>> what is the fiscal health of bonds and noble? >> very interesting spot. they had record sales but because they spend so much money developing their e. reeder line and digital business they had to suspended dividend last two quarters. wall street has not entirely been happy about this. they have been in or process of selling themselves about a year ago. in early may would is owned by john malone who owns various media properties put in a bid for $17 a share. that is being considered. the company is doing due diligence but it remains to be seen whether the deal will close. there were favorable finds as

malone and barnes and noble's chairman have spoken highly of each other in the media but at this point it is up in the air. is hardly a done deal. >> tell us about publishers marketplace and if people want to go to the web sites or follow you on twitter. >> as you said i of the news editor for publishers marketplace which reaches 30,000 subscribers. you can find us that publishersmarketplace.com. >> thank you for the update on borders. >> my pleasure. >> get the booktv schedule e-mailed to you. use our web site, booktv.org and press the other button or use your mobile phone. text the word book to 99702. standard message and data rates up 5. we're back with more live

coverage from the 2,011 harlem book fair. up next from the stage of the langston hughes auditorium, the center for research on black culture a panel discussion on african-american economic history. >> good afternoon. it is indeed -- a pleasure to present these dynamic young ladies. these are two terrific sisters. they are hard workers for our community. i applaud you all for coming out in 100 degree weather to enjoy what we are about to enjoy. my name is troy johnson. i am founder of the african american literature book club. it is largest and most

frequently visited web site by and about books written by and about people of african-american -- african decent. the web site was started in 1998 and is one of the oldest websites of its kind on line. i would like to introduce you to carol jenkins, author of black titans and making of a black american millionaire. a writer and producer and an emmy award winning former w. nbc-tv television anchor and correspondent and founding president of the women's media center. she is executive producer of the pbs documentary what i want my words to do to you which won the freedom of expression award at the sundance film festival in 2003. carol jenkins enjoys an award winning tenure in several new york city news department including 23 years that w. nbc

tv where she coanchored the 6:30 p.m. newscast. she was most identified with reporting of national political stories including from the floor of the democratic and republican national convention that yielded president carter, reagan, bush and clinton. give a round of applause to carol jenkins. [applause] >> next up we have dr. julianne malveaux, author of surviving and thriving 365 black economic history. she is the fifteenth president of college for women leaders' unrecognized for progressive observation. she is an economist, author and commentator and described by dr. cornell west as the most iconoclastic public intellectual

in the company. doctor malveaux's contributions to the public dialogue on race, culture, gender and economic impact our shaping public opinion in the twenty-first century america. a round of applause for doctor malveaux. [applause] >> i bring you the conversation, black wealth past and presence, the politics of black wealth. >> thank you for your great work. i love what you produced. hi am a friend on facebook. >> thank you for the opportunity to be with you. i love you all. thank you so much. >> i would say if ever we needed an economist today is the day we need an economist. i felt in the last few weeks we needed to go back to school to take courses in economics to try to understand what is happening. do we need to raise the debt

ceiling? what is going on in washington? since you have a keen eye and understanding of what they're doing what is happening exactly at what is your prediction of the outcome? >> we have to raise the debt ceiling. we can't default internationally on our obligations. it is fascinating that the debt ceiling has been raised probably 70 times in the last 30 years. why does it sadly become an issue when the president is barack obama? the answer is because people have issues. they are angry. we are attempting to set perimeters around what is happening with the economy. here is what we know for sure. everyone in this audience. is there anyone here who has not experienced economic hardship or

know someone who has? the unemployment rate is 9.2% overall. it is 16% for african-americans. real unemployment rate for us is 28%. one in three americans has been looking for work for a year. if anyone stands up here and says i have not had economic hardship, someone has to key in their life. this is a brother or sister who says can you help me pay my rent that is not going to turn out right. help me if i am hurting. this is what is going on. we know because you have a phenomenal -- >> she is holding up my book too. >> a phenomenal ancestor who basically made it happen. even in the middle of hardship we make it happen but we make it

happen because we decide we are going to make it happen. so i think what we know is john boehner and president barack obama -- >> she said that deliberately. john boehner. >> whatever. i tried. my mama does this thing with holy water. i don't have any holy water. anyway whatever his name is, the man is attempting to circumvent the president. the bottom line is on 70 occasions this has been called housekeeping. now that president obama has to deal with that it is called something else. here is what we have to do. anyone in the sound of my voice,

we have to stand up, stepped up, man and woman up to the side we will not allow people to marginalize the president. some of you who know me well, do not allow us to marginalize this president. we understand that in the middle of a recession we cannot talk about cutting social programs. [talking over each other] >> my young people come to me, $5,500 is all we are offering. 35. thirty-eight. round here somewhere, probably

hiding. reggie bailey -- i have friends here in the house. stand up, reggie. i love you, a dorr you, philanthropist. these are people who lived up our young people. how could they do what they do when we can't do what we are supposed to do? how do you cut a poll grant? forgive me and allow me an indulgence. 75,000 americans got engineering degrees. 300,000 indians. six hundred thousand chinese people. they are doing what they are supposed to do. reggie bailey, were you mit? what are we supposed to do? what are we supposed to do? i am going to be quiet.

