reliable ally in the area, perhaps we should support the kurds and their aspirations for independence. the turks seem to be going that way also. we would then have a very reliable ally in the area, rational people not involved in the sunni shia conflict. in return, we could possibly monitor the situation from curtis dan and be able to react an and be able to react quickly in the event american interest are in danger. host: thank you for the call. what about that scenario? guest: i am actually very supportive of that scenario. kurdistan has been functioning. it works in terms of its own governance. they are prepared militarily to defend themselves and they can maintain their own security. a lot of very strong business

interests are there. they can really be that democratic state we have always sought in the middle east from the u.s. perspective. one of the frustrating things, i think in the past decade, and what really has been revealing to me, is the notion of democracy is a way to bring these things together is a broad philosophy. -- a flawed philosophy. it is not going to bring about the result we want. we will not see another version this --nited states in these countries, due to the ethnic and tribal differences that have been there for centuries. so i am for looking at breaking up these countries or allowing them to cook autonomous. that doesn't just apply to iraq. somalia is an example where we have seen a country that has functioned as three countries or nation-states for quite some time. that could actually give us allies, it could give us some sort of strength in the region.

rather than trying to compete with other adversaries like iran to push our influence in a country like iraq. i am open to it. but i know that in terms of the international system, there is a lot of resistance to creating autonomous regions. the one precedent might be south sudan, which recently became its own nationstate. we might look to something like that as a model. but i agree i do not believe in forcing the stations together as -- forcing these countries to stay together as an amalgamation of different ethnic groups waste borders painted long ago is the best solution moving forward, depending on what our interests are. one of the u.s. interests in the middle east is backing and supporting a strong kurdistan. host: another 10 minutes or so left with our guests. our topic, what is next for the u.s. in dealing with isis. our guest is clinton watts. this is a headline yesterday in the washington times.

on douglas macarthur mccain, killed in a fight between syrian forces. a member of isis, an american. two americans were reportedly killed in that fight. the headline, " u.s. citizen joining the islamic state, a major threat for homeland. i mentioned this headline because there is a tweet saying, do you think isis is inside the u.s. already? guest: i am not sure entirely what is meant by is isis inside. there are no card-carrying members of isis. they do not necessarily get issued an id card. you have a couple different elements of what is going on. you have members of isis in iraq in syria right now. some of those foreign fighters are from the united states and will likely try and return home should they survive the battlefield. it will be a small number. they are a great concern when they migrate back. however i think the u.s. , counterterrorism architecture

since 9/11 has improved dramatically. they had done a great job tracking that down. what is more concerning is the unknown, the random isis supporter who does not actually travel to the region, does not make contact with the group, but is inspired and conduct violence on their own. this is the violent extremist just created inside the united states somewhere. i would not say that is under isis control. it is concerning, it is very similar to the scenario a few years ago with al qaeda on the arabian peninsula inspiring folks in the united states to conduct attacks on the u.s. homeland. it is a significant concern, one that we need to watch out for. you can see the dynamic play out and it will continue for the next 1-2 decades, where you have people supporting a conflict overseas, a nonstate actor. and they will rise up and go out based on the nature of those conflicts. al qaeda and the arabian

peninsula, back in 2010, a significant concern. you do not see much of it now. now you see a lot of isis. in another time, you saw a lot of foreign fighters in somalia recruiting. we will see an up-and-down dynamic, pretty routinely over the next 10-20 years, based on what jihadist conflicts are going on around the world. host: the president traveled on tuesday to north carolina and he talked about his approach and how the u.s. is dealing with ongoing terrorism threats. here is the president. >> the answer is not to send in large-scale military deployments that overstretch our military and leave for us occupying countries for a long time and end up feeding extremism. rather, our military action in iraq has to be broader strategy to protect our people and support our partners to take the

fight to isis. we are strengthening our partners. more military assistance to government and kurdish forces in iraq and syria. we are urging iraqis to force -- forge the kind of inclusive government that can deliver on national unity and strong, security forces and good governance that will ultimately be the hand against terrorists. -- antidote against terrorists. we are urging countries in the region and building an international coalition, including our closest allies, to support iraq as they take the fight to these barbaric terrorists. host: this morning in the "new york times," questions on airstrikes in syria is the editorial. we will go to sean next joining us from key west, florida. good morning. welcome to the conversation. caller: it is unquestionable we war ined to in this iraq.

based on this fallacious concept we have made mistake after , mistake after mistake. we are involved in making yet another mistake would look -- which will lead into other mistakes. we are told isis is worse than al qaeda ever was and that we need to go back in and retrain these people after we have trained the iraqi army for 11 years. we need to make the intelligent decision, which is to get out of there immediately, let those people handle that problem in whatever fashion they decide is necessary. we're only going to be creating future mistakes by the actions we're taking. thank you and have a pleasant good day. host: thank you. mr. watts, do you want to respond to that? guest: i thought the president's message was a more formal version of how we want to engage moving toward. i have my skepticism about some

things the president said, but in general, i think he is right in terms of our approach, that we need to protect american interests and help our partners in the region. we need to not go all in. what is fascinating and some of the claims we need to deploy, one was 10,000 to 15,000 troops in syria. our history in the past decade tells us that is not a solution. what is also not a solution is believing we can build strong enough government in the region and in these countries that do not have the economic basis to support themselves and do not have diversified economies, that do not have the capital necessary to support an economy to build institutions. i do not believe that. i do not think that was stop terrorism anyway. there will always be a fringe element in these countries that is dissatisfied and the way they will try to change the status quo is violence. i do not think it is necessary

go through the governance route. no matter how much money we put into it we cannot force a good , governance system on many of these countries and regions. we can be supportive, but we cannot force it. we talk about good governance in the post arab spring, but we -- >> good afternoon, everybody. i want to say a few words on a number of topics and answer questions. first, beginning with the number one thing most americans care about, the economy. this morning we found that our economy grew at a stronger clip in the second quarter than we originally thought. customers -- these are investing, consumers are spending, and over the last 10 years our businesses have created 10 million new jobs. as everybody knows, there is a lot more we should be doing to make sure that all americans benefit from the progress we have made. i will be pushing congress hard

on this one when they return next week. second, in iraq, are dedicated pilots and crews continue to carry out the strikes i authorized to protect americans and the humanitarian situation on the ground. as commander-in-chief, i will always do what is necessary to protect the american people and defend against evolving threats to our homeland. because of our strikes, the terrorist of isil are losing arms and equipment. in some areas, iraqi government and kurdish forces have begun to push them back, and we continue to be proud and grateful to our extraordinary personnel serving in this mission. isil poses an immediate threat to the people of iraq and people throughout the region. that's why our military action has to be part of a broader, rancid strategy to protect -- comprehensive strategy to protect our people and the partners taking the fight to

isil. that starts with iraq's leaders building on the progress they have made and forming an inclusive government and strengthening security forces to confront isil. any successful strategy needs strong regional partners. i am encouraged that countries in the region, countries that don't always agree on many things, increasingly recognized the primacy of the threat isil poses to all of them. tosked secretary kerry travel to the region to continue to build the coalition needed to meet this threat. as i said, ripping out a cancer like isil will not be quick or easy, but i am confident that we can and will working closely with allies and partners. secretary hagel and are joint chiefs of staff have compared a range of options. i will be meeting with the national security council this evening as we develop that strategy, and i have been

