takes proprietary products so as a result they're happy to seek economic fortune elsewhere that is a huge drain for russia because the more the government appears to be hot style to individual and to print your ship the less ability it has to compete on the world stage. that is why you see this mass migration of russians because those with the means to do so are the key for economic alternatives. . .

[inaudible conversations] a next on booktv "after words" with guest host leslie sanchez former director of the white house education initiative. this week u.s. representative luis gutierrez and his memoir "still dreaming" my journey from the barrio to capitol hill. the 10 term democratic congressman from chicago discusses his journey from cabdrivers to community organizer to legal charge for

immigration reform at the u.s. house of representatives. the program is about an hour. >> host: congressman get to see you. let's have a conversation between two puerto ricans a liberal and conservative but we share a love for puerto rico in weird both committed to immigration reform. i found the book fascinating. it's great storytelling. you have a great sense of humor. humor. there are some fantastic and it notes here and i recommend everyone should read this book. and latino or non-latino it's a fabulous book. as i read it to things came to mind identity and empowerment to words that describe luis gutierrez. a commitment to your latino roots in your puerto rican identity and a commitment to empower the latino community. is that an assessment of who you are? >> guest: yeah. we try to describe to the reader why is it that luis gutierrez

has a vocation for immigration and immigration reform? why has he made that a priority? as you read the book he began to understand that my mom and dad left nothing in puerto rico. they had nothing there. they had no future. it was very sad. they had gone to grade school and then they came to america without a coat, without language skills with nothing except a desire. as immigrants continue to come to this country. they were puerto rican. every aspect -- they came in 52 so we were in new york 60 years ago. the headlines in new york city would be that we were bringing diseases. how do we stop them from coming to new york? they were criminals, that they didn't speak the language and they wanted to get on welfare. how many times have we heard the same descriptions of immigrants today? so i saw my parents then and i

wanted to inform people about how it is that i am brought up. i remember -- look i was born in 53. that was 10 years before the civil rights act. we may have been north of the north and -- mason-dixon line. the police were hostile to us. they were much more likely to put you up against the wall in ask you what you are doing. you're always a suspect in your own neighborhood. moreover there were each as you knew better than to go to and swimming pools in schools and neighborhoods that were inaccessible because they were for whites only. i wanted to inform people and then going to puerto rico for all of a sudden i am not puerto rican anymore. >> host: we really have to see your childhood as you were saying, growing up in puerto rican lincoln park and then when you are fit team your dad tells you son we are moving to puerto rico and this is what you say in the book.

i think now that moving was the choice for my dad. it was an obligation. for my parents tired of the english language radio stations lacks in the end it was gangs and hippies and assassinations. it was time to go to puerto rico. you're going to puerto rico at 15. leaving your friends and everything you knew and he went to a place you had heard about. you were born in chicago. how was that experience? >> guest: first of all i grew up in bilingual household. what do we mean by bilingual? my parents spoke to me in spanish and i responded in english. they understood my english and i understood their spanish. i was never equipped to go to puerto rico. this was my dad and mom's dream. it was their goal. my dad didn't call a family meeting to discuss the future. you did what you were told. it wasn't hard but you know what

, as i describe in the book there and later on when you think about what was like for my mom and dad they came to america and they had two teenagers, my sister and i? bayside gangs and they saw drugs. they were deep and devout catholics. what did they see? they saw john f. kennedy -- we had a picture of john f. kennedy. we had jesus christ too. we have the picture of john f. kennedy and they saw him murdered and they saw another good catholic robert f. kennedy and martin luther king. they saw hippies in the movement and drugs. it was such a time in the united states. when martin luther king was assassinated they saw the national guard on our streets in the city of chicago. they saw a rioting and that my dad said it's time to go back to the mountains of puerto rico, a place that is safer so i can finish raising the children.

