the end of the book talks about johnson's effort to start to do that. .. the powerful testimony of people affected by hate in

today's climate. it received positive reviews. welcome, arjun singh sethi. we will have questions and books after. [applause] >> are we okay with the sound back there c-span? okay, great! i will admit that i do not have a lot of experience sitting on a high chair. [laughter] reading from a book to a cafi full of people. but i will do my very best this evening. thank you all for joining this important conversation. i'm going to start out by talking a little bit about, i have been told i need to project. i'm going to start by talking a little about my journey. and why i decided to write this

book. then i'm going to read from some of the survivors testimonials. because ultimately, this book, this moment isn't about me. it is about survivors and communities across this country who are experiencing hate and all of its forms. why i wrote this book. first things first. the united states of america was built on a hate crime. the decimation and genocide of native communities. and it was furthered on additional hate crimes including slavery. jim crow, mass incarceration and the like. yet, it is nevertheless, in fact that notwithstanding, that dark history, hate and all of its forms, has spiked in this moment.

bullying, sexual assault, cyber trolling, vandalism, arson of houses of worship, hate violence, sometimes leading to murder. i am a community activist. that is what i do. i work closely with muslim, arabs, south asian across the united states. what i was hearing during the 2016 presidential election, was that hate was spiking in every facet of american life. and so i decided to travel the country and meet with survivors in their homes, houses of worship, community centers and document these stories. in american hate, you will find native voices, black, jewish, queer, trance, persons with disabilities, muslims, jews, south asian, undocumented,

because these are all of the communities that are experiencing hate and grief in this moment. the last point that i want to make before i delve into a reading leaving time for questions at the end is that there is, indeed, in a lot of pain, grief and suffering across this country. but there is also plenty of reason to be optimistic and hopeful. because those who have lost so much, survivors of hate violence, survivors of some of the worst atrocities you can imagine continue to be reeled, continue to endure, organize and protest. i'm going to read some of those excerpts tonight. i will go ahead and jump right in. and read a little bit from the introduction.

which lays out a little more about my journey. the suffering and pain in the stories is sometimes hard to bear. and i experienced many moments of outrage and sadness ingathering them and editing this book. but alongside the grief, you will find stories of survival and resistance. you will even find unexpected and steering examples of reconciliation and forgiveness in the most trying and painful of circumstances. a single hateful act can reveal the worst in humanity and the response the most compassionate. there is no better way to tell the stories then in the words of survivors. for too long, the stories of those who have lost so much have been told by others. when the media produces context about vulnerable communities,

they tend to marginalize and exclude us. our experiences are described and depicted by people we do not know and pain and hurt are reduced to a single headline for soundbite. in the trump care in particular, it has become almost trendy to speak, write, direct material about marginalized communities. but rarely do the purveyors of content sit down and speak at length with survivors. rarely do they visit them in their homes. rarely do they see how hate has impacted their everyday lives. there communities and those around them. the survivors in this book repeatedly express this concern. later on in the introduction. reading the stories of follow is the extraordinary honor and privilege. consider it a gift from survivors. they want to leave the world a better place than they found it.

as i traveled across the country, i have come to realize that in many ways, the purpose of hate is to silence. it seeks to subjugate and exterminate and do away with different and uniqueness. the individuals who stories you will know read refused to be silenced. speaking out is the most basic and vital form of resistance. the first testimonial that i am going to be reading from is taylor, taylor was the first african-american woman to ever be elected student body president at american university in washington d.c.. and the very day that she took office, nooses were found hanging across campus. i was 13 years old the first time i heard someone say the word nigger.

we were on bleachers and a black student touched a white student with his knee. she turned around and called him a nigger. she asked if i was mad and i said yes, she shouldn't have called him that word. so she told the teacher. the teacher told her to get a dictionary, read the word nigger and read the definition out loud. the first definition was a lazy person. as i read it, the teacher interjected and said perhaps, that was what the student met. my teacher ignored the discriminatory and derogatory meaning of the word. and humiliated me in front of the entire class. this was just after the first inauguration of president obama. i was 13 years old and one of the only black students in my class.

