at book -underscore tv or posted to our facebook page book tv on c-span two television for serious readers. .. people who are real and have death with this and written about it.

warning to thank politics and prose and c-span for thinking inform of the series to cover. you don't gate these kind of people in this kind of room without getting the kind of coverage. want to thank you for being here tonight for our fifth installment. i want you to feel free. feel welcome, feel at home. come to the microphone, ask a question, intelligent, civil, and we will answer, and i want to, without further adieu, introduce this great, great panel. we're going to do some work from their career, and we'll get into the discussion, and i will start off with someone who i have such respect for, such admiration, such love for, dr. mary frances berry. she has a list of things she has done. she has been jailed for fighting against apartheid in south africa.

the list goes on and on. she is also the author of the book, five dollars and a pork chop, from which -- >> and the corruption -- >> corruption in democracy. she has a new book coming out, history teaches us to -- [applause] >> next to dr. mary francesber we have avis jones-deweever, a woman whose an activist for women and the author of how exceptional black women lead. give her a big round of applause. maas applause. >> next to avis jones debeef very we have westley lowery, the reporter for the "washington post" and the author of "they can't kill us all."

and people are saying, hmm. and without further adieu, we want to introduce to you an economist, the author of "are we better off, race, america -- >> "raise, obama and public policy." >> she is the author, an economist, and tonight -- thank you for below here with us, julian malveaux. let's give her a round of applause. these two ladies right here, i remember bag young lady, watching them, march for us, talk for us, when we didn't have voices, and basically to let us

know we count, we match in a time when many of us are not at the table. what did shirley chism say, if you don't have a -- hello. so, i want to start off with something that came to me while we were driving in tonight. harry bell font at -- belafonte, activist, entertainer, said right after the election of president trump, he said this is a great time. i said why? and i hear him chuckle, and he said, it's a great time. he reflected back on what w.e.b. dubois told him. when there's great pain, when there is great pain, there's radical activism. which means change. a couple weeks later i called harry belafonte to do another interview, and i said so how is everything going?

he said i'm not too happy about what i'm seeing itch don't see the activism that i anticipated. i don't seal the pain that i thought i would see. and he is remembering the '50s and '60s. one of the greatest movements, civil right movements in this nation. what is happening now? what is happening now? so, we have an author here, civil rights icon, who is penned a book, holiday history teaches to us resist ." talk to us about history, yesterday to today, is harry belafonte right? >> well, harry, my good friend harry is always right. let me just say that what i talk about in this book is what i think is important for this hour. hadn't planned to write any other books. tired of writing books. but it was time for this one. what talk about is all the movements in the past where

people have organized to resist presidents who took actions or were trying to take actions that opposed our values and then we opposed. and most of the movements i talk about i do the history but i was involved in most of them, and in fact, we won in the case of a lot of them. so it's possible to win if you organize properly and if you are persistent. thinks like the free south africa movement that some of you were involved in. things like the antivietnam war movement, which we thought we lost, and i'm -- i not only was in the movement as a student at the university of michigan. i pretend i was a correspondent and went to vietnam and actually covered the war one summer. but we thought we had lost. we found out later that richard nixon stopped the peace process that was about to go underway. the point -- then there are

movements during the time of the presidents since then. sometimes friendly presidents you have to oppose if they start doing stuff you don't look. look at the indians and obama in south dakota. we all love obama but he had to be pressured to get him to do something about the treaty, and now look what trump has done with and it his -- so the point is, there have been movements of people who are willing to not just march, because marching is important, and not just to come to rally, but to put our bodies on the line in civil disobedience and other ways, in order to get things to change. i don't think we're at that point now in this movement. people are dish think the marches are great and every time there is a rally or a march, i say, terrific. keep up the spirit. go to some of the town halls to watch and listen to people. but we need more than we have had, and it's not been as harry

puts it, as radical as one might think and the issues are what counts. not just, i hate trump. okay, let's hate trump. but what i hate is getting rid of the federal contract compliance or defending the civil rights organizations, not having the budget for the agencies and the environmental justice and the justice department and all around the government, and what is happening. all of these things that affect people who are poor, what is happening on health care. we can just go down the list. make the policies the center of the movement. the need to -- not just, can you get together because we don't like trump. i don't know if i answered your question. >> you answered: julianne, are we better off "race, obama and public policy" we're now post obama, the post obama era. what does that look like to you and what are the issues that

dr. mary frances berry talk about that should be on the table? >> well, first of all, april, thank you for bring us together. don't know anybody that it admire more than mary frances berry. i just adore her. when i thought i would be on the panel with her, thought, hey. it's okay. it's all about mary frances berry. >> thank you for bringing us together and for the work you have done, not only to continue the series, but also to speak truth to power. i want to ask you a question. don't ant, but rhetorically, why didn't sean spicer just go someplace else? put his rags in a bag and go away? >> you told me not to answer so i'm just sitting here. >> even let him give blood. the other thing want to say with answer your question,

congratulations. dr. ryan. >> thank you. [applause] >> honorary doctorate. pressured -- proud of you for that. i feel like bobby womack systems. if you think you're lonely now, wait until tonight. [laughter] >> i was an obama critic, and i was like, barack, come back, come back. but we were not -- we're not better off. barack obama was a tremendous president. outstanding and amazing and also highly constrained any number of ways and when we look at the economic status of african-american people it did not substantially improve until the last year of his administration. much as the recession which was not his fault, set up, quite frankly, with the economic failure for 2007-8 by shrub.

