just in the people he was using to talk on his half of his campaign largely white male. he had a bunch of coalitions. but that is all they were in name only. and that was reflected in the votes that mitt romney won. he won dixie% of the white vote, which is more than any president won in 1988. we see that the passport is not just a white vote. our nominee today is going to have to appeal to minorities, women and independents. and so i thought it was really disingenuous as well as an affront for him to get up there and start blasting donald trump when he lost an election in 2012 that many people say that he should have won. so my party has problems on inclusion. >> host: we have a call from waldorf, maryland. please go ahead. >> hello, and good morning, c-span. good morning to your guests. n

i have a feeling that we would probably not agree on manye firt things. but after hearing her, i think that i might change my opinion. so the first is i do sincerely disagree with you respectfully. but with your definition of tru. racism versus i suppose you categorize it as not racism. i think that your definition should be broadened to include lookover versus overt racism which is really the definition that you probably should be speaking to. but my other statement is that i agree with you in some aspects and that the democratic party probably should not have a lock-

on this. and it's not very informed of some voters. myself, i suppose that i identified with the democrats because i voted democratically in every election. but as i get older i become mor, informed and i suppose i becomeu more active in the political process. i believe that i have changed my understanding of who i should vote for. i think >> thank you. you make some great observations of racism. and i think racism if i had more time, i don't want to dominate a short time i have, we are talking about the different types of racism, i experienced it from professors when i was in

college, high school. we probably don't have enough time to go into all of that. >> let's talk about her referred definition. >> will, i believe that there is overt racism that we see and hear. there is covert racism with fortune 500 companies.ap you have racism due to taxi cab drivers, man in a suit and tie. that goes to my point. it's all white people are racist like al sharpton wants to labell people, what happens is that you have a chasm of racial division because people like this, he was really interested in making the races come together and he would not jump into every scenario like baltimore, trayvon martin,

he would actually take a step back. he flaps his loudmouth and he creates tension. tension that doesn't produce anything but friction and violence and i think that i also wrote this book because i am not trying trying to convince all black people that they have to vo democrat. i am saying that she rented out that black people have no political influence. we gave that up over the last 50 years we have voted single-handedly for one political party. no other race does that. just because you have one of these letters next year name, every election cycle, politicians have to earn my vote. and i think that black people need to hold politicians accountable, especially those individuals that have not delivered on the policy. by now you have two candidates on the democratic side promising that lack lives matter and it is

the same lipservice we have heard the last four years, the last eight years before that. i would argue sense over a half-century, black mines have. not mattered to democrats, black education has gotten worse, black wealth has gone down. everything has gone down the toilet when you look at lack lives.bl >> one passage from the book are you you write that the book haso become nothing more than an excuse for young black man to get confrontational with police particularly white officers across the country.th jeopardizing their own lives with another incident they will leverage into more rioting, looting and votes for candidate. crystal rice wrote the book. she's our guest for the next 25

minutes. let's take another call. good morning. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. another comment. i don't think really is as simple as racism and racial economics. >> and they continue to vote for the same parties. more black babies are born into homes without a mom and a dad. and so whether you look at brookings institute or heritage which are polar opposites, one is on the right and what is on the left, all of the data shows

that when a child is born into that situation and their chances of falling into poverty are ex-potential. it is over like 70%. so as we talk about this involving this problem how do w stop them from having on this one generation but many generations and it started happening in the early 50s when daniel patrick moynihan who was a democratic senator and the case for national action is the form of it. he wrote to president johnson and he said well, i'm concerned here, he has been alert and you have 23% of black babies being born into homes without fathers and i am seeing a rising increase of black women on

welfare. so that an amendment and into jail. so passport today and the problem has only gotten more acute. and this is basically a federal government program that was actually going to teach black men how to be men. we need to be teaching abstinence programs and personal responsibilities. i disagree that it's about social economics.so their p and we have those individuals that are not taking responsibility for their lives. so they keep voting for a party that continues to keep them in a part of this. book.

>> every time i present the issues the way you present them, i get called every name in the book. t you now, and i am not going to repeat that. i present that an ideal in data and fact. i cannot bear it. and i think that most of the discrimination we face is more heightened on a per capita to fall into the and i teach young men twice a week. how do we now teach those younger generations. not to fall into the trap of the democrats and the holy grail. i do it twice a week with young adults aged from 18 are sold to 30 years old.

i am talking about a group of 3. i worry guys. i don't care about racism. i know that it is in there. i worry about what i need to be personally to achieve everything that god wants me to achieve an. that is to be 100% of what i can be. that's truly the key. not the coddling, it is more about personal responsibilities. good job, keep doing what you're doing, hopefully one day i will run into you. thank you. >> the caller raises important issues. solutions. i talked about the negatives, but there are solutions and i think that the solution iss, talking more about what's the speaker paul ryan is doing. bringing forward a policy on how to prevent poverty through personal as much ability and empowerment and a lot of this goes back to when he worked for jack kemp.