consulting with members of congress and continue to do so in the days ahead. finally, i just spoke with germany onmerkel of the situation in ukraine. we we agree if there was ever any doubt, that russia was responsible for the violence in eastern ukraine. the violence is encouraged by russia. the separatists are trained by russia, armed by russia, funded by russia. russia has deliberately and repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine. the new images of russian forces inside ukraine make that plain for the world to see. this comes as ukrainian forces are making progress against separatists. as a result of these actions russia has already taken, and the major sanctions we impose with our european and international partners, brush is already more isolated than at any time since the end of the cold war. capital is fleeing, investors

are staying out, and the economy is in decline. this ongoing incursion into ukraine will only bring more costs and consequences for russia. next week, i will be in europe to coordinate with our partners. reaffirm our will commitment to the defense of our nato allies. at the nato summit in the united kingdom, we will focus on additional steps we can take to ensure the alliance remains compared for any challenge. our meeting of the nato ukraine okmmission will -- i loi forward to reaffirming the unwavering commitment of the united states to ukraine and its people. with that, i will take a few questions. i will start with somebody who i guess is now a big cheese, who hads moved on. but this will be his last chance

to asking a question. i want to congratulate chuck to dd. >> thank you. let me start with syria. the decision you have to make between, first of all is it an if or when situation about going after isil in syria? that assadprioritize has lost legitimacy to lead and defeating isis could help assad keep power? talk about how you prioritize those pieces of your foreign policy. >> first of all, i want to make sure everybody is clear what we are doing now. because it is limited. our focus is to protect american personnel on the ground in iraq, protect our embassy, our consulates, to make sure critical infrastructure that

ourd adversely effect personnel is protected. where we see an opportunity that allows us with modest risk to help the humanitarian situation there, as we did on sinjar mountain, we will take those opportunities after consulting with congress. but our core strategy right now is to make sure our folks are safe, and to do an effective shsessment of iraqi and kurdi capabilities. as i said at the last press conference, in order for us to be successful we have to have an iraqi government that is unified and inclusive. so we are continuing to push them to get the job done. as soon as we have an iraqi government in place, the likelihood of iraqi security forces being more effective in taking the fight to isil

significantly increases. and the options i am asking for from the joint chiefs focuses primarily on making sure isil is not overrunning iraq. aat is true, there is violence that has been taking place in syria that has given isil a safe haven in ungoverned spaces. and in order for us to do great isil over the long term, we have to build a regional strategy. we will not do that alone. we have to do that with partners, particularly sunni partners, because part of the goal is to make sure sunnis in syria and iraq feel they have an investment in a government that actually functions. a government that can protect them. a government that makes sure their families are safe from the

barbaric acts we see in isil. right now, those structures are not in place. that's why the issue with respect to syria is not just a military issue. it is a political issue. it is an issue that involves all the sunni states in the region, and sunni leadership recognizing that this cancer that has developed is one they have to be just as invested in defeating as we are. so to cut to the chase in terms of your specific concerns, chuck, my priority at this point is to make sure that the gains isil made in iraq go back, and that iraq has the opportunity to govern itself effectively and secure itself. when we look at a broader strategy, that is consistent

with what i said at west point, at the national defense college -- clearly, isil has come to represent the very worst elements in the region that we have to deal with collectively. and that's going to be a long-term project. it is going to require us to stabilize syria in some fashion. which means we have got to get moderate sunnis who are able to govern and offer a real alternative in competition to what isil has been doing in some of these spaces. last point, with respect to assad. it's not just my opinion. i think it is the international opinion that assad has lost legitimacy. dropping barrel bombs on innocent families, killing tens of thousands of people.

and right now what we're places isil is occupying are not controlled by assad anyway. doesn't seem to have the capability or reach to get into those areas. there's a think situation where we have to choose between assad or the onds of people who carry the incredible violence we have been seeing. we will continue to support a moderate opposition inside of syria, in part because we have to give people insight syria a choice other than isil or assad. and i don't see any scenario where assad is somehow able to bring peace and stability to a region that is majority sunni and has not, so far, shown any

share power with them or in any significant way deal with the long-standing grievances they have there. consulted with congress throughout this process. i am confident that as commander in chief i have the authority to engage in the acts we are conducting currently. as our strategy develops, we will continue to consult with congress, and it will be important for congress to weigh our consultations to continue to develop so the american people are part of the debate. but i don't want to but the cart before the horse. have at have a -- don't strategy at. what i have seen in the news reports suggests folks are getting further ahead of where

we are at than we currently are. that's not just my assessment, but the assessment of our military as well. we need to make sure we have plans and are developing them. at that point, i will consult with congress and make sure the ir voices are heard. me there is no poionnt in asking for action on the part of congress before i know exactly what it is that will be required for us to get the job done. russia's consider ukraine and invasion, and are you considering other responses going beyond sanctionss? >> i consider the actions we have seen in the last week a continuation of what has been taking place for months now.

as i said in my opening statement, there is no doubt homegrownis not a indigenous uprising in eastern ukraine. backed,paratists are trained, armed, financed by russia. throughout the process, we have seen deep russian involvement in everything they have done. i think in part because of the progress you have seen by the ukrainians around donetsk and luhansk, russia determined it had to be a little more overt in what it had been doing. but it is not really a shift. what we have seen, though, is that president putin and russia repeatedly passed by potential off-ramps to resolve

this diplomatically. so in consultations wi european allies and partnersth our, my expectation is we will take additional steps. primarily because we have not seen any meaningful action on the part of russia to resolve this into dogmatic fashion -- in diplomatic fashion. i think the sanctions we have already applied have been effective. shows it hasnce been effective, though it may not appear so on russian television. and there are ways for us to deepen or expand the scope of some of that work. ultimately what is important to recognize is the degree to which russian decision-making is isolating russia. they are doing this to

themselves. what i have been encouraged by is the degree to which our european partners recognize, even though they are bearing a cost in influencing the sanctions, they understand a broader principle is at stake. so i look forward to the consultations we will have next week. >> last year you said that democracy is stronger when the president acts with the support of congress. you say you do not have a strategy yet, and we can do that going forward. why didn't you go before congress before the current strikes in iraq -- in iraq? throughout your career, you raised concerns with the expansion of power in the executive. are you concerned your recent actions have cut against that?