next i'm going to read from the testimonial of -- a little bit of background. was an average american that lived in tulsa, oklahoma. he was murdered on his doorstep in august 2016. he was murdered by his next-door neighbor. next-door neighbor, who had previously harassed and terrorized the family. he had called them dirty muslims. dirty arabs, isis and 40 killed him, the next-door neighbor also ran over his mother. he was arrested for the crime. put in jail. but when the new prosecutor was appointed to the case, he was not familiar with the history. allowed the man to return back to the home next door to the family that he terrorized and

months later, killed him on the front doorstep. this is a conversation between victoria, rami and -- remembering their loved one. when i think about that today what i miss most is the laughter and heart. every family joke was his. he was so good at impersonation and accents. he was so loving to my daughter. i also know that he struggled a lot trying to be and i'm said he did not get to experience life. he did not get to enjoy it the way he deserved. that was victoria. here is rami. i married and want to have kids one day. colin will never get to meet them. he was so unique and charming and everyone loved him. he always tried to help others.

even in his final minutes, he kept my mother, father and neighbor away from near certain death. i know that he is gone but i see him every day. i see him every time in the catch and which are sitting in his room. i don't want to believe it. i can't believe it. my sweet brother had a heart of gold. the next story hour read from is jeanette -- and undocumented mother of four. she was one of the first undocumented immigrants in the united states to take sanctuary in a house of worship during the trump administration. because she feared being separated from her family, and deported. this is the beginning of the end of her testimonial. in early february, 2017, my children and i gathered around

the dinner table. i told him that men in uniform might come to our home and take me away. luna, 12, roberta, 10 and -- six, looked at me and listen. they knew we were different from other families. i am undocumented and they were born here. the only way i can stay safe was to take sanctuary at a local church and trust that the government would honor the sanctity of the house of worship. their father and my eldest daughter who is 26, would take care of them. i gave the children explicit instructions. as somebody knocked, do not open the door. if someone entered, roberta should run to the refrigerator and call the first person on the community contact list. and -- should run to the bedroom and closed the door. i feared for their safety. i did not want to leave my family but i was scared that

immigration and customs enforcement would tear us apart. sometimes state violence and hate violence intersect. so what i just described was jeanette, fearing an immigration raid that would separate her family. lots of people in this country experienced this violence. just like the muslim bnp like the separation and caging of families. like immigration raids, state sponsored forms of hate. but in many cases, state violence actually leads to hate violence. so later in her story, jeanette actually talks about when she took sanctuary at a church in denver. people threatened to blow up the church. because they had given her sanctuary. this is the end of her testimonial. as i continued this work in the years ahead, i knew i would

experience racism and hate. but i will press on because i want a better future for my children. i also know that one day, i may be forced to leave this country. but it won't be without a fight. i will protect whatever earned and built. i will protect my family and the love and community we enjoy. and if i am deported i will hold my head up high. from the day i arrived more than 20 years ago, i fought for what i believe. my children will continue long after i am gone this is our home. the next story i'm going to read from is alexandra brodsky. a civil rights attorney who was viciously cyber trolled just days after inauguration on account of being jewish and on account of her work with gender

violence survivors. and again this is the bookend of her testimonial. in the days following the election, i called the national hotline. where students and families could be sport incidents of discrimination in school. her this time at the time. girls would be groped on the playground by boys claiming that if the president could do it, so could they. and in 2017 report, the national women's law center reported that one in six girls ranging in age from 14 to 18 had experienced harassment since the election. women are not safe in schools, workplaces, public life or online. and then later. when i was in school, i remember survivors of violence expressing trepidation about coming forward because they feared that their abuses would

