personalization that's the technology has created over the last 25 years and take it with us. it also means by the way it's not just about the cloud, it's about smart clients and it's about giving people the ability to make their own decisions. just because it is there as a new option doesn't mean that everybody should take it. they should use it only if they want to which means we have got to make it sufficiently valuable and attractive for them to want to vote with their data and move with us. >> host: brad smith is the general counsel of microsoft corps. guest reporter has been wyatt kash, a government computer news as editor-in-chief threat to both of you, thanks for being on "the communicators." >> guest: thank you. >> good to be with you. jabari asim of the magazine the crisis and contributor to "the washington post" analyzes the rise of barack obama from

cultural, political and economic perspectives. this event, hosted by the harold washington library center of chicago, is an hour-and-a-half. >> it is such a pleasure to be here this evening and i would like to start by jabari for sharing the stage. your book is titled what obama means for our culture, our politics, our future. i would like you to define "our." to whom are you referring >> i'm talking about all americans. there are things in the book that address the particular interest in questions involving african-americans, but i really had a wide audience in mind which is inappropriate in terms of the thrust of obama's campaign and his message, so i meant the country collectively. >> host: in the book you talk a lot about image, and obama's

impact on young black men. so, do you -- talk a bit about that. >> i tried to place him in context in terms of images of black masculinity that we have seen in the culture. since about 1619 when african-american men first stepped foot on the continents i tried to place them in that context so why discuss certain aspects of what his public reputation became involved and the coolness for example a point to a number of articles that pointed out obama's coolness, described him as cool. so i compare that to the early images of african american men perceived as cool. especially the jazz musicians of the 1950's who are iconic figures particularly a blue note album cover flexible, and one of the interesting things about those jazz musicians is that they have to swagger, an element

of sexual attraction but at the same product knowledge doesn't like jews, a gifted artists. so in that respect this image of black cool has come full circle because obama contributed in the same ways added an element of intellectual potency to the image. >> in the chapter what cool can do, the burba forest mazar since you're talking about his it conveyed an image of black men as stylish, cerebral and undeniably masculine and so obama is cool. it takes him a few levels, defines him differently. you also talk about him in terms of the magic negro so that cool, there's a sort of intersection they're sort of. >> get it seems to me to be sensitive to that. >> define magic negro. >> it is a character that exists in a film or a story, an african-american character exists to advance the aims of the goals or her life story of a

white character in some way usually it is to help the white man get the job he's always wanted or the woman that he always wanted and the african-american character lacks the same aspects in his own life. we don't find out what he's like. >> said he doesn't necessarily have the past. kind of a one-dimensional figure. >> i wrestle with that image because the magic negro was impressed by rita kempley and "the washington post" on she's a white critic and i didn't think she went far back enough to cause the antecedents were in literature but it became relevant during the campaign when david berlinski, an african-american writer -- >> ki sprick jewish, too. he defines a -- >> -- as african-american, yes. the responses from the peace didn't seem to acknowledge the considered himself african-americans and he wrote about obama in the context of nejib negro that made good points but a rush limbaugh and others jump on that and parity and the original arguments were

lost in that discussion. >> and so obama has been able to transcend even that, the magic negro coming into this coolness, and you talk about how the culture evolved to embrace a black man so there were people who came before obama and you mentioned michael jordan, michael jackson. talk it out of that. >> the short hand and say is that mainstream americans had to accept the idea of african-americans as leading and minutes before they can embrace the notion of men and when i began to look a certain african-american musical figures who managed to attract white audiences i was startled by the similarity of language i looked at the critics who previewed say jimi hendrix for example or sly stone, if you took out their names it would appear they were talking about obama because the use terms such as racial healer

and somebody that could reconcile the racial tensions of different groups and bring them together. so, in some respects the fall with the african-american men who played that role and play it well. >> and talk about -- i thought was interesting right after the election or maybe a couple of days, guess who is coming to dinner, it was on some channel and i just can't fixated. i have seen it before as a younger person that was kind of interesting to me the parallels and some of the discussions talked about in the movie that were resonating and they'd come from some of the discussions we had determined the election and you mentioned the movie in your book. >> that's one of the fun things about doing what i do. you call yourself a cultural critic. you have the excuse to do all kind of fun things. so i watched all of these movies but he plays this character in the movie similar to barack obama. he's very well-educated, he has humanitarian aims, he wants to

go to africa just like barack obama, senior. he met this woman in hawaii that he's fallen in love with and there is a scene where her father is quizzing him what about your children, what with the world be like for your children and he says she thinks every one of our thorez went to the president of the united states so it's kind of eerie in which the way the movie figured it but at the same time the movie discusses the interracial relationships and makes reference to the fact they could be a rested for the type of marriage but there was 1967 and that is when the closing versus virginia made the interracial marriage legal set up the same time we are beginning to see the changes of society ultimately lead to where we are today. >> you also talk about prince, the parallel between prince. is he called prince these days? >> yes. [laughter] >> i know, he's one of those physicians constantly changing his name. but talk a bit about the whole, the movie, "purple rain," and i

think in my goodness, contemporary. a while ago. >> i talked about the fictional kind -- the fictional aspect of this by racial construct that urban prince constructed and one of the reviews of my book had mentioned and described prince as a by racial person, which i don't do in the book. i'm talking about a fictional story. >> is he indeed why -- y risch? >> nope. but it's calculated on his lyrics that he negotiates this idea of an ambiguous racial identity. >> at identity in general. so it's not just race but he's talked six schiraldi -- >> very fluid in terms of personal identity. but in terms of the audiences he aggressively courted, he recorded multiracial audiences. and he changed his music. he made specific changes to his music that i discuss in the book

to make it more palatable to different types of listeners and the same way that obama tuitele own political message to reach a wide swath of the electorate. >> there are race figured prominently from time to time in the election and sometimes it was kind of on the surface but it was always a part of the subtext. yesterday -- yesterday attorney general eric holder said we don't talk as a country a lot about -- we were just talking about the nuances of prince. we don't talk about race. we kind of work often sometimes in interracial environments but then go back to our separate enclaves and we are kind of in our separate worlds and eric holder said we are a nation of cowards when it comes to race. we have this person of color as a president now. what are your thoughts on that? >> i think that he was trying to be provocative but his timing

