and the boots backward. >> host: you could see john john -- >> guest: by the way, john west privacy and absolute because she wanted to use it in veterans day in arlington. i heard this just the other day. the radio broadcaster told me that he told me that night he was just a young guy in arlington and there in the crowd he heard the shot in the final tribute to kennedy at the gravesite. and there in the crowd he saw nixon. there is a story. that date that it would've have been had. >> host: 80 seconds. where's his place place in history? >> guest: hero,

>> the name of the book is

"democracy remixed: black youth and the future of american politics." the author is a university of chicago professor cathy cohen. professor cohen, is there an alienation between black youth of today and the older black generations? >> i think that there's a generational side. we've heard, for example, in the words of bill cosby who at times has ranted against part of this generation for not doing i think what he perceives to be kind of the respectable right thing to do to succeed in society. there is a concern that we often hear from older members of black generations about, for example, rap music as i think there's kind of a fundamental divide that sometimes happens across generations. i think the concern here when you talk about blog community is the often young black people feel alienated from a larger dominant or white society.

so we assume there's a kind of support system that happens within black committees. when there's a divide even within black communities there's greater concern about where they will find support, where they will resume, they will understand to be their community. >> but that divide from the larger white community, as you say come is nothing new, is it? >> it's not new but i think it is substantial. given the post a bryce molder i think many people thought that this would be a point where we would see kind of increased tolerance, where the racial divide in many ways, people pointed to for the election of president obama as kind of a postracial moment. actually the data and the book suggests there's a pretty significant racial divide between young blacks and young whites. when the ask the question what you believe racism is the major problem in this country, 69% young black people suggest. 32% of young whites said yet.

about paintable% of young latinos say just. even the divide within their generation is substantial and suggest racism and race will continue to be a point of division among young people as they move through their generation. >> professor cohen, you mentioned the data in the book. what is the black youth project? >> it started out as a pretty major research project meant to highlight the voices of young black people and young people generally. we engaged in national representative survey. we then followed that up with focus groups in and around chicago. and we then followed that up with in depth interviews with some of the individuals who answered our survey. so we were looking for a representative sample so we could talk about what's happening in the country, but we also want specifics and stories that were generated through the interviews we conducted. >> in your book you talk about the obama affect. >> yes. as i just stayed, there's a number of things we want to pay

attention to. first, was elected president obama meant for many people in the country. and i think for many it really did signify a change in the trajectory when we think that race and racism in this country. many people now say that young blacks in particular have no excuses for not succeeding. and begin the data suggests that young blacks, while they're very excited about the election of president obama, also i would say realistic on its impact on their lives. they talk about the fact that they still expect to be harassed by the police. we know that even in the obama years, they suffer from some of the highest unemployment. we know that even in the obama years, public education has not been solved and they often receive a poor education. so the idea that the idea president obama or the election of president obama would rid the country of these ills that have

been in place for a very long time was at best i would say naïve. >> i want to read a little bit from your book, get you to expand on. candidate obama, a woman complained to obama in iowa about how inner-city kids don't know how to dress for a job. below is obama's response as reported in the "washington post." pull up your pants, obama interjected come as the crowd laugh. poll of europeans. >> universal that's the other part of the obama affect, which is i don't doubt at all that he has great concern for all the young people in this country, especially young black. however, he has tended at times to be, i wouldn't say demeaning, but to fall into line much like bill cosby, to say that young black people have that kind of played by the rules that would allow them to succeed. in this case, he is suggesting that effect because they wear the pants low or sycophants,

that makes it a kind of cultural attributes that would suggest that's the reason why in fact they are unemployed or that's the reason why they're not succeeding socially. you know, i'd like to think in fact that we can have a broader analysis, discussion about where young black people exist in this country to how they figure into our political community, are they full members, are they taking -- and really what are the real solutions to that? part that maybe pull be pulling up the pants, but what can pull up defensive have actually living wage jobs that they can receive. we want them to have a full education but we want them to have college because it's affordable and accessible. so beyond pulling up your pants, i think president obama has also been engaged in a policy agenda that would really advance those who are most marginal in the country. >> but without policy agenda be? >> it would really speak to many

