we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal is live at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> this week on "q&a," our guest is charlie rangel. he talked about -- talks about his 40 years in the house as well as his life for. mr. rangle recently won the democratic primary but has decided that, if you wins reelection in november, this will be his last term in congress. rangel, back in 2007, you came out with a book, "and i haven't had a bad day since." have you had a bad day since 2007? >> not at all.

i have been blessed. >> korea list the issue back years ago. >> it happened in korea. it was a nightmare that i went through. my decision on november 30, 1950 was surrounded by tens of thousands of chinese that came indictment of a whole military policy in korea, we had 90% casualties. people were captured, screaming air, trumpetsthe blowing, chinese on horses -- anything that you could just imagine that would scare the hell out of you. and i thought since we were trapped for three days and at night the chinese would

tell us in english that if we didn't surrender they would tell us -- between that and people being frozen to death i told used, i told allah, "i to be an altar boy, i know you are not listening but if you can hear my plea and get me out of this, you will have no problem with me." how manyuly realized of my friends and people that i had served with her couple of years and how many people died unnecessarily, it got to the point that i was spared -- i didn't come to jesus but i knew one thing, that i could never complain about anything ever. -- there are times -- i way,managed to, in a

whenever i got close to anything to complain about, would find some sound reason to say that i can't afford to go back on my word. a perfect example was my brother. my best friend, smarter, better looking. everyone loved him. when god took him away when he was 52, with the young wife and wase kids, i was so -- i just about to break my word when i can almost hear, "how many people had a brother like you had? they give you total love, everything you own to him?" i said, "nope." my mother was 94 years old.

a healthy woman, a lovely woman. i didn't even come close to sick,ining when she was thanking god that i had her. i can't imagine anything that has ever happened to me -- it works so well that i tell anybody that if you want to have whenter life, less stress, you are about to complain about anything, even if it is just the weather, you take a deep breath. all you have to do is try to think about the things that you should be thanking god about, how lucky you are. it even gets to the point when people say that i have a problem -- i say, i know, and that's why i have a, i know problem. the worst thing is not to know. >> do you know anybody today

that you were in the war with back in korea? >> yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. but most all of them are dead. most all of them are dead. when people say that they knew me in korea or whatnot, 1950 i was 20 years old. i joined in 1948. thousands of us have volunteered to go into the service. a lot of us knew each other. this was the first truman draft. if you went in for one year, you wouldn't have to be drafted. i dropped out of school and went in, all these unpatriotic reasons, and a lot of us realized how good it was compared to the economic conditions we were living in. we were able to get discharged for one year and reenlist for three years. fort louist to

washington, those that did not unless for the three years, there term expired after one. they wouldn't have been there in korea. they wouldn't have gone to korea and they went back home untrained. theyhen the war went on, had to the fill that six-year commitment. it was one of the worst things that ever happened in the military. the war that was not well planned and his situation that there was no excuse for. one might say, a scholar like you, you may want to find out why general macarthur had all of -- weer his landing fought our way up past the 38th borderl, sitting on the

of north korea, separated by the river, september, october, to the chineseand were able to go over the river and come and surround us. i am now a patriot and in order to makes sure i haven't had a bad day since i cannot relive that massacre. anyoned interest as to why macarthur had a sitting up there for months. >> you were 20 then, and now you are 84. how different is the world look to you? compared.ver each day is a changing day. kid, ire things, as a

never knew existed. youngsters the that i talk with today, to share with them that i didn't even know what to dream for when i was a kid. it's terrible when you have to go into the military in order to get some idea about the rest of the world. the rangel scolars allows minorities to be trained into the state department and foreign service. the whole country doesn't know about the rest of the world. is key toet there, it find out how infinitesimal you are, how great the world is, how many cultures and colors and things are, and you represent the greatest country in the entire world, you represent the

president of the united states. the same has to be true when a person is born in a rural area, an urban area, with a restricted education. the world is what they can accomplish. i think our failure to understand the importance of education -- i cannot believe why this is not a national priority. i know the constitution didn't but if there is anyone idiotic enough to believe that our national security does not fully depend on how smart our country can be -- they are out of it. and while we do pretty good at higher education, it has no bearing on reality. we are fighting about charter schools and traditional public schools. we can't find a way to teach our kids.

