and education? >> i mean, there couldn't be a closer connection. that's -- let's be real. in 1948 when ldf, when the thurgood marshall, shelley versus kramer, a case involving racial restrictive covenants, i always read washington's letters a lot and they got all these congratulatory letters saying this is a wonderful and it was a much work into the cases and one of the cases was st. louis and he said yes, this is so important and, what right now i've got, and headed back down to texas to deal with this university of texas law school case, swept versus painter which was over the site in 1950s. ..

university of maryland law school, where i taught 20 years. and so, now what was happening in but if we're honest with each other, we know the relationship between housing and education. if we somehow same segregation we would've solved education segregation because the two go hand-in-hand. not quite as much as they're an entirely different infrastructure about to be

creative but certainly the connection between the two is very obvious and saw the questions we ask about desegregation, mixed income neighborhoods, all of that relates directly to it happens in our public education system because that will decide who the children are and its related directly to the choices available. this goes back to what communities do it well. so i went to school in new york city, thank you civil rights act of 1964. so i was fast to school and after you are young on the school bus, you had to take public transportation and you could do the school across town and get there at 7:30 in the morning. the ability for the brief shining. with a focus in new york escort to gratian aided by an

infrastructure that move kids around, the older kids. so all of these things are connected and kind of why the moment is so right for returning to the issue of housing segregation because if you begin really getting serious both racially and income integration, you are necessarily talking about integrating public school. >> okay. let's go to a question here. >> my name is janine and i am here representing the boston office of fair housing and equity and i want to thank you for your comments in explicitly connecting structural and institutional racism when we are all here today. i have two brief questions. if you could speak to how we could use the rule on the issue

of transportation. one of the things are communities in boston ask if that's neighborhoods that have historically been this invested in experience more investment in market rates go up in terms of the cost of housing and people are being priced out of their neighborhoods. how can we help folks? i have a public health background and i have the health and well-being with initiatives almost 90% of boston housing has led pain. can you speak to the responsibility or opportunities for federal agencies to connect fair housing issues and health issues. i see how can we connect all of these issues as all the same. >> so i am no agency whisperer so i don't really know how you

were together more efficiently with agencies come up at those are excellent question and taking a stab at the second one, i really do think drawing these connections are absolutely imperative and one of the things that was most revealing and illuminating about the thompson versus hard case with some of the expert testimony we begin to develop around the public health implications for children living in highly distressed communities. and what it was doing to them and is doing to them mentally and even more disturbingly, the more recent evidence that it becomes genetic, that it becomes passed on. we have children living in communities of such grave distress that it is a fact demand in ways that we can even begin to quantify.

to the extent we talk about what happens in the school and we're not talking about what happens on the walk to school and what the child has seen on the walk to school in the walk home or even in the school and the community in which they live, what they've seen in the housing project is having a conversation where we are just talking in our own eco-chamber. one of the things i love and live in thinking about ways to amplify said that the expert testimony developed around the health consequences of intense segregation and these insular and deeply distressed communities and they need to kind of relief about within these communities. so for me, a lot of looking not a situation with freddie gray is about that. it is -- the lead issue is an

important one. we know everything there is we need to know. we know how it affects kids and rather than see this as a litigation matter, he needs to be again is a critically important public health matter that has to be dealt with. this goes to the issue of oil and investment, decided i used to be involved in tobacco companies for a while. and then it became a decision about what would happen around to figure it. it really is about policy and as i said in the prior answer that you would need because some of it is about what we make you do, which is our own act to visit and to gather allies and elevate issues with elected officials and other leaders.

the other is the will of those in agency position to see the connection to figure out how you break through the silos between different agencies to holistically look. i know you have a number of interagency groups doing that. i know you do that around baltimore. i really encourage that. it is important to bring actors to the table and figure out how those connections have been. >> let me address the gentrification part of your question. i am all in favor of gentrification provided it is part of a social engineering, otherwise called urban planning scheme in which a metropolitan area ensures every community has a mixture of income, low income families. the problem with gentrification is the practice today in many places is the low income

families who are displaced for middle income families move into a previously dominican neighborhood just relocate to a new segregated community because housing is not open throughout the metropolitan area. if we have urban planning which insured not only we gentrified previously low-income communities at the residence then had opportunities to move to other middle income communities, we would have areas that were systematically integrated by race and income. the problem it seems to me it's not the fact the middle income families move into neighborhoods. those neighborhoods are not preserving some proportion of housing for low and moderate income families and the stooges displaced are not able to move to otherwise integrated and middle-income communities. as they sat in the introduction i wrote a paper called the

making of ferguson. that is an almost all-black community and very heavily low income. the city of st. louis engaged in massive urban renewal. demolish the towers i talked about earlier. they raised previously all-black and lower income neighborhoods to build the gateway arch and universities and highway interchanges to bring people to downtown businesses in the urban center of st. louis and the only communities that would accept the place were inner ring suburbs like ferguson. if those families who are displaced were given opportunities throughout the metropolitan area, we would have a different kind of st. louis and would become in st. louis. they would preserve low and moderate income housing is we gentrified.

>> we have time for one roof response from our panel. and actually she just asked my question. we've talked throughout the morning about the black way paradigm of segregation we should continue to educate on the history but i'm curious as to your point and we see gentrification and latino communities of chicago. how does the interplay of now we have latinos, mexican americans, puerto ricans being displaced. how does that complexity change the framework of how we implement policy makers for the fair housing in the current context? >> in some ways it doesn't change it and i always was and

would talk about immigration. we didn't mean the black-white binary. your point is really well taken and for the sake all tomorrow which is an interesting example because it has the new latino population and an opportunity to create integrated housing in that community when it's not a tradition of where the team has lived in the eastside and south words. what i have seen across the board is attention to understanding what that means and i'm concerned because i see the separation between the latino and african-american communities that does not have to be because it's not like a long tradition of that in baltimore. there isn't the kind of affirmative attention to precisely what you're asking like how do we fall back into the mix of the conversation we've been having a baltimore about integration across the

black-white divide and how to bring that instantly don't create another problem but in that an opportunity to create a sophisticated dynamic in the city. i don't hear almost any indication and that's part of every community, every municipality are all thinking politically. so they've got that on their mind. but they are not thinking about it as far as i've seen in the context of how you deal with this as a matter of integrated housing. i hear them talking about what it might mean for both but i don't hear what it may mean for the whole set of issues we were talking about today. we have to force the conversation because i think it is a setup to just kind of re-create the same divisions in the past that doesn't have to be in communities that don't have the tradition and where there are long-standing latino

communities that are more obvious that should be the obligation. it becomes part of hazardous on its ability to push that. when you come forward with the plan, there have to be a million questions about this population and how you will deal while this population is latino. all down to the minute level has to be asked at the agency level to compel jurisdictions to pay attention to it. >> thank you. i think our panelists have made it clear that they want to address the various forms of inequality in our society, police brutality and other issues, we've got to tackle the residential segregation and we've got to do it in the array of issues of transportation and education better off wrapped up together.

