about trying to place in the world, but also on the part of individual chinese system who look at an increasing the whole chinese lead. it focuses on ideology and lead up to the chinese communist parties. 100 year advisory aging is working hard to send one message. china's time has arrived, whether the world chooses to accept it or not. katrina, you al jazeera beijing. ah fellow again, the headlines on al jazeera this hour. the united states is calling on all sides in ethiopia as conflict and see grow to commit to a cease fire and allow humanitarian aid in that c p l. f regional for says it's now in control of the areas capital. mckelly katherine story has more from the rosie. a lot of people are concerned about what, what's going to happen now,

because now that gran forces have rejected this cease by a thing that it's a joke. but the spokesman, ftp left a good talk to read, who had talked to, has said that in principle a t p less is open to talk bad conditions. he said that once all foreign troops integrate to withdraw it once, accountability of atrocities that have been committed against the people at the grey and resumption of basic services that telecommunication and internet services that have been cut off. north korea leader has replaced several top officials after what he called a grave lapse and current of iris prevention change on accused them of incompetence, saying the unspecified incident to cause a major crisis. north korea close the border in january last year to defend itself against covered 1900, and hasn't reported any cases. the top us health research agency says india, kovacs and job effectively neutralizes the alpha and delta strains of code. 19,

the findings from the national institute of health were based on 2 studies of blood serum from people who had received the vaccine. police in western canada are reporting an increase in sudden death, softer record breaking heat wave push temperature is up to more than $49.00 degrees celsius. the 65 people have died in the vancouver area since friday is really settlers who built an unauthorized outpost in the north for the occupied by bank. have agreed to leave the sites. the army will conduct a survey to decide how much of the land is palestinian own. settlers though, say they expect to return for ministers from the group of 20 major economies have held a face to face summit in italy for the 1st time in 2 years. ministers discuss the pandemic and its impact on the global economy as well as climate change. those are the headlines on al jazeera, more news coming off right after the stream. thanks for watching the bye for now. did you know you can watch english streaming live?

and i get 2 channels plus thousands of our programs award winning documentary. and to get new to the subscribe to youtube dot com, forward slash al jazeera english. ah. hi fmi. okay. you're watching the stream. in today's episode, we are going to be joined by kevin smith. he is a writer, a poet, and the author of this new book, how the word is passed, a reckoning with a history of slavery across america. clean it is so good to see you. welcome to the stream. it was a journey through black history. i wanted to go visit every single chapter in real life when you sat down to write this book. what is your mission? yes, so thank you so much for having me. the origin of the book

a originated to my home town in new orleans, and i was watching several confederate statutes, monuments come down. and pg beauregard, the confederate, general jefferson davis, confederate, president, bobby lease confederate general and thinking about what it meant that i grew up in a majority blast city, in which there were more modules to labor than there were 20 people. and what does that mean? what does it mean to get to school? i had to go down probably boulevard to get to the grocery store. i had to go down jefferson davis parkway, to get to my middle school with name dr. a little better. a see that my the street my parents live on is named after somebody who owned a 115 people. and what are the implications of that? because we know that symbols and maggie and names are not just symbols. they are reflective of the story that people, story, people tell, check the narrative, communities carry those narrative, see the policy and public policy shapes material conditions of people's lives. which isn't to say that taking down that you wouldn't labor is going to erase the racial wealth gap in contemporary united states. but it is to say that all these things are part of the same. you go system

a story that help us make sense of what has happened to community and that's what must be done for community in order to move forward. and so i was thinking about that in my home town in orland and i wanted to sort of brian it out and explore how different places across the country and even across the ocean wrecking with deal directly with their own relationship to you. how story you tell, i don't want to quit black history. i'm going to call it american history. you tell american history with such ease and comfort and an ability to draw people in wherever they are white or they're not white. you help share those stories. that is, all history is sharing stories. so why in the united states? it's so difficult to share the stories of every body, not just the stories of the ancestors of white europeans. i think because he calls into question so much of the narrative that his shapes a contemporary american america is predicated on the missed. the top procedure is

predicated on the idea that the reason one community was one way in another community looks another way is because of people in those communities and what they have or haven't done and not as not because of what has been done to certain generation after generation after generation. and so if we take an honest account of what has happened to people and, and different groups of people over the course of american history. and we account for the harm that has been done and how recent that harm is, right. what i write about in this book are not only our physical proximity to this period of time, but i tend to think all the time about how leaving for 250 years in this country. and it's only not $150.00. so you have this institution, i think this is for a 100 years longer than as you have the woman who opened the national museum of african american history and culture, which is the big smithsonian museum documenting african american life that opened here in the united states in 2016, the woman who opened that museum alongside the obama family in 2016 with the daughter of an in slave purse,

