hard time rebuilding and on top of that we had instances of contractor fraud which is not unusual where contractors come and don't live up to their word on what they are going to rebuild. all of those factors made it incredibly hard for low-income folks to rebuild and so yes, the whiter, wealthier neighborhoods have come back more strongly and low-income neighborhoods which are predominantly african- american neighborhoods have come back less strongly. . . orleans, iis around 7%. why the difference? guest: the difference is the rebuilding that is going on here. we received about $45 billion,

the gulf coast has, from the federal government in fines. about $10illion in flood insurance payments. and then a variety of infrastructure rebuilding grants. we were allocated finally the other day, five years after katrina, the federal government announced an additional $1.8 billion to rebuild our schools. when you have the numbers with a "b" in them, that is a lot of money. in contrast, we got $5 billion from the economic stimulus package. other states had similar amounts, but we got $40 billion for katrina rebuilding. obviously, the katrina stimulus is a significantly larger than the economic . . our telephone lines are open. we have one line is set aside for those who live in the gulf coast -- 202-628-0184.

if you lived through hurricane katrina and returned to the region, we are interested in your stories. if he moved on, why? why are you know longer in new orleans? 202-628-1084. long-term, if we were to sit here five years from now, what issues do you think we will talk about? guest: it is going to be the economy. katrina funds have buoyed our economy. then we were hit with a recession. we lost 1%, compared to 4% nationwide. then we had the oil spill. it points out the unfinished business of katrina. one, are wetlands have been eroding. congress approved a plan to rebuild it, but they never funded it. this is a state that has a budget of $14 billion, so to

allocate $1 billion for rebuilding wetlands demonstrates a strong commitment. it will take multi-billion dollars. they have en hurt because of the with the army corps of engineers build levees and kept it from flooding and replenishing the wetlands over time. we need to rebuild them. i think the country is aware of the importance of our wetlands as the breeding ground, the nurturing area for the whole gulf coast and our seafood and wildlife. we are hopeful that there may be some funding after the oil spill from bp to help rebuild our wetlands. any number with a "b" in it might come from bp funds. our economy, the oil spill is potentially affecting tourism. tourists have the misperception that the oil is affecting your lens, which it has not.

it is 100 miles away -- they have a misperception that the oil is affecting new orleans, which it has not. it is affecting our oral and gas industry, our ship building. what we need to do it in new orleans is to diversify our economy, thinking aut the industries of the future. we will be drilling for oil for as long as americans needt, which will probably be a long time, but can we also be developing other sources of power like hydropower? host: from "the advocate," "a look at katrina then and now." this is your call back in 2005, a few months after the storm hit -- this is her home. this is your home completely built today.

by the numbers. 38,008 under 62 -- the number of housing units lost in new orleans. 11, 510, the number of housing units lost and st. bernard parish. thes figure -- 93,00800, number of jobs lost. . .

>> to every person who has served and sacrificed in this emergency, i offer the gratitude of our country. tonight, i also offer this pledge of the american people. throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do when it takes, we will stay as long as

it takes do help citizens rebuild their lives. the challenges that we had. the damages. we got about $30 billion in private insurance and $6 in charity blt to be clear, this is actually normal in a they

worry that one neighborhood is getting more, another is getting less. on friday, asking both of them if he saw in the short term immediate recovery.

both agreed and said no. that think in terms of evacuation, it does seem we are more prepared. from washington democrat lines. host: my question is this, no one understand. these electric dmre see

host: you still there? caller: do you have a question in >> there's been a vak assume ever leadership. that's been pretty widely agree. .

>> these folks are struggling to rebuild their homes. neighbors pitching in for nips. it is a good time to realize there's a lot of thing in the the wrordy not worky.

wref had more reforms going on vat >> grass rults driven from the ground up. . host: this year with the census

that's important more across the south coast. it went from 6,000 to 12,000. we have team that's go into these housing units. you could see on every blighted building in town there was a little hanger asking folks to fill out the form.

they did that work. >> good morning, please. >> good morning. i just want to correct the record. we got a hurricane on the east side of slide will, louisiana. new orleans we went to work. we didn't go for the government handout.

if the government would get out, question could fix the problem. the truth hurts. nobody will tell the truth. thank you, sir. any rponse to that? there is a lot we can do for

this area frment talking about the shared sacrifices of the pele in the region. getting under way past 12:00 fo you on the west coast.

>> good morning. first of all, i thank justice the charter system is an expirement that has been turned -- almost 80% of the skwuls as xhared to the reasonable profits that had been gained by the charter system.

if you want to respond tothat. guest: the caller making rs a really good point. there have been some measurable gains. that's a good sign. the data indicates this very fuft kater one of the reasons their doing better is because there's a lot of young

professionals. after two years, they are not obligated to stay. what folks here are looking at seriously is how can we set up a system, produce more teachers locally who will stay in the communicate. and seeing an improvement on the gains we are starting to see here.

a lot of older folks juft said, i can't do it and stayed home and in the process didn't survive. the majority of the people on this day were old and disabled.

fema didn't get here until friday. i didn't see the red cross. hospitals that flew over the top of us seemed like they were only going from the lake front airport to where they were going. they didn't start picking pump up nm friday. at is a concern f

the future. the red cross said they will only house people above highway high. we have young people, old people. to continue to ee vaka wait is a problem really developing some

great systems for living with water. our city master plan calls for similar initiatives in new orleans. there's a lot of people that willook at how do to do that. this can be really useful.

often times the government will be interesd in playing. to invest now in some of those things that will protect the area, the oil and pipelines and fisheries which we know about those can rede the need for those possibilities in the if you tr.

host: gary is joining us on the line good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'd like to say first, my con doll evenses to everyoneho went through katrina and lost loved ones.

let me stop you there first. that is completely wrong. >> there is no evidence of that. >> considering the global warnling we are going through. i feel for the people is it really wise to even rebuild with the cost and the fact that we are going through such economic

hardime and everything. >> a sign that this would happen. is it worth rebuilding >> it's keshlly a good one. so many of our major cities are at risk. we all thought, no. that's never going to happen.

we saw thing that's show the same scenario. what do we do about protecting all of our cities? what parts of our city have assets that have valuable enough to protect?

the rebuilt casinos are in mississippi. >> good morning. go ahead. instead of giving them help and staying over, they pulled their weapons out on them. it doesn't even seem right.

what is our government doing? caller: as a resident of the region, did you want to respond sfl we know there was folks not getting help there were a lot of troubling things that happen.

what is apartment rentals like now caller: before the storm, we had a lot of rtals for $300, $400, little sholt guns. it was a very inexpensive place to live. this cost has risen quite a bit. the insurance went up.

