promulgated the night that evans was assassinated in june, 19 63. certainly, there are problems with 1957 civil rights act, and that's why we need 88 years later. it is important to remember that that is what created the civil rights legislature and the important report for the dead. if my -- it might have been toothless, but it had a bite. >> you are absolutely right. i did not deny that there is a civil acts that your rights act

before johnson. but he uses kennedy's legacy to pass it in to and to do so. but no, it was john f. kennedy who propose what became the civil rights act of 1964. what johnson said when he took over the reins of power, after fashioning his statement and kennedy said let us begin, he said let us continue. he wanted to continue on the legacy. >> there was this great conversation between martin luther king and lbj. on the second full day of johnson's tenure as president, he calls everybody, does a remarkable job in keeping the country stable in the aftermath of the assassination. he says to martin luther king, i'm going to support them all. i will support all those policies, and i want you to bring your ideas. come visit me.

next time you're you're in washington, come and see me and we will talk about it. he forced his coalition, partnership with martin luther king it is very important. one of the things that king says to johnson, there is no better way to you can honor the late president then by pursuing his policies. johnson says i will support them all. >> thank you. >> final question for you. this book is about johnson and the presidency and it does present a remarkably multifaceted portrait of a man in full. what lessons or primary lesson do you think future presidents can take from johnson's style of presidential leadership? >> well, i think it is a bygone era in washington. his washington is long gone. but i think, again, i would go back to stability. one of the things that you hear that johnson is ruthless.

i think that that is a misconception. i don't think that johnson is ruthless at all. johnson was aware of how business was conducted in the halls of congress. and that is through collegiality, compromise, and stability. and he did not vilify or demonize his opponents, generally, because he knew if they resisted him in effectively on one thing, but you that you have to work with them on another. he took the long view. iversen conference a couple weeks ago in which barbara bush said that the compromise in washington has become a dirty word. that, again, i think that is something that would disappoint lyndon johnson profamily. and i think it would probably reach out to lawmakers -- anyone who has influence in washington. grover norquist, rush limbaugh, although lawmakers. the more, and he would grab them

him by the lapels, and he would say, come and let us reason together. thank you all, very much. this has been really wonderful. i've really enjoyed this. [applause] [applause] >> mark updegrove is the director of the lbj library in texas. for more information visit lbj library.org. >> now zora neale hurston and the book "their eyes were watching god." the panel talks about the book and how it has had an impact on their lives. the panel is moderated by zora neale hurston's niece, lucy anne hurston. this is about an hour and a

half. >> good evening, everyone. thank you so much for being here with us in the jerome l. greene performance space. i am director of the performance space. we have been on an extraordinary journey over the last month. the space has honored zora neale hurston's "their eyes were watching god." one week from today is the three year anniversary of the grenne space. our mission is to learners on a journey to inspire and transform. this has embodied our hopes and aspirations. i want to announce two visionaries that are here with us that have been fiercely supportive of the grenne space. laura walker, president and ceo of new york public radio. [applause] thank you, laura, and marino

walked in. vice president of marketing. [applause] all of the video from this festival you can find and share on the grenne space.org. our celebration began on february 24 with a look at langston hughes and zora neale hurston. one week later, the grenne space presented the american premiere of the richly powerful radio adaptation of grenne arthur yor. rubens passion for this continue to inspire millions. he is sitting in the front row. also, please stay tuned for the radio broadcast in september 2012, up on wnyc 90 at

them. it will feature so many people of great interest. [applause] [applause] my take away from the last 30 days, just pure gratitude. please bear with me as i think the people behind the scenes for this project. my sincere thanks to the zora neale hurston group and an individual whose group has made all the difference. [applause] i would also like to have knowledge edward hurston, who has joined us for several events, he will be joining us later this evening. my colleagues, who have allowed this project to take flight and reach a widespread audience through their creative process

and pressed, community engagement, and marketing efforts. if you are here, can you please wave. [applause] [applause] finally, last but not least is my grenne space team, a team that i get to spend my days and most of my evenings with. comprised of truly beautiful human beings who never respond to a dream with why. but rather, why not? [inaudible name] please join me in thanking them. to help me introduce tonight the panel, "women writers on the horizon", lucy anne hurston.

the life of zora neale hurston. at only three years old, when zora neale hurston died in relative obscurity, lucy anne hurston compiled the work on her aunt. lucy anne hurston's education and expenses provides with a unique connection to her aunt's perspective in life. she has been a producer and host onto productions of zora neale hurston's. she currently teaches sociology at manchester community college in connecticut. lucy anne hurston begins her work speaks so you can speak again. zora neale hurston ignites passion. once introduced to her story,

though it is told about her, people want more. [applause] [applause] alice walker is an internationally celebrated author, poet, and activist whose books include several novels for collections of short stories, for children's books and volumes of essays and poetry. she is best known for the color purple, 1983 novel for which she won the pulitzer prize. the first african-american woman to win the pulitzer prize in fiction and the national book award. her work has been translated into more than two dozen languages and her books have sold more than 15 million copies. walker's most recent works are overcoming speechlessness, the horror in rwanda, hard times

require serious standing, the world has changed, conversations with alice walker, and the chicken chronicles thomas sitting with the angels who have returned with my memories, a memoir. in 1973, alice walker resurrected the work of zora neale hurston when she traveled to fort pierce, florida, and put a headstone at her unmarked grave. walker is one of the world's most prolific writers. yet she tirelessly continues to travel the world and literally stand on the side of the port and the economically, spiritually and politically oppressed. a quote from alice walker. we belong to the same world. the world where truth is not only acknowledged, but shared. we see injustice and call it by its name. where we see suffering and know the one who stands and sees is also alarmed.

but not nearly so much as the one who stands and sees and says, and does nothing. [applause] [applause] ruby dee's acting career has been more than 50 years which has included theater, radio, television and movies. onstage, ms. ruby dee was the first black woman to play roles at the shakespeare festival. although she has appeared in 50 films or more, her life has not has been acting. she has long been active in a variety of movements. she, along with audrey davis, traveled to nigeria as goodwill ambassadors and eulogize malcolm x. in 1965, and later his wife in 1997. jointly presented with the silver circle award in 1994, ruby dee and davis became

national treasures were they received the national matter medal of arts in 1995. in 2000, they were presented the screen actors guild lifetime achievement award. they are inductees in the hall of fame, as well as the naacp hall of fame. in 2008, ms. ruby dee was awarded best supporting actress for her role in the film american gangster. she also received an academy award nomination for this role. ms. ruby dee is proud of her one-woman show, which was about zora neale hurston. she stated that the kind of beauty that i want most is the hard to get time, it comes from within. strength, courage, identity. [applause] [applause]