not the granddaughter or the great granddaughter. she's the daughter in 2016 of someone born into intergenerational chattels. my grandfather's grandfather was in place. i think about my 4 year old son thing on my grandfather's lap, and i imagined him sitting on his grandfather's back. and i'm reminded again that the system we tell ourselves was a long time ago, wasn't that long ago at all? and when you realize our proximity to this period of history, then it makes clear that all temporary social, economic and political infrastructure is fundamentally tied to that. and that calls into question so many of the ideas that people have around you know, whether, why certain communities do or don't have to paint. you know, what i'm going to do, i'm going to ask you, chief audience who are watching right now. if you have a question or comment about american history that you want to ask cleans about. and he comes through the lens of remembering that so many of black americans have a history of chattel slavery. then you can be in youtube comment section right away

. and i'll try and bring those conversations that comments into our show. but i have a question. this is a question from hope she's on video, have a listen and then respond that. i wanted to ask mr. smith, what did you find most difficult? in writing and researching of this book, what did you find the most rewarding and inspiring in the writing and reading and researching of this book. thank you so much for the question. i the most difficult thing was my trip to angola. i've worked in prisons and taught in prisons and jails for the past 7 years. the teacher and i thought i was, i was familiar with the landscape of incarceration in the country. and so i went to and goal at the context in goal prison is the largest maximum security prison in the country. it's 800000 acres. why bigger than the island of manhattan to its place where 75 percent of the people held. there are black men, 70 percent,

are serving life senses, and it is built on top of a former slave plantation. and what i tell folks is that if you were to go to germany and you have the largest maximum security prison insurance, and it was built on top of form, a concentration was the people held. they were disproportionately jewels. that place would rightfully be a global emblem. of anti semitic it will be hor, we'll be discussing. we will never allow a place like that to exist in that sort of content. and yet here in the united states we have the largest maximum security prison in the country with a vast majority of people. black mentoring, senses work in field of what was once a plantation, someone watches, i'm on horseback with a gun over there, where they work for virtually no pe. and so what does it mean that, that police exist in that context? in that moment? what does it mean? how does white supremacy not only enact physical violence against people's bodies, but also numbers collectively to certain types of violence? is what does it mean to that place as a gift shop right there, that there's a gift shop at the largest maximum security prison in the country where they sell shot glasses and coffee mugs and stuffed animals and sweatshirt and baseball cap.

there was a prison mode, or there was a coffee that had a silhouette of a washed house on it. and it said in gold community, i'm looking at your put a face right now. you look at that, you like what the, what's right. it is, it's not only that this place is not interested in any sort of interrogation of its relationship which is bad, but that it is making a mockery and seemingly belittling the reality of the condition that thousands of people in that prison continue to live and it was a long way of saying that that was the most unsettling and haunting piece of what i experience. i want to talk about monte carlo, which is the 1st chapter of your book when he cello is the homeless, thomas jefferson, and he wrote part, he was responsible for the declaration of independence. he's really ro, now historical figure, even for americans who may not know the history in too much detail. let me just

tell you a little clip from the website because this is often how thomas jefferson is remembered. having this and have a look the, we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. the claim that is historic, it is an epic, missing out big details from what a lot of americans learn about their own history. so you went to monte cello and what did you find out? want to show the top of my list of places that i wanted to go. because i think that jefferson embodied so many of the contradictions in the policy and the complexity of the american project in the sense that america, the places provided unparalleled and manageable opportunities for upward mobility.

and welcome simulation for millions and millions of people across generations and ways that they're never imagined. and it is often done so as a direct expense of millions, millions of other people who have been in a generation, we subjugated and oppressed to create that nobility. and jefferson, someone within himself, wrote in one book and one document that all men agree equal in vote and other documents that black people are inferior to lights and both and dominate a body and mind. he wrote one of the most important documents in the western world, and also we linked over 600 people over the course of my time, including for the children that he had by plantations valley coming. and so i wanted to go to manage hello to see how does an institution that is responsible for, for capturing conveying the legacy of this person. tell an honest, whole mystic full story of who this person was. and what he represented in the contradictions embodied within his life. and not only that, but how does it tell the story of being late people who lived at monterey hundreds

of people crossing origins and lived and made home and bill community and fell in love and got married. and i have had and built live at this place that in many ways was belong to them more than it belonged to jeff and jackson was away in paris in philadelphia and new york in washington dc for extended periods of time. and it was these and laid people off the granger's who made the life and who cultivated and made that land possible, and who also made everything jefferson date in his life. but we cannot understand thomas jefferson, one of the most important founding fathers of our country and all that he contributed to the be the american experiment. without understanding that all of the time that he had all the ideas he was able to wrestle with with him right about where possible. because of the, in the labor that he had working for him on his transition said it's hard to believe that in 2021. there are people who do not know that thomas jefferson of