jeff joining us on the democrat line much good mornin caller: first of all i want to complain. can you allow me to say this? host: absolutely. caller: i notice you have lun tick right wingers calling in talking about more people a borted and killed in wars. why don't you ask them to get their facts right. that's sounding ignorant and

disrespect fum to women. we did try to correct them. it's a reflection of the variety of views in the country. we do try to do that when appropriate. you are still with us. go ahead. caller: ok. ok. about katrina. you had this guy call from mississippi probably have an iq of a 2-year he had these right wingers telling the government

to get out my way. they go on and on. thank you for letting me have my talk. >> there has been that point of many saying get government out of my life accept when that's a difficult thing for them to wrestle with i'm sure. host: it has had an incredible

siek log cal boost. we had an incredible amount of tourism. all hotels were fl during superbowl weekend. huge saints fans and thrille that they are here

caller: i'm one of your right wing idiots. host: thank you for being loyal, we pressure point of view and everyone else. caller: i have to give you a compliment. i have watched you since 1988. about 30 20 years i'd say about. you haven't aged a day. you must live a very clean life. i'm serious about this. allison, i have the pin that most of the people in the ninth ward were this

is my opinion. i think the churches and volunteers haveot gotten enough creditor wt they accomplish and are accomplishing and it was a horror i was telling you about the neighborhood association and insurance companies not paying.

when folks didn't have enough insurance money, it was filled in with volunteer labor or organizations. every time there's volunteers in town, we say thank you for being here. headed up the city's efforts on the

>> now, more on hurricane katrina five years later with the construction and rebuilding of new orleans. &a." continues. host: our focus is on hurricane katrina this morning. you can watch the entire program which differs perspectives on the economy and school and in just a moment, how communities have changed and rebuild deprecate katrina. this past week at anewseum a form looking at media coverage and how the media covered one of the biggest natural disasters in our country's history. here is more from that panel discussion this past thursday.

>> we had two reporters who had bicycles and looked down from the railroad bridge that was a quiet residential street is now a river that is rushing past them under this bridge toward downtown orleans. in that flash of a moment, they realized that we are doomed. the water has broken through the flood walls and the ocean is rushing into the city. host: "the washinton post" says this morning that needs to be done. the city was understandably appalled at the government's reaction to the crisis. people were stranded on rooftops. this was a symbol of a failure of our government here and abroad.

if katrina was the symbol of government ineptitude five years ago, today government at all levels, community organizations and residents are making a difference. we have a professor at the university of new orleans. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you for having me. host: let me begin with the demographics of bordelaise. how has it changed among the ethnic populations in your city? guest: it has been pretty astounding demographically. if you think back to the 1990's, new orleans had the lowest percentage of latinos for any major urban area in the country. even prior to katrina, we're talking about a latino population specifically about 3%-4% and bust of those were longstanding populations. there were hondurans that had been here for three or four generations. there were dominicans and cubans but new orleans had largely

missed out on what we think of as a latino bow. that is the influx of relatively large numbers of mexicans and central americans particularly into the u.s. south end of the 1980's and 1990's. in 2004, according to the census, new orleans was home to about 2000 mexicans. that is astoundingly low. a city the size of nashville that would not have very many latinos in 1990 but in 2004 has about 80,000. even towns the size of 20,000 people tend to have more mexicans in 2004 than the city the size of new orleans. we missed out on that latino both prior to that. today, about 10% of our population is of latin american descent. that is a city that has been hemorrhaging population.

we have lost about 25% of the population and we have seen a growth in the latin american population. i think it has more than doubled since katrina so it has been significant democratically. -- demographically host: you can see a small reduction in the african-american population and is holding steady at about 55% among the white population guest: right, that is one of the things. if you remember the mayor made a statement about new orleans being a chocolate city. his concern was that new orleans was going to be overrun by mexicans. in some respects, that has not happened exactly. in relative terms, we have to or african-americans and we have more white americans and in relative and absolute terms, we have more latin americans.

what his statement did is it took us away from an explanation and understanding of why that happened. host: the super dome has become something of a symbol. we saw the story initially where people were coming in there and fleeing their homes and trying for safety. this is what it looks like today. five years after hurricane katrina, what does the superdome represent to you and the people of the city? guest: it was certainly a place where people went for refuge. more than that, it is the heart of the city spread it is seen as a central part of the revitalization. above all, it represents the new orleans saints which has been central in their super bowl run this past year to kind of energize the city and rebuild

this city. not to make too much of it, it is just football, it is central to the energy of the city in the past year-and-a-half-two years. host: what else has changed? what is better and what is worse from the past five years? guest: certainly the influx of latinos has been dramatic. as well, we certainly see efforts in school reform. i also feel there is a missed opportunity in the sense that we had an administration in the immediate aftermath of katrina in the form of a nagin administration that had an approach to let the free market take care of things and work its magic. the difficulty with that approach i think is that in the

simple sense, the free market does not necessarily rebuild schools in places like the lower ninth ward or bring back hospitals in certain areas or grocery stores or businesses. if there was ever a moment where we needed a strong state presence, it was in the aftermath of katrina. i think we missed out on that opportunity. previewing the president's speech, he will touch on the economy and the rebuilding of new orleans. we will have live here on c-span that this is what president obama said one year ago. >> now, even with all the action we have taken and all the progress we have made, we know how much work is left to be done. whether you're driving through an orleans, a biloxi, or the southern part of louisiana, it is clear how far we have to go before we can call this recovery a success. there are sewers and roads still to repair. there are houses and hospitals

still vacant. there are schools and never is waiting to thrive once more. i promise you this, whether it is becoming down here for my cabinet or other members of my administration, we will not forget about new orleans. we will keep working [applause] we will not forget about the gulf coast. together we will be built -- we will rebuild this region and we will rebuild the better than before. host: based on that, what are the priorities of new orleans? what do you need next? guest: we continue to need a major rebuilding effort along the lines of housing. that is the number-one issue. in the aftermath of katrina, it was difficult for african americans to return to the city in a number of respects in the sense that in some cases we certainly blocked off their housing and actually made it impossible for them to return, but we also have a city where we

have seen the skyrocketing cost of living particularly in the area of the doubling and tripling of rents and housing is a major area. there has been significant reforms in the school system. there is a long way to go in that area, as well. we have skyrocketed levels of crime that have been a problem. more than anything, it reflects the desperation of a sector of the population that does not see a whole lot of hope and remains poor and marginalized. there are many challenges that remain in the city. host: our guest is a professor at the university of new orleans. and he now asks how many residents returned and how many are new residence? guest: we have lost maybe 20%- 25%. new residents are harder to calculate. most of the latino population or at least a significant percentage of them is relatively new.