>> no, and here's why. myis not just part of responsibility, but a sacred duty for me as commander in chief to protect the american people. that requires me to act fast, based on information i received if an embassy or consulate of ours is being threatened. the decisions i made were based on very concrete assessments bilut the possibility that er ourt be overrun and consulate could be in danger. and i cannot afford to wait in order to make sure those folks are protected. but throughout the process, we consulted closely with congress, i've gottenback from congress is that we are doing the right thing. now, as we go forward, as i

ook atbed to chuck, and l a broader regional strategy with an international coalition and partners to systematically degrade isil's capacity to engage in the terrible violence and disruptions they have been engaging in, not just in syria, , butust in iraq potentially elsewhere, then does consultations with congress for something that is longer-term become more relevant. it is my intention that congress representatives of the american people. and the american people need to hear what the strategy is. but as i said to chuck, i don't want to put the cart for the horse. in some reports, the suggestion seems to be that we are about to elaborateale on an

strategy for defeating isil. and the suggestion has been that we will start moving forward imminently and somehow congress will be left in the dark. that's not what is going to happen. we will continue to focus on protecting the american people. we will continue, where we can, to engage in these of humanitarian acts that saved so many folks who were trapped on a mountain. we will work politically and diplomatically with folks in the region, and we will cobble together the kind of coalition that we need for a long-term strategy, as soon as we are able to fit together the military, the lyrical -- political, an economic components of the strategy. there will be a military aspect of that, and it is going to be

important for congress to know what that is. in part because it may cost some money. i will just take a couple more. quick see you regret not moving you regret noto moving on isis earlier? also, the iraqi president said iraqi forces are in no position to stand up to isis. will forming a new government change the situation? mosul, isil got into that pose a big problem. there was no doubt they were able to capture weapons and resources they have used to finance additional operations. at that stage, we immediately contacted the iraqi government. keep in mind, we have been indications with the iraqi government for more than a year,

indicating we saw significant problems in the sunni areas. asme minister maliki was not responsive as we would like to some of the underlying political grievances that existed at the time. there's no doubt that in order for iraq security forces to be successful, they're going to need help. they are going to need help from us, from our international partners. they will need additional training, additional weapon. -- equipment. and we will be prepared to offer that support. there may be a role for an international coalition providing additional air support through the operation. but the reason it is so important an iraqi government be in place is that this is not simply a military problem. the problem we have had consistently is a sunni population that feels alienated from baghdad, that does not feel

invested in what is happening. that does not feel as if anybody is looking out for them. if we can get a government in place that provides sunnis some hope that a national government serves their interests, if they can regain some confidence and trust that it will follow through on commitments waited -- made way back in 2006 and example,bout how, for opportunities so they are not locked out of government positions. if those things are follow through on and we are able to combine it with a sound military strategy, i think we can be successful. if we cannot, the idea the united states or any outside

power would perpetually defeat isis, i think, is unrealistic. as i said in a previous press conference, our military is the best in the world. we can rout isis on the ground and keep a lid on things temporarily, but then as soon as we leave the same problems come back again. so we have got to make sure iraqis understand that in the end they will be responsible for their own security. part of that is the capacity for them to make compromises. it also means states in the reg ion stop being ambivalent about these extremist groups. the truth is, we have had state actors who at times thought the way to advance their interests was financing some of these

groups as proxies. and part of our message to the entire region is, this should be a wake-up call to sunnis, to shi a grouperybody, that like isis is beyond the pale. ort they have no vision ideology beyond violence and c haos and the slaughter of innocent people. and as a consequence, we have to all join together. even if we have differences on a range of political issues. to make sure they are rooted oiut. last question. >> mr. president, to spite all the actions the west -- despite all the actions the west has taken in ukraine, russia seems

to be taking one step after another. at one point due sanctions no longer work? would you envisage the possibility, the necessity of military action to get russia to pull back from ukraine? >> we are not taking military action to solve the ukraine problem. what we are doing isd mobilizing the international community to apply pressure. but i think it is very important to recognize that a military solution to this problem is not going to be forthcoming. now, the fact that russia has taken these actions in violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the ukrainians has resulted, i believe, in a weakening of russia, not a strengthening of russia. that may not be apparent immediately, but i believe it

will be increasingly apparent. what it has also done is isolated russia from its trading partners, its commercial partners, international business , in ways that i think will be very difficult to recover from. we will continue to stand firm with our allies and partners that what is happening is wrong, that there is a solution that allows ukraine and russia to live peacefully, but it is not see a cards for us to military confrontation between russia and the united states in this region. keep in mind, however, i am about to go to wait nato conference. ukraine is not a member of nato, but a number of states that are close by are. we take our article five commitments to defend each other very seriously. smallestincludes the

nato member, as was the largest nato member. part of why this meeting will be so important is to refocus attention on the critical function that nato place, -- plays, in order to deliver on the promise of our article five assurances. part of the reason i will be going to estonia is to let the estonians know that we mean what we say in respect to our treaty obligations. we don't have those treaty obligations for ukraine. we do, however, stand shoulder to shoulder with them, and we are doing not just a lot of work diplomatically, but also financially in order to make sure that they have the best chance of dealing with is admittedly a very difficult situation. thank you very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]

>> how do external effects impact your decision? >> let me just say this. about then very clear fact that our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. my preference continues to be that congress act. i don't think anybody thinks that congress is going to act in the short term, but hope springs eternal that after the midterm elections they may act. in the meantime, what i have is lookh johnson to do at what kinds of executive authorities we have in order to make the system work better. had a lot of stakeholder discussions. we have a set of proposals that is being worked out. and one thing that i think has happened, the issue of

unaccompanied children that got so much attention a couple months back. part of the reason why that was important was not because that represented a huge, unprecedented surge in overall immigration at the border, but i do think that a changed the perception the american people have about what happens at the borders. one of the things we have had to do is work systematically to make sure that that specific problem in a fairly defined area of the border, that we are starting to deal with that in a serious way. and the good news is we have started to make some progress. what we have seen so far is throughout the summer, the number of apprehensions have been decreasing. maybe it is counterintuitive, but that is a good thing, because it means fewer folks are coming across. the number of apprehensions in august is down from july, and

they are lower than they were august of last year. apprehensions in july where half of what they were in june. so we are seeing a significant downward trend in terms of unaccompanied children. what that allows us to do is to make sure that those kids are being taken care of properly, with due process. at the same time, it has allowed us to engage in a broader conversation about what we need to do to get more resources down at the border. it would have been helped along if congress had voted for the supplemental i asked for. they did not. that means we have to make administrative and executive choices about, for example cut anymoreor example, immigration judges. but its kept us busy, has not stopped the process of looking more broadly about how we get a smarter immigration system in place while we are waiting for congress to act.

it continues to be my belief that if i don't see congressional action, that i have to do at least what i can in order to make the system work better. some of these things do affect workings, and will be through a systematically as possible in order to get this done. but have no doubt, in the absence of congressional action i will do what i can to make sure the system works better. thank you.

>> if you missed any of the white house news conference with the president, you can watch it again in its entirety at our website, www.c-span.org. it will also rio tonight as part of our primetime schedule at c-span. the president talking about alsone, iraq, and syria, the economy and immigration. president obama says degrading nts willstate milita require a regional strategy and partnerships in the middle east. president obama was meeting with his advisers to discuss options of going after the militant group. the ap reports he has asked the had gone to present a range of options for confronting the militants. officials say the president is considering taking similar action in syria. tonight on c-span, a panel of legal analysts looks at current election laws and how they may impact voting rights.