>> host: it's because you grew up in a puerto rican neighborhood you thought of yourself as puerto rican but you go go to puerto rico and all of a sudden they see you as the guy from the u.s. as american and to separate the story here you are in class. you go to talk to this girl and you approach her and introduce yourself and she says -- the gringo is bothering me. was she really talking about many? all of a sudden you go to puerto rico and now you are the gringo. how do you deal with that? >> guest: it was very difficult. it was a very painful time. i used to think that adolescents was the science of pain. those were the two words and i've learned subsequently that it isn't that it's about growing , write? but it's a very painful time. adolescence could be the science

of pain because it's a painful time for all of us into the rejected and isolated. do you know what else i also write? deno and luis and my friends and how they took an interest in me and how people came up to me from the puerto rican independence movement in city just came back from exile come, the son. you are part of the puerto rican diaspora. welcome home. that was a very important time in my life. i learned spanish but i was in a spanish emergence. you and i understand that in 1969 to be a latino in the mountains as we talked about earlier the mountains are really much more traditional than puerto ricans and informed us more about who we are in the mountains then the beaches. the beaches or are more of a tourist phenomenon. we are not a country of surfers.

>> host: it's a mountain culture. >> guest: to mounting culture where it's coffee and sugar cane. sugarcane was the life led. when i get there i see sugarcane and icy fields and icy coffee groves and agriculture and i say to myself -- [inaudible] the interesting thing is it taught me in chicago there's one social class. you are all puerto rican. if there wasn't an upper class a middle-class and lower class. we were all in the same class, the puerto rican class that lived in the city of chicago. you work in a factory or swept floors are washed dishes. you you were all working class people. i realized social classes and social structure and the kinds of divisions that are made based on the color of your skin and on your income and who you are in terms of her income.

i tried to describe some of that. >> host: you saw in the states puerto rican as it were necessarily there. >> guest: let's say the entrepreneur in my neighborhood the top guy. they owned the local grocery store and probably were wealthy in comparison to the rest of us. we know he had more money because he always had it at his counter. how much he took in credit that day and how much you borrowed but he was an institution. i never member him charging interest. what he did was he kept you as a client and the bodega was a part of order rico and united states. every now and then they would show up. >> host: family when you go to places like that. now in puerto rico i've read in

the book is for your political conscience awakens. you become involved with the independent party and the puerto rican independent party. the minority party and your parents supported the party in power that supports the political status. what was it about the puerto rican independence party that excited you and lead you to get quickly involves? >> guest: two things. number one remember it's -- and 68 and it's still a fire in the belly. puerto rican independence has never gained more than four or 5% of the electoral vote. they were.year's and dentists, lawyers, architects, owners.

many many women that industry and commerce as we would say. do you know how many teachers where they are? a were everywhere and i looked at them. they are were important women and men. i listen to them plus they didn't call me gringo. they didn't call me american. they saw a fellow puerto rican that have been exiled as part of the colonial status of the united states. my parents and hundreds of thousands of puerto ricans had fled the islands in the 50s to try to find a better future because the island did not sustain any hope. i like to say plus you had to be there to see that young man. you could take an extended matter and build it into a grade for rader. the careful what you tell him.

maybe that's exactly where he is going as i read late in the book >> let me continue with your political career. something in the book says a lot about you but says a lot about your families and your work ethic where it certainly comes from your father. when you move back from chicago to puerto rico he starts a restaurant and it didn't go very well but after that when you went to college were always working. at one point even started driving a cab because you wanted to make money to go back to puerto rico to help with your future life. it seems to me you say at one point that you felt it was important as a puerto rican to show that you are hard-working and puerto ricans have a good work ethic because there are

many still today that like to use racist sino phobic characterizations of puerto ricans saying they are lazy and they just want welfare. but you are always working. >> guest: i was always working and i told the story of my dad and his restaurant, there were many times you relate any go back and you become saddened to think they worked so hard. saving all that money to have this restaurant and have this beautiful place but that -- had never even gave it a name. he never even gave it a name. he worked so hard. i can only imagine how disillusioned he must abandon how hard or can you must abandon that he persevered and continued forward. i understand that there is a time when you need the government traded i understand that. i don't question it and i don't

judge people. i think there is a role. i have always felt and i have always strived in every part of my life. so here i am i'm in chicago. i'm married. it's 1977. i have met bachelor's degree. you think they would be looking for a young bright intelligent people like to me to work for your firm for your company. no one. one application after another so i thought to myself i did this in college. i drove a cab but i have to tell you it was hard because i was driving a cab in so many plans. i remember when it didn't -- went back to see my data christmas and he said after all the effort and all at the expense for you to wind up doing exactly what i did. i kept telling him that it's a stage it's a movement. i have to keep my self-respect and my dignity.