wasn't ideal number one, and number two to a certain extent the country still wants to be in this moment of self congratulations because we have overcome certain racial hangups to elect an african-american as president and i think it's necessary to take that moment. >> how long should the moment last? >> it should be brief but i don't think we should deny people the opportunity to feel that they've done something -- that we've all done something we can be proud of, so i think that on the heels of that to say that it's a nation of cowards is a little less than prudent. but at the same time i also think that eric holder is about 57-years-old so i think that he's talking of his generation and predecessors. i don't think the language as a necessarily a plus to the under american's three estimate to talk about the millennials generation and how they view race differently from even those of us over 40. >> i rely on the scholarship of

others. there's very good books on the political behavior of the millennials generation and the scholars who worked on it have found they have their own neuroses to be sure but they are not ours, so they don't have the same hangups at around race or sexual orientation for example that we might. >> the reason is because of the exposure, the technology has opened up as -- >> yeah very much so. putting it simply they grew up in a world different from ours, the same way that my father's sense of the world circumscribes my view of the world and what my possibilities are and i have the same relationship to my own sons who obviously again they have their hangups but they are not mine so the way they behave regarding race and other things is inevitably different and in some ways more revolved. >> absolutely. what are your thoughts on "the new york post" yesterday had a cartoon with the cartoon was of

a police officer's shooting a chimpanzee and al sharpton and some other people said that it was a racist cartoon because the caption said, and i'm trying to remember -- it referred to the stimulus package. and you wrote about some of the sensitivities or the in sensitivities during the campaign with the new yorker cover that showed the president and his wife in kind of -- militant. what are your thoughts on the cartoon -- jester a's cartoon and will there be -- is there room for satire? >> i think there has to be room for satire and i think that satirists, their job is to make us uncomfortable and even offend us sometimes so we will all be

offended by some of the things we see. i think in terms of that particular cartoon my first thought had nothing to do with race i must say. i thought that it was capitalizing on this tragedy with this chimpanzee attacked this woman and i thought i feel for her and her family so i didn't see it that way but my previous book i talk a lot about the association of apelike images and language involving monkeys with african-americans -- >> [inaudible] >> the main street so i understand some african-americans me of the sensitivity. i don't think it comes out of the air. it has a solid foundation in history and that particular instance it didn't strike me that way. >> your book said there are still taboos with swastika black face and the n word. >> there was a writer named john strausbaugh who made that point,

talks about swastikas, blackface and n word where even satirists basically are not allowed to go and that is one of the interesting things about the millennium generation. we find that they don't have the same racial hangups but they have a clear tendency to have blackface parties at college campuses so they are wrestling with some of the same demons we've wrestled with but just in different ways and i think with a less intensity sometimes. >> i would like to pause so you can read for us. i would ask you to read something of your choosing. >> i will read a brief section on toward the end of the book. let's see. okay. smart black people have never been invisible to other black people. nor have they been invisible to whites have chosen to see them as exceptions to a general rule to subpar intellectual

performance. black communities have also suffered your internal neuroses regarding black brains. smart black people have always been acknowledged and sometimes even admired. but even in the nation's middle class black methods being smart seldom has been promoted as a liar dee dee to desirable choice especially amongst school children and adolescents. that is where the change obama has called for would begin to manifest immediately. even places where black pride has been defined by the nihilism and willingness to hide powerlessness behind the cloak of plaster it would be fashionable to be brainy. on election night and african-american communities across the country's march became the new black. the intelligent negro of today is resolved not to make discrimination and extenuation for a shortcoming and performance individual or collective, a land look wrote in 1925. he's trying to hold himself at par either inflated by sentimental allowances more depreciated by current social discount. for this he must know himself

and be known for precisely what he is. in the 2014 of speech obama touched on the danger of making excuses for black antiintellectualism. the night in boston he condemned the slander that says black youth with a book is acting white. obama's achievement makes it easier to see and believe black youth with a book is in fact acting presidential. [applause] >> so you have a lot that you are keeping on the president's shoulders. very high expectations in terms of his impact that he will have on as you say this is about everybody. but is there -- there seems to be one group in particular that will benefit just from his presence. >> at the same time the expectation that we appear to be projecting on obama we are

better off projecting that expectation on ourselves. this is an opportunity for us to taste with forward and say these are the things going to be important to us and how we are going to accomplish them. at the same time obama's symbolic power is unavoidable. is an enormous burden i think that all americans have put on him. i wouldn't want to be in his shoes and i admire his ability to walk in them but the fact remains we have extraordinary pressure we are putting on him. i think the way we can take the pressure off is to put some of it on our own shoulders. it reminded us through the campaign it's not about me. [laughter] >> [inaudible] >> right. >> he is a bit of a swagger, doesn't he? am i picking that up? >> i think so. [laughter] >> i'm wondering if -- because he is a man of color -- did you intend the inauguration? i was there with a group of

young men from urban prep, young black men. have you heard of them? >> i saw them. >> i spent a few hours with them and was amazed -- there were very well dressed in their khaki pants and blue blazers, and everywhere we went, because we left downtown washington and went out -- we went to several different places, the federal reserve for think it was and the u.s. supreme court. and it was interesting how so many people on the trains, wherever we went they would stop these young men and marvel at how they were so well behaved and put together. and so i am wondering if -- these are men who as you know come from communities that are pretty -- they are tough communities. some of the kids have to -- they can't wear their blazers to school. they have to change when they get there because the ridicule they might get from peers three

are these the men who would benefit most? or what about the people that are the kids we typically -- one of the reasons why these guys got so much attention is because they are considered atypical. so what about -- and it's kind of a shame because as you approach we understand the intelligent, how these guys are not just so unique, but what about the kids who aren't -- >> i first noticed the kids from urban prep prior to the inauguration because i was flipping channels one night and i was struck by then, the same we the people were struck on the train, so i turned up the sound, and at the moment one of them was describing his classmates and he said we are beebee obamas. that is when i began to pay attention. but i think what you're talking about, and i do talk about this at the book at one point there

was a fight where the kind of ambition and the kind of desperation someone like those kids represents was a soccer's game calls for ritual but someone who live never to be and i must say, jay-z coverage of the articulate, very persuasive argument in terms of how obama's model was penetrating those aspects of society and previously had sort of turned a blind eye to the type of model and he talks about a very well so i do think there is evidence that it will penetrate the various layers of the community. >> it's been called the obama affect. i got a chance to interview some guys who would be considered thuggish before the election and they were say this was the first time voting. they were actually going to -- prior to this election they had no reason or interest in voting to read and said this was a