and he had these ideas of enterprise. he said that if they going tong places like baltimore where you have torn down buildings and there's opportunity for young by people who are trying to break that generational michael then he said that we are going to get tax credits to the businesses to set up shop where there is no economic opportunity. and if you have a job, you are able to buy things. you're able to get a high school education and you're able to empower this. baby wh and so telling them how this works when you have a baby auto wedlock, in the book i talk

hight the best friends foundation's program which elaine bennett started and this is a program that was teaching young girls to graduate from high school, not to engage in premarital sax. it was a curriculum program taught in about 14 public schools including the district of colombia. so they have that program for almost 20 years. she started a program about 10 years ago and the current president, barack obama, once he got elected, he'd be funded all of the federal government moneym for abstinence training programs and i will just leave the caller with this other example. my mother is a tutor through he, sh church and she said she was tutoring a young grade schooler

and this black child to know what husband was. and she was explaining that she was going to send valentines cards for her kids and husband and the little girl said what is a husband. my mom explained and she responded back my mother that husband, boyfriend, they are all the same. they are not all the same. if anything, the black race needs husbands and fathers. >> caller: hello. good morning. crystal wright, you are talking out of two sides of your mouth. one of the problems or what i see is that for one thing, african american people don't look at all white people as being racist. i look at the way that you act. not because of your skin color but how you treat others.

whether however it is that you want to put it, people like al sharpton are out here to bring it to your attention. a lot of white people -- and i have a lot of white friends, that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. so whether it is al sharpton or you, bringing it to the attention of the national media, i do want to jump on this issue about unwed mothers. there are african-american communities that do have fathers. so let's not try to sugarcoat this as an african-american thing. planned parenthood serves every community across america. so when they have discussions like this, you need to put it out there. make your call.y.

[inaudible] ask what the republicans are not doing for the african-american community where the latino community. because you do not want to use this as a platform. do it 100%. do not sugarcoat it and tailor it to the black community. >> host: let's give her a chance to respond.s >> guest: like americans represent 13% of the population, 72% of babies are born out of tr wedlock. black men are being killed much higher than any other race and according to the justice department blacks are six timesk as likely to commit homicide and seven times as likely to be homes that victims. the number one cause of death ages 15 to 34 years old is

homicide. 93% of those deaths are due to homicide. so we have a pathology that is disproportionate to white americans. and when you look at welfare peb capita, more blacks are black women are living in public housing because they are having babies out of wedlock. in the book "con job: ho democrats gave us crime, sanctuary cities, abortion profiettering and racial division", "the washington post" says there was an article inia e 2010, where in 2010 or 2011 the district of columbia wanted to reduce them, the number of people that could be on welfare assistance. so reference about 45 black women. they didn't just have one baby out of wedlock they had two of them, three of them, for them, one woman even at five or you by different men. at the time the mayor, the black mayor of washington dc, said

that he felt that this was a problem. this is a black mayor talking about a black problem. one of the young woman said when she was told that she was possibly going to lose assistance, who is going to pay for my campers. you talk about what republicans are doing. republicans want to end the cycle. whenever they want to reform welfare, republicans lead onack programs which barack obama defines every chance that he got in every budget that he has admitted. charter schools, vouchers, they have been under assault in favor of the teachers unions and these help minorities and black hispanics. >> host: richard, you are on a crystal wright. are you there? richard? okay, let's go to paul in virginia beach, virginia.

>> caller: yes, thank you for taking my call. i have to wake points to take care of.g down my first is i kept hearing thiso list of reasons why africanoba's americans should not vote for democrat. that is talking about president obama's program, all of these other things, why we should not vote for democrats. my problem with that is that there are no reasons why we should vote for the republicans. i haven't heard one fingered myt second point is even though -- and i agree with you that they have not done everything correctly for the african-american community going into the voting booth in november and voted for this nrty's front-runner --

[inaudible] >> and a white separatist as well. and during the debate, your republican candidates are on stage telling jokes. so do you really think that the democrats -- that we should vote for that clown show do you have on the republican party. >> guest: i think that it's really sad that you are voting for the clown show called the democrats. and i think it's sad and all of your diatribe to me about the democratic target you never told me once while you are voting for them but you laughed saying whyy should i vote republican. frankly, you should give the republican party a try because the democrats have kept the

blacks poor and dumber and more criminalized. everything i have said is true. we have had over a half-century of affirmative action programs. we are not graduating at the rate of white americans at all with all of this and the scholarships are in a black americans. we are not graduating at college or high school at the same rate as whites. as of 2013 the average black family, and again this is having voted over a half-century for democrats including the first black president of the united states, they have about $19,000 in wealth compared to 100 30,000 dollars for the average white family. crime, averting been through that.e notion o and you also, i think it's interesting the last of the notions of voting for a, republican when republicans, you look at the republican agenda of

personal responsibility and empowerment and education is the great equalizer.ta so there is no denying, and i talked about this with the charter school movement and school voucher program, democrat want to protect the teachers union which is something that they will always stand by. they tried to destroy the charter school movement, the school choice movement, president barack obama sue louisiana's school choice program because eric holder said that he could not have the black kids leaving the schools because it would make the failing schools and they wouldn't have enough diversity. what kind of nonsense is that? i talked about donald trump's comments with respect to the white supremacy and david dukes supporting them. i do not believe that donald

trump is a racist. he needs to come out strong and hard. he talked about burning the black vote, which he says he can do and he can beat hillary. but he cannot talk out of both sides of his mouth. he's the only candidate, even when you compare him to hillary clinton and bernie sanders, he talks about how he is going to eat the black unemployment. besides saying that black votes matter and hillary clinton talking in a black dialect, i just told you how a 1990 or -- e called young black man are predators. so if you are happy with the return on your investment you're getting from the democrats, you keep laughing all the way. >> morning, you are on with crystal wright. >> caller: hello, crystal.