speakers discussed attempts in florida to purge voter rolls of suspected noncitizens, and rulings on voter id laws, early voting, and the prospect for a unified voter registration system. here is a portion of the event. >> a little context of why people come to very different conclusions on the same topic. republicans generally have a view that the purpose of an certainty,hich is the purpose of holding an election is that we know who won, that we are clear and confident as to who won, that there is no question as to who won. so anything that in a sense cleans up the electoral process, that gives us that certainty, is a burden worth paying because that is the purpose of an election. democrats generally believe that legitimacy in an election involves participation, and anything that participates --

limits the participation of all those who could vote from voting undermines those in the seat outcome, even if that means the results may be a little messy on the edges. these are both legitimate positions to take. this is a perspective towards voting.ose of each perspective focuses on a different answer, what is a legitimate burden for the state to impose upon voters in the voting process? of course, underneath is that not so secret dirty little secret that of course each side takes a position that is very comfortable with outcomes that will help them. , moreoader the electorate generally the better it is for democrats. the narrower the electorate, generally the better it is for republicans. not saying they're doing it for that reason, but is always easier to do the right thing if the end result is the one you want. >> part of a political campaign .thics process -- conference

you can watch it tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. steve perry is the founder and principal of a magnet prep school in hartford, connecticut that only accepts first generation low income minority students. -- gave an issued address on the power of social workers to change lives in minority and impoverished communities. part of a conference hosted by clark atlanta university. this is about one hour and 15 minutes. >> folks, i want to thank you so much for having me here today. i am truly humbled and honored to be at clark atlanta because you are the epicenter of what atlanta means. you are really at the center. so we are going to have a conversation today, and i mean

that because what i know is that i do not know everything. what i also know is that you are seeing things on your side of the front lines that i'm not seeing. but i can tell you this -- i am a social worker first, second, and third. i find myself squared off against teachers unions pretty regularly. i will get into why. it starts with the fact that they do not care about our kids. so one of the knocks that they have had against me, they say, he is not even a teacher. he is a social worker. i am always amazed when i hear educators complaining about how hard their jobs are, like they have never met a social worker. we were downstairs talking and

he said, i saw you picking kids up in the morning. wow, educators do not do that. but every social worker does. how many times does someone have to tell you you cannot put people in your car. yeah, whatever. how are they going to get home? i am supposed to just leave them here? so what we do is so vital on so many levels in so many industries. but the problem is that we are too silent. the african-american community, in particular, people from historically disadvantaged populations in general need our voices. the problem i have with my brothers and sisters who are social workers is your silence. you see the problem before the problem turns into a problem. machiavelli said, not tupac, the real one, that when an illness is new, it is difficult to

detect but easy to cure. as it matures, it becomes easier to detect and more difficult to cure. you see the germination of some of the most difficult challenges that our community faces and you see them on a micro and macro level. you see how so many of our people, not just children -- because everybody should be -- shouldn't work with young people. one of the things that i struggled with when i was in social work school was that there were people i did not think were called. i believe that you are called to be a social worker. some people do it because it seemed like the easiest masters they were going to get. some people did it because there was nothing else to do. for those of us who are called, we take great offense to having those people even in our classes. then you get stuck with them on

a group project. social workers have got to do everything in a group. you cannot eat without being in a group. you cannot go to the bathroom -- social workers have got to work together. where are you going? water fountain. well, i will go with you. [laughter] but for those of us who are called, we see something that other people do not see. we get access to people's lives. and i say people, not just children, because, very often, the most difficult client that i have is the parent of my child, who think that they know everything that there is to know. and they have no understanding or respect for the context in which i am talking to them. the reason i am here is because your child is acting a fool. maybe if you would listen to somebody, we can get this boy back in class.

for those of us who are on the front lines, our voices are silent. we talk to each other in our professional meetings and we sit down, case-by-case, and you go through and talk about what you did and did not do. we do not make those conversations public. when i was doing my social work internship in philadelphia at a school called strawberry mansion, which is a very pretty-sounding school, but there is nothing beautiful about it, when i was doing my social work internship, i felt like i was running up a hill of sand. because a kid would come into my office and we would work for 45 minutes on an issue. and then i would send him out

into the very environment that created the issues for the next 23 hours and 15 minutes. if it was a boy, the first 15-20 minutes or the first two or three weeks, he did not say anything. are you all right? yep. why are you just sitting here? i do not know. do you want to talk about anything? nope. and there we sit. watch the game last night? nope. you know damn well you watched the game. we have to, regardless of whether you are micro or macro, whether you want to be a therapist or an administrator, our conversation needs to be elevated to the public sphere because every single issue that is being discussed in our community, you have solutions for.

but you, because you are so social worker, you just want to be a soldier. i do not want to deal with this. just give me my clients and i will deal with my clients. i get that. and we respect that about you. but you have got to cut that out. it is time for social work to grow up. it is time for social work to mature, to recognize that the other professions have organized themselves into unions and associations that are speaking on their behalf and working towards working conditions that will make their jobs easier even if they do not produce a better product. recognizing that they have worked very hard to position themselves in the years and eyes of politicians and the community so that they are the ones that people trust when we are the ones who are making their jobs the easiest. there is not a single profession in which social work education cannot help you. not one. we are everywhere.

go to major corporations and there is a social worker there, helping people get their lives together so they can go back to selling insurance. go to hospitals or corporations in the furthest places and you will find that there are social workers there. but we are not talking. i know the whole thing about confidentiality, but you all are taking it too far. we need to talk about the systems that are causing our children the real issues and we need to talk about this in a real way. not just esoteric social work school way, because you know how we get. not just talking about racism in the aggregate, but talking about it in its nuances. not just the racism of white versus black people, but the racism of black people versus black people.

the deep-seated self-hate that we carry around on a daily basis so that that when you, as a social worker, come into the room, they are suspicious of you. you thought that would be your calling card, your opportunity to go in, but that just makes the black person that you are working with even more suspicious and the white person you are working with even more suspicious. taking a look at the issues of gender and how this profession, because there are so many women in it, it does not get the respect that it should. we need to have these conversations and we need to come forward with solutions. we have ourselves a real problem and the problem is us. there were two reasons i went to social work school. the first was i had an interest in politics. i thought i was going to be a politician. i thought i was going to be a policymaker.

i felt like you cannot be a policymaker if you do not understand the issues that people are confronting. i should go to a place where people are learning to deal with people's issues. which is social work school. but the main issue why i went to social work school, because i grew up in a family where there was domestic violence. and i seen women i love, women who i thought were strong, carry on a lot. i would watch them explain away the conduct of their husbands or boyfriends. i had seen the destruction of just thet had on not woman, but all the people involved. everybody in on the cover up, right? not just the woman who has been hit, but the children who saw it, the mother of the man who beat the woman who has to come

up with a reason why before she er why she would sell out h sister before she would correct her son. and the sickness of the man who feels compelled to express himself by taking violence to harm a woman. or the woman who has lost her way and feels like it is ok for her to get in a man's face and start pointing in his face and challenging him. i saw from that particular experience in my own life that there were so many entry points where people need help. we all came to social work because we were inspired by something. there is a story behind each social worker. a person who was raped as a young person and wants to help rape victims. a person who grew up suffering

-- who grew up with nothing and wants to help those who do not have. or a person who grew up with so much and wants to extend those gifts that they have been given. every single social worker has a story. every single one of us has a reason why we decide to work longer hours than any other profession. while we were going to the most dangerous communities, and do not think twice about -- i remember when i went to social work school, i was dead broke. i was working two jobs. my first job was at an alternative school and i worked with kids who were placed out in these alternatives, these residential programs. you know how bad a kid has to be to be placed in a residential program. in any era, because no one wants to place the kids. they want them to sit and tell

they needt out when significant mental health support. they think they can walk it off. everyone thinks they can do our job. like there is no real skill involved. just talk to people, right? the second part of my day, i would work from 8:00-3:00 in the martin luther school, and then i would drive 45 minutes and work from 4:00 to midnight. it was a private adjudicated youth program. like a probation officer. my job was to go and do visits. i would go to the homes of the kids and do visits. and i remember, one time, my supervisor, this white dude from the west coast named sonny, that was his name and he was the quintessential, stereotypical west coast dude.

