>> congressmen ellison, thank you for being here. tell us about the district you represented minnesota and also you're going capitol hill. >> guest: the fifth special district of minnesota, it is a place that's very diverse. free people all over the world i think we have the largest urban indian population in the united states. with also ignored by those terms amalia, russia, laos. and we have this tradition all population from director eric, norway, you know, of course to practice traditional african-american community, which has always been there as a part of the great migration.

the minnesota, for example. so it's a place where people start businesses every day. you can get any kind of food you want. and we have a strong tradition of progress. there's been in tolerance, and do. that goes without saying. but this is where hubert h. humphrey was the mayor. this is where eugene mccarthy, commerce persons did against the war, you know, kind of did his thing. paul wellstone stomping ground. wellstone was in northfield, minnesota, but his support came from that district. it's also walter mondale recently learned that he lost his loving wife, joan.

>> cap the hill, you're a coleader of the progressive caucus. >> guest: i am cochair of the progressive caucus. i'm also one of the five words that speaker for your blood run to help counter though. i assume on the steering and policy committee and the financial services committee and a proud number of the democratic caucus. i served with everybody else. >> okay. you are relatively new congressman when you talk about your colleague serving decades. why write this book now? >> guest: you know, after peter king, my colleague from new york decided that he was going to use his prerogative as the chair of the homeland security committee to focus on violent radicalization. i went to chairman king and i said, look, i don't mind you talking about muslims who are bred up radicals.

violent radicals of any kind. but i ask you to not only focus on muslims. now, we've got timothy mcveigh type people. national security threats in the homeland. he said now, i am going to do it the way of going to do it focus on muslims. i said okay. not this was a controversial decision on my part anyway because i went back to cert advisories and said he's inviting me to testify. and then decide by what you what if i? the other folks said look, at least get an alternative point of view out. i decided the second group was right. so i testified. my testimony caught a lot of attention in part because we talked about this kid named mohammed salm didn't otani and, you know, he lost his life, 23 years old, ran to the towers of

new york as a first responder and died as others were trying to protect their own lives quite understandably so. but yet this young man who is most unplayed guilty to sacrifice her fellow americans. i finished my testimony talking about him. i kind of got a little emotional during my testimony. that got a lot of attention. after that, a friend named karen hunter, who is now time to be a friend called me and said i'm the publisher object to publish a book about your experience is a few years after 9/11. would she like to tell your story. my initial response is like a not so sure i want to do that. the tolerance of inclusion is a key part of who we are as americans than it is very telling and retelling that story. so i decided to go ahead and do it.

>> you started out with your ancestry and you grew up in detroit, a family of seven? what was your childhood like? >> buckley to parents, both my parents have southern breeze. we cut off that table and raised us with those southern rural values. my dad was born in detroit. both my parents are the great migration. so my dad was a doctor. he believed in education, but my dad also is a guy who came up on

the harder side of life and definitely learned -- todd s. that everything you type, life doesn't give you any excuses. he often would say if you don't want to keep your homework and which are supposed to do, it will have harsh consequences for you. he would tell us this. if i called him today, he would probably tell me the same thing. my mother is a very protect dave, affectionate person who also had fire in her belly, too. i was raised by two different. they are in detroit right this second. >> all of you have graduate degrees. >> guest: my oldest brother is a doctor like my dad is. he does internal medicine. he takes care of the people at

detroit. the folks who read like the first people that got to go whose d.c. first and then they said no to a specialist if he has to go there. he is a great older brother. my next older brother is brian. he does practice law. but primarily, he is a baptist minister. that is his primary occupation. he does practice law. he does senior line has the practice on the side. but mostly he is pastor in the church of the new covenant. my younger brother tony is in boston and he is a lawyer. he rents his ace on dorchester. then my baby brother eric is a lawyer in ceylon, north carolina and is active in democratic politics they are. my treatments monday he will join me in congress. we will see about that.