campaign. i was wondering how long lasting about would be or if that was something that was just -- we feel a part of this and then you retreat. >> think it is a combination of the two different strains. one is the maturation of black voters in general, and they are from the various economic backgrounds. i think people are being more pragmatic. they see this as another option to get where you need to go. the other strand was the emergence of a baala himself because let's be clear there's another african-american candidates who've and body those qualities and have gone to the inner city and made the same message and have been ridiculed and motivated no one to vote so part of that must be attributed to obama himself but i think those two strands coming together at this point there is undoubtedly going to be some backsliding. but i think that the cumulative gain will be in the positive direction. >> you write about how the culture was prepared for an

obama tight and that you had all of these forces that kind of converged and this moment that made it right for obama. what role do you think the fact that we had a president who was quite unpopular, the administration was on the popular. what role did that play? >> guest >> i think that certainly made obama more attractive but i don't think that was a primary motive in the communities for example where people who hadn't voted before, those people were already disgusted with the previous regime and had been discussed with other presidents but hadn't been so disgusted they were motivated to go to the ballot box and stand in line so i think that particular aspect was different but there is no question some americans reach glycol a state of enlightened desperation where they felt we essentially have nothing to lose. >> may be the white voter who may not have wanted to sit in

the pew next to an obama but voted for him because he was the better choice. >> i think that is maturation, too. that is why i said i think people say white voters who voted for obama want to pat themselves on the back etc. i said maybe they do but i don't see anything wrong with it. i want to pat myself on the back, too. it is a moment for congratulations. >> let's talk a bit about the speeches. you write about his speech making and we've heard him speak and i was always interested in -- you could have so many people listen to the same speech and people draw something different and so many people connect on so many different levels. how do you think that he's able to do that? not every speaker can do something like that. >> i call him secular and point out that there are a number of

secular sermonizers, abraham lincoln very obviously, but what i mean by secular sermonizers is the use what i call the american scriptures to read the declaration of independence, the constitution in a way that is a christian pastor on sunday morning might use the bible. it is a very intelligent application of the best language that america has produced. and obama fits three comfortably in that tradition especially where african-americans are concerned, so what i do in the book as i look at frederick douglass's riss on we the people of that phrase, and barbara jordan's famous phrase of we the people and then connected to obama's we are the people. so there's this tradition week pick out the american scripture and make it work. >> i have to say as i was reading the book was so male heavy, male-heavy.

but they mentioned [inaudible] -- barbara jordan, let's talk a bit about her because i think that she is kind of -- we don't hear as much about barbara jordan. >> it's very interesting how much courage and reputation has faded from -- it's tragic. it's tragic really but yes, i talked about when she gave in 1976 the democratic -- >> she was bad. >> she was amazing. obama was great but should -- she was amazing. >> you got your credit back with me. [laughter] >> i said that in the book. i also point out letters she got. she got letters from white voters, identifying themselves as white voters saying before i heard you speak i would have never considered a woman -- >> this is 1976. >> i would never consider a

woman candidate or never consider a black candidate but to have opened my eyes to the possibility. >> that is astounding. >> certain things had already begun to take place in the culture. >> you write this whole idea of reaching across the dial is nothing new -- well, it isn't something new that he's talking about when he talked about reaching across the nile. like a blanket had done and frederick douglass and barbara jordan. >> and shirley chisholm also in refusing to plead this identity politics game. 1972 when she mounted the first credible campaign for presidency from african-american, african americans did the race to increase her and wanted her to be the spokesperson and she said i'm not the african-american candidate. i am not running for president of black america. i want to that read and write after that the feminism said you are a feminist, you are a woman, she said no, back off. i'm not a woman candidate either. i'm an american can date. in so many aspects she sort of

prefigured the same positions obama later took. >> was she kind of demonized for that? for not being in any one camp? >> i think that the electorate understood the pragmatic value of that when you are trying to have a national constituency as opposed to a local one so she unquestionably took heat from that. >> you are familiar with what is going on now with the obama senate seat and the controversy surrounding senator byrd -- burris. so there has been a call from ministers and some politicians to just let whoever is in the seat, now it is a black seat. what are your thoughts about that? >> i don't think it's a black seat. obviously it is a state wide seat and you have to have a statewide constituency but i think that more african-americans than ever before understand the difference between a local constituency and

national constituency or state right -- statewide constituency that things have to be different and you have to insert to different aspects of the electorate. >> let's go back to their reaching across the aisle with obama. he just signed the stimulus package. very little support from across the aisle. so what you think that he will need to do? because it is one thing to reach out and this is a very difficult environment in washington. it's got a long history legacy evin of kind of separate -- been a bitter partisanship. well, i mean i don't know but one thing he obviously did is he left washington and began to go back among the crowd where he first build up his reputation and i think that he will continue to do that whenever there is the bottleneck on capitol hill. he will in some way attempt to at least appeared to take it to the people themselves and pressure their representatives in that way.

>> we also started before he left washington he was having the guys on the oversight and not for mt but for drinks or something and that is pretty much his personality -- it is harder once if you have a relationship with somebody this is his business. it's harder -- it's not as easy to not listen to them if you don't have that. >> at least in half yearly. [laughter] >> we will see how that plays out. >> i love the first chapter in which you talk about your mom and how she changed her answering machine or the way she answered the phone. talk about her. >> my mother is 77-years-old. she has seen and done a lot of things. she is from st. louis missouri and she answers her phone just kind of matter of factly or sometimes even curt. if you call when oprah is on she

might even hang up. [laughter] i called one day and she answered and said this is our moment and i said i sorry i have the wrong number. she said silly it's your mother. i said was that? she said that's how i answer my phone. do you have a problem with it? >> this is our moment. >> she called on to obama much earlier than i did i must say. but yes, it was an indication to me that kind of made me curious. wow, what's going on here? because the book was also a personal challenge for me because i am a deeply entrenched skeptic and rather proud of it so it's easy for me to say he doesn't have a shot. he seems like a good guy but he doesn't have a shot so that almost becomes your default response to anything that may be radically optimistic because you have this veneer. ..