this is absolutely ridiculous, and there is no question that any child can overcome many of the environmental problems that they face. and guess what? i am the classic example. itn the army took me, allowed me to believe i was somebody. just exposing them to buy this out there. you can come home with some mef-esteem, of course, with as with so many others, what you realize is that the military very seldom teaches you how to build. they teach you how to kill in a very insensitive way. they teach you how to ignore your human instinct in terms of the value of life as it relates to be enemy. they do a pretty good job of

it. you can ask my son the former marine how easy it is to remember how superior you are when you are trained that way. discharged,y are there is very little transition training for civilian life, in that the respect and honor that you can demand in the military does not exist out here, besides "thank you for your service." it's never, "what can i do to help?" "do you have a job?" "did they train you to do anything?" education means so much. ofn though we are way ahead the rest of the world -- you take the population of india, china, see how far they are moving. it's just a question of time before, technology, education,

population, it is going to determine who's in charge of the world. >> you have been in congress for 22 turns, 44 years. you just won the primary. is it going to be your last term? fortunated i am so that i can plan a transition that is going to be in the best interest of my wife, my children, my grandchildren. the whole to see world in a different light and my political addiction to it. >> let me show some video from the night you won reelection. 700,000e do that -- constituents and you got a little more than 22,000 votes. your opponent came within three percentage points.

you talk about democracy -- 22,000 people are going to put you back in the congress out of 700,000. >> it's like life and death, you can't be in the middle. i don't remember anyone ever asking anybody during their career how many votes did you win by. you are in or you're out. i know one thing that is exciting. when you go to thank the voters for your support, you will find nobody who said that they voted against you. >> here some video on the night that you won reelection. [video clip] [cheering]

>> thank you, thank you, thank you. i didn't see any green cabs. but i saw law whole -- a whole lot -- thank you. thank you. where is my wife? i made so many promises to my wife. bring out my wife. alma! alma! alma!

alma! alma! alma! alma! alma! green cabs, what is that about? [laughter] >> we had a big controversy over which cat scan pickup people - can't pickch cabs people up in the street. yellow cabs had a tradition to not go into minority neighborhoods. they decided since i was a working man's candidate and always have been, and everyone thinsk theks they know enough at anything -- when they endorsed me it was very exciting because most of them were immigrants from the same country.

it was a big political asset because when cabbies are with you nobody can be against you. voted for a cab -- rangel. >> how long have you been married? >> over 50 years. why is one of the reasons i'm looking forward to the transition in these two years. already we are planning on honeymoon we never had -- a hone ymoon we never had, things that i could have done. election,e the last the one before this, i went into the hospital for very minor procedure -- a very minor procedure. i became infected with the virus in my spine that i did not know

was life-threatening. but with the type of personality in the overabundance of self-esteem that i have had i never had been so helpless in my life. just pain and nothing to do about it. so much love and care that i couldn't see where my mother could have done better. i was so stripped of everything, and i never really thought as much about her into the kids as i did in terms of that time. come youy wife, how tolerated this? she says i know we're married. i knew you. i just didn't want to interrupt

made us happy, made you happy, and apparently -- times have i many ever asked her, what would you like to do? when i couldn't remember ever doing that and i thought about all the countries that we have traveled with -- to, but i never really knew. was always on a congressional trip or dealing with the heads of state, but i never saw the cultural parts that she did. so we decided to take a very small trips, far more frequent, get to -- not get to know each other, realize we are old in age, have pretty darn good health. instead of going through periods of stress, we are just going to be planning the next getaway.

we started doing that locally. we went to new orleans, and i never knew people could be so friendly. we spent all the time in the you look like a registered voter you can't get rid of us. but going up to people and just -- we don't do it in new york unless -- we don't treat each other the same way. seems likeans, it they love themselves, they love their town, they love anybody that comes along. wasent down there, and i hardly recognized but they loved everybody. district.e your i know it has changed its numbers. where is the physical --

>> it is the smallest geographic district in the country. because we have the same amount rises -- whenigh you come to my district, not couldw district, but you walk around my district from the southern point at 90th street from river to river, which is a small island that you can't go beyond, to the northern tip. which would be about three or four miles. you could walk around the circumference of it. that goes drawn a map up a strip of the blocks and then explodes on the other end of it.