>> let me follow up because it is the collective wisdom that it is president obama has offered what the new york times has called an overly generous package of cuts in social programs. what do we say about that? of course the republicans walked away once again. >> holy water. holy water. you know what? let's take our time and talk about the energy we have. i can fix these people. they are not fixable but here is what i want black people to understand. you know it from your ancestors story. no matter who we are or how we are we have triumphed even in the middle of nonsense.

let's continue the energy of triumph. the reason i wrote surviving and thriving is because i wanted people to understand even when the game is not fair it is not going to be fair. please don't kill me. my best friend forever, a phenomenal woman who has raised up the young people at the southeastern learning center of washington d.c.. we got to say -- somebody put the camera on her. reggie, help us. here is the point. no matter what we're doing we can't do it -- the game is not fair. we win it when we play. this sister brought $6 million to the worst part of d.c.

because she played the game. this brother helped her because he played the game. we have to play the game. we can't play we don't win. that is the story. >> i am going to get to that. we have a distinguished audience. by the time dr. malveaux is finished everyone will be standing including my oldest boy. >> oldest boys, stand up. we don't want to leave you out. let's give the oldest boy alone. >> he made his contribution. one more question. as an economist i need a prediction. what is your prediction about how we get out of the mess? what options--president clinton has settled president obama would have to do is to write the check and declare that he has

the right to do it on his if it turns out that congress can't get itself together in any agreement. do you think that ultimately is what he might do? how do you think the country would react? >> i hope president obama will take the leadership he has earned. he is our elected president. he can raise the debt ceiling on his own. to dance around the mulberry bush with people who denigrated my favorite beverage -- [applause] -- it is not useful. he has to step up and i believe he will. even more importantly we have to have a different kind of education. what has happened here is you have people -- how can i put

this nicely? hy won't. >> just getting -- >> people who are intellectually deficient decided to make a decision and say the same thing over and over again and that makes it true. here is what is true. we have in the united states of america fourteen million people who don't have work. we have another fourteen million people who don't have work unofficially. we have people who are struggling. people in southeast washington d.c. with children who can't do what they need to do because they're hurting. what do we do about that? here's what we do. we talk about the images and the possibilities we have. president obama could do more. i think he feels constrained but i tell people all the time he

would not get fed in your mama's house if you don't bring your plate to the table. black america has to ask this president to do what we need him and to do. ask him. tell him. exhort him. i am so e enamored of this president. i am concerned about economic policy and we need to be able to communicate that. what can we do in a year? in a year we have to create jobs. that is what america is clamoring for. one third of the unemployed people in our nation have been unemployed for more than a year. how do you live your life unemployed for year? what do you do? these of the questions we must ask. my brothers and sisters here we must raise questions, ask

questions, push, probe around the ways we think our economy should work. >> i agree with that way forward. the book is fascinating and thank you for including my uncle arthur in this. >> he is a phenomenal human being and we know that. alabama businessman who lived for a century and what my daughter and i did in the book was try to assess america in the century he lived, 1892-1996. incredible amount of things that took place for black americans. we said we were going to talk about the history of america and black america and everybody talked about slavery -- that is how we got here. i don't hear many people talking about the g i bill and the

devastation that brought and the discrepancy you are seeing in black american wealth and white american wealth was the government engendered right after world war ii. housing, training, all of that which was given to veterans returning to this country, and black americans forced into what we now know as the skyscraper, apartment buildings. and the fact that they use government money to build those thousands of houses that only white veterans were able to buy. they have video of shiny a kitchen appliances. this was the beginning of the current discrepancy of wealth in our country. you have thoughts on --

>> there is introduction 22 page essay in which our talk about the wealth gap and many ways the wealth gap was imposed by public policy. erik nilsson wrote when affirmative action was white. in his book he talked about the very ways that white americans, especially post world war ii were able to get benefits that african-americans were not able to get. in mississippi 300 black men -- they were able to get benefits. back at the ranch almost every white man who served was able to get a loan for a home, loan for college, loans for other things. if you look at wealth, look at someone investing in you no one has invested in black america.

let me say something i don't want you to get too upset about but it upsets me every day. we invested in ourselves. the most phenomenal lacked of economic courage was self emancipation. whenever i talk about this i actually get sick. i talk about patrick oliver around here, project manager on surviving and thriving. [applause] >> how is it that we by ourselves? how do you cut a deal? you have black folks who purchase themselves. the first fact of the boat -- thank you for the southeast center, phenomenal occasion. thank you for your support of that. i just love my people who have

them. how do you purchase your self? what goes on in your mind is aiken by myself in the land of the free and the home of the brave or the slave. how do you by yourself? here is what happened in cincinnati. john parker taking two measures. louis farrakhan -- this was bad and crazy. he walked onto other people's plantation. harriet tubman was credited with freeing 300. john parker freed more than 900 people. what about the plantations? what he said was we will free ourselves. the thing i want us to think

about was the audacity which is not a word -- i just made it up. the many ways our people have been phenomenal and the reason i raise it is for my young people, my younger sisters and brothers, if they could do that what could we do next? if they could do that, enslave people to free themselves by purchasing themselves, 25% of enslaved people were self emancipated in cincinnati. you bought yourself. i always think that this is a sixth thought, who ran away and who saved? if i could be a sociologist and go back in time, who bought themselves and who ran away i know i was a runaway slave.