>> sonia sanchez, poet activist and scholar is considered one of the most important writers of the black arts movements. sanchez was a first presidential festival at temple university where she held the chair in english. she was also at the forefront of the black studies movement and taught the first course in the country on black women. teaching the novel, "their eyes were watching god." she is the author of over 16 books. her most recent book up poetry was morning haiku. the recipient of numerous awards, she has won the american book award, the langston hughes poetry award, and a finalist for the national book critics circle award. having lectured and read poetry to over 500 universities, colleges and organizations all over the country, sanchez in the world. sanchez is established as a highly renowned voice in the 20th century. freedom sisters and national tours with the smithsonian,

recognize 200 women over the last 100 years who have fought for equality for all americans. sister sonya is one of the many. she was also tapped as the first poet laureate of philadelphia. she stated that i write to keep in contact with our ancestors and to spread to the people. please join me in welcoming to the grenne space stage, lucy anne hurston, ruby dee, sonia sanchez, and carl hancock rux. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause]

good evening, everyone. >> good evening. >> now i will scare everyone. i'm going to come off the script and say that i said at sit at the feet of the masters. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> i am lucy anne hurston and i am honored to join you here at the grenne space to take you through a conversation with the extraordinary women whose voices have blazed trails and created a pattern in the fabric of our global tapestry. the grenne space at wnyc and w-2 exar is honoring the 75th anniversary of zora neale

hurston's "their eyes were watching god." tonight is the final installment of that series. let's begin with zora neale hurston's writing. throughout this evening's conversation, you will hear passages from "their eyes were watching god", selected and bred by each of us we begin with award winning actress ruby dee, who takes us to the opening passages of the novel. >> thank you, thank you. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] oh, my goodness. this is from the introduction. ships at a distance have every man's wish on board for some they come in with the tide. for others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight or landing until the watcher

turns turned his eyes away in resignation. his dreams lumped together by times. that is the life of men. now, women, forget all those things they don't want to remember. and remember that everything they don't want to forget. the dream is the truth. they ask and do things accordingly. the beginning of this was a woman. and she have come back from burying the dead. not the dead of sick and ailing with friends at the pillow and feet, she had come back from the sodden and bloated. the southern and. the eyes flung wide open in judgment. the people all saw her come because it was sundown. the sun was gone. but it had left, but the sun had left his footprints --

footprints in the sky. it was a time for sitting beside the road. it was time to hear things and talk. these had been timeless, airless, i airless conveniences all day long. now, the sun was gone. so the skin felt powerful and human. they became lords of sounds and lesser things. they passed nations through their mouths. they sat in judgment. this is the zora introduction. [applause] [applause] [applause]

[applause] >> no one else could do it. thank you, ruby dee. my aunt zora wrote this novel in seven weeks while doing anthropological fieldwork in haiti. i found zora in the attic of my house in brooklyn, new york. looking through an old book with great pages, i began to read transport for the first time at age nine. here is a passage that i found most inspiring. for the multiple times that i have read transport. it is about the power of a woman to play hell with the man. [laughter] [laughter] >> ain't no use of getting mad,

nobody in here ain't looking at you for no reason, old as you is, i ain't no young gal know more, but i ain't no old woman neither. i recognize i look my age, too, but i am a woman -- every inch of me, and i noticed. that is a whole lot more you can say, you big belly around here who puts out a lot of drag, but take nothing in it but your big boys. talk about me? looking old, when you pulled on your britches, you look like the change of life. [laughter] great god from zion. he gasps. what you don't say? you heard her. i'd rather be shot in tax than

hear about that. then joe realized all the meanings and his vanity bled like a flood. jamie had robbed him of his charm of irresistible men, which all men treasure, which is terrible. jimmy had done was. she had cast down his antiarmor before men and they have laughed. they would keep on laughing. when he paraded his possessions hereafter, they would not inserted the two together. they look envious of things and pity the man that owned them. when you sit in judgment, he would do the same. dave and jim would not trade places with him. what can excuse a man with a

lack of strength? those of 16 and 17 would be giving him mercifully merciless pity. there was nothing to do and life anymore. ambition was useless. and in the seat of jamie, making all that sort of humbleness, they were laughing at him, joe didn't know the words for all this, but he knew the feeling. so he struck jamie with all his might and drove her from the store. [applause] [applause] [applause] i'm going to ask each of you to share with us your relationship with zora neale hurston and this novel. in particular, jamie.

alice, i will start with you. you have said that there is no more important book to me than this one. it was august 1973, and you were in fort pierce, florida, and he marked my integrate with a headstone to read genius of the south. [applause] [applause] let's start with what led you to that moment. >> to back up a bit, i was writing a story myself that needed voodoo information. all of the anthropologists i came across were hideously racist and painfully racist. i felt very strongly that all of our work has to be underpinned by facts and real things as much as we can manage that.

so i kept looking. i finally found zora's name in a footnote in a racist book of his apology. and i started looking for her, because the story i needed to tell was based on a story that my own mother had told us about being in the depression and being hungry and needing food and going to the commissary to ask for food. but my mother, that same week, had received a shipment of close from the north. our relatives in the north, even though the north was not -- thank god it was, they still had really nice clothing. so they gave her and centers in close, and she put them on and she was just -- my mother was very beautiful. and so she put on these close. she went to ask for food, and the white woman in charge of the commissary said how dare you come here i'm asking for anything looking better than me.