do you think they are still engaged? >> i think for the most part they are. i don't think it is realistic to expect everyone will continue to be engaged. but i think the cumulative gain

said there. i don't think there will be that much recidivism that it is all loss. >> what did your mom to on inauguration day? >> she is of that generation, i don't know, it is hard to describe it but she was very happy. by then she had a life-size cutout of obama. [laughter] >> that is cute. >> if you go to your house you have to pose with that. >> where did she get a life-size cutout? >> i'm not sure where she got it but i saw them being sold at union station in washington and i tried to buy her one then. that was an indication of how the election was going. they said were out that we have plenty of mccain, plenty of hillary. i said, might be something to this. [laughter] but she has it. >> mentioned a second ago about having the whole heartbreak. you are old enough to remember the more symbolic campaigns

whether was jesse jackson or barbara jordan or some of those people. what did you do to kind of, not feel like it would be so hurtful it he didn't win? >> i think that is why the skepticism. it is sort of a defense. it is a defense you have to protect yourself from the emotional investment of a possible defeat. that is why i said it was personal for me but that is my personality anyway. i want to get to invested because it there is a loss than i have to feel it and i do know there were others that have the same attitude. i remember on election night we were sitting with the family and watching this. my wife early on when the returns were on, my wife leaves. she said, i can't take this as she leaves. she didn't come back until it was over so there was a sort of emotional vulnerability that one

might have. >> now i had a friend who works up at the university of chicago who is a professor, and i know you have sons. he was, he believes that the whole obama effect will mean or there will be a greater effect in terms of his, how far he can move forward on someone like him then maybe some younger type or someone who is not as upwardly mobile. do you understand that? >> i think the opportunities for advance mcgarr oh weiss greater for the middle class and the issue becomes how does this become helpful to poor people? but i relied on people who could speak with authority in the book to say that we see evidence of this and our communities, this kind of thing is happening. how that will play out in terms of specific pragmatic opportunities i can't say.

>> were you at all disappointed that obama did not speak more about the poor during the campaign? >> i was not disappointed during the campaign. i will say though that that is something i'm particularly eager to see him addressed now that he is in office. i think the hander stood why, while he was trying to win and win a national constituency but personally, that is an issue i'd do dearly hope he will address with some intensity now that he is an office. >> what would you like for him to do? >> i would like for him and his team to apply their legendary intelligence to issues involved with the pork, how are the policies he is proposing to bail out the country and to revive the economy, how will they specifically play out in communities where people already suffered before the economy fell, before lehman brothers fell. i would like to see some there.

>> i mentioned, you talked about in your reading, you talked about intelligence and how may be with obama intelligence would be the new school. do you think, do you think and i think you also mentioned not only will african-american start to see it as the new school or mandatory, but others will project that on african-americans. >> yes. yeah. we have our reseen that a little bit with groups like the urban prep group. i was reading an interview with lebron james in gq magazine where he said the community as it were up there were two ways out. one was festival and one was a way that wasn't so good. he didn't go into specifics but he said the way that is an illegal and now it has occurred to me and it must have occurred to other people that there is another way out. like obama, going to school and

be heaving a certain way that this is also a legitimate passo i do think we will continue to see evidence of that. there is already been won steady conditions on the achievement gap already, and this is very early so it is somewhat premature but one study has been released and will be published showing his election has already had an effect on african-american performance with testing-- testing. >> that is pretty interesting. i saw that. you have five children. let's talk about your children. >> four sons, one daughter. >> and their ages? >> my kids are 25, 22, 13, 11 and seven. [laughter] for my wife. [laughter] >> so, what are they saying because you really have, you have got quite a cross-section.

>> my daughter was the one who watched the election is the most closely and watch the returns. she is 13, so she knew before the rest of us did exactly when it was declared. >> are they allah's engaged? >> the two younger ones, seven and 11 they were not particularly engage but my oldest son texted me. he is at that age where it is almost a rite of passage for black men of a certain age to be continuously the arrest by lon enforcement so my son, you have to have a gallows humor about it. were you pulled over today? [laughter] not today. but he texted me and said i have never felt that it was the school to the black before. so he had a very emotional reaction to it. my 22-year-old son actually published some op-eds about the election for daily voice.com. >> i was that the democratic

national convention in denver and an older woman who actually lives not far from here and cy young, illinois said to me at some point what is happening here, and she was on the convention floor, to younger people is going to be like-- do you think it is because it has happened into us it is a big deal but it some point this will happen again and you can only have the first one time. do you get the sense, four-year younger kids? >> i think the lady you ran into was right. their sense of possibility is different from ours. it almost can't help but be. so yeah i do think there is some sense-- compare the young people's reaction to a parents reaction to really has some concrete, specific experiences they can point to which would have suggested to them that this would have never happened. >> in looking at your book, and

i know often the publication time for a book is a year. this was, i mean this had to be right up to the moment, because you have so much stuff in here from last fall, from early winter. so, talk about that-- just tell you put this together. how did that go? >> i signed the contract in april 2008, so my editor said, so you have six months of my previous book by spent six years. so it was very different experience for me. first you were like okay, i can do that but at that point, when i signed a contract there was no certainty that it was going to win so i had to write a lot of things in a conditional tense. if he wins, blah, blah, blah and then we send it to the press and we got the page proofs back but

we marked all the places we had to change in the event he actually came through and won. i had not intended to be so involved in this particular election. i wanted to protect my emotions brinkley. but i began to write pieces about why he couldn't win, and i hadn't really thought about it but as i read those pieces i thought actually sometimes people are contradicting themselves and pointing to reasons why he could so i thought i would look into those more deeply. >> what were some of the reasons why he couldn't win? >> well, here we go. the cliche was america's not ready, so i completely bought into that and as it began to look at this, i said that is really not true. america may be ready. i didn't know if we would be ready this time but i did see it was a probability. >> as the election went on, you were starting to see that it became more-- >> i really struggled to

maintain some pretense of critical distance so i would say well, no. we will know until the count the ballots, so i remained a skeptic. there were a couple of instances in the campaign where i said i was going to call the book what obama meant because he was about to be past tense and that didn't happen. >> in writing it, were you starting to become a little less of a skeptic? >> yeah come abutt you know you are on guard against that at the same time as a journalist because you don't want to become a cheerleader and i think it is really important that despite a promise charisma that we hold them accountable, we don't put him up on some pedestal where we cannot criticize him and say he is not living up to his promise so i struggled with that as i wrote the book. yeah, i began to deals somewhat confident. >> when did you first realize you could write a book? >> any book?

