latino vote now appeared to be have talked a lot about the minority-majority population, but it is also a multicultural population. you want to move into what the new american identity means, and how might that play out in the coming elections in our society. returning the panel back to one williams. -- juan williams. >> thank you. the me to choose the panel. toure, the author of "who's afraid of post-blackness?" he writes regularly for several publications, including "the new york times," and "ebony" magazine. he also has a collection of short stories called "never drank the kool-aid. ." [applause] >> we heard a minute ago from

carlos, the director of the school of transport studies at arizona state university, a professor and founder of the transport studies school, the first such school in the u.s. he has pioneered new territory in social sciences for his work on the investigation of human rights violations and civil- rights concerns. he is credited with more than 50 scholarly articles, including a book that is widely read called "border vision." please help me in welcoming carlos velez-ibanez. [applause] >> to my right, jose antonio vargas, the founder of define american. he is a pulitzer prize-winning journalist, the founder of define american, a campaign that seeks to elevate the conversation around immigration. he won the pulitzer as part of a

team covering the 2007 massacre at virginia tech 4 "the washington post." born in the philippines, he emigrated to the u.s. at age of 12 and recently wrote a piece that appeared in "the new york times" called "my life as an undocumented immigrant" in which she reveals his status and struggles as he works in journalism in the united states. [applause] the first two panels were so strongly political and their contents, and the difference here is this is going to be about the intersection of politics and identity, and how identity is so changing in america as we have an increase in the number of model minorities but immigrants, people travelling in a global, economic, and social structure. and how does that changed

identity impact the united states? earlier, in discussing some of the reluctance of older, white americans to embrace the shift in identity, be talked about how the cliche has come into being, this is not the america i grew up in. the question now becomes, how does the new american identity for it? what is that identity? is it inevitably going to create a conflict with old? toure, i wanted to start with you and simply ask, how does racial identity, as it is being redefined, play into politics today? >> there are a lot of answers to that. part of what we see from the historical cycle is, when we have a moment of marching forward in black power and black

rights, after that there is a moment of reassertion, realignment. let's put you back. emancipation and engine grow. civil-rights and then the rise of mass incorporation -- incarceration, where we can legally discriminate against millions of people for being ex- convicts, and their brightest -- restoring jim crow. we see this push and pull, and even with a new america, people will say we want to go back to the old america. the rise of obama is going to lead to a realignment, where we see small things, like what happened in tulsa over the weekend where people are angry and black americans. they are going to take it out on them. the rise of voter id laws. it will be interesting to see how this plays out with obama and romney.

if you look for me, we are all moving forward as a nation. many americans bought into that. he had hillary and mccain trying to paint him as the other. you are socialist, from the philippines, -- these are subtle ways to say you are not one of us. historically, from nixon through the last bush, successful gop politicians nationally have been able to use race as a subtle way, via the cloak of a crime, to say, vote for me, i will keep the blacks in control. interesting to see if from the can do that, will try to do that. i do not know if it is in his stomach to do that. it will be interesting to see if he is willing to try to attack in the general elections. not sure if it is is sort of

thing. >> as i was listening, i wonder if the republican party, in your mind, has become a white party? is that when you are saying? >> i mean, yes, i see quite a bit of that. do we not see that? >> i just want to know what you think. what is the identity? do we want the status quo? for example, when the professor did introduction today, he talked about the older generation that about to protect its interests. you are saying, protect my identity, my reality? >> i am not going to say that the democrats are perfect in all these regards, but they also want to maintain some of the status quo. absolutely. if you like the way things were, you are probably going to be aligned with the gop, don't you think? >> for the sake of argument, you

may not like the economic picture. i am sure the republicans and mitt romney, the likely nominee, are going to make the case that that is the issue. your racial identity, your sense of the other, sense of belonging or being alienated, should not obscure the focus on the economy. >> absolutely. it would be interesting to see if we have some sort of way to reach out to poor people. i am not sure if mitt romney could sell that idea. >> carlos, let me ask you about identity. your area of expertise is in the southwestern part of the united states, and i suppose coming into mexico as well. here, we have an area that i think, in some ways, is a preview of what is coming for the rest of america.

the whole notion of the border, racial identity, ethnic identity, is greatly confused and mixed. it is hard to put people in one box, which had been the american tradition. it is hard. so, given what you are seeing there, is there one single american identity that you find, and as people come into the american experience, that they adopt? today immediately say, i am going to check either non-white hispanic on that box, or do i check white, or do i check black, indian? what happens? >> it depends whether you are thinking about it internally or whether you are checking a box for the census bureau. even the notion of a hispanic member during the mission administration. it is a category from the outside population. the whole region, nw mexico,

southwest united states, has always been a region of multiple identities. people used to cross back and forth since the 19th century. people have to understand, the united states is only 160 years old where i live. that is a different reality, a different region. we have always accepted that dynamic of the border region. for the folks coming in, not only are they easily excepted, but sometimes they become mexicanized. let me give you an anecdote. during the 1950's, a number of irish families moved from boston to tucson. that is where consolidated aircraft plants were situated. the only place that you could rent or buy a house was in mexican neighborhoods.

they move into mexican neighborhoods, and they were also catholic, but they did not know what we were. they thought we were italians. so they started calling us derogatory terms calling us -- having to do with the italians. so we started banging each other's heads. these are tough working-class irish kids, we were tough mexican kids. we beat the heck out of each other, until we met each other as brothers and sisters in youth clubs founded by an irish missionary. then we fell in love with each other as brothers and sisters and all of that. my sister, in fact, started to date a young man. i fell in love with sheila campbell and gloria martinez at the same time. the point of that, mexican homes have always been welcoming. any non-mexican that marriage

into mexican that merck's gets very much sucked in. the notion of multiple layers of identity has been very much a part of our lifestyle and the way that you approach life in general. now, it has been very recent, especially after world war ii, up to this point, where you have very large numbers of residents from minnesota, michigan, and so on, who are not used to the fact that this is another historical reality. and they bring with them also all the fears of not being like these other folks who speak differently, speak another language, or we can switch back to english. these are kind of weird folks. the tea party movement, i can

tell you, has been very important, highly politically affective format, because they have created us as the others. we are the others. the fact of the matter is, because they are so historical ignorance, tucson was founded in 1776. by -- does anybody know? an irish-spanish mercenary. that history of multiplicity of cultural aspects of ourselves as an important part of our lives since the founding in tucson in 1776. >> let me interrupt you. i want to move along. part of this notion of multiplicity of identity is in contrast to the american tradition of the great melting

pot. everybody comes here in order to become one, e plurbus unim, one out of many. here is a situation where people are coming into the southwest, but they retain their distinct ethnic, and even language and identity and insist on it. you say that they get sucked in a matter where they are coming from. is that in contradiction to the american tradition of everyone coming in and assimilating? >> that is the east coast model. the east coast model is based on the fact that you have the british coming in from the east to west, but you have to remember spanish-american go from the south to the north. you have two histories. you then have a problem of an historicism of not recognizing

the west of the mississippi. that is present -- pervasive through the educational system itself and continue to promulgate the notion that we all have to erase. i am a former marine, but i am still a mexican. >> you do not call yourself mexican-american? but you are an american citizen. >> that is right. that is part of the cultural elements that we live. >> how does that impact your politics? >> if you only want to erase me, then i am going to respond in a rather negative way. certainly, we are responding in a relatively negative way, especially to the extreme right wing of the republican party. >> jose, let me turn to you. my first question is, of course, your group has been doing groundbreaking work on the immigration reform issue. i wanted to ask you about the

relationship -- just to bring us back to politics as we focus on identity -- the relationship between the immigration act and the 2012 elections. >> first of all, thank you for having me here. i am hoping that ice and immigration are not here. [laughter] i came out -- for the second time, and now i am done with my life. as a journalist, this is what i do. i spent about a year reporting on an issue that i have been so afraid to confront. what has been fascinating for me is how so many of the dots that must be connected are just not being connected. what i mean by that, looking at even the history of immigration in this country -- let me give

you an example. i just finished reading toni morrison's "a mercy." it is interesting because it talks about primitive america. when everyone was undocumented. everyone in america was undocumented. everyone here did not have papers. in 1790, the government decided that only white people could could become citizens. and the dread scott decision said -- not until 1924 -- finally, the native americans, the original americans, were finally granted citizenship. any move to the 1965 immigration nationality act which comes right after the civil rights act, which fundamentally changed why america looks the way it does. the quota system was changed. used to be a race-based immigration system. all this sudden, people from asia -- by the way, people forget. when you talk about 12 million

and documented in this country, at least 1 million are asian- americans. we never talk about that. some ways,alize, in the migration history of this country has a lot to do with economic and foreign policies of this country that it has always had. as i have spent the past year -- i have them maybe 60 events in the past 10 months. i have been to alabama, because i am crazy. the toughest immigration law in the country. back to your original point. people ask me, a white conservative people that i talk to, they asked me, where did my country go? i am standing there -- my name is jose antonio vargas which does not get any more spanish. i look asian, which confuses them. i am gay. in college, i majored in

african-american politics. if i marry a jew or american, let's call it a day. [laughter] isfar as i'm concerned, this america. the country is only going to get gayer, blacker, more asian. so what is going to happen when you have policies and political theater and political decisions that attack the very nature of that identity? this is what the republican party is playing with. i cannot vote because i do not have papers, but it is fascinating for me, having covered in the presidential election for "the washington post." when obama got elected, some people said that racism was over. the conversation just started.

it just started. for us to not connect the dots and for us to not realize and honor and question our own history is going to lead to our own detriment. i would love it if the republican party -- actually, i have been talking with the partyers. i would love to have an honest conversation about immigration. that is what america ois working towards, but we have to come face to face and talk about it. >> the election of obama has thrown the discussion of diversity and race into total conflict in that there are a large group of people that want to say, now we have reached the mountain top. now we can stop talking about these issues because we are in a post-racial, colorblind society. these meaningless terms have arisen where there is nothing there to define what these terms are. as a linguist, they bother me because they do not mean

anything. and people use them to meet different things. we do not even have a consensus on what they mean as a nation. but there are people that say we have reached it, so we can stop talking about this stuff. then another group of people say, we have always had superstar, successful blacks. that does not mean that things are happening down here on the ground that have actually changed anything. now we are forced to prove that these things are still going on. i talk about these things in the media and people are like, you are a waste-baitor, you are a pimp. i do not know what that means. [laughter] you are the problem rather than actual perpetuation of racism as the problem. >> certainly, things have changed. no question, we are not at the same point that we were in the 1950's, 1870's --

>> but the election of obama has not changed anything. >> we have never had a black president before. in modern times, only one other than barack obama and carol moseley-braun, ed brooks. that is the universe of black officials. something has changed. we are not getting away from that. >> it is a spiritual change, but it does not represent an actual, pragmatic change. that changes life for black people in america beyond the spiritual self esteem in diction of, we know we do not have this glass ceiling any more. >> what i wanted to add. i move to this country in 1993. my introduction to american culture was o.j. simpson and his bronco. i remember when the verdict was

announced. i am neither white nor black. i look at how the white kids and let kids reacted. what toure is saying, when obama was elected president, every single person in america that has ever felt like the other, -- latinos, blacks, asians, gay people -- we all said, that is the change, how is this going to play out? i am sure crows can talk more about this. the president himself, who is the son of an immigrant, who got to america through a college visa. some people called him an anchor baby. he is a first-generation american. the fact that he has deported more than a million people in three years, more than bush ever did in eight years, i do not know how the president will ever explain that. i do not know how he is going to explain and justify, 20 years from now, how he separated

families, people who have been here since they were kids. i do not know how he will justify that. and with us, the non-black, non- white americans, documented and undocumented, how we fit in this conversation, -- i was a political reporter in d.c. i always felt political reporters were always talking amongst themselves. it is a largely white, some blacks, political punditry. it is interesting how race and identity becomes mere props. it seems as if you can cut off all of these things and we are rarely traded as full human beings -- treated as full human beings. that is why i think, in some

ways, american identity is at stake in this election. it is bigger than obama or romney. the american identity is at stake. >> what do you mean? >> the fact that i can go to alabama and arizona and you can have voters say, these people are not american, when they were born in this country. alabama, by the way is 7% hispanic. birmingham is 4% hispanic. they are questioning if these people are american citizens when they were born there. >> you mean the law that seeks to say, if you are the child of an illegal immigrant, you should not be given citizenship? >> beyond that. in alabama, when hb 56 was passed, and ask teachers to check the immigration status of students. the monday after it passed, 3000 latino kids did not show up to school.

many of them are probably documented, but their parents are not. this is why one of the questioners asked thabout mixed identity. 6 million homes in america that are mixed. that is the reality of immigration in america. there are voters within these households. when i say that the american identity is at stake, the fact we are even being questioned whether we are americans, to me, that is what i find most damaging, and in some ways, i feel most pessimistic about, having been in a place like alabama. >> it is emotional for you,

tremendously. america says it wants to take everybody in, e plurbus unim, but what happens is we have us and others and we have to fight for our rights, rather than the centrality of america being a white experience. >> carlos, you said you define yourself as mexican. here is jose questioning whether i am american, even without the papers. your experience is an american experience. you feel like an american. you are an american boy. but you did not say that, why? >> we have a lot of cultural luxury where we live in the southwest. i do not have to go to sonora to speak spanish. i do not have to go to mexico city to see aspects of

ourselves. i can see the adobes that were built in tucson and know that is part of my daughter creek, cultural geography. -- geography, cultural geography. being american is a reason experience. my dad, who went to example -- who went to high school in tucson, did not refer to arizona as arizona. he referred to it as the place where pimas live, the old spanish-mexican term. we became americans recently. we fought in american wars. we want a bunch of medal of honor is. i have uncles and cousins who fought in world war ii, korea, vietnam, the of storm, etc.

being an american is not necessarily having to become johnny smith. being an american can be and which one is carlos velez- ibanez, very proud of his father and his father's father, my mother's mother, and everyone else, as mexicans, culturally. at the same time, we can switch to english, as i am doing now come and call into these layers of myself when need be. we have the luxury of being contractually able and having the capacity to shift and change according to your needs of communication, -- not my needs. >> you said you live in the same town of sheriffs are pious. when he sees you, i think he sees a mexican. -- sheriff joe arpaio. at that moment, your try to say,

wait a minute, i am an american. >> but i'm also the funding for him when it is to be mexican. there is a difference between the african-american anglo experience, because of slavery. that cut off, from my particular point of view, is the special relationship between anglos and african-americans. slavery for real. slavery that does not end until the day before yesterday in and a logical terms. -- anthropological terms. the white prison that is connected to that slavery still exists. it is a white prison which defines african-americans still from my point of view, and look at jan brewer's finger-pointing at obama at the airport. if that is not the biggest disrespectful kind of relationship of behavior i have seen -- it goes back to the

antebellum jump. with mexicans, it is very different. >> he threatened me. [laughter] >> for mexicans, it is very different. this population was taken over at different times, once by war, another by secession. following that, the entire region was integrated economically. both sides of the border. you have anderson and clayton owning most of the agriculture on the south side of the border. colonel green opening up the copper factories in arizona. you have this integrated economy. any time you have an integrated economy, one must have labor. and it is not cheap labor, it is labor. you have forman, technicians, people who knew had to dig out copper. you had a whole experimental

dynamic there where people were needed on the new side of the border. so, for us, any time there is an economic downturn, mexicans are booted out, and the identity that is required by the population is one of commodity. so for arpaio and the rest of these folks that see us from this white prism, it is not the same for african-americans. they are looked at through this prism, but as former slaves, and they cannot get past this. with us, they cannot get past our backs, as if the only thing we are good for is to serve as a commodity, at the pleasure of the bosses. >> so you are saying, hispanic or mexican identity in the u.s. is one of labor, cheap labor. >> yes, that is the identity.

my relationship to arpaio, i think and for saying i am a mexican. because my view of being mexican is very different than the one he presents. let's say this has to do with self-inscription as well and the way that others try to define you constantly. there is always a conference between the two, especially if it is an east coast prism that does not know anything west of the mississippi. >> toure, then ask you. i know the demographer is no longer use the melting pot, given what we have been discussing. when we talk about is the grand mosaic, where everybody retains distinct identities, but works together in the american experience. so, toure, where are we going in terms of commonality, if we have more elements that are quite distinct in the american salad bowl?