we need to elevate and maybe we can continue the conversation if it doesn't party exists. we need to start hash check segregation matters. this has been a wonderful conversation. thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> of things wrapped up here, a reminder you can watch this are many times in its entirety. go to our video library, c-span.org. taking you live to another discussion here and c-span2. the center for strategic and international studies will host a discussion on the military relationship between china and russia, looking at the impact of russia's contribution to china's surface warfare capabilities live at 2:00 eastern time. all this week, "washington journal" here is c-span2.

>> when i was in college i was in a good student. the latter part is interested in working. i learned one thing about the critical path and i ended up loving buildings all over our country and we start with something like this and you build it out is the critical path and what i've seen press secretary do and a tremendous

warrant and he talks about it often. but you've actually died in these negotiations is codify a perfectly aligned pathway to get a nuclear weapon by abiding by this agreement. i look at the things they need to do the way it is laid out and i don't think you could more perfectly laid out. from my live, mr. secretary, i am sorry. not unlike a hotel guest with a hotel bathrobe on its back -- [inaudible]

>> next time a birmingham civil rights institute hosted a panel of high school and college students in june to discuss their thoughts and experiences with odin and the democratic process. barry mcfeely with the institute youth leadership program of the discussion on issues that matter most to young people and what motivations and dennis were to help 18th and 20 somethings politically engaged. this is an hour and 50 minutes. >> good evening everyone. i'll be coordinated at the civil rights institute on behalf of our president and ceo priscilla kok cooper and we would like to cordially welcome you all to our presentation, our voting rights theory and tonight we will be

discussing white youth vote matters. as the average coordinator, one of my responsibilities is to go wild and tell students about the history we display here at the birmingham civil rights in two. i can think as you know what important component of our history that in the area of voting from the beginning of this country when it was a cornerstone discussion and then with deciding of the 1965 act in this country's action and mobility. tonight we will discuss a key component of that and that is the youth involvement in voting. i am sure you all watch the news daily. the tragedy experienced yesterday in south carolina and hearts and thoughts go out to

the family and the church as well as community in charleston, south harold miner. it is a stark reminder of how important it is to participate in our government and no better way than that of voting. tonight we are going to turn the program over to someone who is not only a member of our family here at the birmingham's the right to do, but among who is a friend of mine. mr. barry mcneely will be your for discussion tonight. mr. mcneely is a graduate of miles college. one of the things i'm sure he's more proud of his being a graduate of the institution in which is an educator. it is this country's oldest and at one point the largest high school in the world.

mr. mcneely served here is education assistant as well as outreach programs which is what i do now. he didn't want me to read his bio. he told me that you know me, so just talk about me. mr. mcneely -- i guess the best way to describe and as an encyclopedia of history here in birmingham. i can think of no other person to lead this discussion. also the program coordinator with the program in which we are proud of here at the birmingham civil rights institute and a program we treat given on how to represent institution inside the stores but outside the stores. without further ado, i would like to turn the program over to mr. barry mcneely.

[applause] >> thank you, sam. i asked them not to read off my bio because you have a long bio when you get off. so with that, just keep it brief. this evening i will dovetail on something in terms of what to place last night in our nation and with that in mind i would like to ask us to have a moment of silence. thank you. this evening we are talking

about voting rights and in terms of talking about voting rights, i thought it would be fitting if we took a step back before we took a step ahead and look at how we got to where we are today in this democracy. when we started this country after the revolutionary war, voting was a privilege and in fact, a strong bane of this story that we tell is the history of the united state is the idea that the expansion of the vote. when we first began in this country, less than a quarter of its citizens could legally vote. there were barriers in terms of religion, barriers in terms of

wealth, barriers associated with property ownership. as we move forward, we try to get rid of some of the barriers and increase the idea of voting. you have to ask yourself, if we are democracy, why in the world is very barrier to voting? you have to go back a little bit further. you have to go back to aristotle and you have to go back to the romans and the greeks and when we look at their understanding of government, aristotle taught us there were three forms of government. this government by one and government by a few and then there was government by many. probably the idea of many was

frowned upon. in fact, aristotle brings this to s. to give us a corrupt form. there is a single form in pure nature would have been marking. one person and a corrupted form of the single government would have been unfeigned we still deal with today. tyrants, dictators. we had a few other aristotle. you have what we call the aristocracy. this is government by those people consider to be the best among us, the leading citizen. that getting to the idea of democracy, government by many

was frowned upon. most people felt many would subjugate if you and let's be honest about it. it is all about power, all about position and if you felt that in many would use their political power to take away 15 they can get. and so, you have barriers that don't allow native americans to vote freely in this country until 1924. you have carriers that don't allow women to vote until the passage of the 19th amendment. you have barriers that don't allow african-americans to vote. you have barriers that don't allow many different people to vote because of the idea of power. when we talk about power we think about fredrick douglass is

that power can be nothing absent of this struggle. and never has and it never will. many struggles that brought us to where we are tonight. tonight to talk about their perception and where we take this in the future we have four outstanding young people here. sitting here, we have jerry. jerry is a rising senior at the university of alabama at earning him. he is majoring in public health. jerry is about to uab in different organizations.