thanks young black people talk to and our in depth interviews. was the amazing things is that they have very american goals. they won a great education for themselves and their children. they want communities that are absent violence and whether kids can play outside. they want housing that they can afford. they want basic services, like grocery stores that provide healthy options for themselves and their families, right? so the agenda would really look at a pretty traditional i think for most people, american politics agenda. it's want about making sure that those are most marginal have access to equality, to success, to the most basic things that we said are needed in fact for people to fulfill their missions and destinies. it's not a radical agenda by any means. >> cathy cohen from your professor of political science year the university of chicago. did you include that example in the book, democracy remixed? because was it a sister soldier

moment the? >> i talked about, is going to see bill cosby, but bill clinton to some people would say a tack sister soldier in events to show to the country that he could reprimand the black community, distance himself some say from reverend jesse jackson. i suggest now that young black politicians engage in a kind of bill cosby moment, especially if they have ambitions for national office. they have to show the country that they are not beholden to black communities, and often that means engaging in a little reprimanding of black people, often the black poor. so i recalled that his to cosby mold. and i think you look at kind of the other young and particular black politicians who are trying to have a position behind the black community you'll also find that they have these moments of reprimanding black communities. >> so in trenton, personal,

where did the remake's to come from? >> it comes out of hip-hop culture and it really does speak a kind of making sure that the culture, the voices, the ideas of young black people are first and foremost in writing this book including in the title. >> is there in importance politically to have pop-culture? >> i think it is. i think first of all, we have to recognize hip-hop culture is something that is created by john black and young latinos, kind of recognize that and acknowledge that, that they have his creative ability to influence the over the country but the world i mean. if you travel anywhere in the world, one of the things we noticed about young people is to listen to and engage in hip-hop. but, number two, it is a genre that resonates with young people. i think it was, for example, president obama's knowledge of hip-hop that allowed him to talk and resonate with young black people. i remember the stories on what was on his ipod, who was he

listening to. and we've seen this recently when he invited to the white house. is a real tension in the country around what is hip-hop represent, who controls it, and should, in fact, the country or in this case the government embrace it. and i think this president has said this is an important genre of the population that central not only to his reelection but to his covenant and is going to promote hip-hop and i think that's appropriate. >> was there a huge increase or a big increase in voter participation, especially among the black youth in l.a.? >> one of the things i often talk about in this book is one of the reasons the center young blacks is it really does i think make a question or assumption. one is that we have is a young people really are not interested in politics so, therefore, that so we can explain their low turnout it but actually end 2004 and 2008 was a pretty significant increase in the number of young voters coming to the poll. in 2004 there was an increase

among whites, among latinos and among blacks. what's interesting is actually in 2008, the increase in the youth vote really came from black and latino youth. so we saw a shift in who young white voters were four in 2008. many more voters for democrats than it did in the past but there was no real increase in the number of white voters. does an actual increase in the number of black youth voters and latino youth voters. much of a we talk or we talk about kind of the outpouring of support for president obama in 2008, a lot of that came from young black voters. again, if we center young black people in our analyses of american politics, it can make us question our assumptions such a young people are not political gimmick what is the take away, the future of american politics? >> dictate what is that really we can't understand and prepare for the future of american politics in less we understand those who are most marginal and often excluded from the political discourse. in this case i want to suggest

we have the center young black people when we think about holidays, when we think about politics and we think about the future of american politics. without doing that we're going to probably go down a misguided path and make mistakes that we don't need to make. >> here is the book, "democracy remixed: black youth and the future of american politics." it's published by oxford, written by university of chicago political science professor cathy cohen. >> thank you very much. >> is there a nonfiction author or book your like to see featured on booktv? and as an e-mail at booktv@c-span.org. or tweet us at twitter.com/booktv. >> here at the national press club, authors night, senator joe lieberman with his most recent book, "the gift of rest." senator lieberman, where is the public policy in the? >> yeah, this is very different.

i've done six books before this. they've all been about history or politics or law. so this one really comes from inside. i've observed the sabbath, according to jewish tradition most of my life. i consider it to be a gift, something that anchors my life, helps me re-energize, reconnect with my family, my friends, myself, my spiritual side. and so i am essentially offering "the gift of rest" to the reader. what ever your religion, hoping that they will see something here that will lead them and want of a little more sabbath in their own life. i think we're all busy, all very connected by our electronics 24/7. unique you create create some fences inside which we can take a break in eccentric on what is a typical sabbath for your? >> well, according to the traditional jewish practice,