i have to work and this is something that puts food on the table and pays the rent. having said that it was good for me. >> host: how do immigrants do it now? lawyers, doctors. they have to do it to sustain their families. >> guest: they do all kinds of work. they are the assistant to the assistant in the medical office when they have a medical degree. they are a legal aid, some paralegal when they were a lawyer. this happens but they work their way back. i think it's the story of america to tell you the truth. sometimes i look at the immigrant community and i always say they don't want to work. are you kidding? they get one job in many time with immigrants they say what am i going to do for the next eight hours? maybe i need a second job. they are always looking for a way to advance economically. >> host: the political interest was there.

the commitment to the communities and something happens. you married the love of your life. how many years? >> guest: 35. >> host: congratulations. at that time he went back to chicago just like your parents did looking for a better future and you are not necessarily thinking of getting involved politically but something happens that makes you think i have to get involved. can you describe a little bit would have been? >> guest: it's a very important moment in my life. we would not be having this commerce a shin had it not been for them. in chicago there was an election for mayor in 1983. the incumbent, richie daily the son of mayor daley. they fight. harold washington who was a freshman member of congress is compelled by the community to

run for mayor and he wins the democratic nomination for mayor. it's a story. they call that subsequently babe ruth on the lake. he wins the nomination and on my door comes knocking officials from dan rostenkowski. who is dan rostenkowski? dan rostenkowski is the chairman of the ways & means committee -- the appropriations. powerful committee. he is a concert to a democratic president and and a leader in the democratic caucus and whether his workers doing? supporting upton the republican nominee under the theme upton, before it's too late. i'm sitting there in my home listening to these guys ask me to be a bigot, to be a racist to somehow be prejudiced. i said no. you are in the democratic party.

u.n. dan rostenkowski and all of the white democratic party establishment should be ashamed of yourselves. they did not want a black man to be mayor of the city of chicago. they said the lights wouldn't come on at night and the garbage wouldn't be picked up. they there would be chaos and pandemonium under the theme before it's too late. mondale came to chicago to campaign for him and they were viciously booed when they visited a church on a sunday. so i just want you to think of a time in which the city was ready. i stood up,, could do you know what? we had just gotten our first house and we used to watch this old house and how they sanded their floors and how they refinish the woodwork and how you did a little drywalling how you rerouted your bathroom. we were happy. on the weekend i played dominos

with my friends. i had a job. i was happy. a perfect party here and at baptism there in a wedding in your life is complete. we also planted azaleas in our front yard to make sure we kept up with all the neighbors. then they knocked on my door and i said do you know what? maybe i'm going to have a few beers and a few less games of dominos on the weekend and we will water the azaleas later. i need to get involved politically. as a puerto rican washington i ran against dan rostenkowski and got beaten. i got 24% of the vote but it changed my life. >> host: you for taking the chicago democratic clinical machine supporting harold washington and then challenging dan rostenkowski. congressman we are going to have to cut it short because you are being called for a vote on the floor. >> guest: okay.