that is the new part of the district. in 1946,ct was created in an effort to consolidate the harlem community that was negro,ly -- they became and now we were african-american. it was the very first public official -- i was the first public official to be elected to the united states congress from the black community of new york. succeeded in the 1970 -- it was banned from the city of new york based on a civil case that that he accusations made from the floor that were true but he didn't come back from the trial. the governor sent me to where he

was, because i was complaining as a state legislator, it just wasn't fair for you to ban the united states congress, that he cannot come into his district except on sunday. so when the governor told me, "if you want to go back i will remove the criminal bail." my wife and i went down there. it was abundantly clear that he was not coming back home. the political vacuum that existed by that time at harlem, it was the entire thing. he had no competition but he had a whole lot of people that were getting antsy because he was not home. did not know-- he me but everyone assumed that we politicians were together and they were ready to get rid of him and me and anybody else in the democratic ticket.

i tried to explain it to him, but he assumed i wanted to the seat. quite frankly, i had never made any money. i was in the u.s. attorney's office, i got a chance to go into private practice. i went home and told my wife, i can see our way out of poverty. i could be a state legislator, practice law, go into washington. my mom was born in new york, i washington, d.c., for all practical purposes, was the south. i wasn't prepared to go south. i was scared of that. with six candidates in the race. votes.won by 500

vacuum that was there. hadof powell's people challenged me, which was a meaningful challenge. twice, he had his son -- he had two sons -- >> both of them. >> one became the third, one the fourth. they were sons by different wives. the youngest challenged me and i beat him. then he challenged me again. he was one of my strongest supporters for the seat this time. be that the seat only had to congressman since 19 46. >> i want to show you some video of adam clayton powell back in 1968.

>> ok. [video clip] >> it means black dignity. surely as you are proud to be white we are proud to be black. black is beautiful, baby. it is pretty. [applause] my brothers, baby, don't worry about the white chicks. black is beautiful. black is beautiful. black power means dignity. it means we're going to walk side-by-side with you, or throug h you. we are going to be with dignity and integrity. we don't want any more than you have and we aren't going to accept any less than you have. [applause] what do you see there? >> i see there a person that was the lack offill

self-esteem that black folks, most black folks, had in this country since slavery. kid, it wasn't nigger. it was to call them black or african. this is a white country, and later you were, the more accepted you were. powell was the exception to that. it wasn't until the united nations that young people -- people were black and beautiful. the criteria of beauty has always been -- i said, "what is beautiful?" what contributions have you made? what are you proud of? even today, when the president was greeted by a black mother and her son, and the son looked

up and said, "can i rub your hair, mr. president?" he put it down and looked up with pride and said, "the president has hair just like mine!" you can save what that means to people. x to go one step further, in terms of saying that you should not be ashamed of the way you look. you should be proud of the way. dependsoverstate it but on how far you have to go in order to get people to realize that god has given them the same genetic ability to do what everyone has done. the opportunity just need to nudge. ien i talk about education, am talking about releasing 2 million people with potential from jails that they never would have been in if they have the ability to do something positive. i'm talking about people and

rural areas who are scared to death of leaving those rural areas because they think it is too competitive in the north. i'm talking about a country that really believes it can go beyond where they are. i am talking about immigration. we shouldn't be afraid to say i know what i know. let me see what you know and what you are going to bring to my country so we can be one, stronger and never. i could never do what he has been able to do, to talk about black power. but everyone knew exactly what he was talking about. the more he showed how much he could do, the more kids -- he would take a particularly dark room in thee dining house of representatives. -- it was theone

depth of racism in this country. blackhere are now 43 people in the congress? >> that's right. there were whites that truly believed -- most people did not have to say it. blacks avoided the very thing -- arrassing themselves. the civil rights movement was revolutionary. our luther kin -- martin luther king -- people that kinnear from africa had to be the equivalent of george washington in terms of not having a whole country and getting america to realize that we are one country whether you like it or not. the constitution drafters were