retaliate. they were wealthy white boys oreo men whose parents could seek counsel and quickly have the story of a survivor. they feared speaking out because their abusers could be the congressman, senators, ceos or presidents of tomorrow. the campaign and victory of donald trump confirmed there were suspicions. there is no one-size-fits-all solution to responding to an act of hate violence. for those of you who read the book, and hope all of you do, and they find this informative and empowering, you will see that every survivor and every community has their own response based on their own experiences and based on the needs of the community. the next story hour read from is -- the executive director of

an organization called the providence youth student movement. in providence, rhode island. and in november of 2016, their offices were vandalized. and the passage i'm going to read from is what the organization decided to do after the hate crime. and how was the office vandalized? knives were stuck into a desk and a new cement hanging from the ceiling. we decided not to call the police. we are an abolition organization. believe in the abolition of the police and military. think of it this way. we came to this country because of u.s. militarism. he himself is a cambodian wrestler jew. then we got here and was targeted by state violence like surveillance, the pipeline,

police brutality, mass incarceration. even deportation back to our home countries. the police and military posed the greatest threat to the safety and dignity. so why would we call them in our time of need? if abolition was one of our values, we have to stick to it in this moment. that is why calling the police wasn't an option. in that sense, the hate crime give us an opportunity to reaffirm values and principles. an opportunity term on the world about who we are and what we stand for. moving along. we used the anger and frustration of the election and hate crimes as motivation to do just that. in june, after a campaign that spanned five years, the city of providence passed the most comprehensive anti-root profiling legislation in the country. the community safety act was modeled after his namesake. in 2013. the bill has 12 key provisions

related to profiling, data collection, video recording by police, video recording by people. traffic stops, searches, surveillance. the privacy of youth and immigrants, language access, cooperation with law enforcement agencies and accountability and enforcement. it is not just the law. it is how we got there. lawyers wrote the bill with the input of young people from our community. those most impacted by state violence. the next story i'm going to read from is tanya gersh . she was viciously cyber trolled

in montana. i'm fighting back by bringing a lawsuit against andrew england. the publisher of the daily stormer. we filed suit in montana federal court. claiming invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and harassment and intimidation. i truly believe that what they did to me isn't protected by free speech. they targeted me and that is against the law. nothing would have been more hurtful than giving up. but surviving and fighting back has brought me a sense of peace and justice. as long as i'm alive i want to fight and make sure nobody else indoors this again. i remember telling my children when donald trump was elected there will be no joke in her home. he was our present weatherby voted for him or not. and we needed to be respectful. when asked about president trump in serum of the early interviews after the incident, i was respectful and said, no

comment. what did he have to do with what happened to me? even when he was slow to respond to the desecration of synagogues and mosques i gave him the benefit of the doubt. terrible things happen in our country every day. but charlottesville, the anniversary is coming up, changed everything. when i watch the television coverage of the white supremacist march in charlottesville, and i saw extremists yelling jews will not replace us and blood and soil. i saw in their eyes, the same people who were terrorizing my family. who called, messaged and emailed us. this was them in living, breathing form. i can't forgive our president for suggesting that there was a moral equivalence between white supremacists and protesters. that was a moral failure. i now encourage my children to have open and critical conversations in our home because it is clear the president does not have our

back. tanya gersh between 2016 and may 2017, received more than 800 menacing phone calls, emails, tweets and really every other form of harassment you can imagine. time check? [inaudible] >> thank you. i'm going to read from one more testimonial. then read a passage from the conclusion. the last testimony i will read from is ruth hopkins. ruth hopkins is a native lawyer, judge and writer. she was born on the standing rock sioux indian reservation. and experienced police violence there in october 2016. natives living today survived

genocide. some tribes were completely wiped out. and he had a population decrease of 90 percent or more. i know a few tribes who consist of only one family. when you look at our history, the mere fact that we are still alive and holding onto our cultures, language and identities, is resistance. resistance takes many forms for us because we are under attack in so many ways. including government and corporate and environmental destruction, dismantling of tribal sovereignty, police violence and the disappearance and murder of native women. allies can help by boosting native voices. follow us and read our work. by our goods and services and support native businesses. educate yourself on the real history of the u.s. and support our causes. do not wear ridiculous stereotypical indian costumes. they are degrading and