>> in the book you mentioned her father is agnostic and your mother is a devout catholic. talk to us about what role the religion played in your home. >> my dad was sort of religious. i think he believes in a god, right? i think he probably would even call themselves christian because my dad is a guy who believes in his own personal energy. she grew up with skepticism about how he would see some people manipulate religion. so he's not really much of that. she's active with the youth group and got much more at after her kids grew up in their home. but mom got her rosary beads and prayed for us and nice icons around the house.

it is interesting because, you know, they represent two polar opposites in that regard, too. my mother praised my father and my father offered pragmatic advice about the world to all of us. i just kind of came up in catholic schools. this is not the people who educate me. this is my perception. and so, i really stopped being -- i had a spiritual journey, but it wasn't religiously involved much as a teenager, even though i went to an all boys catholic high school. and so, you know, i was hoping. i was searching in my latter teens. i found the muslim community. it worked for me.

>> there was an anecdote in the book about your conversion to islam and how you often stumbled upon this. >> guest: i read the biography of malcolm x as a teenager and i was a fan of mohammed alvey. so in my mind, islam and muslims were people who would fight for justice. i didn't know anything about it. when i got on campus, i was one day studying with a friend of mine. he just sort of ended our study session and said i've got to go. where you going? this is muslim prayer. i'm like okay. he invited me to go. so i went. so i saw everybody sitting on the floor. i also noticed that you had

folks there who will buy it, who are black, who are asian, who are area up, even latino. so i liked that. then the preacher tim is talking about, how we are all from one seed of adam and even how humanity starts from a single-payer and we are all united that way. and i got intrigued and i went back and i went back. you know, i up converting to islam. >> host: so after you finish college, you leave detroit. in the book you said you felt as though minnesota was a place you could make a difference, but she couldn't do that in detroit. >> guest: i'm talking about perceptions of a 21-year-old. i'm not looking at it from the perspective i have now. from where i was bad, i needed a

change of scenery. what i saw, you know, the 21-year-old guy in detroit is every other day shutting down, you know, the political culture, you know, seemed like you have to be there for quite a, time before you could get in a position to serve. although of course anybody can serve at any age. people who are the leaders are not political establishment were long-time servers. but when i got to minnesota, it seemed like a political culture was a bit more open. it depended not so much on rental service, but more on what can you do. so that is the way i perceive the difference. so when i was active on campus in detroit and i went to

minnesota in that activity just continued and found myself in a leadership position at the black law student association, which i was the president does. even as a young attorney, there are folks who wanted me to sit on their board and be part of what they're doing. it just felt like a little bit more of the environment where they wanted people to participate anywhere in detroit there's a ton of problems. no shortage of them. it just seemed like a political environment where the people who were there had all the answers if you know what they mean. but i let detroit. it is my hometown. minneapolis is my hometown. i am grateful to detroit and love to see detroit too well. let's see minneapolis too well. >> before you came, there several terms in the state

legislature. but you wrote in your book that your faith was not an issue until your congressional. what you think that's the case? >> guest: it took me by surprise because i'd been in politics already. suddenly when i run for congress, all of a sudden my religion becomes an issue. i've had mighty mom, prayer leader, come to the state legislature to offer an opening prayer as we do in congress every day from different denominations and faith. it was a good day in the paper or whatever. the reason it got such interest because in congress, there is a specific role in terms of foreign policy, national security, war and peace. so many areas of the world where the united states was addressing tumultuous environment had to do

with countries where the majority was muslim. i mean, when i went to congress, only a few years before that, united states is hedged in afghanistan. we were in the midst of a war in iraq, which i oppose, by the way. and so, i think those things made the congressional thing of little different. somebody said to me, you know, it's like if a japanese person were running for congress, just a few years after pearl harbor. you might imagine that some people wouldn't see the person for the person. he would see just as a for a. that is why some people really dig that excited and afraid. and even abusive at some points. >> host: in your, you mentioned the great movement in your life. one of the organizers of that

event. you are very critical of the nation of islam in the book. tell us why. guess i want to acknowledge there's a lot of people who come out of prison, are on drugs, who are benefited by that nation. i want to acknowledge that as a true factor. we should never take any credit away. but you know, i guess i was really looking for a greater amount of direction and involvement after the march. i mean, if you had 2 million i'm not mall, you have many, many more millions of people, african-americans and others perhaps ready for action right after that. and yet, while there were some policy prescriptions and while individuals who participated did kerry, it just seemed like the