i admire you so much. got a call for phone calls or go, he was right on everything. you are doing so good. i really do admire you. you have told the truth on lots of things. i am a 73-year-old lady and i have been through a lot of things. i have never been a racist and i never will be. all white people are not racist. and i so much appreciate you getting that across like you have. so thank you so much for taking my call. >> guest: thank you. now we live in such a polarizede environment, again i'm going to go back to our sharpton and the so-called lack spokespeople.

i do not know that they had to have other people on our behalfk but the al sharpton's have really painted a picture under the first by president. i am not saying that there are people in this country who say that we have a black president. sure. are they racist? absolutely. i have never said anything but. and i condemn that when people used to send around pictures of gorillas and monkeys, comparing that to the president and first lady michelle obama. you always have sick minded racists like that. but now, if you are a white person and you criticize his black president, even if you say the start open your mouth oh, you're racist, you don't like him because he's a black president, that is fundamentally not true. many people feel as though our president, president barack obama, has taken the country in

the wrong direction. somehow i can say because i'm black. but all the other presidents before barack obama weree criticized by people of allack races. and the black people that were telling my people that you can't criticize the black president, they were the same people criticizing president george w. bush because he was white, calling him names as well. i appreciate the call and i would like for all of us regardless of our skin color to feel as though we could weigh in on race issues. i find it offensive that usualla when a program is having a discussion on race that i am called an. primarily these panels are made up of people of color and you will never get a true discussion this way. >> about five minutes left. scott is on our line for the

independents. >> caller: hello, crystal, i'm a and th of hers. >> guest: hello, scott. >> caller: if the public in its i'm an independent. but i hear a lot of things directed towards crystal and i've known her for a long time. we used to argue on issues. i am a caucasian male and she se would defend that there is not enough. and i'm not really sure what political affiliation there was at that time. but she was trying to figure out the truth. and so when i hear a lot of that , i'm not saying that i always agree or disagree. i think it's a complicated circumstance. but we had a discussion aboutt justice thomas and i said that'd

progress she said it's not enough. she's trying to legitimately find a way to make the world a better place for all of us. and i know, and i have had these discussions. the discussions may be heated. she respected my opinion. i hear these things and i think about that. but it will be a better place for everyone. >> i have thought about this probably ever since i've been in high school. because i have had personal expenses. i grew up in a home where my parents grew up during segregation had to sit in the back of the bus, had to go to separate beaches, they could not eat the same places. as white people growing up in richmond, virginia, my father was on the first to be admitted to the medical college of virginia. the dental school. and he had professors -- he

helped fellow white students with their homework. they would get a higher grade than my father. i know what racism is, i don't take it lightly. i don't think any of us are going to understand each other if we don't give each other permission to disagree like scott has said. and everyone should be welcome at the table of discussion. >> good morning. i would like to say that i agree with some of the things that the lady said that not everything. i definitely agree that illegal immigration is deathly. you should see los angeles today. i have to say that when black people vote democratic, it is because of the certain things that were done politically before you and i came along that

made them eradicate to the democratic party. my grandfather was a republican. okay? but once the civil rights act of 1964 was passed, a lot of them went to the republican party and that is why you find so many right-wing people in the republican party today. to be honest with you, i think r politically speaking that they are between you rock and a hard place. when you are voting, i feel like i am voting for the lesser of two evils varied as the oldus people used to say, one of them is bad and the other one is worse. so there's no such thing as a perfect candidate. i am leaning more towards bernie sanders because i don't like some of the things that donaldol trump has said. and i would not vote for the guy because as he said he isth arrogant, somewhat of an

egomaniac. but i guess you have to be to be successful and as rich as he is. the other thing is that no one has ever said anything about hillary clinton and her out and out lie about going to kosovo and being exposed to enemy fire when it was exposed about this officialdy talks about that. >> hillary clinton also shows a lack of personal responsibility for an elected official andse state department secretary using a private server and e-mail tonk invade private scrutiny. so there's a lot that hopefully the republican nominee will tackle. but you bring up an importantd point critical to the republican party are not going out and try to earn the black vote, the republican party needs to make its case and at the same time black america cannot sit backa and expect that all the