do you see us coming together or pulling apart because of identity? >> that is an interesting question. i struggle to see what the full commonalities that we are all experiencing as americans. especially in terms of the assertion of identity, homosexuality, and the rights of latinos and blacks. it is hard to find those commonalities. >> i was thinking you would say, we all watched the same tv, we all watched the same movies -- >> but we do not, especially with music and television. you and i are old enough to know that there was something called mono culture where the music and movies were all sort of similar, everybody was embracing the beatles, motown. we do not have that at all.

we do not have much common ground on culture, not only because we have thousands of channels, there is a complete breakdown in music. i never encountered people that are light -- i am listening to x, y, z -- i have never heard of them and i make music journalist. but i am listening to -- i just downloaded his album yesterday. it is the tower of babylon. it is up thousand options and we are not on the connections. >> i still think there is some things such as popular music. >> what is popular now is less popular than it used to be. it is more of a wider tail. there are so many different options. to the time-shifting devices. we have to be home at 8:00 to

watch "dallas." now some of these people who are "madmen" fans did not see it the other night and they can watch it any other time they want. in terms of identity, i am going in the opposite direction of the professor in terms of my relationship to america -- carlos. he is reaching for cultural power and call himself an american. part of a talk about in my book is, black americans need to deal with an emotional relationship with america. we see so many people that say, i am a new yorker, new orleans, what have you, but their emotional relationship with america is not great. they do not want to call themselves americans. we have strained protests like, we do not vote because they do not represent me. there are ways that we distance ourselves from america.

i feel we need to fully embrace american because otherwise it is a self-fulfilling process -- prophecy. we are rejecting america before the projects us, and then we say, that is proof. but you rejected it first. >> that comes from a perspective of having to reject something. i found out, when i was 16, at the dmv, but i did not have papers. since then, i have wanted to be here. and it is funny, people were asking me, why didn't you just leave? just go home. thankfully, i am a writer. the internet does not require a passport. i can be a writer anywhere. but i am staying here, if i

could say this, because this country has always been a flight from the beginning. which is why it is fascinating to me -- i did not know if you have met any of these undocumented students, these dreamers, who are fighting so hard, who want to give back to the system that has provided for them. when i talk to them -- and i am privileged and blessed enough to be in a position like this -- we are fighting for that. and by the way, what the professor said, i happen to the filipino. carlos. i happen to be filipino and also american. those two things can exist. they can all exists. that is what i find interesting, looking at this election, the narrative. politics and everything as americans.

you have barack obama and mitt romney. they represent, from and narrative perspective, and even from a physical perspective, which is why it will be an exciting, scary election, because of all the code phrases that will come down about obama having an agenda, for example, or what they will say about mitt romney. >> what does that mean? >> i am looking at this from the outside, when mitt romney says the president obama has a hidden agenda. we are now in a culture of nichees. this is what technology and internet has provided us. i can go to a blog called the angry asian man, the gay man, any other place, and i can see

how they fared differently interpreted in what was said. >> and when romney says a hidden agenda, you think it is -- >> the black man is trying to hide something from you. it is funny because it is not just the black bloggers reading that. it is the agents, too. >> the food stamp comment. >> and when you look at the statistics, the majority of people on food stamps is white people. this is why i said in the beginning american identity is at stake. dovetailing into what toure said -- and i'm going to throw in something crazy. in some ways, the soul of the heterosexual white man is at stake. what i do know is, for everybody in this country in which america has always been a fight, they

are looking at him, in which everything has always been given, and we are going, ok, do you see yourself? do you fully and comprehensively see yourself in how you fit? which is why politics cannot be divorced from economics. that is a very big thing there -- >> when i look at cuba second bush and mccain, these are real men, right? >> what does that mean? >> you know, there was an alpha ness to them, even though he was not in the military, he seemed to be one of them. it seemed like they could not keep out if maybe. if mccain could have, before his back stiffened up. [laughter] romney is none of those things. >> he is like a nice guy.

>> but he also seems to me an empty signifier. you could pour anything into romney -- i do not know who he is, what he is about, what he represents. i am not sure he is ready to tell us. >> you just heard what josé said. he thinks this is a battle for the american soul, identity, in particular for the white heterosexual man. >> is that as a referendum against obama? >> i do not think it is a referendum specifically against obama. it is just the culture at large. look at the demographics and how the numbers are turning out. the larger point i want to make is, my biggest frustration with mitt romney is how big is his empathy quotient? >> it would seem to be zero so far. >> i do not know that. >> generally, we want to see in politicians that they seem to love people.

we are culled to politicians. we grew up in the shadow of watergate. we never believed. but we wanted to be lied to. tell me that you love people. sarah palin was excellent at making the people feel that she loved them. >> by the way, when i say the soul of the heterosexual white man, i do not mean that in a pejorative way. what i mean is, this conversation that needs to happen with white americans who are growing up -- as a millennial, i met the older edge. i am 31. these undocumented kids, these illegals you are talking about, the gay people, i went to school with them, i am roommates with them. we come from the same community. >> 1981?

you are at the end of gen x. you think, because -- romney or white men would see you as other? that you are not american? >> not necessarily all, but in general, these are the conversations that i think -- again this is from my perspective. only when people can talk about white privilege. >> ignored it. i am constantly in discussions now where they are like, i do not know what you're talking about. show it to me, prove it to me. or i have no power and privilege, so clearly it must not exist because i have nothing. >> we have to go to q&a. before we do, i wanted to ask the professor, carlos, -- [laughter]

whether or not you can see this notion of battling against white males playing out in the election, the politics of 2012. you foresee that going on? >> be added to of all politics being local. russell pearce was booted out of office. how was he booted out of office? he was booed of office because of an allied between mormons, chicanos who had become involved and they booted russell pearce out. the second iteration of that. he decides to go to another

district and run for office again. the mormon church put up another mormon conservative. you see the wind coming up. at the local level, you see people resisting and reacting in positive ways, organizing together against these intellectual locutions. >> so you do not see what he sees in terms of white, male identity, heterosexual identity? >> that is still there. people talk about founding fathers. who are they talking about? they are not talking anyone from sonora. they are talking about that prism, and all the more slavers for goodness sake. >> let's go to questions.

>> i have been struck by the fact that we keep repeating, we need to have a conversation, we need to change the conversation. my question is, how do we do that? i would like to throw out two key words. this seems to be a divorce between civil responds and notions of identity and ethnicity. how do we perhaps recapture the argument of being an american around what it means to safeguard civil rights that we seem to be giving away quite frequently? >> you are saying increasingly american identity means that you do not insist on civil rights? >> yes, and in public conversation, we are separating what happens in civil rights with what happens in cultural space, what happens in educational space --

>> is part of that post-9/11? >> i think so. >> we will come back to you. >> when you say we, the public, do you mean the media? >> this is my second point. >> several right ahead. [laughter] >> my second point is where do you take a conversation and where is the role of the media? not just in the media but what happens in these types of forms, what happens at universities, what happens in the halls of power and d.c. and elsewhere. there seems to be a compartmentalization that happens along the way, in the way in which we proceed with rhetoric, the way we engage -- >> but the big point you are making is the people that wave the flag and say i am a true american disregards of all

rights and liberties for everybody who might be categorized as a minority of one kind or another. >> i do not send a disregard them, but they treat them as separate issues. >> as far as i'm concerned, immigrant rights, gay rights, they are possible rights. >> black people in particular get very upset when civil-rights and gay rights. how can we not see that these two things are connected? >> when i was in alabama, i have to say, i ended up doing it an event at the 16th street baptist church, in the basement. the african american civil- rights leaders were completely on the same page on immigration. one leader said to me, in alabama right now because of this immigration law, the hispanic man is the new negro. for an african-american man to say that speaks volumes, more than i or carlos could say.

but your point about the media's role, it is so huge. if you think about how people think about illegals in america, what do we have cemented in our head? that b roll of people jumping over the fence. when people think about illegals, that is what they have in mind. that is in general. the media, brad day, has failed in representing the reality of immigration in this country. we are integrated. one of the most optimistic things happening here is, you have churches, schools, families. that kid belongs to us. he is an american. carper miller said at a good newspaper is a country talking to itself. i do not think we have that anymore. i am not sure of the

institutions that have the influence they have actually facilitate a broader conversation, as we could. i am a walking on comfortable conversation, but all of us need to have that conversation. >> the narrative, which has been shared for the past 20 years regarding immigration, undocumented immigration, has always posed the issue as the brown hordes crossing the border. when you look at the actual numbers, you have a 11.2 million of us. of that, about 60% are mexican. so about 5.8 mexicans -- 5.8 million mexicans. 40% of them are overstayed visas. that means you have about 2.4

million less from 6 million. so you have about 3.5, 3.8 million people actually having crossed the border. so what is the percentage of those people in proportion to the united states population? half of 1%? yet you have an entire security apparatus -- trillions of dollars -- created to keep out less than half of 1% of the population that crossed the border during bad economic times. in addition to which that integrated economy keeps the plot going back and forth. there are millions of visitors and people who live in arizona, tijuana, juarez, who work in the united states and then go back. and vice versa. >> so what is the anger that politically generates the call

for such an increase in border security at this time? i guess there are 300 million americans. half of 1% have passed the border. so why the political anger at immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants? >> it goes back to the aspect of fear. fear is based on the recognition by some -- these folks are not dumb -- on the changes of political demography. that is a fearsome thing to behold over the next 15 to 30 years. >> and you agree it is white male power -- >> it speaks so clearly to poor whites. they are taking our jobs and i will do something about that. that is the narrative. >> let's take another question. >> i am a proud alumna of the ucla chicano studies department. from my perspective, it is easy

to see how a state like arizona could pass a law like sb 1070 and move to eliminate mexican american studies in k-12. thinking about how we define american, how we have these conversations, how the dialogues are going to take place, what is the importance of ethnic studies, and do you think we can ever move it from a marginal disciplined to mainstream and part of our discussion of a more comprehensive american history? >> i found the first mexican- american history department at san diego state. i spent five years as an anthropologist at ucla. i know the chicano center very well. the elimination of mexican- american studies in tucson, for example, is part of this fear above -- of, let's drive them

out, let's remove them. but you also have pushed back from that. the bush pac is from other folks who are talking to school districts about incorporating this history west of the mississippi into the general historical panorama of teaching american history. which is not done appear to custodies and the rest, african- american studies, and so on -- it is necessary because we were left out, totally. the history that was being told was the single prism, this eastern prism of how the world works. when the time comes when history departments have integrated that knowledge base within the department of history, english, or interdisciplinary departments, then there will not

be any need, per say, for programs like the ones i found it and the ones that you attended. that is not going to happen. so the necessity for ethnic studies programs, and for schools like my own, that in fact, and corporate both sides of the border studies, tell the narrative of both sides of the border and how, in fact, this entire region came to be. >> why is it that you think there will not be an integration of that narrative into the broader tale of american history? >> because it as long as the same prism is being used, the east coast, american, british prism, and here i exclude the irish, by the way -- as long as that prism is maintained in this american a narrative -- a narrative, that

will remain. >> you cannot understand american history without understanding african-american history. it was an incredibly liberating thing. i was the only non-black person in the program. now that we are moving to this minority-majority country, i think it will be incumbent. it is inevitable -- hopefully -- i say this optimistically, that chicano or asian-american programs -- i knew more about black american history and i did about asian american history. the chinese exclusion act. the philippines. i did not know about the spanish-american war.

>> i am under the gun for time. i want to get everybody in. let me get some quick responses from my talkative friends. >> one thing i noticed is you have kept it as a mail-normative view and you have not mentioned women. especially, in 2008, sarah palin galvanized women, and put the big black other -- as well as jim burke. one is with women of color and the identity issue? >> the basis of cultural learning is in the hands of women, period.

they are productively responsible for the birth of the child. as well as nurturing and developing that child become a full human being. simultaneously, the wing with it is the cultural learning that the child has in order to fit in. the guy is the progenitor, but he is usually out the door. that is the basis for all culture, the role of women. without women, forget it. >> toure, what about women? especially women of color? >> in this identity mix, when we talk about the threat to white male, british economy? >> i am not quite sure how to address that. surely, the rise of the power of the black woman, more educated than the black male, better

employed often than the black male, is yet another threat to the white male hetero a normative power structure. it is interesting, in talking to 105 black people for my book , equal male and female, about modern blackness, people were not telling me there is a significant difference between -- and we know about the sexes and that black women are dealing with. take nothing away from that. but people are not heading over the head with, our experience is entirely different where you need to reshape your identity theory to include women, or to not not include women. that is not disappear dollars credit from the research i was doing. >> next question. >> i work in congress.

earlier you joked that the country was becoming more gayer. i was wondering if you could talk about the intersection of race and sexuality and whether you feel, with a growing change in demographics in different communities, whether you feel within those communities is socialist acceptable to be lgbt? more publicly inside-get government to create a war of

words between the black community and gay community. -- gay marriage create a war of words between the black community and gay community. >> is the acronym stands for? i know what you were talking about. >> [inaudible] >> the national organization for marriage. i am encouraged that the marijuana group is on the tip of one's tongue. surprised in your response to the question. you can look of the most

conservative group, and the power of gays us tremendously diminished. >> i think how white people look at gay issues -- in d.c. most gay organizations are, even us do not know how to talk about race and immigration within that community. which i think, again, is a struggle. people have always told me, why don't you get married? i am like sandra bullock in " the proposal." the federal government will not recognize gay marriage because of the defense of marriage act. i did not know if that means i am a second-class citizen, but the layers of injustice and

unfairness can get really hyperion for me, i am trying to have -- can get really high for me. >> did we answer your question? >> yeah. [laughter] >> mischa thompson. i was struck that before president clinton there was our conversation on race. if you look at a number of conversations around local communities, it there is probably one somewhere this week. one of the questions is, what was the legacy of those first set of town hall meetings? what has been the impact of some of the questions? how have they been talked about?

in terms of strategy is moving forward, is it possible to have a conversation and also act as the same time? i am struck by a the example that in august president obama has an executive order at inclusion. people argue that maybe the conversation is not happening, but there are actions taken place that are focusing on this knowledge that there are changing demographics. thank you. >> in terms of the first conversations that bill clinton had, i did not think it amounted to much. i think it ended up with people like john hope franklin getting locked in conversations about disappearing off the map in terms of my recollection. the second question was -- >> it was on the interface conversation that are happening that talk about faith. -- interfaith. >> some of the same groups are

"ethnic" racial minorities as well. are they impacting the conversation about race as well? >> in a positive way? are you suggesting that evangelical whites would act in a way as to hurt the broader conversation about race and racracial diversity? >> no, i was actually saying some of those questions have come to how you define an american. and so it that -- some of those same groups you're talking about are also ethnic-based groups as well. it the definition is not instantly pliable to include

anybody who believes anything is wrong. anyone can come to this country and become american. being muslim -- that continues the discussion that muslims attacked america when we know al qaeda attacked muslims, not the global muslims. to go back to your question from before, the tone of the conversation, i think, has changed. maybe the medium is the message kind of thing. i recall personally -- personally and in magazines and national dialogue, there was a conversation where the town was let's learn from each other and talk to each other. now because so many people are able to hide through social media where they are not actually talking to you. in a computer context you say

different things than you would dare say face to face. they're a lot of anger and frustration. you are the one perpetuating this conversation. and america will be finding you and america and al sharpton -- america will be fine if you and america and al sharpton did not keep bringing it up. obama has emboldened people to feel like it is over. we are back to let me explain to you. >> next question. >> you recently sent to pierce morgan that he failed to realize e in thetheat stak trayvone martin case to

understand what is at stake. take up too new to understand as the britain immigrant? >> i began at that appearance talking about what is at stake, and this particular incident is not going to go anyway anytime soon, but this matters and is affecting the soul of america. you talk about o.j. simpson. it is like that'. it is like that in terms of the markers the say where we are better deep scars for americans. we see polls that show americans are divided in terms of what they think happened and is the coverage too much or too little .ier yen ke he has shown tone deafness on this issue, which is definitely related to a lack of understanding about american

history and we're this close in to american history, and that he would return and say something like you would not say that to nelson mandela shows how ridiculous his lack of understanding on this issue is. do i have to denigrate myself with replying to -- i would not say that to nelson mandela, but this is from a country that would understand tangible racism unlike any other country in the world. >> question is -- >> my question is what is at stake in your opinion? >> i think the ability for us to exist as one america is at stake. we are very much separate and unequal. this is bringing it up from under the rug that this is true

and we feel entirely different and are angry that this continues to happen to our young boys and white people are saying let it go. why are you so angry about this? it is a scar on the american soul, an extraordinarily important moment in american history. some people are not even recognizing that. people say to me, please, some black boy got killed in america and this is a major moment in american history? they continued dehumanization of trayvone of all black men go along with this association that it does not really matter. >> i want to thank carlos, jose, tory, thank you for listening.

