involved in politics, like mine, get your congressman to give a letter of favor on your application. and prepare yourself in advance. old that myx years soul purpose in life was to go to the naval academy. when someone asked, what are you going to do when you grow up, i always said, even in elementary school, i will go to the naval academy and become a naval officer. a few prospective candidates and to prominence like me, i have been fairly accommodating -- i started to say liberal. [laughter] people's families and students, grades in school. if i really

if i don't there -- they were applicantriate act -- , i must believe that particular student ought to be at the naval academy. the best thing to do is to prepare yourself for a very difficult and challenging but very exciting career. carter, can you give us an update on your large family? rosalynn: it has exploded. [laughter] we have 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. the grandchildren have spouses, and we have 36 or 37, i can't keep up. [laughter] it is growing so fast. georgia,ve 23 of us in counting jimmy and me. we come to the carter center, we schedule one week a month to be here.

other timesome at sometimes too, but during that one week, we have the 21 that are here, we have dinner one night at the carter center. we get to see them, it is quite wonderful. and lively.: [laughter] carter, withent the recent it rain in nuclear deal, nuclear nonproliferation is in the news. how should the u.s. and global powers deal with nations who have nuclear weapons ambitions? pres. carter: north korea? host: in light of the iranian nuclear deal, how should we deal with other powers with nuclear ambitions? pres. carter: i am delighted with the agreement with iran. i believe it is good for the united states, iran and israel, the whole world, to see this resolved, as has been done courageously by john kerry, with the backing of president obama.

president obama has the assurance that the congress cannot block the implementation of the agreement. the next part of it is to make sure iran does comply with all the announced restraints on them, and access to information about their nuclear program that the obama administration has promised to the american people and the world. as you know, this was done not by the europeans or russia and china and others, so it is backed unanimously either leading countries on earth. i am very glad to see that done. north korea is going in the other direction. basically unnecessarily. i went to north korea in 1994. to deal with a crisis in north korea. some of you are familiar with this. the leader of north korea then, revered and was

worshiped almost like washington, george washington and jesus put together. i am not exaggerating. the united states was on the verge of declaring north korea to be an outlaw nation, and kim il-sung to be a criminal. my chinese friends came to me and said, if the united states did that, the north koreans to save face would invade and attack south korea. the military general in charge was an american from arkansas, and he told me a million south koreans would be killed in the first 48 hours. i decided to go to north korea, and i negotiated a very comprehensive agreement with kim il-sung that ended their .roduction of plutonium unfortunately, since then, other things have happened. this week, the north koreans announced he will expand -- they will expand their nuclear program.

.yongyang is the capital that is where the nuclear program takes place. anyway, i think we need to rigidly enforce the nonprivileged -- nonproliferation treaty .egotiated under john kennedy this permits iran, by the way, iran is a signatory on the treaty, they are a member of the treaty. they have the perfect right to develop a peaceful nuclear program. the problem is, many people don't think they would adhere to a peaceful nuclear program. the only countries that don't comply with the nonproliferation treaty are israel, india, pakistan, and north korea. and a new country, south sudan hasn't had a chance to sign it yet. those four countries are the biggest threats now. others say that a possible outbreak of war between pakistan

and india, with the pakistani government being shaky in the last few years, maybe the biggest threat to nuclear peace. i don't think north korea will attack anybody. that would be suicidal for them. i don't think iran, even if they cheat, would develop nuclear weapons and attack anybody. destroyingspond by the government, the country of iran. this depends primarily on the enforcement of a nonproliferation treaty, and not help the countries that violate, refused to sign a nuclear nonproliferation treaty. i was disappointed early on when george w. bush, and now obama, are helping india with their nuclear program. the president before that would do so.