political party will do all the work for them. black americans have to start doing their own scrutiny and work and i think it's sad that you just what you are going to work -- you're going to vote for a party that you feel is less -- it's not as worse as the other party and i think that that is where we fail. i think it's a two-way street. it's like the chicken and the th egg. black americans need to hold both parties accountable. there's no way to do that if they keep voting single-handedly for democrats. we have to start diversifying our vote. at the same time i don't know what kind of a trip this party is on but the path forward is not miss anne mitt romney tried it, john mccain tried it, there's not much white vote left. america is getting browner and that is where they are going to be forced to start asking or different votes. >> host: crystal wright,

conservative black chick.com, the author of "con job: how democrats gave us crime, sanctuary cities, abortion profiettering and racial division." we appreciate your time this morning on "washington journal." >> "washington journal" is live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up on friday morning, wesley clark will join us to discuss nato's role in the aftermath of the brussels attacks in the fight against isis. also the role that national security issues are playing in 2016. then council on foreign relations senior fellow and journalist talks about her "new york times" best-selling book, ashley's war, the untold story of a team of soldiers on the special ops battlefield. she will also discuss the u.s. military's integration of women into combat roles and that starts tomorrow. be sure to watch "washington journal" beginning live at 7:00 a.m. east earn on friday morning. join the discussion. >> coming up next, a

conversation on race in america. we will hear from journalist april ryan. this one hour and 25 minute event was held at politics and prose in washington. [inaudible conversations] >> that is much better. good evening, everyone. thank you all so much for coming out tonight. i am melissa, i am one of the co-owners of politics and prose bookstore and we are really delighted to be here sponsoring

this event. i don't know how many of you realize that we also have a book operation here about a year ago they approached us and asked us if we can help with the book operations and we were ecstatic at the possibility. and we had such a parallel and we were very grateful for the opportunity to be here. [inaudible] but this is very much something that we have become known for during the years. in the way that this will work

is that our panel will be answering questions. if you have a question, please raise your hand. all four of our best to our answering questions. their books are right here, you will have a chance to get their book. and so that is the housekeeping and so i wanted to start by thanking april ryan who really, this is her then. she asked us to come and have an event, she has worked to sponsor it. and we were really delighted by the prospect. people have actually written about this and so she is a treasure in our community.

we thank you so much. we really are glad to have her. [applause] >> i just have to say that her book is something that we are such fans. it is called "the presidency in black and white." it is a tremendous book and it has won the nonfiction award at the 11th annual african american literary awards show. and there's a lot of controversy now about what is classified and what is not in washington. so i'm going to err on the side of caution but stay tuned for a few more headlines possibly with that book and keep your eye out for that. and then secondly we've got

another one coming out as well. so thank you. she will be giving a little bit more detailed insight. but i do have to say that just a brief word about each of them. she is possibly our best customer at home. [laughter] we just roll out the solid figure. and he has to be one of our best customers. he is a customer, he is an incredibly prolific author. and i think we have the debate in one of his collections. in the it's great to be here with them.

and we have joy-ann reid. if you haven't read her book, you should. it is one of the smartest books about american politics, especially about the evolution of race in the democratic party. a fantastic book. we thank you for being here. what a contribution that it is. and then last but not least we have paul butler who is the author of "let's get free" who is one of the most respected civil rights attorneys in the country. and so i feel very happy to be in such great company with all of them as well as all of you. i'd like to say a couple more things about april. she's a very familiar voice she has been a reporter for more

than 30 years and she has also had her share of politics and politicians. she has been a white house correspondent since 1997. cover the presidency with bill clinton and george bush and barack obama and i think that you will read her book is a compilation a lot of years of observation in the presidency. what is most important is that it is sort of what she has done. she's one of the african-american reporters assigned to the white house and she has been intent on bringing you that information as she is working on looking out marginalization of the news media.

we knew it was a resource for millions of americans who might otherwise be left in the dark about how this is affecting and shaping their own lives. [inaudible] she has made tremendous contributions. so we thank you so much for being here and being the driving force. and thank you all for coming as well. >> i am floored. any author tried to get to this great place called politics and prose.

and we want to thank her for providing these books and hosting all of you tonight. please give everyone a round of applause. [applause] >> welcome to race in america today, a panel discussion. i am your moderator april ryan. i want to move down the line though not thank you, michael

for coming. >> the great joy-ann reid. she is a national correspondent for msnbc, former managing editor and author of "fracture." many people believe -- ended is not a scientific statement that i'm going to make, but i think they you are one of the best reporters around. >> i would like to start this off with something.

right now issues of our culture and time focus around race. and i cannot help but lasser think about a conversation that we had in the car. we were in a car talking about race and it is a lot. there's a lot underneath the surface they just don't know and i hope that this panel brings you some insight and understanding as to what is going on. and this is a real dialogue and i want to start off with the fact that this is the problem of the 20th century, it is a problem of a color. immediately after the election of barack obama there was media assertion of racial america now

listen to what he said to me. i say that with all humility. he said i would not. [inaudible] there are massive changes in legal status that represented fundamental breaks with america's tragic history. he says those represented the formal discrimination in this country and there is nothing that is going to compare. with that being said, where are we now remap a read poster boys? in the next 15 months or so will