i wasn't paying nobody for nothing. but the woman who was -- a seamstress. there were many women. men's stories are more told the history belongs to shiva holds the pen. she not only paid for herself but supporter white family. she supported 17 people with her needle. let's talk about this. we found that -- working my daughter and 9 on this book about young people. he started out as the grandchild of slaves living in a cabin and managed to create ten major businesses in birmingham, alabama and became one of the first of modern times. they were quite accomplished very wealthy people before my

uncle but managed to create a bank radio station, construction, all kinds of things and was influential in helping martin luther king desegregate the department stores. in 1963 when he came to birmingham i don't know if you remember the gaps in motels where he stayed that was an economic fight. it was to desegregate department stores because blacks could buy back about fraud on anything in these stores in birmingham and they couldn't use the restroom so it created an extremely difficult situation for blacks. that is what it was. so many of our flights were economic fight. he was able to do it with a couple things. he was phenomenally focused but also operating in segregated birmingham, alabama. after segregation was over there were problems. you talk about that and how you

see the evolution of that. we have to think that is where the solution lies for people to create businesses like the ones you included in surviving and thriving. >> your ancestor was a phenomenal human being and we understand the courage but also what the courage--not another choice. so many people refused to accept what was there. i would make a black economic history parallel with this. i wrote 15 publishers to say can we get this book published? we are not interested in black economic history so my company did it. that is what i am seeing a lot of times. oliver deserves a lot of credit. just walk and talk.

we can raise money and do things so we did it. that is the challenge. we have more choices in the twenty-first century that we had in the 20th and 19th. your antecedent -- there was no one lined up to do that. we have to be really clear about the many ways that we own ourselves and that we own our history and make decisions that our history is phenomenal, vital and special. when i look at so many people, especially some of the women. i look at maria stuart, the first woman who made her living as a speaker i resonate with her. what i look at t. j. walker and maggie clean the worker --

walker. she did not -- any malone. let's be clear, madame c.j. walker was phenomenal but she took someone else's model and wrapped it up a bit. but maggie lena walker from virginia was a second grade education who started penny savings bank. debate that existed until 2009. let's lift her up. when it comes to black history month we have our black people i love them all, frederick douglass and martin luther king, put your head down. she just did. the point is this. we have black people who people don't know who are so important. par la harris in new york.

a phenomenal woman. this brother who is a philanthropist, a leader who is phenomenal. st. john, television and radio personality in the 1950s. we should resonate with her. she decided to be a broker. the first black woman to pass the new york stock exchange exam. come john now! give the sister some love. [applause] naomi sims. she was just a model. she was also a phenomenal -- mary ann dragons, black woman on wall street. i list these people because it is important. we don't want to just say we have static figures. we have dynamic human beings we might walk across at the

starbucks. that for you, the work you have done around your antecedent is important. it is very important for us to be clear that economic history is the history must love and lift it up. >> i want to close that because i have a disconnect. a believe in celebrating with my uncle who was quite the exception. whenever i read statistics about the net wealth of black women in this country being $5 or $100 that they are the bottom of the barrel, how do we get the bulk of black women, single women who have virtually nothing and mostly because they don't own homes because household ownership is still the basis of most of the wealth we know. how do we deal with that?

$5? $100? >> the data on that are daunting data, speak to the challenges we face. black women take care of everybody else before we take care of ourselves. his wife had $5 because she was related to pooky who said i will pay my phone bill and see you in a month. i don't believe in lending money. just give it to them. if you lend to them you will be mad at them. if you give it to them is okay. the other piece of that is please give them the rent money. otherwise they will move in with you. you really want that? all the kids come to your house? no. here is the deal. we take care of other people

before we take care of us. when you look at the numbers we don't have the wealth and we have to deal with that. we have to learn how to take care of ourselves and it is a challenging thing to do. the data was daunting last year. the average single black woman with children had $125. 1 25 -- that is no money. not a very good one if you are in new york city. we have to deal with that. but what we have to do with that is about surviving and thriving. let me tell you the story of elizabeth keck and --keckley.

she wrote her own autobiography after she was done by some virginia white folks. she described them as dissipated. you work with that. they were run out of virginia and taken to st. louis. she wrote i supported 17 people with my needle. she supported the people who owned her with her needle. she with the go to women in st. louis. >> the address it was hers. she purchased herself and went to washington and became the taylor for elizabeth todd lincoln who have 165 pairs of gloves. how do you have that many gloves and 365 days a year? you have a shopper problem. [talking over each other]

