school shooting in the united states. the info was host falsely king for years that the 2012 shooting was a hoax. he was sued by the families and was ordered to pay the damages following a series of defamation trials. early this year, 20 students and 6 staff members were killed in the tragedy. ah, without, there are the top stories. the european union has tentatively agreed on a $60.00 a bow price cap on russian oil is aimed at starving. the kremlin of its resources to weaken russia's ability to continue the war. new crane while avoiding a search and energy prices. the deal comes into effect along with an e u. embargo on russian crude oil, which prevent shipments by tanker to the block. i'll just, there was jonah hall has more this isn't going to affect pretty much in any way e u. countries ability to buy russian oil at any price. because from monday,

december, the 5th, a band comes into play on a you countries buying any russian all at all at where it has global significance though, is in limiting e u. countries ability to license and ensure vessels. many of them registered any you countries carrying seaborne russian oil, the so called urals oil to big oil consuming economies like india and china. the kremlin says russian president vladimir putin is open to talks towards ending the war in ukraine. fight putin says the west bust accent, his demands of russia won't be withdrawing its troops from the annex regions of ukraine on thursday. you as president joe biden said he was willing to meet with putin if he moved to end the conflict. very heavy south africa's governing party has postponed a decision on the political future of embattled president's civil ra, a poser. the president was investigated and he failed to report the theft of millions of dollars from his private game farm. in 2020 the independent inquiry

found he may have violated his oath of office. or routine session in senegal, parliament as descended into violence on thursday when a male politician walked up to a female colleague and slapped her in the face. she retaliated by throwing a chair, a budget presentation was suspended as members traded punches and insults tension has been growing since the ruling party lost its majority in july. and to the well cup where group 8 shall come to a dramatic climax, south career book their place in the knockout stage by coming from behind to beat portugal to one result, eliminated uruguayan garner of to uruguay beak. gonna to no. all right, you're up to date. those are the top stories here in al jazeera. stay with us, though. up front is coming up now. ah.

born and raised in mississippi, author, he has a layman's work is all about the black experience in the american south. as best selling memoir, heavy explorers issues around race, identity, masculinity and trauma, growing up as a black man in the south. the book has been banned by misery school district, along with hundreds of other titles. and he's going to join us to discuss the legacy of racism. and what book bands mean for the cultural identity of the united states. that conversation is coming up next. but 1st 4 months, residents of jackson, mississippi have lacked access to say drinking water. and in some cases, running water at all after floods overwhelmed the city's water treatment facilities in august. now, water pressure has been partially restored and some federal and state resources have been allocated to repair the water system. but jackson's infrastructure won't go far beyond the latest crisis. during us to discuss this weeks headliner, jackson,

mayor choke way and tar lymphoma. ah. mayor chuck willa mom, but thank you so much for joining us on up front. thank you for having me. always good to talk with you there about a 160000 residents in a jackson, which is mississippi's capital city. the majority of them starting in august of this year lacked access to potable water. people captured videos, a brown water in their sinks in in a bad tubs, and for a few days in september, many people didn't have any water coming out of their faucets today. the residence of jackson continue to face water insecurity, and many are relying on bottled water, often supplied by grass roots, organizations, community led effort and other things. but we're talking about a situation where unsafe water is not an outlier. it's the norm. ah, in fact the d o j department of justice has taken steps to establish a 3rd party monitor to ensure that water in the city is safe to drink. help me

understand how we got to this place. well, well, 1st and foremost, i appreciate you lifting up this issue not only for the residence of jackson, but for so many communities that resemble jackson that deal with the same level or cycle of humiliation. and insecurity with infrastructure and, and issues of environmental racism. this has been an issue since, as long as i can remember, i moved to jackson in 1988 in 1989. i distinctly remember a phrase that that ability to our water system and there are too many times to count over the years in which we've had these challenges. this is due to lack of a lack of investment in the system due to white flight and divestment in the city in its entirety. it's due to a state that failed to take responsibility and recognize its, its level of, of, of responsibility to the residence of jackson,

and it's due to decades of deferred maintenance. and so we didn't get here overnight. these are challenges where you have too many issues to enumerate with the water treatment facility itself. a water treatment facility that was not functionally designed to begin with and has never after operated optimally and has led to these challenges for the residence of not only instability in the water system, but equity challenges as well. mississippians, republican governor tate reeves, he entered the state of emergency november 22nd over the water crisis, and he has consistently blame the locals. he has said that it's local authorities who are responsible for jackson's water crisis. at the same time, reason, republican control, mississippi state legislature have repeatedly vetoed or otherwise rejected the cities request for infrastructure repairs. he's veto water project funding. helped me understand here and your view, what is the biggest problem occurring here?