.. a primary election. next to jaris we have michael. michael riggs, is currently a senior at hoover high school in birmingham, alabama.

that is her fifth song. ♪ [laughter] she sis a senior at hoover high school in birmingham, alabama. where she is a member of the finance academy and 2016 candidate for international baccalaureate diploma. mica has served her high school as an ambassador as well as legacy student. and at the birmingham civil rights institute and member about peace birmingham. that is acronym. people engaged in a cultural exchange. although she has done that, she has also been selected by alabama public television from a pool of applicants to serve as a

student journalist for project c, lessons from the civil rights movement. and electronic field trip service. as a journalist she has the opportunity to interview cheyenne wells, senator hank sanders, and representative john lewis among others. she is the winner of the 2015 mcdonald's celebration of creativity in the community art contest. she is a delegate for the 2015 social justice leadership program, anytime, alabama, and is an art intern for the chance project and also serves on the 2015-2016 ace in alabama youth counsel. will be a first time voter in 2016.

sitting next to mica, is jordan. jordan croft is 23 years old. a civil rights enthusiast, and graduate of the legacy youth leadership program class of 2009. jordan returns to the institute to support the legacy program and provide the government and performance skills for bci events. jordan's first voting experience was on the local level in 2010. last but certainly not the least, we have the dakari wells. he is a 16-year-old rising high school senior. he is a drummer, a guitarist and a music producer from birmingham. he is also a participant in the legacy youth leadership program here at the birmingham civil rights institute. he is cofounder of stop sarc,

which is sarcodosis awareness rand support group. al became state, former drummer for the birmingham homeschool band. current drummer for christ missionary baptist church. and a participant in the after freedom event here at the birmingham civil rights institute on june 27th. he is excited to say that he will be eligible to vote in the 2016 presidential election. now, with that being said i'd like to hear from these four young people. i know you're ready to hear from them. we'll toss out our first question of the evening and i will start in the order that we introduced and jared, will you

respond to the idea. do you think that the youth of today are concerned with political issues, or do they see it as old peoples, like me, do they see it as old peoples problems? >> i think it's a good mix of both because i think just from people from my generation that i go to college with at uab it is a bit of both because a lot of them see problems going on what like happened in charlotte yesterday, some issues need to be taken a stand on, there is some in that generation that don't take politics or voting as serious as they should because they simply don't think, oh, it is not going to affect us, this has no meaning on my life in the actual scheme of things, it really could in the long run. >> i think that it is like, he

said, it is a mix of the two. that some issues that pertain to certain people, they find important and others they don't. i also think that the answer is based on the person's education, may be surroundings. their surroundings may not push voting and may not see it as an important issue either. so i think it depends on that. but i think a lot of people don't understand that a lot of people may think their voices don't matter and their one vote won't affect what is going around. i think education is a big part. if people are taught that their votes matter they will start voting. >> i believe that the youth of today do see it as political issue that they are concerned with. mostly because the youth of today, especially around my age and graduating seniors in high

school, they see the issues that are happening today as something that will affect them as they're entering into college or college students, seeing issues that is something that is going to affect their lives. politically, economically, as they graduate. >> well, i agree with the other two -- what was said here. it is kind of mixed in when we talk about young people really care about political issues now. i think one of the reasons that some, some young people don't really care about the political issues is because, you don't have that many people that are on big platforms like celebrities, really talking about political issues, really talking about how the youth need to get out and vote, and how they need to make a difference. how much of their difference it will make if young people voted. >> you know, looking at those

answers, it reminds me of dr. martin luther king talking about voting. he said that in the south, i'm paraphrasing, african-americans can't vote. in and in the north african-americans have nothing with which to vote for. and using that idea to enhance this question, what do you think would spur young people to vote? what issues do you think politicians are not addressing that might bring a groundswell or a grassroots movement of young people to the polls? and i'm going to leave that for either one of you. >> i think that a few of the

issues that youth are concerned with today that would bring more youth to the polls, definitely the education system as far as student loans are concerned. the amount of money that students and their parents are having to put out for an education in the united states. whether or not they're able to afford it or not. if it was talked about more in congress and amongst our representatives as far as what changes can be made, what policies can we put to a vote, to try to lighten that load for students and not only student loans but the lb "gq" community -- lgbtq community. especially among students that live these life-styles and understand each other but aren't understood by the society that they live in.

>> i think to piggyback off of what george just said, a lot to deal with and realizing what is at stake and what impact you could have. i think if politicians make for the youth, more relatable about these topics as lgbtq community, if you make that topic more relatable to the youth, they will be more encouraged to vote and push for advocatecation of certain issues that go on in the nation today, with different topics that primarily the youth are involved with such as student loans for one. and by doing that, you might be able to reach out to the more, and the youth would feel more intrigued, hey, this is something i can have impact on if i'm encouraged to vote by this politician. >> recently, and you all help me, when the candidates started

lining up to announce their intentions for the 2016 race, we had a hip-hop artist, is it waka-floka did i say it right? >> that's him. >> well, from what i understand, he had a cost constitutional impediment to his campaign because he wasn't old enough. but, in the same idea, not every office is the office of senator or president and you don't have to be 35. what do you think would encourage more young people to step up and be political candidates? >> i think the knowledge of

community positions. as far as local level of voting especially voting for state representatives, a lot of the times, and i heard this from other students who have voted, they see candidates who are running who have their signs in the neighborhoods. they go to the voting polls expecting to vote for one of those. and once they're done voting for them they see a list of other positions of people who are running, and they had no information on who those people are, what that position is for, what it does. so i think if they knew that there were other positions out there other than just the governorship or representative member, or the president, that needs attention especially within the communities, that they can run for, and not only just running for those positions to make a difference, those positions can lead to higher positions. those positions can lead to more

experience, more credit towards whatever campaign they lead in the future, if they want to pursue further on higher into the, into government. the. >> have you gotten politically inclined? >> not politically inclined. i think there is a lot, to say knowledge of these positions, like how much support would i receive if i were to go for this position? would all my friend support me if i decide to run for this position in my city, or how would my family think about it. i think that has a lot to do with support and also, what changes will you need to make, what will you try to make what position of power you're in? what will you try to do so that position? there is a lot of uncertainty in society being able to do those things and if you were able to get a position and how you would be able to handle it, considering you may not have as

much experience doing it and don't want to lead people in the wrong direction. >> all right. i asked the idea of inclination in terms of politics because i look at these resume's that we have here about you all and everything here says to me, leader. but jared, you just mentioned an important thing, support. we talk about about student loans. we have a question about lgbt community. what other things do you think support for the young candidate.