>> in the book. [laughter] >> mcminn it was always my ambition to write books, so-- >> you are a poet. >> right, right but in college was when i really got the book and thought this is what i am going to do. >> you said your mother is in st. louis. >> i grew up in st. louis. >> talk about that. >> i was a political science major and a change my major to english. >> you grew up in st. louis? were in st. louis? >> i grew up in north st. louis, which at the time north st. louis meant black sand louis. like a lot of cities, intensely racially segregated. >> andy did you attend st. louis public schools? >> i did and i was always in special programs on the cell side of town so i would catch a couple of buses over to the cell

side. [inaudible] >> illegibly. >> you have always been a big reader because when you read your book, you quote from so many different types of people and you reference from-- so it really does speak to how will read you are. >> virginia wolf's said-- culture speak to occulter soa books beat twig movie and recording speech to a book so i tried to engage them all into the conversation as much as i can. >> you were of a smart young black kid growing up. did you ever feel that tension? >> all the time. >> how did you live in the world that said education was not necessarily-- >> i think the african-american community at the time had a weird relationship to intellectualism. there were kids who totally disregarded me because of that but then there were other kids

film you might call thugs who were oddly protective of may. leave the little man alone. he is smart, leave him alone. i got that all the time so there were people who would look out for me at the same time. >> you have tie school in st. louis and came here to northwestern university to study. >> to study political science initially. my family thought i was going to be a lawyer. i will tell you what the turning point was. gwendolyn brooks came to our campus. she did a three day residency at a women's residency college and they cut all mike classes and i stalked her. everywhere she went she would look up and there was in the middle of the audience. the last day she was there there was a reception and the press some of my writing into our hands. my friend said, do it, do it. she was very good about it. i thought i was special. she reached out to young people all the time but i got a letter

from her saying this is really nice and you need to continue doing this. >> affirmation. >> that was what i'd was looking for so i called my mother long distance and i confessed her, mumm i don't want to be a lawyer. there was this very long pause. >> she didn't say, this is our moment. [laughter] >> finally she said medicine is a perfectly good profession and that never even discussed medicine. it was an odd moment. >> then, so you left with an english degree here at northwestern and then what happened? >> i went back to st. louis where my family was and i was determined to be a poet. poetry was my concentration so i began to get published in literary magazines and i took a job at the weekly newspaper in st. louis. it was called st. louis american and i worked there. that is when i began to see-- a

black owned newspaper. aid is a long story but eventually i went from there to the daily dispatch and i went from there to "the washington post." now i matt crisis magazine. >> talk about your portrait. >> i am in a number of anthologies. i have not published a collection of poetry. it remains my first love. >> i love writing and i've love the story about her when she was on her deathbed and i tell this story because i love it so much but her daughter, she was, she said her death was imminent and her daughter put a pin in her hand. i tell my daughter the story. you see? keep this in mind. i love writing and i always want to know people who write, where is your passion? is that of poetry, writing for newspapers are writing

non-fiction? >> i think i could be happy doing any kind of writing. i don't think i have a prejudice in terms of zhonra. i remember telling my wife, of which is have to write different kinds of whenever the opportunity opens up, that is what i will do. >> do you have a writing style, a discipline? >> i am very disciplined, a fairly upset. i read in the morning in the evening. i write all the time. i am writing right now. >> the kind of skilled people can analyze things in issues with people who just so that you can write with them? >> i think it is all fair game. and the conversation with any human being i encounter might find themselves in the pages. i will change their names of course. >> have you written fiction? the my first novel is coming out with doubleday, not this april but next april. >> can you tell us about it? >> it is about a young man

growing up in a midwestern town right around the time of martin luther king. ins the night that martin luther king is assassinated. >> semiautobiographical? >> very slightly, very slightly. >> it comes out in april. it is your first? >> april, 2010. what is the title? >> it is called nappy days. so that is coming and i have published for children's books and i have two more coming out this year. >> so you don't, you don't do a whole lot. >> a friend of mine reminded me, he sent me an e-mail and said why do you write so much? i wrote back, have five children and they like to eat. [laughter] the nerve of them. >> about my daughter because sometimes i am just staring off and she will say mom, you were

writing a argue? i will say yes. do your children, are they helpful, are the accessories? >> except for the 7-year-old. he does not buy into any of it but the others are more mature and i will explain to them, i am working on something and they don't have a spare brain cell. they will go along with that but he never has. he does not respect that there. >> do you have a writer among the five? >> i think i have a couple of the don't want to put to much pressure on them. >> your wife, tell us a little bit about her. >> when we lived in st. louis she ran an african-american theater company, all women and they toured in did all that sort of thing. >> associates decretive type? >> very much so. >> does that work? clearly it does because you love and married for 20 some years. >> you will note that every book

of mine is dedicated to her in the two previous books before this for her ideas. she suggested to me that i read those books of she is very involved in the process. >> that sounds great. and your mother is proud? >> i think so. >> she feels like okay, you didn't go into law but he made something of yourself. >> it's a great while but i am still looking to see that life-size cutout of myself. [laughter] >> i think, if it is okay we can open up a discussion to you guys, to the audience and i would ask that you come down to the microphone if you have a question. i do hope to get a chance to read what obama means, our culture, our politics, our future.

would you like to say your name? >> good evening. my question is, has the president read your book? >> i don't know. he has not called me and told me. >> okay. i read an article in the magazine, 25 books the president should read. i have been skimming through and they should be one of them that he should read. did you write anything in the book or reference to anything that he has to verify as being true or not? b'hai don't think so. i was pretty careful there because they said if he is elected he will be so powerful that i might hear a strange click on my phone. [laughter] >> did you start this before he was actually elected? >> yes. i started in april of last year. >> thank you.

>> there are a lot of lightbulb moments. that is one of the things i like about the book is that you make connections and i know that you are a culture critic and that is your kid, that is your thing, that you are lucky enough to be able to read and watch movies and-- that is one of the things i like about the book is that you do take this in directions that are kind of unexpected really. hello. >> good evening. i am 25. i am in desperate need of obama's bailout and one reason why i supported that the candidates was i felt he did nothing for the pork and from the upper middle class to the crack of the city and a lot of the poor people that are registered, he don't care nothing about this, he hasn't mentioned this. you would-- do you think obama will attack these issues are to think he is going to skate on by? my second question would be to

you think his celebrity status is that berkman till? my sister is 15 and isn't interested in anything more than make up and she made the craziest quote. she said do you know what? i don't want to see my president next to jessica simpson. she cyber magazine and obama is in the star and all of these tabloids. she said it is like, this doesn't make him-- makes him cheap. do you think that is going to hurt him more with people not respecting him and seeing him in a celebrity like or do you think he will really attack the core issues because realistically the transparent politics thing was a roost. we don't know anything about this bailout and so far what i do know, bush gave him more than 400 blogs, i needed job. i got laid out and followed up with the layoff in the capital markets and the bombing doesn't seem to be doing anything to help me. >> it is a real-- thank you for