this is what he said to me one time. i had drawn the short straw because, during this particular summer, i was the only black person employed by the organization. i got the dubious distinction of getting sent to the projects. they would send me into the projects in a blue crown vic with numbers on the side. [laughter] and then they would send me in with a walkie-talkie. because that is what every social worker ones, -- wants, right? vic with numbers and a walkie-talkie. because those are the tools of the trade. what am i going to do with this, throw it at somebody? all this is doing is getting in the way. sonny told me one time, he said, i had gone back to the office

and he said, we have been looking for you because one of the kids, his mother hit him. and i said, and? he said, conventional wisdom says you are not supposed to hit kids. i happened to know this particular child. he needed to be hit. so i asked him, which convention did you attend where they said you could not hit a child? when we do not bring what we know to the policy conversations, the policy becomes so broad and thoughtless that i was supposed to go back and essentially call the police on this parent who had just had it to here. her son was about 6'3" and she was about 5'5". even if she connected, she was not going to get him square.

all she was trying to do was to get her son to stay out of trouble. and what this social worker was saying was that we should legislate this level of morality on this family and essentially pull this mom and child out of the house. our silence keeps that going. our silence, on so many levels, keeps it going. those of you who work in schools, you have seen it. the kids are the first one to tell you, they do not even like us. right? you sit in the group sessions, and the first adult they can find to tell, they say they do not like us. how can they teach us if they do not like us?

you think it is -- but they really don't. they can name the teachers in school who do not care about them. they can name the administrators in school who do not care about them. they can name them by name. and they have great examples of things to say, really intuitive things to tell you why these individuals don't care about them. because of our silence, that kid gets in trouble because he skipped class. he skipped class because he was not going to learn anything. they did not want them talking to him anymore. he felt that if he was going to go into that class one more time, he was going to say one more slick thing, and he was going to react. and we know that. too often, what we do dutifually, we just go get the kids. you cannot go out like that.

do not let them do this to you. we tried to talk to him, but we know better because we know that in some neighborhoods, when you walk away, that is the worst thing that you can do. you have now become a mark. are you like them play you like that? you are going to let us say something to you in class like that? oh, you ain't walking home. we have been silent for too long. we have been silent for too long. because we do not go to the administrator and say, can i talk you for a second? i have had six kids come to me and say this math teacher humiliates them. i am not here to get in this man's way of making a living, but i have got to think human beings here, who have as much right to making a living as he does. this dude is ripping their

confidence apart. they do not even raise their hands to answer questions anymore. they said they do not like school anymore. you see, there is a connection between the micro and the macro, and you know it, but we do not do anything about it. we do not speak up, we do not organize our community of well-known, well-educated, and very caring individuals. no one has more credibility in our respective communities than us. nobody has done what we do. no one goes into those homes where they ask you if you want something to eat, and you are, like, no, i am good. i do not care if i'm hungry, i am not eating in here. [laughter] places where the stench of filth is so powerful that when you walk on the steps you can smell it.

it smells like something is dead in the house. you have been to homes where people are squatting. they do not have electricity. you have seen this. you have seen it. no one understands the problems more than you. no one. teachers, for the most part, see kids in school, on their terms, and then they do not typically see them again. every other part of their life, you see them in, including the classroom. and you learn about everything that is going on in their lives, things that they have never told a soul, and many of them, especially the boys, will never tell another person.

so many of the young men with whom you work will be married fathers, grandfathers, holding on to the thing that you have heard. we hear this conversation about how we need to have health care, universal health care, universal health care, but we are not talking about universal mental health care because you are silent. the doctors are organized. the teachers are organized. the trash workers are organized. the social workers, you know, just being social workers. we are just out there doing the work. i submit to you that if your interest is to transform the circumstances in which our young people and adults are living, then we have to work towards more political activism.

a true social worker works with the society, not just with the individual. it is not enough for you to just serve your clients. it is not enough to just make sure that the homeless parents that you have get a place to live. it is not enough. it is not enough. you are not just solving the problem for that community. one of my first jobs out of social work school was running a homeless shelter, back in my hometown. so virtually everyone who was a guest in the shelter was a friend. one of the first people that i saw when i went to the shelter was a girl -- man, i used to like her a lot. a lot, a lot.

she liked my cousin. you know, he was a drug dealer, he had money. you know. so when i saw her at the shelter, i just figured she worked there. i figured she was a caseworker. we both went off. i went off to college. i figured she did, too. but she was a guest. she was a client. and what happens over time is that we understand the nuance of how these things -- how this problem, that when it was small could have been addressed. we know that. we are not so simpleminded as to think that you just end poverty. i know that if we just gave her money, she would smoke it. right?

you are with your friends very often and they walk by a homeless person and the first thing they do is peel off ones and you are like, hey, don't do that, you're not solving the problem. and you know that. with your acute knowledge that you have, we should be putting together policies and strategies to take care of atlanta's homeless problem. something happened. there were breakdowns along the way. we know that substance abuse is real. we know when substance abuse starts. we know it starts, for most people, in high school. the real hard-core ones, right around 11. but for the most part, right around high school. and we know the people who are most susceptible to it. we know about their family patterns. we know all of these things.

yet still we are not pushing for programs or the supportive programs to do it. so then our programs are these little bitty programs that can serve a couple people. instead of us saying, well, substance abuse starts in the teens, typically. so if we did some programming in the high schools, not just the don't do drugs, those are bad for you, bring in the person, i do not have any teeth and i was on drugs. [laughter] because the kids don't make those connections. they are like, i do not want to look like that. or the person -- somebody always wants to come talk to my school. i want to tell them my story about how i was broke. man, they have heard it. they do not care.

you are not famous and they do not know you. yeah, but i want to come in and help. you want to help? come up in here and work with the kids, build a relationship with them, talk to them about life. do not just show up like some messianic force and you are going to come in and lay hands on them -- i was poor once and i am not poor anymore. be like me. they have heard that a million times and guess what -- they do not believe it. they do not believe it. but you know how to put together a program that is meaningful, that is meaningful, not just an afterschool program that they can drop in, but something more intense, that does not take away from their preparation from the state examination, but helps them the more prepared because their mental health is addressed.

we know that people of color are the least likely to go and get the services that are necessary to help them, but the most likely to need it. we know that men, in particular, are the least likely to go and get mental health support and are the most likely to need it. who are we identifying most as having mental health issues in early ages? men. african-american and latino men. still, those are the ones who are least likely to get it because we do not get it to them at a time when it is best. when the illness was small and curable. we know that so many of our teachers are so ill prepared to deal with african-american and latino boys that the first thing they do is kick them out of class. when they come back to class mad about it, they kick them out again. when they get in class and cut up because they do not know what

is going on, they say that something is intellectually or emotionally wrong with them. you know this. you know how it happens. you know how it goes down. there is one woman at the end of this long table by herself and it is us flanking her like a bizarre soul train line, telling her how bad her child is and how we hit her with every acronym we can. i am the principal. what? what? what do those letters spell? could i buy a vowel? [laughter] if i do not understand it, i know she does not get it. and you know how that kid got there. you do. you know what the system did.