it has been a great panel. [applause] >> a great morning. please join us for lunch in the next room. for our television audience, we will begin again as 2:15. have interesting panels on education and the news media. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> live coverage of this day- long symposium on the state of race posted by the aspen institute happening at the museum in washington, d.c. all got under way at 9:00. if you missed any of the panels, go to our web site to see it in its entirety. until about 2:15. this break will last until about 2:15.

if you missed any of this, it will be available on our website at c-span.org. a look now at one of the opening discussions on race and politics. [applause] >> good morning. i hope my microphone is working and you can hear me. think you for the kind introduction. i was thinking of those kind thoughts about myself as you were speaking. it is a pleasure to be here this morning with all of you. bank you for that introduction to this difficult topic -- thank you for the introduction to this difficult topic because it age and the divide are critical to the discussion of race and the 21st century. as david noted, the context of the discussion this morning is really set by the bruising political race that is about to

begin, our race that patients -- features that nation's first african-american president seeking reelection and a race that comes at a time of tremendous shift in terms of attitude and and ideas in our country. to help it go through this scenario, this landscape, we have some expert guidance this morning. let me introduce our panelists. charles blow, editorial columnist for "the new york times. he is also author of the blog "by the numbers." became the papers and design director for news before going on to national geographic magazine. he then returned to "the new york times" do his column.

he has appeared on many tv shows. he is a graduate of [inaudible] university. to my immediate left is karen, the immediate past president of the american past justice center. she was also vice chairwoman of the leadership conference on civil rights, the nation's oldest and proudest of rights coalition and chair of the rights working group, a coalition of civil, human come in the emirate -- immigrant rights groups were looking at the erosion of civil liberties. she is served on the board of common cause, independent sector. and she currently serves on the advisory council of wal-mart, nielsen media group and comcast.

please help me welcome karen . to my right, norm ornstein. he is a resident scholar and long-time observer of congress and politics, and i think the best. he writes a weekly column and also serves as an election analyst. the co-director of the brookings election reform project. i think it is pertinent again in a season in which we have so much money in the political system that you should know that he helped to shape the mccain finance law that was recently overturned in the course of the citizens united decision. he is author of several books, including the forthcoming "is even worse than it looks."

please tell me welcome norm ornstein. -- help me welcome norm orstein. [applause] let me begin by talking of our the and politics and thin american society. i want to throw out two names, their romnandmitmitt romney ande arepao. he set an audience nodding and smiling as mitt romney said he would take a little bit further. i can punctuate that with a third name, which is russell

pierce, author of the bill that was recalled and bounced from office because of his extreme views who said just a few days physicianitt romney's on immigration is the same as his own. now we see him pushing the reset button. he has changed the focus. as we see it surveys that show mitt romney's support among hispanics has been hovering around 14%, about a third of what george of the bush thought, barely more than half, a little bit less than half of what john mccain got. if you look at the presentation that we had on the distribution of votes, this is a huge problem. what it tells us it is you have a set of forces in the country

now, which is primary voters and the base of the parties. s poll of candidates in the direction that is the direction you have to go if you're going to appeal to the center and to a group of voters that are critical. it will raise the issue of race with hispanic voters to a different level. i think what everyone feels about the specifics of that immigration law or other immigration bills a message out there, which is we do not want your kind here moves to a different level. it is not clear to me that if you pick a cuban american to put on the ticket that that will necessarily mitigate against the views for the mexican americans

or poor regions or others that will be critical voters. >> you are referring to marco rubio i suspect. >> correct. there is the governor of new mexico, suzanne of martinez. -- suzannah martinez. >> let me ask you, when you were speaking a moment ago about the potential for the hispanic population to change the racial conversation in this 2012 election, i was struck by the idea that the assumption is the black vote goes totally to president obama. >> i think the black vote will

go in the same percentages or numbers it did the last time, which was something like 96-3. the question there is turnout. there has certainly been a lot of talk of what the enthusiasm level is. the democrats have a disaster on their hands all across the country because the voters who turned out and dramatic numbers drop off. what happened to those voters? that means young voters, african-american and asians. my guess is that now that we have seen a sharper focus, some of those racial issues. today there was a front-page piece that looked at communities where some of the sharp divisions on racial questions

that it will raise their profile here on those issues. they will change the dialogue we have in this campaign. >> i want to ask you a question, karen, to get your position as you look at areas of expertise, and the question is, all of us know the tremendous growth in the latino community, but also in the asian population there has been tremendous growth. the question is, where do you these populations? what is going on with the asian population? >> i do think it is the sleeping giant that the latino vote was talked about 20 years ago. the asian boat has not only grown exponentially, it has

grown faster than the latino population and is spreading out. we are no longer in the gateways of california and new york, illinois. we are actually one of the fastest-growing populations in nevada, which is a battleground state. clearly contributed to senator reelection, and he knows that. he has been one of the view of the mainstream of elected politicians who is looking at the demographics and understanding in elections this community will matter. va went for our bomber lost time, largely because of northern virginia where asians are strong hold together with latinos and african-americans and they can make a big difference. in a lot of places like florida, pennsylvania, ohio, it is no

longer smoke and mirrors. we are no longer portending agents can be a difference, they really are a difference. in california not much of made of the fact that in the last election of 27 the elections when democrat, even though the white vote went republican. it was latinos and african- americans who elected to send the governor in those states. i think the republicans are making a big mistake. the latino and asian communities are groups still very much up for grabs. in the 2010 vote, we saw asians and latinos the other leading democrats. -- leaning dtowards democrats. it is becoming so harsh that

even african americans, who anti-immigrants were hoping they would be able to get them in their column are so struck by how extreme the party has gone in parties -- places like alabama's that they have actually joined forces in forging a new alliance. it will be interesting to see not just for each ethnic groups, but now the coalitions that are being formed in this new election. >> i was listening to you, and i was struck that everyone has focus so heavily on the hispanic vote. you said the smoke and mirrors are gone with respect to the asian community. you mention nevada with a substantial asian population. are there others? >> we're very much looking at virginia, which the democrats are hoping to hold, but it is unclear given how the 2010

election won. we're looking at florida, pennsylvania, ohio. i think the other thing that is really important is that obama does not come and the democrats do not have a lock on the immigrant vote. they're hoping republicans will continue to be so anti-immigrant that they have no place to go but the democratic party. latinos are not that happy with president obama either. he has reported record numbers of immigrants and has enforced much more effectively banned bush did, all of the immigration laws. and they are upset about the racial profiling happening in these communities. latinos and asians are beginning to feel the impact of racial profiling as well. the question is, will either party really invest in a real way and getting out the votes. these are voters that vote on

the issues. many latinos are looking at the african american community in san we do not want to be taken advantage, maybe we need to send a message. maybe we need to send a message to the democrats who cannot take us for granted either. >> what you are saying, i thought was, given the climate, there is no question the asian boat is being forced towards the democratic column. >> what is the turnout going to be? is there going to be the excitement? yes, i think the majority of the asian boat will continue to trend democrat, because that is where republicans are pushing them, but how many will turn out to vote? the challenge has been to get the registration numbers up and get them out the door and boating. >> charles, you have been doing groundbreaking recording in terms of the trayvone martin

case as a potential trigger in terms of black turnout, that it could excite a critical days for the obama campaign that otherwise might be somewhat nonplussed by his performance in august. office. >> last time we have record african-american turnout. however, if you look at -- we elect presidents through the electoral college. if you look at the electoral college and look at how the state's editor, if every african-american had stayed home in 2008, barack obama would still be president of united states pierre de barack obama did not need the record turnout he got. this time he will need those of

voters, because his support among the white population has gotten so soft. there is a portion of that group that is so hostile to him that to make the numbers add up, there are a few states where it becomes critical. it is the virginians, the where you only have three percentage boats, and basically you can shave off 1, 2, 3, 5% of the vote in a state where you are ready had a softening white vote. that means you actually need heavy turnout from the african- american population. that said? believe you will have a high

african-american turn out regardless. the obama machine is enormously efficient and enthusiastic machine. when it kicks into gear and they paint a portrait of a president under siege, you will have the circling of the wagons among african-americans. it is true. people say that is just because he is a black guy. not necessarily. black people always vote democratic. they get republicans. -- hate republicans. even though on virtually every social issue they're pretty much in line with republican views. they're very conservative. because of what they see as a

racially-changed kind of campaign push back against them ever since reagan -- reagan was the last person to win eddies set% of the african-american vote. no one has come close since then. that was the big -- that was the last time i can recall a push to include african-americans and the dialogue included in the republican platform. that has not shown up again that goes to the core of the convention. after that what i always see in obama's numbers is that 10 percent about 10 percent among whites. there is the racial element. two thingsboil down to thing

that i think everyone will be interested in. there was laughter when you said blacks just hate republicans. i can go through this of rights act and all of that, but then you come forward in time, and i think george bush did pretty well with black voters. i think of congolese a rice. and i think of the tremendous attack on george w. bush in terms of the james bird act. and but in the current environment, is it wrong to assume that because the incumbent is a black guy, that black voters would not respond to him? i have heard so much from people

who say he has not performed for black voters. do you buy that? >> i do not buy that necessarily. you have a president comes in it -- this is addressed an extraordinary time in american history where the economy was going off a cliff, and how you pull that back means you have to make choices, and you cannot sue priorities. s where there areas where people felt like he could have done better? of course. i am chief among those. are there places where he did make significant -- i think the affordable health care, obama care is significant piece of legislation that helps minorities, and in particular

black people. you have to look at each piece of legislation come each victory from the white house and look at how that thing, even though it does have a black face on it or hispanic face on it, how it helps minorities communities. so people then turned to its and say the black unemployment rate is much higher than the one of the unemployment rate. there are few times in history -- let me take that back, where the black and a plan rate is always higher than the white unemployment rate. the few times in history when it gets as worse as a possibly gets for whites does across the line of where it is as good as it possibly is for whites.

we are always in recession. right? this idea that he was supposed to rectify hundreds and hundreds of years of the black recession in america is just ridiculous. what we have to look at is saying when it comes to unemployment, the election will be about the trend line. is the line moving and the right direction? it will not be fixed. we will not be back to normal in a fire raged. to gu -- normal unemployment rate. >> i think he got 43 percent of

the white vote in 2008. what do you think is the cause of the softening of white support for president obama? >> first, you have to look of voting in support as separate things. he gets 40 something%, but as soon as he takes office, his support among whites is really high. when he is elected, they like the guy. what we see now is they really like the guy. how that translates of the

voting booth, i do not know. i think that people will line up and say this is a choice between two people. is it romney the robots or barack obama? i do not know which i am going to go for. however, i do believe this has become, race has become such a partisan issue. if someone said today race has always had an underpinning in the political system. politics and laws were used to enforce people's beliefs about race, but there was a moral component to the racial discussion. the election of barack obama has essentially stripped away the

entire moral underpinning of the conversation, so that all you are left with is this hyper partisan discussion of race as an issue. the moment you bring up race in america, you have people fall into partisan positions about who is doing what for whom or to whom for a political perspective and not moral perspective, and i think that is how a lot of people have come to see this president. they do not see him over we -- their objection is not overtly racist. that is a loaded word. i do believe that race snakes its way into their assessment of him in implicit ways, ways about

how the country has failed racially, on the racial front altogether, and at the teeth with the topic of race, and he starts to a body that fatigue -- to embody that fatigue. if you are a small government conservative who believes in a strong military, that is just the way you believe, and it has nothing to do with this president. add on to this as i will say, that 10 percent inflated about 10 percent among blacks. sneaks in, and whether they articulate it or not, that part is real. >> i want you to pick up on

that, but the trigger early after you come and pick up on the notion of the softening of the white vote to give us an idea of why it is that white voters look right now to be disenchanted with the incumbent. take a share. -- >> sure. the problem barack obama has had is working-class votes. it is particularly acute in the south. what charles was saying brings back a century-old said it up tensions where you have a populist movements in the south going back to reconstruction in and even a little bit after trying to unite poor people who had a lot in common because they were oppressed by a small group of elite. the race card was played and created divisions that ran through the south, certainly at

least until the 1960's and 1970's, and we still have the tensions now. one of the real questions now is whether mitt romney can continue the appeal to working-class whites in the south, given his image in the things the of been saying that make populous celebrate. you can go through the whole litany of the whites having to cadillacs and i do not quite know how much my net worth is within $50 million, but i earn a little bit of money on the side that is $374,000 from speeches. all of that is not designed to appeal to working-class whites. one of the questions is whether race is played more overtly to create more of a wedge. if it does, we will see more of the racial tensions play out. >> try to narrow it. >> if we look beyond trayvone

martin, the supreme court that just heard obama care is the sheer going to hear in will probably rule on what remains of affirmative action and higher education. there is a pretty good signal that on a 5-4 vote they are going to throw out a fairly delicate balance that sandra day o'connor built in. there goes affirmative action. the voting section 5, which is very much in the news, both because of the voter laws that charles mentioned, but also redistricting. there is pretty good signals from previous decisions that it is just a matter of time, and this is probably the time when they sthrow at section 5 of the voting rights act. >> and they have the arizona

case. on immigration. >> there is on the case as well. just a point on asian-americans. rejected on a filibuster by republicans. we have the energy secretary, and asian american nobel prize winner that has been a punching bag for republicans because of solyndra and other issues. we may see if those issues become frightened, particularly with chu and a continued effort to focus on the energy department create a different level of consciousness among asian americans drum along partisan lines. >> you already have the hostra ad. >> hostra is running for reelection to senate and it ran

an advertisement that has this chinese-looking woman say it very scarily that china is taking over, and think you to the opponent for selling out america to china, and that got splashed all across the asian community. it took great offense of the notion that somehow people will be running against them by using race and that way. and i feel like the republicans have a death wish in a long- term. the bay are ignoring demographics in going after asians and latinos. we have mitt romney going after a latina on the supreme court.

-- they are ignoring demographics in going after asians and latinos. what they are born to do is not go after that but, but there will try to keep minorities from voting. the anti-0 loss he was referring to, and it is not just the new identification balls, those are crazy enough, but cutting back on voter registration, not on sunday whenon sundavotes black congregations turnout the voting. it is difficult to register people in florida to vote legally because your turn and registrations of a certain hour of the day. it is so complicated to understand that even the lake of -- league of women voters say they will not do registration and florida. all of that is very intentional.

the group that would be putting money into asian votes has been union, said the attack on them has been very direct. it seems to me the decision has been we do not think we can get these votes, even though i think we're wrong, we will just suppressed their vote as much as possible. i also think they're wrong about whites. ey're selling shorten white voters and ignoring the amount of interracial marriages that are happening. it is not just a growing minority vote, but where is the white boat eventually going to go? when our family is going to become increasingly multi- cultural and look like the rest of america?