not even thinking about you but it was flexible enough to include you. like now, we had a court without bias. that was what the authors of the constitution wanted. that was all he had to dream for. montgomery.selma to that blackseved would be able to obtain the right to vote. i said, "how could you put your the on the line and believe depth of racism could be overcome with marches and civil disobedience and lack of violence and praying?" the united states are

free in court. i truly believe and most of us believe that i had to do the right thing." i said, "do you still have that belief?" he said, "no, i don't." isn't that sad? court couldhat the vote against this motion because of the secrecy of the document is what this country is all about. you weren 1970, elected to congress for the first time. we have some video of you walking down the street in harlem. [video clip] >> in a hotdog and walking the streets, looks like a man who was still campaigning. across theo school

street and used to get my lunch at this place. sausage and revere. -- and rootbeer. it was a nickel. >> that was a freebie. [laughter] >> one of the big criticisms against powell was that he really didn't represented -- he spent time elsewhere. what you going to do in that respect? >> spend my time in harlem and in washington. >> you are telling the people here that you are really going to represent them, that you are not going to let them down. >> that's right. >> you're doggone right. [laughter] >> that's really strange. the primaryi won and walks the streets to thank

the people. when it comes to the question of hadem, my wife and i almost a problem. she said that i promised to retire in florida because she's tired of the city. drink enough never to promise you i would ever leave new york city. i was born and raised on 32nd street. once and that has been my whole life with the exception of washington. >> what do you remember? dram and i walk -- do you remember that walk? >> of course i do. that was across the street from where i live now. myy had a big barrel --

mother went to the same school, ps 89. opportunitya of the that would be opened to me and the things i have been able to do because of the support that my community has given to me. >> you graduated from new york university. be inince 1970, you will january the second longest-serving member of the house of representatives. did you ever think you would spend that much time? >> no, no. but i never thought about anything in terms of -- i thought about seniority but i didn't talk about how many years. i never thought about living this long, keeping a job this

long. i thought, like everything else i would done, -- had done, i would move on to something. i built in restrictions on where my mind wanted to go as it related to city office or citywide -- statewide office. i have never had to make a political -- i never had to make islative decision based on the politics back home. i've never had to weigh it. even when they allowed me to get movementwith my draft which was controversial, but i , if then nsa now congress is prepared to put way let thatm's

be prepared to put their own family in harms way. able to contradict some of our national policies, especially as related to south africa, to be open about it insein about it -- and sane about it, to be a spokesman for bills and -- trade those -- in africa -- things energize me to such an extent that if i ever became a mayor and had to weigh exactly what impact would my position be on this group or that group or which group i needed when i get reelected -- my but in congress, i was one of the first to endorse him for governor. that i did it

because he was going to get me his ways and means. he became governor. but in his campaign i was a surrogate for him upstate. people love to me. -- loved me. some of them said, if there were any other colored people like me they would walk with -- would wa nt them to come back. they understood me because they watched "the jeffersons." a no colored kid could make it in this great country. i would tell this up to my wife, who knew more about it, coming from the south. there is so much to overcome in this country, that i could make a contribution where i am 0-- -- but if i had to make decisions to stay where i am,

profile i never remember having to take. >> d have an opponent in the fall? -- do you have an opponent in the fall? >> i have a couple, but none of the republican ticket. >> you have almost always been the primary. thatere are many districts we face as a nation. whether it is republican or democrat when you win the election, after you win the primary, it means that you don't have to politically do what is in the best interest for the country. i think that when you talk about the tea party, they fight their primaries because they come from basically republican states. to be dixieused trek states.

if you ask them to do what is in the national interest, they don't have to do it. that is why the republican party -- they are not in trouble in the house of representatives now because getting reelected is not the problem. but they are in deep trouble on the national level, because they don't have a candidate acceptable to the tea party, that's acceptable to middle america, republican or democrat. the staterymandering, straw the lines, which legislature goes where, the republicans concentrate on governance and state legislators. they have drawn more congressional lines. they are right now being challenged in court. it will cut for purely political

reasons. sometimes at the detriment of the minority communities. if there was a that would be 60% minority into different areas, if you put them all in one district it means that the other district will not have minorities. that type of thinking has existed on the state level in terms of how they can manipulate the system. that of people don't know when the republicans won over the majority of the seats in the house of representatives, collectively, the democrats had thousands of more votes than they did. but the way they were split up,

the republicans gained more seats. >> politico back to the night of your reelection in the primary answer video. a lot of people have watched this video. [video clip] thank the men who gave me the strange ego to consider running for reelection. [indiscernible] that pray for me. the rabbi who came out for me. there are too many of you for me to thank individually.