overcome thelitics proper approach to that program. enforcing the nonproliferation treaty is the best way. we have a question now from steve, who wrote in online from orlando, florida. the question is for both president and mrs. carter. he writes, dear president and mrs. carter, can you address the role of forgiveness in the various peace initiatives you have been involved with, as well as whether peace is even possible without some level of forgiveness? rosalynn: -- pres. carter: i wrote a book --ut this years ago, top called talking peace. the analysis i made based on my experiences as a mediator was, the same causes of war between two countries are civil wars

inside a country, or those that cause a husband and a wife to get a divorce. or, that cause friction between a parent and a child. or, between students on a college campus. it is a matter of honest differences of opinion, and an absence of willingness to forgive the other person enough to communicate with them. and, to discuss the issue face-to-face, or if necessary, through a mediator. that is the basic cause of conflict in the world. within a family or university system or within a country, or between two countries, could meet with each other and talk to each other with mutual respect and mutual forgiveness, then most altercations could be resolved peacefully. willing,re not able or to forgive the other person directly, then call on a mediator. that is what, if you want to go

buy my book, you can read that. [laughter] i you some examples that i have experienced in my own life to illustrate this. i teach the same thing in my lessons, my bible lessons in sunday school. sunday before last, the subject was forgiveness. i used the same example. host: thank you. maybe steve was there for sunday school. rosalynn: i have been in negotiations, negotiating sessions with jimmy. i used to go years ago. i would take notes about the negotiations. you cannot believe how people hate each other. they just never, they're never going to forgive. what they need is a good, a

really good negotiator like jimmy. he has done some really significant negotiating and gotten people together. host: i certainly agree. [applause] mrs. carter, another one just for you. what progress and mental health issues do you see in the next five years? what are your goals for the united states mental health system? pres. carter: my -- rosalynn: my goal is to overcome stigma and have everyone with a mental health issue get help. i think it ought to be what it have to cover mental-health issues the way they do other issues. we are seeing a lot of progress. i have my fingers crossed, i think it is happening fast.

the stigma is lifting. we are moving back to the community. community.health , mentalon integration health and substance abuse. also, having mental health professionals and primary care doctors, in primary care doctors offices, does great things. with illnesses have mental issues, too. to bring them together. and mental health professionals in a primary care doctor's office could recognize mental illness, and be sure that person got treatment. the medical schools don't give

issuesg on mental health as they should. it is getting to be better, but when we started working on this issue, many years ago, some schools had six weeks, or three months, and that was unusual, -- no school had trade training, because we didn't know how to treat people. that kept up for a long time. there is still so much research going on, and we are working on prevention now. recover from, can mental illnesses and lead good lives. it is just exciting to be in the mental health field. thank you very much. much of that is thanks to mrs. carter's efforts over many decades. [applause]

president carter, building on , issuccess of guinea worm there another disease we could eradicate in the next 20 years? pres. carter: as many of you at thee have located carter center the only organization that analyzes every human illness regularly to see which diseases might possibly be eliminated from a particular region, or eradicated from the world. the international task force from disease eradication has been here, how long, john? 25 or 26 years. it is the only one. we have with us, the gates foundation and world health organization's and others like that who have expert knowledge. they come to the carter center, and we analyze every human illness on a sequential basis, and identify those that can be eliminated. sayink that, if i had to

this from the carter center perspective, it would be blindness. we shifted from consoling it every year to giving multiple doses, and by doing that, we can eliminate it from a certain country. we have targeted four countries and are on the verge of doing it in more. if we do it country by country, and get to the end of the river blindness, it would be eradicated. gates havelinda talked seriously about malaria being targeted for total elimination from the world, which would be eradication. there are others, as well. they are not so well-known as those two. i would say those two are good possibilities. host: thank you. here is a question from sherry, who signs it with a heart. president carter, would you like

someday for one of your grandchildren are great-grandchildren would be -- to be governor or president or both? why or why not? and how would you advise that? pres. carter: i have one grandson, one particular grandson -- [laughter] [applause] i don't know what plans he has for the future, but i have great-grandchildren, i think it is a good thing. because the sweep of republicans over the country this past election, we have learned about our state and ourselves. he is learned about what the people want and need. in education and health care and things of that kind. it is an educational process. it hurts not to be elected at the end, i don't think i have known any close friends who have run for office who was sorry they ran. a wonderfuls

educational process. i would be glad to see any of my progeny, or descendents, who wanted to get involved in politics directly or indirectly. host: terrific. how do you believe the united states should respond to the current threat posed by isis? pres. carter: i would like to see the united states be more aggressive in dealing with isis. as you know, isis has taken over the eastern part of syria, and has gone into iraq nearby across the border. they have taken over a good portion of iraq, as well. there was a program on television either last night or the night before about the christians in iraq being decimated. they used to have, before we ago,ed iraq, not too long