that percentage of the total population has gone up from under 5% to around 10%. there have been significant increases of latinos while we have been losing a portion of our african-american population host: some of the area of rebuilding includes some of the newer homes in new orleans. caller: my question is based on the house and. it is more so in the ninth ward area. i know the president will be there to that. i am concerned whether he will help rebuild neighborhoods as well. [unintelligible] guest: if the past is an indication, he will make a stop at the ninth ward.

that would be my guess but i am not sure what his schedule is. host: he will also be interviewed on nbc that will take place at 3:00 p.m. eastern time. joe is joining us from new orleans. we have a video from the ninth ward, this is what it looked like five years ago. caller: good morning, i was listening before when you were talking about new orleans and you were talking about houses. your callers are misinformed. the lower ninth ward was a residential area and 98% of those people down there were homeowners. when the people returned, their rent skyrocketed. people who should have been able to rent could not run because they did not on the rental property. because of the rental properties went through the roof because they were folks who live in

outlying parishes and or the recipient of all that money coming in. there was no rent control because it did not have anything to do with people who actually live in these hard-pressed area. it was the folks who had abandoned new orleans. that is one of the reasons why they could not make any headway the politicians knew that the money was going in one direction only. guest: i am essentially in agreement with the caller. one of the failures in the post- katrina period, there was a focus of home ownership and getting people back into homes and we did not debate could great job in that area. one of the major failures was helping people get back into the city and deal with iran's that were literally going through the roof. how'd you get the largely african-american population that

evacuate and have the they afford to come back to the city and live there when the cost of living is going through the roof? i think we felt our city in that respect. i certainly agree with what the caller was saying. host: 1 impact as the bp oil spill had on louisiana long term? guest: everybody is waiting and it is a little unclear. our economy revolves around certainly the port which is a major source of revenue and jobs for the city. tourism is part of that. many people in new orleans are concerned about the impact of the bp oil spill. it affects everything from seafood to the hotel and restaurant industry which is the core of the economy. i think it is really unclear now and we are hopeful and encourage people to come down to new orleans. host: we have a line set aside

for those who live in the gulf coast region. we also divide our lines among democrats, republicans, and independence and it could join the conversation on twitter o3 . am originally from jefferson parish in the shrewsbury area. i am not latina i happened to marry a man from puerto rico. i went to booker t. washington high school. steven is being just ingenuous when he talked about ray nagin and his comments about a job that city. his reference was the fact that the planning commissioner, whoever they were, were planning to make large areas

that were originally black or residential areas such as part of pontchartrain park, make them green areas and there was a feeling that those who had the wherewithal were planning to push the african americans out of the city and that is where reagan was coming from -- where re-was coming from. as far as those in jefferson parish, i know a number of those people were getting quite a bit of money from state road home program. i wonder as i travelled through the orlin is visiting some of my friends in the city, what was

happening with those people who had those homes and could not come back? host: when did you leave new orleans? i graduated in 1957 and my parents lived in new york. when i went away to college, i made new york my residence. my mother still lives there. she is 93 years old. i have two sisters who live there. one of my sisters taught in the system. guest: i think we are in more agreement. when i made reference to the ray nagin statement and the city would be overrun by mexicans, my problem with the statement had much to do with the fact that it drew more attention to re-than the issues. --ray nagin than the issues. average americans were concerned

about a few things like they were not being allowed back in the city, they were being blocked from their homes, there were not given access to jobs in the rebuilding effort, they were not able to afford to come back to the city because of the skyrocketing costs. there was a series of things that were quite serious and that african-americans had every reason to be angry about. the unfortunate nature of the commons was that it focuses on ray nagin and less on why that was apparent host: the president is coming down to more lanes and speaking at a xavier university. why did the white house make a decision to speak there? guest: xavier university is a major university within the city. it is a starkly black university at that had something to do with it. it is located in the heart of the city in an area that experienced some flooding and

has been crucial to the rebuilding of new orleans. i think it is a great place for him to locate a speech. host: we will have that this afternoon at 3:10 eastern time. alabama, good morning. caller: part of the real tragedy was my uncle was in charge of the levees and he got the keys to the city during hurricane betsy. the tragedy was that if a category 3 hurricane hits the city, the city is gone. they had from 1960 until hurricane katrina to fix levees and knowing what would happen when it hit at high tide. i turned the tv off and i did not look at the newspaper. i knew what would happen. guest: as a comment, i think

there were lots of folks that were putting out similar warnings about the potential of the impact of a hurricane and making those kind of warnings for literally decades. in that respect, many people in new orleans consider katrina to be as much a man-made disaster as a natural disaster i certainly agree with that sentiment. host: the other sentiment we have been getting from many viewers and many online is the sense that there was a lot of waste especially in terms of government assistance following katrina and fraud in new orleans. can you respond to that? guest: that waite was crucial particularly for marginalized and poor folks in the city that needed the money and the resources fairly quickly to get back into the city. it made it very difficult for them to return at all they needed resources in terms of getting schools up and running and coming back to communities.

without schools at a place to put your children, that was a real issue in terms of basic resources in the aftermath of the chin and the failure of the government on a number of levels to make good on those kinds of needs and promises. host: where federal dollars waste or abuse? guest: i think it is important to remember in the aftermath of a veteran of that there was a crisis mentality. they wanted to build a canal and think letter. when you have that context, you have money that is wasted. in some respects, there was a series of messages sent to contractors and employers. the davis-bacon act was passed that you don't have to pay workers prevailing wages. there were telling employers that it is ok to hire

undocumented workers. in the crisis context, i think there was federal money wasted and a considerable amount of that -- there was profit to be made of large contractors. you lose the efficiencies aside from out right cases of fraud host: with the increase in the hispanic population, has there been a racial divide between african-americans, whites, and hispanics or a more noticeable racial divide that in the past? guest: in the aftermath of katrina, it was almost inevitable you would have tensions between african- americans and latinos in the sense that way petted them together. it was the idea -- the real sort of problems that ever parents had in terms of being locked out of houses and the rents and many

things we mentioned is that they were actively and excluded at the same time you have a latino population that is being included but not being included as citizens or full members of the to -- of the economy but be included as a part of a labour force which is welcome as long as they will work for low wages under difficult working conditions, unsafe working conditions, under poorhouses a grid you have an exploding population on one hand and one is included as a disposable labor force. that is a recipe for conflict. african americans were angry at some of that anchoanger was directed at lead to desperate people have now realized that they share more problems and a source of the problems is not each other. it makes more sense to form alliances between the two rooms

that it does to harbor resentment and anger. i think that is the direction where we are going at present host: our focus is rebuilding after hurricane katrina and the impact it has had on neighborhoods in louisiana fell particularly new orleans. we have a professor from new orleans as our guest. caller: i have heard a lot of blending of the government, particularly the bush government about how the desk -- about the disaster in louisiana. you must include both the city government of new orleans and a state government of louisiana as being part of the problem. governorblanko did not allow the federal people to come in right away because the state government rules in those cases. they don't have to let the federal government come in. in a natural disaster of this type are the federal government was delayed by the governor. down in new orleans, there were

many buses available that were not utilized. that is part of the administration maderay nagin. they could have done many people out that they fail. hurricane rita hit later and that had the city of lake charles but there was more of a bootstraps' operation. the people were willing to take responsibility for themselves and go to work and they had a much more effective recovery from hurricane rita then new orleans had from hurricane katrina. guest: i would agree with the caller in the sense that there is plenty of blame to go around