and also grassroots support for that candidate? >> black lives matter movement, issue that we have with racism in this country hasn't been solved over the years. it has been kind of a stepped in and swept under the rug but it is not being addressed on the local level or, how people perceive the issues. and, i think a lot of people feel that being an african-american running for office, you have an automatic disadvantage and that can get a lot of people off from getting involved in politics or wanting to be involved in just the limelight, celebrity that comes with people recognizing you, people seeing you out on, out on the voting trail and trying to make a difference in your communities and i feel like it

is harder when african-americans do feel like they're going to be discriminated against or not going to get a fair chance, getting to these positions where they can two -- go to representative positions or mayorship. the issue as far as black lives matter, people wanting to make a difference, wanting to change ideas of racism or how black people are perceived in this country would definitely be one of those grassroots movements that would spur more african-americans to vote. to be more involved in politics. to want to run for government positions as well. >> two of you are currently high school students. two of you are currently college

students. one of the things that is going to be an issue in the 2016 campaign. the idea of common core and development of curriculum in the united states of america. as students currently, do you feel as if, because we talked about being able to afford to go to school but let's walk back a little bit and talk about what we actually learned when we get there. do you feel as if curriculum or academic stance of this country will interest you or potentially others? >> i would like to think so because academically, i think a lot of us want to have families and children. we want them to develop and go to school and i heard a quote from michael jordan, you can be

good at something in one generation and be different in another. the educational level that was, say back in the '90s is different from what it is now. so with that idea in mind what you may think is the right way may not be best way of doing it say in the future. after things like technology because a lot of kids right now are using computers as a different way of doing things. so i think academically wise, common core may be something that will be spurred on by different communities in different organizations, something as stepping stone into the future to bring in the future today. something that we'll stick around that, that we have to deal with. go around. whether a lot of people will be receptive to that because a lot of people don't like change. >> as we look at change, let's change our query. let's move to our second

question of the evening that that we have prepared. what are some of the reasons for the lack of participation in state and local elections by youth? >> i think a lot has to do with the lack of education that is being given towards the youth in today's society. not the issue of voting but why you feel like, if i can't vote right now there is no need to pay attention to what is going on in our nation. i think you see a lot of big issues go on nowadays, say, back when i was seven or eight, 9/11 happened. that was a big issue. one of the few times i paid attention to the news because i was young and didn't realize how impact of that incident would still carry on to this day.

there is a lot to do with education and being informed what is going on. to be a to go in and vote if i vote for certain thing it will have no impact here because there is nothing going on or won't have impact in the community. they see how their community is set up. it may not have impact what is going on. but it could affect the whole state and let's say get a job somewhere different part of the state and something i didn't look at or comes before, won't say haunt me, affects where i couldn't get something. it will have a impact. >> i have to agree that a reason for lack of participation is lack of education. people like me, i will be a new voter in 2016, a lot of people might not know how to register to vote. where to go to register to vote.

where voting places are. they don't understand why they need to vote in the first place or with they're voting for. may not understand the laws they're voting for or people they're voting for. once people start getting educated it will motivate people to go to start the process of voting. >> when do you think good time in terms of age to pay attention to poll i ticks? >> i don't think there is an age, like a specific starting age. i know, i think in school, i think in middle school, school should start start making it more adamant for students to pay attention. to start teaching them about the history of the voting.

and how to vote, those sort of things. personally in school i never received education why vote something important or how to do it or outside of school. i had parents that supported me and got me involved with different organizations that stressed the importance of voting. so i don't really think there is an age, but definitely in school or like middle school or elementary school. >> i was talking to a coworker yesterday. he was talking about the idea that barack obama could just come and speak, whoever he wanted to be the next president he could support that person and that person would get elected. and. i was trying to get over the idea that, people develop a certain passion for national candidates.

they tend to lose the passion when it comes to local candidates. the smaller elections, i guess i call them smaller, so much of whoever sits in the oval office is dependent upon who wins down ticket elections. how do we spur people to be interested in something that doesn't sound so glamorous, like comptroller or city council or state board of education, or city board of education? how do we get people interested in the house of representatives and senatorial elections? how do you get to young people to think those elections are just as important as the election for president or say

governor? >> i would say, televise it more. as far as the presidency goes, the president presidentdential elections get recognition year-round. country always talks about the president. he is leader of our country. that is how he is constantly. we should always talk about. at same time we don't talk about our state level representatives, the one who is will have to read over those bills that the president proposes. how to make decisions on which policies athey approve of and which ones they don't. we don't really see them as much in the media. and the united states definitely has, kind of like you said, a glamorous review of the presidency. we don't pay much attention to the real changes.

ones working closer to us, the ones in our communities who will present these issues to the president. so we come up with ideas so that cabinet members will be able to come up with ideas to be presented to congress and our representatives for them to vote on. if we don't televise and show where those elections are going, especially in the areas involved, then, involving in that specific representatives's state, then especially youth vote we miss out on it. we miss out on what their campaign is all about. not just the first two bulletins of what they're trying to propose or put forward but, there is an entire platform there that we're missing. because it is not being televised as much. because it is not, as noticeable as the presidential race. like now, which have news

reports, commercial, constantly about the presidential raise for 2016. when it comes time for house of representatives, or the governors to be elected, we don't think, we don't, advertise or show as much. we show like little tidbits here and there. but, our news crews don't really go in depth on what their campaigns are. we have a few smear campaigns here and there. we don't have too many, we don't have too much real knowledge what their running basis is and it is not being presented to the public as much. that is what i feel is causing much of the reason why youth don't know who to vote for on the public, on the lower levels, state levels and local levels. >> this is a to step on somebody's toes question.