>> the story about her is useful because i want my sisters to think about multiple in come story she had. when abraham lincoln died elizabeth keckley was hostess to mary lincoln. they were sisters but mary lincoln didn't buy any more gloves because she had no more money. so she fired our sister, the former slave who then wrote an autobiography and told stories no one wanted her to tell. she was clear about the fact she needed to make a living. sisters need to be clear about these issues. multiple income stream. how do you make a living? how do you put yourself out there? what do you do? surviving and thriving is about

that. i want to say a little bit about this book from the perspective that nobody wanted to publish it. nobody wanted -- i had a lovely lunch with a young sister. send me a lobster salad and a glass of white wine and told me nobody wanted to hear about black people in congress. it was a lovely conversation. >> reminds me of a story talking with a television executive about the life story of lena horne and what was said was it is not interesting enough. there wasn't enough -- not enough -- [talking over each other] >> long story short, i give him

credit. do your thing. so we published a book. i called the book a note to my people. i want people of african descent to understand how important it is for us to revel in history. [talking over each other] >> it is crafted as the of 365 facts and mixed up the current with the historic so it is really great and things people don't know about. i recommend it. i want to go back -- i am the one presenting this note here. because i think it is important for us to use your book and my book as encouragement to get through it. apparently between 2004, and

2009, media network of black households fell by 83% when there was a 24% drop in white households and it was 2018 or seven years for us to get back to the jobs we had in 2007 and what you talk about is an effort to recovers that doesn't include jobs. the centrality of work in our economy is being lost. i found that piece of yours -- >> go to juliannemalveaux.com. we could have a recovery but no jobs for people to go into. >> it is one of the most perplexing aspects of the current economic situation. there are economists who say we are in recovery and no longer in recession and i always say go to

the hood. stand on the corner. martin luther king and malcolm x, a lot of places you can stand. if economic recovery has come it has not come there. we have seen gdp growth in the past two years pick up. much of it is a function of the investment the federal government has made in banks and in other places. we have not seen people going back to work. last month only 18,000 jobs were created. the unemployment rate went from 9.1% to 9.2%. for african-americans the unemployment rate is 15%. if you look a real rate it is 28%. these are trying times.

what do we do about that? i believe we have abrogated our responsibility as citizens. we should all be angry, focused about what has to happen. i also believe we can create wealth on our own. so many others did. we can talk about a entrepreneurship in a different way. the oasis where we educate and celebrate women and develop 20 first century leaders and global thinkers -- [talking over each other] >> we require students to take a class in entrepreneurship because you will be an entrepreneur at some point in your life. with your a science or art majors some time you will have to figure out how to make it on your own. that is critically important. i think we need to begin to talk

about ways that we replicate, produce, engender the wealth creation process. we also must talk more about how we engage politically and what we do. i am frustrated with our people around conversations with our president. this congress is a city hall. all these other places. what are you doing about that? how do you operate? how are you engaged? what do you do? we have a lot of work to do. >> i remember distinctly when i used to see you on cnn and your voice is an extremely important one as a pundit. what do you think about al sharpton getting 6:00 on ms nbc? >> it is exciting. we don't have african-americans

in prime time. if he is able to bring some knowledge to the game, let's do that. [applause] >> i am waiting for a sister. but i am excited this has happened. i really am. >> what do you think it is that has made black women's show in visible? i helped create the women's media center where we work to get women's voices and stories told. it is an uphill battle. 90% of everything is still passed by men and women still only hold 3% of the positions in media in this day and age. >> i have two perspective as. one is the bias and patriarchy but we also need to be more

vocal about what we want. i don't know how many sisters are here in the house. how many visited someone who said i want to see some black women on the air? we could own this. we have some ownership we could do as well. i am excited about the many ways we are beginning to unpack things. michele obama is a phenomenal leader and role model. she is great and wonderful. we have to stand up. these people who have denigrated my favorite beverage make all this noise and every time she goes out for a hamburger they will take that somewhere and make it into something which is

nonsense. when the left talk about the bush barrels -- girls there be no. we need to set the same standard. you can talk about president obama that he is a big boy, even talk about michele but leave the daughters out of it. they are little girls. come on. we don't do the work we could do to stand up and put a line in the sand for our people. can we put a line in the sand for our people? that is all i am asking for. you know and i know when we make the phone calls we do the work. one phone call people think of as 1,000 people but who calls? you say that was just messed up.