, certainly at various government levels. local governments let down the city of new orleans during kitchen and in the aftermath of the cleanup and rebuilding effort. host: about $145 billion in assistant to new orleans and a greater gulf coast region as a result of the hurricane to rebuild and fortified the levees and rebuild communities. johnny is joining us from new orleans, good morning. please go ahead. caller: you doing okay? guest: i am a keg. host: thank the lord for bobby jindal. he is a good man. these are hard-working people and i don't know why they did

that get along. the only reason obama is coming down here is to join his little black the bones -- host: let me ask you about the unemployment rate with african- americans as opposed to the rest of the population guest:. this is hitting african- americans more than any other group. we're not creating the kinds of jobs that allow one to live a decent life. that is an enduring problem before and after katrina. we have jobs that are heavily dependent on the service sector. often they will come with a kind of wages and benefits that people made. this is a decade-long problem in new orleans but it's that community particularly hard.

host: we want to apologize for any derogatory comments. this is an open forum and we want an open and fair and direct dialogue but when you cross the line using ethnic slurs or derogatory terms, we will cut you off and we ask that you refrain from doing so on this network. there is no place for that. iranda is joining us from california caller: i feel like crying after the last person. this is what america has come to. all of this hate and derision. oh, my god. say it isin to s unfortunate that when you think about what this person mr. stevens, we thank you for being there, when you say they have locked out african-americans from coming back into their own

city but yet the government has allowed immigrants to come in who don't even have money to purchase rentals but yet they can rent their and live there? there is certainly a trend to make that city a city where blacks no longer -- with all the food and the music and everything that new orleans stands for, i have never been there. i hope to go there. i am african-american. to wipe all of that tradition and history out and bring in immigrants? this country is in a situation where we don't have jobs and african-americans cannot get jobs to rebuild their on city? they have to bring in immigrants to build their own city? that is sad. and then to hear the caller is really, really sad. this is america a host: thank you for the call and the

comment. guest: i don't think i have anything to add to that. i agree with that columbarium -- i agree with the caller. i am a little more optimistic than that. this is not the end of new orleans. people have come back in large numbers. there are certainly problems that affected the return of african-americans. i also think the latin americans that came here certainly did not work on the the best conditions and often paid poorly and not paid what they're promised and in some cases not ppaid at all. there were some that lived in part during the cleanup. these are folks that have earned the right to stay in new orleans. they were central to the clinic and that is not to take away anything from an the other folks who participated in the cleanup. they came not only for jobs but they can to help out the city

and they certainly haven't they have been central to the rebuilding effort. by alan sense is that there is room in orlin is considering we are dow 20 down 20 -- down 20% in population current. host: wynton marsalis has a piece in the news. this is from ""the wall street journal." the matter is starting the politically sensitive process of knocking down the empty and ravaged homes that marked the said wa ninthrd whose population is only 80% of the pre-katrina size. he hopes to remote 1/3 of the 55,000 abandoned structures by the end of his first term in 2014. what impact does that have on new orleans? guest: anyone who drives down to

the ninthward or lives there knows this is a problem. darren is to be a concerted effort on the part of the government. the idea that you leave these things up to the free market is a problem because it has not worked. you have st. abandoned houses in w the ninthard. it is more than just knocking them down and getting rid of blight. you also need to have a plan for rebuilding the neighborhood. and the ward and a plan that is not just not sit down and make it more attractive for real estate developers. they need a plan that would make it more affordable for the people to come back and rebuild the area o. they are thinking about that but it will take considerable resources. we certainly don't have those kind of resources here in new

orleans. we will need help from the state and federal government and private capital, as well. host: good morning to you from carmel, indiana, \ caller: thank you for the wonderful program this morning. i would ask your guest -- this was asked to a previous caller that perhaps was not in the economic field like you are. the question is -- who owns landham a la or ninth ward -- who owns the land in the ninthward. i was in new orleans for one day and it was a wonderful visit and i wish it well. there are realistic people up here that might want to come out and buy some land in the los ninth ward and build some homes and so forth. who owns the land? i presume it was not owner-

occupied properties. if the other people want to wait for the government, there may be other people who have the money themselves to build houses and moved down there or helped other people moved in barracks who owns the land? host: courtesy of ""the washington post." guest: homeowners: the lan. -- homeowners owned the land. there were stable homes that were spawned by the people who live there. -- that were owned by the people who lived there. i think we need to find better ways to get people who are still

in the city but perhaps are not able to rebuild their homes and may want to come back. they should rebuild the city with many of the folks who were there. the idea that many people will come from new orleans and buy up cheap real estate, that is probably not the way we want to go and that is not realistic for w or ninthard. host: that is what the newspaper is focusing on this morning. the national spotlight shines on the lure w ninthard. we're joined from biloxi, mississippi, good morning. caller: good morning, i have a comment. i hear people talking about new orleans and i understand they were hit hard by katrina but also there were other gulf coast residents that or had just as hard if not harder by katrina.

everybody acts like white or black and racism does not exist in new orleans. all that sounds good but the fact is, america is just as racist as it was and always has been. host: we got the essence of your point which is racism in america. guest: it certainly exists. new orleans is a case study in many ways. i agree with the caller that your eyes was not the only place that was devastated. i am from new orleans and each of the university. i certainly recognize there are problems elsewhere both caused by and beyond hurricane katrina host:. tammy, from south dillon, texas. caller: good morning.

i was calling because i remember seeing briefs and areas featured on tv and there was a lot of devastation caused to that area. there was a a lot of catastrophic events that took place. i had a friend who live there who was a bishop and she was african-american and was teaching in the public school system and her life was totally disrupted. she had to move to south carolina. i met people when i lived in charlotte, n.c. that were from new orleans. their lives were totally disrupted. they had nothing to go back to at that time. this was back between 2005-2008 that i had the pleasure of meeting people from new orleans that were living there in charlotte. when something like this happens, you don't have any control over the hurricane

itself because god that drove that kind of thing. it happened and people's lives had to be put back together because they lost everything. it takes time to put a community and a city back together. i was looking at the lower in ninthward and there are grants, block grants that people can go down to the city and apply for to try to rebuild community development. guest: i agree with the sentiments of the college. certainly, katrina was a natural disaster. the effects felt in new orleans were created by man and a sense of a poor levee system and other things. the response is exclusively done by people.

that is where folks have been let down. in terms of the grants, it is a complicated question. in some respects, there has been money there but has not been enough and has not come quickly enough and it has not recognized the realities in which people are living and the difficulties they face when they are attempting to rebuild their homes when they are paying exorbitant rents and cannot find jobs or schools to put their kids in. these are problems that are still with us and people have

.