we be post-obama? or are we post-racial? i'm going to start with you, joy. >> first of all i would like to echo your sentiments and welcome you to politics and prose and also to use, april, for bringing us all together. it is an honor to be here with this wonderful panel. and so i think that when you talk about this, i think that is a goal that the country cannot fully share. i think when you think about the united states of america is one of the most race conscious countries ever put together anywhere. the formation and the foundation of the country was explicitly race conscious and placed into our founding documents that to be free and white and male had a

meeting for citizenship and to not be those things had a meeting as well. for the lack of citizenship as well as the struggle to bring about the equality of african-americans and that is foundational for the country. so i think that it's interesting that the desire to be post-racial really reflect a very different goal and a different sort of mean that the african-americans and white americans frankly have when they think about race in america. and so i think for a lot of white americans and we can't say for everyone, there is a desire for transcendence, to put this path behind us, to put a period on the end of the thinking to say that we have now come past this point what race matters. but it has mattered and everything in it has been so explicit. and it used to be a conscious on the part of white americans about race that sort of joke policy, whether it was jim crow policy or who can live on this block, who can go to the

schools, it was exclusively race conscious and so we come to a point in history where many want to put an end to that and with african-americans race is something that we are living every day, we are living it right now when a police officer follows us. so african-americans have no idea who transcends race other than to be citizens. so i think that african-americans have a desire to litigate the issue of race and i think a lot of white americans it is to transcend it. and those are two opposite poles that can never be brought into uke union. >> when you talk about that, let's go over to this prosecution and litigation. and we are seeing so much right now in the way of the visual. and then many people are seeing the inequity and the inequality that we have talked about for years and we have talked about the numbers when people see the

numbers and they are like oh, wow, did you know that. well, of course we did. we are from the community. there is also a paradox of the first black president. how does all of that play into this post-obama, post litigation issue? >> i'm going to agree with joy and disagree with doctor tabori that the problem was never this but white supremacy. and white supremacy has not been impacted at all. and i love the president. i have a barack obama action figure on my table. whenever i come home and it's a knockdown i stand up. and so i appreciate it. but when he was elected, i don't

think anyone expected that he would reverse 400 years of white supremacy. -- i do think that people hoped that he would make racial justice a significant part of his agenda. and he has not. and because i have so much love and respect for him, it is disappointing. because if he applies his brilliant mind and his amazing political talent to racial justice, as he had, other things like lgbt equality and others, i believe that we would be further along than we are. so we take where we are now and when president obama took office, the average was $18,000.

for a white family at 142,000. black families are also drawing down during the time that the president has been in office. white families have gone up. so if you look at the criminal justice system, you know, if you look at places like ferguson and baltimore, it's interesting to think that the problem is that. that is not really the problem. the problem is criminal justice but it is also infused and it is what is legal. and so in many ways when you look at places like ferguson, the system is working the way it is supposed to. so when we think about this, that might be a mild way of thinking about the change that

this country needs in order to establish racial justice. you mentioned president obama's speech at soma and there he understood that and there he felt that this was the civil rights movement of the 60s and it wasn't about reform, but it was about transformation. >> thank you so much, professor. >> understanding from research and knowledge and reporting the enforcing, i would like to ask you is it fair to pin a lot of these hopes on this president when it took 400 years to come out of. it took 200 years to come out of what happened 400 years ago. so can we look at all on this president and.

>> i want to say that it's great to be here with april. the great joy-ann reid and the magnanimous and gifted professor paul butler. look, of course it is not fair to pin all of our hopes on one man and put all our eggs in one basket. but it is unavoidable. he's our guy. he has a tall and terrific talented wife and children. they are the projected brilliance of the black family and a nonetheless important one. on the other hand, look at the

humility of obama in responding to your question. where he says that i would not put my presidency on the level of the 13th or 14th amendment. i am not going to put it on the level of the civil rights bill. most of us are like yeah that is the greatest thing ever. that is how it goes. so you can see that the man is exquisitely and consciously tumbling into the most appropriate fashion and in a refreshing fashion if you juxtapose him to people on the other side of the aisle who relentlessly remind themselves that they are part of this. then he holds the trump card, so to speak. [laughter] [applause] as james brown elegantly said.

>> reporter: history has thrust upon him when martin luther king junior said that battering rams of historical necessity. you cannot cannot have the goodies without having the burdens. the getting to the blessings are, you're the man. the man. the blessings are you are the first african-american president. the the blessing is that u.s. a black man had net an ideal that no other black man and the universe has nurtured in his mind. so that's extraordinary. on the other hand, i think what professor butler is suggesting

and misread is pointing to, we never thought this was going to be a racial reality. obama himself said in his second book about hope, the audacity of hope that, slowdown, don't put the post-racial take your kids we are not there yet. rather what we should have is a post racist society. post-racial post- racial is a really post- negro. post- racial means post black. but we have been there done black. now obama has been elected, were good. we have wiped her hands of blackness, know what more responsibility. what he is responsible for his not with great diplomacy understanding that there's not much he could be critical of what america about in this country.