disrespectful. leaving climate change and fight against it. fight corporate abuse in excess especially when it targets mother earth. reject corporate state militarism and police violence. stand up for women. shore power rallies, call your elected officials. don't vote for politicians who want to exterminate and destroy our way of life. see us, hear us, make sure we are included. do not speak over us. every time another one of us connect back to the secret sacred hoop we win. finally, i will read one passage from the conclusion i authored. resistance and reconciliation. despite it all, survivors and communities remain resilient and optimistic and are finding ways to resist. we've seen that they are debunking hateful myths about refugees and extreme vetting. building more inclusive communities on college

campuses. organizing community defense for deportation. fighting for gendered violence survivors. passing police accountability measures. educating others about muslims and arabs. taking on organized white supremacy. practically combating bullying. building communities with the families of people who have stood up to hate. telling the stories of trans persons and people with disabilities. fighting for the rights of vulnerable students at universities and advocating for the sovereignty and dignity of native communities. the most vulnerable among us are not retreating or abandoning hope. they are educating, organizing and advocating. they are on the front lines combating hate and coming together in neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and community centers. so many survivors are willing to reconcile and talk. even in the wake of unimaginable grief.

they want accountability, not retribution. there living and practicing restorative justice in the most coarser allstate in modern history. i just want to conclude, by actually saying why i decided to spend so much time reading from the book. i know often, their conversations like this. and there are multiple people up here. but, i wrote this book because i want everyone to read the stories. and really, any opportunity i have to amplify and highlight those who have lost so much is really an opportunity i want to seize. at this time i think we can go ahead and open it up to questions. i have been told that our friends at c-span, because it was only one microphone, will not be able to capture the question you're saying. so after you see the question i will repeat it so that our

listeners later, can hear the question. i would also say that if somebody has a question, that they do not feel comfortable raising for whatever reason and would like to do so privately, there are index cards that are available, i believe. pass them out. and you should feel free to use that. [applause] [inaudible question] >> there is a very, the question was about tanya gersh.

and how did it come to be that tanya gersh received hundreds of menacing messages online and the like? so there is a lot of information about tanya gersh online and what happened to her. she is currently actually being represented by the seven property law sent against the daily storm appeared which is a white supremacist anti-black, anti-immigrant blog. tanya gersh had some type of what is perceived to be a disagreement with richard spencer's mother. and it seems like everything was fine. but according to richard spencer's mother, that was not the case. and richard spencer's mother published an essay encouraging people or basically saying that tanya gersh tried to extort her and the daily storm or jumped on that. said that there is a jewish realtor and business woman who is trying to extort the mother

of richard spencer, who as many of you likely know, is a white supremacist. and that led to the threat and sort of the culmination was, a proposed march there was actually going to be led by white supremacists and on her doorstep. [inaudible conversations][inaud >> sure, so, a book like this can never be complete. folks have a sense as to how many incidents, i've been asked what is the question? sorry. thank you for the reminder. the question is, how did i choose these stories? given the prevalence of hate and violence in general over the last two years.

so folks have a sense and how much hate violence happens in the united states, according to the fbi, there are, in 2016 for example, there was roughly 6000 hate crimes that took place. but if you look at the national crime victimization survey, there are as many as 250,000 hate crimes that happen every single year. in this country. the reason there is the gap is because when the fbi reports a number of hate crimes, they rely on voluntary reporting local law enforcement. not mandatory reporting.so the consequence, american hate can never be complete. and i went about collecting the stories by focusing on ensuring that i had a diversity of perspectives. so native voices, black voices, jewish, muslim, etc. making sure i had geographic diversity. making sure that i captured the

spectrum of hate initially, what i set out, i and thought for a moment i would have certain examples but i thought it would be a disservice to the communities i was working with. because it manifested in so many ways. which is why you will find so many stories in the book of bullying, cyber trolling, vandalism and arson of houses of worship and finally murder. the other point i will make is that my gateway to survivors was local community organizations.they do this work every single day. and when you travel the country and to meet with survivors, long after the media loses interest, long after the public loses interest, the go to partners are always community and local organizations. [inaudible question]