i was so mad that was messed up. don't be mad. get even. danny glover had a verizon commercial. they got mad at his politics and he lost it. why has rush limbaugh and never lost anything. i am exposing myself. have my back, please. come on. they talk about us as though we are in human. no one stands up for us. what is wrong with us? that is a story of surviving and thriving. we only win the game when we play the game. we have got to play the game. >> i have a moment of shock when the girls went to africa with their mother. it was the first time i realized

there are black girl living in the white house. isn't that amazing? i started reading alice's book the end of danger. talking about the fact the next generation of african-americans are not as bad as my generation was. do you believe that? granted he is interviewing the harvard mbas who have a different perspective on the world and have a slightly different in come but do you believe we have perhaps mostly because of barack obama entered an optimistic face? we are not angry or should we be angry? are we hopeful? the figures say african-americans are more hopeful despite the employment figures than anybody else in the country. i want to know who they're

talking about. >> to the southeast learning center to have any kind of survey of the homes in the hood. phyllis --ellis is a brilliant writer and really good and is raising interesting questions. let's look at the numbers. 3% of us don't have jobs. one in three. you don't have a job. you don't have a dog. you don't have a job. has anybody called you? jobless people to ask how you are feeling about this? [talking over each other] >> the harvard mbas i am related to some. let's be clear.

we have challenges. i used to live this life that was very fascinating. i took a piece of data and i could write a book about it. now for peace of data comes through my office and says i lost my job. how do i pay my tuition? that is my new life as a college president. i revel in it but i am very challenge by the fact that we in black america don't always see ourselves. some of us do phenomenally well. our applaud them, the recreation committee and lots of other organizations but i also know about the people who have more months than money. they cannot eat. these theoretical discussions are not discussions that make a

difference in their lives. it strikes me when i look at the numbers, sometimes almost makes me want to cry to think about the number of people who want to work but can't find work. think about the people being foreclosed on when billions of dollars of banks won't lend. i am not sure how to begin to have a conversation about the hidden danger. an end of a anger is the beginning i hope of -- i hope those people who understand they essentially pay their taxes for other people to get bonuses are mad enough to do something about it. [applause] >> we don't hear those voices.

unless we are reminded of the unemployed we don't see them. we don't know that they are there. what is the solution for that? we are talking about the debt ceiling and other issues. we are not talking about the people you are talking about. that has to happen. >> you and i are both media people. we spend time telling stories and we know the stories that want to be told and that don't want to be told and we need to be clear our story needs to be told. one reason i am excited about our sharpton getting a show on msn b.c. is i know al sharpton has a feeling for the people. i am hoping he will raise up the issues, talk to some of the people who have issues or problems and deserve to be heard. we all need to be clear about

the way we deserve to be heard and we will create our own strategies. again, probably not the place to be as vulnerable -- this hurts me. it hurts me to see people of african descent at the periphery of our economy understanding the many ways we have been central. understanding in so many ways to work that we have to do and understanding no one is going to do it for us. there are a series of demographics that are frightening. we are not the biggest minority any more and we are now the fastest-growing. the latino population -- we are not mad at them but they are where they are and who they are and how they are and we need to figure out how to work with them. we also need to figure out how

to get our fair share of this economy that we have created a foundation for. that is what part of the challenge is. i look at the next five years for the next 25 years of our nation. i understand last year we created 75,000 engineers in the united states of america. china is 600,000. they are investing in higher education. we are divesting from higher education. help me with that. help me with that. is that ok with those? president obama says he wants to be the lost leaders in terms of education but china is investing more money. this is the money that goes to

our poor young people. we have challenges that we refuse to deal with. our people are dying and nobody really cares. the answers you would find in the economic history of blacks in america, what would you point to? >> i love that question. when we look at our people we look at ursula burns at xerox and sarah washington who was lifted up at the new york world's fair in 1945. distinguished businesswoman. dorr the bronze and who has opportunities in radio. carolyn mingo jones, mary ann's dragons --spraggins we had a

sister once, ilan appears on the securities and exchange commission. gloria stewart was the sister, first black woman to make a living as a speaker. par la harris, phenomenal young woman who was a financial genius and has a fabulous voice. the first black woman who passed the new york stock exchange -- here is the point. we can do it. the book was written as a love note to my people because i love us. i think we are so phenomenal. just about being a person of african descent. i worry. if the lord made me something else it wouldn't have turned out right. i think we can do whatever we do. i look at my friends here,

reggie and patrick and so many others who step out on a limb because they love us. if you love us you will help us be who we need to be. >> there are people in the audience who would like to ask questions. we have a microphone set up on my left side, your right side of the auditorium. if you would like to step up please join us in this conversation. we want to hear as many of you as possible. and okay. go right ahead. >> first of all it is great to see you, carol. i remember you from channel 4 and you are best. >> thanks very much. >> great to see you. i have a question. i am very solution oriented. i am a retired physician and

i'll always -- i make the diagnosis but here is the prescription. about what you have been talking for the last half hour or so. is voting now irrelevant? i am asking this because a drop in the percentage of young people who voted in 2010. we're seeing voter disenfranchisement efforts across the country. i am asking both of you, what can we do to let young people know how important it is that they not let go of this life they have now that they are 18 years of age. how do we communicate that we have to go to economic tour must keep them going to the polls not

just every four years but you mentioned city council, how do we do this? i think this is critical. >> julianne has written about voter suppression which is something we have to keep uppermost in our minds. >> voting is not the most you can do. it is the least you can do. we need to be clear with all of our people that voter registration and voter information is the least you can do. we need to be clear that there are efforts towards voter suppression which mean in some parts of the south instead o vo suppression which mean in some parts of the south instead of precinct voting they're doing area going which means 30 miles to a voting place which then

discriminate against you by money or how you get there, 20 or 40 miles. in some states you have to show that you're a citizen. the mayor of atlanta's mother was turned away from a voting bowl because she did not have the proper identification. we have to be more active and activist around the voting issue. ..