>> now remarks from supreme court justice season i can't sotomayor. she talks about what she's faced in her career ads a

hispanic woman and legal issues, including the miranda warning, and the recent wikileaks story. after her remarks, she takes questions from students. this hour-long discussion is hosted by the university of denver. plse turn off or silencel of your cell phones. thank you. i would like to double our co- sponsor -- thank are co-sponsor in this -- the colorado campaign for inclusive excellence. we have been working in colorado and nationwide. i would like to thank the many people who made this possible, especially our associate dean and the event planners. thank you to all of you who made this happen. [applause]

if you ever doubt whether strong intellect, hard work, and good, old-fashioned human decency can carry you to the top of the competitive and prestigious professions, you need look no further for inspiration than justice sonia sotomayor. she grew up in the bronx public housing process -- project. she attended high school, then princeton and yale law school's on full scholarships. -- schools on full scholarships. she excelled in high school debate. for those of you who served on various law reviews -- you have heard my pitch on the benefits of this -- justice sotomayor was an editor on the yale law journal. she served as district attorney in the new york city -- district

office. she did commercial litigation in new york, first as an associate, then as a partner. in 1991, president george h. w. bush appointed her to the u.s. district court to the southern district of new york, and then in 1998, president bill clinton elevated her to the u.s. court of appeals for the second circuit. in 2009, president barack obama appointed her as associate justice of the u.s. supreme court. a telling insight about the justice comes from one of her former clerks who came to speak to us yesterday. the clerk pointed out that the justice loves kids of all ages. she sees in them all that is possible and all that is great about us. that is why she is here -- to

inspire all of us. please join me in welcoming toast it -- a welcoming justice sotomayor -- in welcoming justice sotomayor. [applause] >so, thank you. let me tell you a little bit about the format. we will begin with questions from five denver-area student leaders at the center microphone. after their questions have been answered, we will open the floor to questions from all students. to make sure we get a good cross-section of studio audiences, we have divided the floor into blue, green, pink, and yellow. alternate from section -- we will alternate between the sections until the hour is up.

our students will make sure each section can get to the microphone. sarah will keep us on track. i will now turn the floor over to our first question. thank you again, justice sotomayor. [applause] >> can i just say thank you to the dene and everyone else who worked on putting this wonderful event together -- dean and everyone else who worked on putting this wonderful event together? and do all of you who are here -- you touched my heart in a deep and profound way. i thank you for taking the time to share this moment with me. i wish you could stand here in my shoes for a few minutes and look out. it is an absolutely are inspiring feeling he -- awe-

inspiring feeling to be standing up here and having you looking up at me. it is a little strange. the whole year for me has been filled with strangeness, but a nice strangeness. each moment has had a measure of magic that i could not repeat that any other moment. thank you for coming today. anyway, let's start with the first question. if you cannot hear me, tell me. i am usually loud enough. my friends do not complain. [laughter] >> good afternoon, justice sotomayor. my question is, how was life different living from the bronx to princeton university? >> the first week i was in princeton, i spent virtually every night looking for the

cricket who was making noise in my room. [laughter] the only cricket i had ever seen was in a cartoon about "jiminy cricket." i knew it had long legs and made bad boys. i took that route apart every single night. -- room apart every single night. on the weekend, one of my friends came to visit me. i told him about the credit. he started to laugh. he told me, it is not in the room. it is on the three outside the window. i had never -- on the tree outside the window. i had never had a tree outside my window. i felt like i was in an alien land. that is how often described it. it was totally different from anything i had ever experienced. first of all, i do not know if you have seen pictures of

princeton. if you have not come and go on the internet and look. it is made up of gothic -- collegiate gothic architecture. it is like it is out of a storybook. there is grass everywhere, trees everywhere, big, beautiful buildings. you almost feel like you're somewhere in europe, walking through four or five centuries ago of history. the people who are there are so different from me. they were from different parts of the country, many from across the world. many of them had experiences that i had only heard about. they took spring vacations in the bahamas, in europe, and they had read books that i had never even heard of.

"ulysses." i have not heard about that when i was in high school. i started to read it and i almost fell asleep. the public is that i was different. i came -- the poll -- the point is that i was different. it took a lot of work to make a life for myself in that environment. did i feel completely apart of princeton when i had left? i had mastered princeton by all traditional criteria. you may know that i graduated pretty high in my class and received a very prestigious honor their. i had done everything that was expected of a person going to a place like princeton. did i ever feel completely comfortable? do you ever?

when you are that different? i am on the supreme court today. i am one of nine extraordinary people. i did not include myself in 993 the other eight are just brilliant. every morning i get up -- in i that nine. that nine. -- i do not include myself in that nine. that nine. the other eight are just brilliant. every morning i get up and know that i can just keep meeting every challenge. eventually, i will become comfortable enough to say, even if i am a little bit different, it is ok. i guess that is where i am now. it is ok. thanks. [applause]

>> they know? ok. >> i am a freshman year at the university of denver. in high school, i was on the the 18 -- debate team. i was curious about your experience with debate in high school and how that impacted your education and how it impacted your eventual nomination to the supreme court. >> i do not know how your debate competition goes on. when i was in high school, we would show up at a local college somewhere -- not so local. once we traveled to buffalo, got snowed in, and decided i would never go north for college. and i did not. you went into a big room. you were paired into teams. you were handed the topic and

the side that you had to argue. you had 15 minutes to organize your thoughts and then the debate started. that exercise probably assisted me in every stage of my professional life as a lawyer. the moment, as a lawyer -- even as a person in almost any profession, that you can see both sides of an issue, that you can muster the best arguments on either side, and come to a resolution as a debater or a lawyer or a judge, in terms of making a choice after knowing what all of the arguments are, and understanding them, then you feel that you are making a right

decision. there is rarely are right or there is rarely are right or wrong answer -- a right or wrong answer. what -- people wonder why the law is not clear. the law is clear. human behavior is not. that is what the law addresses. the activities, relationships of people. anytime you're dealing with that -- when you are applying that conduct to law, it is never quite black and white. as far as me as a judge goes, and my career, it has always been, have understood all of the arguments on each side? have i fully appreciated what both sides are trying to say to me? and have by then come to a conclusion that i think is commanded by -- i then come to a conclusion that i think is commanded by the law?