your questions and comments. it is a real-- we were reciting in livni of bad things that are happening in our profession, nothing happening and everyone. i am hoping that this white house level urban issues director that obama has started, which is a new thing, will lead to something substantive particularly where issues concerning the poor are relevant. it is too early to tell. i don't know. like you that is something i would like to see in the hope that will happen. in terms of the crassness of seeing obama next two jessica simpson genes, this is something that has some of the dignity of the executive office has been reduced, repeatedly. he did not start it. he is like the culmination of it but there is some risk there. the moment for me during the

campaign was a wrestling show is coming on, smack dab something like that, and mccain, hillary clinton and obama taped promos for the show and obama's was, can use know what barack is cooking? i remember going. so you do have those out moments. i don't think he is to blame for them but i do think he has to be careful. i guess he had to do that because the other two candidates for doing it and a lot of voters like wrestling is probably what the rationale was. i think that danger certainly exists, that his top star status could begin to work against him. mccain tried to turn against him during the campaign. he is not a candidate, he is a celebrity. so i think that danger is there. >> good evening. you probably actually address this in your book but my question is there's a lot of discussion in terms of

inner-city, inner-city african-american youth being drawn to this idea of obama and coming up to vote in that sort of thing. i guess my curiosity is why do you think it's a key figure like obama to job these young citi-- inner-city youth, especially in chicago we have a lot of prominent politicians. there are a lot of lawyers and a lot of people, african-american individuals who have no prominent positions in this country so why do you feel that it took somebody like him and especially considering being president is pretty much an unachievable ambition for a lot of youth? >> i talked about this little bit already. there is no question that there the bin african-american political figures as bright, clean and articulate. [laughter] the african-american writer

coats riding in the atlantic i think or the times said black people were not amazed by obama being bright come mcclean and articulate because we see bright come mcclean articulate but people all the time and there is no novelty for us. but, part of it is the timing. i think voters even inner-city voters were sophisticated enough this time not to just dismiss that kind of approach from the get-go. part of it is timing because obama has not always initially been embraced by those particular voters so i do think it was at this point in time, but i do think we have to give some of the credit to him that somehow his charisma was able to persuade, sufficient to persuade people who before had not been persuaded in part of that is intangible. you can't really put your finger on it. until it happens. >> i wonder if part of it is, when you have someone and you

see if there's a chance, it wasn't just a symbolic candidacy. there's a difference between the people who can aspire to the president. it is laudable to be a doctor or lawyer or even the old guy down the street but i think they were caught up in the frenzy as well, like weil a black president. >> how are you doing. i am a journalism student and i was wondering, you spoke about what he was saying about how obama has influenced the young black community and i want to know do you think your book will influence that same community or were you actually looking to focus in on one group of young black men or was it just a broad group? >> you know, i guess i always begin from my perspective as being a husband and father so all of my book sort of come out of that. so there is an element of self-absorption in there, and that want to address the concerns of the reader like me and other readers are welcome to

join in that conversation. everybody is welcome but if i had a reader that i envisioned when i began, it would probably be myself for my sons. you. >> is there another question? >> how are you doing, sir? i go to columbia college and i read somewhere that you write for "the washington post" for 11 years and previously before crisis and i want to know what made you make the transition? >> well, it is hard to pin that down to one particular thing but i have been doing the same thing for a long time and i was looking for something else to do. at the same time there were changes in the newsroom, where there were people sitting at desks before, they were gone in each day you would go and there would be a few more empty desk. i thought, one day i might show up and all my things will be

boxed on my desk and where will i go? so i did see the opportunities their shrinking. because of changes in the industry, you know so i was looking around for something else to do. >> hello everybody. i am at columbia college. my question to you is i took a class about-- last semester for jade termini want to know since obama is our new president, will there be more positive african-americans on television because now there is a lack of good positive all black class dramas since the cosby's so what do you think about that? >> i don't think obama will have any direct responsibility in that regard but i think it is probably not far-fetched to expect to see some characters that reflects some aspect of

obama in our portrayals. i have written about the failure of the african-american dramas on television and one of the things that has to be addressed is that african-americans themselves have never substantially supported african-american dramas, so that is something we would have to step up and do more of. another aspect of the portrayal of the african-american men on television, i'd like to point to shonda rhymes it does grey's anatomy and private practice. one of the most successful black producers ever. if you looked at her shows and so the two other medical shows, what is the of the one? er. you would be under the impression that african-american doctors were 30 or 40% of the medical profession when in reality they are only 3% so there's certain shows that they are beginning to not be retro in their portrayal of african-americans but even begin

to show us a glimpse of the future that is possible. of course you are pointing to a larger issue. i can't name another african-american producer of the drama of the then shonda rhymes so there are industry-wide problems that have to be addressed before we can see more of the counterpart trails the would like to see. >> people behind-the-scenes it can actually create the story line. >> in decision-making positions. >> good evening. i am a journalism student. >> what school do you go to? >> colombia. >> colombia again, in the house. >> do you think having a black president will improve our relations abroad and why or why not? the i think it will lead least temporarily in the beginning. i think their international standing is probably higher than it has been in some time and i think that during the cold war

for example when the jena and soviet union were fighting to influence these newly emerging african countries the soviet union has always pointed to the harsh treatment, the unfair treatment of african-americans in this country and they say you don't take them seriously because look what they do to their own people and that helped bring about the civil rights movement, the international pressure so at the same time the united states can capitalize on its image as an enlightened electorate capable of voting for a man who in no way resembles orn few ways resembles directly the previous 40 plus presidents and pointed that as an example of the united states as an exemplar of progress. i think we will be able to make that argument for a little while. i don't know how long it will last but i think the initial response has been encouraging. >> thank you. >> what you think of the bi-racial aspect of obama and the thing that adds to the

school factor or not? do you think it added to the school factor during the campaign? >> the question is what do i think of the bi-racial factor in obama's rice cantu i think it contributed to his cool factor? i think that his bi-racial identity was not a hindrance to be sure. the obvious symbolism was something that he addressed i think very well of representing these to cultural strands and then doggedly to some aspect of the culture it probably was cool as well i would think. >> one of the aspects that contributed to obama's rise is he represented a moderate futuristic alternative to the politics of extremism and demagoguery that his the emmit

gate-- >> i wonder if that is a real question. i think that the politics that dominated the country for the previous eight years undoubtedly lead to some dissatisfaction that helped obama takes office, without question. >> i am regina. i am with columbia college. my question is more of a local question. i hear people talk about their expectations about obama but you have to effect change locally sojo as an african-american community do we start locally with their local politicians and holding them accountable for their actions? >> that is a very good question, how we pulled local african-american pollack-- just local politicians? >> start locally and hold them accountable for the conditions that we live in. look at the state of illinois right now.