standpoint of the call to march, it was just like nothing. you know, i found that disappointing and i thought it was an advocation of leadership. but look, nobody is perfect right? my point is that was a missed opportunity. and also, i tend to believe that we need to draw people into action, right? the march was action. do you want to talk about action, you talk about directly to the people, organizing around an agenda that will directly improve their lives, not listening to a preacher in a room are talking about their worldly type stuff. i mean, at the end of the day, i am trying to address the things that i are directly negatively

impacting people at organizing people around the opportunities in front of them. i just found that there was a call made, with no follow up. but look, you know, at the end of the day, that march inspired me to run for office. that march inspired me to think about if we could get the level of organization we needed, what we could do out for out of home placements in the educational system, what we can do about unemployment in what we could do about the disparities in health and education. it gave me a sense of possibility. for that, i'm grateful to the people who called it. but i do think execution after the march just wasn't there. >> host: did the lack of education lead to your political

awakening? >> guest: at one point i thought to myself, what is going to happen? when it became clear nothing was going to happen i said i don't know what i'm going to do. i am going to get even more active in my community. i'm going to run in this political process. i am going to try to be a factor and have a greater level of equal justice for every american but also we are taught in the koran that god created humanity from a single-payer, male, female and made us into different nations and tribes who know each other, not despise each other. i don't have any use for las vegas is 11 group is exalted above another group. even if i'm the group that is

savory. so i don't really subscribe to that kind of thinking either. so that's another issue. but at the end of the day, you know, i believe we need action orientation, human equality and that is kind of why i am not an award with that kind of thing. >> host: in the book you write this as a direct quote, i don't want to defend or support anything because i happen to be muslim. the uri to called upon to do that. it's true. just go you could look at this whole issue of my status as a muslim. you can go one of two ways. you can try to ignore it and say it's my individual and private business or you can say, look, if my colleagues and information about what islam is coming a bit on how to do it the muslim community, the muslim world, i

am going to embrace that because this country is about liberty and justice for all and i'm going to help -- i'm going to use this moment in time that i am able to preserve to improve on this idea of inclusion in america. that's kind of what i've done. i decided rather than flee from the situation i'm going to go towards it. that's why went to talk to my colleague, peter king, betty's hearing and he offered to let me testify and accepted that offer. that's when applied to other members in congress and discussed with them private and sometimes public ways about the issue of inclusion and standing opposed to bigotry. this is why i've taken it on. part of it is just my personality. you know, i tend to step into the breach and offer whatever

help i can rather than say i'm going to look out after my individual private interests and just let things handled themselves. >> host: you talked about your interaction with colleagues. one of your colleagues in the minnesota delegation, representative michele bachmann has accused you of having ties to the muslim brotherhood and terrorist organizations and that has been made very public. at the same time, you say when you guys see each other, you are very quartile. how do you reconcile that? [inaudible] >> guest: she and i have some pretty serious disagreement about a whole number of things ranging from democracy to voting to our economy should be operated come into the proper role of religion and country and we -- we couldn't be more different. we are day and night on these issues.

but you know, it is not personal. it is just that, you know, i don't know. that's what it is. i think a lot of people who watch and hear some of the fireworks that come out of congress and the political clashes and polarization, we might be under the impression there's animosity between the members of congress. they may or may not be. i don't have any. the reality is these are substantive differences. personality differences. so i don't have any problem shakes as degree are talking with the marketing along with them. i actually believe you should talk to people you disagree with that i'm happy to do that. the folks who watch congress across the country should know

that it's not a personal animosity. it is a different value and belief system that separates us. postcode in your book, you dispute this perception that the congress and government is dysfunctional, but you also write -- [inaudible] explain the difference. >> guest: democracy is messy. democracy is a system that says that all voices have an opportunity to weigh in on the direction of the city or the county for the state of the country. so because their voices have an opportunity to weigh in, sometimes those points of view just clash and then we get to an impasse position. that is when we get stuck. but what would be the alternative, right? but what we do other than what we are doing quite well, they're

important reforms that need to be made. we need to keep the money out of politics. we need to have redistricting be depoliticized so that the state state -- the states actually reflect the will of the people as a poster who draws the lines in a given state. there are real reforms that need to happen. at the same time, you know, i believe that democracy is supposed to be -- supposed to be broadcast. you know, somebody said that the clash of ideas is the sound of freedom. sometimes this goes wrong, right? right before the civil war, congress was dysfunctional then. now we are in another phase where we have extreme inequality and it's hard to move an agenda. 90% of the people want background checks for gun ownership, yet congress won't move on it. a huge majority want to increase