>> from what i am hearing from the three of you, you see race as absolutely driving much of the politics this campaign season, that there is no getting away from racial discussions, even though we already have a black president. to pick up on something they could set about the paradox that more progress will be made the more we have to go, the more we realize we have to go. race is at the forefront of this. let me shift in say in response to you, caring, but isn't it the case that the front runner, which looks to be the inevitable nominee, is responding to what an overwhelmingly white republican party wants from the canada? they are in fact angry over high levels of immigration. they are in fact concerned about

an increase in the size of government and entitlement spending. they are concerned about china owning american debt and playing a larger role in the economy, as well as a military power accounted to america's dominance. so isn't romney responding, the generational divide. older america is largely white. so isn't he responding appropriately to represent what his party's base once? >> i think he is responding to a segment of the republican party. there is the south and everybody else. if you look at intermarriage rates, the south is still the south. to go into marriage rates are highest in the south. -- >> intermarriage rates are

highest in the south . >> for blacks. you can see that in the incredibly crazy local immigration laws that got passed. an alabama they were trying to keep kids from going to school. they are trying to keep people from getting utilities. they are supposedly aggravating and a contract to make. really stepping over the line. this out as the south. there are three latino governors. two asian governors. how did that happen? they are being forced in a box. when the dream act was voted on in the house, the only republican to voted with the democrats to pass it in the house, guess what?

but asian american, vietnam and -- the american and asian american. the question is, do they want to go back to the big tent party of ronald reagan? if i were them, that is what i would do. they could still get them, or they could play to this increasingly narrow part of their base. >> charles, let me come to you and say that i think there are people who feel under siege by immigrants in this country who think this is not the america big crew of income and they feel like someone needs to be of a voice for them, and much of that has come from the tea party. saying this is not racist to say. many immigrants of

all kinds come up a specifically undocumented immigrants. why does this invite the racial backlash? take a first of all, it is never want to be the country you grew up in ever again. all you have to do is look at the census bureau report him look at projections come and that is never want to become and that scares people to death. i think what is happening is republicans are banking on us for system politics, which is the only way to preserve your way of life is circle the wagons. that means that it is anti- everything. anti-immigrant, anti-policy. our money, tax money, everything

is being taken from us and given to them, and we want to reverse that trend. whether or not that works is the question in the short-term. there is no fighting the map. you cannot look at the numbers and believe that as a long-term strategy, this works. >> you are saying this is a naked racial appeal -- >> no. look at republican primary voters, that is the last amount of white voting in america. >> that is true, but so what? >> let me finish. what they are doing is playing to the worst fears among the

population. and i think that part is naked. it is a place of fear, and it is the fear of the bogeyman out there, and the only way you could have what you have when you grow up is for us to keep this country as close to that ideal as possible, which is an impossible thing to do on the map, but you can look it ways to reverse emigration trends or look at ways to try to diminish in panama programs or whatever. if that is the path they want to take, they can take it. what the gamble is, can you grow the resentment that existed among the poorest of the less educated of the white population into the working

class, and even higher into the electric? if you look at appellation vote. that is the closest, poorest boat that more closely resembles immigrant population because they are also getting started, therefore poor whites. immigrants to starting. a lot of them are poor. they voted very differently in 2008. 410 at counties in appellation that stretches from alabama to new york, western parts of new york. barack obama 1 like 44 i think of those. -- won like 44 i think of those. fewer than any in democratic history. those people are saying no

matter what my situation, i am not in for it. i am not voting for the sky for whatever reason. what they're trying to do is figure out how to we growth that fear and take advantage of it? >> to get back to your question, a few points. we saw a bipartisan bill pass about 20 years ago. the idea was you will have some form of amnesty that people come in illegally before, and then we will make sure to secure our borders, and obviously did not work very well. we have 12 million or so people who are here with their families illegally, most of them have been here for a very long time. they have established lives in pay taxes. in dealing with them is not an easy thing to do. second, many of the fears you mentioned are heightened

whenever you have a lousy economic situation and high unemployment, and people suddenly see competition for jobs they did not see before with illegal immigrants. mostly they are wrong. it is jobs that nobody else will take or want. what we are seeing is a crackdown. we are finding gaps. we do not have the migrant workers to come in and do things, backbreaking jobs for very little money that no one else wants to do. i have been waiting for someone to do a movie like "it is a wonderful life" we're it looks at what life would be like with all 12 million left. that is one part of it. a second part of this is to look at how far the republican party has gone. it was john mccain and lindsey

gramm who led an effort to find a bipartisan approach that was along the same lines. we will find a way to take those that are here in act in a humane and practical fashion, and we're for to find ways to tighten up on the borders. we're also going to enhance legal immigration, because that has been the basic reason this country is as great as it is today. you look at rick perry, basically thrown at totally on the defensive, because as a practical matter as a governor with a long border of mexico, he tried to come up with some way of making sure you educated illegals that happened to be in texas. that, as much as anything come it drove him down from a strong position in the race. even the attacks that newt gingrich got when he talked about the grandmothers, we can find a way not to give them

citizenship but regality. that came under siege. it look at it romney's position talking about self deportation. it tells you what was a bipartisan approach to the issue no longer exists, and there are legitimate concerns. this is the real and important issue. you now have a party that is driven by a narrow portion of the base. this is a short-term concern coming getting through primaries in winning the nomination, how you can then pay it back when you are forced in a position that is so far over, to one that becomes reasonable. prodigious about the election dynamics, we have to solve this problem or at least cope with it as a society. if we get into a situation where you are not even have a breeding on who is deported, where you will start to see cracking down

on employers because they have hired illegals and do not have much other option, and we may see restaurants closing or other things happening. it will create an explosive situation. it is another issue where we have moved so far apart that what is required, which is a bipartisan approach, the dream act was thoroughly bipartisan and now it is not. it tells us a lot about the polarization of politics as it plays out with the polarization along racial lines. >> is the polarization among parties. when we were take students on the hill, republicans were sympathetic to the issue, who had been co-sponsors earlier on were basically saying they were afraid to go forward, not because it would hurt them in the general election, but because they were afraid that someone would be run to their right. >> let me stop as here, because

we have gone so strong that race will be a defining factor in this campaign. let's bring audience and for questions. if you could be pointed, not a lecture role. a pointed question, we would be delighted to take it and consider it. >> why is it illegitimate for anybody to represent that point of view? >> it is certainly not a legitimate to represent a point of view. one, is it going to be colossally stupid politically to represent that you so strongly that you, both in the short run

lose votes, but in the long run, given the demographics, you're going to force yourself into a position of a minority party for a long period of time. >> wait a minute. you and i both know it is about winning now. not down the road. by applying to those anxieties, and i'm trying to help to resolve these issues, mitt romney could become president of united states. >> he could. but what we see right now, among the swing voters, he has appealed so much to that base that any support among swing voters has eroded. a starter with women among the contraception issue. it moves to other swing voters because the rhetoric is starting to make them uneasy. you have to be careful in the short-run. >> you'd have to be careful how

you present that. is it us versus them? or are you going to presented as we can find a solution together? that is the challenge. >> the challenge in general is a slippery slope. you start with us versus them on immigration and then you take a hard line. you lead to, we want to cut the things that help to feed poor children who cannot feed themselves. you keep going and that leads to things like women should not be able to access contraception when they want it. it leads us so far in the wrong direction that you start to alienate some pockets of of voters that you only have a few left. that is not a winning strategy. winning a national presidential election is always about winning the metal.

you're always went to have your partisans lined up on either side. you have to be able to swing the middle. and if which were doing is setting up a situation where you're almost destined to lose the middle and make everybody forget and say, i never said all that stuff. i said it, but i did not mean it. that is the problem that i think republicans will have. >> she stole my question. one that i can except, the anxiety there has to be expressed. what troubles is the consequence. how do you act on that. if somebody has a legitimate concern about their livelihood being taken away and the solution is to put them in a pickup truck and drive them 3 miles down the road, i'm not sure that as a proper response. my question, is there any way to

restore stability to the differences we have? nobody is testifying racism. what has become so distressing is the lack of civility. i watched you in south carolina during that debate when the audience was, you know, let's kill him, let the guy died without medical insurance. that kind of vitriol is so damaging to our country. is there any hope we can have a discussion that does not breed more hate and contempt? [laughter] >> throw that to me. here is the thing. the idea of discussing race requires a preset that we do not necessarily always employ, which is that it takes being able to look at the same set of factors from different points of view.

what we choose to do is look at them from our own points of view. if i looked at race only as immigrants coming into my neighborhood, or at least i perceive it that way, taking away jobs we would otherwise have, the other side of that issue is that democrats, most enterprising people in the country, the most likely to start small businesses. these are exactly the kind of people you want in the country. these are people who do work that no one else will do. these are people who generally have more families. these are exactly the kinds of people you should want in the country. being able to look at one set of facts and say, i can understand your side of this issue, will

you allow for mine and that both things can exist. then we can start having a conversation about how much do we give or take on this issue. it is a kind of civility that i think has evaporated. now, we cannot even -- everything is entitlements. that kind of slip of the tongue , very poor children. we know you're talking about, do not have a habit of going to work unless it is something criminal and there is nobody in their neighborhoods who work. who says this kind of stuff because there is no way to look at that set of facts and objectively.

that is the only reason anybody would let that come out of your mouth. >> it worked. he won south carolina. >> it is the south. >> i look at as one of the changing demographics of the u.s.. there is a real impact. the reality is you cannot even keep agriculture in this country. a response to shutting down immigration was four than to serve buy land in mexico. follow the cheap labor. i would love to see the business leaders stepped up and say the money that goes into the pacts, -- the pacs, say, enough. stepping up and say, this is not good for america. this is not good for our business. we're going to stand up and call

for a rational conversation to solve these problems and we're going to hold people accountable. they're not going to get our money if they go down this road. >> i wondered if you had evidence or research on whether particularly asians a vote because of their ethnicity or other economic issues. f. in other words, do we know what triggers the asian vote and then other minority group double boats? >> thank you for the question. there's a little but a study that has been happening. summit from the academics. -- some of it from academics. it shows that the challenge for asians is that we have a lot of immigrants. 60% of our community is foreign born. what we are seeing, though, 30% of the asians of voting are

actually voting for the first time and they are newly naturalized citizens. what gets them to vote is the outrage. investment in the average were they hear from leaders. whether it is their church leaders, their temple leaders, whoever. explain to them how the elected officials connects to whether they get a youth center, or senior center, or sufficient funding. that is what gets asian- americans' out to vote. the justice center i just retired from will be out to ask that question to see how asians are looking at this election and what will motivate them. >> we have another question. my name is paul. question about the trends that i hear you talking about and if

you look at the makeup of state legislatures, that if you look at the makeup of congress, that there is a different trend that seems to be occurring. that is that republicans are winning all over the place and that the whole question of whether we are going to have a continuation, if the trends you are talking about, in which we have divided government kind of for the foreseeable future, related to the differences, the turnout, intensity, all the things that determine local voting as opposed to the national vote. >> there is a couple of answers to that. republicans are winning ever were, but a large part of that is a sweep in 2010 where they

had unprecedented gains at the state legislature level and pick up seats in the house of representatives which was the most in our lifetime at least. whether that continues remains to be seen. what is also clear is we have an almost evenly divided country by and large. democrats have a little bit of an edge that has been given died -- it is not even divided across the country. it is very across states and regions. in many states now we are seeing where republicans have all the reins of power, to tilt the voting population in the direction that will give them a longer-term advantage, despite the fact that they may not otherwise win these elections. part of this that we are unique in this world that we have

partisan election officials. no other country does this. everybody else has independent career people who handle these things. that makes a difference. we also see changes in laws designed to suppress some kinds of boats and others. that may provide a level of leverage that provides a difference down the road. i would make one final point that the polarization that we have seen in congress, the kind of tribal politics here, have clearly metastasized across to a very large number of states. you see these divisions in wisconsin, but they play out in my native minnesota. the kind of confrontation that we had over the debt limit here in the 90's. you sit here in state after state after state.

we're not going to get out of this for some period of time. amplified by a media that make a lot of money off of dramatic differences and extreme views from talk radio on through cable news and others. fasten your seatbelts. this bumpy ride will continue for some time. >> off but also, national politics for the president, and to some degree, senate elections, are a little bit different from the house elections and from state-wide assembly elections because the way the boundaries have been redrawn with redistricting, it will benefit republicans in the house, not necessarily in the sand at because it is still --

in at the senate because it is still a state-wide election. republicans -- conservatives consistently hold a two-one advantage over liberals when it comes to how people feel. i think that still has to be taken into account. the country is much more conservative, that is social issues. >> it is still vital to the country as a whole, it is just not of vital in our politics. the senate elections, look at what happened to the summer caskey. look at what happened in delaware. look at what might happen to orrin hatch and the senate race in indiana.

we are seeing basically an electromagnet force that is pulling our representatives, including senators, further and especially to the right on the republican side, even if the electorate does not feel that way. >> i think that means our time has come to an end. this has really been an eye- opener in terms of the important role that race will play in the 2012 race. thank you you all. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> back to live coverage. educational achievement between racial groups. that will be followed by a panel at 3:00 the 30 on the media's .ortrayal o >> our first panel will be

hosted and moderated by the news anchor for telemundo. >> thank you very much. good afternoon. a little bit late, but what an extraordinary panel this afternoon. i thank you for being here. she is from the asian american legal defense and the former mayor of baltimore. to open this up for a chat in just a little bit. we were talking with the opening comments on education, media. you have talked about this.

there are often misconceptions. stereotypes that are both good and bad, i guess. although no stereotypes is essentially good. i think it has a direct impact on our children. how they perceive ourselves. how parents perceive their children and ourselves within an educational community. if we could start by talking in your line of work what you see and what the biggest conceptions are. >> in the director of the equity project. a lot of our work in this area is colored and influenced by the experiences of asian americans. students in education. i guess to start off as food for thought with regard to how these issues impact the community, there is this myth of asian american students as being uniformly or largely high- achieving and doing well and the

school system. unfortunately, not the case. there are students to do well, but great disparities among ethnicities. but a lot of the work that i do looks at how a lot of these policies we're going to be talking about today have an unintended affect upon immigrant communities that are not in power to advocate for their rights. >> when you talk about some of those difficulties, a language is the primary one. there is cultural as well. >> i think her language is a huge issue. primary one? >> i would say that. there are cultural issues, but i think language, the ability to access programs that are needed by english language lerner students, in particular the fact that unfortunately some of these

schools that will be talking to us today which are very well intentioned and have results, sometimes are not being accessed by some of these tunes that are most at need. for instance, about one-quarter of asian americans. what we have seen in york city is a lot of them have been left behind. even while, at the same time, search and asian students are concentrated in the schools that are very high performing as well as high concentrating and the selected institutions. i think the need to have programs that are accessible translation and interpretation for their parents. of there also in charge school system. a lot of the proposals and programs you have instituted have been mirrored by other cities.

t think that the role of politics, the role of political figures in the educational system has been a positive one? >> speaking as a former mayor, that is a good question. for a majority of the time in the 20th century, the chief executive officer, and even governors to a certain extent, kept public education at arm's length. their school boards and part of the policy was education. you had this a national infrastructure that morphed into the department of education. the bottom line is that as we started to move towards the end of the 20th century, makers started to see improvements in

education as the key to the quality of life in their city. this is not something you could leave to someone else. so you started to see some structures change with mayors more involved in appointing and trying to appoint the chancellor or the superintendent of the schools for having more control over the budgets. a question a lot of people ask, is that too much political involvement? i have to tell you. education in america is full of politics from top to bottom. i mean, the difference between discussions of policy and politics in education, they blur an awful lot. it is a question of striking the right balance. i came to conclude that we had a very serious problem in this country with a system that was

so top-down and driven. we would get these mandates from the federal government. and the state would add their little later. in the local would implement it. my view as mayor, in at the end, the 12 years i served, was that it was my responsibility to provide great educational opportunity for students. it was not my opportunity -- my responsibility to try to run a particular type of system. >> but there are so many mandates. so many federal regulations coming down the pike for you. >> right. by the time i left office, if you look at our total budget, 35% of the budget went to 17% of the kids because of mandates. that is something that, it was always that we needed more money, it was that we needed more flexibility and how to use that money.

a, i think she is doing in outstanding job, but there are constraints with how was she going to spend her money. -- i think she is doing an outstanding job, but there are constraints with how she was going to spend her money. i became a big advocate of parental choice. that, for me, became the way in which we would in fuse -- >> what exactly do you mean? everybody has a different description. >> how about the gi bill? take the best of the bill which did certificates for vouchers to returning soldiers and as said, you can use this. you can go to university of maryland, you can go to in order

dame. you have the choice of -- to know her game -- notre dame. you have the choice. i did wish to do that for parents. that would bring more competition. it would be a better way of allowing factory parents as customers and allowing for improvements in their child's education. >> i presume you will agree and disagree with some of the things the mayor has been sank in the sense of, your hands are tied. certain things you can do in how you spend. in our communities, i think parents find that a very attractive possibility of being able to choose and to help choose where our children are educated and how they are

educated. >> absolutely. many. but my concern is that the parents who actually need to be more vigilant about where their young people are going to school often do not have the capacity or the time to be able to make a good choices. we do not provide information that helps parents become great consumers. what we see is parents fleeing just from whenever the traditional public school neighborhood that is failing and choosing an option that, quite frankly, is not much better. >> we agree. but, you know, sometimes one feels in the gut, i may not know what i want, but i know what i do not want. and sometimes when i get, i do not want. >> the children or parents cannot get up every day or are working three jobs and cannot go through an application process. there has to be neighborhood

schools, public options, better able to provide a good education so that if you're not able to make that choice, that you still have some place good to go. >> how to make the existing public school system more in tune with the needs of minority children. >> i am a chancellor of a public school system because public education changed my personal life. it changed my family's life chances. we grew up in new york. education was the priority. we understood that was the key to moving out of the lower class. because my mother got a good public education she went to a good college and got a good job as a teacher. she was the first person in our family to go to college, buy a home, and move us into the middle class.

i know that if i move across the city, young black and brown children, yellow children, white children -- it really does not matter, have the option for their life chances to be enhanced if i do my job well. >> i just want to mention, though, that the idea is not in conflict, really. they're often presented as an either/or children -- decision. do i want to see great public schools. i just not want to have this situation where any family is required to send their family to report performing schools. >> ended years of code defines what kind of education your child gets. >> i think that is right. we do not treat our parents right now as consumers, as clients. they did dictated to, rather than give people a choice. adding that would make a huge difference.