>> host: congressman you decided to take dan rostenkowski in the democratic political machine in chicago. i'm sure they were not happy with you. how was that? >> guest: number one i was very angry and disillusioned but at the same time very motivated with a high level of spirit saying we need a democratic party that doesn't use race as a barometer. i kept thinking of martin luther king you know and how people were going to be judged by the content of their character and the color of their skin. in chicago in 1983 we were still judging people on the color of their skin. >> host: the incredible thing is you fight them and he the one in that precinct. >> guest: in 1983 harold washington had thousands of

volunteers just like the young people who had grown up in the 60s and 70's and were ready for change. harold was a larger-than-life figure. he was eloquent and at the same time he was inspiring. he inspired me so i won 280 of 220 and i remember winning that precinct in the next year i run against dan rostenkowski for committeeman and they think well i just have to replicate this in 50 more precincts and i'm sure winner. it wasn't quite that way. i got 24% of the vote but i wanted the public to understand the next time you say luis got 87% of the vote the last election last november it wasn't always that way. i got 24% of the vote. everyone at my neighbors on on the block that i live don had a dan rostenkowski poster in their window. >> host: and they were orange and blue right? that's when you started getting a reputation as a rebel but

somebody who stands for principle and you were willing to go against your own party and the machine if you believed what you are doing. >> guest: it was the right decision to make. harold washington after that campaign invites me to come and join his administration. we get to meet and talk. a kid like me? i'm 30 years old. i'm sitting down with the mayor of the city of chicago. he is mentoring me and teaching me. he gives me a job. the responsibilities that i had in my story is not unique. there were hundreds of other young men and women they were given their first opportunity. he opened it up for women and and latinos and for black people to finally have positions of responsibility and all the past was to do good job and make sure that everyone regardless of the

color of their skin or whatever they lived in jakarta that got a fair and square deal. >> host: he didn't control the city council and he asked you for it -- and you basic to deliver the council. >> guest: i won and in the city council there are 50 members. 25 to 25 is a tie and guess who breaks the tie with the mayor of the city of chicago. i was the 25th boat. once you become the 25th boat the commissioners and the board of education and the commissioner of parks and economic development board all of those things open up and he finally gets his appointees. he finally gets a budget that is his budget. he sells general obligations so we can help with housing and streets and gutters and bridges and infrastructure that are city needed. i loved working but i do have to

say one thing. i had a lot less power and influence as one of 50 than i did as a member of his inner circle working as an administrative assistant in the mayor's office. the executive branch of the government wields a lot of power. >> host: someone so important to you at dies unexpectedly and everything goes back to the way it was before. what was that for you? >> guest: to say that i cried is an understatement. the sadness that i felt. i was really an certain whether he wanted the same politics even though i had just gotten elected. it was like what for? my leader has died. i ran for committee in a few months. do you know what i was lucky in? my wife and i were going to see a -- three weeks before he had a heart attack and we told him we

were going to name our son harold if it was a boy. not to expect this to call our daughter geraldo. it wasn't going to happen. he passed away knowing that but that's how much my wife and i thought of him that we would name our next child if it was a boy. we had a girl so her name is jessica of washington. jessica is so proud because later in her life she says dad i have researched it. thank you. what a great man you named me after, my middle name. that was the kind of experience. he passed away. the city council really fell apart and then in 1989 i had to make a decision about my future. i wanted to continue to work and there was an election. rich daily is going to run but no longer is there an

inspiration of harold washington. we sat down and we talked i endorsed him but as i write in the book he just wanted to be another politician endorsing the white political establishment. i said do you want me to endorse you? here are a set of agreements read he expanded the number of commissioners actual members of his cabinet under harold washington. >> host: you are really essential in getting rich daley -- >> guest: they thought it was pretty important to have the guy that stood out there for change and for reform and that was with harold washington to say that he could -- because what did the city council want and 89? they wanted peace. they wanted tranquility. they wanted a council that work together and stop fighting one another. since i was one of the figures that was a fighting figure -- >> host: in chicago in the

beginning they sell you as a rebel and a controversial figure and now they were actually seeking you out. >> guest: it was wonderful because i got to negotiate with who would become the secretary of commerce. he'll daley was the mayor's brother and he became chief of staff to the president. i got to meet a lot of different people and learned a lot of valuable lessons but one of the things i thought that was important was we expand the rights of the people of the city of chicago and we did any of those things. i know we did many of those things. in 92 i got reelected in 91 to city council but in 92 i ran for the chicago for congress. he supported me. his support concord the support of richard daley was critical almost essential and would say. >> host: you've realized he could make a difference for the latino community. >> guest: i wanted to make a difference for the latino community at a national level and i knew that if i was going to do that --

