will be treated. it means it'll take 100 years to get across all the forested areas if they treat all of them with the type of thinning and harvest and things that if we done. we need to take this material. why is the united states the number two importer of wood of the western country? we make it right here. we should also be doing the things that keep the jobs here instead of offering or the lumber. and things like that. it will help our communities thrive instead of having the poor populations we have. all the other social problems that have in poor areas. that's a lot of the mountain communities and they're like mine. they should not be subjected to that. they are good people. they were doing a good thing until the environmental wave of the 70s. that's got him down. >> congressman, republican a california, member of the agriculture committee. now the chair the agriculture subcommittee and for steve, thank you for your time. rep>> we want to welcome to our table this morning congressman

jamal bowman, democrat of new york, represents the 16th district. thank you for being here, sir, let's talk about the state of the union address. the president pointing to the family of tyre nichols who joined all of you at the state of the union and talking about police reform. what did you hear from him and what is the push by democrats and others up on capitol hill? is there a bipartisan proposal? >> not yet, i'm hoping a bipartisan proposal comes pretty quickly. the next couple of weeks is going to be really important. just like the unfortunate horrific validate shooting, after that happened, you saw the senate mobilize pretty quickly to get something done. they sent it over to us in the house. we got legislation passed. we need to see that same sense of urgency right now. first of, all the state of the union address, i thought was very good. i give the president a nay.

it was uplifting. it was inspiring. it was celebratory in terms of what we've gotten done over the last couple of years like the infrastructure bill, the inflation reduction act, the chips act, many others. he spoke to the pocketbook in kitchen table issues of the american people around price gouging. making sure the wealthy contribute their fair share and et cetera. what i also heard was something i had never heard before. he spoke with a certain level of empathy. he spoke with compassion toward the victims of police violence. this was not just about tyre nichols, by, the way to mayor rice is wrong with also here for the state of the union. we finally heard a president say something like i don't understand this issue. i haven't had to have the talk with my children in the same way black families have to have the talk with their children. it brought america in to,

hopefully have more empathy towards the victims. it is a complex issue. we get, it what we are saying is black people in this country, when police commit a crime, they should be accountable. stop killing us when we are not harming you or don't have weapons or anything like that. it was the first time i heard that. it was good to hear. >> you had been critical of the president. you said the president's missing opportunity to be a historic president. the social issues continue to play the country. what does that mean? >> that's exactly what i meant. we need him to be a historic leader in this moment in the vein of roosevelt or lincoln are someone like that. here's what i mean. the ears of donald trump or very traumatizing for the american people. america is a beautiful mosaic of different cultures and

ethnicities and people. donald trump used to attack, demonize, and marginalize millions of people in our country. that creates trauma and stress. in addition to that, we have a global pandemic, the first in 100 years. obviously, it adds another layer of trauma and stress. and then we had an insurrection. first, at attack on the u.s. capital since the war of 1812. on top of that, we continue to have children going to bed hungry. issues of poverty, lack of affordable housing. we need a president that's going to provide a vision for our country and how will finally come together across our differences to build a nation that works for everyone. we need him to be that. and that speech was a great step in the right direction toward creating that america. >> let's also talk about education. that's in your wheelhouse. explain your career and then we will talk about legislation that you reintroduced with

senator booker, the african american history. act >> prior to coming to congress, i worked in education for 20 years. i started my career as an elementary school teacher in the south bronx. i did that for about five or six years. before moving on to becoming a high school dean of students and guidance counselor for three years. and then i realized that education systems had more to offer to our kids. i didn't think the system is unlocking the unlimited potential. i wrote a proposal and submit it to new york city for me to start my own district public middle school in the northeast bronx. the proposal was supported. they said yes. in 2009, september 2009, i opened up my own middle school that i ran for ten and a half years. it was a project based interdisciplinary culturally responsive curriculum that really tapped into students creativity. our school system and our teachers do great work with kids who come from challenging