>> the question was, was there anything that surprised me during my work on the book? really just the resilience of survivors. i will left speeches. i'll give you a concrete example. i was in the family room of the jabars's. they're asking me -- toward the end of the interview his sister said i'm going to tell you something because i feel like i should. and she said that one day, not too long ago, she received an email. from a man who identified himself as the cousin of the

murderer. and in the email, the cousin said, i know this might not matter to you.but i want you to know that the man who killed your brother, did not have a community. his parents abandoned him. he did not have a home, he grew up in a car. he had no support mechanisms. a very difficult childhood. and victoria says to me, you know that is the problem. he never had a community. and even in that moment, she was thinking about how to move forward. and how to make sure everyone in this has a community. that shook me to my core. [inaudible question]

>> thank you for listening to the podcast. he listened to a podcast in which he talked about -- the very first testimonial in the book. she is the first syrian refugee to ever be resettled in the state of idaho. and she talks a little bit about how things have changed for her being a syrian refugee and every time donald trump gives a speech, about refugees come about banning the syrians and muslim she fears being attacked. she also talks about how in

downtown boise, went to her son was walking on the street and someone came up to him and said, are you muslim? and when the young man said yes, he was punched to the ground. she talks about how later when she was in court, the judge asked her if she had any thoughts as to what an appropriate sentence would be? she responded by saying, i do not think the suspect should go to jail. because it is not clear to me that the suspect will learn about syrians, refugees and muslims in jail. the judge did not really care what she said. and sentenced him to time in prison. but it speaks to a broader issue. which is, many survivors feel that the criminal justice system is not in service to them. and that is one of the reasons, for example, i read the story and why that organization decided not to call the police. and even when there are survivors that work with law

enforcement, often law enforcement do not bring hate crime charges. often they do not investigate the way they need to. others? [inaudible question]

>> the question is how i chose the title, "american hate". i chose the title, "american hate" because there is a myth of american exceptionalism. and that myth is based on the fiction that this country wasn't built on a hate crime. and for me, hate is as american as apple pie. and truthfully, we need to be having difficult conversations about our past, about our history of racial persecution

and that is why i decided to choose a title, "american hate". you know, on the point of free speech, which was the other question that you raised. has been a lot of conversation about the limits of free speech and to what extent hate speech should be protected. i did have time in this moment to sort of expand on my views but here is what i will say. what is striking to me about the conversations about the limits of hate speech is that those conversations almost never include survivors. and people have been directly impacted. and if you speak to survivors, of cyber trolling, of these things they will tell you overwhelmingly, that hate speech hurts. in the case of tanya gersh, she describes in her testimonial how she suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder. on the basis of being trolled online. right? but tanya gersh and others that

were trolled online are not part of these conversations. so i firmly believe technology companies should take a stronger stand against hate. they need to be checks in place. if someone is removed from one of those platforms, there should be a mechanism to repeal the decision paid we would know how many people are being removed. practices of shadow banning i do not think are helping our democracy. but i do that we are making incremental progress in that way. others? yeah. [inaudible question] >> the question is, what am i hoping will come from this book? first and foremost, i hope they survivors in this book found this project and this process

cathartic. and so far, that has been the overwhelming consensus among them. they refuse to be silenced. they want to come forward and they are proud to be included in this book. and one of the things i'm also doing is that i am trying to organize community conversations across the country that feature the survivors in the book. so it can remain connected to those stories. and those will be an opportunity for other survivors to come forward. for other communities to come forward. so really, the entire conclusion is about best practices. anybody who is interested in building a better america, i think will find this book helpful. and will find ways to support survivors and support impacted communities at large. yeah? [inaudible question] >> i'm happy to hear. [inaudible question]