>> i cannot think that not having vouchers necessarily means that you'll be limited to the school that is in your zip code. i think a lot of public schools are having choices within the public schools, especially with the higher grades were you can apply to different schools across the sea. like we have an york city. even that does not work that well. i have to say for my immigrant students or even a non- immigrant, what we see, even in that situation, we're working in the universe of public schools, a situation where students are the most at needs. new immigrants, refugees, native-born students, with police information. exactly. immigrants who come in the middle of the school year and do not get a chance to even apply to the most sought after schools. all of these students often end up in the most challenged

schools. in terms of what to those schools need as far as a solution, i think we may disagree on. i would agree that we need a better, meaningful system of choice within the public school system. >> what we are trying to do it in a d.c. public schools is create a portfolio of action. different children, different families have different types of needs. we need to create a system and are creating a system where if you're a neighborhood school or a school across the town, you actually have options to go to any of them. the chargers sector is another piece of this. many charter schools are providing robust opportunities for some of our most vulnerable population. bart lowest income people and our minority people are able to do a better job than some of their neighborhood schools.

we're looking for opportunities to partner. we have to engage them in a very different way. we have to be transparent about the quality of our buildings. >> what do you mean by that? explain. >> parents and know that their neighborhood school is ok, but did not have any real quality indicators. people get test scores because that is generally the only across the board indicator on how school is doing. we have gone to a score card system where we lay out all kinds of data about the school. we look at the kind of programs that are offered. with the test scores and other things to show people a full picture of how the school is doing. that way a parent has more than just a test score information to decide whether or not this is the right place to go to school. >> we have become so addicted to tests.

my goodness. >> i never was, by the way. i dismounted clear that up. [laughter] no, we do rankings. >> no, we do rankings. so many of our schools, law schools in particular, get hung up on these test scores. >> there is a lot of pressure to deal with that. >> i know. but the score, even the people who run the test tell you that it is not going to tell you who is going to be a good lawyer. the only thing the lsat does this study will do the first year of high school -- of law school. -- tells you who will do well the first year of law school. >> why is it so difficult? >> because, we keep looking for easy solutions to this. what she just talked about,

looking at the full range of students is tough. sometimes, you can not quantify it. it is hard to quantify a kid's ambition. you may get some young man, a young woman, who has this great vision of what they want to do. they do not test well on your standard tests but do great artwork or something like that. you need to give the schools more flexibility. >> i am not an educator. i'd sell a plot would you all do. it is the toughest thing, get it really is the most important thing we can do for our country and our future. and is the route one more aspect out like that three of you to comment on. the secretary of labor often tells a story. she is often the first generation in her family to reach high school and go to college. when she was in high school, she

went to see an adviser. a counselor. and said, i have dreams of going on to college, university, baby postgrad. the adviser, the counselor at the high school, said listen. you are a young latina, focus on being a secretary. i tell our that alicia listen to the council, the dishes secretary of education. -- i tell her, at least she listened to the counselor, because she is a secretary of education. it is in the schools and the school systems. there are people that have the sensitivity about issues of the fighting stereotypes. some of the challenges are independent of their intelligence. if there is not a sensitivity, you know, who knows what

percentage of kids are told to be a secretary. lose faith in the future and do indeed drop. all of these structures and organizations and challenges are moved if there is someone in that school does not see the potential for a mexican child who dreams of being the first and her family to go further in life. >> it is not just about the sensitivity. it is about the expectations. this is the issue around race and education. we have incredibly low expectations for minority students. >> who is we? >> our educational system at large. we hear about poverty being an excuse. while it is a crushing impact, it is not the end of the story.

in fact, we see children rise out of poverty every day when principals, teachers, counselors said higher expectations. that is right. usurer the no excuses movement where people are very clear that it does not matter with you have records or not, you hear about the and no excuse movement. -- you hear about the no excuse movement where people are very clear that it does not matter what records you have or not, .ou hea >> i like your thoughts on the issue. >> i agree. i think that different expectations of different students can be a major problem. i think that we can talk about the resources and equities as a

cause in a way as to lead to better equalization of resources to different schools. school choice does not work as well as it should. even in school district where, theoretically, any student can apply to any school in the district. that does not work. we need to create infrastructures to equalize resources. >> what does that mean? give me an example. >> sure. has access to the finest programs for all students. to prepare all students for those programs. for instance, english sign language learners. in an york state if you are a high school student interested in learning english, you probably cannot, first of all, get all the credits you need to graduate on time, even if you took all of your glasses. >> because they do not offer them? >> because they do not offer

them and because you're taking english as a second language curriculum. which is great and important, but the same time, they're being taught that esl curriculum, but being asked to take test to graduate. i think all students should be held to the same standards to graduate, but i also think they the right infrastructure and support and resources to prepare them. if you make an english-language leonard take a test to graduate that you have not prepared them for, you're not going to pass. or if they pass at a lower level, you need mediation. this is how we can apportion resources for those differences in different communities. i think you can say that without using poverty as an excuse.

real thrilled not with the limited choice within the public system. i like a much broader system. my point about expectation, let's take what i have seen recently. young people understanding and wanting to become great teachers. the number of young people who are participating and going to get degrees to become teachers is increasing. you can see it in the applications in things like teach for america. many of these folks understand that having a great teacher in the classroom is going to make a huge difference. i certainly agree with the issue of resource allocation. i keep telling people, if my child is a ninth grader and you

are telling me four years from now we're going to have changes in the allocation and formula and will be all this reform, my child only has one time in high school. give me something i can do now for the child that will make the difference. that is why i really press the idea when i'm giving the parents and the family the opportunity. >> tell me some of the things you have seen that has had an immediate impact. >> with the research says, clearly, that the single most important factor is the quality of the teacher. this is why we press really hard in washington, d.c. to radically change the caliber of the teacher. >> how do you do that? how do make it effective? >> if you start by changing who you let into the classroom. when you look it finland and singapore, yet to be in the top 10% of your class to be a

teacher. >> is there a lot of freedom with that? >> part of the challenge is we have not been created in terms of maximizing the things we need to do to get there. we to evaluate our teachers by taking into consideration a number of things, including how your students perform. give them professional development spirit help them learn and grow. some teachers had not been evaluated in 20 years. in any in any -- in any profession that is absurd. we are recognizing and rewarding our highest performers. we hold a huge event at the kennedy center called a standing ovation for teachers. this is the top of our a valuation peace. they get bonuses and prizes.

we watched a video of them teaching. it's like the academy awards of teaching. >> is this a based on test scores? do teachers have to fill out a test? how you determine a good teacher? other than the kids' education? >> we do five observations over the course of one year. the principal goes into the class and to see what is happening. in and we have a master educator. for example, i taught middle school spanish. my principal was a gym teacher. he could not accept what was happening in my spanish class. if you're a foreign language teacher, we have a foreign language person come in to look to you. we the get what you do above and

beyond the classroom. we know that the teachers do not just to stuff in the classroom. your student achievement. what happens on tests. we put all that together. >> can i ask you. this is important because we get into discussions about whether the unions are good or bad. what she is describing something that came about through a resolution. the d.c. leadership and the unions got together on that. that, i think, is progress for the kids. >> again, i am just trying to understand better. in cuba and dictatorships, cover tends to pay me and i pretend to work.

if you go into a school with the teachers have never been tested or required to prove how good or bad they are, there may be among that you pretend to pay me, i pretend to work centrum. how you break that? >> have you been watching what is happening in d.c.? it is noisy. is is crazy. it means fundamentally changing the status quo culture change does not have been in one year or two years. it takes years to great expectations. this is what good teaching and learning looks like. this is what we're going to evaluate you on.

some people have gone kicking and screaming. some of them needed to go kicking and screaming. some people saw this as an opportunity to better improve their practice to teach their students. >> i of course think that teachers should be evaluated. teaching as well as special needs of the population are, i think, crucial. where we may part ways, i think to the extent that you're taking into account student test scores in a teacher of violation, i think we need to be careful. there are some different factors. i agree that we need to do something now before we address

party. but i think if you have a system that focuses too much on test scores, and particularly on test score improvements -- >> what else would you include? >> you would include the ability to work with students, to do well in portfolio. >> how you gauge that? >> by the same way. principal evaluation. he would not just rely on the test scores. >> i don't think there is an evaluation system out there right now. but here is what i do not want to let up on. 98% of our teachers were rated as meeting and exceeding expectations.

to ignore that is disingenuous. i think we're all trying to do is the student achievement data. we're at a point where you recognize there are not performing. we have to strike a balance which is why we call it a pipe. there are lots of different sizes to the pie. it will tell you whether a teacher is performing. test scores have to be part of the pipe, but not the only way to measure them. >> just a quick at on. to the extent that you're looking at students in other ways, other than test scores, that is good. insurgent school districts, or some states like new york, where even if you are theoretically looking at a -- in some school districts, or some states like new york, where even if you are theoretically looking at it,

that is where i think it is really judging the teacher based on the quality of the incoming students as opposed to the work. >> i do not know whether you agree or not, but the elected officials, particularly the governors, will say they are very callous to this movement. discussion about the state of education in the 1980's. moving into the administration, particularly of clinton, and then when governor bush became president and focused on the education thing, they would say, this shows there is a need for political involvement. don't think i would say is that it has to be kept in balance. there is a role, i believe, for the elected official. but i do not think the mayor's or governors ought to be running all the school systems. certainly, they ought to provide incentives for these things to occur. >> i think the proof is in the

pudding. if you have kids that are not in large numbers fulfiling basic requirements, there is something wrong. there is something that needs to be done. how you handle it. something needs to be done. >> and somebody has to be held accountable. >> that is exactly right. we all have responsibilities. they're not getting the job done. >> we have to be creative how we go about this. we do not shop of the way we used to stop -- to shop. we jacket information the same way. -- we do not get information the same way.

technology helps us be able to reach out with some of our struggling young people. i think you'll start to see some very different things. >> this brings me to another issue i feel very passionately about. i have seen as a crisscross this country. the digital divide in different communities. i have a seven-year-old and a four-year-old daughter. they get my ipad and go on line and play games. they know how to do things i cannot do on the ipad. if my four-year-old daughter has x intelligence and goes to school and kindergarten, and there is a kid who is at 50 times a starter than my daughter, but at home does not have access to the internet or access to the world as we now see it, and how information is

brought into our homes, it does not matter. that child will be at a huge disadvantage to my daughter who may be 10% as intelligence and may have 10% as good of a future. that is why, i mention this, too, comcast is the parent company of telemundo. not because of it, but i am saying. comcast is one of the companies who has reached out to the latino community, the african- american communities throughout the country and said, if you or your child gets the federal lunch program, we will unilaterally go to that community, give you high-speed access to the internet for $10 a month and give you a computer for $150 you can keep. it does not matter how smart and prepared you are, or house, and prepares your parents are, if you are surrounded by a moat of

silence in your home, and there are millions of people in this country who live without a computer or access to the internet, we are bringing those children into the education system at a disadvantage which, i think, is almost impossible to surmount. >> i obviously would agree with you. it gets back to her point about resource allocation, too. if school systems are allowed to spend resources the way they wanted to, and they could make that judgment about every child is going to have the most advanced information technology. >> that is in the school. >> well, you know. one of the mistakes we make is trying to be in the home of every child. we really cannot do that. you mentioned dictatorships. maybe they can. but not in our society.

we have to do as much as we can with a student outside. >> just one of a quick point. but in that case with there is that most of silence in the home, it is the child comes back home and says that i learned at school this is available. it is not that i am saying, let's go into the home. the schools are planning a far more significant and important role in the children and in the parents' children by informing them and removing that silence. well in school, they can teach their parents. >> i just got an ipad for my husband and my 2.5-year-old has completely taken the edgdevice. i agree with you on this.

i would expanded beyond technology. i agree there is a digital divide. and ipad is so expensive that even if you have a computer, you may not be able to afford it. >> you are saying is expensive. >> there is internet, and there are other things that, unfortunately, our children are able to access but not everyone can. this also applies to early childhood education programs. and then once students are enrolled in schools, and focusing away from putting so much emphasis and spending on school spending. you cannot control what is going on in the home, i agree. the school system can do more to prepare students without

resources. and then also after they enroll, they can give them enrichment services to make up for what they are losing out on at home in technology as well as in other areas. >> i think what contests and other folks are doing is great. we are thrilled about it, but i cannot control what happens in the home. when i can control is what happens at school. we are making decisions around resource allocation to not fund the things we have traditionally run over and over again. programs on top of programs and every does add programs. you never assess whether the programs are giving you a return on your investment. ofre spending millions dollars and shift those

resources to things we know are going to make a huge difference. they are motivated and engaged by what is happening on these technological devices. it also provides the opportunity for customization. you can have a differentiation. he canaveral of 25 kids were in complete different places and technology can allow you to see some of the same time at their own pace. sometimes we see kids advancing more than a year in over a year's time because of the digital solutions. on the issue of equalization of resources, i want to challenge us to not think about equalization but to think about equity. the difference for me is that equalization is everyone gets the same thing. when i would venture to say, my lowest performing kid, my minority with more challenges,

need more resources than my lower -- than my higher performing kids. said the people who need the most support actually get the most support. going tontis, we're open up. if anybody wants to join the conversation, will be happy to take your comments. >> i was just thinking the one point that was made by the equity issue is that yoke -- those young people who need those extra resources often have the least of voice in the political process. >> absolutely. >> that is the problem where you get the intersection of policy and politics. if you have the voice, you cannot articulate the need. you cannot affect the outcome of

political decisions and lose out. >> yes, sir. >> thank you for the good panel. chester hartman. i'm the director of research here in washington. two of the most serious problems as both cause and affect of the achievement gap, i am sure you are aware of this, are high dropout rates and high class and turnover. the latter schools in low-income minority errors caught -- areas, it is not uncommon to have 50% turning in a given school year. it has a fax on graduation rates. >> or for a substitute teacher to be teaching. >> right. one question is what to do about it. the other, on the high class and turnover, before you were dean at howard law, we did a conference on the set the law school. ito-edited a special issue on

it. one of the important contributions by the head of the national low income housing association was to point out how school's instability is often a function of housing instability. in an urban planner. i know we can create housing stability. the importance of bringing together reform groups and strategies between housing and health, housing and schools, jobs and immigration, the criminal-justice system, etc. we would be much more affective if we joined strategies. whatever thoughts you have on either of those two programs -- problems i would be very interested in hearing. >> one of the pieces that i think is really important to understand in washington, d.c. around mayoral control over schools, for the first time the school district has unprecedented access to other

agencies to be able to sit down and joined the come up with a solution. we sat down with the director of housing to map out what her strategies are against our strategies. to figure how we could support communities where we see schools using that lead to the closing schools. sit down with all the health agencies. say, these are my lowest performing schools. can you read trigger so you can wrap around and what is necessary to make our young people necessary -- as effective. >> we created something called the human resources subcabinet when i was in office to try to do what she is saying. we also notice that in addition to the issues you describe that the war on drugs was having a terrible impact on our kids,

too. we had a lot of young people whose parents were being incarcerated. there would then go to grandma's or to auntie somebody. in any year, at least 32% of our medical students -- middle school students were moving from one school to another. another issue the other need was for a common curriculum so when they move from one school to another they would not be dramatically behind. the same types of issues would be discussed school by school and that would help with some of those issues. >> just to change gears a little bit, one thing that could help improve dropout rates -- and what was the other issue? >> the unity.