circumstances. there's so much more we can do if we implement the right curriculum. we did that for about ten and a half years. there was great work there. and then i ran for congress, because when you are in education, you see all the issues, all of the social issues, all of the issues. they land at the doorstep. it's hard for kids to learn when they're hungry, when they are families, involves when they're struggling with housing, when they're struggling with poverty. when you're not teaching about emotional intelligence. it was hard for kids to learn. and the year before i ran for office, 34 kids died within the k-12 school system and 17 died via suicide. i knew, i saw, i lived the mental health crisis before covid even came. we had one with our kids. that pushed me into running for office. we were fortunate enough to

win. we were supposed to elevate issues of cultural responsive education, project-based learning. that is one of the reasons we introduce the african american history act. >> tell us about the act and then we will get to called. >> african history is american history, just the same way every other group in this country that makes up the beauty of our country, their history matters. it should be taught in our schools. what i experienced as a young student and what i saw in public education curriculum as an educator was the lack of african american history being taught. maybe during black history month you learn a little bit more about the civil rights movement, you learn more about dr. king. you might learn about the transatlantic slave trade how my ancestors came here. african americans have a history which predates the transatlantic slave trade. my history did not start as a slave. my people had nations in africa. we had democracies in africa.

we had infrastructure in africa. we build the pyramids in africa. that is my ancestral history. it's important for me to know that so i can have the self esteem and self-worth that i need to do well in school and in life. the african american history and act invests or seeks to appropriate $10 million which is not amount of money here in washington, $10 million for the smithsonian museum to create -- that can implement it in their schools. it is critically important. it's also in response to governors like the desantis and others who claim there is not as much value in african american history versus other history. that is just preposterous. one of the reasons why we continue to have racial strife, misunderstanding, issues with public safety is because of the

lack of knowledge of our history, collective history in our country. >> let's hear from sean in baltimore. you're on with the congressman. >> hey, i just wanted to say people like this congressman of the reason why me as a blackmail, i'm leaving the democratic party. [inaudible] i was a democrat all my life. >> sean, what are the ideas you are rejecting? >> the whole defund the police movement. i most definitely and for police accountability. police need to be held accountable. what they are doing is they are destroying police departments. he should look at his own city. look how everybody is leaving. they are leaving new york. they are leaving california because they hate the police. they don't want the police.

look at all the retirement. no one wants to do the job! because of that, police departments are struggling to get people. they are struggling so badly. they are hiring the rejects of society. when i say the rejects of society, they are lower and standards. >> i heard your point. i will have the congressman respond. >> first of all, the police department in new york city has not been defunded. police departments across the country are not being defunded. that is not happening, number one. number two, when we talk about public safety, we talk about it from the perspective of public health. police respond at best after a crime has been committed and then they do their jobs of arresting and making sure the person is held accountable. what we are seeing or what i am saying is we need to have a proactive, preventative approach. we know the majority of people who are incarcerated have suffered or struggled with a

mental health disorder, a substance abuse disorder, or some form of trauma, a learning disability, some form of trauma related, housing, the like. we want to invest money into being more preventative so people don't commit crimes in the first place. in addition, there are many people who are justice entangled who once they get out or return back to their communities, there are no resources for them. this is why they continue to escalate and do other crimes. what we are saying is, let's take a step back. let's have a fresh look at public safety through the lens of public health. that is what we are pushing. that's the conversation we want to have. >> we have a democrat entry of port, louisiana. >> yes, i would like to make a comment. i think we're getting a

misinterpretation of black history. the whole world, the united states has a misinterpretation of black history. the american legion magazine has a beautiful story. i didn't know that about -- [inaudible] some black groups that were in the military. it's just kind of this stuff that we as a race would like to see more than stuff like -- we know what happened. i hope i'm making good sense. thank you for your time. >> all right, homer. >> that's a great point that is being made. often, when we are taught like history, we are talking about the horrors of black history. we're talking about jim crow