>> who? shrub? you have a bush and a shrub. >> okay. >> have to stop being funny and act academic so i will. in any case, we're not better off and we're about to be much worse off. the economic issues -- i'm with mary frances berry here. we have spent too much time talking about russia. it's important, don't know how much ink has been waists on the president and the first lady don't hold hands. there's a whole lot 0 of other stuff they don't do and we don't know want to know. what we know is that the economy -- this victory for 45 -- i don't call his name. i call him 45. but this victory for 45 was a vic for predator capital jim.

people are going to have to struggle whether we had elected mrs. clinton or that man. but what we have is a different kind of struggle. >> trickle, down economics. >> worse than that. presidenter to capitalism is about extracting every penny of surplus value from people. so, april, you have very simple regs that the labor requires people advising you on your pensions to follow certain rules. now, that man says, no, that's all right, they don't have to follow certain rules. people get end off. pensions, most americans don't get pensions anymore anyway. so you're setting people up to get ripped off. president obama passed an exec tv order that said if you had a federal contract you must be paid 10.10 an hour which i higher than the federal minimum wage. that man is reconsidering that. there was an overtime piece of

legislation that was talking about redefining how you got paid overtime. right now, you get overtime -- if you make more than 24,000 daz year, you're considered by being -- you're considered executive employee. so you make 30 grand, you're an executive employee and can't get overtime. unless it's in a overtime job. president obama put together regulation that said they were going to raise that number so that you can get overtime, you know, until you earned 44,000, 44,000, 45,000. that man, basically is saying, no, we don't want that. acosta, the labor secretary says, well, maybe we should raise it's little bit but not that much. maybe 30,000. can you imagines a commandertive say is a isn't making $32,000 a year being considered executive employee and not being paid overtime? i would like us, as mary said, we can talk about how odious

that man is, as lock as we dub as long as we want to and that's fine. he is owedus, used to call him the orange orangutan until they told me to stop. but in any case, odious as he is, that's not the issue. issue is the way our economy is structuring, and let me say one more thing. know i talk too much. it's an occupational hazard. we have a capitalist system that is flawed anyway, but you have two kind offered capital jim, predator and compassionate capitalism. compassionate capitalism ain't bad. that's what we would bet guy hillary. capitalism is the wolf. government is the den test. the question is what does the dentist do when you get the wolf in the care. with compassionate capitalism the dentist files the teeth down so the wolf cannot eat everything up and you provide health care, even though

insurance companies are still making a lot of money. you private food stamps even though what you ought to do is raise the minimum wing. talk bat minimum wage increase. the dentist, when you get predator capitalism, sharpens the teeth to make life for people at the bottom even more challenging. so you think about that metaphor and then you look at all the regs being changed. let's not forget about what is being done with education, the way our hbcus have been pimped out and i use the word "pimped out." she doesn't know any better. when people don't have home training and still get into the white house they still don't have home training.

>> thank you for that analogy. i never heard about the dentist and the wolf but brings a whole new enlightenment on going to the dentist. so, avis, let's talk about this woman who is making $30,000 a year. 30,000. she is low income, correct? >> yes. >> is she out there marching? we saw a couple of women marching the day after the inauguration, couple of women in lansing, couple women walking around in detroit, and d.c., and london. is she marching? >> i have to say, yes, we did see a historic day following the inauguration in terms of the women's march. the largest demonstration we have seen in history. so it was impactful and powerful. but it's also true to say that there has been a built of a struggle to maintain that momentum in a bold and demonstrative way.

when i look at what is going on, i can provide some other examples in terms of what he has done since he has been in office. we know in terms terms of pay inequity, harry potter fanness the house? >> i'm a white house correspondent, this is april ryan. have not said any names. i respect the office of the presidency. >> also known as he who shall not be named. so, another thing that -- in terms of pay inequity we have this whole being this equal pay day. ironically on equal pay day he changed a regulation that president obama put in place that required government contractors to open the books to really be able to demonstrate and show how they pay people by race and gender. because that's really how pay inequity thrives. thrives in secrecy.

we got rid of that -- he god rid of that. them that woman who is making 30,000 and those who are making more, now are going to suffer even more from pay inequity. what's going on? i say that what is going on, i think -- we can hear about this more -- i think it's been a calibration of strategy, and i think the strategy has really now turned to electing more women to office. a record number of women who are undergoing candidate training and prepareing to run for office and that's good. don't think that's enough. i think you need a yin a yang and you needs people who are preparing to go in there and change laws when they are elected to do so. also think we still need people in the streets to put the pressure on those who are currently in offers to do the right thing and stop destroying this nation to the degree they're doing right now. >> a simple way that is put is

that protest is an essential ingredient of politics. >> absolutely. >> can't just go -- people say, vote, vote, vote for somebody. but you got -- it's an essential ingredient which we forget. people, when they tell you to go vote, everybody wants you to vote for them, but you have to make them do what you want them to do. >> dr. king and lbj when its came to the voting rights act. when you say activism is an necessity when you think about this democracy, we saw young people out there, we saw young people take to the streets. the new activism, the new, guess, civil rights for this -- when its came to issues of the injustice, when we saw black boys and black girls killed on the streets in some of the cities like baltimore, ferguson, north charleston, that -- so many different places.

we're not seeing the activism we saw a few -- it's only been 100-plus days. we're not seeing that today. what is going on? >> a few elements to this, and i think first is, let's not get twisted -- not that the police have stopped killing people. not problems that are were solved and we're not seeing it. the "washington post" keeps a database in real time of people who are killed by the police because the government fails to track that data accurately. and i believe, if i remember correctly today we recorded our 399th person shot and killed by the police in 2017. on average between two and three people are shot by the police in america every single day. that not freddy gray, somebody who killed in a van or do is as a result of a taser. these are gunshots. i say that say, it's not as i

the factors have the have mobilized people previously no longer pi. what -- no long e exist. what happened, people call me and ask what's going on? they talk about a movement that that stretched two years and further back. some young activists were mobilized after the death of trayvon martin and jordan davis in 2012, and 2013, george ceremonyman is jacker -- george zimmerman is acquitted and then the death of eric guardianer and john crawford and michael braun and tameer rise. and this is all we could focus on. the first thing is there is still activism going on. in fact before those moments. there were people in communities, activists and

organizations who have for decade, generations, been working on these issues and we health paid enough attention -- haven't paid enough attention to the work they were doing. it's clear the attention we were all collectively paying dissipated and started to do that prior to the election. last year in 2016, there had been a name that aren't gone viral, not a hash tag, not a shooting story. i remember actually working with colleagues preparing a piece about where did it go, where did "black lives matter" go? and i saw this name trending online, and we just the story. except for this one guy, and then in the next day, another one is killed, and the day after the, the shooting of the dallas officers so even at this moment it's very likely there will be a day, a video, moment this year, where our eyes will be back on these issues.