>> teacher turnover and dropout rates. >> one thing i work on [unintelligible] research has found that racially integrated school -- that is me? i'm sorry. >> you sound like one of those "mission impossible" things. >> who knew my hair would make that much noise? >> i would not know anything about that. [laughter] >> in any event, integrated schools that are shown to have less teacher turnover, more stable student bodies, more parent involvement. one thing we need to look at is how to create a racially integrated schools which often lead to more economically

integrated schools as well and look at the ways that school districts can use policies still in their tool box. >> i could just use a part of your question to formulate another question. i have read with great joy that in the university system's, they're the fastest and largest growing group which are hispanics. the other fact is that hispanics have the largest drop out rate bar any group in the country. i have my own theories. they're not important. i would like your theories as to how we can best deal with these groups of people that house traditionally the have teh

worst. it has been happening for a long, long time. >> some of the community colleges are serving a large latino community. miami dade is a great international. what they are doing is to make sure they're dealing with some of the fundamentals of the education and get that established before you go one to a four-year. you may not need the four-year. maybe two is fine. one of our politicians recently said not everyone should go to college. he was not articulate and what he was trying to get at, but i think what we need to focus in on is that there are wonderful

opportunities if our education system can adjust to that. something post-high school but not necessarily four years for everybody. a lot of them are successful schools dealing with a large latino population. they recognize that. that is why community colleges are booming. >> what you are saying dovetailed with some of the data we have looked at with regards to former english language learners. within the asian community, a lot of graduate students who may have emigrated in at the high- school level, they do matriculate in community colleges, but they have a very high dropout rate. they have high remediation rates and often take way longer than four years to graduate.

going back to my earlier point about standards in high school and having a curriculum that prepares them in a meaningful way to align standards with what they're being taught in the esl requirements for graduation and make sure they have the opportunity to get the actual number of credits to graduate on time and be prepared to do well with or without remediation. >> i think a lot of the school districts have focused on getting kids to college and now the focus is getting them to and through. ishink what we're seeing

that previously we were not talking to each other about what we needed to do in k-12 to better prepare people to persist. then we look at the issues of funding. what does it cost to get a college indication these days? there are cultural issues about whether the institutions are places are kind to and accommodating to a diversity of people. with a lot of work to do on that front. there are a lot of reasons why people drop out and we need to work on all of the pieces. >> yes? >> i would like to thank you for a very intense discussion about education, but i would like to recognize that the gap is widening in terms of the

educational divide, weatherbug want to call it kids of color, gender, we are just not seeing the number of girls be successful in education. it appears that you have talked extensively about the urban environment, and i am concerned about rural america, the kids who are literally forgotten there. i'm just wondering what is taken place? is it on the agenda of to work on world kids all across the country? can we look at gender difference in terms of achievement? i know we cannot force parents, but we can build a better partnerships with them. >> you raise the gender question. i thought you're going to ask

where the boys were. >> i was going to get there. >> we see increasing numbers of women and wonder where the young men are. you're seeing something different. >> difference in middle schools and high schools that. they are not highly engaged. if you look at them getting involved in stem, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, they are missing. how can we engage that population? if we can engage the population, we may be able to slow down the dropout rate that we are getting. we are missing the prime time of getting people into the educational system and waiting until they turn 5 or 6 years old.

why do we not get them earlier? >> we have a universal pre-k program and have seats for every single 3 and 4 year old. he's trying to figure out how to get a fetus into the program, but we have a tremendous attention to early childhood education. at the same time, we're looking at stem and ensuring that both girls and boys are both encouraged and supported. we just had a robotics competition and dathe team had girls and boys. we are doing school the same way we did 100 years ago. kids do not learn the same way 100 years ago.

we put a book, paper, and pencil in front of them and we read it to them, talk at them. that is not how you work every day. he did not move from one meeting to another, to another were someone stands and talks at you for 45 minutes, but if you do you will not be there very long. we have to completely rethink how we do middle and high school so kids can participate in doing project-based things that have some connection to what they may be doing in the real world. we need to look at a credit- based system where i can present a body of work and have a team come in and give me grades across a number of areas. we need to create a different way of doing schools so that kids are engaged.

they have robots that can shoot a basketball. they are interested in basketball. i'm smart and i can create a robot to do that, so we need to marry their interests so we know it will ultimately take them from shooting baskets of the building airplanes. >> i had something else. >> i have something about rural communities and specifically emigrant communities and other refugee communities in the area between the two have had unprecedented growth in new immigrants and refugees. a lot of times, the school's administrators and teachers simply do not know how to deal with them. they do not know how to deal with english as a second language, no cultural competency.

most of the work i do is in urban areas, but a few years ago i worked with a young laotian student who had been in the american system. they moved to iowa that was seeing an unprecedented rise in emigrant communities because there was a meat packing plant that was drawing in community members. in the midwest, yes, minn., and others. this was not in the morning but in a storm like. -- this was not in des moines but in stormlake. she was placed in the english learning program and never had been before.

not in need to speak accent-less english, but she did. madead straight a's and it no sense. that's just one example of what chan happen when you have a school system that is not prepared to deal with the new flux of students >> what are we doing about dysfunctional behavior in the educational environment? gangs, violence, and other behavior that disrupts the learning environment for other children? >> the things that we're doing is to radically change instruction. when kids are engaged, they are not distracted. in addition to what we are doing, we are out in the

communities and we partner with a number of organizations and all kinds of agencies and non- profits to help us tackle these issues and provide services for the young people who are truant. schools no longer deal with just instructing people, but we create a web of services that are able to create the medes -- needs -- meet the needs of these students. >> we saw a combination of things like collecting -- connecting law enforcement, but we recognize the problem about coming down on extracurricular activities. every time we said we would get rid of one, we would find out we have young people wandering around the wedding to do

something and they would get bored into things -- lured into things, some good and some bad. >> i think part of the response needs to be good community building between students of different races and ethnicities. one of the issues that i worked on is anti-immigrant harassment. often in -- it is often these immigrant students that are in these large troubling schools. our approach is to advocate for a disciplined system where the school intervenes at an earlier stage before it major discipline is required in a larger or dangerous situation so that you do not tolerate violence or

harassment in the schools but not necessarily throwing the book at the smallest infraction. >> with the supreme court scheduled to revisit the affirmative-action issue soon, i'm wondering, particularly poor asians in this awkward position and oftena minority o complaining about not being admitted into some of the higher level universities -- i'm told there are too many at uc- berkeley. you hear that about the uc system. i'm wondering what the panel thinks about that. related to that, some say the reason jeremy lin was seen as exceptional is because merit counts, but they do not care about diversity on athletic

teams. no one wants a short asian on the basketball team. but on the academic side, a diverse student body does matter. >> i will start on this question. the asian-american legal defense and education fund supports affirmative action. i think affirmative-action creighton beneficial learning environment as well as the communities to still benefit, like southeast asians. the issue you raised the possibility that certain asian students at elite institutions may be held to a higher standard in order to get admitted, compared to whites, that could be a problem, but that would be

discrimination. that is not the result of affirmative action. there's no reason why having an affirmative-action program that is legal right now under their university of michigan case, which says in admissions you can consider race as one of many factors in admissions to look at how that student will increase the diversity of which race is one factor. in that type of situation, there is no quota. it does not matter if you are "over-represented" because there's no such thing. if your group is under- represented it, then your ethnicity or race can be considered as one factor among many. you need to separate the

discussion about affirmative- action from discrimination which is negative action. the two are not related at all. >> i recall the chief justice's comments in the public school case and to deal with just a few years ago. they said in order to eliminate discrimination you have to eliminate it. he viewed affirmative-action as a form of discrimination, so i'm not optimistic about what will happen in these cases. once again, we're going to have to rethink how we approach hire indication if these are ruled unconstitutional. >> in wrapping things up, i was thinking about the questions asked earlier. i am married to a fourth grade public school teacher. when our children were born and we were talking about college, what to do, she taught me

something that i keep reminding myself. she kept saying your daughters education begins the day they're born. how we deal with children at an early age determines whether or not they continue on with their educational dreams. i have learned a lot today. i hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have. this is the first time in a long time where everyone's got their first name starting with a "k." k, k, k. close to the alphabet. i tried. thank you so much. what an extraordinary panel. thank you all for coming. thank you for letting us be a part of your afternoon. good day. >> we will move right on into the next panel one news media. i will be calling up the panelists.

and the moderator. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> this will go from 3:30-fourth clock 30 and then we will wrap up from there. -- this will go from 3:30- 4:40.

>> ok. as i said, the last panel is on the impact of race on the news media and vice versa. to moderate, we welcome back juan williams. >> i guess i do not need to

introduce the first panelist. itjose is a news anchor for telemundo and is the national director of their public affairs program. i do not need to ask you to welcome me in joining him because you know him. now i will move on and introduced the rest of the panelists if i can get my notes in order. andrew rojecki is the co-author of "the black image in the white mind: media and race in america ." he is at the university of illinois at chicago. his research focuses on media and politics as it relates to the political movement, globalization, and race politics. welcome, andy. [applause]

doris truong is the president to the asian american journalists association. she is a multi-platform editor at "the washington post" and has been the deputy copy chief over 13 weekly sections and she was at the national style department as a copy editor. she is on the board of unity, journalists of color, and is a graduate of an exceptional school, the university of missouri school of journalism. please join me in welcoming doris. [applause] our final analyst -- panelist i s antoine sanfuentes, the washington bureau chief of nbc news. he built his career at nbc as an

intern at the local station here while attending american university. he has been a producer of notable coverage including reports from our 4, the condo, -- the congo, and coverage on al bashir. welcome, antoine. i will start with you. i will ask about something that was mentioned in the last question we had in the previous panel that had to do with race and media in an unusual theater, athletics. the star of this moment was the new york knicks' player jeremy lin. when he became the focus of what was called "lin-sanity,"

because there was this extraordinary idea that there would be this asian american basketball superstar, the question was how you cover him? and look at this. even espn had managed to offend him with some racially charged language or look at what the commentator had to say, what this columnist had to say about stereotypes dealing with asian americans. how do you, in directing a news bureau, cope with racial stereotypes in this new age? >> the challenges to defy the stereotypes. it begins most importantly with the discussion on the inside. we have a thriving editorial discussion on the inside with a

makeup of a qualified journalists who look like america, the challenge to make sure that the discussion we have reflects what the audience expects to be served. defying stereotypes, this wonderful basketball player who defies stereotypes, and we talked about this earlier this week. our challenge is to cover the story behind the story, not just going with what you see in what you would expect to imagine in terms of the stereotype to look at this man's background. how did they get here? let's talk about the stereotypes. >> even though it is a basketball story, to a basketball audience, they would wonder why they're talking about this guy's race.

we cannot ignore the so seal- political-cultural aspect of the tail. >> to have to give the people what they wanted they are interested. it is your responsibility as a news organization to discuss it and think about all the angles. >> even if we say we do not care and want to talk about the ball game? ok, question, jeremy levin. he has had a tremendous impact in the community, but how should asian-americans' be covering the news media? we have seen so many missteps. >> the asian american journalists association was forced to put out a media advisory in late february because there had been a preponderance of stereotypical coverage and some people would

say that it was positive. stereotypes are stereotypes. the larger story is that a lot of asian-american men felt like there was someone on the national stage that they could really look at that person as empowering them. for so long, the asian-american man had been emasculated in the american media. >> emasculated in what way? >> there is a characterization that i think happens in the united states in popular media as well as the news media. we do not see that particularly with other ethnic groups. it is just as bad. >> i think one of the jokes about jeremy lin was the size of

his penis. the people enjoy this stereotyped or this mockery of asian-american man, what do you do? >> that is why we are here to combat this. we are here to make sure that there is accurate reporting happening. we all know that stereotypes are not applicable to other people. >> he would have suspended that column? >> it is beyond the scope of my organization to say what has happened. >> that is how you fight it. it is suspension enough? or does this produce a backlash of support? >> do need more diversity within the newsroom. you need people there to police. they need to make sure that it does really get out there for the public to begin with. you need those discussions in our newsroom before it goes public. >> lots of people would say we

pay too much attention to race. just cover the ball game. let people talk about jeremy and something goes wrong, ok, but what we're hearing in both cases is that there are preconceptions' built in and people have to pay attention. in your case, you focus on black-white relations in media. the story of the moment is trayvon martin. >> it is one of the most difficult things for me to do it. i teach a largely white class of undergraduates with a few african-americans who seem to be thoroughly sick of talking about race. when i introduced the topic to them is to give them an exposure to the latest psychological research which tells us that most racial

judgment takes place of consciously. i had them take an on-line test we select things like gender- specific occupations or gender appropriate occupations, a preference of skin color, body size, and so on. students are surprised that they do have an automatic preference for something. in the case of white students, they have a preference for light skin, which they are horrified to find out about because the norms have changed. the thing that is even most important is that these implicit association thought and have an effect on the way that people behave in the gravest sorts of things were in a video game, if you see a white target or a black target, you're more likely to shoot the black target more quickly. of course, that is what

presumably happened in the case of trayvon martin. unless over the long course of things, it gets down to this famous experiment done with sending out a resume that was identical except for the name that was written on it. in one case it was lakeesha and the other emily. emily got to% more callbacks, so even the people making judgments about the various merits of these two candidates apparently had a non conscience preference for one over the other based on a certain association. >> tell me how that plays out for someone who is a news director, a reporter, a writer when it comes to covering a racial incident. >> this is something we found when we were doing research for our book.

i did some interviews with the whites to live in suburban indianapolis. it was very interesting. those who had either grown up in an integrated neighborhood or those who had a black relative understood the news in a way that those who did not have that kind of experience understood it. those people who had firsthand experience understood that it that that was covered in the news as being the last change in a long series of circumstances. the way other people saw the news is that help others said it, highly stylized we could predict what the first five minutes of local news would look like.