four years ago was called a housekeeping matter. okay, now suddenly it is a huge issue. the other way that it has been done is to deal with the integrity of the voting process and so i would ask people to think about ways that they might also be involved in the voting process whether or not they are running for statewide secretary of state, boating in their own area. your question is a very important question, and again, here is our challenge. we have not consistently ahead of the game with this. again i would lift up "surviving and thriving" for many reasons. many of the people who made an economic difference did it through the polls and so while the vote talks a lot about entrepreneurs, we also talk about people who the national

domestic workers union in the 1930s, the women who did the research for the sedans, the people who did the sedans, this was an energy we once had and that energy we still have her go thank you again for your question and you have also talked about the fact that women are still missing in leadership roles including the civil rights organizations and in politics so i would say not only should you vote but you should run. that is my incentive to that. >> i agree voting has a function. by political education precedes the vote. if you just take that franchise and handed over without demanding a return back, then it is just useless and bad seems like what is happening in our

communities. belonging to a party that has been mistreating you for the longest, you know, i think it is time for us to think outside the box and not look for the box to be adorned with a white ribbon and a white bow. >> are you talking about third-party candidates or are you talking about. >> i am talking about are people at some point having a political convention. keep everybody out. and let's work it out. but this is an working. it is not working. having black faces in high places is not enough. >> you feel that the democratic party has not held its part? >> and yet, you wouldn't find yourself wanting to vote for the republicans as you know them now? >> i'm independent. independent, but let's be real

with it. >> here is the reality, my brother. here is the reality. you have a whole bunch of barbie doll looking, okay somebody is supposed to help me here. [laughter] these women who are republicans who don't know chicken salad from chicken spears are not leaders. policy is an imperfect process. it is an extraordinarily imperfect process. i think we all know that those of us who have spent time in politics know that. third-party politics -- possibilities do it. do it. we have seen it before. i think that, what was his name, ross perot? he made a difference in 2000 or 92. he made a difference. i think that african-american people have the right to raise

questions, issues, platforms but i also think that at the end of the day, if you tell me that my choice is any democrats or sarah palin -- [laughter] i am going to go with any democrats. i mean, that would be me. that might not be you. that would be me. i'm not sure that i can see russia from alaska. [laughter] and yet, though, there are many are regressive's. there are many people of color who are in this quandary. what is a quandary? >> of quandary is -- the quandary is how to get action for your. >> the same thing that you are urging. >> we cannot, we cannot assume

again -- let me be really clear. those who are in presidential politics who understand the limitations that any president has. he was talking about more than just a president though. i think the whole party. >> so make it happen. make it happen. here in new york i think there is a working party's family which i think is really exciting and they are doing exciting work. i know some of the folks there and they are doing good work. i think in minnesota you have the farmer party. again, that is exciting. but i think it the end of the day, politics is the art of compromise. how do you get more of what you want them more of what you don't want? i know that i don't want a palin, a bachmann makes stuff out of whole cloth. let's go down the list. a romney, and mccain, you

know, a flawed obama is better than the best of those people. [applause] >> your question? >> hi, my name is carla peterson and i'm a professor at the university of maryland. i just wanted to start off by saying that this conversation reminds me of things that dubos said, are right? its emphasis on politics, education and work. so it seems like we are revisiting that conversation 110 years later. as a kind of sideline, i also wrote a book about family and i am talking later this afternoon so i'm really glad to hear about your book about entrepreneurship because my family also 19th century entrepreneurs. but along with entrepreneurship they were really invested in issues of education. so that is the question that i wanted to ask about.

because, you know, as a college president and a college -- we worked really hard with their students, black and white, but addressing a comment that was made this morning by michael lomax, what do we do to get her kids to college? i mean it seems to me that is such a big issue. getting our kids just through high school and into college. i work for a foundation in d.c. called pozzi and i think we are are -- to be our executive director and what they do is they work to get disadvantaged kids into college. so how do we address our failing public school system especially when it comes to black kids? >> whoa, that is big. >> first of all, thank you for your remark and of course tomorrow lawson is the new d.c.

coordinator of the foundation in d.c.. i'm so proud of her and she is my baby girl. she is really coretta's baby girl but i borrow her from time to time. we are excited about her. >> she was hired in a nanosecond. it was like m, calm. but we are excited about that and i'm excited about the image that the foundation has which is really about changing the metrics around college attendance. here is what we have to do you all. whoever is in in the -- within the sound of my voice, going to college is not warring. it is not nerdy. it is not white folk. eight is how you build yourself. so many young black people have been told that you don't need to want to have to go to college. well if you want to be a banker that is what you are going to do. if you want to be a scholar,

that is what you are going to do. if you want to deal with our health disparities that is what you are going to do. we need to make this as exciting as any other game in town. the foundation is important because it brings young people in a group to deal with what they do and so you have a group of people reinforcing each other. here is what is more important. we need to begin to have conversations about what we want black america to look like and when we have those conversations we have conversations about excellence and we have conversations about excellence. we began to talk about the ways we want our young people to be and what they can aspire to. and again that is one of the reasons why i wrote this book. the game is not fair but we can play the game. you now, they purchased themselves. let me say this again.