well, it's issues of environment, racism. it's a community that is not fully valued, and therefore the state does not see any, any responsibility or need to fund the residence of jackson fund. these challenges, these are democratic problems, these are white or black problems. these are problems of human dignity issues that residents simply deserve the ability to turn on the faucet and know that water is going to come through that faucet and come from safely. so while the governor has attempted to wash his hands of this, you have properly noted that not only my administration has made several endeavours to get funding for our water system, but be to be quite honest. my predecessors have done the same to many to name the city has had planned after plan and had made has made legislative request after legislative request in order to get the funding necessary for our water treatment the summit. what's, what may i help us understand how this plays out, right?

because when we talk about systemic racism, which is what you're talking about when you say environmental racism it's, it's not as simple as saying, you know, we're not given black people, clean water or we're not given poor people, clean water even if that the ultimate consequence. how do they justify, how do they explain it? how do they say we're not going to give infrastructure repairs for system that was built in 1914, it clearly needs updating. how did they say we're not going to find a water project? what's, what's the logic and language they use? well, it's language such as, you know, jackson needs to fund its problems. it's, so it's language such as, you know, we, we aren't responsible for paying for jackson's challenges. this is due to jackson's lack of investment over the years when the reality is, is that the money that we're asking for isn't actually state funds. it's federal funds that are sent through the state with city the city of jackson in mind, by a large federal funding that has been allocated for instance,

when we look at the infrastructure bill. this is through direct discussions with the white house, with the administrator, and with an intended use plan for the state that carves out cities like jackson to make sure that we don't receive funding. and there have this has been, this has been the culture. this has been the effort over decades in order to eliminate jackson in this way. this is, this is baffling to me that you're saying that the federal government has a economic investment at jackson, at least at the planning level. they're saying the money should go to mississippi and into cities like jackson, because they're trying to develop infrastructure. they give it to the state with the express purpose of getting it to jackson. and the state just says, no, this does the federal government at that moment have any power to intervene. and if not, are they at least expressing their concerns? the money is not getting to you. yeah. so, so 1st and foremost,

the president himself, i had an opportunity to talk with him about 20 minutes at the height of this challenge. and he specifically expressed his concern over the lack of money actually reaching the city of jackson through the state as it's conduit through the federal funds. and so this is, has been a concern for some time, but the federal government, it is, you know, often a state that is led by, by republican leadership that often did not support the federal funding that was issued for instance in the, in the infrastructure bill. and they are given the task or the responsibility of issuing it. so it's how do we get it from its federal intent into jackson pain, the city that it actually and it is intended to go to. and so there is an effort to siphon off that money siphoned to other priorities, other communities in which they value more than jackson. and we see this time and time again. the crisis in injection of course, isn't happening in

a vacuum. we've seen the results of chronic disinvestment infrastructure, neglect around the country, especially in poor cities that have significant populations of black and brown people, places like flint, michigan, places like been harbor michigan. more than 80 percent of jackson's residents of black. nearly a quarter of your population falls below the poverty line. you've talked about systemic racism, help me understand how those 2 things are, reflect systemic racism, cuz many people would say to you this is there's nothing to do races that do a class. it's just about broken water system. yeah. well it has everything to do with prioritization and value. not valuing the community like jackson, they are, have been investments, state investments in water systems, outside of jackson to replace the entire water lines of communities. there have been investments in places all across the state,