>> poor people of color killing each other, a fire, some horrific event? >> pretty much. you wonder why people are watching it. >> they must be covered in some way then. >> maybe it is comforting in the sense that you do not live in that neighborhood, but the more interesting story to be told is really hard for journalists. what happened that led to that last step? >> that is not a historical discourse. it is just the news. >> in the case of the particular person shot, that is pretty much what this documentary that recently got an academy award for, "the interrupters, where people actually went in the neighborhood where there was violence and took pains to intervene with a person about to strike back. they began to talk to the person and interrupted the

process. >> that is not news. >> that is precisely the problem. news is not defined in terms of what is really substantive. it is almost ritualistic in a way. >> let me come to you on this same story -- trayvon martin. one of the complaints i have heard about coverage begins with coverage of the man who shot trayvon martin. i do not think there's any need for me to explain that. everyone knows he shot him. first, it was described as a white man, then as a white- hispanic. then it became so politicized. if he is not purely white, then it is a different story. it is not the traditional narrative of whites and blacks. then we have at a white-

hispanic, hispanic-white. if the person is hispanic, it could not have been a racial incident. how you've been dealing with this? >> a great question. very profound. in the spanish language, we tend to not label people. either hispanic, non-hispanic, white, black and liberal, conservative, we try to stay pretty neutral. i'm told that i have to go. if i could just leave with a few challenges today and some food for thought? it all boils down to one big issue. one is the few latinos and minorities that are in the news that tend to believe they have more rights than others to say things that are unacceptable to say. i have heard you be challenged.

what the hell is that? are you hispanic enough? it is ok for me to use words and speak of issues that whites could not or should not be talking about. that is unacceptable that we in our community and roles are expected. you are white, hispanic, african-american, yet we feel that we can judge and say things like that. you're not exactly black are you? i'm covered because i'm and latino, and that includes the trayvon martin story. the big problem in the newsroom is management. just recently, colleagues of ours in the pr and community dealt with an english language network that had a television show that, for entertainment

purposes, in a joke, the latino character, who is further weakened when faced with unemployment said, "do not worry. i'm for it to weaken. i can always deal drugs -- i'm puerto rican." >> this was an entertainment show? >> why do i mention this? if people in high levels of management were sensitive or maybe were the tea know, when that script passes by, they say -- pardon? what are you talking about? it does not happen now because there are reasons but because it is not on their radar screen. a joke is a joke is a joke, but it's not. if management in news had more latinos, for example, more african-american the highest

level -- msnbc, for example, those issues of someone on television questioning "how black you are" would be mitigated if at the highest level in management but there was that sensitivity that, i believe, can only be brought by having people of color, asians, hispanics, at the top levels so that when the equivalent of "not worrying about unemployment because i'm puerto rican" and it comes to news, there is someone there that says it's not how it's done. i leave that with all of the because i think it is relevant. we see it on a daily basis and i am insulted as a latino when i hear someone in our community

question someone else in the community because they feel they have the right. >> just quickly on the martin case, did it matter to you and your coverage when all of a sudden the designation changed from white to hispanic-white? >> it did not change in the spanish language world because we never started with it. >> and the subsequent change in places like "the new york times" matter? >> in spanish language, it was never a matter of white versus black versus a splenic -- verses hispanic. it was a guy named george zimmerman and here is his picture. you guys make a decision. that person is dead regardless of who killed demanded did not change anything that it was first a white guy, then a latino

guy, then we are not sure what he is. the issue is justice does not change. by discussing the issue, time has passed on the real issue. >> preconceptions are built in. your viewpoint comes from the white preconceptions. i was asking about hispanic preconceptions. >> honestly, maybe it is a mistake, but we did not label him. as a white, a white latino, then a kind of latina, how latino was he? that brings you back to your question, juan. [applause] >> let me flip the same question to you. what happened with the change in zimmerman's status? did that really preconception in dealing with a rationalized story? =-- racialized story? >> in nbc, we have to be right

100% of the time. in terms of his background, his mother is peruvian. we get into a discussion about background in terms of being by cultural in america, my father is chilean for example. now we get into citizenship in terms of background as opposed to diversity. we can have a long discussion about that. that is what is important for us. let's get the facts straight. there is a special prosecutor looking into this matter. in this particular case, there are plenty of voices out there. the discussion is important. i think that reflects how our society has evolved, the fact we can have these highly important discussions and that this story was not varied. for that, i think it's important. >> you say it was not buried,

but i think it happened in late february and did not come to national attention for three weeks, i believe. it was not buried, but then to come back to pose a -- jose's points, it looked like minorities were the ones that forced it to bubble up to the national attention. is that your understanding? of danr networks' bottom noticed it. that's important as part of the discussion. 20 years ago, would this have been possible? the fact that this journalistic community is so much larger today when you add twitter, blogs, social networking in general, but we cannot be everywhere at all the time. there is a mechanism for us to now pay attention. if we were slow, that can certainly be an issue, but we did respond.

>> doris, when you look at preconceptions that are built in, whether we're talking about trayvon martin or jeremy lin, what do you think as a working journalist? it's interesting. earlier today, jose vargez was on the panel and he when he said you talk to the political correspondents that they're mostly white males and preconception is that minorities are a secondary story. that is not really where the power axis exists in american society. that is a preconception. do you see preconception when it comes to talking about race in other venues beyond politics? >> one of the things that is striking about the trayvon martin case has been the photos oused. how're saying that is not

trayvon martin looked when he died, not how martin looks now, so where we use an old photos of both of the people involved? is that playing into what our preconceptions are of what the victims should look like? someone that is being put on public trial, is that what they should look like? that's another thing we ought to think about as journalists. do we want to continue to perpetuate this by running the same photo? >> that's interesting and it reminds me of the controversy where "time" magazine put a picture of o.j. simpson on and he was colored darker than the central truth of his skin tone. the image there was the foreboding, threatening, blackmail. the case you're talking about, it's the contrast between the cherubic little boy trayvon getting teenage that was

the thug look. a much more angry attitude later. if you are the journalist covering this situation, why are you using one picture or the other? is the audience being overly sensitive and you're just using the picture that you have? >> it's a good question. the other thing, to antoine's point, we have so much more social media now. if you're not getting the news, or you're getting the same stories from the a legacy media, there are other venues, but how accurate and well that it is the information? -0- and well vetted is the information. >> the one thing i did notice is that the media started playing the story differently.

it was a social media driven event. there was about three weeks that elapsed before the story became a national news story. that gives you an indication of the importance of social media for bringing to attention stories that ordinarily would not have come to the media's attention. the other thing is this polarization around the story and that reflects the way the mainstream media -- and by that i mean cable and broadcast news -- that it has become politicized. what is interesting there is that if you listen to one network, msnbc, you're likely innocencery about the of the victim, and to listen to another you get a story about gun rights.

they appeal to two different audiences which suggests to me that there does not appear to be much of an attempt to really deal with the core of the story, that things have become so politicized that it is difficult to stick to the facts. >> the preconceptions of the news judgment are based on what those executives think that the audience wants to hear. >> and is perfectly rational economically. if you're in the news business today, you not try to convert your audience to a different point of view. he will cater to what they already believe. >> talk to antoine. your job is to get it right the first time. >> i think you are referring to reverend sharpton if you were talking about a certain viewpoint. is the point is widely known. we do not pretend that it is anything other than his opinion. on the other hand, the nbc news family also includes gary

sanders covering the story who has been covering it all day today. and sticking to the facts. we do not pretend to be something or something else. we know who reverend sharpton is. we talk to reverend sharpton. we have a discussion in terms of what he would like to advocate and talked about. his views are widely known. they have always been so. >> the argument would be he is the host of the program, but he is also an actor in terms of the story that you're covering. is that a conflict of interest? i think that is how the media critic wrote about it. how do you respond? >> he is an opinion host. he is abdicating his point of view, in effect. so long as he is above board on where he stands, that is a discussion we have with him often. it is more important when we are

having a discussion like this to know where the person stands and be clear about that as opposed advocating something that is not clear to the audience. >> the contrary point may be that you can in. his contract lapsed after he wrote a very racially charged book in which he suggested that white men are the ones who created this country and they are being disrespected come on and on. what is the difference between buchanan and sharpton in your mind? >> a number one, mr. buchanan was a contributor to msnbc and mr. sharpton has a show. there is a distinction. in terms of mr. buchanan's viewpoint, they are now. i will not get into his contract, but there was a parting of ways, if you will.

in terms of reverend sharpton, again, is the point is widely known. i think it is an important part of the discussion, but it is part of what nbc news does that i think is also important to get not only the other side but to get the street journalism down the middle. >> doris, when you hear this discussion in terms of the difficulty of creating impartial, neutral come accurate coverage of race, is there any one point of solution you would offer? we heard that we need more managers who have this bent. everyone is competing to be managers at the top of the food chain, but how do you deliver on coverage that is not racially charged or come in with racial preconceptions' like we heard earlier? >> it's foolish to think you can

leave race out of the discussion. but earlier today in the symposium, we talked about how this is not post-racial america. we just have to be mindful of the various viewpoints, i think. we need topoint, bring in more managers. people are saying there is not someone to be qualified in that position, are they looking hard enough? in my organization, there are numerous others that have pipe lines of various backgrounds. we do not just mean ethnic backgrounds. there is diversity we're lacking in the news room anymore. you do not tend to have a lot people from low-income backgrounds. they do not tend to go into journalism because it is not a high paying gig to begin with. on a certain level, we are also promoting people from high-end

journalism schools. you cannot get a job without a degree. how did he get that diversity in the newsroom? the managers have to be mindful of it and we need to bring up people from diverse backgrounds to be managers because they're the ones that will make that decision. >> before we get questions from the audience, i want to come back to the idea that we began the conference with -- is proportionally, the number cohort of the american democratic, much heavier in terms of people of color, the older and, much more white. the people who watch news in america are not the young people. it is the older, whiter audiences that dominates in terms of news consumption. is there any basis to say, of course news coverage is going to come from a basis of white viewers because of their the ones buying the product?

>> going back to my earlier point, i was not trying to suggest that the media were necessarily racializing the issue consciously, but inadvertently they would sort of cater towards their audiences with certain topics that would be relevant. as to the point about the age of the audience, it is true that one thing that has happened is we have a smaller accidental audience for news right now. people tune out right now. most of my students do not consume the news. i have to trick them into it. i make them read the news so they can report on it. they're just not interested. to the extent that the audiences still interested in the news, it is largely demographically --

not to polarize, but it is made up of a certain group of people. it is inevitable that the news coverage, for example, on "nightly news" we follow health issues which reflects an aging population. i do not know what the future's going to be about the way news is covered, but we are in a transitional moment right now so it is difficult to tell where things will go. we do not know if it will be a menu-driven format. >> people pick what they want to hear, reid, and watch it. >> and how that is commercially sold will be a challenge. >> the challenge that is making sure that it is racially not exacerbating the worst racial attitudes becomes a problem. >> sure.

i go back to the trayvon martin case. the reason it has become such, such big news is because that it effected someone who was middle class. what was talking to me was that these stories i have read written by columnists, when they have a talk with their kids, it is not about sex. if you're a black male, this is how you be haven public. -- behavior in public. that must be very tiring to go through that exercise. the students i have said part of the difficulty of being black middle-class is that i am exhausted all the time because i feel like i am being watched all the time. >> what we are talking about is black middle-class consumers of media impact coverage.

that is apoor >blacks, whole different ball of wax. nobody is challenging preconceptions about poor blacks in the media. >> i do not think it would've gotten as much attention as it did. >> we have time for a few questions. for anybody who is not asleep, you are welcome to ask a question. [laughter] >> i am a graduate of the university of illinois, chicago circle. your last comment, that is what i wanted to talk about. i hear from friends all the time about the number of african- american males that are being killed on a regular basis. how much is that covered in chicago or throughout the

national news media? >> when you started out, you're talking about the nightly news and the type of carnage typically in a low income areas that gets covered. but what you just heard from her question is, people do not pay significant attention to the higher murder rate in the black community, black on black crime. if they will have this little thing about another person got shot in the drive by on the south side. i do not know why, but that is a fact. >> local news is ritualistic, if it bleeds, it leads. an advertising -- if you look at the national news, it turns out that white victims are much more likely to be publicized in crime stories. why that is the case, i am not

sure. >> come on. why does a white girl gets more attention when she is kidnapped? >> i was somewhat facetious. the stories are covered in chicago -- there is a lot of violence there. it is never fully explained, it did just happens. it is never identified as being a racial comment because the audience can read the code -- racial, because the audience can read the code. blacks were somewhat depicted as being much more likely to be guilty. coverage is pulled back from been rationalized. the audience can certainly read

it. all you need to say is inner city and people will change their political preferences. there is sophistication in the audience -- >> the audience is looking for the rachael queue? -- racial cue? do they want it? >> i think it is just an easy to cover kind of story. the police department supplies that come at their is more violence in black neighborhoods. it is a reliable source of stories. i do not think it is any more complicated than that. no investigative stories that explain why it is the case. periodically, there are stories about drugs and gangs and how causeterritorial finanghts

this violence. there is less of that. there is no particular context for this. in that respect, it is constant and almost ritualized. >> you made a distinction between local and a national news. why is there a difference in terms of the advertiser appetite on local versus national when it comes to racial preconceptions? wrong, butme if i'm local stations get all the advertising revenue for the news as opposed to, for example, network programs. that is why local news is so important to the station. to the extent they can recover a lot of the cost by getting in all of their advertising

revenue, keeping all of it, that factors into the way that stories are covered. >> by covering something that is predictable or easy to cover? even if it has a racial message that this minority community is troubled and should be stayed away from. >> you almost never see investigative reporting going into that kind of story. >> we have a question from the audience. >> my name is joe. i have had friends who were in print journalism and have lost jobs. people are talking about how media is in flux. jose mentioned it earlier about blogs, and this new moment of new media.

since we are talking about the state of race, did you have any thoughts on these new burgeoning forms of media as it pertains to how in different communities received news? >> do find people in the asian- american community are receiving a different set of news stories than people in the white community or the black community? >> there is always been a strong tradition of ethnic news media among asian communities. all the studies will show you that asian-americans tend to be the most beloved and in terms of mobile devices. the threshold is a lot lower than buying a desktop or laptop computer. you'll be able to reach out to lower income families just because he will be able to give it to them on a device they can

take with them. it is a low-cost threshold. it is still an issue of where do get the people to gather the news. where do get the people to give you the information? there was a project that the asian-american journalists association undertook in at new york's chinatown. can you report on something that is happening in my building? that is what people care about. why aren't they collecting my trash today? they do not care about traffic and in other parts of the city. you have people hungry for news that is very directly affecting their daily lives. we are -- you are seeing more entrepreneurialism in the field of blogging. you do not have to buy a multimillion-dollar company. there are lots of opportunities in that space for people to reach out to a market that is

thirsty for that information. >> news coverage becomes highly ritualized. niche has its own set of voices. the hispanic community has its own said -- on a point of view. everything gets fragmented. >> that is true. you still have room for the big media, the legacy media, because they are there to be the filter for all of it. we're not going to see things on the other side of the world if you are focusing on the new york's chinatown. >> you want nbc to pay attention? >> we do not have time to cover the issues in chinatown.

it would be to oversimplify if you are only going to get your news from one place or one blog, the universe is so much larger, but it should not replace the good housekeeping seal of journalism. you still need the entities that cover the big stories for you. if you want to go hyper local, it is a tremendous opportunity and there are some wonderful journalists call perry was greeted there metro websites -- out there who have created their metro websites. most groups are highly plug in because of technology. it would be oversimplified if the only limit themselves to a tremendous -- that is one part of the universe that most folks pay attention to. >> we have another question.

>> only 20 seconds -- only 22 seconds are devoted to hard-core news on both -- on most local stations. this was across 1000 half hour news. >> 22 minutes. >> 22 seconds of hard news in the local half hour news show. >> of 22 seconds for every 30 minutes. wow. >> the majority went to sports, entertainment, and crime stories. how do we have a conversation about race when it is divorced from public interest? when it is divorced from the concerns that we should be covering the news if all you

have is 22 seconds? >> unbelievable. we will finish up and out. i want to ask you, what have you learned about preconceptions' would regard to coverage of the news? >> i go back again to my class. the aha moment of my class as when i showed them a documentary called "hoop dreams." it follows the career of these two kids. how they both go to a high school, which is a developmental school for -- how these kids were selected from school grounds by talent scouts for

their basketball prowess. if you happen to be selected into a good school, magically, the athlete also became gifted academically. they began to assertive understand the chain that leads to what you see it as ordinary reality that you do not see critically any more because it is just there. that is the point, i think, that the news -- the sort of thing said caused everything to happen the way we see it now. >> you are talking the larger social economic political structure. the news does not cover that on a regular basis. >> i do not think it is set up to do that so i am not blaming the news for not doing it. if people rely strictly on the

news, their pictures of the world is going to be rationalized -- racialized. >> called the maintain fairness? >> what we have learned from multiple incidents is that it is an ongoing issue of education. why are we still having this conversation? we still have to have the conversation because we still have people who do not understand why using the word -- is not appropriate and it is something you want to think about in the context of what you are using that word. it is an ongoing issue and we are having to push for more diversity in the newsroom. >> antoine, as a news manager,

where are you in terms of trying to ensure that you did not make the first mistake? >> you have to keep working hard at it. i wanted to follow-up on one thing you talked about. how will be grow the diversity on the inside? if you have the right diversity, we are better empowered to deal with these issues. we have been working extra hard with our diversity councils on the inside to widen this pipeline. we have entry-level positions that foster and allow folks of all income levels from all levels and all kinds of ethnic backgrounds to get a shot at working inside the newsroom. while we attract folks from certain journalism schools, that is not a deal killer.

we have a place in our newsroom and we are working extra hard to get folks in there. >> all right. thank you so much for joining us. thank you for being a great audience. [applause] >> thank you, juan. we have gone the full circle today. we started with dr. jackson's discussion of democratic trends showing us the cultural gap between the white older population and the emerging minority population. we looked up political factors and found that there is no escaping that race will be part of the election. it will inevitably find itself into the election. the latino, asian, african american votes will be significant voters in that election. the question will be turnout.

come look at the latino vote, which we found very nuanced. it looks at 25% of the latino votes is very much in play. both parties have their problems. it was not just the republican rhetoric that was joined up so strongly in the primaries, but president obama's policy on deportation have left a scar would then the latino -- within the latino community. the question of turnout will be significant. we looked into identity and if you're rich dialogue about that. -- a very bridge dialogue about that. we will never go back to that america people long for. you are not in your father's oldsmobile anymore. you are not in your father's america anymore and perhaps this election might even be a

referendum on the question of the role of the white, a straight male. we got into education and left ad hoc tellabs -- and looked at how low expectations of people of color can undermined their educational future. we looked at the importance of teachers and the teaching facilities, the importance of choice and equity. you had to evaluate what works and the -- and the equitable and allocating resources. finally, the discussion of news media coming full circle again to this idea, if you were gone to have coverage of news, united news rams and management that

included all of america. -- you needed news rooms and management that included all of america. in the end to educate the audience and the news room itself. we think everybody for participating, for moderating, juan. jose did a terrific job. we think our friends at the comcast corp. that made this possible. i want to thank my own staff, i want to thank the senior project manager. thank you. [applause]

>> we are featuring some of book tv's programs in prime time.

books about pearl harbor and the american entry into world war ii. 31 days that changed america and save the world. all this week on c-span2. highlights from our american history tv programs in prime time each night on c-span3. a look at the lives of african- americans in the 18th and 19th century. that is at 8:00 eastern on c- span3.