>> my mother would've looked better than her anyway, but she really, you know -- [laughter] so i felt the humiliation of that moment for my mother. and i needed a story to tell since i am not violent. many in my family are violent, but i don't think i have that gene. i have a creative gene. so i decided to write a story that would use voodoo, which people knew about, to take care of this woman. [laughter] but it had to be authentic. it had to be the real deal. it couldn't be, you know, so i found zora and i found exactly how you do this. and i put it in the story. from that, i went on to read "their eyes were watching god", fell in love with it, started teaching it, talking about it, and learning and loving it very

deeply. when i found out that she was passed away and had not had an ending that was very good, i could not fathom that someone who had given us so much beauty could be left so unacknowledged. that was the reason i took that journey. the story there was i went with someone who lived in florida and we got to the cemetery of the heavenly rest. and it was full of these very tall weeds. i said, charlotte, are you going to go with me? she was hanging close to the car. she said well, no. and i said why not? and she said i'm from florida, i know it's out there. [laughter] i had to get back to mississippi fast because my daughter was small. i started calling your aunt and

i called her and i just started walking towards the middle of this place. and i really pretty much fell into her gray. and that was that. [applause] [applause] >> ms. ruby dee, oh, yes, you had a one-woman show entitled zora is my name. you also did the audio recording for "their eyes were watching god" and the national endowment for the arts, and played the part of a character for "their eyes were watching god", the television special. you have many connections with this book as well. will you share with us. >> well, first, thank you, alice, for finding that grave.

what a gift to us all. i didn't know that i had met zora. i said nora, because i have a daughter named nora. i wanted to name my daughter nor i zora, but. [laughter] but i thought i should give permission or something. i have since asked my daughter, i've wanted to change your name to zora since you were born. [laughter] i did not know that i had met a zora when i was very young. i don't know, at the library, i won some prizes in a poetry contest. anyway, and my mother kept a scrapbook of all the things that we did and my mother was one of

those women that started writing when i could hold a pen and pencil. one day when i was a little bit older she gave me this scrapbook to go through. i have not really looked at it. there, she showed me an article where i had met zora in the library where i had gotten this award. but i didn't know that i had met her. i just wished i could -- that i wish i was aware of that time that i was meeting zora. because she has been one of the most important women of my life did i dream about zora, adopted some of her work for television show that i did that great performances on pbs. i read all of the books and alice walker's book.

everything that i could read. i met people who had written about zora. and the people who come to my house, they come to the zora room. [laughter] zora is such a part of my life. am i answering the question? [laughter] [applause] >> yes, and you did it thoroughly. [applause] [applause] [applause] >> zora, zora, i wrote a television show, and also to many people wrote about zora, you know, there is such a connection that she has with so many people. but thanks to alice's discovery, -- there so many people in literature who know zora and they know she is a seminal that she is like the bible to us. >> that, she is two she is a

real lady. >> to bring her to the world, that has been sonia sanchez. >> sonya, you have taught this book, "their eyes were watching god" all over the country for the last few decades beginning in the 1960s and 70s with the emergence of the black studies program. where did your journey began with this book? >> all of us on this stage had to pay homage to sister alice, who did something for another black woman writer, but you all need to understand we must always do -- that is, we need to rediscover them and we put up

tombstones and we celebrate them, and she did that. we all stopped in our tracks and sent out love to sister alice. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> i got out of hunter college, i went to hunter college because i was part of the generation that we cannot afford to pay for any private schools. so we went to hunter college. i was accepted at hunter and city, it but its city guide to paper books and at hunter you got the books for free. i graduated by 1955 in january, and my dad said you should go out and get a job before you start teaching in september. he said you are going to teach because you come from all my teachers. i said okay, dad. he said because you're not going to get a job writing. he knew i wanted to write. i wrote a letter -- but that the times every sunday. those of you who are looking for

jobs, you know, sometimes they say respond to the ad and send a sample of your writing. i did that. a week later i got a telegram. for you young people, you say what is a telegram, right? [laughter] once upon a time, there was a telegram where they ring your doorbell and handed you a yellow thing. i opened it and it said report to work on monday. well, i got in my father's face. [laughter] i held that the telegram and said, see? i can get a job writing someplace. they wanted me to write for their firm. he came from the south, you know? the southern black men, although he lived all these years in the city, he said yes, you're still going to be teaching in september. but i put on my blue suit, my blue shoes, i had my blue bag

and my white gloves and my blue hat. then i went and the tomita show that 9:00 a.m., but i showed up at 8:30 p.m. on 10:00 a.m. i got there at 830 and in comes the receptionist. i took out the telegram and i said, here, have you ever had someone look at something and look at you -- she did it three times. i'm smiling all the time. she said come in and sit down. she goes out. there must've been another intern in that office, because she goes out and is gone for about 10 minutes. she sits back back down, take the thing off her typewriter, and begins to work. a head came around like this, right? they smiled really fast. another head came around. at 10 minutes to 9:00 a.m., he said i'm sorry, the job is taken. i said, oh, no. coming from new york, i used my

new york humor. i said i got here too early. i will come back at 9:00 a.m. so i know i'm early, i will go back outside and then come back in and everything will be okay. the guy never laughed, smiled, whatever. he looked at the telegram, he looked at me. the whole thing was like how in the world did this happen? and he said the job is taken. he turned his back and walked away down the hallway and i said, i know, it's discrimination. i will report you to the urban league. he turned around and looked at me and shrugged. i tip my hat off and gloves off, and i got on the subway. when you are down town, you have to stay on and make sure you take the number one train. i was so mad, he got 96 and i'm still sitting there, i'm on the number two or three, and all of a sudden, you start to do that shaking thing.

and you know you are going to the east side. so i get up at 135th street. across an avenue and there is a man outside about a quarter into the block, smoking a cigarette and 10 cigarette, and there was a thing called schaumburg. i said what is that? and he said if you want to know, go inside the door. i walked inside. there is a long table and all of these men with their heads down writing, books stacked up on the table. there was a glass compartment there. i knocked on the glass door, and jeannie hudson said yes, dear. i said, where is the schaumburg? she said oh, my dear, this is by and about black people. my 20 year old mouth said there

must not be many books in here. [laughter] [laughter] but i took my classes at the schaumburg every semester. she would give me a very sly smile. i have an interesting story to tell about your professor. she told that story. she said come, sit down. i want to bring you some books. and she eased me into this thing. the scholars were like, who is this woman? they were all males sitting in there. in 30 minutes she came back with three books. on the bottom, up from slavery, and on top, "their eyes were watching god." i had no idea why she put that on top, but i do have an idea why. i opened it and i started reading it. i said this is smooth sailing, right? then i got to the black english. i backed up and said oh, and

then i kept going through it or whatever. i brought back to my southern roots. i got up, i knocked on the glass door, and i said, what is your name again? i said how can i be considered an educated woman, right? and i have not read this book. she said i know, my dear, i will teach you all kinds of books. just go sit down. i eased back in and i read more. by the time i was into the 30th book, i eased out and i am crying. she gave me a tissue. and i guess she said, who in the world is this young woman who has come to this library? and she said, go sit down, dear, i will really help you. and i sat down this time. and i said ms. hudson, how do you tell this woman's leave?