that is the scarlet warning. since we're talking about getting young people involved in local and state elections, do you feel that we as adults are a good example to model the civic process? are we showing what we want young people to do or are we saying what we want young people to do and are not really doing it? >> i think that question has a lot to the do with personal experiences. i can see my mom, she has gone to the presidential inauguration. my dad also encouraged me and my brother to go. so i think that is a lot to deal with the educational level and

awareness of the parents or being involved in that case. it may not be the fact that they may -- they may know about voting but may not push that issue on their children to go vote because of how, you know, conversation about voting is. it may have, it is a personal preference and answer but i can't necessarily say it is because the parents aren't models. some could be good models bit, or encourage them and talk about what is going on in the world today or they may not. so has a lot to do with that. >> i'm going to backtrack a little bit on what i said. you do have family members and people in your community who are very incense knowing who your candidates are. knowing who is running. i know in birmingham being

around just the older crowd and being in the neighborhood, especially my grandparents, you will constantly hear them talk about these different leaders on city level, what their plans are, what they are trying to do and not so much are they talking to me about it, but they're talking to each other about how they feel about this candidate or how they feel about the current mayor or the old mayor or who is running for mayor next. the policies that they're going for, how they feel about them. so, i feel like the parents, for the most part, there is an element where they are talking about it but talking about it, amongst themselves, bouncing ideas back and forth, like society should. as far as the youth listening to that, as far as those conversations being directed to the youth i don't know, but i

definitely hear where the adults are really concerned with things on the, on local level. and i think that is because of age and you know that being in society you do have to pay attention to those things. you do have to pay more attention to who is working for you or against you on the local level. and i think that's why adults are more interested in what is happening on local level, while youth are just more focused on who the next president is going to be. and, if they're going to solve this specific problem or that specific problem. . .

this is not about patent, which is the voting rights act and in the birmingham area and in his lifetime one of the things wc tot didn't advocate the idea of researching candidate in finding out who they were and voting accordingly. today when we talk about debussy patton, we talk about someone working in this day in the 1940s. today, researching candidates

has a different feel to it without social media, the things you have at your disposal, was her qualifications of candidates would you be looking for if you were to research and what would you be looking for? >> i would want to see they are at it and caring about what people are saying it as i can tell you right now people make to eat a certain candidate and say something that is not only not good to say out loud, but let's say i have a serious question. i know a couple weeks ago obama did ask the president something about the chicago bulls. that is not something serious, but something that shows he cares and it has been serious

questions what i want to see you've taken time to answer question about certain things. so just being caring and the in-between sale get 3030 minute minute -- 30 minutes. just saying they are involved in their community and not doing positive things and not just minding their own business. they are trying to help other people. >> i would say -- i would research the cause of the support. what organizations do their work are they destroying natural resources. are they misusing taxpayer dollars.

they are supporting and promoting. and if that lines up with campaigns. and helpful to the community or something for a select few people are helping the far right for the far left. knowing where your candidate stands because generic democratic candidate one or two issues can stand on it and at that point that is where you make your decision. you support them regardless of this? or do you feel completely different about their entire campaign? just knowing the organizations they help with, organizations they sponsor, who they

represent, who represents them when they go out on the campaign trail, who is sponsoring them and promoting them. and are they going to in effect go back with open hands to them and support their cause in what causes. >> for me, it would have to be consistent. if i was a candidate and they have multiple multiple times throughout their career, i'm going to have a trust issue with that candidate. if they have switched up their campaign agenda, and what they believe in. so my times over the past career i will not have trust in that exact candidate. >> when you say that, you call to mind the concept of can i

take this person seriously. or they say anything to get elected. the president has been criticized for going on internet taste shows, between two ferns. and those are different things that don't seem to be quote, unquote presidential. do you think -- do you think the office of president or as a young person and you feel like this is the future of politics?

>> i think it is the president making it where you can kind of relate a little bit more and things of a regular man, a regular person that can relate to. i think it is a better thing. >> do you think go in on the late show with david letterman and things like that, do you think the president should be doing that? should the politician do those things or should those things be left to entertainers and people who are less serious? >> i agree. i think it's more relatable. it can be a line that shouldn't be caught. the non-social media can make a

relatable to the younger audience. but if he does in the right way i guess. >> when they piggyback on what michael just said. it's a double-edged sword. it could be beneficial to you, but at the same time it could hurt you. late-night shows that certain questions and that could answer in a controversial way and get you your campaign. get through that perspective you think okay, what would be most beneficial to me and what has the greatest impact because some event may not be as beneficial to u.s. others, so you take opportunity costs. you can make more of an impact and that more positive light whereas you know how that goes

and they can turn against you. >> earlier i talked about political inclination and one of the things that people deal with is that today's 24 hour news cycle and the idea that these things are everywhere, we rarely have a private moment now days. do you think that is something that would cause people to shy away from running for office if anyone fails the intense scrutiny. >> i would think so.

if you've got her -- if you have ever seen barack obama on different talk shows or on twitter, people come up with some questions. relevant questions, completely irrelevant questions that question has already, all sorts of things. feedback can be intimidating, knowing that people are out there to try to discredit you or try to harm your campaign. so i think that definitely could be an element of it. i wouldn't say that it should deter you from it because if you have a valid campaign, what is to worry about, really? see that well, one thing is the idea of putting one's in one's mouth and holding it there for almost half of the country are

takers and the other half are makers and they are taken and viewed very aptly. and we might take offense as for a phrase or something there and come back and beat you crazy with it or is that something that is young people, in my view i look at idealists. when we are young, we have a way of focusing on an idealistic thing. you talked about the negative campaigns and ads and things like that earlier. are you disappointed in the

level of our discussion when we choose our leaders. >> yes and no. [laughter] >> i'm about to put my foot in my mouth. i would say yes and no on that issue because -- how can i explain it? >> are u.s. young people, i mean, you guys are voting for the very first time. when you see the way that

campaign can go extremely negative, they also divorce themselves from the truth. as portentous democracy is to assess people, does that disappoint you? and does that turn you off from the political process? >> i would say yes and no for the simple fact that it does disappoint me because you have issues where candidates -- if i am looking for a candidate and i see one that i want to support and they take one of those things and what they said was taken out of context or just something that they said was used to repeatedly go after the candidate. i would be upset about it and i would be worried that one thing could really harm their