> of this year's student cam competition asked students across the country which part of the constitution was important to them. >> technology can have the potential to undermine some of the constitutional protections if the courts are not careful. ♪ >> i have no clue. >> i have no idea. >> i do not know. >> excuse me? >> i do not know. >> what is due process? >> the basic concept of due process is fair play. when the government deals with people, they deal with them in a

fair way. >> due process used to be a very simple thing. the 14th amendment states the state shall not deprive any citizen of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. with so much technology, how do we establish fair guidelines? >> intellectual property owners have said that someone commits piracy by copying a movie or a piece of music. if they do it three times, they should be kicked off the internet. that might have seemed pretty reasonable a few years ago, but now you cannot even earn a living if he cannot go on the internet. the kind of process that is to

do before you pick somebody off the internet will become much higher because it is such an extreme punishment. >> due process in the digital age is guided by the electronics communications act. it was passed in 1986 and has not been largely updated since. in 1986, the cell phones look like this. few people lead ever heard of the internet. >> it also limits search warrants for the communications. title to protect communications held in electronic storage. today, cell phones are loaded with data and over 360 million people have access to the internet daily.

>> in electronic world, if you give your e-mail to hot mmail, if hotmail decides to give that information to the police, there is nothing you can do about it. >> recently, the justice department argued in court that cell phone users have given up the privacy of their location when they voluntarily give up that information to their carriers. it also argued in court that it should have to have access to some e-mails without a search warrant. in 1986, the police would have to deploy an actual police resources in order to attract some one. with today's technology, the government can monitor anyone would a gps-enabled devices. in early november 2011, the united states supreme court --

the case was deciding whether gps tracking violates the fourth amendment. >> the case is still under consideration. >> you can attract anyone anywhere they go. the question is, can the police or federal agents trapped in motorists for a month or two and follow everywhere they go? you have no right to privacy when you are on the street, the fourth amendment protects your right to privacy at home. they cannot listen to your phone calls. once you get into your car and drive on a public street, an officer could follow you. the government's view is since you have no right to privacy where you drive, we can use this technology to follow you everywhere. >> that is the precise question.

we're not saying we should never be able to put a tracking device on a person's car. we are saying they should need to get a warrant to do that, meaning they should have to have an show to a judge that they have probable cause to believe a person is engaged in criminal conduct. tracking their location will provide evidence of that criminal conduct. the alternative, which is what the government is asking for comment is that they be able to do it anytime they want to anybody want without having to justify its in any way. we think that is dangerous. the danger of this -- >> they should not have to get a warrant. your location is obvious to

anybody who was walking by you on your street. you cannot know i am here because -- if you do not thank you. that does not make any sense. people are creating an issue over location and they are fighting a law that has been settled for a long time. >> congress is being pushed to update the act by major corporations and concerned individuals. growing up in the digital age, technology is constantly evolving and it is everywhere. >> there is little question that the law must be updated, but there are many different views. >> congress must act soon to protect our information, but keep us safe in this digital nation. >> go to studentcam.org to watch the winning videos.

>> tonight, tavis smiley the discussion on poverty in america. >> in 1990, the average member of congress had a net worth of $250,000, including their home. by 2010, the average member of congress had a network of $750,000. what happens to congress that they could triple their wealth? for the rest of us, the average person has income of about $20,000. both in 1990 and 2010. everybody else state level, but these members of congress found ways to enrich themselves. here is what i am saying. people do have that kind of wealth do not understand somebody that needs an extra $40 and thereby weekly check.

>> you can watch the whole event tonight starting at 8:00. >> the vast majority of consumers are ok with this concept that the social networks and companies like google provide free services. they do that for free because they are able to sell not personally identifiable information about the things you do on the internet. >> this is hardly my view. you have 36 state attorneys general objecting. those are states within the u.s. you have congressional leaders objecting. you had 60 consumer organizations from the united states and europe objecting. >> open internet coalition on

google's new privacy policy. providing free services for its users, but violating their privacy. tonight at 8:00 on the communicators on c-span2. >> the senate veterans' affairs committee recently held a hearing about ending the veterans homelessness. we year from two veterans who have very different experiences. the obama administration said that a program ending homelessness by 2015. two of the witnesses who are veterans who were homeless at one time. this is just under two hours. >> the morning, everyone. thank you for turning out for this very important hearing today. it goes without saying that no

one who has sacrificed to serve our nation should ever be without aoof over their head. he laid out the goal ofd secch getting rid of, says in five years. today's hearing will examine the progress made as well as the opportunities moving forward, particularly the woman's veteran space. they recently announced a number, as veterans drop by 12% to a lite more than 67,000. they deserve to be commended for the progress they have made. challenges remain. there remain focused on in new and growing segment of the homeless veteran population. like their male counter parts,

they face many of the same challenges that contribute to their risk of becoming homeless. they're serving on the front lines. they're facing some of the harshest realities of war. they are experiencing a military sexual trauma, suffering from anxiety, and having trouble finding a job that provides stability to ease their transition back,. they have needs that are unique from those of male veterans. they found in a report released some monday, some of the needs are not being addressed. they found there were serious concerns for homeless women veterans, especially those who have experienced military trauma. they found better terms and bathrooms without sufficient locks and lighting.

they also felt the va should do a better job at targeting places of populations that need help the most. in edition, they released a report that cited them for the lack of gender specific privacy, safety, and security sndards. i sent a letter seeking answers to a number of questions it raised. they are reviewing their data collection process in order to capture more information. they are working to develop and provide tining for staff to better treat veterans to treat traumatic events. as more women began transitioning home -- from home,

and we must be prepared to serve the unique challenges as we learn about the alarming number of homeless women veterans. we must make sure the va is there to meet their needs. we cannot violate their trust when we place them in housing facilities are when they receive care. i am awful that today we can explore these issues during today's hearings. i am so pleased that courageous women like those that are joining as i have come forward to help give us the firsthand account of the challenges that we need to meet. as the va continues to make progress, challenges remain. we are still facing unacceptable numbers of chronically homeless terans. of this group often has complex

combinations of issues including addiction and mental and physical health issues. all have been felled by a system that let them slip through the cracks. it is critical that we continue to look for productive ways to get them off the street. this will take a concerted effort from the homeless programs. it'll also take collaboration fromll of the programs. ine could today's economy -- today's econo, it helps veterans and their families remain in their palms. it is important to cus on getting earned benefits. for homeless veterans, these

befits to make the difference in avoiding homelessness are becoming trapped in a cycle that keeps them on the street. we have been making progress at ending better and homelessness. there are permit housing prrams. we must ensure we dnot lose sight of the need to have programs that match their needs. i had my staff to an exhaustive review there were opportunities to improve the program by providing a more guidance to providers and the staff who works with them. today's hearing gives them another opportunity to better understand the current situation .

>> thank you. i like to welcome all of our witnesses today. thank y for your willingness to share your story and experiences with us. it is important we hear firsthand from our veterans and how it'll affect a lot of the policies and problems. i would like to extend a warm welcome from nortcarolina. thank you for your involvement and services. i would like to welcome our boston regional office. i am looking forward to hearing that testimony. thank you for being here.

for many years of dedicated service, there are a few issues that we care more about. it is ending the monks are men and women. it is almost 65,000 veterans on any given night. in massachusetts we're trying to do a better and work on it. i know congress has provided over $400 million increases for homeless veterans. bba has given service to assist homeless veterans. in light of the recent report, i am concerns about these programs. it is great to have additional funds. i know there areots of

nonprofit groups that are trying to do their best as well. i am quoting it. they do not have the information needed to allocate grants to minors and retract progress. the second finding is fining the safety of women veterans. they found 22 hamas beam of veterans are faced in a facility that was approved for only male veterans. this is unacceptable. -- they found 22 of a homeless veterans arreplaced in a facility that is approved for only male veterans. this is unacceptable. they're providing housing to veterans that are not homeless.

1/4 the veterans are not homeless by entering the program. this goes to oversight. what progress has been made, pointing to the 12% decrease on any night does not provide the picture. i am looking for to dog this. how can they have ts without accurate data? do they know the living situation? the fall of there is very important. reality to make sure tt this is being used efficiently. they'll have the opportunity to get these very real answers.

>> thank you very much. we will turn to our opening statement. >> thank you for your leadership. this is still a persistent problem. i appreciate the work the va has done. this is one of the best of veterans outreach programs for the homeless of any place in the country. the number, as women veterans has more than doubled. to understand it is not just the va. it is not all hands approach. it is not just homeless programs like food and shelter. the reintegration program is designed to provide the support assistant needed for veterans to

obtain economic stability. the administration must be the leader and the coordinator of these efforts. i would like are witnesses to think about how we can coordinate these programs so they are not overlapping or are not missed a gaps. we are reaching every veteran and every veteran's family. today second panel will have this. i'm glad shhas come forward to tell her story. her story is similar of that service memb. they serve bravely in uniform. she was mobilized. she was sent to iraq and kuwait.

she found a job in in santa. -- jobin atlanta. she still needed to travel to cleveland to do her commitment. she was eventually let go by her employer in a state. she found the homeless [inaudible] she got the help she should have received much earlier. she has gone through the initial stages. she is now staying with their sister until the voucher process is complete. that can be as early as this week. she's also engine with your employers to a full-time job.

i hope this will be a success story. she deserves what she earns. her testimonyhows a moral commitment to our country that so many veterans have accepted. she surge again and is serving now. thank you to center for this. >> i would like to thank you. we are pleased to have sandra strickland. she will speak to us about her experiences as a homelss veteran. thank you for your willingness to come here and share your story. after that we will hear from the executive director of ash fell. he is accompanying the coalition

for meless veterans. she's testifying on behalf of the vietnam veterans of america. will then hear from linda. it is good to have you here. we will be gimmicky. thank you so much for coming in sharing your story. >> you're welcome. i am an army veteran. i have served here for 2.5 years. i served in germany imported taxes. i was not able to go to desert storm but i did transition out and moved to virginia to open up

my own business. my husband and i had issues. i wasnvolved in a domestic violence situation. i left the home with my two chdren ages 7 and 5. i did stay at a domestic violence shelter. i am familiar with how a shelter is. i never thought i would be homeless. i have 20 + years in the administration. there's a wealth of experience. normally when you think of a homeless person, you think about a person on the issue with a sign. he never think about a person that has a life, a mother. i think they do not use the mall

veterans as this. i was able to start working at a temporary agency. it was not full time. was enough to get me started. i was able to get a full-time position at the time i was working on. an apartment for me and my children. i am looking at unemployment. i was unemployed for six months. i did get unemployment compensation. it did end. a splinter custody issues with my children. i was not able to maintain custody because of my situation. it was a long struggle. but that i was facing homelessness. i got in contact with an

organization that assists female veterans in obtaining suitable housing. that is where i am righnow. my road to homelessness, i feel there are not enough funds being sent to the private organizations. the organization i was in, it was used to help the victim. when you're homeless, you feel dehumanize. i think it will be more support for us. our voices need to be heard. as far as when i reached up to the veteran administration, i thought i would be able to get assistance. at the time, they cannot give me

a list of shelters to go to. i did not have a full-time job. where are the resources? there's no one to direct us. that i do notlight think our society has a clue as to what it is. u tend to not want to reach out. people tend to treat you differently. they treat you like you are an outcast. i did reach out to an organization to get help. they were able to help me. the funds were dried up. i am facing eviction. i had two children need to worry about. i just feel there needs to be a voice as far as the mall

homelessness. if i were facing this situation that i had to go to a shelter, i would have basically just stayed in my car. a shelter went to previously, it was cold. in december 2010. the blankets that they gave us was very very thin. we were able to work in the pantry. they had donated a lot of new comforters. i asked the manager if i could get some blankets for my children. i did not care about myself. my children were freezing. she said that we cannot. she gave me little baby blankets. i said there are comforters in the pantry. why can i have some of those tathose?

she said those a for someone else. i said to? -- who? why are we sitting in blankets letter paper thin. the organization that i am in now, i do not look at it as a shelter. it is a transitional home. i look at it as a home. i do not know what i would have done had that organization not been there for me. and that with the owner -- i met with the owner. she made me where it was a two- year program. in still looking for full-time appointments -- i am still looking for full-time employment. i am working at a temp agency. that was my saving grace. the program that is there, when shelters to extend their hand to help a homeless person, they should have resources in place

to not enable them to stay homeless but provide resources that would get them on their feet to be able to become self- sufficient. the support, i cannot stress or talk about the support for the homeless people. a woman veteran is different th a woman. we have unique needs. i think that needs to be addressed. >> thank you very much. we appreciate your testimony. >> thank you for those kind

words. it is my honor to present this testimony and the bulk of the minister. i'm here on the nasnt coalition of homeless this. this is one who i am happy to call my friend. all of us providing service to veterans are commited to the five-year plan to end homelessness for all of our veterans. we have about 200 men and about a dozen women veterans in separate facilities. last year none could 2011, they

ended homelessness for 302 veterans there are jobs program. jobs average $14 an hour. it was the cause of about $1,100 per placement. they also placed 87 disabled veterans into permanent support of housing. we ended homelessness for 389 of the 407 veterans research last year. how do we do this ta? it is laid out here was several principles. it is our support of 300 churches, congregations, and faith groups to come together to

join the government's efforts in ending homelessness. we engaged in about 3200 volunteersust an hour restoration quarters. these congregations and volunteers did not just received these dollars from the va and department of labor, but they matched them. they are there with their food, their clothes, their financial support. the volunteer time for training and mentoring sohat we are doubling the impact of those resources to provide not only the professional staff services but especially that boundless energy from our volunteers. we really have strong support empresses a patient from the organizations like the amerin

legion and the military officers association. are formally a homeless veterans have a culture of giving back. they do not want to leave anyone behind. they say it begins with our formally veterans here at the front desk who are saying to others welcome home. they are giving back. they put together the post 526. they were the first as we understand it to receive their national charter and operate out of a homeless facility.

it is also our local continuum of care. think all of our folks for their support. these principles can be summed up in a couple of words. one is respect. respec for every veteran to make their choices. ese are laid out beautifully by the grand per diem program. it has the flexibility to build on local innovation. three is ilding on an incentive based culture by rewarding those w take responsibility for themselves and others. four is working on the rapid

rehousing strategies that reduces the need for a transitional housing. we put back into homes 276 persons last year which kept us from having to build another 300 bed shelter. we have cemented supported -- our own, says prevention. we hope you might consider adding three other items. first is a cost-of-living adjustment and the grant per adjustment and the grant per diem