that said, think -- then i'll shut up. activists, i think, and organizations, people -- i don't speak for them but interview and talk to them very often -- as is true across any number of issues in the center of the political spectrum we're unprepared for the reality that's woke up into the morning after the election, many people in a lot of spaces, especially on the left, were expecting to be pressuring the democratic president into doing more of what they considered to be the right thing. may not have loved hillary clinton but believed they were dealing with someone who at least wanted to bev seen at their ally, who they could kind of keep pushing. itself similar to the obama years. being invited into the white house -- -- 100 in chicago and "black lives matter." there was this idea that there was not aned a sir -- as very

sayreal relationship, and thereof emendorsed bernie sanders and didn't vote because they didn't like hillary clinton. many thought they would be dealing with someone who sympathetic with their cause and ideas. in reality they weeks up with a president and attorney general who doesn't believe police departments should be investigations. so it's fundamentally changed the need for tactics and understand hogue do they what they do. >> can i respond on that? that is why what you just said was very important and i've been watching dismiss going around the country meeting with people and talking to them. that's why we have to understand that the best opportunities to do the most in resisting is when you have a president who is outrageous and offensive. in fact, the best moments in the movements i've been in we succeeded is when win went up again -- i remember when reagan became president. some people think reagan dismiss great hero and airported named after him and whatever is named

after him. he was awful. he was affable in person. i met him and knew him but the guy was an s.o.b., really, when it calm to people's rights. that's what he was, and devastation in the justice department. a whole bunch of lawyers just quits their jobs and wake away when they didn't have anything else to do in the civil right division because they wouldn't let them enforce anything. and the people went up against them. we call its turning back the clock onsive rights which is -- on civil right, which is what he was doing. but we organized and resist him. we resisted him on -- in the antiapartheid movement. he was on the side of south africa in that, and people said that we couldn't do anything about it. but we were persistent and we organized and we thought up a differenting extra -- different strategy on different days and things to do kept at it, and we won you.

feel so much better when you win against somebody where it's hard to win, than somebody who is, quote, friendly, although that's hard, too. what has happened with the young people is what you said. maybe of them put all their eggs in the political basket, and i kept saying to them, you shouldn't put all your eggs in the political basket. don't be seduced by going over to the whews and talking d to we house and talking to people. somebody applaud that because it's important. don't be seduced because you have got to -- politics without protest dish ken telling them over and over again -- that's the history. fred douglass said, people who want fro -- you know what the said. >> unless your -- >> unless your karat top. then he is still alive and -- [laughter]

>> what is needed is in every movement i've been involved in, though, -- yeah, it's funny. has a had a crisis where people think, we can't do anything anymore, and if you think about it, all of those people who killed the people you named, some of them, they got acquitted. they didn't get charged, whatever, which is terribly frustrating, and i kept tellle people they're not going to gets convicted unless you keep the pressure up. don't say the justice department or somebody is going to do something. the fact is that it requires insistent, per since extent, and a -- persistent and tragedyizing about different things to do because the media will follow you if you do something and it's different. if you are a monk you burn yourself in vietnam during the war.

the first monk burned everybody said, they were burning themselves and the whole nation was fixated on the 5:00 news. after the tenth monk burned him, people said, oh, hell, another monk burned himself. so you have -- in a movement -- they also need new people to come in and they will, young people, who are in on the campuses now, doing other stuff, they are going home for the summer but will be back for the fall. once we get over this, we hate trump, whatever, and all of that, russia and whatever else, then in fact i'm more concerned about north korea than i am about russia. but anyway, think the movement needs new energy, needs some of the young people, like you out there, to get involved with these understandings and strategize and keep it going because as you point out, the killings are going to continue. it's not like they going to stop racism isn't going away. sorry. >> one thing that is really important, when you think about

the free south africa movement where the african national congress said they want to do -- they want to make south africa ungovernable and that's why those of us who -- people came at it very differently. the work i did was around divestment. others were protesting be arrest. a proposition in san francisco, 1984, proposition j, named after me, where we divest city pension funds from companies doing business with ought -- south africa which was impactful. want to make it economically ungovernable, any number of ways so i think the issue of imagination, some people have folded up their tent. we don't have any power because they have the house and the senate and the white house and the court. somehow there are wayed to make this thing ungovernable, and you saw the folks flood the texas

legislature and you saw some individuals say, call up the ins on at the protesters and saw two legislators go to fisticuffs over that. so, again, thinking about ways to basically make this thing ungovernable, and one of the things is seemings to me that has to happen is that -- i'm speaking to my young folks because, i don't care if ann coulter speaks somewhere. we're not afraid of that little scarecrow. but the amount of energy that we are putting into -- if we censor them, they can censor us. debate her. shut her down. should not have hat the void -- the secretary of education --

devoid of good sense -- a bethune graduation, that was not accessible. we have to be able to basically deal with how you make something ungovernable. >> the make a statement. >> young people. >> they made their statement. also, when with the person who introduced her, as well they made the statement with her and with the education secretary, and very good point. very good point. and, again, hash tag, race in america, break -- you have any questions, come forward. there's so much on the table. there's so much on the table right now, and i just -- as a reporter reporter who has when covering the white house for 20 years and you guys have been in the streets longer than that, but when there is persistence, and en masse, things happen, and going back to my conversation

with harry belafonte, he said back in the '50s and '60s people came together. he says now there is a different move on the other side that has a lot of funding that supports anything the other side will do like heritage or the nra. talk to me about the resources going into the activism to create change. talk to me about that. >> here's the biggest -- one of the biggest challenges we fees is people who are about making change in this country on the left. the organizations are largely 1c3s and largely focuses on fundraising and typically is a fansful -- a handful of foundations. there needs to be more direct funding from the people to flow into organizations so they're more nimble and can focus on the things they know are important and don't have to wait for a grants cycle.