and this is with actual state dollars. so once again, i think it's important to recognize that jackson is not asking for anything beyond what it is deserving of is irving of the federal funds that they recognize the challenges in jackson deserving of the federal dollars that are intended for the city. and also looking at how we have in the game. so we're taking even even if, even if it weren't right, let's say the money wasn't targeted for you. it's hard for me to imagine that a town full of white people, middle class white people who had rushed in the water, who got 300, that 300 boil notices at one point that's it doesn't notice that you've got to boil water to make sure that it's safe, it's hard for me to imagine that even if there were no fun targeted for this, that the state of mississippi wouldn't find funds for middle class white people thing where they would find in michigan, pennsylvania, california, or anywhere else. i mean, it's the fact that you're going to make the case that it's your money seems to me, almost beside the point is not only beside the point,

it would be unheard of because these are issues of humanity. these are circumstances that we would find, you know, just lacking the basic human dignity that people deserve. and so this is why we're speaking to that. you know, we are taking out state revolving loan funds that, that in other state there are principal interests, forgiveness that are far beyond what the state of mississippi provides. one of the, the f r f, loan state revolving loan funds that we have taken out in order to make improvement in our system is $27000000.00 in mississippi. the principal forgiveness that they offer. the city of jackson on that loan is $500000.00, woefully insufficient, not an investment on the state. making sure the cities like jackson or saddle with that in are crippled, are suffocated or unable, in order to make their improvement. and this is not only recognizing the value of

the residence, this is recognizing the value of the city itself, which is 3 times larger than the next largest city. the overwhelming country could contribute to the state coffers. that is not only the capital of the state of mississippi is the capital health. it is the place where the largest employer in the state university, mississippi medical center exist. it is a college town that we often don't refer to it in that regard. but we have nearly 40000 college students in the city of jackson. and so this recognize, this is, this represents just humiliation on, on multiple levels not only to the residence, but it is also the, the state cutting off its nose to spite of space. understanding that it will hurt the economic vitality of the state. it's mutual aid in community lead efforts to provide people with safe drinking water have been essential, frankly, in jackson for years. and they've been consistent at the same time. organizers have also calling the state to do more in response to crisis. just recently,

protest is demanded the state of mississippi to fully fund the city's water and sewage system issues. and to provide residents with at home water filtration devices. you grew up in a family that was heavily involved in local activism. you weren't organizing yourself. now you're in government. how do you take into account the people's voices as you move forward and fixing the system? the people's voice is absolutely essential. they are a part, they are the they are the most essential part of the equation, making sure that we recognize people's experience as we build a new water system, recognizing equity challenges, i keep mentioning equity. and what i mean by that is that we have parts of our city that is disproportionately affected by the water challenge, south jackson and portions of west jackson. those communities are most disproportionately affected because they are the furthest from the water treatment facility. and at the highest elevation. and so we have to recognize that city

planning is never neutral. that had benefit someone and it works to the detriment of others. and so in our efforts to build a new system, we have to begin with the end in mind. and make certain that we're providing the same level of service to all of our residents. when we look at how we fix this problem, the reason that we are against privatization, the reason that we are against regionalization is that we have to be able to do so in a way that once again doesn't move people from one state of misery to the next, instead of moving our residents away with a water system that they can't afford, instead of pushing them away, we want to lift emma may or took them over. thank you so much for joining us and upfront. thank you. ah, best selling author can't say layman, grew up in jackson, mississippi, his award winning memoir, a heavy along with the recently released novel, long division, and his essay collection how to slowly kill yourself and others in america. dive

deep into the heart of what makes up black southern american identity, his general bending work as a meditation on race, gender, and coming of age and the american south. author, professor of english in creative writing at rice, university, and mcarthur genius grant recipient. kasey layman, want to thank you for joining me on up front. i'm so happy to be here which out make you, you're writing often centers around the ideas of not just revisiting the past, but also this process of what you call revision. yet we live at a time when laws are being passed that prevent americans not just from correcting the history before leaving, acknowledging history. even witnessing history of teachers in some parts of the country are being prevented from teaching facts about the country. historical books being banned literature as being banned. in fact, there was a research report by the non profit organization, penn america that stated that more than 1600 book titles were banned in schools from 2021 to 2022. even your own book heavy was banned by missouri school district