slaves. as a former teacher, what do you think about that or in slave people? i mean, i encountered some of those folks when i was at manage. hello, ironically enough. women done and grace, who i met when i went to monticello and i went up to them after i went on the slavery at monticello, which is a tour at my children, focuses specifically on the legacy of slavery and its relationship to jefferson. and i went up to them after and they said it really took the shine off the guy. i had no idea jeff. it's mostly i no idea the monitor was what they say, stay clean when you when they said that, what, how to how did you handle that? i think you tried to extend whatever grace and generosity you can to people, especially in this context because you are asking strangers questions that are in many ways deeply personal and revealed themselves to be deeply shameful. and so i'm

not attempting to, in this book, to present myself in any way that is sort of antagonistic. i'm not attempting to do a sort of gotcha. like, i can't believe you don't know. what he reflects to me is a profound failure of our public consciousness. profound failure in the way to teach the history of american please. father. yeah. i know it's it's, it's not shocking because we know that the education system in america could be better. but this is like america one, 0 one. and the reality is that for so many people they have no idea. they have no idea. and it is a reminder, i think for us, for so many of us, we can, it can be easy to forget that there are many people who, who aren't thinking about were engaging with or are ever presented with is history . and so when i was speaking to diamond, great, it was clear that they were there, their foundation was being shaking like the the idea that this founding father, the person whose home they had come to a sort of

a pilgrimage. and if they got on planes, they rented cars, they got hotel room to the thomas jefferson and had no idea, but he owned human being. and again, what does that reflect for me with an important reminder of the what, how so much so many 1000000 people in america, in no way understand slavery in any way that is commensurate with the actual impact that it had on this country. and how, how much different, what our understanding of what america looked like to be if we had a collective understanding of what has happened. if we had a collective understanding of who are founding fathers, actually, what if we had a collective understanding of all that has been done in the countries names and who would have been done at the expense of one of my favorite places you visited that made me want to go that because you, you tell your story as a novel, it's history. in fact, you really met these people when you write it as if we're going on a journey with you than the rater. and it's like a story. have

a look here. this is a thread that i really like one because the self is a fun. see because the storytelling that you read into the thread, it is really important. i travel to whitney plantation, then you plantation, louisiana. one of the, in the country that is dedicated to telling the story of slavery from the perspective of the and slaved. i love this place just from the book, from the pages because it felt like i was fair. and what is the guides explained? it almost like it was like a history book, but if you could be in the book, what was your friend about this plantation? yeah, when you plantation, it is a remarkable face. it is, as i say, one of the only plantations in the country that tell the story of slavery through the perspective of a slave people and, and the thing. but that shouldn't be remarkable. but, but it is, it is a place that is surrounded by a constellation of plantations where people continue to hold wedding, where people,

you know, i talked to waiting planners who talked about how sometimes people use the former slave cabin at these other plantations bridal suite. so what does it mean that someone would want to celebrate the most joyous day of their life, arguably on the side of intergenerational culture? and so the whitney plantation is sort of situated in the midst of that, a historicism and fundamentally reject the idea that we can understand slavery or understand a plantation of anything other than intergenerational kind of torture. and also that at the same time, while we are understanding the system as going to torture, we are also understand people. it's fully human as fully embodied person. and part of what they do is make sure that you are confronting the names and the words and to whatever extent possible the faces of people who had been asleep and often doing it through the perspective of women and children who in our public again, our public consciousness to the extent that there is one about slavery, is often

a very gendered one that sort of renders navy as a, as a very masculine product phenomena when it's actually something that impacted women and children. and really specific and insidious ways that the whitney has has made a, made an effort to uplift. it's interesting that sherry has a question for you. i'm going to bring that question in in a moment. but the part that the book where i really felt you as a mile, as a person, was when you were talking about children. when they were in these, or 4 situations. as in slave people and the children, most children didn't make it past the age of 5 years old mothers sometimes would kill their kids because they didn't want them to end up. as in slave, young girls, young women were, were assaulted rate year off the year of the year after year the families were separated, goes on and on and on and on. sherry has this question for you about his the

question dr. smith. thank you so much for how the word is passed. we cannot read this book and remain detached. we go through thinking about how we are connected to these events and also how our families are connected to these legacies. and so my question for you is, how has this project changed you or your outlook as an educator? and as a parent you so much the question sherry one thing that it is done for, for whatever reason. so much of my understanding of slavery, which i think is the effective of have so many people understand. the institution was centered on the spectacle of cruelty which is to save the whipping and the beatings and the county and the,