that's huge. another process is even beyond the funding, honestly, think people are shellshocked. so much happening at one time that people don't even really know how to focus their energy. should we focus on education? should we focus on something -- it's like every day it's like five or six things coming down the spike how do you defend everything all at one sometime the biggest way in my mind to make a difference in terms of a movement is to focus on one thing with everything that you have and push and push and push and push until you create change. but when you're pushing against -- act of destruction we're facing right no so many different things being threaten inside so many different ways how can you mount a movement that is targeted and structured and powerful in a way that is going to be able to knock those

things down in domino form. that's very difficult. whatever resources we have, at this moment, would be spread so thin that it would be difficult to be impactful. >> if people stay in their lanes -- we have so many organizations who could so many things. we have health organizations. they should stay in their lane and do the health stuff. we have the lawyers and others looking at vote suppression. >> should people come and join them? you say stay in the lane. might just have health people -- >> i mean people should join them. i love the octopus. i'm stealing it. i love the notion of the octopus of destruction i also know how many organizations we have, we have organizations that support african-american women, and lgbtq issues and i don't mean -- we have so many organizations, everybody is not going to work on one thing. people have to work on educational organizations who should be working on that. i sapeles today that interested

me because -- i saw a piece today that it interested me. a letter to somebody. i'm not sure who yet. but we're looking at the endowment of the top universities in our nation. they get all kind of tax breaks, harvard, the m.i.t. harvard has ten of them. one of them has -- if you add up all the ah bcu we have one percent of those endowments but they're gating -- there's a tax benefit. the issues how can the tax benefits be spent. how can universities which maintain x-rays class differences -- why should the universities gets them. that's an issue for those who are faced with educational equity. we have to continue our work in the organizations that are -- we have the economic policy institute, progressive economic organizations, folks do the work they're best able to do and everybody don't try to do everything, because it really is going to require a masssive

resistance that is not just going to be, let's come together, kumbiya. we need the watcher. the american medical association and the american nurse association and the organizations came out against that thing they called -- >> health care. >> i wouldn't even call it that i'm call it making america sick again. but in -- all these organizations who tend end not be especially political, decided they were going to oppose this, that's mass simple. if they continue, that's even more important. it seems like -- how do you eat an elephant? in bite-sized pieces. >> all right, julianne, all right. julianne is correct. that's one way to do it. there's another way to do it, which we have done, which is pick an issue and mobilize around that issue and get people to mobilize, and we found that

if you win on that issue, it helps them respond to you on the others because they see you can win. i remember we did the bork fight. the judge thing, bork, and we beat them on that. and when we beat them on it, mobilizing the grassroots and everybody, and big media, everything, and we were trying to get somebody called the civil rights restoration act passed. the supreme court hands down four bad dons generalter and race and we had this law we were trying to get passed and couldn't get it passed. we beat bork, the white house set up -- sat up and took notice and people in congress thought if they can mobilize all those people around that, they can mobilize all these people around this. the took a second look. so one way to do is it to focus on one issue and just pare it

down and the other is for people to city --ty in their lane. >> be squeaky wheel gets the hillary supporter. >> thank you for coming, we are enjoying what you're saying. would you comments on the underlying reason that some of these poll policies are being fostered in each of these departments where these structures and the administrative procedures are being decimated? we can see it happening and been reported in paper but would you comment on the underlying policy reason this is occurring. >> it's too free up capitalism. julianne puts it in economic language sort of economic language and terms, leavened with comedy chase release.

in fact it's about freeing up capitalism from regulatory constraints so that the more profit can be made. that's the bottom line whether it's on the environment, and what they're doing to epa, whether it is the rules and the labor department, whether it's getting rid of the office of federal contract compliance, whatever it is, when you see it, the stuff they're doing with the language of the health care, the overall goal is to deregulate and to make sure that the people who are the capitalists maximize their profits. that's all it's about. maximizing profits, capitalism does work. it requires inequality. you learn that in econ 101. the only question is, who is go be at the bottom and who is going to be at the top. getting rid of all of this stuff is clearing the land for capitalism to thrive, even more than before.

>> well, race is -- i mean, racism in the united states is basically inextricably intertwined with capitallity. that's the nature of the base. frankly, racism is the way that this country has justified its expansion, its economic expansion, the way that be basically justified our financial system. remember, enslaved people were the collateral for bonds which was a basis of the development of our banking system. so, the capitalism requires you to be able to basically pick out folk who can easily be exploited. so, at the -- if you think back on history, enslaved people and indentured people, there was no difference in the early 17 knowledge in century, and then they saw, we can just discriminate against these black folks so white folks who came, the english, iver, who came as

indentured, were able to work their way into freedom after seven years or 14 years, and early on black africans were able to do as well. i forgets the year -- mary frances knows but it's a year in the book -- >> 1626. >> thank you. 1626. i knew she knew. >> rather than 1627. >> when you could not -- african people could not work their way out. so, the entirety of the south was built on black backs. you would not have had any south in any of those plantations and all of that. and it's intertwined. you must have -- this form of capitalism requires racism. i don't think that -- what people are thinking of now, you did a really great job as an economist -- >> thank you. >> to talk about profit maximization, unfettered.

so that the man in the debate talked about all this regulation. regulation has been good. by and largement we have seen the bet fits -- benefits. do we want felty water? we need a food and drug administration and they not even perfect. they have one reg that says you can have an eighth of a roach in a box of cereal? seriously. maybe it's a 16th of a roach. whatever it is. >> from the field. >> from the field. >> a field bug. >> but this has been about basically empowering capitalists. don't want regulation because regulation forces them to be response, forces them to report. they don't want to report what they're doing. don't want to report the amount of pollution. they don't want to report -- osha, -- >> they're basically cutting the budget of osha, occupational safety and health administration so that people may not be

inspected for 15 years. so you reduce the period of inspections significantly. it's about the profit and about the capitalism. >> pause for a moment. i'm going to pause. want to take an unscientific poll in this room. how many people right now are discontented or at dis-ease? >> can be put both hands and our feet up? >> all right. i want you to be honest. a room full of love. we accept you. those who are okay. who is okay? >> who is happy and okay? okay. so, this is my question. everyone talks about the approval numbers. this is -- i'm seeing more people disapproving, why -- the approval numbers are the minority them disapprove are the majority. you have to come to -- >> this is a friendly audience

of progressive people, basically who come to hear this because they're interested. >> and wrote who read. >> and who read. >> and there is a level of discontent in people -- >> i had a conversation with -- my trainer trains a man -- who the big trump supporter, right before he trains me every tuesday. so, he is an africa african-american so he always tells me -- we are on tv so i can't say what called the man but he told me that hillary was a pox on the earth. that's what what he said. he called hear spit stain. and said how is spit stain today? this man truly believes that everything, everything, is a democratic plot to make 45 look bad. and craig is always like i want to get the two of you together to have a conversation. 35% at least, a hard-core people who believe that.