and how the city was burnt down, all essential history, absolutely, but there are so many black americans who persevere through the toughest of times and did remarkable things. when you talk about our impact during world war ii, that history, there was a movie recently made about that history. so many americans learned about that. when you talk about hidden figures, i didn't realize a black woman was essential to our space travel program. it's stuff like that that must be in our history books. that little black girl or black boy can grow up learning that they have contributed to this great nation. that black oil will be less likely to commit a crime when they become young man. . barbara, oklahoma city, independent collar. good morning. >> i, i get nervous when i get on here. >> take your time. >> there is a couple things

here that i was saying was our problem -- our problem is greed, period. that is all. greed causes poor people. poor people don't -- are not -- they act like we are. i would like them to see if they can get a trillion out of the bank. there is no trillion dollars anywhere. you can't get a billion out of the bank, much less a trillion. for us to get online and get where -- we're not going to deal with money. that's a huge problem, people. we better snap about this. this can go on. i feel crazy because i don't see very many people even seeing this. >> the congressman is shaking his head. let's listen. >> preach, barbara! thank you so much. you are absolutely right.

we have an economic and political system that allows allows wealthy individuals to not only contribute their fair share and businesses not only to not contribute their fair share but they hydro leans of dollars overseas! they have money sitting on the side in an realized capital gains. it is never taxed. the use it to build more wealth and more wealth and more wealth. we have moved away from our democracy. in many ways, we have become an oligarch. because of that, that is why the political bipartisanship continues to happen. we are moving more toward a government that is a dictatorship. we are plain language and your understanding of the issue is exactly what the american ople need to hear. barbara, thank you so much for that. >> i want to get your reaction to -- commitment to education policy. they want to advance the

patients bill of rights, recover lost learning from school closures, expand school choice, and defend fairness by ensuring that only women can compete in women sports. that was part of their commitment to america that they will now before the election on education policy. your reaction? >> yeah, i agree with the first two. the third school choice, i disagree with that because it's simply a way to take public dollars and invest them in private catholic uncharted schools which is completely unacceptable. the women sports thing, it's a fearmongering tool. it's not something that is happening disproportionately around the country. this is just something they are trying to weaponize to fearmonger the american people. they also support investing in community college and making college more accessible and affordable to people. i support free community college or very, very, very inexpensive community college. they also support workforce development which is absolutely

key to making sure that we have kids prepared for a 21st century economy. the learning loss thing has been a bit exaggerated. there was a learning stagnation because we had to close schools, but the brain is malleable. it adapts. as soon as kids get back into the swing of learning, they catch up and they are able to do okay. if republicans agree with that, we need to continue to invest in public schools and not take money away from the u.s. department of education. >> it sounded like there's a middle ground there, some compromise. >> yeah, yeah! we had a hearing yesterday, we will leave her on the side for the moment, but there were too focused on community college, workforce development. it's absolutely space for us to work together and invest in those things specifically. >> c-span cover the hearing yesterday that the congressman is talking about. we were there. if you missed it, you can go to our website at c-span.org. we're focusing on k-12 but also higher education. what was the takeaway? >> the takeaway was what you

just said, there's a middle ground on workforce development and community college. also, we had the governor from colorado here yesterday. he was talking about the importance of the cares act money and the american rescue plan money in terms of reopening schools safety and dealing with the issues of learning stagnation. they did innovative and remarkable things to get additional teachers in the classrooms, summer programming for kids. that'll help kids to continue to get back on track after they were shut down from the pandemic. >> congressman jamal bowman is our guest. he represents the 16th district in new york. he served on the education and the workforce committee. clarence intending town, maryland, independent. hi, clarence. >> hello, good morning. >> good morning. >> what i want to say, i've only heard part of this. i really don't know what he has been talking though. i live about 50 miles from

baltimore. i know -- i'm a redneck. i'm an 86 year old redneck. i want to tell you to start with two, baltimore city years ago would go down and really enjoy ourselves. today, you couldn't pay me to go down there. it's not because -- i'm telling you, there is a lot of you good black people, but i'm going to tell you those cities are not safe to go in. baltimore city, i listen to their news. every day, there is murder after murder. it's black on black. . >> i'm going to jump in and how the congressman respond to you. >> yeah, i don't know which part to exactly respond to. what i will say is this -- gun trafficking continues to be an issue in our country. those guns are often trafficked to vulnerable communities.