the minimum wage. a huge majority want to see us extend unemployment. congress bob o'connor. i will say that america is polarized. so obviously, congress is, too. we've got to continue to work these problems out. i don't mean to say it's not having problems of operation, which the just dysfunctionality, but what they really mean is optimism about moving forward. i am optimistic if we keep on standing gave them reach out to african-americans, we can pull herself out. >> host: europe traveled extensively as a member of congress. these congressional trips are often used as fact-finding initiatives. in many places you can't have you been seen as something of an ambassador that these folks in foreign lands can relate to.

how does that feel when you go looking for information and people are asking you, how can america help us and what can you personally do about that? >> guest: wolters pressure, right? i think that it is an honor to try to make friends for your country. so i've embrace that role. i think a lot of people living outside the united states, you know, they hear about the united states. they see on television, read about it. but how much did they actually know about it. in some cases they know a lot. other cases they misperceived our system works. so if you are from a country went person makes decisions for the whole country were some really oligarchy, it need be strange to you to hear somebody coming out of the u.s. congress. you may think that represents everyone. in fact because of our democratic system, it doesn't.

i find myself interpreting what the u.s. does. i remember i was in egypt before the recent military takeover. and i was talking to some people and they were asking me, why did you all support mubarak and do you now support more see? i said what, we will support you put a period we can't pick your head of state. and then i've often tried to explain to people, the united states is not all powerful. u.s.a. citizen of another country have agency in terms of the direction of your own country. and so, i find myself playing that role. it's an important goal for every member of congress to make them play. when called upon to make it, i play it. >> do you often find yourself

playing that same role with your constituents? >> guest: yes, i do. we do have a lot of new american in our district. do americans from all over the globe. you know, take somebody who is a new from syria or, for that matter, say zimbabwe, where they're having difficulties with democratic choice of the population, you often have to explain how this system is different from that. ..

>> the count row goes t >> it knows on the bases of who is pushing it. and i dare not stop pulling or those people who operate on i, or us, will be pulling. we have to pull the country in the sweet land of liberty for all. it is attention.

and you get what you are willing to give in terms of energy and resources for the struggle of making a perfect union. i think america has great things as a muslim. you cannot practice the religion anywhere as free. the france, i don't believe in burkas, but they banned them. and in turkey, the religious expression is banned from the

public square. in saudi arabia abe or iran, you are okay if you are lined up with the people in power but if you are not, you are not okay. you cannot see sunni in some areas so my point is in america you can be christian, any kind you want. lutheran, catholic, methodist, jewish, conservative, you can be whatev whatever. you don't have to practice any religion at all. this is a wonderful thing we have to practice as you please.

but it isn't guaranteed. you have to protect and defend it. and defending your right to practice your faith means the right for the other person. once you say my is okay but yours isn't the table will turn and yours won't be. congress shall pass no law establishes religion or a bridge in the exercise there of. so i believe in that. "my country: tis of thee "is the title of the book. >> did you think back during

this inauguration? >> people accused president obama of being a muslim to discredit him. but he is a person with a muslim name, but he is a christian. i am a muslim but i have an enlish name. i sense a certain parallel with the president. i have often admired how he handled the fire. he has exercised a lot of grace under fire. obama didn't elect himself. americans elected him.

we are not post-racial. we have severe disparities in health, income and education. but we have defeated slavery and jim crow. president obama let's us take on the last frontier and take on racism. which if we would have beloved community. true brotherhood. i think it is possible. if we can elect obama we can tear down the inequalties. >> my family, faith and future is the subtitle. and you talk about the future

and and made that your mission. that talk about the issues you address in the book that you are look to tackle at a legislator. >> i think the biggest problem is income inequality. it has two components. stagnant wages, rising debt, limited fortune for working people and it is fabulous economic rewards for people at the tip-top part of the economy. people of color with concentrated at the bottom of the group. after the americans were hit harder the foreclosure process started.