>> that number is eroding. >> i have been in the foxhole with mary francesberry in the past. the last thing i want to say -- i can't speak for everyone but since the trump -- i don't call it's victory -- but since trump was elected i find myself more and more at maces like this and in forums like this and maybe other people like this, too because -- >> coming together. >> any just commiserating together but the resistance, what mary talked about, not just during the antiapartheid movement, and this is for everyone in this room. think the glass is way more full than anyone can really assess at this moment. unfortunately, historical patterns sometimes move slow, and we're in it right now, but

there is anyone who was at the women's march, that was amazingly phenomenal. there were people there who would never go to a march anywhere. >> sean spicer got up there with me blue suit and talked about in the numbers that saturday. >> exactly. >> but my point -- i wanted to tell my -- april you touched right on it. think that we should be less concerned -- less focused about what that percentage of the so-called trump supporters think and feel, and continue to galvanize whatever you are doing -- i think what mass mary -- whatever you are doing, take that piece of your resistance, own it and do not let go of it. i think that is really where we have to be. as opposed to the heritage and those folks. they're not that strong.

they really are not. and. >> a lot of money. >> they have a lot of money. >> money is the game in this town -- >> money is the game, of course, and i'm not trying to minimize it but i think the power of resistance is even stronger, and given where we are today, people cannot control the internet. they can't control social media. and i think we have to look at what we -- >> there is a loud obvious they're resisting. >> just saying, resist, okay? >> you have a long line and i want to keep the questions and answers short. the rest of you have something to add? >> one thing to add on that, think that -- talk about this journalist mindset. but crisis creates clarity, and the reality is people ask me very often, i work with so many of the reporters who are breaking these stories.

what its like right now? it muss -- must be difficult to be a gorgeousist. -- journalist, the violence and the vitriol has been sustained and it in this moment it's obvious this administration is attempting to conceal, has -- ideas of truth and reality, it's very obvious what our job is. >> we're the enemy of the people, the opposition party. >> very obvious what your sob is. we think while there certainly is a clear grassroots and real energy, real mobilization of people in response to this, do think you can't write off the reality that elects do have consequences and real people, in the immigrants in the detention

center that don't care about the women's march. someone was shot by the police and but they're dead. there are in fact real life consequences to policy and to politics. and so the fact that after the fact everyone gets together and says something should change, can't get used to overlook the reality that in real time there are real consequences in our political conversation. >> starts on contrast something that happened in a couple of weeked at morgan state university graduation, former vice president joe biden declared black lives matter, as you have a new administration, 100 some days in talking about reviewing all of the sentencing of people. it's a different day. this is not political. this is actual fact. there is a different day herement yes, ma'am. >> thank you. thank you for being here.

you have a roomful of people who want at the be activists but there's no systemic coordinated effort. we can put a man on the moon. we can do the hollywood shows. we can do all these things but why have we never brought together a think tank of the leading experts across america to address education, to address the criminal justice system to address community. what can we do? we're all here because we want to do something. >> there is a blueprint, a most successful blueprint ever, the civil rights movement blueprint. you have to link up. you have two people right here three people right here, women, civil rights, economists. this is the beginning. >> absolutely. what i'm saying is, there needs to be a systemic coordinated

effort on a national level that we, the everyday people, can then feed into, and we've got the resources but no one has ever done it. >> there are -- >> if you look at the women odd march as an example -- not the best example because there were issues but you look at the women's march, some lady in -- was she in alaska? hawai'i? some lady wasn't an activist. she said we have to do something so she threw it out there and it got energy of its own. now, my challenge with the women's march had to do with race issues and class issues and others but i think it was dish was there. it was a tremendous moment and the challenge with these -- marching is necessary but not sufficient. marches have to link with public policy, and that's my challenge with the youngins in "black lives matter." i like the fact they put together a policy paper which talks about policy.

everyone always hankers for this big national movement, and you forget that when dr. king -- the montgomery bus boycott was not a huge national movement. it was few miami who were so outraged by what happened they came together, and they stayed off those buses for more than a year. >> even deeper than that. when dr. king start with the civil rights movement, four percent of black churches with him, only four percent of black churches. so it grew. sometime you have to start small. >> the national baptist convention kicked him out. so they started a new one. but if you start a movement, and you can start one yourself. you and five of your friends or three of them or whatever, and you can go to whatever organization you belong to, which says it's in the business

of doing policy, and on any of these issues that you care about, and coordinate a strategy with them, and go and send out messages of the internet, the wail we do in social media and you can sit down with your friend every day, which is what we did, many of them and strategize on what can we do today to draw attention to this issue and get a couple of people on the hill who have some courage and some sense to introduce some legislation that will do what you want. it's not going pass right now but introduce today do what you want. which gives you a focus for whatever it is you decided to pick from this, and you can spoil that movement -- i've seen it happen. ow can support that movement. we used to do it with the mimeograph and posters. but with the internet, if you take the time -- we all had jobs and went to work, too, and you can do that -- i don't mean just

you but anybody can do this themselves by starting that up, and being persistent and -- it's like people who start newsletters or e-mail or whatever it is they do -- >> i guess my point -- absolutely. i guess my point is, we saw so many people showing up at the marches, all the different marches, women's day march, anytime a black man was killed by police officers, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people showed up. if there was a coordinated effort for those people to then funnel into, we would see a lot more change in our communities because people don't know what to do. they want to do something but they don't want know what to do. >> of that goes back to money. >> anybody who would like, i own a cafe here in the city and we have a dialogue on race every second and fourth monday evening so -- >> where. >> love and faith community cafe, on 14th street, halfway

between u street and columbia heights. second and fourth monday. >> thank you so much. >> are you guys part of the conversation tonight? >> i'm from -- we're streaming the event on facebook live and we have panel who are asking questions online. i will ask you the questions. i will, april. the last question -- the question is very similar to the one gentlemen just had. this is from frank and he says, what is -- to the whole panel, what advice give to white parents of a black child? >> i'm going to go to avis. >> thank you. i happen to be the mother of two black children. i would say the first thing is to don't ignore the issue of race. don't make your child -- don't lie to your children and teach them that they're not black, they're just human. of course we're all human. we all know that.