because they're not going to have it. and a fundraiser in san francisco mr. obama, then, then senator obama said, when stuff gets tough, some white folk over particular class orientation get guns, they're bitter, you turn to their religion and he got beat down, he knew then, never again to speak ill of a white brothers and sisters in america, why? because people are chagrined when even a so-called ostensibly biracial, half white man makes a comment about white america. that lets us know that you're still perceived as a black man. on the flipside, what president obama has done relentlessly is to chide and deliver tirades against african-american people in ways that have been called out by number of figures. as unfortunate. his ingenious that professor butler talks about, this man has existed in the midst of right supremacy by the unconscious are

on conscious believe that some groups are inherently inferior and others are in superior. that does not have to do about the legitimacy of black people it's perpetuating. in light of that, when we look at what white supremacy has attempted to do it has a to try to wipe his name clear, to legislate against him on the supreme court to make certain that of obama care would not succeed and legislatively to pretend that it would not exist and it has stood the test of time. he has been amazing and brilliant against the odds. he is also reinterpreted and reasserted some of the most vicious stereotypes about black people that should not be tolerable. it chagrined me to say that what he is responsible for is his own mouth, his own own bully, his own personal and political capital and the degree to which he is deported. i i know he's a great man because lately he has

turned course, he has changed his motives, he has changed his rhetorical deployment of rhetoric, of language and he used it to defend black people. he used it to elevate black people and to point out the vicious persistence of white supremacy that unfurls under the banner of a hateful confederate flag. that is the obama that we are promised in 2007 and eight, that is the obama who is finally coming into full just station. we hope with the birth of that baby before he leaves it will survive after he leaves office. >> with that, go ahead joyce [applause]. >> i know never to follow him eat that's not a good idea. >> you have to think about all the big words he used. >> i love a big word. i do, i'm a nerd.

i think one of the points that professor butler and professor dyson made is very important. i do not think we make enough about the issue of post racialism. the post- racial moment in america occurred almost immediately upon the arrival of american enslaved africans. if you look at the history of african people in this country it took no time at all for his slaves people to adopt style, customs, the beliefs in democracy and the rights of man of white americans. immediately after slavery, african-americans attempted to become post- racial. come back and look at the photos of african-americans at the time. they they even adopted the hairstyle of white america. so the user the ideals of democracy. attempted to run for office, and

affected. you have african-americans about into the whole idea of american democracy and ran for the united states senate. they were trying to put together -- they put board in american aesthetic right away. what happened? the idea of reconstruction was fully bought into by african-americans who wanted to go to school at the school of white americans. who wanted to get the same education as white american people. we never thought a separatist ideal it was only later when it was wholesale rejected. it was the country itself who rejected post racialism. the response not only did it exact revenge but it attempted to buy into their ideals and social norms, down to their dress. down to their style of doing our hair. look at the way we do our hair, the first black millionaire was someone was able to help african-american women adopt the

hairstyle of white america. supposed racialism is something that african-americans try, the response was vicious post- reconstruction. the end of reconstruction was not just an afterthought it was violence. it was a vicious or rebuke a post racialism. i think because we tend to think as of black people as the people are racial we tend to forget that this country was highly racialized and the attempt at post racialism was rejected. they say we have to kill them to prevent them from thinking we can mayor are daughters, move nearer home and be our equal. so the attempt by african-american to be post- racial is never been successful. they've had to have federal troops march them into college. federal troops march their children into elementary school. they've had to white mobs of screaming mothers, women,

they've had to fight lynching. so every president up to barack obama has had to confront the race discussion. they're all confronted with the question of what to do with all of these africans who in some communities comprise 90% of the population. who are and loathed by the people who lived with them. lincoln who is the one who is successful that's why we see them as a successful president. woodrow wilson confronted with this idea about what to do with the lynching of black soldiers who were coming home and had wearing uniforms and walk around proud as if they were white man. trying to be post- racial. he failed utterly in his response to this question of lynching. we have this post racialism that is soon to be feeling on the part of black america to forget over slavery. the country cannot get over slavery, they would not allow black people to get past it. black people wanted nothing more to be post- racial and assimilate into society.

they had to go to supreme court, march, risk firebombings of their churches, lynching and murder to be post- racial. i think the whole idea is asking the wrong people to do it [applause]. to continue that thought, every president you said up until obama had to a debt address these you have racialism soak in one present be exempt from that? that's a question whether not if eisenhower was forced to come front and fail to confront it, he didn't want to confront brown versus the board of education he had to account for that is part of the record of his presidency. kennedy wanted tax cuts. his big thing was a massive tax code. the biggest in history. he needed the southerners to do it. but he was forced to confront it, the murder -- lyndon johnson

was a southerner had to confront this race question which has affected every president he didn't want to do it, he he didn't want to deal with the busing and housing desegregation. every president had to deal with the race question. it's completely strained and unfair that the first black president is the only guy who gets a pass. >> not only that, but here's the point, if you say you do not want to be exempt from the normal characterizations of other presidents because of your color, which i think is fair, fair, then you can't be exempt from the responsibility that every other president has had which is to address race, now are we saying the following the existential terror, the personal discomfort, the kind of unease

that this president understandably experiences because he is the first person to embody in his own existence is very body, the torn mandate and if you will the torn agenda of american democracy that he lived every day. he says look on by racial that means i have resolved some of the conflicts of the nation in my own body. if that's the the case, how in the world can we expect the first african-american president to be exempt from dealing with the most serious issue that has driven this nation, that has torn it apart, that has been characterized as america's original sin by his own words. how can we not expect him to deliver that high intelligence and that political power to that particular issue. i think that's part of the disappointment that we have experienced a citizen.