christians and sunni muslims and shia muslims, the leaders came to my home to say how all three of them are thriving and getting along well with each other. the archbishop of a church there came along with them. they are now in hiding, and they have no guarantee that they will survive. i thinkhristian basis, we need to concentrate on doing away with isis, which is dedicated not only to destroying mosques with which they don't agree, but also eliminating every christian that abides in areas where they live. i would like to see the united states be more forceful in dealing directly with isis. i would at least publicly favor sending ground -- i would not publicly favor sending ground troops in, but i think better analysis of what is going on there, i think we could cooperate with others, even the

russians and syrians, excuse me, and the arabians, in dealing with the opposition -- the ans, ins -- the irani dealing with isis. i don't think there's much doubt that the outside would not be able to work that out. but with the united states and iran koss corporation, they could concentrate on ice is more. it is not an easy thing to answer. the first opposition to isis should be muslim countries that have good weapons and good money. theirey don't want to put people in danger, in direct combat. the main forces fighting isis in iraq and syria are the irani anians. although

weall want to attack isis, have a hard time cooperating with the iranians. if we could get together with them, and the russians, and concentrate on isis, that would be the best long-term way to address the problem, perhaps. host: i have one little lighter for you. these areer: questions nobody knows how to answer. host: this one comes from seven-year-old elizabeth. she writes, what was your favorite thing to do as president? david.arter: go to camp --hink if everything we had my favorite thing was the family life we had in the white house. amy was seven years old when we got there. nine years old when we got there.

three years old when i became governor. their wivesons and and families were there. we had a grandson born the first -- the first month we were in the white house. so we had a good family life in the white house. part of my official duties i enjoyed was dealing with foreign affairs. the president of the united states under the constitution has a much greater authority and responsibility in dealing with foreign countries than we do in handling domestic affairs. everything has to go by the oreral board for finances the federal bank or congress or the public. when so many says -- when somebody says a president is responsible for inflation, or something like that, i would say the president has one fourth of the responsibility for the economy. about one fourth,

perhaps the federal reserve bank has one fourth. the private sector has one fourth. i think dealing with foreign ,olicy was the best thing i did the thing i enjoyed. when i went into office, i was able to, nobody ever asked me to bring together the egyptians and israelis to promote peace. nobody asked me to do that. nobody asked me to normalized it will medical china. with, --ked me to deal the padlock and now issue. nobody asked me to deal away with apartheid in africa. those are things that i could initiate on my own. it is easier and more enjoyable to deal with issues that deal with foreign policy. you, president carter. here is a question from mr. meeks from richland, georgia. i will address it to both

president and mrs. carter. growing up, what was your favorite childhood game? how did playing it influence your later life? rosalynn: i think basketball. i think that really was what i enjoyed most. i was a forward when it was two courts. , i even wrote a donkey in a donkey asking ballgame. -- basketball game. but i enjoy basketball. we had the harlem globetrotters come to play in the planes gymnasium. inas on the varsity team high school and the all-star team in college. at that time, there were no slam dunks. there were just fast breaks. i was very fast. i couldn't reach the goal at

first. today, it is hype that makes the difference. but i think basketball was the number one sport. howhigh school, no matter small, if they couldn't have a football team, and most of us could not, we did have basketball and baseball. baseball would've been my , it is still my favorite sport professionally, but this fall season took place during the planning and the plantingime -- and cultivating time, so all the farm boys, including me, our first obligation was to help our fathers on the farm. basketball was played during the winter months. our county seat was we had aan plains. great competition. we could beat anybody.