campaign. at the same time i say no because they need the challenge. they made to be a little setback to the platform they have created, the platform they presented to the public. if you make a statement on a certain ratio and someone comes back in challenges he wanted and says something that you may have slipped up on in your campaign come you have to be able to come back and present yourself the right way, how you intended for it to be or explain yourself as far as -- you have to be able to stand by your words a sickly. if you say something, you have to be able to explain it. you have to be able to stand firm by it. i say we should have that debate. we should have that sort of a

media where people are able to challenge and speak up and say things on certain issues and especially what our politicians say. >> i agree with what he is saying, but also for new voters it can be confusing because you are still trying to figure out what you want in a candidate in wake what values he support. so when they go back and forth and you have a smearing campaign, it is hard to determine whether they tell the truth or not and it's hard to differentiate the two. it could be a turnoff because you kind of want to separate yourself because it is so hard to tell what is what do you just don't even want to vote for either. i think it can go both ways. >> with that in mind and also what you said a moment ago about

somebody switching positions, as human beings, we hopefully encountered new information in this expands our thought process. but there is in fact a double-edged sword. barack obama when he was first voted, didn't support marriage marriage -- homosexual marriage. and then barack obama said -- he called. but then you have other people who would take his evolution and use it as a flip-flopping. you have one candidate that they

said he supported the war in iraq and then he changed. you are for it and now you are against it. my question with that is where is the room for intelligent alternative characterization and word which although mine say this is a person who might just say and it means that they will get elected. >> well, this kind of fade over time, if you kind of change positions and not that much amount of time, i am not going to really trust it. i am probably too think you're a flip-flopping and china do

things -- that you are trying to fit in to get the vote. but if it is kind of more everything that is gradual, that is more of a thing that you've graduated from this type of thinking to another type of thinking, i might believe you if you evolve like i said. >> pretty much agree. the >> agreed. >> i'm really impressed with the idea they are. i really like the ant there that people can do things spur of the moment that the idea of time is very important. speaking of time, earlier with the impromptu history lesson i understand you all did high school history and you don't want to do it anymore.

so i didn't want to go down that road, but we talked about the evolution of the vote. and i stopped with the 19th amendment. i didn't get to the 26th amendment. when you start this discussion bringing young people to the table and encouraging young people, one of the reasons things don't get done in terms of young people is young people can't vote. if you're a politician with an interest group in front of them, usually the politicians will deal with that particular issue. up until the 26th amendment, one had to be 21 years of age in this country to vote.

now it is 18. so as we begin to look at that, what issues -- we have heard it discussed and we could expand upon us if you like. but we discussed common core and curriculum. we discussed algie bt community. our next question brings us to the idea once again, what particular thing i would like you to do if you can is to give one game that would drive you to the poor. if you nail this person was flip-flopping, if this person on social media was on point and we

researched them and follow them, what one thing would you be able to latch onto to make your decision between candidate and a and candidate b. that one thing has a lot of times we don't do such a good job. we asked a question and then we get silence. the brain takes a moment. so take a second. i think the bigger problem as when you respond to questions without thinking. so this is a good example we have in front of us.

[inaudible] >> you are asking us what would make us choose between candidatea and candidate b. >> you have two candidates that are pretty similar in terms of their back around, experience. i am staying away from party here. in fact, let's say this is a primary. what word push you to pick a candidate a over candidate need

to be the person who is going get the nomination and run for that office? >> i say besides their values kind of aligning with mine, i guess making sure that they are not just talking and that their actions back up what they are saying and they have a history of doing so. so i guess that that was the difference between the two, i would take that one over the other. >> action match words. a particular issue or a particular thing about somebody that would make you pick that person over the other person who is trying to get that nomination.

what about no homework for a year? i am by no homework candidate. i am being facetious, but when we look at our elections, we give every governor in the history of alabama and i suspect probably in all 50 states, but everybody their friends for governor is always the education governor. every four years. what would you -- what would you suggest to get that person from throwing out a cliché like

education and say some mean to you to speak to you as a voter. >> i would say this stance on racial equality economically, how they stand and present themselves, like where they stand on the issue would probably be that one deciding factor. but honestly, i don't think it would be just one deciding factor. for me, if i am looking for candidates, especially in the same party and i see the campaign for the most part is equally good and only one that has one thing i'd like, i would

still be hesitant to go with that candidate because i know when they do get the presidency, it is not a guarantee that they will deal to go through with that plan. there is no guarantee that will be one of the things they can for sure get past and one of the things they can connect their campaign or off vista doing. whether they are running on that comp.and when they get the office they have to focus more on other issues. that is where my mind goes. i am always thinking two steps down the line. are they going to be a lipstick to that msr is definitely with governorship and presidency, you can never be to search and if they are going to be a lot of focus on the civic issues you voted for. they may have to focus more on taxpayers or more on education,

but there is no guarantee they will focus directly and on racial tensions as far as economics go. whether everyone is treated fairly and paid equally. not just racially, but gender equality as well. so i guess racial equality would be one thing. but honestly i can't say one solid and would make me go back or right. >> okay. well, 18 gender and racial equality, we can walk into our next question. our next question deals with the idea of the voting rights act, that we are 50 years since this

has been signed and there are a lot of questions we could ask around that, but i will stick to the end just say in terms of the voting rights act and in terms of racial equality, how do you as a young person feel you have been impactedby diverting rights act. >> i think back in 2012 and stephen maye boulter is things because i won't depend on one group of people to make a decision. i think people around us can have this together. i felt that sense of pride in my country that this is something i have a right to do and i just added my first time.

and then what we have gone through just something like that. >> with the voting rights act, besides the obvious if you mean the right to vote. i think there are positive things. i do understand the value of my vote and i am thankful for it. i think not just in terms of how it impacted myself, i think since it became so accessible for so many different people, people kind of diminished the value of voting from it i guess. we have the right to vote, but not everyone utilizing it. so it kind it is a downturn of it i guess.