but they need to equip their child with history and knowledge and information that will allow them to navigate a racist society in a way the which, when something happens to them, and which something inevitably will happen to them, they will know it hasn't hand to them because there's something wrong with them. they now it happened to them because there's something horribly wrong with this society and that's a protective mechanism you can give your children. another thing i would suggest is -- a brilliant book called "why all the children -- why all the black children sit together in the cafeteria company and that book is about racial identity development. >> i read that when i was -- >> it is really -- it's old but so relevant. suggest not only to white children raising black children -- white parents raising black children wife.

suggest it to all parents because it's very important to understand that what we struggle with in this country, as it relates to race, is something that we like to kid ourselves and say, well, kids aren't racist. kids grow up in a racist society, and it is -- they hear net parents see it in magazines and on tv and the cartoons and video games. its permeates our society. they've infused itself into them, and so they then do assignee their privilege to something or complete rejection to other things based on that, and we have to raise our children in that truth so they don't take it personally. >> let me give this real quick. >> i wrote a book on that topic, and i'll be fast with this.

life -- reality happened. have two little girls, 14 and a nine-year-old, we're in baltimore. and their school was affected, and i would be remiss, -- not talk to my children in my own home. so i had to tell them about what was happening in life but also i told them there is hope. reality may anyone -- everything was not nice. so i had to -- reality forced me to tell it. think we have to tell them with love and hope because when you talk about matters of race that comes from one of the mose sacred spaces. you can have all -- after what happened it's about the heart. it's a heart issue and comes from one of the most sacred places. so i think all parents have a responsibility to influence their children when, i don't care what color you are. we have to do that. tell me about the parents you

had to deal with -- >> of course. i'm not the parent of any children, black children or white children, but -- the reality is, part of the work i've done has been about telling the stovers the people at the center of these kind of touch points in history. city neglect living room of walter scott's family as they're watching the video of walter scott being killed, watching will tonight -- they're in the living room on the television. and again, think that's important. sometime wes have these conversations and these kind of -- removed theoretical, philosophical ways and the realities -- a reality that a white parent a may not understand about a killed black child -- that race is not theoretical. not a theory to be debated. not a philosophical clashing

but, rather, an everpresent reality and it has the potential and probability of impacting almost every interaction or at least casting a shadow of question over whether or not it has somehow impacted every question. i think that dish think that's important and i think it's important to remember what we don't know. and not be foolish enough to think we comprehend someone else's experiences. i remember reading charles mills and the idea that victimology is -- what we know about kind of the layering of oppression and inequity is a white american or a man or someone with -- gender and sexuality has had their experiences in their life so

structural and so influenced be the fact they're part of a privileged group they're removed from ever being able to completely understand what it would be like otherwise, and vice versa, a black american who has had this everpresent weight of race on them for the entirety of their entirety of their life won't be able to think about not having to worry about your skin color. you asked me a question -- this moment where we feel as if we know everything about everything or can quickly figure it out, sometime wes leave to remember that there are things and experiences we don't quite get we should shut up and listen while other people talk. >> you look up things in wick could wikipedia because most of the time what's on there is false.

you should also not like a child believe that race doesn't affect everything. at least be prepared whether you are buying a house where someone tells you that the house is worth more than you can pay when they just told someone else something different. even in the stone age. they are prepared to be sneaky.

and so these are the things that you should arm the child with. >> very quickly i have noticed that we talked about reading. there's so much cultural reading that is available for parents. to make sure that there are books about african-americans and other people of color that there are dolls that reflect in history that we talk about the history. and we are and had to as a white parent educate yourself. with the context of years ago. there are some challenges in terms of appropriation. if a white person want to adopt a black child they need to be prepared to do cultural immersion. they need to be prepared to

seek out. put your child in jack and jill. for an african-american organization. if you don't know what jack and jill as it is a black organization that has kids from different races hang out together. >> but there are other organizations that seek out other black kids. and a suburb summer -- suburbs somewhere. let them have an opportunity to experience that. don't take it to churches where they lay hands. that is another topic.

>> on target in trouble for that one. i have many questions so i understand and don't understand at the same time. it's interesting. i think you missed the point. so when i'm thinking about this. not what you think. a donald. he lives in baltimore he was a nothing. and i took him who lived in baltimore came from bad places. people around him other like to hang around i told him you know what he is today? he is a professor at a very important university. his beautiful family and a beautiful house. how do you do that for

example. on the way. it teaches them that. this is the important thing. how do you do that. >> a lot of people are doing it. part of it is just like you did with your donald each one take one do one. it is a center that the former first lady cora barry has found it. kids are having amazing opportunities. but part of the challenge is that the city has made a decision and i remember when it was founded for the proposals. one recreation center for every 900 kids.

while the individual touches that it's in profoundly important. that's why the question i raised earlier. it is important. they are not prepared to give the kind of financial aid that they need to give to their young people. we're also talking practice. everybody here is putting their hands on people and we are putting our hands on people as we believe in transformation but even as we believe in transformation individually we believe that public policy makes a difference also. and we can advise people [applause]. your question is a very good one. everybody in this room wants

to do something to resist. they were to take one child to mentor one child to go help in the community. at that level. it's an important point i think everyone should try to do that in their own personal life. this has been a very informative conversation. >> am very honored to hear all of your stories tonight. it's inspirational for me to see the groundwork that you have laid as a young person who cares a lot about social justice. another thing i see is an all-black panel.