instead of looking for work, i came everyday to that schaumburg and i was that book after book after book. and then she said i'm not going to send you to mr. richard moore, because you see, this is what people who are involved in the community will do. they will either look with the unc something in her eyes and say, okay, i'm going to help you continue this. and i went to mr. [inaudible name] bookstore, and i had to take a cab home come i couldn't afford it, right? i took those books, and i had the books already perplexities. i came back and i said mr. richard moore, he was elected as she was an amazing man. he had a store so narrow that you had to go there. he went inside ways to get in. what i loved about it, he was up on one of those -- he said to

argue? he said you are the one that ms. hudson sent to me. and he set me up with west indian writers. and he said heavy read them and i said no. and he said and you call yourself educated? he had two bags of books for me. i came back to his bookstore because he had all the students from columbia and city college come and he talked about great things. i am the quiet one. i sat there and listened to this man talk. that was my first introduction, not only to zora neale hurston, but to all the great writers. years later, i asked her, -- i said what did you see in my

eyes? sent me out to these bookstores? she said i knew you would continue this. i was on the brothers tv show, some years ago when she was still alive, and they asked me who are some of your influences? i named all the people that i had traveled with, in terms of the writers and alice and tony and people -- you know, malcolm, doctor martin, whatever. and i stopped in my tracks. and i said a woman i had never ever mentioned aloud. i said, ms. sister hudson is the one who directed me and kept me going and she is the one i called in san francisco. am i talking too long? [laughter] >> i will cut you off when it's

time. [laughter] >> i will ask you this, sonia, ms. hudson directed you to "their eyes were watching god." may you please share with us your favorite passage from the book and take us through the significance of that passage of words? >> that means i really want to read the whole book you. [laughter] >> this is a book that i thought all those years, so it is falling apart. since she started it, i figured i should continue it. i'm not sure what other people had. i remembered, you know, when i stumble after that beginning, seeing the woman as she was made and then remembered the entity that has fought up from other times. they chewed up the back part of their minds and swallowed with

relish. words walking without messieurs. walking altogether like connie and a song. were you doing coming back here? can she find a just put on? where's that dress we left u.n.? where is the money that her husband took and died and left her? what is that old woman doing with her hair swinging down her back with some young gal? he left her. what has he done with their money? is she off with some gal so young that she doesn't even have any hair? why doesn't she state in her class? i love that. why doesn't she state request? she got to where they scramble a nosy even, and lesser amounts

setting open and there is full of hope. she kept walking straight on. the men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grapefruits in her hip pockets. >> i'll tell you, the grapefruits. [laughter] the great look of black hair swinging and unraveling in the wind. ..

>> this novel has been called a love story, a woman is, feminist novel. are there other interpretations? hurston wrote their eyes in 1936 in only six weeks while doing research in haiti. when "their eyes were watching god" was first published in 1937, it did not receive the acclaim or recognition that it received today. white critics were in some ways more accepting of the novel than black writers and intellectuals. one of the most prominent, said that their eyes were seamless

and meaningless. he thought that by portraying his people, her people as claimed, that hurston has exploited them. explain to us this initial reception of the works. >> well, i think that as people of color we have been under siege and it is of course left us in, some quite distorted self conceptions. and we can't really see ourselves, so i think that we have been looking for ways to be, incredibly toxic culture so that we can be healthy and survive, so we have often gone to things like not so well marxism which was richard wright's problem, among some others. and we tried, i mean, you know, i love richard wright, you know?

one of the great things about loving your people is that you just love them, and they have, god knows we all have so many shortcomings. but we've given a real good struggle there. we've done as well in this mess of a civilization as anybody could possibly do. and we should remind ourselves of that on a daily basis. [applause] >> but where it's so painful is that our distortions, that the culture cause, because ourselves sometimes, various reasons, can lead us to inflict such pain on people who are just trying to express how they see us. and just trying to express how they feel. and often just trying to express their love. you cannot read this book without just being drenched in

love. and the love of your people. you see them in all their foibles, they are weird ways sayings and funny haircuts, you know, baggy pants and you know, people with weird names. on and on and on. that's asked. that's asked. there's so much beauty in being authentic, whatever you are. so the beauty of this common this work was lost on these people. because they were afraid. they were afraid that if people saw, essentially all this unstoppable joy. you're not supposed to be joyful. your down there being lynched. you're supposed to be really just always thickening something. if you're not picketing it, at least be sending out leaflets and fighting and all of that. but to actually have joy in your life is a great victory, and that is something that i feel

she left to us, this ability to understand what true success is. to success is about being happy. and it's about, you know, doing what you have to do to survive but you had your good times. you have your music. you have your dances. and this is it. this is what is a value to human life. and so she shared this with us, at great cost to herself, and they just feel so grateful. and i wish the people who maligned her, i feel so sorry for them. you know, they just missed an opportunity to enlarge themselves, in a, to grow the kind of self-acceptance, the kind of irrepressible courage. you know, the kind of wisdom. you know, just being happy with who you are. i mean, what a joy.

>> you right. >> instead of a man, a woman, okay? everybody, a woman. [applause] >> "their eyes" was written to represent the oral tradition of storytelling, of telling history whereas sonia i'm sure would refer to it as herstory. the quest for identity takes them on a journey in which she learns what loves is, experiences lights joy and sorrow, and comes home to a self in peace. what is the significance of this female character in the american literary canon? ms. ruby dee. >> oh, i wish i were a

professor, my friend, my girl here. but i loved zora because she brought us to come as she brings us to essence is. she brings us to begins. she begins, she defines in a sense a reason that we haven't considered why we had to come to this country. that we have a job to do and we are still in the process of doing that job. that is to particularize the absolute stunning nature of the human character, of the human experience, of the human being. because we are, she, she made me feel when, no matter what religion you come from, and eventually i find out oh, oh, oh, yes. zora was describing human beings and telling us something about

ourselves. she was telling us that we are the god stuff. the god -- and she was taking us on -- aging us on, trying to point out the richness of who we are as human beings and living creatures on this earth. zora made me believe in immortality. she made me -- because the character she wrote about, the characters that she passed on live with us. we are still working with them. we are still being with them in our society and in the world. and we have a lot to offer the world because she dealt so deeply into the core of these people that she worked with, and not one dimensionally.

that whole group of people around who founded the magazine that she did, you know. she gave us, she gave us, she was a platform. she was the springboard, the jumping off point for us as human beings in this country, in this part of the world. she taught us a new value for the human being. and when i talked to people when i was doing the things for, zora is my name, and a research all the people had written about zora, i couldn't believe it. the people who had written about this woman, that was another richness.