>> that is interesting. and just to redirect a little bit, if you felt -- you seem to think if people felt their right to vote was threatened, they might take it more seriously? do you seem to think that? >> i don't think it needs to be threatened, but they need to understand how it is because of people didn't have the right they understood how important it was to gain it. now that we kind of lost the understanding of why it's, we need to get that back and teach younger people why it's important i might still valuable. >> well, with that, you guys have been a panel, but now i would like to open this up in terms of the people, to the

many. so i would like to introduce you all to kendall hsu and she has the lady at the mike. i should also say she is the lady that has worked tirelessly to arrange everything you are looking at this afternoon. we are all talking mad. -- talking head. questions, concerns, comments. kendall will come to you. >> good evening. my first election in 1978 walked to the poster registered 1977.

the president had just got elected. what challenges do you have in young people now into the pole and claiming a political process at your age now. >> i don't think there is too much of anything keeping us from getting to the polls. i know in birmingham are local elementary schools use voting facilities. local churches, community centers. you have a lot of places all throughout the community that you can go to to place your vote. they are designed for the most part to be for everyone. for me, from where i live it

would be a three or four block walk to be able to so. so it is really not so much anything restraining us physically from getting to these places if we are willing to get up and go to them, but more so our stance or whether we feel we should or want to vote. >> all elections -- what you think as of now, what is causing you ought to be so upset? >> i think we don't realize what is at stake because there are issues that will affect us. if we don't realize what effect this will happen, when it gets to the it gets a good time with

the issue affects us, it may be too late to try and go for the change for assert an issue because that time has passed and we may not open up the issue again to where we have another problem and i can't say what the problems will be down the road, but the fact is if we were to handle it now and encouraging people, and they may be able to solve the issue before it comes a bigger one that this is a problem we need to solve before it gets out of hand. >> these two teenagers. be well announced in the electoral process with the volunteers on different campaign , is there anything you would do in the future that will put you in someone's campaign

office since we have -- [inaudible] >> community service. >> we talked a lot about education. [inaudible] >> well, i think mr. mac side and my introduction, i am a journalist for alabama public television and so the project that i worked on last season was the voting rights act embarrassed like a classroom and we went around doing to osama,

montgomery, different faces and a few different people and try to raise awareness for voting and where we've been in the past and where we should be in the future in showing people the importance of it. little things like bad to try and raise awareness for voting. >> well, i haven't done as much as i should have. the opportunities that join, was a way for me to accept that were, help more people my age and learning that it is really, really important for our government for people to vote.

will they have people voting in this country the way it is really doesn't work out well. you have people left out, -- [inaudible] >> i have to interject. i was going to try not to. they are being bashful, but it is because these four students are doing. i had to find them and stop them for what their activities and actions in planning for their future and communities future and the car he been one of the youngest on this panel and not knowing it was whoever came up to me one day and said i want to be a part of this. i might not be able to put in two words because these are hands on you and i think you will see that in this generation and they are actually doing a

lot of the work. next question. >> i want to commend the panel. you are all very intelligent. [applause] i have sat here entertained in your interesting and even my house and is interesting and intelligent, too. my question to you is in your future you are going to do some great things and thinking about your future, thinking about your future, do we see any of you thinking about politics and if so, what we should be interested in.

>> i'm strange on the issue because i love history but i can't stand politics. and it's kind of funny because most of the things i worry about our politics. i don't see myself running for any position. i was talking about racial equality, gender equality, helping people understand the facts of life on the issues. so people can understand the other side, where people, from when black people say we want equal rights, where we come from when we say we are tired of being gunned down by police officers.

we are tired of being looked over by jobs. those are social and cultural issues, but they are not going to be solved unless they are presented in a political stance. so i kind of just see myself at this moment trying to help educate, trying to help show people what the issues are, why it's a problem for so many people and create something to make a difference. but as far as a political office, i don't know. >> i can't foresee myself graduating next spring -- with me being a public health major, i definitely would like to see a change in how --

[inaudible] if i could position because in high school i want to do something for communications and i find myself majored in public health and to do something about that. >> i agree with jordan. i like to educate dialect of conversations and talk about police brutality and the sort of things. i want to go into the sciences. i want to a wildlife researcher. kind of on the opposite end. >> politics may be later on in my file decide to do that. but my goal in life -- for me, i

want to be able to get to a platform or i can help educate people and help other people in different ways. that is what my main goal lives. i really don't see myself being a politician. >> i wanted to say thank you all for this for him. i think we made more of this type of situation in order to educate our young people and this shoe is just like charity. we talk about educating the youth in our schools, but what about at home. it should start at an early age. this allows us everywhere to try

and give him awareness about the voting process and teach them about how important it is to be a part of the process. we have people with rights and i think everyone should learn to exercise the right. some people are not getting it at home. and i really want to thank you all. i appreciate this and enjoy it another panelist say they think they will be politicians, but i hope we have a lot of future politicians not only for panelist, but other youth in this room. that is my hope in my prayer for the future because we are looking for future leaders right

here in this room. thank you, all. >> everyone, my name is carlos. first off, i want to thank the panel. you guys are phenomenal. i'm glad to see such great young people discussing the shoe shoe. we pretty much raise the young people to vote and talk to young people about getting interested in voting. young people, we are the future of this country and we have to get out and educate each other. i am huge on this. i think it is more so about meeting people where they are. when we talk about voter registration, we have to go to those young people. we can't expect them to be taught in schools. a t-shirt they want to teach

enough overuse in real life. schools teach trigonometry. [inaudible] voting is something we have to teach each other how to do. right now i'm also 28 years old running for office. i believe it's young people we have to step up to the plate to get out. i worked on political campaigns and in a level or what i've learned from those elections is young people are interested because we don't make them interested. we have to do that by meeting them where they are. [applause] >> i think it is really interesting. i think trigonometry is very interesting.