the call the world-class education. the moral values that my mother gave me as a kid have been thrown into shock they really helps me in my family succeed have been what you call enough one had ten more does pop up. can you give me some ways that i can leverage my privileged into being a more productive activist i watched it back there taking notes. been here speaking telling your truth i agree with that.

know that wherever you want to go stand hand-in-hand other people who are in the streets were helping in whatever way they can in their community you will be accepted. don't feel like you have to my on the outside. where you see that there is help people in their doing the work join and you will be welcomed. use your privilege to leverage against injustice. a very brief history one of my staff people went to a kinko's and the person behind the counter actually went around her to serve a young white woman but the young white woman said she was next. she stood up being an order and in line. look at those guys in portland. i'm not suggesting you get yourself kiddo -- killed but they chose to stand up to

injustice so you can do in ways often that some other folks can't. when you looked at the protest against the world bank a lot of people noticed that you didn't see a lot of students of color in this protest and you know why someone was back in the bail him out of jail. i'm not suggesting that you put your whole self on the line but i'm suggesting that you think about ways that your privilege can become an asset to the movement. since this is about race there was an open letter penned to the dnc. they were staying at large listen. so you had used just for your grassroots organizing in together we gathered the

vote. when are you gonna recognize us for what we had contributed not just to the democratic party but to the country at large. i will say something really fast. this goes to a couple of things. number one when you are community with money people in the unfortunate thing is when you look at the black community they don't see that. they don't see that an investment. and they don't see the zip code that shows that they are able to put their kids in the nicer schools. and i go back to the convention i think of the black mothers and the mothers of the movement that were there. when i'm talking about the mother.

so we have seen the question is now how much more are you going to take. what do you do now. you keep writing letters. what are we talking about here. when people make moves and that they see it those women that marched around after the inauguration it was upsetting to them. sean spicer came to the podium serious the numbers were massive. it wasn't just an once -- and list towns. the question is you have the blueprint what you do. african-american women 94% voted democratic in the selection our strength is gone

unrecognized in the democratic party. a couple of young sisters ran for vice chair. i know they are trying to figure it all out. we been the most loyal of the democratic party and we have not been rewarded thereof. none of us are prepared to sit out an election. but we can go back when the national political congress a black women was founded in 1984 the tension between black and white women were such that the organization was founded. even though they had been loyalists that loyalty has not

been recognized white women and white democrats had to be able to speak up for black women even as we speak up for ourselves. maybe they should but they don't most of the time. in fact i had been in all of the situations where they won't speak up for black women. other people black is not in vogue. invoked. so that there is a problem. i think you are correct. they take black people for granted. they've done it for a long time and we don't have to not vote it's too painful to talk about our we not going to vote after all of those people that

died. i wrote in one of my friends names. that was all about one vote. in fact i think that what we need to do is figure out a way not to be taken for granted. matter what we say or do the democratic party leadership in the structure and i know because i've been in administration that sat around listening to people talk. they assumed they were going to get our votes. it is going to be the beginning of a longer strategy. also the number one voters in america for the past several elections. so we vote.

the same black women don't get support from traditional party structure. so we invest in an organization that does not invest in us. i do get some to think about redirecting dollars to support us. in at the same time continue to put them on blast in numerous ways. when it comes to what actually happens it's like crickets. look at the contract and that the dnc felt. look at who they hire to do pulls and consulting. they cannot win an election without it. they have several ways to invest them.

they could be purchased. exactly. you see the beginning and it should not and until you see that change. i will ask you this. the currency was trying to get the black vote. they can have to use the data. why would just one party be accountable. i'm not suggesting that you just do that. i understand. if you are in a democracy i think all sides need too.

absolutely. i am a white democratic woman for i had spoke up for minorities men and women. and again there are a lot of us. what i would like two-point out for the question about the unified movement. some of the supporters have formed an organization called our revolution. into work for economic and political change. people might want to check into that. even though might come from largely democratic ritz. i would also want to recommend on an optimistic note how richmond california and the fourth largest town in city in california which has minority population. from the community action.

so steve early we find that there. thank you for that so much. you are the last question. you mentioned the word predatory capitalism. my question is if you peel away the onion what is the root cause where the root causes of predatory capitalism my opinion i could be wrong or if perhaps i'm on the right track is number one predatory capitalism is driven by the fact that we don't have the campaign finance reform . the citizens united has expanded and enabled and given a life to predatory

capitalism. we can put regulations in place but really the root cause is the amount of money if we look at other first world countries and compare those countries to how we operate as a so-called democracy we had unfettered access to money and are so-called democracy. i believe that is the root cause. in the fact that they had co-opted the narrative into equated democracy with capitalism and so are constituency we no longer understand civic duty and we actually believe that that equals predatory capitalism. i would like to hear your take on that. we have become more predatory even prior to citizens united. one of the things that you

will find is that 1973 recovery my numbers are rough because i don't have them in front of me. roughly 60% of the benefit of the economic recovery went to the bottom 90%. the other 40% went to the top 10%. in the most recent uncle which theoretically began in 2009 but in that particular recovery the bottom 90% lost 15% while the top 10% gained 115 percent. from the 70s on we have seen basically citizens united a factor but not the factor. we are basically seen a narrative seeing a narrative that has been driven by the ability to put wedges between people. you have these working-class white people as if there is no

working-class black people who believe that all of the black people have all the stuff that the government has provided. whether it's welfare or food stamps. the programs would not exist. they just would not be. the only people that got these programs. you have these white folks who believe the narrative that they have everything we have nothing. our tax money is going for them. and half of them came across the border. people have been able to use race and ethnicity as a wedge in the process of the conversation to maintain basically the deep regulatory focus that other money essentially supports. i think it is deeper than that.

our dear friend well had one last name. and also congratulations. in your upcoming award as a journalist of the year. needless to say we can't say enough about mary frances berry and the other panelists as well. but this is a very powerful panel i had been to all of your series and it needs to go on the road but i would also say on is just from that perspective of politics and prose. i was a member of the national congress. and with my mentor. we know that while and how we miss her. but we leave in a celebrity culture there is no more celebrity than the panel sitting here. and it seems to me whether by

video and with harry belafonte who has also been here by the way you have to reeducate the young people this is who they are this is who was in the struggle. i can still visualize on other people being trained in the movement and how to deal with those things coming upside your head. and how to protect the women in training. and how to hold their bodies so that they would not be injured there was a time when upon panel like this. for somebody to be in what they take and do something with it. and several -- several of us are advocating for more.

and we did go that week. i thing think it was two hours. but were challenging you with the whole day. it's a lot to be in a museum. no it's not enough. i think you hear a lot of people here say that. more is needed. so where do you go from here to do more. i think the café. outside some people. you are celebrities. let me say this. as someone who is there. i am a black woman in america.