. what do you make of that? and particularly like how important is it for us to live in an environment where we do have access to ideas? we do have access to, to literature. we do have access to history. it. thank you for that question. i me, i think is, i don't think there's anything more important ah, except, direct organizing, ah, in the face of people who don't want us to look back, who don't want us to direct organize who don't want us to care. particularly if you look at the deep south, ah, we know what, what we have is like again like in terms of percentage like the black is place in the nation. i think the place with the highest can you know, kind of can, can const concentrated like a direct action organizing happening. and what we really just have is we just honestly mississippi for example, we just need 22 percent white people to not to not be republican. we need 22 percent because we're 38 percent of the population. and you know,

with those of us who have been incarcerated, those of us who cannot vote should need to be a revoke. but an abscess voting will. we've always done in the south as we've always directly, like we've always done direct action direct actually predicated on doing what the state did not want us to do was to look back with accuracy, with acuity and in make a direct action based on what we actually see, it's hard to do that, it's hard to do that now with the nation politicians, social media and everything convincing us did that, which we saw. and no, we do not see or no. there's also the question of coming to terms with our history . there's this way that, you know, text that are wrestling with history, revising, history, challenging history are being banned as well. ah, are these bands and attempt to erase american history? ultimately, i treat ve attempts or bands. i think the banter attempt to erase american history . but i think one way you erase american histories. org lee in a deep south is you punish the people who are attempting to get folk to watch and

look a different way. and so what, what i see much more than like, you know, lager like let, let's white watch american history. what i see is less discipline, those folk who do not want to see american present, american pass or american future is anything other than in white, sis, christian and nationalists. and so like, i'm under no illusions you're not saying like i'm, i'm writing books. ah, that white christian nationalists do not like or love and, and the hard part of doing at work is not centering. those people who make the writing of those books so. so, so far we talked about this before mark, you know, when i'm writing, i'm writing to you, i'm writing to your kids, i'm writing to your part and i'm writing to the communities that made you with an acknowledgement that there are other communities that do not care about any of our communities watching, but i cannot centered at community and do the work that i think i've been called to do from a deep south of gap to like, look at the abundant parts of you look at the that, that the lacking parts of you and also, and try to create 8 are in response to that, but i just want to say it's really hard when the power of your state and the power

of your region is disciplining you for doing what they actually told you to do as a young child which was to look to reading and writing for some kind of, quote unquote salvation that, that south that you're talking about, that region has been disciplining and punishing for it for a long time. you written about this extensively, the focal point of us history in many ways is the us out a specifically when we talk about race and the legacy of slavery, the racial disparities, the systemic inequality in the region. they're all rooted in jim crow. they're rooted in slavery. are they rooted in these moments before and after reconstruction? ah, can you explain particularly to our international audience, sort of how that legacy plays out today? what is that through line, from enslaved africans coming here to now to want to give it a whole histories much to sort out how this he plays out now? well, i mean there, lot of ways to look at the legacy, but i'll just look now at healthcare re, ah, one of the things e l, as you know, like i've been, i was, i'm incredibly critical of anybody who occupies the seat of empire, which is a prisoner seat united states as critical obama,

prisoner of all clinton's crowd prison, a critical of, of trump, bush, blah, blah, blah. ah, but the, what we see in our nation is that, like these particular states, often lead by governors, you know, pushing states, right? do a number of things throughout history, some, some, some like say, you know, this particular where people don't have the right to bow. some say to particular group of people who happen to be black, you know, can't use a bathroom, something to be real good. people having me black, can't get the benefited they deserve. after going to serve and fight for the country. one of the page you see a musty than a destroying musty now, is that mississippi, the state that is last in damn near every metric you can think of it that comes to health care, refuse the medicaid medicare expansion, which means that half of our hospitals in mississippi are about to close because they are about to close and knows hospitals of course, spend most of their times. a lot of their time that is reported amount of times helping poor black people. but they also spend the other man at a time helping poor white people. so what's happening to my state is literally the capitals that the poorest people in this, in the state who are indigenous,