how do weech rikkel that down? how do you into that? >> i am no expert on local politics but i think that you have pointed out the main issue in terms of holding elected officials accountable. now, what structures are in place to make that possible? in theory at least on the local level you should be able to have direct contact, at least with the official or with the representatives of the official, but i think you pointed to a particular issue. something i would like to observe, i don't know much about it right now but i've like to see what the impact of obama's election is on how we feel local campaigns. one of the ones i was able to look at it little bit from a distance was in atlanta went to younger politicians ran against john lewis in the congressional district, that he pretty much owned and there came-- campaigns were inspired by louis' failure

to endorse obama early on in one of the two candidates rented the same office and used the same colors in his logo. he was right there in the community and that is one example but i but like to see how it plays out on the local level. i don't have expertise in that area but i think that is one of the things we should pay close attention to. that is not something might book addresses this-- seclusively but hopefully there will be people addressing that. >> i am also from columbia college. >> how did i know that? >> my question is on a more personal level. you talk about obama and culture and politics. >> i look at obama as an opportunity or an encouragement to step up my game.

i think the things that i want to do personally as a husband, as a father and as a writer, i think i already believe that they were achievable but i think what it has done this sort of reduced my tendency to klein, to say this is going to be hard. you don't know. you don't know part of this is going to be hard. i have got to do this. i am a writer, i am an. i am famous for talking myself thought of things. i am very good at coming up with reasons why something will not work, why it will not happen so i am trying to make it a point of personal transformation to tell myself, to look at why things can happen, why things can be done so we will see how long that lets that that is what i'm feeling right now. >> that is pretty good. >> hi, i am a former colleague

of don's and was an instructor at columbia college so you can blame me for all of the questions. i had of course as a journalist and have a three parker. the first is about, you talked a lot about curatin of the as a father and i know obama talks a lot about his identity as a father and his responsibilities. you talk the little bit about your mother but i was curious about your relationship with your father. the second, these are all unrelated, sorry. how much personal time is spent with obama and doing your book you had any reaction from him. the third had to do with, and this is as an instructor, trying to channel students into places where there are jobs and what is going on. i was wondering if he could also speak to the advantages and disadvantages of working in the mid mainstream versus a specialty publication or association publication that you do now, so they are three

different separate questions. >> okay and help me remember. my dad. my dad is about to turn 80. he is my personal hero. he is my role model. he was a schoolteacher and has been retired for about ten years. got up and went to work every morning, encouraged me in everything that i did. he is first and foremost the dominant influence in my life, to be sure. so i am very fortunate and blessed and grateful in that regard. the second question? i had no interaction with obama. izbet no time. it is not a biography. it is a critique, and so it would have complicated what i hoped to do with the book if i had spent time with him and especially if i had spent time with him and sort of drink the kool-aid. and i did not want to. that is no insult to him.

i just not comfortable working the way. >> you haven't had any reaction one way or another from the campaign? >> just the clicks on the phone. i am kidding. >> the third part was the association or specialty your alternative publications versus mainstream. i was just wondering what your thoughts were in terms of the bandages and pitfalls because sometimes for instance if you are an environmentalist and you have a job in a mainstream publication you might be tibbles degette hever mental stories in their. basically preaching to converted so what's your thoughts were on that? >> i have to say initially when i started out i never thought that i would work for the mainstream media. michael when i started particularly as a book critic was the one it to be in the nation in the village voice. that was my dream and i did end up writing for the village voice. never wrote for the nation but

there are some obvious, for example let me give you an example. i used to have added a committed to magazine in st. louis which covered african-american cultures and issues and i would call places trying to get a review copy of the book, review copy of the recording, trying to get an interview. and no one ever called me back. i really have to apostle. but when i went to the's, people would call me. would you like to call me? where are you five years ago? of the resources are extraordinary. that is the grated advantage i think in working at a place like that but i remember, i had one colleague who worked with me at "the washington post" but also work that the times in the of course he made a lot more money at "the washington post" but he always talked about, that was the best job he ever had because he had a certain amount of independence and i could probably say the same thing when

edited takes five and they never made a dime but itç was just a joyous experience. i felt i had more control over the product that i was putting together. >> hi, my name is natalie hall. i am actually a clinical psychology student at roosevelt university of around the corner from here, and my question is regarding the obama's effect on other ethnic cultures in this country. i know the focus is on african-americans and i feel like we are probably the most outspoken group about civil rights. we are not the only ones in this world who have issues but in this country we seem to kind of the the leader setting precedent for things like that, so i am curious as to what you think obama's effect on the other minorities in this country might be, their march towards equality in things like that and political representation and things like that?

where do you see that going because of obama's success? >> i will only point to some writings i have read, op-ed pieces and collins and stuff like that from asians and latinos in particular saying they have been emboldened by this experience and that they are going to become more directly involved in politics. at the same time, we seem to be shifting away from explicitly based based identity politics and even as they emerge as spokespersons for their particular communities they are already envisioning how they can be spokespeople for multiple constituencies so it might even be steps that they had skipped that african-americans necessarily had to do in order to create this path that they will be following. and you also see some aggressive and not necessarily because of obama, you see some aggressive civil-rights type movements among young populations that are not race-based, such as environmental activists and and

transgendered activists who are already-- to make an argument that they were already politically oriented and bobber the beginning certain forms of activism so you can't necessarily credit obama for what we are seeing in those communities but i think they have been encouraged by it. >> my name is terrence. i am a semirecent college grad from the school of journalism. what i wanted to know from you, first i am excited obama got elected and i look forward to what he has in store for all of this but what your thoughts for those that that we have a black president, racism is done and there is no work for racial discrimination. i was curious about your thoughts on that? >> president obama has said it is naïve to say we are in a post-racial moment. i think we are possibly in post-racial hysteria moment, that we can take any judd zoe

koenig knowledge number one that racism still exists of. at the same time we can acknowledge that racism is not so pervasive that it influences everything we can or cannot do, but as long as racism exists in any quantity it must be addressed, so i think we are still in that particular moment but at the same time, we can speak frankly, we can speak clearly and not immediate the killing to mutually opposing camps paralyzed by hysteria. >> a question for you. my name is leon and i am also from columbia to keep it going. just a quick question for you. you said like, the book is pretty much about what obama means. what does it mean to your kids and your family? >> i think just to pay date barry bradley, the question is what does obama mean to my kids