so why aren't we social workers working harder with the education schools to get them right? why aren't we, as university faculty, not saying to the ed school, you have got to have at least 20% of your coursework be in social work? you are talking pedagogy. what is more pedagogical than understanding the human development of the people you are educating? what is more germane to teaching than understanding that you do not just feel sorry for the child because he is poor? feelisn't something to sorry for somebody for. nobody responds, oh, we understand. oh, yes, he comes from a home. and they always use the most bizarre outlier. mom works five jobs. they have 70 kids at the house and he has got to watch them at six years old. [laughter] no, his ass did not come to school today because he is lazy.

that is why he did not come to school. and a social worker will get in a car and go get him. call the house. by the time i get there, you better be dressed or i will dress you. i will dress your behind. you understand the nuances. you understand how this thing falls apart. you know why the kids are not paying attention and you know why the parents are so suspicious of us. you know that so many of our men and women need to talk to someone who is a professional, not just their cousin and them as a group. we can work harder to transform the way in which resources are used in our community. we are spending in some communities on education and

incarceration more than we are spending on anything else. we are dropping a lot of money at the back end. in some communities, $50,000 a year, to incarcerate. just imagine if some of these preventative programs that you mostly work in or want to start, just imagine if you had $50,000 a client. you could buy them a house per year. but that money is just poured down a hole because we allow the political forces that are going on in our country to come and say lock 'em up. three strikes, you're out. and then wonder why they are vagabonds when they come out. cannot get a job. cannot get a student loan. can barely even get access to

to their own children, and we wonder why the kids don't have anybody in their life. you see it. you see how this thing happens. it is a couple of small decisions that become big. why is it that our services are always the first to be cut? why is it that our programs are always the first to be cut? you hear people say, we need to put more money into schools. for what? most of the money that you put into the schools goes to the teachers and the administrator'' pensions. the building and the nuts and bolts. it is not materials. you know this. it is not buying more stuff. you can go to some of these raggedy schools in the country and they will get more money per pupil than some of the schools. if you had that money, what would you do? so many of our programs are

running on $1500 a client, $1000 a client. what that does to our profession is it waters it down because these organizations have you, a bunch of people who may or may not have a degree, right? and if they have one, it is definitely not social work. this person has an accounting degree and she is black, so they hired her. she must be able to talk to black people. and she is the one who is delivering the services to this very needy, acute need population. she may be a nice enough person, a great mom or wife or friend, and maybe even really smart. but because we have allowed our work and resources to be the first that are dried up, that is

what we get. we get one m.sw. who works the entire organization and you have to sign off on everything. am i saying it right? you are asked to come in and sign off on some fool stuff, treatment plans, where you think, i do not know if that is the way i would have done it. we need you to -- the state is coming in and the funds are coming in. that happens, that is happening, that has happened because of us. we work with some of the least desirable people and you have a lot of women who do it. do you see how you guys get pushed off as a group and you are quiet on top of it? if social workers do not start to speak up, then we will disappear.

we will disappear. from the professional ranks. we will be seen as old school and outdated. i do not know about you -- i do not usually -- it takes a lot to offend me. it really does. but one thing that has always -- people call themselves a doctor and they are not a doctor. i have a problem with doctors, right? [laughter] but when someone calls themselves a social worker and they are not a social worker, i am always offended. [applause] because the only person who would do that is someone who does not understand or respect the level of intellectual endeavor that you have had to go through, the level of emotional space that you have had to go through to get to this place. they do not understand that a lot of times, you are reading the dsm and you are saying, this is me? [laughter]

i have got to read that again. you are going through case studies and you are finding your family in them. it is uncovering all of this ugliness in your own life and how much you have had to go through in your own life and you are trying to make your life that are and other people's lives better. in many cases, you are dealing with the same exact stuff. i used to refer to my refrigerator as furniture. because it would be of more use on its side, as a chair, because there was nothing in it. when your clients have more food in the house than you, when your client has got to cut a hole in their pocket to get the 120-inch rent-a-center tv in the house,

when you drive a kid home to a house with four cars in the driveway and nobody gets off there behind to come get this child, when you find yourself arguing with somebody about something that they did wrong, then you know what social work is really about. you understand that in order to get the level of understanding that you have, you had to go through some stuff. i do not know if any other educational experience that requires as much as social work. i do not know it. i do not know. because the expectation is, from a social worker, that you are going to be on the ground level at one point or another. you are going to be there. and you are going to be in

someplace that is dark and scary, whether it is physical or emotional. you are going to sit with a child who is 4 or 5 years old and draw pictures with her as she describes to you how she was brutally raped. and then that session is going to be over and you are going to go and do it again. and then that session is owing going to be over and you are going to squeeze a lunch in in between there, at your desk, and then you are going to do it again. and each and every time you do it, you are going to feel a piece of your soul being ripped out. i remember someone saying to me that they had seen it all. i remember saying to myself, if

ever i say that, i do not want to be a social worker anymore. how could you see it all? you get to see people at their most vulnerable times, when fear is the only emotion that they can make sense of. you get to see people at a time and in a space that no one will ever see them again. you may be working with the elderly and you are looking into the eyes of a grandmother who is ready to pass and she knows it and she knows that nobody is going to take care of these kids. your problem is your effectiveness. see, because instead of you, a social worker, saying, you know what, there should be a program for such a thing and there should be resources for such a thing and there should be a

process for such a thing, you just taking care of it. you just go and take care of it. you see she is about to pass away, you start contacting of kin, and then you realize that house, they cannot go to that one. then you finally find one. it is not the best, but you have got to get the resources of. now you get to the job training program. this is all you. you just think -- you just do it. you just run into it and then you are part of the home. can you come home? i will be home in a little while. i promise. i just got to go to this family's house, one more visit i need to do and after that, i will come home. you just tear your little life up. you just mess your stuff up.

when you come home, somebody is at the door like, you stink. where you been? instead of us pulling back and saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, there has to be something in the social net for social workers to be able to depend on and it develops in society. it cannot just be dependent upon the skill of the social worker forever. we need to fight to get resources to the front lines, and i mean money. we need to fight to make sure there are programs that can take care of people at the lowest point, because as social workers, you know we are all going to be at our lowest point, sometimes a couple of times a year. and people can pray their way through anything and they can shout and clap and do whatever they want, but at the end of the day, that bill has got to get paid, somebody has got to take

care of that child, somebody has got to make sure that the grandparents get the care that they need, someone has to make sure that this addict can stay sober. so today, i submit to you that we have fallen short on our responsibility as social workers. it seems like an odd thing to say to social workers when all you do is work. but we need to be more vocal in the public sphere. we need to speak out. we need to talk about the things that we see, and we need to put the solutions out there, because you know what the solutions are. you really do. you know when they would best take shape. you know when the illness begins. and you know how to stop it before it gets big. president obama has my brother's

keeper, an education program, in many ways. should be a social work program, right? have you seen what they are supposed to do? if you read it, you think -- i am saying that we have come to the point in the black and latino communities and in some of the poor white communities where we have nothing left. it's that bad. usually, when i am in a group, they have -- i have to tell people that it is really bad. you do not understand it it is worse than you have ever imagined. we had a young girl, 3 years old, stab another girl in the face with a pencil four times. a, the child showed no remorse. and, b, the mother said, i do

not know what you all are doing at that school. we need help, folks. and you are the calvary. you are the delta force. whatever knowledge you need to use, you are it. and you know it. if you do not know it, i hope you know it now. you should understand that you need to get involved politically. you do. a little social activism with our social work, please. adding some clarity to the public conversation that is so muddied by politics, recognizing that sending people to prison is not the answer. institutionalizing the others is not the answer.