they were white, they were black. i mean, she was a woman, she was pulling from the elements, you know? that's what she was doing. [applause] >> sonia, what, in your opinion is the significance of the female character, cheney, in the american literary canon? >> one of the questions i would've given some of my students, right? you know, when i first started to teach this book, you know, they teach you that you do these things semantically. in a, but you feel uncomfortable because this is more than just separate settings.

and then you begin to look at this woman, this woman who, you know, give me a minute to grow up before i get married. give me a minute to experience, you know, a quick kiss. just a quick kiss, you know? let me experience end of a romance before me with a man so old he could be my grandfather, right? give me a minute just to kiss the air, or just to stretch out and do nothing, and you know, you read that, you think that, in a, that's what we did sometimes. we stretched out and kiss the air, didn't move, didn't do anything at all. but you also understand that was a name he was saying i've got to protect you. i've got to make sure you've got protection because i am going to be there forever. it remind you so much of african-americans in this place called america how we have just

always determine what our children do in order to make them safe so they say to you, can't be a poet because you can't make money. you've got to be a teacher, got to be a doctor, a dentist but you cannot be an artist. and so she was this woman as artist. from the very beginning when you look into her top of her thinking that this is a woman as artist that we're looking at some point. that's why i identify with her as this artist, as this poet, as this writer, as this danger. because she seemed the earth as an artist, you know? and i think, maybe i'm just being a little biased but i think women do see the earth, you know, as an artist, you know. because we paint our bellies quite often with babies, you know what i'm saying? and they come out black, green, purple, blue, all kinds of colors. we spill blood on this earth and we spill birth on this earth and

we spill joy on this earth. this woman, you knew from the very beginning that she looked up and saw someone else, you knew she was going to leave. you knew she had to leave, and you championed that leaving so you go on girl, get out of dodge, whatever, you know? but then on the other hand this society teaches you, you don't make criticisms about marriage like that, you know? but sometimes you to make quick decisions about life. and she recognized at some point that she was not making a quick decision about marriage, it was about life, her life. her life. she goes off, and then that great passage that you read when you reading that book, you know, and you read with your students, students fall down on the ground in the classroom laughing. the men sit and just there, quite often, do you know what they mean? you know. and you talk about why they stared and to talk about why

they kept folder and laugh at themselves. because of some point we all have to laugh at ourselves, and you go on, you understand this man, this young man, this man she goes off with them you understand that years that she had. she had all the normal fears that any woman out there on this earth who sometimes nothing but a she even thinks that having a man 10 years younger than she. it all services in no uncertain terms. but, you know? i used to make, i used to give questions that this is a love story. one year i walked into class and i said this is a murder story. and my students, the grad students in the, whatever, look at me like i was insane, right? ms. sanchez -- yeah, right, murder. because every time she touched somebody she died. every time she loves somebody they died. every time she come in that boat

from nanny from the first second -- from the first husband to the second husband to the third husband they died. what does that mean? it means in no uncertain terms that she in a sense understood life-and-death. that she moved in life-and-death. she navigated it, and she came back and the section that ruby red so beautifully, sister ruby red so beautifully, she came back and said i can't talk to because i have a quick in perspective you. i have just survived a trial where people said violent okay, you are free, you can go home. i have to go and tell this story so i can understand. and quite often we don't tell our stories. so we never understand. the joys of thing a writer with her two sisters sitting here is that we have told stories in order to understand what life-and-death are really all about. we have told stories to truly understand what it means to walk on this earth. this is a holy woman we're

talking about, that she finally comes at the end, she's holy, you know, you know. and she's made us holy also, too. [applause] >> very good. ms. alice walker. >> the 1990 addition of this novel has sold more than 5 million copies and has become the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel and the canon of african-american literature. janie has been called a heroin. her quest for identity takes her on a journey during which she learned what love is, experiences life's joys and sorrows, and comes home to herself in peace. what is it about this novel that

connects the masses to this work? >> everybody wants to be free. you know, it's a book we love and its better to be loving. but without freedom, it's not, it's not the best. and so i think we connect with this story because at the end we find the woman alone and happy to be by herself, at peace with being by herself. she has had many adventures and gone on many jennings -- journeys. there she is at the end coming out her hair and sitting on her own porch, and she is autonomo autonomous. and she would choose her community. she will choose her family. she would choose her lovers, you

know? she is herself. she is as free as probably anyone could be on this planet. and especially in a place like even though. this is what is before all of us, that we would like to connect directly with life we have to do it in freedom. you cannot connect directly with life with somebody telling you when to wash the dishes. you cannot do it. in fact i remember someone, this was quite a sight, but i was so in love with someone once, and we came back to our place i was busy because well, i was busy -- [laughter] and his person in this case, a man, he was annoyed, so we took that opportunity to reminded me

that actually our bathroom really could use a good cleaning. [laughter] and i said oh, you know, i will help you find a place in another place, not here. because i could see that his programming was that you'd be able to direct and that i was expected to follow direction. i cannot follow direction. except my own direction, you know, my earth given, the divine direction. i am not here to be told when the bathroom needs to be cleaned. and neither is janie. unit, and this is part of what is happening in this book. she is learning that she is not here to be somebody's decoration. income you're not here to be somebodies plaything. i mean, if you enjoy it for a couple of weeks, that's your

business. [laughter] but the essential thing, the miracle, the miracle, the absolute miracle of our being here takes a lot of attending. i mean, we are not just floating around here, many of us are, of course, but actually to be here in this place is such an amazing experience and gift that it takes all that we have to really step up to it. i mean, just one springtime i was walking in central park and looking at the tulip trees and those other trees that have the really white flowers. you know, i was just overwhelmed by where we are. we are in this amazing mystery, and if you're trying to inhabit a major mystery, you want somebody telling you clean the bathroom, you know, when to go, what to wear, how old you look

quite you know, any of that. you do not, you cannot have it. i mean, you are on a sacred journey and it is yours. it is yours to make. you know, i love our old songs because they always just hit it right on the head. one that i really love is the one, hold my hand while i run this race. not talking about -- it's about the divine itself. hold my hand while i run this race, because i do not want to run this race in vain. and that is what we see happening to people. they are running the race in vain, because they are not connected to the actual source. and this is part of what we love so much in zora that she's talking about the pear trees. she's talking about life. she's talking about nature. she's doing that wonderful thing, i don't know, i love rudy called immortal love, about

beethoven. where you see that for so many of us nature is a sanctuary. nature is the place we are saving. and that is one of the reasons we have to fight to keep nature with this pic because without it we are lost. [applause] >> in a few moments we will take two to three very brief questions. let me emphasize that they can. very brief questions from our audience. that before we do, alice, may you share with us, please, one of your favorite passages in the novel, and tell us why this passage resonates with you? >> okay. i'd be very happy to do that. this is at the very end of the novel, and janie has had to