and the work and the torture. that the torture that one experience working in the fields were being subject to sort of i'm the present dominion of the weapon, the lash. i think what working on this book did was give me a more shoot understanding the thing that i can have one of the role that family separation played and psychological and emotional terror that is embodied within that. and i think part of that is because i, i was writing it my wife and i had 2 children of our own. so now i have a 4 year old and a 2 year old. and when you just take a moment to sort of think about like if i'm to think about what if, if i were asleep at night and then i woke up and my children were gone, just disappeared in the middle of my i cannot even bring myself to imagine how even even saying i'm coming for how,

how profoundly or rhythmic that would be right. the idea that at any moment i'd be separated from my children. i would never see them again. and this is something that millions and lay people's lives across generation. at any moment, you could be separate from your children, your parents or community and you might never see them again. and i for some reason, i never really. i knew family separation was a part of it clearly, but i never really sat down to reflect on the sort of emotional and psychological implications of that. and i think going to play with me that focus so much on the lives of children really made it much more intimate and sort of visceral sort of exercise to imagine what that must have been like for, for people to, to know that that could happen at any moment when you talk about african americans

in history always feels relevant. there's no time where it doesn't so relevant. so your book, you look at very timely, but he's always going to be timely. because african americans are so woven into the history of america. june teams is one example of that. i always was amazed by the story of june 18th, which was that it took a while for all americans and all african americans to realize that slavery has actually ended. and when that word came to galveston in texas, that day was known as june 10th. this is a very brief history. i know clean can do better. but the reason i want to explain that is because we have a commenter who want to ask you about g teams and the whole idea of what you piece means. so this is shawn. yeah, this is rashawn skiwski me, if you could have my brain cell thinking that rashawn who's saying june, 13th is

a very special holiday. it is now an official federal holiday in the united states . this is what he has to say about june 10th. have a listen. june teeth becoming a federal holiday is a big deal in all americans should embrace it as celebrated as june 10th becomes our 11th federal holiday. but make no mistake. june teeth becoming a holiday is simply symbolic in nature. it does nothing to address the bodily economic, any emotional wounds that slavery put on to black americans. only reparations can help to deal with it. imagine if 156 years after the holocaust, the only thing that germany deal was create a federal holiday. that is the current status of what is happening to black americas in the united states. june 18th can help to continue to educate us to change some of these outcomes. yeah, i absolutely. we will rashawn who we should not mistake the holiday

of june 18th, or a material resources that deserve to be intervened deserve to be given to and repair in order to repair the harm that has been done to certain community. what i'll say about it is, i think of it as a sort of both and there's a boat and in this right, it is absolutely true that june 18th, in and of itself, is not enough. i would not go as far to say, and i don't think which i'm saying is that it doesn't matter because it doesn't that it does matter that there is now holiday that in its own way, celebrate the end of one of the worst thing that this country i've ever done, and it matters because black activists and specifically black activists in texas have been fighting for recognition of june 18th and have been fighting for june to become a federal holiday for decades and decades and decades. and so if i were to sit here and say it doesn't matter, then i think i would be doing a disservice to the work that some of the black,

one of decades. but with that said to sean point in and of itself is not enough. and i think what we're experience now is experiencing now is the sort of marathon of cognitive dissonance that is reflective of the way that american black americans experienced countries since we were brought here. which is to say that you have june 18th because becoming a federal holiday at the same time that there is a state thanks and effort across state legislatures throughout the country. that is specifically intending to prevent teachers from teaching. the very thing from which the context of june teen emerge. and so you have those things, the legislatures were attempting to prevent black people from having the same access to the franchise as at their counterpart. and so there is a sort of tension that exist there by, but june teeth matters of the holiday, but in and of itself is not enough. most certainly is a holiday. and so i think we have to whole both of those realities. i have one last

question for you comes from you to how can the usa prove that he has dealt with the slave owning past? wow, the fine. oh, many of us show what would you say, clint? how long do we have? oh, man, no pressure. we have to account would have been done. one thing that i, you know, we've invoked germany a couple times in the show and aspect germany has something called stumbling stone . and there tens of thousands of these in germany. whereas if you go up to a nike store or mcdonalds or kfc youngest, in front of some of these places, will be a brick and is slightly elevated off the ground. a brass brick that has names in inscribed in them who were taken from these homes. and so i think that we did something similar to that like they do during the holocaust context, slavery in my go a long way and helping the author of how the world is pop, the reckoning was the history of slavery across america. clint smith,

thank you for being on the stream today. thank everybody. see you next time. ah the news news. news. news

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