i'm elected and what is my first challenge? the american food trade agreement. who is in charge of negotiating a? bill daley the mayor's brother. who wants me to vote for him? richard daley. we are working together in a need to do so. i voted against it. i thought it was a wrong thing to do. some people would say hey he was very good to you and he supported you. i'm always going to do what i believe is correct especially mh or policy. >> host: in typical gutierrez fashion you say i'm not here just to be part of a club. i'm here to make a difference in people were clamoring for congressional reform. they were pressing clinton at the time and imposing a pay freeze for federal employees. it said that's unfair. it's an issue of echo day so i'm going to introduce legislation to freeze the salaries of members of congress and the

members of congress didn't like that. >> guest: one of them came up to me and said don't you ever stick and in my pocket again. this was the chairman of the committee. democrats were in the majority and i was a freshman member but i thought here is a seat. the president gets his first state of the union address. it's time for a sturdy and we need to control the budget and spending and he says i'm going to freeze. he got applause and i'm saying that's good. i'm getting a pay freeze too. i was going to get my annual cost of living increase because we were going to be exempt. standing right here in washington international airport and there were signs the fed reserve or members of congress. there was a time and let me just say this, two years later democrats were thrown out as the majority. many of the things they used

against the democrats were the same things that i said were wrong. >> host: i think you are the darling of the tea party at that time. >> guest: .-- back then i would have not today. >> host: so, you are in your district in your district starts becoming more diverse. you get a larger mexican community that is growing. and in your office in your district office you start getting more questions about immigration issues and about citizenship. this is something dear to my heart because i served as chief of citizenship in the bush of administration and helping prospective citizens and going to ceremonies is wonderful. you mention how every american should go at least once to understand what america is all about. all of a sudden you find your issue and do say this is what i'm going to champion. it's all going to be about immigration.

you start workshops and how does that ." >> guest: in the beginning company you weren't there but i had to deal with your predecessor. when i got got there he said hey i want to help people be citizens and the only one authorized to do that or these community-based operations. organizations. that's not right. i'm a member of congress. i said i don't have to go to the vfw to do that. i don't have to go to the aarp for senior citizens. i was the first member of congress authorized by the immigration services to conduct a citizenship workshop. we expanded that across the country many members of congress to this day continue to do that. 50,000 might district. i wanted to leave a legacy of power of new people empowered regardless of the congress is. to walk into a citizenship ceremony lets say 150 people walk into become citizens. there've been times when it's

80, 90, 100 different countries. these people, 150 citizens of 80 or 90 different countries when they walked in. when they walk out they are citizens of one country the united states of america. so i saw my district and i saw the needs of my district and i responded and then i saw the broken immigration system with so many people trying to find legal ways to get their wife a piece of, legal ways to get their son or bring their parents and they were all shut down. they said it's time to reform the system and that is what i have dedicated my life and the congress too. >> host: we have a dysfunctional system. i have never been a fan of barack obama however when he got elected the first time i was encouraged that he had promised our latino community that he was going to do with immigration reform the first year and i said great. let's get this done.

a year passed and nothing happened. you were very frustrated and he made it very clear to the president that you were. i remember our friend jorge ramos telling him in the debate in his bid for re-election he made a promise and a promise is a promise. how do you feel? >> guest: first of all i sat down with barack obama when he was a freshman senator and i still remember in his office in december of 2006. he said luis i'm going to hawaii on vacation for christmas at its attrition. when i come back i'm going to decide whether i'm going to run for president of united states. i thought to myself you have party decided that. i didn't say it but i thought you have decided that. he said will you support may? i could have asked -- think about it. i was the only latino you could ever get to endorse his campaign. i was from chicago. i was well established across the country.