kill. in fact he is so important to all of us because we are all, maybe not all of us the summit of us are programmed to go for the guy in the suit. and the one who is bringing home major bacon or whatever, but he's no fun. and so -- [laughter] [applause] >> i see. every time, sometimes it takes a long time to get it, you know? like boy, i've been had, you know? this guy brings in $100,000 a year, or whatever, and we haven't danced in years. so away with all about we don't want that. we want to have some fun here. my feeling about this planet,

you know, the people who run the world and who are destroying it have no idea what this plan is for. it is for joy. everything, if you haven't killed it, this planet says every single minute that this is a planet that is made for joy. and it is joyful. we should be, too. so anyway, she has had to kill tecate because he was bitten by the mad dog. and then she was put on trial for same day, which is really a remarkable thing when you think about it. talk about speedy justice. they could use some of that in florida today. [applause] >> and by the way, i don't know if you realize this but sanford florida is 10 miles from eatonville, and these are the same people. these are stories of people that are down there. so, you know, that family,

martens, they offer people, and our people. i've met. >> so here she is. they finally, the black people in the courtroom run are met at her and they want to do terrible things. there some white women who are sympathetic, and then janie just gets up and they call and put her in the chair and she says, they all leaned over to listen while she talked at first been shed remember was that she was not at home. she was in the courthouse fighting something, and it wasn't death. it was worse than that. it was lying thoughts. it was lying thoughts. she had to go way back to let them know how she and tecate had been with one another so they could see she could never shoot tecate out of malice. she tried to make them see how terrible it was that things were fixed so that tecate and come

back to himself until he got rid of that mad dog that was within them, and he couldn't get rid of the mad dog and live. he had to die to get rid of the dog. she had wanted to kill him. a man who is up against the hard game when he must die to beat it. she made them see how she could ever want to be rid of him. she just sat there and told him and when she was through she hushed. she had been through for some time before the judge and a lawyer and the rest even knew it. but she sat in the trial chair and tell the lawyers told her she could come down. so then they found her not guilty of murder. so she was free, and the judge and everybody out there smiled with her and shook her hand. and the white women cried and stood around her like a protecting wall, and the

negroes, with heads on down, shuffled out and a way. the sun was almost down and janie had seen the sunrise on her troubled love, and then she had shot trained 11 and had been in jail and have been tried for her life, and now she was free. nothing to do with little left with a day but to visit the kind white french would realized her feelings, and thank them. so the sun went down. jaynee buried tecate in palm beach. she knew he loved the glades, but it was too low for him to live with water washing over him with every heavy rain. anyway, the glades and its waters that killed them, she wanted him out of the way of storms so she had a strong vault built in the cemetery at west palm beach. janie had wired to orlando for money to put him away. tecate was assigned, and evening sun, and nothing was too good. the undertaker a handsome job,

and tecate slapped royally on his white silken couch among the roses she had bought. hilos almost ready to grant. janie bought him a brand-new guitar and put it in his hands. he would be thinking up new songs to play for her when she got there. sop-de-bottom and his friends try to hurt her. they didn't understand. so she sent stepto words at all the others to him so that they at the field they came with a shame an apology and their faces. they wanted her quick forgetfulness, so they filled up and overflowed attempted and janie have hired and added others to the line. and the band played, and tecate road like a pharaoh to his tomb. no experience is veiled for janie this time.

she went on in her overalls. she was too busy feeling grief to dress like a grief. and then the last part, she had come back and gone back to her house and closer date, and gone upstairs. soon, everything around downstairs was shot and fastened. janie mounted the stairs with her lamp. the light in her hand was like a spark of some stuff washing her face in fire. her shadow behind fell black and headlong down the stairs. now, in her room, the places tasted fresh again. the wind through the open windows had broken out all the feeling of absence and nothingness. she closed in and sat down, combing road dust out of her

hair, thinking. the day of the guns and the bloodied body and the courthouse came and commenced to seeing a soggy site out of every corner in the room, out of each and every chair and thing. commenced to sing, commenced to sob and side, singing and sobbing. then tecate came prancing around her where she was, a song flew out of the window and lit at the top of the pine trees. tecate, with the sun. of course, he wasn't dead. he could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. the kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. here was peace. she pulled in her horizon like a great fishnet, pulled it from

around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. so much of life in its meshes. she called in her soul, she called in her soul, her soul. to come and see. [applause] >> we will now take a few brief questions. and i say brief questions. from our audience. we have at the corner of the stage a microphone, and you can approach. >> greetings everyone, good evening.

>> good evening. >> i just had a brief question. you ladies have given me so much inspiration throughout my 26 years, and the story should have told, the essence that you have experienced help me to be the woman i am now. so i would like to ask, where do we get our stories from? where to get our inspiration from question draw from your own experience, but we have you, you know, it's 2012 so where would a black woman writer now with stories still need to be told, and where do we find them? >> the sociologist in me says that you need to be social activists, and to be active you need to be aware. so everything that happens, whether it be an issue in sudan, whether it be an issue in

sanford, florida, requires a response. as the chair of sociology and my college in connecticut, we do things like habitat for humanity, because the quickest way out of poverty is homeownership your and the poorest people are people of color who don't own homes. we do things like hootie day next thursday, to bring awareness to issues of racial and social inequality in the world. we do things like voter registration because even now, three bills later, in our government, we still have issues with with people being able to have equal and legal access to voting. so i would say be aware of

what's going on, and even more so, be the polls, the activists of what needs to be done and look at the generation before you here, pay homage, but even more importantly, pay homage and respect for the generation behind you so that there's no break in the link so they know from where they came. [applause] >> carl dix. hi, alice, hi sonia, i, ruby. >> and lucy. >> and lucy. [laughter] >> i met the other three. sorry, i wasn't trying -- ledges coming over, i was thinking about the point that alice made about sanford is where zora was from. and thinking about the way in

which zora was disrespected among a lot of the black writers from being a woman who revealed the lives of black people as they were, and then i was thinking about trayvon's murder and the way in which it has pierced avail of much of the society that hides a lot of what happens to everyday black people. that murder has opened that they'll, and will people like to see beyond it see that, how regular this is, this ain't no isolated incident, and can they see all of that. and i wonder, is there a connection there between that work that zora did to reflect everyday black people and doing it from a fema perspective, that was a good thing that a lot of the men especially for writing it didn't like. because a lot of the men had some trouble fashioning women characters in their art that