>> i appreciate the suggestion,

thanks so much. yeah? [inaudible question] >> that is a very difficult question and i will repeat it for the camera. the question is about survivors and targeted communities always having to shoulder the burden of education. and that sometimes is not fair for them to shoulder that burden. it is hard and there is no right or wrong. i think for me, the answer is making sure that survivors and impacted communities have the resources they need. creating opportunities for them to tell their stories if they want to. one of my criticisms now, as i

feel that the mainstream media is often more interested in understanding and humanizing white supremacists then they are interested in humanizing an understanding survivors of hate and donald trumps america. anything else? yeah? [inaudible question]

>> what were they shouting? [inaudible] [inaudible]

>> yes. thank you for the question. the question is about my prognostication of the next few years. for me, i am in many ways, intensely focused on this moment and ensuring that survivors and impacted communities have the resources they need ensuring that we rally, organize and vote real liberal politicians into office in the november election. i think it is difficult because i think when we look too far ahead, it is easy to become jaded. if we focus on what we can do in our backyard. you know, progress is not just immanent, it is inevitable. yes? [inaudible question]

>> you know, it really depends on the survivor and the local community that has been impacted. some things that have come up that have been successful, community defense programs, hate defense zones. lots of impacted folks are taking self-defense classes. making sure they are protected. we have seen folks leverage technology. there is an app called you can downloaded and you can put

in information like basically, put information at the bank account information, went to pick up the kids from school, for the next of kin is. in the event that you are separated from your family in an immigration raid. there is another technology application that actually allows activists and journalists to see where immigration raids are happening in real time. based on crowdsourced data that is being input. you know, the program, don't want to make it sound like it is like completely fully sophisticated and has a living map of every immigration raid happening across the country but we are saying technology being used. we are seeing community programs and i will also tell you that for survivors, it is important for them that we have hate crime laws.and in a hate crime laws are often controversial.an adult that they need to be. and here's why and hopefully one minute.

the reason we need hate crime laws is not because we want to add time to already lengthy prison sentences. we need hate crime laws because the definition of a hate crime, it is a crime that would not have occurred absent the victims identity. and as a consequence, a crime that is on account of someone's identity impacts the more there is a recovery. over hate crime is twice as long as any other. and we have seen after incidents of hate, judges say, learn about the community. take a class, asian-american studies. do public service for the community. also, the moment that we actually call crimes hate crimes, is the moment we are allowing ourselves to see the intersection among them.

so that they are not just random crimes, right? on a map. instead, there hate crimes rooted in what? white supremacy. antiblack racism, xenophobia. that is why we need hate crime laws and communities it really rally around having strong hate crime laws for that reason. [inaudible question] >> i am in regular touch with the survivors and each of the survivors has received a copy of the book. and as i mentioned earlier, one of the things i'm trying to do is actually hold community conversations across the country that feature the survivors. because is critical to me that they remain connected to their stories. so jeanette, for example will be participating in a conversation just like this alongside me in denver, colorado and i was in touch with the jabara family and we will be doing event in tulsa,, potentially at a library that

is named after khalid jabara. [inaudible question] very familiar with hate in the us. epic is part of the immigrant story itself. what do you want people like me or people like us, what you want us to get out of this book besides just hearing about this in everyday life? >> so, the question is, you described yourself as >> child of immigrants. >> a child of an immigrant and what to the child or children of immigrants hope to get out of this book? i think in the conclusion and throughout the book, you will learn a lot about how you can

support people who are directly impacted. i mean look, there survivors across this country don't even have healthcare. there are local community organizations across this country who don't have the resources to do this work every day. you can support those organizations. you can make sure survivors have the resources they need. people love to think hate does not exist in our backyard, right? here we are in soho and i was focused on the book and someone is yelling, lies , coming down the street. so hate is ubiquitous. i think focusing on your backyard is important. if you feel that your backyard is taken care of, you know, figure out what other folks are that need help and reach out to them. i will tell you, every act of kindness matters. after the mosque in victoria was burned to the ground, may actually say this. some people think that rhetoric doesn't matter. right? policies matter but so does rhetoric. let me give you an example why. the day donald trump said he was going to ban muslims in the united states in december 2015. a pigs head was found outside of a mosque in philadelphia.