and my family? i think it is a sense of expanded possibilities, but at the same time i have to say i don't think that my kids sense of what is possible was ever as narrow as mine was, so i think it is more of the confirmation of what they expected as opposed to it revelation, which it was for me. >> the last one, when people are reading your book, whether any minority or any different race, what he wants them to take away from this book when they are done? >> other then, i have to go out and buy all of this guy's books? [laughter] no, no, no. that this is a matter of transfer-- transformation and it is up to us in which way that transformation manikas. we see obama not as the culmination of a long struggle but as the beginning of the new

one. >> thank you very much. wait, let me guess? columbia college? [laughter] >> nimer-- my name is angela and i was wondering how you describe the style of this book from the style of the n word? >> that is a good question. how would i describe this dial-up this book? i would describe the last book is a work of history and i would describe this one has a work of journalism. >> how are you doing? i am also from columbia college. i was wondering, regarding the freedom museum is any of your work going to be displayed in the museum and have the plant on contributing the exhibits that are not there yet? >> i think the representatives of the freedom museum can

address what is going on with the freedom museum. collican sais i am grateful to have been hosted by them and would happily work with them in whatever capacity. >> i have another question. regarding your new novel, nappy days is that coming out in 2010? are any of the real-life experiences paralleled in any aspect of the book? >> i am sure, i am sure the answer is yes. i can't think of a specific experience right now because i immediately set out to fictionalize how that changed-- how can i change this? one obvious thing i'd do is, let's say i wrote about you and put you in the book. i would make you 5 feet 5 inches and african-american, so you would not open it up and say, that is me. >> thank you. >> hello. >> look familiar.

>> i know the crisis magazine was started in 1910 and founded by dubois and i have two questions actually, how obama compares to w e dubois and i would like to know what principles of dubois are you following in your life? >> she is action wing-- asking me about dubois. it is hard to put a fine point on it in the book but i will say that i discussed that a lot in the book in relationship between dubois' observations and obama's emergence and i would say when i set out to write any book or any column or anything i have done i always say to myself i will not the "dubois, because he is so dominant in my thinking but of course they feel the immediately. he is all through here and in everything that i write. in terms of my personal philosophy, dubois was a fearless, shameless intellectual and in my office i have a framed photo of the plot and my favorite quote is painted in

gold on the frame, ignorance is a cure for nothing. that is my philosophy. >> hello. i am from the university of chicago. i guess i have two questions. okay, now that we have an african-american in office, the president, okay-- it is a lot of black, african-american men that are wonderful father's, and now that we have obama in office, do you feel that the fathers that have not been fathers to their children are going to step up and be responsible, the children that don't have their fathers

with them? also, obama had said to the young people, pull up their pants. do you think that, what time of the fact you think this is going to have? >> for questions work, is obama's prominence as a dedicated father going to have an influence on african-american fathers to web not been dedicated parents to their children, and the second question was, is obama going to have an effect on such behavior as the sagging pants that we see? that is a good question. in fact i will answer that one first because i really like the way obama handles that question when he was asked by a reporter from mtv. can you talk about the saggy pants and he said, first of all because there were talking about legislation, should there be legislation to ben saggia pants? first of all if you are going to be devoting energy to

legislation there are far more pressing issues that-- he said having said that brother sini to pull up your pants and i thought that was a very good way to do that. and, last week north carolina central historically black college in north carolina it enacted a new dress policy that was crafted by the african-american men on the campus, and rule number one was, no more sagging pants. so, we will see. we see some evidence. we can only hope that he will have a similar effect on men who have been lax in their parroting but again it is a situation where we are projecting so much on obama wind those are really the responsibilities of the community. it is up to us to call those people up of the need to redefine black masculinity. we have often defined it around the complete the tippen equation in terms of durability to make babies were is that it should be

your ability to raise them once you have made them that we have not made that commitment yet. >> hello again. you have obviously had a lot of success in your career. i was wondering if you could impart some advice or some wisdom for aspiring journalists and writers in regards to getting work published in things like that? >> well, wisdom for aspiring journalists and writers? my first, initially i just want to be published. i would have paid to be published. so i think initially, i will give you an example. i had the young guy and i was really trying to get him into "the washington post." he was a smart guy, his prose needed some work. he turned in a piece and another editor edited it, not mean. let's say, let me pull the example of the air. the great critic, john updike just died so we will use john

updike. the editor said to the young man this language you have here is not really working and i will try to work with the to make this planer and take out a few of these 20-dollar were to have. much to my chagrin the kid says john updike uses those words all the time, when he should it said the i am grateful for this opportunity. let me work with you to make this peace publishable. i acknowledge that i am not yet john updike. so, i think a certain amount of humility is required but a certain amount of seriousness. the first psi ever sold was to st. louis american, for $35 i did not go in there and say this piece is worth $300. how dare you. i said thank you. can i have some copies? in the beginning you right where there is an opportunity and if you don't write you will die. test it be that kind of motivation and the other stuff has to come later.

but you can be very strategic. you can sit down and look at the things you want to be published and pay attention. that is what i do when i talk about the village in the-- village voice. how can i write like these men and women? it is all right to do that to isolate them and dissect them and examine them but in the beginning just get it out there. you don't have to get it published, just get it out there. [inaudible] >> weakener paper walls. >> you said earlier that people of color ran for election before, do you think obama being of color helped this election or do you think it made a bigger impact? >> i think kim being of did help in some quarters. undoubtedly there were still

americans who could not vote for him because of his color, but obviously there were others who probably were motivated to vote for him because of his color and in conjunction with other issues. so maybe it was a wash. maybe it was in advantage. it is hard to call. >> thank you. >> hi, my name is britney and i am all solis foodnet columbia college. i have two questions. i was wondering, in your writing to you feel it is a major responsibility of taking on the task of being a black male author compared to others? and the second question is, do you read a lot of other black authors' works for further inspiration? >> d.w.i feeley since a responsibility as an african-american man right now? i would say yes. i write with my ancestors over my shoulders and i literally right with my ancestors over my

shoulders because i have a shrine in my office of all of my intellectual lance sisters. whatever quote i associate with them for good they are actually looking at me when i right so i do feel a sense of responsibility when i create. i read them with some intensity. i tried to read african-american writers of my own generation but previous generations with some intensity and some regular devotion. people like dubois and james baldwin and i am a huge ralph ellison and many other writers as well. >> i came from new york and i'm hoping you can come but i am trying to think of the news for you can come to do this in new york, possibly a bookstore, possibly top. >> i know where i am invited. >> the other thing is, obama merely