. instead of adopting the policy of career criminality.

that's the conversation that is it constructed. the researchers are not talking about that. they are talking about there being the racist bogieman controlling our life. it's destructive advice. >> thank you for having you on the show. horace cooper, with the project 21 coming up, how activists are trying to get black men into the >> katrina was really a wake-up call. >> one of the worst catastrophes in u.s. history. >> most of south louisiana is all sediment, plant growth and decay... there's always a risk of flooding. >> now, new cutting edge technology that could help prevent future disasters... >> the system has really evolved. >> and what it means for new orleans. >> our big take away is new orleans is on a good track, but the job is not done here. >> techknow investigates 10 years after katrina.

>> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's

1.5 million african-american men in american have gone missing from their communities, according to an estimate calculated by the "new york times". they have disappeared because higher than average incarceration rates or premature deaths. it has affects on everything, from social cohesion, youth voter toourn out. that by an activist that tried to register more black men to vote, using an important shops. >> reporter: there are roughly 800 barber shops in philadelphia, and thousand the bar bers. they represent a powerful think to the african-american men, because of the important social

role they play in black communities. 50 barr bers were asked to register bar bers to vote, and educate them. >> why is that importance. >> barr bers be the determinators, as opposed to you being in the shop. >> the barr bers will always be here. they'll have the customers, when the project is over, they still have the information. >> the programme is called sharp insight. he's logging it with a 250,000 nightfoundation. >> the challenge is an open contest. his is one of 22 projects that won funding through the night news challenge. they tackle civic problems, like low voter turn out and political engagement in low income and communities of cover. >> the project is towards black men, because we have different issues around voting and being involved civically.

>> philadelphia ranks third in the country for the number of missing african-american men. these are men that died young or are imprisoned. the absence of those men is felt in every election. according to a 2013 consensus report. black men had one of the lowest turn out rates. so many would-be voters are incarcerated. the sentencing project estimates a network of laws strips 1.4 black men of the rights to vote. mostly because of felony convictions. those are complex. most vote. they think if they had a felony, they'll be unable to vote. it depends on what we want to do. check out your own status, here is where you go to find that information out. it's easy to do. >> reporter: woody things a way to do that is to ex-plight the

unique place barber shops hold in american culture. >> they came to the black barber shop. they needed to be saved. we talk about issues that are going on. some are important tactics, the civil rights movement. >> woody's goals to narrow the voting. they manage to avoid the high incarceration, that keeps so many of philadelphia's men the polls. woody says if the data shows his project increases turn out in philadelphia, his next goal will be to start reciting country. >> that is the show for today. i'm ali velshi, thank you for an >> al jazeera america, weekday mornings. catch up on what happened overnight with a full morning brief. get a first hand look with in-depth reports and investigations. start weekday mornings with al jazeera america.

open your eyes to a world in motion. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ from al jazeera's headquarters in doha this is the news hour, coming up, in the next 60 minutes from asia to australia and now europe, global stock markets tumble as fears deepen about the economic slow down in china. thousands of refugees arrive in serbia, the latest stop in their desperate journey into the eu countries. guatemala's president takes to the air waves to announce he won't resign but on the