[laughter] >> i have a question on police brutality and a lot of the stuff going on recently. how do you think the media has an effect on that? the social media at this, people post and don't actually get involved. it may create awareness, but also let people bandwagon. what do you guys think? >> it has a lot to do with money and a lot of people out there posting on social media, they are not doing anything in their communities to help out the issue and that is the biggest problem because one thing they talk about to advocate for change or are you actually trying to talk to people or putting up a front to get attention and that is okay, but

if you're getting the attention the right way, then it doesn't help the cause and it doesn't push it forward at all. it hurts more than anything using a tragedy and that is not right at all to do. [inaudible] >> a lot of people nowadays when they keep something for just a few minutes and then go on to something else. they forget about what is going on. so i think that is one problem with what is going on and how some people post things, like you said. >> me personally, i am one of those people who see things on

facebook and tumbler constantly and constantly re-blogging and posting, making my statement about it, not just posting. i do have my moments where i had here we go again. i don't feel like commenting right now. post. i have my moments where i am like i have to speak out. i have to say something. whether or not i'm able to do it publicly. when i first came back to the ends to shoot this year i was talking to a bunch of workers here about actually doing something about justice and police brutality to get some knowledge, some education, something going the people are just in this movement where people are trying to fight with her braids, fight for their lives. it is hard to do that, especially in birmingham because

birmingham has lost a very large element of this form of racism. birmingham is a really commonplace now. we have majority black -- at about where the majority black police department, but our police achieve is a black man, so there isn't a limit we are not going to tolerate racism in our infrastructure in the city. there is still elements of racism in birmingham, but it's not as prevalent. birmingham is one of those places where police officers are gunning people down on the sidewalk and someone's pulling something on their pocket for tracking kids from a pool party. birminghbirmingh am is a one of those places to do that. not saying one of those events couldn't happen here. it could happen anywhere.

i haven't seen any reports of where it's happening here. i know the state of alabama as a whole is very much inclined to that behavior. for me, as someone who wants to promote awareness of the issue, promote awareness of police brutality, what we as african-americans, especially as used what we can be doing to notify people to gain some ground and explain what is happening, to gain some ground in teaching each other how to handle situations, there is so little resistance because it almost feels misplaced because a lot of those still see back here in the city. they are like why would i have to worry about that? why should that bother me when in reality you go to towns over and one of these things have been to you. you can go to any one of our

surrounding states and it would have been to you. it is scary and hard to get that across to people because it is not right in front of them and because it is not right in front of them, it is hard to make people want to take action on it. for me personally, seeing reports on the news coming here in a friends discriminated against, me personally experiencing discrimination and on top of that same things on facebook and tumbler, seeing things through twitter that have happened and still happening is sad. it is really sad and it's hard -- not necessarily making everyone cooperate with the movement of changing those things, but it is hard to get people to recognize that when their current position is so

peaceful and not necessarily thinking what is happening to my neighbor to states over. >> i see it as a negative and positive. i see the point that it makes people lazy and they are posting and doing stuff beyond their cell phone. but i also see it as a positive because this is not something new. it is happening all the time and happen before. you slide it out and you can videotape in a matter of seconds and another matter of seconds posted to a website and it is out there. we all know what is going on. i find that as a plus. the social media and hash tags put in faces, too. but the constant posting they see a 24/7. i also find it a platform in the way of organizing as well because people can share their

stories and they can try and go very quickly and you can go and answer grammar twittering say we are having a protest at 5:00, and it is down there and you get tons of attention from that. it's a plus but also in negative as well. >> i am the law clerk for the honorable judge cornell norman at felony court who is now running for domestic court in 2016. i am the mother of two young men and past but one that is 21 and he is a senior at stanford. i find and i want to applaud

young people because i am so excited about how motivated you are. when i listen to my son when he comes home, he is so jaded. i am like your mother. i drug fad to every polling booth for the time they were in diapers and i had to literally make them vote. he is so jaded. i don't know if it's the people he associates with. is there something -- he is doing an internship at city hall. this was a blessing that anybody would want. at first he refused and my husband had to obviously go talk to him. but he is so jaded and i don't know if it is really helped him.

i want to rescue young people why your generation, the young folk, which we need you to come out and be a part of this being and make it all happen. why do you feel so jaded when it comes to politics? why do you feel every politician lies? i know you have some reasons. i'm asking the panel and i am so impressed with you guys because i really thought we had lost it talking to my kids. why do you think your generation is so jaded when it calms to the political arena? >> i think our generation -- i

think especially for me, we are a generation where society is much more diverse. everyone sees social issues differently. like you say your son went to stanford. she is at stanford now. i was at university of west alabama for a while. before that i was at university of alabama, birmingham. definitely one of the most diverse campuses i have ever been on. so you have a lot of different positions and you hear different ideas how people think. yeah you have a point on that or you have a point on that. wade in on a lot of those things, a lot of it's usually get burnt out on it. we don't want to deal with it.

we don't even want to look at the issue because at the end of the day, does our vote even count? we have representatives who get to choose regardless of what we say. these are things that make it so we don't really have a voice. we get burnt out on it and looking at the positions of the candidates, what they want to do. we see what we want to see accomplished, whether that candidate is going about accomplishing not at all or they say they want to go about fixing an issue. but are they going about it the right way? at that point if we say no, if the other candidate were completely against, you're kind of in a mindset of who i vote for for the lesser of two evils

here. that really does deter people because if i vote for this guy, he is probably going to segregate the united states again. or if i vote for this guy, he will promise me they will lower student loans, but where's the money going to come friend to replace all of that? how are they going to fund this project to pay for student loans and to cut lawns and half or whatever the plan is. we see that and we are like okay, you can do that, but somewhere down the line you have so many people doing this, that in the other. no jobs for these people to go into so it doesn't even matter because they still can afford it. the interest rates are still going to keep steadily going up. you kind of feel burnt out. is there even a point to this. that is just one aspect of why i

think we get jaded because we get to the point we are so fed up, so tired, we don't want to deal with it anymore. [inaudible] >> i think we think a lot alike. >> yes and no because especially when they get to college, we are free thinkers. we want to go out on our own and experience things. one of the main things is to think for ourselves. when our parents tell us things, we don't usually like to listen. a lot of times they have to experience things on our own. we don't want to hear you guys, but honestly pairings should talk to their children about it. get them riled up to one to

vote. this is a situation you are worried about, but there are other issues on the table. ..