jimmy was a tennis champion in high school. but he never beat his father. [laughter] one more serious question, president carter. what can we as a nation due to overcome racism in the united states and in the world? the questioner asks, or ads, thank you for all that you have done. thought that i when the civil rights bills in the era of martin luther king jr., lyndon johnson, and harry truman, that we could breathe a sigh of relief. that we had finally overcome the ravages of racism left over from slavery times. 100 years after the civil war, we war between the states,

had legal racial supremacy for white people. thats been shown lately that dream of having overcome it was misplaced. we still have a lot of racism in our country. the consciousness of individual citizens, and i think some of the polarization of is dues in this country to a large extent, i would say particularly in the south, to the remnants of racism. the race issue is still very important. i think having elected president obama was a step in the right direction. we have 22 voters in our family in the last election. , anave another one now

australian who has become an american citizen. he can vote now. we had 22 votes and all of them went for obama. we didn't have anything against welary, but collectively thought this would be a good step in the right direction. it hasn't worked that way. i think the best thing we can do is to go back to the universal declaration of human rights. said in college lectures and sometimes in my bible the formulation of universal declaration of human 1940's washe late when the citizens of the world reached the highest possible basicof commitment to the moral and ethical values that are exemplified by all the great religions, by judaism and christianity and islam and

hinduism and buddhism. that is when we made a commitment, with 30 three paragraphs, that we would pledge ourselves to treat everybody equally and peacefully. be, if we would follow that, we would bring racism, and i think most wars, to an end. almost two years ago now, i wrote an op-ed piece, and pointed out that of the 30 paragraphs in the universal declaration of human rights, that the united states was violating 10 of them. and we still are. we don't treat everybody in our country equally, to give them the rates they deserve. anyway, i think, to go back to the religious faith, or to go back to the universal

declaration of human rights, is the only avenue in the long-term what is anwith almost inherent human trait, and people mistrusting other because of race or where we live status of of economic our parents or something like that. we look down on other people as inferior. that is the primary sin in racism. host: thank you, president carter. we have time for one last question for both president and mrs. carter. the question is, over the lifetime of your work, what is the thing you are most proud of? that is addressed to both of you. pres. carter: i answered that in my previous press conference, when i said the best thing that ever happened to me was marrying rosalynn. [applause]

pres. carter: i think i was very proud when i was elected president of the united states. opportunity that doesn't come to many people. i have been particularly blessed by that opportunity to lead a great country, and i was proud also to keep our country at peace for four years, which few presidents have done through history. we protect the interests of our country, and we promoted human rights as best i could. in general, i am proud i was able to serve as leader is this -- of this country. [applause] rosalynn: and i was proud of him when he was president. jimmy passmore legislation than -- passed more

legislation than any president except lyndon johnson. war -- world war i? world war ii. good legislation. we made friends in the world. we worked on overcoming racism. it was just a great administration, and i think people are beginning to realize what a great president he was. [applause] >> there's no better note -- ms. carter: i think personally -- [inaudible] [applause] as far as i'm working withthink issues was the best thing i've done.

so much has changed. not that i let everybody in the right direction, but at least i had the experience. it was exciting to me. >> you did a lot more than watch. [applause] and with that, we're going to wrap up this conversation. i would like to thank president and mrs. carter for taking the time to be with us as i want to thank all of you for your interest in the great work of the center. [applause] pope's upcoming visit to the u.s.. c-span has live coverage from washington. on wednesday, pope francis will

visit the white house, starting with a welcoming ceremony on the south lawn followed by a meeting with president obama. on thursday, the pope makes history on capitol hill, becoming the first to address the house of representatives and the senate during a joint meeting. follow live coverage of the pope's historic visit to washington live on tv or online at c-span.org. obamas weekend, president was the keynote speaker at the congressional black caucus foundation part 45th annual awards dinner in washington. he addressed issues related to gender equality, policing, and the criminal justice system. this is 40 minutes. president obama: hello! the fanfare.

seat.ody, please have a i know it's late. you're ready for the after parties. ditched the speech and brought my playlist. everybody looks beautiful, handsome, wonderful. thank you, don, for that introduction. thank you to the cbc foundation. and thank you to the members of the cbc. [applause] on thent obama: challenges of our times, from giving workers a raise to getting families health coverage , on the threats of our times from climate change and nuclear proliferation, members of the cbc have been leaders moving

america forward. with your help, our businesses created over 13 million new jobs. [applause] president obama: with your help, we've covered more than 16 million americans with health insurance, many for the first time. [applause] president obama: three years ago, republicans said they would get the unemployment rate down to 6% by 2017. it's down to 5.1% right now. [applause] you didn't hear much about that at the debate on wednesday night. progress none of this would have been possible without the cbc taking tough votes when it mattered most. whatever i've accomplished, cbc has been there. [applause]