were not real. i've got some other problems with right, but i was one of the question. let me stop there in line with your -- it's good that people are out industry we've got to keep on this question because it doesn't just, it's not just one case and it doesn't die with one case because this happens all the time. >> i am deathly going to defer to the masters as soon as i get my say in this. [laughter] zora, during her lifetime, and we endure presently, has to deal with double jeopardy. we have an issue of race, which is one thing to deal with. everything that is nonwhite, so it's not a black thing. we don't want to get caught up in the dilemma of black and white because that leads brown, yellow and red not even in the discussion, okay? so we need that, but we also need to consider the double

jeopardy issues of women, okay? i think that was the thing that was, you know, contentious between zora and her contemporaries. she was attempting to simultaneously deal with women's issues. she left the issue of race to the men, thinking they would be a two-pronged attack against the prisons. the sexism thing, the other is something she was doing wasn't important. we've got to make sure that that same issue, that same double pronged attack takes place today. and now i will turn it over. >> it was very hard for me to look at what has happened to

trayvon, because of course those of us of my generation have had to look at and feel this over and over and over again, and to field the endlessness. but i have been, i finally, you know, got myself together. and what i really feel is that there's a certain amount of hypocrisy in the country, in the leadership of the country, back and see this happen and say how horrible it indeed is without admitting at the same time that when we bomb children in other countries it is exactly the same thing. we are chasing them as they are running from the drones. we are chasing them as they are running from, you know, whatever

defense force is after them, in for instance, palestine. we are chasing them around the globe and really abusing them and murdering them. and i think that our children and our young people, and not so young, copy this behavior, and they feel that on some level it's okay. the me, this is where we have gotten to as a culture. i mean, to our shame really, you know? that human life, that the weaker person, who is -- lever is perceived as weaker has got to be fair game, whoever can be stigmatized is fair game for the person who can pretend to have authority over that person. so i really, you know, would like very much for us as we are linking these issues to link the murder of someone like trayvon

to the murder of children in the rest of the world by our commune of, our support, by which i mean we pay for this. we pay for those murders. and all these children are our children. they are all our children. they live somewhere else but that doesn't mean that they are not ours. i mean, we are adults. we are the parents of the planet. it is part of our response to to take care of the use and to make them feel like they are safe. and we have failed. >> unfortunately, the more things change the more they are the same. you know, several hundred years ago parents of slain children, predominately parents of slave boys had to teach them how to live within the black code, to save their lives. that they don't make eye

contact, they keep their eyes down, that they keep their arms down, that they show humble and diminish behaviors, subordinate behavior. and here we come, 2012, and as the mother of two young men, still we have to teach our young boys, don't put your hands in your pockets, keep your hands at your side, keep your eyes in context we don't look shady, that we still have to live within this transformation of a black code to save your life. because you've been labeled as dangerous by nothing more than the mere presence that you have on this planet. that is shameful. [applause] >> time is our enemy. and so, oh, wait. we have one more.

we will have one more. >> i'm in all, thanks of all of you ladies. i push to get are from the office and i'm happy i made it. i want to make a quick comment. i wrote a book, not that i'm pushing it, no. people kept telling me, your book is not a book. i said it self-publish, they said it's not about. so, for a year i walked around with sonia sanchez's book next to my book, three of them from the '60s, and i said it's a book picks every time people would say to me, it was almost as if i was seeking permission, or confirmation, and i walked around. and when i would present my book, they would say it's not a book. and i said but sonia sanchez did these books in the '60s and

they are books. in our lives we're always seeking seeking permission from strong women. from gloria steinem spin and gloria steinem is here. [applause] >> another of our masters, yes. >> i'm not going to cry. [laughter] but i -- oh, my gosh. i just wanted to find out from you ladies, at what -- i know god has given me permission because everything i stopped, i almost didn't make it here tonight. he said keep going. i was looking for permission in other people. but i wanted to ask you ladies want events in your lives got you to stop seeking permission from others? spent hours? hours? alice? i stopped being a lady --

[laughter] actual i never was a lady. [laughter] and actually i have a little bit of history to that. in the south the white women were the ladies and black women were women. and i actually prefer to be a woman. so i prefer to be a woman, not a lady. and i don't believe any god necessarily has to be key. -- he. i know for many people that is deeply embedded, you know? but i really feel that unless you liberate yourself from what you have inherited, you know, as truth and a religious or spiritual sense. and tell you liberate yourself you cannot really connect with what's actually here. you know, there's a reason why the program has been so intent as to make you obd and. and do you want to be obd into

the kind of craziness that this world is showing us? i don't think so. >> my father was probably the first -- in my life told me, do not let anyone else tell you how to be happy or how to be good. because that's power. do not give away that power to anyone else. and i was a younger when he told me that. i was cannot like, what? yeah, yeah, yeah. and that i finally started going in reading and schooling and educated and i read from the works of gloria steinem, alice walker, sonia sanchez. i watched the works of moby dick, and i learned that, you know what? we don't need permission, okay? we don't need permission.

others need permission from us. spent and add onto that, my dear sister, so much of this, i talk about teaching the books love as a murder story to get people to think whatever. but also i teach the book also as a movement towards peace. the reason why we do like the books which is we realize at the end she had discovered peace. she really didn't know peace, that when you, the book you're carrying with you, or the books that we responded to when we finally realize we've been enslaved in a place called america, so you couldn't say by golly, i think we were slaves. you came out like fighting, whatever. but the point that i think, i really think you must really

understand is that you must never let people bring you to their level. you know, i do, i could sometimes, sometimes i come off the stage and someone during q&a would ask the question, i hear the negativity. once upon a time i would've said, you know, okay, whatever, right? but i always say, excuse me, my brother, or my sister, could you please tell me how i have a center of you? if you do that and maybe i can correct it. because you're always must make a person come to where you are. you must never go to where they are. one of the things that we begin to truly understand is that from joe on, whatever, they all tried to bring her to their level. but with tecate that didn't happen. you've got to do. you've really got to do that. and at some point, this thing called peace that finally we get at some point, it means we can turn around and began to talk

about things that are at peace on this or that and how you move, how we teach our children peace. how we move them and how we teach them. so it's not just about saying, wearing a hoodie, we all wear the hoodies and say okay, we are protecting our children, no, no, no. in our homes we've got to begin to teach bees in our homes at some particular point in so that is necessary. and i always say in a lost form of a we need to go teach bees in the congress and peace in the police department. we need to teach bees all over this or that this particular time. my sisters, if we don't do that, this is like so important for us to understand that i have seen and our testing in ruby has seen, and our two sisters have seen, we have seen so many of these young brothers been killed. and how do we respond? we have always responding the same fashion.