being on the debate team was the foundation of that learning for me. for all of you who are debaters, it is important, not just if you want to be a lawyer or judge or justice, but in all of your relationships. if you can deal with people by being passionate about your own views, but sensitive to what motivates other people, what their views are, why they think of it is important, you can improve your relationship with them. [applause] >> good afternoon, justice sotomayor. thank you for coming to our school. i'm the president of the student bar association here. as a law student, i will ask a legal question.

since miranda versus arizona was decided in 1966, a long line of decisions has eroded productions persons facing police interrogations' enjoy. -- protections persons facing police interrogations enjoy. there is a heavy burden to prove that someone has waived miranda. there is a warning that any statement can constitute an implied waiver of miranda rights. you wrote a passionate dissent. do you believe that a majority of the court has expressed the view that the protections of miranda are essentially no longer necessary? in other words, are the purposes of miranda protection -- this is what the law school has done to me. [laughter] in other words, are the main

purposes of the miranda protection -- to prevent coercive interrogation -- no longer something the court is concerned about? thank you very much. [applause] >> i am glad you recognize what law school did to you. [laughter] for all the young lawyers in this audience -- or young lawyers to be, when i start talking to my law clerks about legal research, the first thing i tell them to do is to explain the problem to me without using one word of legalese. i say to them -- because what happens often to lawyers is, you start using legal terms and you forget what they mean. often, if you look at what the legal term means, it gives you a pretty clear answer to whatever question you are looking after. i am not accusing you of that.

i am going to translate, i think, what your question meant. [laughter] for the students who did not read it. the court, in the case he mentioned, was faced with the question of whether or not a defendant who had remained silent for a number of hours during police interrogation -- whether he had waived his right to remain silent when a police officer came up to him and basically asked him whether he had asked god for forgiveness for the murder he had committed. he shook his head yes. i am simplifying the tax greatly, but those are the essence -- the facts greatly, but that is the essence of it. did the defendant, after hours

of not saying anything, when he spoke, waived his right to silence? what the majority basically held -- again i am simplifying things for this conversation -. it is always dangerous to do this. he should not take this as a complete explanation. you should always read it. for the purpose of your question, the majority held that, if the defendant knows of his rights, in this case, it was a clear finding by the below courts and that the defendant knew he had a right to remain silent. if he speaks in the face of that silence, one could assume that he waived his rights. that is, in essence, what the majority said. i descended -- dissented on the prior that the court's

cases had demanded that a waiver of the right remained silent -- a waiver of the right to remain silent had to be more explicit. a defendant had to say, yes, i'll waive. i want to talk with you. your silence was not proof of a waiver. there were cases that had said that in the history. do i think that the majority is revoking miranda? no. one of the most interesting things i was given by justice souter, whose seat i took on souter, whose seat i took on the court -- in one of our first conversations, he said, this job will be eminently easier for you if you except that the people -- accept that

the people you're working with our people of good faith. you may disagree with them, but each of them is doing what they think is right under the constitution and the law. you may think they are right about their conclusion, but if you did not ascribed evil motives to them -- do not ascribe evil motives to them, you will find that the disagreement is something you can engage in with passion and respect. what do i think? i think that i was right. [laughter] i do think they were wrong. some people on the court joined me in saying they were wrong, but not -- it was not done out of an intent to undo miranda. they're holding was that the

person who knows their right and chooses nevertheless to speak as made a statement. they believe that. this is a question of your perspective and what you think it works best in terms of your view of the constitution and its protections. [applause] >> hi. i am from denver south. >> what is that? high school, college? >> high school. cultural issues such as immigration and religious tolerance often make it to the court. should the court considered the political culture of the nation in various decisions? >> one beauty of being a justice

for life -- which all federal judges are -- is that we're charged with not considering the political views of the time. we're charged with looking at the constitution and what belongs command -- the law commands. it is difficult to answer that question in the abstract. there are situations in which a certain dangers -- searches and seizures, for example. we have to make a determination whether certain police conduct in searching either a person or place is reasonable. how do we draw our conclusions on reasonableness? in part, by thinking about what the situation is. under what situation are the police officers doing the confronting?

what are the experience is the society has had -- experiences the society has had in those kinds of confrontations? is it political? no. it is a societal situation that we take into account. there are other questions where it would be completely inappropriate for us to look at what the society's political reaction is because the constitution says you cannot. we do not permit laws that abridge freedom of speech. that is not an absolute law, because there are restrictions to speech that we permit within certain circumstances and not in all. if you are a judge or justice in that situation, you have to be careful to put aside the

political views and look at what the law commands you to look at in making your choice. with respect to the situations you are talking about -- religious freedom and immigration law -- i am sure some others did it will ask me my views on those. clearly, i cannot give them. first of all, i have not really examined the arizona law in detail. i have seen what you have seen in the newspapers. i have not read the arguments. i do not know what the other courts will do. i have not formed an opinion yet and i will not until i hear the case, the same with other issues that involve religious tolerance. there is an important issue involved in these questions that all of you have to bear in mind. by the time the case comes to the court, it is because some dynamic in the society has had a

confrontation. it means that interest groups in the society have done something either to create an law or to create a situation that is going to impact another group. that is why waiting for the courts to resolve these issues is not what all of you should be doing, whether you want to be lawyers or not. just to be good citizens -- we should all be actively involved in shaping laws that get past, it involves -- get passed, involved in changing them when we do not agree with them. waiting for the court to do that is giving away your rights of citizenship. citizenship means participation in the development of our law,

our society. for all of you here, there are big and important issues, critical to many communities. i do not know what the answer is. you, individually, may not know what the right answer is, but you have to work at finding it together. you have to work hard at either passing laws that you think to the right thing or changing those which you think to the wrong things. don't wait for the court. start the process much earlier than when the confrontation develops. [applause] >> afternoon, justice sotomayor. i am a senior here. i am applying to law school to pursue a career as a corporate attorney. what challenges did you face as a corporate litigator, both in

general and in terms of your ethnicity? thank you. >> i could give you pat answers. i will try to give you a more direct one. what i found when i moved into the corporate world was that my greatest problem was that i did not have access previously to people in places of power so that i could make the contacts to get the business that i needed to develop in my firm. a complicated concept, isn't it? law firms are businesses. they need clients. how do people make clients? they usually make them from people they know. generally, not always, but often, the people you grow up