you see it when it is small, folks. you see it when it is small. every single issue, you see it when it is small. i bet if i were to ask you whatever population you work with, whatever region you work with, if you had those solutions, every single one of you has them. and i bet most of them would work, especially if they were done on a larger scale. but we keep -- i do not know why this fire won't go out. i keep throwing a glass of water at it. this is our time and this is the only time we have. our profession is being watered by individuals who are not social workers, coming in and taking what are literally referred to as social work jobs. they get the job and they are called a social worker. that is insane.

someone can come into an agency and be called a social worker by title? wow. you cannot be a plumber by just being called a plumber. you cannot be an electrician, you cannot be a barber. and here, after two years of a master's program or four years of a bachelor's program, in some cases, whatever number it takes to get your ph.d., someone comes in and called themself a social worker -- this is us, man. this is our time right now. it is our responsibility to step out front and start putting what we know in front of everyone and start to solve the problems. we actually can solve a lot of these issues. they are actually solvable.

you have seen it. you have seen, on a micro level, where some of these people have access to some of these services, how their lives be turned around. you have seen redemption, change, forgiveness, you have seen it happen. you have seen people from the depths and bowels of poverty, from the most disgusting circumstances of violence, you have seen those people stand strong because some of you are those people. i can tell, just because you got your hair done, just because you have a nice little suit on, you ain't slick. we all see the markings. you had a mayonnaise sandwich. [laughter] i know you did. you had a sugar sandwich.

you know what that block of cheese tastes like. [laughter] you had cereal that just has "cereal" on it. you have done that thing, it says "expired by," but the doughnuts ain't got no mold on them. you know that we can make people's lives better. that is what you were called to do. your story -- thank you -- the thing that called you to this, is evidence that the problems can be solved. that the problem can be solved in your life and people can be called from the depths of our community to the highest highs of clark university school of social work.

then there has to be more people behind you who can be saved too, right? none of us thinks that we are so great that god only did it to us, right, that this is something that he reserved just for us because we are that good? we are in this to save thousands of lives. i am always amazed -- it is usually entertainers, but people say, if i could just touch one life -- then you would be fired. one? that is a low threshold. one total? one by ten? one? right, yeah. you should make people laugh or do something like that, but those of us who are real social workers, we do not think in terms of ones, we think in terms of hundreds and thousands, entire communities and nations, cultures and genders, we think

of sexualities, entire swatches of an nation. if that is how you think, then you have to act that way. if your interest is in an entire group, if you care about black men and latino men, gay girls and boys, the transgender, the poor or the wealthy, if you care about women, whatever the thing, you cannot think that working with them one at a time is going to solve the problem. you become part of the problem. you need to find the place in politics for yourself. i know, social workers, i get it. we hate it. we hate it. more than anybody. the problem is, we need to be the ones who are there. so i will close here, and then i

want to answer some questions. [applause] if you shout out your question, i will answer it as quickly and completely as i can. yes, ma'am? obstacles that we have is our clients. i worked for years with seniors in home care. in new york city, the mayor wanted to stop the sugary drinks. >> yeah. >> and she confronted me with water. i visited her year after year and she refused to understand.

you know why you do not see many large people over 65? because they have gone. sometimes our biggest challenge is our clients. >> i would say you are right. but that is why they are our client. if they could fix themselves, we would be out of a job. i was told the school of social work that i went to, that we were supposed to work ourselves out of a job with that particular family. they should not need us forever. and we can pinpoint the behaviors causing the problems that they face. we can line up the solutions. but the reason why they are in this situation is because they are in this situation. everyone knows that drugs are bad for you. it is not one of those things you have to work real hard to sell to someone. but that is not the answer.

we have to touch their hearts somewhere else. but thank you so much for your talk. what do you recommend to assist us in recruiting young black males into the profession? it is one of the biggest obstacles i have. our students come in and they want to be criminal justice majors, they want to do psychology. when i start talking social work and they do not get it until their junior year. then they say maybe that is what i should have done. >> right. you are looking at the only black male graduate from the university of pennsylvania school of social work in 1995. [applause] that's laudable. i think one of the things that

has to happen is we need to introduce it earlier, and i think a way to do it, especially when you have teams on campus, is to talk to the teams, the football teams, the track teams, the basketball teams, where you have a lot of boys on campus. talk to them. >> i deal with a lot of young men. i treat them like men. [indiscernible] their fathers do not listen to them. they always say that if they go

to me or any other woman, they hear me, but they do not listen, to the males. >> right. that is a complicated question, and i will tell you why. there are profound differences between men and women. i know this comes as a shock to some of you. i will give you one. if a man sees another man having trouble, he will wait to see if there is an opportunity for him to go up to him and say anything. if he does, it will be something really simple. you good? i'm good. that will be the entire conversation. whereas a woman does not wait at all and does not just say one thing. she talks and talks and talks and talks because, in many cases, from a gender

perspective, women talk their problems out. they think out loud. i would submit to you that there are very few men in this room who have talked their problems out with another man. in the same way that women do. and so some of what especially teenage boys are going through, is they are going through a transition from -- and i am putting labels on this. if my feminists could hold on for a second and hear what i going to say -- they are going from traditionally feminist characteristics in their earlier ages of talking -- like little boys, that is why mothers fall so madly in love with their sons, because they are just the sweetest, tell you how beautiful you are every 40 seconds, so they are going from that time

when they used to talk a lot to a time where they do not talk as much because they are practicing being men. and so there is a transition period for a lot of boys and men, where the men, in many cases, do not know how to talk to a young man. other than to say shut up, stop crying. that is stupid. that is what people say to us. so there is that. the other part of it is there is an intersection of values. there was a time in which children were meant to be seen and not heard. then there is a group that wants to only hear them. and these polls are killing us. because there is a lot to be said in the old schoo, when

grown folks are talking, the quiet, sit at the child's table. there is a lot of really rich, important, learning how to respond to authority stuff in that that we have cast aside. there is another side where children have an opinion. what i call as a principal, mother says that is your side of the story. like i have a side of the story and the 8-year-old has the other side. so some of the listening or not is caught up in some of the values, especially children of color.

african-americans is that we have violent parenting strategies. there's a pretty significant undercurrent of violence in the way we communicate with our children. even our compliments are not really compliments. you think you are so smart. you hear parents describing their son in particular -- how is your son? bad as hell. it is a compliment, sort of comment that the slight compliment. my point is, it is a complicated question. it is not as easy as people who are going to talk to them. one of the things i find is the best way to engage many boys is to get them involved in groups that are sports or otherwise oriented, headed by a male because boys, actually feel safer in a group, because they can deal with some other issues differently without actually having to put himself up front.

there's a safety in that experience for a lot of males because the coach can set expectations to make you do certain things that if you do them yourself, you would look like a punk. the coach says, you better be in school tomorrow else you are playing. when a friend says, come chill with me, you say i can't or else i won't be able to play. when you involve them in these activities, what happens is it gives them a safe place to do good. it also allows them to build a rapport with a man in a way that makes them feel comfortable. the last part of this is here, especially in a black and latino community, but the black community i know better. we have real homophobic issues, like a real, real, deep, poisonous, frighteningly scary, homophobic into molestation

issues, which makes me believe a lot of black men in particular were sexually molested than have ever come forward. i would venture a guess. i'm going to be honest five, 10 times what we know. easily, easily. easily. we have these issues. you hear the boy saying, no homo. we have such issues. even grown men, the learned among us, struggle with how -- a lot of times brothers will come up to me. up to me. i love what you do. there's a whole f-ing disclaimer. if i've got a wife, understand what i'm saying? i got you. i appreciate you.