the day that donald trump actually signed the first muslim man, a mosque in victoria was burned to the ground. right? that mosque in victoria described how they received, they were acts of kindness from all over the world. and every little bit matters. taylor talks about how she is as positivity thought struck filled with beautiful wonderful things that people sent her an email and voicemail. over text, etc. that help her get through the trauma that she endured. i think maybe we have time for one more question. [inaudible question] >> the question was, what inspired me to start this

journey? i think there was a few things. i am a sick american peer sick americans, many of us can be identified by our articles of faith. in my case the long here the cover with a turban and a beard. sick americans have always been acutely vulnerable to bullying, violence, hate in many forms. and after the election, i felt like i needed to do something from a sort of spiritual level. from a religious level. but also from a community level. and this was just sort of the intervention i wanted to make. and i feel proud of what i have done. but i will also say, and i say this in acknowledgment, this book took the community. i actually wrote some of the

book, the reason were not downstairs because the ac is broke.but the irony is that, normally when i come to new york i stay in an apartment close to here with a close friend of mine. and so sometimes i would come here and write the book.i say that because so many people have been so supportive throughout this journey. i went to portland, oregon. there was someone who has, they were traveling at the time they opened their home to me. people pick me up from airports, drove me on infinitely roads, answered my calls, connected me to survivors. people who i was able to turn to when i was experiencing you know, great sorrow and grief after these meetings and after these complications with survivors bid this is absolutely their book too. one more question. [inaudible question]

>> the point, the question is how do we explain the rise of donald trump and how is it different, how is the politics different from that of his predecessors? again, there are entire books

that have been written on the spear what i will say is that in some ways i do agree.i think hate was previous to donald trump and it will endure long after him. but what makes the presidency different is that this is the president who openly courts white supremacists. he is a president that i believe, is a misogynist, sexist, white supremacist and racist. and i think his actions and policies show it. i will also say that i do think that we need to have a more serious conversation about economic disparities in the country. and there is a gap, broadly speaking, between what some call the cities and i went to some of these places during my travels. and i don't know if they look very different than they did 15 years ago. because technology hasn't hit them. and amenities that we enjoy and take for granted haven't quite reached there. i don't think that blaming immigrants and vote for donald

trump is the answer. but i do think that anybody who has committed to social and racial justice needs to be having conversations about how do we ensure that the economic pie in this country is more justly distributed. i have been told that we need to wrap up. so thank you all for coming. i have family here. [applause] i have family here, i have new friends, old friends, colleagues.i see someone in the back that have not seen in 17 years. it is just really extraordinary and i can only hope that everyone in this country enjoys a community like i do. thank you so much. [applause]

>> i will be signing books right up here. i'm just going to move my chair over. booktv is on twitter and facebook. and we want to hear from you. tweet us, twitter.com/booktv or post a comment on our facebook page facebook.com/booktv. at a recent judicial conference, chief justice john roberts shared his summer reading list. >> as far as things to read, i can tell you what i am looking forward to reading. there is, as a christmas present i got a book called why bob dylan matters. it is written by a harvard professor.

who studied poetry and i think i sound like it is going to be very good. that would be sort of in a serious level. not the entertaining level. and jeff rosen has written a new biography, william howard taft which is good about it here it is light, not thick toned. and i think it is quickly paced. microphone.

yes, sir, sorry. >> can you hear me? change of focus. you described the hierarchy of the kennedy brothers. what was their relationship of john and bobby to teddy? >> so in >> host: thomas hazlett your new book is called the political spectrum technology from herbert hoover to the smartphone. >> guest: is not a technical book and not a hard read but a lot of stories about where we are now on how we got here in the wireless world. it's really quite fascinating how we got here in the politics other than how the 1927 radio act basly