>> and my next question i will post to professor butler. they have mapped out their problems since the time africans were enslaved in this country. now, when we go from here. we can talk till the cows come home. we can talk forever about the problem but where do you go from here based on the researchers, particularly as and i want you to think of this civil rights movement was the most successful movement in the nation, the women's rights group, the lgbt community, those who are pro- immigration have taken it. and then you had pope francis come into this nation, he dropped the mic at the white house and what did he say? we have defaulted on our promissory notes and when he

said that the whole -- of those one of the strongest statements and that i have a dream speech. so where do we go from here? what is the solution? let's not compete. we know there's problems. let's talk about solutions. >> in order to talk about solution you have to correctly bring the problem. the day after president obama was elected the first time i go into my local starbucks, we high-five on the young african a moment the way that we are all given each other for response that day and she said, you know there's this homeless guy outside, african-american guy who camps outside the starbucks and she said every day she give him a little bit a change because she felt sorry for him. she said that morning when she got to work and she saw him

lying there with his hand out, she said to him, barack obama is president, get a job. and the concern is, that's not understanding what the problem is in the concern is that the president has played into that narrative. so when he goes to morehouse college and says, nobody cares how much discrimination you suffer, it's impossible to imagine them saying get over that, will lean in. so the president. >> do think the president felt like he could say that. >> if you have the privilege to talk about those in a certain way, you also have the application to lift them up and i do not see that lifting up. i i think perhaps part of it is

there but we have not seen it in his actions to the extent that he has. and he does not want to -- so what he says about american unemployment, this bite unemployment because you cannot have a black job skill -- but if you don't have a vote in the first place, the problem is not african-american culture or behavior, the reason that white people have a network of eight times of what we have is not because we don't work for, it's not because we don't look for jobs all the time, it's it's because discrimination is alive and well. if you're a black person to send out a resume and you have a black sounding name you don't

get the callbacks that you get if you have a white sounding name. so we have to confront white supremacy. so when we think about ways we can address that, there are some things that we can make with regards to the criminal justice system, were asking african-americans to be hunted down by the police which is why one in three black men get arrested. the police are looking to arrest you. so we could decriminalize the captain even know what he was doing, just why he was running away and with michael brown walking in the street why should

the police be able to arrest you for those crimes? so decriminalize a lot of conduct. not because of the conduct but because we don't trust the police. we have to reduce contact between the police and citizens. we have to say that in a democracy with an african-american president. it shows you how powerful white supremacy is. >> very interesting. we want to start opening up to questions. if you have a question abby will take the mic and walk around. please raise your hands if you have questions don't be shy. we have time and we have four authors here who are willing to answer your question. >> i just wanted to make a point that i think one of the things you have to understand about barack obama and what makes him

an intriguing figure is we are in a lot of ways who we are race to be. barack obama occupies a unique space in american racial and ethnic right in that he is a man who african americanness comes from africanist. i shared that with him with having an african parent whose tradition is not enslavement so you have a different sort of twist and it's very different. and and then he has people who raised him. i think part of the reason he was an effective politician and best situated to be the first black president of the united states as he comes at the issue of race without any of the aspects of being african-american just gives you when you look at the issue of race in america.

he was essentially raised in white america with the attitude mindset of midwestern white america. so this idea of hard work and putting your shoulder to the wheel, personal responsibility and all of these ethics he was raised with by his grandparents really informs what he thinks. i don't think he's pretending to think that his african-american fathers turn off the tv and make their kids go to bed early. i don't think is making it up i think he was raised to believe. he understands in an intuitive way that a lot of white america is exhausted by the notion of race. it is exhausted by the notion of constantly re- addressing the racial dynamic that proceeds from slavery. i think you do have when you look at his race speech in philadelphia he voices almost perfectly but the feelings of african-americans because he has lived in a black body and

experience being black in america but also these attitude know what mindset of america that says my my parents came from ireland in 1920 and i don't want want to hear about that anymore. the shift took place post lyndon johnson particularly where a lot of the white working class and wait a minute we want to deal with the issue of economic decline not the issue of race. we don't don't want to have to deal with busing black kids and, we want to deal with getting ourselves better jobs and things like that. i think he understands the buyer racial dynamic in a unique way. some people say he's the least angry black man in america mats why he can be the first black president >> if you're not angry, something's wrong. [applause].

i thought this speech in philadelphia, remember the context of a black preacher making remarks about race that a lot of why people do not appreciate. so the point of that speech was to say you know what, black people can be racist and by the way white people can be racist too. i didn't learn anything from that speech, he the same candidness when it comes to race again the problem is not as evenhanded, the mother was not african-american comets white people. it's white supremacy. >> it's not black people who need to change.

were not responsible for the problem. other things that we can do differently, if young man pull their pants up that might look better, but but it's not going to end white supremacy. it's not going ten the fact that unemployment for african-americans is twice that of whites. but yet it's really important, it's scary when you talk about the problem of white supremacy. it's like body cams from police are not going to address that. again if we had this conversation and get real about the problem that we can start to get real about solutions [applause]. >> we need to know what's going on and what people are saying out there. and i will let you answer this gentleman's question.