african-americans were hit hard by health disparities but i have white people saying they need hell insurance because they were dropped after being sick or bankrupt after being sick. i think the president is right about income inequality being the biggest issue right now. we need to reclaim the political power to require the wealth of the country is shared more. conservative say you have to cut tax and not regulate rich people and big business because they

will take the extra money by not taxing them and use that to invest in plant and hire us. trickle down economics is a failed economic philosophy. it doesn't work. there is no historic president of it working and the proof of how bad it works is all around us. so i want to work for prosperities for working families. that means reduce student debt. make college affordable enough to work your way through school again. that is something like that i want to do. consumer protection for people who pay high fee and stuff business they are not banked. making sure the minimum wage is increased and we have incentives to improve the livable wage. and thanking and rewarding company like punch pizza that is

a minneapolis pizza restaurant that raised their minimum wage to $10.10 without government intrusion. it is better if business says i want to keep my employe employees, build loyalty and not retain people so i am going it pay better. we are still dealing with trade deals that actually help and strengthen the american working class and middle class not just offshore jobs. so you know, we have seen every since we passed nafta, we have seen trade deficits with the united states. it might have reduced and gone up, but it is still going up. we're not in a trade surplus. we had a trade surplus with mexico before nafta. we don't have a stagnating

economy for working people by accident, we have it buzz because of a set of decisions around taxation, trade, collective bargains and education and training that put us on the foot we are on. and i want to make this economy work for small business, middle class people, professionals and certainlyly workers >> you have become a champion of the left. is this a platform to higher aspirations or higher office? >> no. i am not saying i will not never run for hire office. but this isn't a platform to extend the aspiration. i don't have ambition or aspiration higher than the one i hold because i don't see another one higher. i represent the people of the

fifth district and i don't know if there is a better job than the one i hold right now. i mean that seriously. i am ambition for a policy agenda but not for personal elevation. i am ambitious for the country being a place where there is a reliable path to economic security for everyone. and for the few people who are too old, too work, or too sick there is a safety net so they don't fall down. i think about legislatorive achievements or my work as a congress member, i am not proud of any title i hold, but i am proud of the accomplishments.

the president issued an order for federal contractors. we got 50 members of the house, 15 from the senate, send the d letter demanding the pay be increased. we marched all over striking with workers and at the last state of the union the president announced this executive order. so to me that is what i am proud of. i am proud to be a part of stuff like that. and i am not ambitious for titles. i am all about achievements that

put the average working person, whether they are from mexico or somalia or ten generations in america they are looking forward to a retirement where they are not eating dog food as an old person, putting their children through school, having clean water to drink and having a fair job. >> and personal growth runs through the book. you talk about your father hammering home. did you ever see yourself at 15-16 where you are now? did you every dream about that? >> if somebody asked me what do

you want to be at that age i would have said i don't know. i knew i loved to read. i knew i loved to express myself. i knew i hated to see people treated unfairly or bullied or taken advantage of. that is what i knew. it wasn't until i got on campus i thought i want to be an economist. so i majored in economics because i thought if i want to under how the world works you have to follow the money. that is what my dad said. so then economics is part of it i learned, but it is politics. i did law school at the

university of minnesota and that is my path. at 15, though, i had no idea. in my 20s, i thought the last place i would be was in politics. and i met paul stein and we combined paul ticks and the heart of a community organizer. he pulled it together. >> you spent time talking about your youth, but also your family and your children and their experiences. and how different america is for them. talk to us about that.

>> when i was growing up, america was much more racially obsessed. you know, for example, when i was a kid, if somebody dated outside of the african-american community that would be a thing. for kids in my generation, that is not a thing. kids are more accepting and embracing of alternative cultural and accept people for who they are. my kids embody that certainly. and i think that is a wonderful development. the good thing about my kids is they are proud of being african-american. they love to read about it, talk about it and embrace it. but at the same time they are

interested in their own heritage and that maybing -- makes -- them interested in other's heritage as well. >> would you say you adopted your father or your mother's parenting style >> not my fathers buzz because we didn't spank our child. but i melded the two. my mother was a person who stuck up for her kids schillings whooshgs made sure, he was an active mom and a working mom, and today, she is a social worker in detroit michigan and still works and does juvenile offenders and loves those kids and probably treat them like she did us and shes them as her kids.