unit, that the big uproar, we go and get justice sometimes and sometimes you don't get justice. we can go back to our usual lives, but by golly by g. i think i'm going to this weekend, me, too, ain't got nothing is going on. life is going on. the world is going on. sister alice said palestine is going on. iraq is going on. men are coming home from wars killing themselves is going on. you see? so to just light up for this one occasion means we must rise up for every location that it happens. we must rise up in this country when the supreme court justice which would conveniently forget how that inauguration being attack. he said it wrong, by golly by g., i should have got this. but i looked up and the place the washington siege has begun. the nonpeaceful thing has begun. republicans will come up the

next and said we are going to make sure this man will not succeed as the first black president, i said, then he should resign been. because you are here for the american people, for we the people, not for yourselves, not for your unbelievably sick cel cells. this is about america, not about what you believe in all the time. so what we really must do at some point is a child, a child black, white, green, purple, blue, red in america, overseas, whatever, we must respond to a. it's not always in the usual way. we must respond to it either by editorial, i going, by going to the congress, by going to the police station, by going to that community and city in and talking to them, and let me tell you about what a black child is all about. a black male child, what a white male child is all about, what a brown male child is all about. let me tell you about these children that we have, you, who

cannot walk the streets because you're carrying a gun. let me tell you about -- >> so much, thank you, thank you. [applause] >> the one thing that is always, may i say, i have one question -- the title of the book, "their eyes were watching god," "their eyes were watching god." i think about, i thought about that title a lot, and if your eyes are really on god, you know, and, because you tend to gravitate towards that on which you focus, and if your eyes are on god, why isn't the focus returned? i think, what is it that is keeping the focus from returning? when we end up talking about what's happening that is so, the stupidity of the antithesis of

their eyes are watching god, i wonder about the time and i'm wondering what zora was trying to tell us. because i really do believe that, because if eyes are watching god a, then god is watching us, there's an exchange between the forces that we desire. and so-called i'm beginning to see the glimpse of the progress, you know? and i'm beginning to see the joy. i'm trying to find in the book, too, do you know what i mean? that their eyes were watching god. so i'm thinking of -- to call her book that come because when your eyes are watching god, in those senses that we acknowled acknowledge, watching and, when were watching god and god we

know is watching us, why aren't we, what's happening in terms of the exchange? and so, i'd like us to end on that note, how do we make that count? their eyes were watching god. and i'm thinking -- [applause] it's because -- i mean -- the argument of its -- >> at the end of this wonderful stimulating and intellectual evening, i would like to thank you for joining us at the greene space as we honor the 75th anniversary of my and zora neale hurston's novel, "their eyes were watching god." ladies and gentlemen, alice walker, sonia sanchez, ruby dee. and i am lucy anne hurston. thank you. [applause]

>> for more information about zora neale hurston visit zora neale hurston.com. >> thank barnes & noble for hosting this so that we can get together and talk about issues that are think are very important. there seems to be some confusion in the united states, a lot of people don't realize that america failed. they think it is still going on. just as i entered here, some guy said to me, i did know america failed to i said stick around, you know, stick around. i also wanted to locate this particular talk in terms of stuff i've been writing. this is, "why america failed" is the third in a trilogy of the

american empire. the first one was the twilight of american culture which was published india 2000 a the second was called dark ages of america, and this came out about a month ago, "why america failed." there was, however, a collection of essays that i published about a year ago, so it came between the two and the three. about half the essays about the united states, and the kind of want to encourage you to have a look at that book. it's called the question of values, and the reason it's important is because there's material that is entered that is not in any of the other books, but it is with the kind of unconscious programming that americans have that leads them to do the things that they do, whether it's the person in the street or the president. and assorted completes the picture. so i just want to encourage you to have a look at that book. the title of this talk tonight

is the way we live today. despite great pressure to conform into united states, to celebrate the united states is the best system in the world, the nation does not lack for critics. the last two decades have seen numerous works criticizing u.s. foreign policy and u.s. domestic policy, in particular economic policy. the american educational system, the court system, the military, the media, corporate influence over american life, and so on. most of this is very astute, and i've learned much from reading the studies. but two things in particular are lacking, in my opinion. and have a very hard time making it into the public eye. partly because americans are not trained to think in a holistic or synthetic fashion, partly because the sort of analysis i have in mind is too close to the bone but it's very difficult for americans to hear. somebody would say i didn't know the failed. the first thing that these were

to live is an integration of the various factors that have done the country and. these studies tend to be institution specific, as though the institution under examination existed in the kind of vacuum and could really be understood apart from other institutions. the second thing i find lacking is the relationship to the culture at large, the values and behaviors that americans manifest on a daily basis. as a result, these critiques are finally superficial. they don't really go to the root of the problem, and this avoidance enables them to be optimistic which, in fact, places them in the american mainstream. the authors often concluded these studies with practical recommendations as to how the particular institution of the assumptions they have identified can be rectified. they are as a result not much of a threat. it's usually a mechanical analysis with a mechanical salute you.

if the authors would've realized that these problems did not exist in attacking that are related to all the other problems after finally rooted in the nature of american culture itself, in its dna so to speak, the prognosis would not be so rosy. for it would become clear that there is simply no way out, that turning things around is not really an option at this point. but take just two examples, michael moore and noam chomsky. i admire them greatly. they've done a lot to raise awareness in the united states, to show that both foreign and domestic policy as currently pursued are dead ends, or worse. yet both of these men assume that the province is coming from the top, from the pentagon and the corporations. which is partly true, of course. the problem is that this rest on a theory of false consciousness. these institutions have pulled the wool over the eyes of the average american citizen who is ultimately rational and well

intentioned. i would say to them, get out and talk to some people, you know, find out how accurate that is. so for them, the solution is one of education. pull the wool away from the eyes and the citizenry will spontaneously awakened and commit itself to some sort of populist or democratic social vision. is that happening now with occupy wall street? it's an important question and i think we should talk about it afterwards in the q&a. my point is what if it turns out that the wool is the eyes? the so-called average citizen really does want, as janis joplin famously put it, a mercedes-benz. and probably not much else. that he or she is grateful for the corporations, for supplying us with oceans of consumer goods, and to the pentagon for protecting us from those awful arabs working in the middle east. in the possible -- possibilities for fundamental change appeared