>> and i understand the plight of baltimore and i understand also economic wealth -- while i think the best way for me as a journalist by nursing and understanding who i am and having the relationships with these amazing people is to bring them to you. these are my friends and bring them to you because they have something important to say and i think once you hear from them you take it out into your community and talk have tea with your friends. have a book club with each one of your books. and you spread it out. those are just a few things that you can do. this not just a moment it has been so forward thinking. i'm sure we are going to do more. you make a difference.

when i say it starts with you i have seen it being here and discussing the knowledge and understanding of each one has is to impart to you to go out to your community and do it that what you must so i think for me as a journalist i have done my job. >> i would follow them anywhere. and do it likewise. i'm just saying. i note that we are winding down. i want to lift up the name of the second tenant richard collins of the third. the man who was killed by the university of maryland student. we had have very little

national conversation about this. speaker ryan and talked about what happened in manchester. she went on the social media talking about this thing. first of all the fbi is investigating hate crime what you look at where this boy has come from and outright things that he has done. just really frightening things. it's amazing he can actually read a teleprompter. because will he say anything about this young man. he called for a moment of silence on the floor of the

congress for manchester good that lets call for a moment of silence with the victims this is domestic terrorism. i cried. when i walked by his casket in the museum. he is in everything right. i have nephews who are 30 and 33. i pray for them every day. this is why they are being taught to be humble this is why my mom says to me all the time i'm so glad you are not born male. i would been gone. i would've been gone would been gone a long time ago. it is a frightening situation

and we are conscious to continue to lift this young man up. his name belongs in that role. and the other question we have to ask is who raised him. how do they raise him. what did they talk about at the dinner table. how did this person if you're 80 and you are racist you are about to be up here anyway. but when you're 20 and your racist it's really very troubling to me. >> have you enjoyed this evening? [applause]. we will have concluding statements and i will start off with her activist friend.

i guess the only thing i would say is obviously racism is not over. you can have plenty of these programs. and what we do about it is not something that is clear now that it wasn't before. when we think about this young man that julian was talking about all i could think of was all of the soldiers who are in the military who came home from the war and were killed in their home towns when they got off of the train. just because they have on a uniform. that happened in world war i and world war ii. and it's something that we confront and face every day. and racism and talking about it is in vogue en vogue in this room but it is something that will keep us busy working and that's what we should do.

i have to say i think one thing that we need to be real about at this moment is that there is a rise in hate groups and hate violence. and violence throughout this nation. that is what is particularly disturbing. there is a reluctance to call it what it is. terrorism and to really prosecute it at the level it should be prosecuted. we all have a talk. i also teach them. thank you for joining us. he is a newbie on the panel. i'm just try to listen and not talk that much. i just say wow. this is important. as one of the media members of their moments like this press intermediate are very

important. they have gotten out of that. as well as getting to the engaged feedback. that expense of attention. and it affects most human beings. it comes with the shift in the department of labor. that type of journalism is difficult. they don't see this thing the thing that would benefit people. what i was asked when i have the opportunity to talk about it that you would be engaged in this journalism.

they you apply the pressure. i can see these important things happening in mainstreet as well. >> i would say thank you. this is been very uplifting for me. i'm a cynic by nature. in this room gives me hope. hope to see the number of white people who are in the room who voluntarily came into the room to talk about race which often a lot of white folks don't want to talk about race. a lot of white folks were not voluntarily talking about race. they were willing to give up a couple hours of their evening a little boy over there. that they brought a young man in.

we need to think about who we bring into the room with us. and that young people can hear this. they will get them deported. unless they didn't have the right kind of conversation at home. i leave this there. the people that want to go there. they think i'm an angry black woman. i live off of 14th street. i have attitude. i'm not just an angry black woman but one hopes for a better world. to turn pain into power to make sure that we do have a better world. i wish that we could see rooms like this replicated in lots of places. thank you all for coming out.

scenically it have such a great audience. this is very important to continue these conversations because listening tonight of the hundred 37 days old. i didn't say it she said it. there seems to be a great discontentment from a majority of people. and what i would say talk amongst yourselves. figure this out. you've got to figure this out. it's about you and we can talk about what we know but it's all about you. it's all about you. and what i was encouraged to do was get together with each other as one of the most diverse crowds. some of them that i've seen before here and we encourage you to keep coming and bringing someone else. this was an important conversation race touches

almost every facet of america this president is totally different from the last. i encourage you to stay tuned because we will have another series but i want you to take what you learned from each one of the panelists and move on and figure out how you are going to change in your community at all started from a conversation i have with harry della fonte. belafonte. what you can do with this. what he can do with what you learn tonight. it's not about us is about you. i want to thank the author of $5 and up pork chop sandwich.

please give her a big round of applause. how exceptional black women lead. the author of ferguson baltimore and the new air of the justice movement. and last but not least the author of our we better off race obama and public in public policy. i think you all for this segment of our conversation we are signing the bucks go by them. they are stocked full of knowledge. thank you c-span you are awesome. it's the best bookstore ever. you guys have a great evening.

[inaudible] book tv recently visited capitol hill to ask members of congress but what they are reading the summer. >> congressman fred upton for michigan what are you reading. just finish that literally last week but this is a great sort of a survivalist book. it's about a young man whose family life went off the deep end for sure. a very will read and smart guy. and then he just disappeared. obviously heartbroken family because of it. it talks that his struggle and obviously you could not be interviewed for it. they went through the journal and talk to people who made a positive impact across the country.