i was proud to: be a cbc member when i was in the senate. i'm proud to be your partner today. we are not here just to celebrate. we are here to keep going. with the unemployment rate still more than double than whites for african-americans, millions of families still working hard and waiting to feel the recovery in their own lives, we know the province of this nation, where every single american, regardless of the circumstances in which they were born, regardless of what they look like, where they come from, has the chance to succeed, that promise is not yet fulfilled. america,thing about the great project of america, is that perfecting our union is never finished. we've always got more work to

do. and tonight's honorees remind us of that. of the courage and sacrifices, the work that the've done, not just at national level, but in local communities all across the country. we couldn't be prouder of them. the heroes of the civil rights movement, whom we lost last month, remind us of the work that needs to be done. bondcan heroes like julian .nd emilio boynton ms. robinson, some of you know, early this year, my family and i for theany in selma 50th anniversary of that march. as we crossed the independence bridge, i thought about her and

all the extraordinary women like her who were really the life force of the movement. [applause] women were the: foot soldiers. women strategized boycotts. women organized marches. even if they weren't allowed to run the civil rights organizations on paper, behind the scenes, they were the thinkers and the doers making things happen each and every day. doing the work that nobody else wanted to do. they couldn't always prophesies, but they lead the charge from the pews. they were no strangers to violence. they were on the front lines. so often, they were subject to abuse, dehumanized, but kept on

going, holding families together. mothers were beaten, gas on bloody sunday. four little girls were murdered in a birmingham church. women made the movement happen. and of course black women have been a part of every great movement in american history. [applause] even if theyma: weren't always given a voice, they helped plan the march on washington, but were almost entirely absent from the program. organizersess male highlighted a tribute honoring six women, none of them were asked to make a speech. daisy bates introduced her fellow honorees in just 142

words that were written by a man. of course, marian anderson and mahalia jackson sang, but in a three-our program, the men gave the women just 142 words. that may sound familiar to some of the women in the room here tonight. the organizers even insisted on two separate parades. male leaders marched along the main route on pennsylvania rosae and leaders like parks relegated to independence avenue. america's most important march had its ownegation separation. black women were central in the fight for women's rights, from suffrage, to the feminist movement. [applause] president obama: and yet, despite their leadership, too

often, they were also marginalized. but they didn't give up. they were too fierce for that. black women have always understood the words, that hope is a song in a weary throat. women thats to black we've come a long way since a girl like ruby bridges couldn't go to school, when a woman like emelia couldn't cast her vote, when we didn't have a congressional black caucus and its 20 women members. [applause] president obama: so, i'm focusing on women tonight because i want to know how much we appreciate them. [applause] president obama: how much we admire them. how much we love them.

and i want to talk about what we have to do to provide full opportunity and equality for our black women and girls in america today. because all of us are beneficiaries of a long line of strong black women who helped carry this country forward, who worked to expand civil rights, open the doors of opportunity not just for african-americans, but for all women. for all of us. black-and-white. latino and asian. lgbt and strength. for our first americans and our newest americans. contributions in every field, as scientists, entrepreneurs, educators, explorers. of course, they are also a majority of my household. [laughter] [applause] president obama: so i care

deeply about how they are doing. the good news is, despite structural barriers of race and gender, women and girls of color have made real progress in recent years. the number of black women-owned businesses has skyrocketed. thek women have ascended ranks of every industry. teen pregnancy rates among girls of color are down while high school and college graduation rates are up. that's the news. [applause] president obama: but, there's no denying that black women and girls still face real and persistent challenges. the unemployment rate is over 8% for black women, and they are overrepresented in low-paying jobs, underrepresented in management. they often lack access to

economic necessities like paid leave and quality affordable childcare. get the samen't quality health care that they need, and have higher rates of certain products, although that's starting to change with obama care. [applause] president obama: it's working, by the way. just to be clear. just in case you needed to know. and then there are some of the challenges that are harder to see and harder to talk about. outstanding, beautiful first lady, talks about these struggles.