[inaudible] the first black person and first woman to be on the ballot for president jesse jackson never ran for president 20 years later, 2008 there's a black woman on the ballot for president? he was on the ballot the same year that barack obama was. i i did not know who obama was, the question is, we had two instances where there are black people, black democrat who are on the ballot for president and -- with the press how can black

people establish any sense of independence would most black people and organizations -- >> i will just say, somebody who is a promoter i will say that both presidential elections have about 25 people on them. them. that's a lot of people running for president. it's not just the democrat and republican, our system is a two-party system and it's almost impossible for a third-party candidate to get traction which is why when you have a ross perot sexually huge phenomenon murdered john anderson got 5%. it's rare difficult because it's very difficult to get on the ballot. it's not that the media systematically including only

the black candidates who are not pulling in the national averages more than one percent. it's all of the other 24 candidates that are also running for president that nobody pays much attention to. i think you have to realize and this is something i have definitely learned to in the research for writing my book is that the black vote is a very pragmatic boat. it doesn't really spend much time looking for psychic regressing for feel-good candidacies which is why a lot of people who probably otherwise would be quite worthy and respected by black america get absolutely no traction among black voters. >> let's talk about how the black vote moved to the republican side to the democratic side. >> it was all very pragmatic. if you look at shirley chisholm and someone we revere now. when she ran, the entire black establishment rejected her candidacy because she was sorting their plan to put forward a black candidate of

their candidate. and because she was running their view as a woman candidate as a black candidate she was rejected by black america. when jesse jackson runs in 84 he got no support. it's only when it becomes a movement and phenomenon that you black leader saying maybe we should delay. when brock obama ran he didn't have the black establishment on the side. the black establishment was with hillary clinton. until he won and i will prove that he could win in a very white state. the black vote is pragmatic. it's going to look to the candidate who can win because their real resources at stake for black community. >> black people want to win. someone might be appealing to some people but not others but just because you're black and say in a -- in order to get on

the ballot in order to win enough votes to be compelling to force people to be taken seriously. we know that there's obstacles that prevent the possibility of those people, at the same time, some of the narrow perspectives that have been articulated by even interesting black people means that pragmatic is one, winning is another. black folk are tired of symbolic runs. that's why. that's why even with the great reverend all sharpen black people were like, well not so much this time. rock obama came along and it was a different moment because he had to work for that black vote. he didn't take it for granted. he had to go to the university tell folk what he was going to do about the criminal justice system. he had to remind us what he did in illinois in the state senate about racial profiling. this was a guy who had a strategic moment articulated blackness.

let me say this that the difference and what the professor said, when you have the ability, per course we know brock obama can say things that no other candidate can say. stopping chicken, player bridges up, all that stuff, guess what, number one what, number one he had the first black person to say that stuff. go to church every sunday. black people here and that every day. go to the temple of the mosque, my god, you're going to hear some of that same conservative moral value that we now think is been invented. here's the difference, and that same speech on father's day barack obama quoted chris rock. he said black people always want to get congratulated for stuff they should be doing, i take care of your kids, negro you should be taken care of your kids he quotes that but not the

other part where chris rock said -- he got that part down. so if you're going to talk about and have an inside with your people, jewish americas, italian-americans speak the way we can come but look at the people in public reprimand their people. can you imagine the first jewish president sent to the jews, we have to stop all this madness that's going on in the world and -- know. then he make people vulnerable to the already existing pre-existing condition of anti-semitism. but brock obama has played fast and loose with the truth of a black existence right reinforcing stereotypes. not only would he not go to barnard and stop bellyaching

about gender oppression in the glass ceiling he set identify with you and he said i know it sounds like i'm pandering but i think the future is involved with women. can we get some of that? now let me and by saying this, we know that brock obama cannot cannot be critical for the most part of dominant white culture. stop acting like that. here's my point, since you know you can't be critical of white folk, don't be critical of black folk. is when you critical a black folk looks like you people got the problem are the black people and not the white folk too. if you can't be equal with all your kids don't say nothing to none of them. >> thank you reverend johnson. let's take a next question. [inaudible] i think white supremacy is an

important issue and we talk about how -- [inaudible] if he can't work within the system because the system is working on black supremacy. [inaudible]

once were on the path what can we do ourselves to bring ourselves to a point? we need to put ourselves =-equals-sign. >> another ill correctly want this to be a solution oriented and i agree with that. i'm inspired by the activism by a lot of young people, black, white, asian and latino in the black lies matter movement because i think it's moving the right way. but they're incredibly savvy about using images and