i didn't ask him for an ambassadorship. i didn't ask him to cochair his campaign. i didn't ask him for a spot at the democratic convention. i asked him to support comprehensive immigration reform and to get it done in his first year when he was elected president and he made that commitment. we were friends and we made a bond on public policy. not political stuff but her public policy. i went across the country collecting petitions and i -- as a relay in the book i took those positions to the white house thousands of them are people saying we need you to take action. he didn't take action the first year. this is not my opinion. this is a universal opinion of all of those in the latino community, in the immigrant community even broader. >> host: i think one problem was -- went up and he told us that he was going to prioritize the

implementation he was going to to -- the criminals. fair enough. look at the numbers. over 50% of those deported have no criminal record. >> guest: those were the struggles that we had. >> host: he is the prosecutorial discretion and he promised it and then in meeting he told you -- talk about this. you approach him after the meeting at the white house and you tell him it was a good meeting mr. president. he says to you so why don't you get off my back? >> guest: that's what he said to me. president obama many times sees things through a very personal lens. and he doesn't see them from a public policy perspective. he sees as i write in the book we got to talk about it. he sees a criticism of him as a way of you fostering a greater

reputation for yourself. that is it says his expense that you have some gain. i never saw it that way. in the book there is a reflection of if you have power, if you have influence if you are at the table and you don't use the power and that influence the greatest sin is to waste it. what do i have to lose? i am a kid whose parents came here with nothing who slept on a cot in a hallway in an apartment in chicago and got to sit down and negotiate comprehensive immigration reform. i said to myself, the you bet the president met i'm astonished even my roots and right began that i can say something to the president that he would acknowledge and get him angry about it. the most important thing is

don't waste opportunity to use her power and influence. i have always tried to -- i hope one day to have a better relationship. it's one thing i'm working on. we have a good relationship today. i think barack obama is a better president of the united states because of our criticism and are pushed to coast for two years he said luis i don't have that power. i relate in a meeting at the white house he said luis you are wrong and you shouldn't be saying that tracy singled me out among my colleagues. >> host: after that he pressured him to provide deferred action. there were some kids who came to united states illegal -- and legally when they were minors and he had the discretion but he kept saying and he said it publicly -- >> guest: many times. evo longoria -- the stars came out and said the president can doing -- do this.

>> host: they validated that authorities will. >> guest: there were lines of thousands and thousands the first-day signing up. a half a million young people. when he ran for re-election if it were october in month before this triumphant election i'm working hard and watching the tv commercials. there is a rock obama in spanish, impeccable spanish by the way saying i have this prosecutorial discretion because the values i saw in that young immigrant youth were the values that my wife and i instill in our daughters. and he said in our daughters. i said we have turned this around. >> host: at the end i hope you can get immigration reform out of congress. as a conservative i've been critical of the republican party for not only the rhetoric that some of the positions they have

taken on immigration which i think our anti-immigrant and i'm still working hard to open up the party to go back to the principles of ronald reagan and the george w. bush defended based on compassion and the free market. but at the end i think they get immigration reform it will be because of the good work of good democrats and good republicans in congress and frankly i have to say it not because of barack obama. he'd didn't meet his promise and even after the election, after the election you told him you know what? it may not help the process and i think in the end he can get immigration reform. it's because of the latino community and the message i think was for both parties. for republicans to get their act

together on immigration but to the democrats to keep their promise to deliver. >> guest: as you know we relay in the book was pan past january we met with the president he said to him mr. president you are going to las vegas. don't introduce a bill. we are working with republicans. the republicans and democrats in the house in the senate and we don't need a bill from the white house to come on down to say this is what i want. we need to work this out. it's a very delicate time. he turned around and looked at us and i remember the anger in his face. he said are you kidding? after all your complaining, after all your demanding that i take more action and now you guys don't want me to introduce a bill? he was right. to his credit he didn't introduce the bill. to his credit he has worked to formulate and to use his power and influence in the background of the is done that very effectively.