baltimore city, like the bronx, new york, other parts of the country has not been invested in in several decades. we defunded education. we defunded housing. guns are trafficked in. drugs have been trafficked in. this is all leading to a lot of violence in certain areas, yes. again, in order to deal with the issue of public safety, we have to get to the core, get to the root of the problem. the root of the problem is poverty and lack of opportunity. one of the things the federal government needs to do is invest more. one of the things the private sector needs to do is invest more. the investments have not been there. people have looked the other way. as we've looked at the other way, what we have is people harming themselves and others and the self destruction of communities.

it's our responsibility as the federal government to do more on all of these issues. >> debbie in philadelphia, democratic color. >> yes, thank you. a comment and then a question. i didn't have a comment until the gentleman just called. i hope the first caller, the young black man, he said he was a black man. i hope he joins the group with -- you have good black people in baltimore. anyway, i saw a documentary last night on a school in hayti. i don't know if you're familiar with that. they were trying to have that school deemed under the historical society regulation where they can't tear down, it's a very old black community there.

they want to keep that school because of the history of learning under segregation. the positive results that came out of learning under segregation and how when they integrated the school they diminished the humanity of the black children in that school. they talk about how today because of how they retreated when they integrated those schools, how the mental capacity was affected. if you could respond to that, hayti, pennsylvania. >> thank you. >> yeah, thank you for bringing that up, debbie. what we have seen and what

research has shown, what the data shows, excuse me, was school integration happened tens of thousands of black teachers lost their jobs. that was one of the unintended consequences of integration. it also happens when schools are integrated. there is often an bias toward children of color as if they cannot perform at the same level of white children. they are treated in that way inside those classrooms. they behave and act in the way in which they are treated. it's often referred to as the soft bigotry of low expectations. if you have teachers who have low expectations of you simply because you are black or brown or different, you will meet those low expectations. i believe that is what the caller was referring to versus

when we were forced to have segregated all black schools. the teachers in their were revolutionaries. they knew we have to prepare you to be at 200%, let alone 100%. you have to go above and beyond, deeper than anyone else to even survive in america. that was the mentality so the expectations were through the roof. we need those same expectations in every school for every child across the country. >> congressman jamaal bowman, thank you very much for joining us and talking to our viewers. >> thank you for having me, thank you. >> members of congress will testify on allegations that the justice department and other federal agencies are being politicized. we will also hear testimony from former fbi agents and former congresswoman tulsi gabbard. live coverage of the -- on c-span 3. you can also watch on our free mobile video app, c-span now,

or online at c-span.org. tonight, military and defense department officials discuss the chinese surveillance balloon that crossed over parts of the u.s. and measures being taken to prevent similar incidents in the future. the hearing held by the senate appropriations subcommittee on defense. watch it at 8 pm eastern on c-span. c-span now, our free mobile video app or anytime online. american history tv, saturdays on c-span two, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 7 pm eastern, a look back 24 years ago to the 1999 impeachment trial of president bill clinton which ended when the senate voted to acquit the president on both articles of impeachment. at 8 pm eastern on lectures in history, rogers university professor david greenberg examines bill clinton's path to

the white house, his major legislative achievements, and placin the history of the moderndemocratic party. exploring the american story -- watch american history tv saturdays on c-span two and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history. in 1848, husband and wife william an ellen craft embarked on a journey of self emancipation disguised as a wealthy disabled white man with his servant. they left georgia, avoiding slave traders, law enforcement, and even friends all while trying to conceal their identities. the author of master slave husband wife recounts their harrowing journey north and the impact of a fugitive slave law passed two years later. sunday night at eight eastern on c-span's q&as. you can listen to q&a and all of our broadcasts on our free c-span now.

>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including charter communications. >> charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers. we are just getting started! building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communications support c-span as a public service. giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> yesterday, president biden after his state of the union address travel to the battleground state of wisconsin. he went there to talk about union jobs and the economy. this is the milwaukee journal -- he takes his message to union workers at a forest training