with, the people that you go to camp with, the people that you do things with -- they are the people who become your business leaders -- to become business leaders working in corporate settings. through those relationships, they bring new business. when you come from a background like i do, where there was not that corporate familiarity, it becomes harder to make those inroads. obviously i develop some of my business from my contacts at princeton and yale. those and garments let me meet those kinds of people. -- those environments let me meet those kinds of people. a lot of my friends in the law firm were -- had clients who were people they grew up with or were the parents of their friends from school. i developed my business the different way. you'll learn how to do that when

you are challenged and cannot do it in the traditional way. i took the clients that the firm had and figured out what additional business i could develop with those clients. i took three of the firms bigger bigger clientsm's and i developed areas that they had not had with the firm previously. that is what got me the partnership. you have to be creative in meeting challenges. in terms of entering the corporate area, that was the biggest disadvantage i found. i know that i have spoken previously to other student groups about writing. the biggest challenge that most students -- not just minorities, but frankly the entire population has --is an understanding that the persuasiveness of lawyering is

not the argument you make in the court. getting up and talking to a judge -- it really does not matter how articulate or inarticulate you are. if you have a strong case and you have made a persuasive case in your papers, you are going to win. that is probably true about almost anything you do it as a professional. you persuade in your riding. -- in your writing. that is the task that every student has to spend most time on, in my mind, learning how to write tightly and concisely. that takes a lot of effort. i've talked about what i did in college to improve my own riding. -- writing. i went to the biggest bookstore in new york and bought grammar books from first to 12th grade

and spent the whole summer reading those books to teach myself how to write right. i still work at it. it is not natural for most people. it takes practice to do well. if i were going to talk about a second structural challenge to success, it would be improving my riding -- writing. [applause] >> thank you. the next question will come from a student in the blue section. >> good afternoon, justice sotomayor. sotomayor. i'm a senior at abraham lincoln high school. it is an honor to ask you this question.

in your remarks on may 2000 -- may, 2009, you said and the along the lines of, "are at -- our founding fathers have set of principles. times have changed, and so have the principles." what your beliefs about the words "all men are created equal" and calling illegal immigrants "aliens"? in what direction is immigration reform heading? >> it was the declaration of independence which spoke about all men being equal. they did not mean all men, because they excluded blacks and excluded women. it was not all people are equal. obviously has

changed. we have grown into a society borne ferom -- from brown versus board of education that it does mean all men. we have grown through legislative -- not constitutional -- actions -- most people do not recognize this. most of the change in equality for women came through legislative reform. the right to vote. the court followed with requiring equality of women in the workplace and in other fields in other ways. it was not just the constitution. it was the law that opened the door for women. what will "all men are equal" begun to immigrants is a more

complicated question because of the constitutional power over immigration that is given to congress and the president. a change in that area is likely to beat a little slower and -- be a little slower and require much more legislative action ben court action to b, top be frank. to the extent of the country is focused on this, it requires more meaningful conversation about that principle. what do we, as a country, want equality to me in this situation? there is no clear answer in the constitution. we will find it more in its principles and in the country having a conversation about how it wants that issue to look. [applause]

>> the next question will come from a student in the green section. >> i come from thomas jefferson high school where i am a senior. what gave you the motive to become -- to accomplish all the things that you have? >> i am the most stubborn person you can imagine. [laughter] i really mean that. when i was little, my family used to talk about me being so hard-headed. i know how to work and compromise on issues between people. when it comes to me and doing things, i keep getting knocked

down and i will just keep getting up. when i was 2 years old, i did not like eating. i used to bunch up my cheeks like this to shut them so my mom could not show the spoon in -- shove the spoon in. my mother would put her hands around my cheeks and forced it down my throat -- force it down my throat. we would do that for hours. [laughter] every time i did something that she thought i was wrong, she would put me in one of the timeout corners and say, come out whenever you change your mind. i would sit there forever. she would have to give in to call me to dinner. these are not great qualities. [laughter]

i can assure you she did not think so when i was little. there is an essence to the idea that every time you get knocked it down, you get up and try again. that is sometimes really hard to do. when you get embarrassed over failure -- that happens to me -- you get embarrassed and you want to walk away. there is nothing more degrading to yourself than when you feel you have been embarrassed. and yet, getting up and saying, ok, how my going to not let this beat me? what do i have to do to make this work? try again. go a different way around it.

that is what has helped me succeed. i do not often tell this story. when president clinton nominated me to the court of appeals, i was not certain i wanted to go. i loved being a district court judge. i was not sure i wanted to leave being a trial judge. a lot of people started putting up resistance to my appointment. [laughter] one day, i looked at a bunch of my friends and i said, why am i fighting so hard for a job i am not even sure i want? i answered my own question by saying, if they had not fought so hard, i would have given up earlier. i could not let them beat me. as i said to you, that is hard to say to people. when you fail, it is just tough to try again. it is really worth it.

you will eventually get through. [applause] >> thank you, your honor. now, a question from a student in the ping exception -- pink section. >> hi. i am and 8 greater -- an eighth grader. how did you feel when president obama nominated you to be judged on the supreme court? -- to be a judge on the supreme court? >> let me tell you what happened that day. i got up at 6:00 in the morning to go to the white house. i was going to get ready to go meet the president and have him

announce my nomination. as i walked into the room where we were going to meet the president, my whole family was there. they had been brought from florida and syracuse to the white house. we were sitting around. i was hugging and kissing everyone. the president and vice president walked in. from that moment till almost today, i have been living a fantasy. i have often said i keep waiting for someone to pinch me and wake me up. i do not really want them to, but i keep imagine it is going to happen any moment now. when i walked from the back towards the podium, it was like my whole body started floating in space.

there was sonia walking and talking and getting kissed by the vice president and the president. i was totally shocked. it is impossible to describe what a moment like that is. i heard the president talking about me, saying things i did not even know. [laughter] and it was the most exhilarating, the most incredible moment anyone could ever have. the most special part of this whole process, for me, and i say this to you so that you go away from this experience with me today aspiring to reach a moment like that for yourselves. despite all of the wonderful

things that had happened to me, perhaps the most terrific was perhaps the most terrific was watching my younger brother cry on television. [laughter] do you know why? i knew he loved me. i never knew he loved me so much. if you have a moment in your lives where you can share a special event with your family and look at them and look at the joy they are getting and the joy they are feeling for you, it really is the most touching part of this experience. when i say watching my brother cry, what i mean is learning

how deeply he loves me. i hope you have that opportunity to feel how much they love you. to feel how much they love you. [applause] >> next question. >> i am a senior at the contemporary learned academy. thank you for the wonderful opportunity that you have given us today. the odds you have overcome our extraordinary. -- are extraordinary. what advice would you give to young people who feel they are being held back by their financial situation? thank you. >> i do not want to be flip,