white and black need the most are about to close. and at the end of the day, because a governor elected by ah, residents of, of, of, of mississippi, an i state of or in house representatives, did not want to accept what they called obamacare, which would have helped all of their people. all of the people who go for it in the poor way, who would it would have had hospitals, they're about to close. you read a lot about during colby, you know, my grandmother was wondering, people went to the hospital. her intestines were like turned around. she could not be seen by anyone because there were no hospital bids to be seen, which took my grandmother back. you know, we sat about on travel and when at my work deck took my grandmother back in 1952 when she was outside of a hospital, doctor got county mississippi and she would not be let in because of her engender so and again i, i just think it's important that we understand that you know, the past is the past. we need to continually revisit it or we're gonna and, and or we're going to relive it. but at the other side of something, we have to understand the draconian definitely measures being made by governors

like tate rees. how's the representatives like the people in mississippi, the republicans in mississippi, and most importantly, the voters who wrote these people and to do exactly what they're doing. people miss rosa, mississippi. balsam alabama. voters in a deep south, white christian asked as well as our bolting politicians and to her in harm other poor white people, which will ineffectively hurt black people. you talk about your grandmother and i think about your interactions with your grandmother on this question of forgiveness . who you ask your grandmother why? she shows so much kindness tore people and she replied, god says you must forgive them for they know not what they do. you say back to her loving white supremacists in the face of white supremacy is a hallmark of american evil. now the contact that is dialogue ah, was a piece you wrote about the charleston massacre with dylan, roof enter the church and kills and 9 black people in worship.

you talk about how the teaching of forgiveness in black churches can actually grow into a kind of shame the black people care with them. and it functions as a way of kind of observing why people have responsibility for their actions. talk to me a little bit about what that means about this concept, the forgiveness, and what the possibilities are for it. i love that question and i'll try to be brief. you know, whenever there have been mass shootings, a mass massacres of black people or mass public massacres of black people are in this nation. says my grandmother, as i've been, that hasn't been alive long enough to understand my grandmother. she's always put on this sort of a costume of presidential news when it happens. you know, when you talk to her, you might as well be talking to a president because the grandmother who existed before this spectacular violence was a completely different one. when charleston happen, my grandmother kept talking things. she's the key, you know, you know,

not what they, they know, not what they do. and part of what she's doing is doing this is that messy, talked about, she's trying to like, calm me now. even though i'm a grown man at the time, her hope is that i won't go out there and put myself in my body in my head and my heart in any sort of space it could get obliterated and destroy. so when she's like they know now what they do, she's now she knows shit more. anybody in this country? my grandmother knows white people know exactly what they are. do she know she but how i know that because she has told me that but but but but, but, but after charleston, do you know a after buffalo, you know, after so many murders that have happened in mustang and disappearances, my grandmother has to put on that the presidential sort of costume of talking to her grandson about how you can not be too angry son, because a to angry black person particular to angry, black boy does not live to be an alive black, may it. so as on china, also say in that in that piece is that like i'm, she's not really,

really forgiving. she's taking some of what she has heard from the church and she's wrapping that around is sort of like understanding it, like it's ignorance. that is really god and he's why christian nationalist do not do what they do. i'm fully aware, grand mom of the 90 percent of the things you've told me about why christian nationalism. they will do everything they can to destroy us no matter what. but in a mist she has to put on another costume of taking care of her grandson, walking him away from what she would call a cliff. and actually like that's a conflict, but i think that conflict creates depth. i don't think that conflict is necessary, a contradiction is a black southern light creased kind of depth to me that i think we sorta neglect or we think about that age. a black woman who got us here. yes, 11. thank you so much for joining me on up front. i'm so happy to be with you. mark . always thank you both. all right, everybody, that is our show up front. we'll be back with

ah, a good thought i was just then i got on it. oh, wow,

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under cover reporting for those work for exclusive stories. explosive results, al jazeera investigations. ah, i'm the barker in london. the top story is allowed to 0. the european union has tentatively agreed on a $60.00 a barrel price cap. on russian oil, the price cap is aimed at starving. the kremlin of its resources to weaken russia's ability to continue to warn ukraine while avoiding a surge and energy prices. that heal comes into effect along with an e embargo and rushing crude oil, which prevent shipments by tanka to the block. the e will now approve the deal and plans to announce it formerly on sunday.