i still remember one word that he used. he said you weren't subtle about it either. you know it's interesting to be at the white house with with the president of united states with six or seven other people and he says you weren't subtle. mr. president deportations are not subtle either. they are devastating and crippling to families. maybe we haven't been subtle but we have been forthright with you. the fact that he is a better president because of the actions he took. he took them forcefully and you can't deny latinos came out and voted for him in droves unprecedented numbers. it wasn't as though -- we were angry and we were testie he took a step in the right direction obviously help but affect it did not help himself by saying he was for self deportation and he would veto the d.r.e.a.m. act and we should simply have arizona s.b. 1070.

was he benefited by that? yes. i have an issue with barack obama on immigration and they say it. we are going to work together to fix this country and in the end i think barack obama's legacy is going to be that he does find comprehensive immigration reform. here is what happens. the congress of united states is dysfunctional because everyone lost bipartisanship. paul ryan and i get together in chicago and speak together about our commitment to a pathway to citizenship and transforming our system. everybody that lauded that is not applauding. they are either ignoring it or when i go to democratic caucus where you with paul ryan? why are you with the enemy? because friend on this issue and

he has received a lot of criticism from the republican party for standing up. they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in neck of dollars and make it up ads against us. so look how are we going to get this done? i'm going to say it. democrats have to understand because democrats negotiate now as though we were in the majority but we are not in the majority. we were in the majority in 2007 and 2008 in 2010 but we did not pass comprehensive. we have to stop doing that. republicans and let me be very clear have to understand also that they lost the referendum on this issue in november. they lost it. so you lost the referendum and we are in the minority. let's negotiate. let's compromise. >> host: it's important for everyone and our viewers to understand immigration reform is not dead. >> guest: the conversations continue.

just because we are not a gang of eight we are meeting regularly. people are talking and having conversations every day. we are going to get this done but you have to understand from my perspective as you see reflected in the book i believe in movement and i believe in the power of people. it's an undeniable quest. you can delay it carried you can get the tours. you cannot stop the ultimate achievement of the congregation congregation -- comprehensive immigration reform. the more you tonight the more energy you are going to have. ..

>> why don't you go back where you came from? i heard that a single statement that to lead -- that too many puerto ricans have died did war to defend the united states of america but yet puerto ricans although the citizens since 1917 it will be 100 years

they say go back where they came from but the leading to go back to is lincoln park and that is where i came from. >> host: congressman it is a great book i highly recommend it. let's continue to work that we get immigration reform this year with democrats and republicans. thank you people this afternoon and

hopefully tomorrow there won't be any rain. joining us on our c-span bus which is >> does jesus really love we?

a pilgrimage in search of guided america. if you would start by giving us a little of your up three major religious history. >> guest: the grandson of a baptist preacher a nephew of two other baptist preachers give my family has always been evangelical i grew up steeped in the culture first to california then i went to high school in a christian school in miami florida. >> host: what was your family's reaction when you came out as gay? >> guest: there were not excited my mother cried and cried it is extremely difficult. i don't think all of my relatives know yet. it is but the and the tidies family the way information is passed around he have the chinese layer the christian

mayor a and between the two there is sufficient shame that my parents have not broadcasted to everyone. >> host: you have written a book of jesus really loves you. what is your christianity today? >> the reform to america church in brooklyn new york i think my faith it goes through peeks and valleys of the downs five would be lying if i said faith was u looktent it is a struggle that you look for god whereyou g you can find evidence and t f try to hold onto the faith but then restore some space -- rejoice at the high point but to feel that they pulled me closer. are yu

>>st: t: are you a christian in today? >> yes sometimes i am beetroubl troubled byed the basics of the language when we say? conservative what do wenservati mean? itn? is hard by follow jesus te as best as i can't. >> host: so if your searchour what did you find across america to establishgions, christian religions and whether or not that is>> guestil acceptable? to >> clicking at american in christianity today you find. open hostility great silence in discomfort depending on where you look but most of they thiople try their best to do what they think is right and the motive doesat matter most people try to be loving even if it doesn'te