because i do not intend to. but i actually believe in getting into debt for education. for me, there is nothing more important long-term, then getting the best education that you can add whatever cost you -- at whatever cost you have to pay. that often means getting more loans than you think you can afford, and working more jobs than you think you can do, but i do not think there is an opener to doors in this society greater than education. education open your eyes -- opens your eyes to the world and it lets you fly without a plane. it lets you experience the world in a very direct way, because it

lets you think about things more deeply and more sensitively then you could on your own -- than you could on your own. it is about learning things you would not seek or experience in your everyday environment. you cannot let money hold you back. it means sacrifice. i actually started working when i was in high school, during my freshman year summer. i worked summers and all year round. i worked for two years at two jobs, even on a full scholarship. i know it is hard and tough, but you just cannot let it get you

down. you have to do a lot of research on looking for every financial assistance out there. i got a scholarship from the new york state rehabilitation society. ands a juvenile diabetic i did not know that i qualified. i applied and got it. who would have thunk? i didn't. i was researching every scholarship. i found out my local church had a scholarship, so i tried for it. was not big money. it was small amounts that added up. that put me through college. [applause] >> good afternoon, your honor. i am a junior.

i was wondering what was your main goal that you wanted to achieve by becoming a supreme court justice? what do you want to most influence? thank you. >> when i was being prepared for my senate hearings, one of the questions i was asked was, when i die, what is the legacy that i want people to talk about? that is the one preparation question that i had the most difficulty with. i will explain why. i am one of nine. i cannot actually influenced the development of any area -- any

specific area -- influence the development of any specific area unless i can convince others to interpret them in the way i think is right. to talk about a legacy in a particular area of law is not something i am equipped to do. so, if it is not a change in law, because we did not make it, we interpret and apply it, then what is the legacy i could leave as a supreme court justice? what i came to, in terms of answering that for myself, was i hope that, at the end of my legacy, people will say to me that she was a justice that people understood and knew appreciated their problems, and

that the decisions i reached were always based on a principle based in law. if i can be known as someone who respects law, then i can teach others and guide them into what is happening in our society. is happening in our society. if i can understand the issues they are involved in, i will have fulfilled my legacy. [applause] [applause] >> good afternoon.

i am from the denver center for international studies. i am a jew near there. i am a jew near there. -- i'm a junior there. what is the biggest sacrifice what is the biggest sacrifice you have had to make in your life and why? >> this is getting more personal than you may want. [laughter] it was taking this job when i know that i am on the tail end of my mother's life. for those of you who are young year, you probably cannot appreciate that. my mother's health is not perfect and i know that. she went into the hospital two days ago in florida. i am not there.

i knew that the responsibilities of this work were likely to keep peace -- keep me from spending as much time with her as i would want during this stage of her life. that has been my biggest sacrifice. [applause] >> thank you, your honor. >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon.

some of it is going to come up before us. it's a constant struggle in this society between our security needs and our first amendment rights. amendment rights. it's been one that has existed throughout our history. the pentagon papers and whether we would issue an injunction to start their publication, that was not the beginning of that question, but a continuation of the issue that keeps arising from generation to generation of how far we will permit government restriction on

freedom of speech in favor of protection of the country. as i said to you earlier today, there's no lack of line. it's all very much a gray area and how much the courts will permit congress to go in terms of laws that it passes. each statute will raise a different set of questions and a dmbt set of balancing. there is just no clear answer to your question. .

>> i go to palmer high school in colorado springs. i was wondering, in your use, did you experience agrees to profiling -- did you experience racial profiling? if so, how did you overcome that? >> not in the way that many others do. i have a white skin tone. that is really helpful to avoiding profiling. it is not likely -- i came over the border with a friend many years ago and she was a mexican- american citizens from california and we were in the car together and they stopped our car and the only one the pullout was hurt. -- they pulled out was hurt. if that was because she was dark

skin. -- as they pulled out was her. that was because she has dark skin. i have an understanding of what the larger society's expectations of me are. so, i have understood -- it was very painful on the court of appeals and on the supreme court nomination process you have to do more to prove you're as smart, as attractive

as other people are. those are hard to talk about quantifying for anyone in an everyday experience, but it is one that occurs. i have many he wants, when i was growing up, being with people who i considered friends , who would see someone on the street and make a racial comment. and i remember being at the home of a high school friend, and we're watching the puerto rican day parade, and her father looks up and says, aren't those disgusting people? and i got up, and i looked at him and said, those people? they're my people. i'm puerto rican. and i got up and left the house. those kinds of attitudes are ones that do require you to sort of work harder at succeeding. there's no question that you have to prove more when you're

working against people's stereotypes about you. and that's ok, because there's nothing wrong with working harder. that's the trick, not to take it as a burden, but to accept it as a challenge to do better. and that's the hardest part to do, not to be angry at it, but to accept it and say, ok, this is the way it is, i will have to work harder at what i do, but what i do will be better because of it. [applause] >> thank you, justice sotomayor, and thank you to all of you for being here.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> today on "washington journal" -- a look at u.s. foreign policy. also a discussion on the control and technology of the secure border initiative. following that, charlie cook, jennifer duffy, and david wasserman, all with the cook political report, to talk about the midterm elections. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. tuesday night at 8:00 p.m., president barack obama will give an oval office speech discussing the troop withdrawal from iraq and a shift of focus of the war in afghanistan. our live coverage begins tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span.

>> tonight starts science technology week on brook tv primetime. digitally save aurl your memories and experiences. gordon bell and jim gamel on a future with total recall, the rapid advancements in technology and its implications for the future from the singularity. and steven baker on the computer scientists and mathematicians who want to predict and manipulate our behavior. book tv and primetime tonight on c-span2. a thaw week on "q&a," our guest is michael kaiser, president of the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts. >> michael kaiser, can you remember when you first got into the arts? >> i was 4 years old. my parents took me to see "the

music man" with barbara cook. and when she sang "good night, my someone," and you could see through the front of the house tootle girl playing the piano, and i was captured by the magic of the theater. >> where did you live at? >> i lived in new rochelle, new york, about a 25, 30 minute drive from new york city, and once a year, my parents took the three children to the broadway theater, and i was hooked. that was it. >> what followed that in your involvement in the arts? >> i was very will bey. my grandfather was a member of the new york philharmonic, and i was able to go with my grandmother to many dress rehearsals, and i got to hear the great music by a great symphony, so i had a very strong grounding in classical music, and my parents were big theater-goers and big museum-goers, so i got to enjoy theater and museums and visual arts. and dance came much later in my life, but those were the