but she was a person who you know, would make you feel good just being around her. and so the two of them, you know, with like the mixture of tough love and just love. i tried to meld the two. i am concerned about my kids. they are the best thing i ever did. they are my treasure. my youngest one is in high school and she is a senior going to college next year. and the oldest one has their eye on law school and he got out of college and was playing football in college and now he is looking at going to law school after worked a few year in the min legislator. and i have one son who looks the most like me and he is an artist

and paints and writes fiction. and then of course, i have a son who is in the united states military, active duty. he is 19 and stationed in fort stewart. so they are my treasure banned. they are the best. but none of my kids were raised exactly like i was. anybody with kids, you don't shape your kids. they are who they are and all you can do is try to guide them. but they are born their own behavior and parenting a child is something i recommend to everyone >> you talk about your mother being protective of you and your

brothers. and you have been protective against your child. there was an incident where a republican opponent brought up an incident with your family, talk about your reaction and what was said and how you dealt with that and what the aftermath was. >> it caught me by surprise because in kind of going after my family, he kind of outed himself about what, under ordinary circumstances, should have been embarrassing situation for himself, he talked about his ex-wife getting a protective order against him and tried to say i let that information out but i didn't. but then he started talking

about the circumstances of my divorce settlement and i took offense to it because when we walked in that morning my daughter had a day off so we were going to do the debate and then go to breakfast. and he was saying things that were not true and i fell beyond my only personal standards. i called him a scum bag. and i own that. i was wrong for doing that and told her i was wrong. i told her no matter what he says it doesn't allow me to do that. but i apologized for him and the public for that. at the end of the day, it is just a lesson. you know, as much as you want to

protect your children, there is standard decorum you have to maintain and when you fall below it, you must apologize. you don't get credit for rising above that as it is what your supposed to do. the voice in the back of my head was my dad. my mom would understand why i was upset. my dad would say that was an act of weakness. you stay inline even when the theoy -- the guy -- is out of line. and i thought you don't let people let you go below your

personal standards that that was that episode. but you have to move on and do your best, remember your values and take responsibility for what you do that is wrong, and you have to forgive yourself because if you don't, you will beat up on yourself and forget your job is to represent the fifth district people. i am not going to let anybody make me shy or pull my punches because i am embarrassed about something i should not have done. >> what is next? life is still happening. >> what is next is, you know,

got to get congress to raise the minimum wage. we are proud the president is going to issue the executive order to help people who work for federal contractors and that is great but that is only helping 250,000 which is a lot. but the minimum wage can help, raising it to $10.10, would help millions of people. that is the goal now. how are we going to do it with the republican majority? well we have to convince them if we do it together, both sides get it credit. i would hope big business would go to the republicans and say if we raise the minimum wage the folks we sell pizza to, can have

more money to buy pizza. you can raise the minimum wage and maintain profitability but i think that is the main goal. the other goal is we have to be careful to not enter into these trade deals that offshore american jobs. we have to strengthen collective bargaining. we have to continue to make the case that americans of all colors, culture and faith are all-americans. that is what we should maintain. that is what is next. that is what we are trying to do next want. this book wasn't an easy project but i started another one

talking about how we craft a reliable pathway to economic security for all americans and that book is going more into the stories of the lives of people i met who are struggling to make sure the american dream is there for their kids. >> you are already looking ahead, but for people who have not yet picked up the book, what can they expect to find inside that they have not seen before? >> i think not people can find in there is -- i think and hope it will inspire them to reflect upon their own american journey. that is why i talking about my family and upbringing and how i

got to the thinking i did. we are a product of people who raised us. so think about your background. you were from saginaw and you have your journey. some people crossed the rio grand, some came into ellis island, some came in the paci pacific. but we may have came here in different ships, but we are in the same boat now. that is what i think people will discover in that boat. it will remind them of what they know and also why i chose to swear in on the koran owned by

thomas jefferson. they will read my conversion story. they will read how we can make congress function and the organizing on the grassroots in order to counteract the behavior in congress. and if you love this country, and you believe it has greater things to do, i think there are things in the book that will resinate with you. i wrote it and i think in a readable fashion that i hope people enjoy >> thank you, congressman. >> thank you, sir.