if an enslaved person could purchase him or herself, then how com we can't do what we need to do to be ourselves, to love ourselves and to lift up -- lift ourselves up. when we began to talk about college attendance and college participation it is about us claiming our rights to be there. maya angelou came to bennett college for women, our waste is and develop this into 21st century tinkerers. anything within the human consciousness is attainable for any of us. what does that mean? learning is attainable for all of us. thinking is attainable for all of us. achievement is attainable for all of us. this is the message we have to give to our young people. we cannot allow somebody to tell our young people that they

can't. when they come home with that message we need to say who told you that and then we need to get a can of you know what and say, no, you cannot bring that up into our space. because we know that we can compete. we know that we must compete. and we know that we will compete as long as we have that opportunity. my sister i hope that you will continue your work and i hope that all of us will continue to work of lifting up our people. yes there is a horrible achievement gap. it makes me cry frankly. this is what i think. people ask me, i don't sleep at night. i get up at three of or 4:00 in the morning worrying about the achievement gap but you know when i see all of you all in this room and you came here because she wanted to have a conversation about who we are and we are a people who have achieved. and we will continue to do so.

>> i would just say on a more practical note we had to pick out bad teachers. [applause] we have to make a decision between our children and the adults and i think that we have been way too you know considerate and so -- the question starts way before college. >> what do you say about the bad teachers? >> well i think, i am not -- i'm not. >> this is an issue. this is an issue. >> i am ashamed that we have to analyze who is being productive and who isn't. >> michelle rhee who was the former chancellor in washington d.c., basically blame teachers for low achievement but. >> i think the results that just came out showed that the schools, that they have eliminated some of the teachers who were not performing.

>> they also manipulated results >> this idea is sidelined competition. i am a member of a sorority inc. with black women's organizations that basically has a lot of teachers. [inaudible] >> i thought i like to but you made a mistake. who got the holy water? who got the holy water? [laughter] >> next question. >> hello, my question is, we talked about the young people and then we have -- you talk about the gap. my age group is, i guess we don't get a voice because a lot of us are educated and we are not employed as well. we are not being considered and

i wanted to, as somebody who grew up in the city who moved to other states and who is a very persevering person, i would like to know one of the things that specifically this book fair is about books. my industry that i am interesting -- interested in publishing and was outsourced to years ago, the company i used to work for reader's digest went bankrupt. i am a non-super knower, but who is going to employ me? i just traveled an hour and a half to stanford connecticut for a technology job and after doing a great job was turned away because i was told i live too far away and i would leave them. i am the most loyal person and because of that loyalty, i am not employable. i am highly overeducated and a lot of different areas, and when they look at someone like me they go, what do we do with you? what is the direction of someone like myself who is committed to

the community, who digs in and goes wherever i go and tries to make it better but gets turned away? what does someone like myself do do. >> technology. you are looking for the technology job? julian was talking about the engineer's. >> it is more about the creative side and the contest. >> when i get turned away from those creative conditions because of who we look like. so it is each one teach one. education jobs have been downsized. >> i was just at borders yesterday and at the everything must go sale and what i realized is a been though everything must go and everything was discounted the books were still more expensive than i could lie on line or download on my kindle. as i wrote in my blog, media.com, i take full responsibility because i was an

early kindle adopter. so this is the new -- and certainly julianne's experience in publishing. this is the future, you know in this book is selling phenomenally well. >> patcher gave me the figures of all of the books that are flying off the shelves that are part of julianne's company and i think the entrepreneur aspect of that you know, it is why we need to read the example of a.g. gaston in and the making of black america. because, because that is a story of creating, what julianne was saying earlier, we are a little bit beyond looking for jobs. we have to create our jobs. we have to create our companies. i just wrote a piece about catherine cut, who, when she was 15 -- she had a rather 15 or 16 years old, started my yearbook.com and they just sold

it for $100 million. she is still a student at georgetown university and i think that is the creative piece that julianne is talking about that we really have to engage in. we are beyond looking for employment. we have to really focus on creation. >> you know, sister what i would say to you. >> is a it building our own businesses? >> let me say a couple of things. one when we look at the unemployment records it is very clear we have to create some of our own opportunities. when you look at the fact that a third of all black people don't have employment and that most of the people that are unemployed now have been looking for more than a year. i would ask you to engage your spirit and the ways that you can create added value to the world. that is what entrepreneurship is. it is creating added value. so, and i see carla brown has not again her.