>>ok like that to the rest of h us.ple? >> host: cater to give it example? >> guest: one would be westborough baptist church when i went there i wanted to dislike the church it s they'reee so angry at hateful the yes they tried to explain to me it is out of to ltheiruse they are instructed to love theiran to neighbor than how to do that more than they are going totey h hell they have a chance to turn? turn around they believed what they do is loving. that is hard for the rest ofdont us to accept i don't expect people to accept that with skepticism but take a moment where they are coming from. >> host: did you interviewhu did members of the phelps family

std we with them?ue >> guest: i spent four elps talking to them, worshiping with them, and having dinner withm them because i really wantedo to understand what life was n ke in the com --ey were ry ope conjugation. they were very open withs open beefedwi and i was with what they wanted to know it ism gay. obvious with social media iidn'e am day i dllid that tell them ot straight out they never asked. i assume that they do but it was never an issue and it becae they up and i realized it did not matter because ifo he at doest a part of their rhurch i go to hell anyway. fr >> host: what did you find with the mainstream loristian religions? fou a >> i think much of may 9 christianity was a more

denousive direction but other sittersmi struggling there is no one set ofliefs. opinions but that generalsocieti trend is the church music aireci more liberal directionon butpent that would not happents without a fight within the them -- within thewithin the denomination. nomina >> is that the catholic churchit as well? >> i did not spend a lot of time focusing on the catholic church. an as a reporter i can only about bout the stories of people who are willing to ta t talko to me i spent a lot of time trying to talk to a gayinke priest who would open up but i could not find one so their upper -- for hiepresented but my husband is catholic and iry

never thought about asking t >> ht: jeff story until after the book went to press so that was bad on my part. >> host: there iscc metrolitanan community church that is the so-called d you urch. did you visit with them? francidid visit to congregscation's one is there francisco and in las vegas it is a spiritual home for a lota of people who want to have gone to church but don't feel comfortable with a regular church.rches. founded by a guy in-house of en who was pentecostal in the did that and fired a missile it has been a gift for themm immense number of christians i l but it was not a community that i felt was for me i pesonao personally don't want to go to church that is just gay people but reflects might

community old and young or gay or straight or black orblaca white orsi hispanic or asianllya we are a cross-section ended my neighborhood said specifically but that is theook. lookingome i was for. i found a really warm welcome there is something beautiful the way they embrace the person to whomace they're serving communion. stenjoyed it i was critical trie those seven elements that i tried to be honest as a >> hoser and as fair as i could be. >> host: what is your day job?e >> i've been editor also the religious writer which is a new start up that looks to be a new model.hat >> host: the answer to the question does jesus really

loves me? >> guest: it depends w.answer it risk.every every person that you ask has a different version of you read a newspaper and no vi person has thee same view ofaliy jesus of the neutrality it is so diverse fun to explore but also difficult becauseissue the issue is so emotionallyor charged. >> host: the answer for guest: e yourself?love >> guest: most-- my jesus soes love me and i can tmistake host: the mistakes that i make. i> host: the other days? >> guest: the other day i tried to look forward to the day after. >> host: the author ofus reall does jesus really love me?

does jesus really love me.com is the web site. the 84 spending time with us. >> i of its chicago, a married come in 1977 with my bachelor's degree in by m.i.t. now you would think there would be looking three young particulate people but that nobody would hire me. one application after another i thought i did this in college i drove a cab but i have to tell you it is

hard because i was driving a cab i remember when i went back to see my dad a christmas he said after all of the effort and all of the expense for you to do exactly what i did. i said it is a stage at the moment i have to work and keep my self-respect and dignity. this is something that puts the food and pays the rent. >> it is important to know where you are from and where your life has been. >> the battle of little big horn is exciting it is one of the points in history

people get excited coming breakup of a mad, people yell, a cry, about what happened over 100 years ago. >> welcome to buildings montana with the help of our partners we bring you to the state's largest city the magic city known for oil and natural gas production and also cowboy culture for the next 90 minutes we explore the history of the region with local authors beginning with tom rust and his booktv 11 that looks at the calgary post built in