but i want each one of you to go home and no this was your victory. [cheering] i will best assured, thinking about you. thank you. [indiscernible] you so very much. thank you. >> that goes on. doorman? jimmy the he went throughout the campaign on his own and with videotape us for posterity. - you namedractice -

jimmy the doorman. you think the pastors and deem him and rabbis. -- and imams and rabbis. and i'm wondering what happened to the separation of church and state? >> an interesting question. i chose to believe that every ng about has somethi jesus telling you what you have to do to get to heaven. the long, drawnout story with said,rich people -- hthey you never came to me. he said, i am talking about my brothers and sisters that you denied. i tell the rabbis and the ministers, what do you think the health care bill is about? what is education about? what is affordable housing

about? what his piece about, and not war? what is a livable wage about? every religion has it. there is no pursuit of happiness unless you can have some equality of life issues that we're dealing with. church andinto the the temples and the meccas and explaino them -- to them, you have a moral obligation. that is what i'm talking about. it, a nun,lse can do a priest, anime him -- but what am i doing if it is not to improve the quality of life and do it in a patriotic way? the stronger my children and my constituents are, the stronger my country is in the stronger my values. we can show other countries

the way weir way 0-- live these printable's. -- these principles. president clinton traveled to africa to talk about it. in august, 50 heads of african countries would be here to talk about the expansion of trade. by perceiving that, the president and members of congress and the 500 african students that wanted to learn more about the united states of america. acquire those talents and economic reasons to take back home. run by that should be heads of state.

with all the money that china is pouring into africa, it would mean nothing if they don't have the principles of these young people. that is one of the other programs that i started with scholars in the state department. when i first came in to congress, it was pointed out, everybody would want to know which -- now that there are 43 of us with so many young people to train the school with the state department's and making go to foreign service. now our state department is represented overseas as we are. >> here is the first video we could find in our archive of your appearance on c-span. as of 1985, on the floor of the house. [video clip] >> and it seems to me that

somebody, somewhere, recognizing that the leadership -- that no votes would be taken. they got together, and said isn't this the time to bring this issue to the floor? you can take my word on if you thatbut i know darn well you know it is wrong to do something. yield. >> i assume the gentleman willing knowledge that time after time in the house chamber, the minority, the republicans, are not getting notice of when things are going to be brought up. he was specifically asked the question about legislation to agriculture. we would know that. question for the sole purpose of determining whether any votes will be taken on monday. once the leadership told you that no votes and be taken and

then you said -- >> if the gentleman will yield -- right to make a statement. [gavel] i think that was bernie frank. >> it was. that was the african-american votes not being counted in the indiana election. , things have back shifted since then. the publicans took over the house. blicans to cover the house. are you complaining -- were you complaining of the same things they were complaining about? >> the only thing the republicans have going for them is that they are the majority. as a democrat, i should take theyjoy in knowing that

are so completely divided that they can't move forward on anything. but as a patriot and as an american it is really sad to see how such a small number of people can take advantage only of the majority. these arguments that we used to have, republican the democrats, were based on consensus. we're mostly want us to the same thing but had different ways of wanted to do it. when you find a group of people that control the majority and will not do anything, our primary goal is to get rid of the guy that is president. to matter what he wants to do, we have to be against it. to destroy the reputation of the congress and the republican party. we don't have exchanges like this on the floor. law -- too repeal a try to repeal a law that has been sanctioned by the president and has worked for thousands of the immigration laws that have to be changed, the

infrastructure laws which are being debated -- they don't want these things to be argued on the floor. they would rather see the president in court, to get emotional issues, none of which moves our countries people forward. >> you suggest in the past that their opposition to the president is partly race. i requested not to talk about that too much and i think the reason for it is that it is just too darn obvious as to what it is all about. i think if you take a look and whichich counties in congressional districts, which areas of the united states, had the most prejudice, it would be the slaveholding states. it would be the confederate states.

