[background sounds] [background sounds] >> president jimmy carter, , the 39th president of the united states and the nation's longest lived leader passed away last month at the age of 100. join c-span for live coverage of the state funeral on tuesday his journey continues to washington, d.c. where he will lie in state that the u.s. capitol rotunda with the service attended by members of congress. the public will again have a chance to honor him wednesday as his body remains in state at the u.s. capitol. on thursday the national funeral service will take place at

washington national cathedral followed by his final resting ceremony at the carter family home in plains, georgia. watch c-span's live coverage of the funeral services for former president jimmy carter on the c-span network, c-span now our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> "washington journal" annual holiday offers week series continues this morning. eight days conversation with america's t fighters from across the political spectrum. on the right of public policy and political topics. this morning we want to welcome author and former pbs "newshour" chief national correspondent ray flores.ra his book we are home, becoming american in the 21st century and oral history. good morning to you. why did you decide to write this book? >> guest: o i guess one of the conception moments for a book like this was when i was sitting in my living room watching the

unite the right rally in charlottesville, virginia. and watched amlo torchlight parade of young men chanting you will not replace us. and i knew something had gotten really off-track in the american, the great american families fight over immigration. and i started to look at what you do when you're starting a a book project, clipping out articles, saving files and starting to write a pitch. things only got worse from there on. as a worldwide crisis in sudden migration people fling their home countries got worse, and america really, it wasn't a great moment for the way we handle it and wait we talked to each other about it. >> host: when you start your research event what did you find? >> guest: that immigrants for

the united states, other been a lot of them in the last two generations, have higher levels of workforce participation, lower levels of involvement with the criminalow justice system, d higher levels of education than earlier generations of immigrants. they are undoubtedly a net plus to the united states. and at the same time because for the first time in our history most immigrants to the united states are not like, -- white peer with much more conscious feeling of a different kind of people among us that's causing social anxiety, cultural anxiety and again the panic that companies, idea that america will be a nonwhite majority nation in the future has led us

to some places where the way we handle immigration, the way we set policy about immigration hasn't really been best for the country are best for the immigrants. >> , i want to read from the book from our viewers "we are home." the idea tha dark force of engineering democratic change in the united states to the detriment of white european origin by encouraging high rates of immigration to shift the balance of clinical power in the united states has moved from the fringes of americans ideological battles to some were much closer to the emotional center. as dr. koek also to climb the greasy pole at fox news channel he frequently told his audience, among the largest and cable television history, that the democratic party was trying to replace the current u.s. w electorate withen new people, me obedient voters, from third world and that's a quote that

you pull from tucker carlson. do you blame the media and visit thed conservative media? >> guest: well, in part. the great replacement theory needs oxygen to get traction to move as an agent in the book from the fringes of american discourse to the center of it. tucker carlson who have given the great replacement theory that kind of attention that gives it currency, that gives it power, that gives it the kind of cultural currency that it might not have had otherwise. and it is an ugly, anti-american idea that the new arrivals, unlike those from palermo in warsaw and dublin of 120 years

ago, that these people can never get the hang of being part of us. that is i think part of the ugliest part of this whole idea about new immigrants, that while my great grandparents or my great-great-grandparents could get the hang of being american, these new people from these new places won't. and that really needs some examination, for people to ask themselves why they believe that when so many millions of immigrants are succeeding so phenomenally. host: how does your book tell the opposite of that? guest: it does a deep dive. i spent a lot of time with immigrants in recent decades talking to them about why they came, how they got here, how to get the hang of being here, what they make of the place, how they feel about being american. and you come away with the kind of heartening, encouraging idea

about the future. listen to the immigrants themselves. they realize this country is a hard place to get ahead. they realize that it takes a phenomenal amount of hard work to get here and start with very little and make a secure life for yourself. the othering of these new people, casting them into some new place in our history that is different from our own ancestors is really doing them a disservice. host: kalus one story. guest: i begin the book with a guy came from kenya at the age of 18, a city on the indian ocean. he was from the very old arab community in kenya. he came to columbia, maryland as he finished high school, and he was immersed in american pop

culture and thought he would immediately get the hang of being here. and before long he's working two full-time jobs, one doing the breakfast line at mcdonald's. he would go home, get a couple hours nap and then do another shift at the convenience store wawa. there he is working 80 hours a week going slightly crazy and his answer is to join the united states army. and the stories he tells about being a brand spanking new resident of the united states and a member of the united states army are sort of touching and whole areas the same time. he gets shipped out to korea and they often pair american units with korean counterparts so they can work together. and his korean soldiers all have relatives in the united states

and they are pumping him for information about what it is like to live in america and he finally has to tell them i don't know what it's like to live in america, i was there a couple of months and then i joined the army. he has an amazing story with i think a very redemptive ending. he goes and protests at douglas international airport against the muslim ban, the trump era policy that blocked arrived and majority muslim countries and the alliances that he couldn't do that in his own country. he would be surveilled, he would be photographed, he would be tracked. he was there with all kinds of other people protesting against this policy with his sign. they made cardboard signs at home and ran down to the airport and he had been ambivalent after 9/11, the rise of anti-muslim feeling, and he said he felt

very american at that moment. the freedom to protest, the freedom to be seen in public, opposing the government and government policy. and his son is now in the maryland national guard. host: our guest this morning, ray florida -- ray suarez, author of the book "we are home: becoming american in the 21st century: an oral history." part of our holiday authors series this week. also the host of shifting ground with ray suarez. we're talking about immigration and immigration policy. republicans dial in at (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. democrats, (202) 748-8000. we are going to get to your calls and just a minute.