i'm just saying, letting you know. i really appreciate what you do, but i'm saying, i ain't gay or nothing. but that is a really bad suit. it's nice. i'm not saying i think i like your suit like, like it, like it, just saying it is a nice suit. we have such deep-seated issues around sexuality in the black community, especially among black men, the mandingo complex is deeply embedded in us, we don't know what to do. we are really a mess over this. you want to be able to talk to a young man, but you don't want to be put in a situation where you think he is tried to come on to them. you guys don't think about this. this is real thoughts.

we as men have to think about on a regular basis because of the oversexualization of black men. even after all of those other systems are in place and the last thing a man is sitting down with a young boy -- if you have a title, like coach or father -- if you don't have a title, folks look at you and think, what are you doing? why do you have all of those boys around you? you like having boys around you? what is that about? so the boy can talk to anybody because of these things. he's to the point where he is becoming a teenager and he doesn't want to talk to his mom like he used to because he knows that there is a point of which we learn that you like girls. oh, mom is a girl. holy cow. [laughter]

it is different, right? in that little-bitty space where you have a 12-, 14-year-old boy, he's right. no one is listening to him. he is right. if he is unaffiliated and not connected to a team or something like that, he really isn't, and because nobody will let him go to see a psychiatrist or a social worker, he is trying to pack that stuff in. he is trying to put in his pocket and walk with it so he looks normal because he doesn't want to be crazy, like your "crazy." you want to talk? you are crazy. it is a challenging thing.

it is something that so many social workers still deal with. the boy wants to talk to you, but he won't talk to like he would talk to a man who he felt comfortable talking with. you recognize that come especially in the modern black community. most of us who do have a role model, it was someone who is a teacher, not a father. we have done ourselves in as a black community. we have hurt ourselves pretty bad. to ourselves, and we don't always want to own it, but it is real. we have really poisoned the well on a lot of places. i'm not saying we did it by ourselves. i want you to be clear. but slavery is not the reason why a man in 2014 doesn't take care of his kids. [applause]

>> my question is i heard you talk about working things on a micro and macro level. what are some things you are engaging in? >> on a macro level, one of my pet projects is working to make sure that children have school choice. the reason why school choice is so important to me and to us is because we know that an effective teacher and, by extension, effective school is the most important fact in in a young person's development and moving on and out of poverty. and so the reason i find myself squared off against the teachers unions is because they want things to stay the way that they

are. and i don't. we are in atlanta. this always trips me out. you have more black college students per square inch than any other place outside of the continent of africa. that is just my statement. nowhere else on earth are you going to find so many educated black people and you have one of the worst school systems in america. [applause] i'm confused. you have five colleges, right? how many? four? four colleges, and just beyond

here, some of the worst neighborhoods in america. i'm confused. this is a mess. i don't get it, atlanta. every time i come here, i don't get it. i'm confused every single time i come. i meet all these buffies all i meet all these buffies all over the place, talk about travel on the things they do in the lifestyle they have been the car they drive and the housewives. ain't married to nobody. i don't get it. i don't understand. i'm lost and confused. you can't blame white people. you had black people in every single position, the butcher,

the baker, that candlestick maker. it is now to the point where people will be shocked if they had a white mayor. what? how did that happen? like people must have sold some money. you could find the coolest white man -- school choice should be the order of the day. give them another shot. this right here is on us, man. school choice. i do understand how you have so many people who were educated and why aren't there more of you in schools? you all are starting churches, though. boom. with so many churches, there should be more saved people.

so many more educated people there should be more who educate people. y'all in fraternities and sororities. jack and jill. every damn thing. all the markings of the middle class. middle class takes care of the rest of the people. this is not middle class. this is something else. we are moving through the middle class in such way that we have our own government. we made this that we messed it up. the greatest african-american minds of all time have studied in the city, in the city of all time. in this city.

y'all got the worst schools. really? my grandmother would say, terrible. [laughter] so bad, you have got people cheating. i have never seen such. y'all walking around like, do, do, do, like don't you get it? this is not ok. this is not normal. this is so abnormal. i bring you greetings as your brother from the northeast. i'm telling you up there, a lot of people look at you guys down here and say, man, i'm going to move down there. they get here. they send the kids to the same white school they would send them up to in the northeast. it is not ok. a macro thing i'm working on is

one, education come and, two, telling black people to cut it out. we have got to stop. [applause] yes, sir. >> i have volunteered in the fulton county working with kids in the foster care system. i have been exposed to some stuff in the system and never imagine was going on in the community. by the same token, a large percentage of the kids in the system, they can't be served by the current system. what is the future of the children who are caught up in that system? for some way out, some hope? let's the honest, it's bleak. one of the reasons why i didn't

pay my membership was because of the transracial adoption thing. or interracial adoption, and sorry. if a white family wants to take care of a black child, give them the child, man. that's the worst thing, they are white? that's their crime? then i'm cool with that. i'm real cool with that. if black people created the child and don't want to take care of them, i don't care what part of the world they are from. [applause] i don't care if they are gay or straight, white or black, i just want good people taking care of our children. we have to dial back the

foolishness ourselves. i get the goal of but adoption, i'm always, compelled to say, how many kids are you adopting? if you do not have a good crew, shut up. the other part of it is, and this is where we as social workers really need to open up our shirts and show the s on our chest, many of those kids are deeply fractured, deeply fractured. you never want to say person is broken. that means there's no hope, but deeply fractured. the data tells us they will be in the system for much of their lives. this going back to the point of i was making. there are no easy solutions.

the real solution is we put systems in place to make sure that we work harder to make people who are white, who want to adopt, who will go to russia to get a child, that we make it seemed, we have got you. this is true. i know you know what i'm saying is true. i will hear black people say, they don't know how to do their hair. well, help them. i mean, really. i see some black kids with knotty hair. come here. [laughter] i'll put two cornrows in and you will be straight. when you grow up in a big family, everyone has got to learn how to do hair. if you are in my family and you have a younger girl cousin, you better be able to pull it back

into something, otherwise you are in a heap of trouble. [laughter] what we have to do as social workers is we have to rally around the families who want to who want to take them back and the one to are going to receive them and encourage them. we should be leading the charge. we should be encouraging people and providing support to the sounds to are from different ethnic groups sued the site to take an african-american child and support them, put the support around them and don't make them feel bad about the decision they have made. you have made the right decision. these kids in particular, many of them need intense mental health support. intense. they have some of the most acute issues of anyone you will find. right? as you have seen like i have seen these kids find themselves in those situations have the

most acute issues and they are the most challenging. they will need support. folks, i thank you sincerely. i really do. before you clap or anything, i i want you to hear me say thank you. we can't look outside this room for what the people in this room need to do. we can look outside this profession for what the people in this profession need to do. this is on us. thank you so much for all of your attention. [applause] >> coming up tonight on c-span, a panel of legal analysts look at current election laws and how they may impact of voting