it would be the states that thought the union. those that hated lincoln. if you look at it today, they changed parties. party.ats became the tea the embracing of the confederate flag. your place of birth. a lot of attention was given to him. we fact that people can say, have to take our country back, and lawyers now -- it is not what the written word is, it is how you say that in determining what you really meant. people said, please don't bring up that race thing anymore. >> why did they ask you to not bring it up? >> people who wanted to avoid controversy instead of dealing with the substance. i have accommodated that because i don't see any purpose in doing that. most people know.

if the president was not black and was white, this type of animosity would not be directed at the president of the united states of america. say, whyople that don't you just deal with getting something done positive? and quite frankly, if i thought that making comments about the depth of the racism in the united states would automatically change it, i would do it. change in thetic civil rights movement. and no, i say it, will not run away from my answer. i will just be talking about it because i think it is clear and it is not my job -- my job is to make you treat all people like they are equal and to treat them like they aren't titled -- are

entitled. >> clinton endorsed you in the primary. why didn't barack obama? that.ish i could answer i wish i could. it is a very awkward question. had talkednt and i about this. he has talked about my legislative record. sponsor of the affordable care act, the chairman and getting it out. so much legislation has been supported by the democratic party, the country, and the president. talk after yet to the election, even though i have been in his company several times, and intend to be even

more. it i would like to believe was just as awkward for him as it is for me, since my constituents haven't had a problem with me in over 40 decades. that was long before he was even known. >> one last item. issue, but it is still got to be somewhere in your mind. i'll ask you where you are on this issue. [video clip] pledged four years ago to create the most honest, most open, most ethical congress in history. this is consistent with that pledge. at the hearing, the council said rangel's a pattern butisconduct appeared to --

did not excuse his misconduct. in light of that consideration, a bipartisan majority included it was appropriate to recommend to the house that he will be censored. >> i do believe that there should be enforcement, there should be sanctions. if you are breaking new grounds, i ask for fairness. i think the president and the history of this great country -- has anyone ever suffer the ensor,ation of a c when the record is abundantly clear never challenged, after two years of investigation, council and committee found no evidence of all -- at al of corruptionl. >> had a feel about that today? >> the same position. but there is an explanation for it.

congressany member of is facing an embarrassing election,efore your and it reaches the point that instead of talking about what you want to talk about, you are talking about this person who has been accused, whether they ibuitedven you -- contr to your companion, whether you're about to vote for or against them. charlie, theld me, democrats love you. but before this election, they love themselves better. if you listen clearly to me and to the so-called chair lady of the committee, i was accused of no crime, in violation of no regulation bute

i should not have taken money from for-profit founda tions. because i did it on stationery that said the house of representatives, i did violate the house rule. not doing in terms of on oneper reporting sheet even though it was accurate on the other. there was no evidence or attempting to hide anything. i called for an investigation of my own 20 years. that there is no one in the house of representatives that can say that i deserved to be censured. but i also know that i always have a hard time -- if my election depended on defending instead of saying what a great congressman i am, nobody

that has a safe district in november voted against me. >> how much it all cost you for defense? >> millions of dollars. settlement with the law firm. based on the condition that i would not talk about the in terms of their services to me during that. period. >> so you are debt free at this point. >> no, i am in the course of an appeal in federal court because in process was not included the way this case went. it is clear that the constitution says that the house of representatives shall is interpretedit

to be that they determine the conduct and whether it is right or wrong. it doesn't say you are entitled to due process. but our lawyers believe that we drafted the constitution, which is based on due process, and could not possibly exclude rules for the house to determine the conduct of its members and that due process should be included. know whether we're going to be successful in policy because it is clear that the supreme court doesn't like eating involved in disputes with the legislative body, no matter who they think is right or wrong. we are saying, don't get involved in this, please. >> charlie rangel, 44 years in the house of representatives, thank you so much. >> thank you for giving me this opportunity.

>> for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this program, visit us on q-and-a .org. program at q and a.org. >> coming up, his scottish parliament discussion on the upcoming independence referendum. and the results of a poll, american attitudes towards public education. later, another chance to see "q&a" with charles ringel of new york. british parliament is in recess, so prime minister's questions will not be seen tonight. on september 18, scotland will