stand up. you snuck in here. [applause] we are glad that you are all here. sister, you need to figure out where is your passion, how to engage your passion and what do you do with it? i think carroll has raised some things and i think i have raised some things in the context of this conversation but i think importantly, if you preferred to prefer to work for others, you are still an intra-print or, which means that you need to figure out what value you bring to others. if you are an entrepreneur, go forth. if you are not, create your space. there are a whole bunch of web sites and stuff. i think that our nation unfortunately is evolving from an economic perspective. more of us will be

entrepreneurs. that is what i really believe is going to happen and i believe that our young people and i applaud you for standing up and speaking your truths, but i think a lot of our young people are going to have many challenges. at bennett college for women you will take a class called introduction to entrepreneurship. whether you are an art major, a science major, journalism major, a business major, i believe he will be in on trepanier read some point in your life. i believe that is unavoidable so therefore it is now a requirement for our students to do that. if you have not taken such a class, find a community college and take one and do your thing. [applause] >> thankthank you. >> good afternoon. my name is casey and i want to dovetail off of what the earlier gentleman said about the political parties, democratic and republican, and how they are basically failing us as a people

and failing people in general. i think that the people in the communities, the people across the nation actually need to wake up to the fact that we are being gamed. so many people have said and it has been written in so many news articles that the democrats and the republicans are two wings of the same bird and we are being played like the monkey in the middle. right now we are having this discussion about the deficit ceiling and should it be raised and so on and so forth. and the details are being kept away from us. what are they talking about cutting? who is going to be heard in this process? obama is giving a generous negotiating invitation to the republicans. what does that entail? we are never told and by the time we found out it is too late and then there will be protests in the street all over the place. of course, the city apparatus is

always building up their police forces. >> do you really think there will be protests in the streets? >> i'm sure because they are talking about cutting medicaid and social security. they are talking about cutting medicaid and social security. >> but the question is? >> the argument is, the argument is that the people need to be more politically awakened, politically aware. we need to be more actively involved in what goes on in our governing. >> i for one would be very happy to see protests in the streets. but whenever a lasting process in the streets? the fact of the matter is that people have an opiate. we continue to hear about things that are going to happen. we all bring our cancer people have not responded. here is the deal and when we talk about voter suppression, you are first of all suppressing

all people. old people are the ones being hit by social security, medicaid and medicare cuts. so you cut their voter opportunities and obviously the people who are being cut have nothing to say that they can't vote. i am with you, i would love to hear or see people rise up. but the fact is that, we all shut up and we are here quiet, opa did, silent and i am wanting students for example to gallop out cuts in pell grants. how dare we cut pell grants. how dare we take the poor students in our nation and say to them that they are going to be cut more than that. we give aig and other people low interest loans but our students still pay six and 7% on loans? but do you know what? it is okay. we don't say anything so my

brother, you take that energy. i love your energy. take it to the streets. >> that we have been taking it to the streets and there have been protests. we live in a nation that seems to be manipulated by a mass media. >> i knew it was going to come back to the media. [laughter] thank you so much. unfortunately we are running out of time but once you lay blame on the mass media than we then we are all sacked. thank you. >> people are activated and people are protesting and that is why myself i have joined the freedom party. the freedom party has been involved in massive protest to change the way education is being destroyed. >> thank you so much. thank you very much. i appreciate your efforts. we are told that we are at the end of our time. i want to thank julianne

malveaux, dr. malveaux for a wonderful "surviving and thriving" and "black titan." thank you so much. i am carol jenkins. we will see a next time. thank you. love you all. we have a book signing outside. my sister, where is it? >> at the penguin booth. i will be at the penguin booth. next to the penguin booth for a book signing. hope to see all of you out there. thank you also much for your kind attention. >> wrapping up the african-american economic history discussion here from the 2011 harlem book fair. at the new york public library schomburg center for research in black culture. tvs live coverage from the harlem book fair continues in just a couple of minutes. up next the a panel exploring the history of african-american

humor. we will have more from the 2011 harlem book fair after this break.

what are you reading this summer? booktv wants to know. >> i have a whole long list of books but some are unfinished and some are new. the first book i'm working on is monsoon, which is a book by robert kaplan about the whole issue of central asia, where i think most of the politics over the next 25 years are going to occur. and i have read chapters of it when i have traveled to various parts like indonesia but i want to read the whole book. i haven't finished it. i started in february. another book that was given to me by a fellow in my office from the american academy of mechanical engineers, who worked with me on the whole question of water. and i said to him, tell me, what

problems with water are going to be over the next 20 or 30 years? and this book, he gave it to me and he said i want you to read it. i never was able to write a perfect report but it is a good book to read about the whole question of water. and it is an issue than in congress we really do need to think about in the future. george friedman wrote a book called the next 100 years, which is a fascinating book that looks out 100 years and looks at who our major allies will be, those countries that we are involved with that we will have trouble with. when he came out with his next book which is called the next decade, maybe i better get that one red. and see what is going to happen at least from the perspective of people who look at trends. one of the fascinating things in his first book was that he said the countries who will be involved will be turkey