[applause] president obama: michelle will tell stories about when she was younger, people telling her she shouldn't aspire to go to the very best universities. and she found herself thinking sometimes, maybe they're right. even after she earned two degrees from some of the best universities in america, she still faced doubts that were rooted in the social prejudice and stereotypes. worrying whether she was being too assertive, or too angry. or too tall. [applause] president obama: i like tall women, but -- [laughter] [applause] president obama: and those stereotypes, social pressures,

they still affect our girls. so we all have to be louder than the voices that our telling a ou r girls that they are not good enough, that they have to look a certain way, or act a certain way, or set their goals at a certain level. we've got to firm their sense of self-worth, make them feel visible and beautiful and understood and loved. and i say this as a father who strives to do this as a home, but i also strive to do this as a citizen. this is about who we are and who we want to be, and how we can make sure that america is fulfilling its promise, because everybody is getting a chance and everybody's hopes are important, and everybody's given opportunity. we ought to do more than just say we care. say we put a woman on the $10

bill, although that is a good idea. we've got to make sure they are getting some $10 bills. that they are getting paid properly. we've got to let our actions do the talking. ffront to the very idea of america when some of our population doesn't have the same access of opportunity as everybody else. it makes a mockery of our economy when black women make $.30 fewer than every dollar a man earns. that adds up to thousands of dollars in missed income that determines whether a family can pay for a home or pay for college for their kids or save for retirement or give their kids a better life. that's not just a women's issue. that's everybody's issue. i want michelle to get paid at some point. [applause] we've got anma:

outstanding former secretary of state here who is also former first lady. i know she can relate to michelle when she says, how come you get paid and i don't? how did that work? when women of color aren't given the opportunity to live up to their potential, we all lose out on their talents. we are not as good a country as we can be. we might miss out on the next ursula burns or serena williams or michelle obama. we want everybody to be on the field. we can't afford to leave some folks off the field. so we have to close those

economic gaps. of allrking women races and black women in particular can support families and strengthen communities and contribute to our country's success. that's why my administration is investing in apprenticeships, to help poor women earn better paying jobs, and particularly in nontraditional careers. that's why we're invest ing in getting more girls of color interested in stem fields, math, science, and engineering, and help more of them stay on track in school. that's why we are going to continue to fight to eliminate the pay gap. equal pay for equal work. an all-american idea. that's why we are going to keep working to raise the minimum wage, because women disproportionately are the ones who are not getting paid what

they're worth. that's why we're fighting to expand tax credits that help working parents make ends meet, closing tax loopholes for folks that don't need tax loopholes, to pay for. that's why we are expanding paid leave to employees and federal contractors. that's why congress needs to expand paid leave for more hard-working americans. it's for our economy. it's the right thing to do. no family should have to choose between taking care of a sick child or losing their job. [applause] and just as an: aside, what's not the right thing to do, what makes no sense at all, is congress threatening to shut down the entire federal government. if they can't shut down women's access to planned parenthood. that's not a good idea.

congress should be working on investing to grow our economy and expand opportunity and not inflict theed and kind of self-inflicted wounds that we've seen before on our economy. so, that's some of the things we need to do to help improve the economic standing of all women. to help all families feel more secure in a changing economy. before i go tonight, i also want to say something about a topic that's been on my mind for a while, another profound barrier to opportunity in too many communities, and that is our criminal justice system. [applause] president obama: i spoke about this at length earlier this year at the naacp. i explained the long history of in a 20 in our criminal justice

system. know the statistics. i want to highlight that there were human beings behind these statistics. i visited a prison in oklahoma, the first president to visit a federal prison. i sat down with inmates. i listened to their stories. one of the things that struck me was the crushing burden their incarceration has placed not just on their prospects for the future, but also for their families. the women in their lives. the children being raised without a father in the home. the crushing regret these men felt over the children they left behind. mass incarceration rips apart families and hollows out neighborhoods. it perpetuates poverty. we understand that in many of

our communities they are under-policed. the problem is not that we don't want active, effective police work. and admire and appreciate law enforcement. we want them in our communities. crime hurts the african-american community more than anybody, but we want to make sure that it's to well, done right, done fairly, and done smart. that's why in the coming months, i'm going to be working with many in congress and the cbc to try to make progress on reform legislation that addresses unjust sentencing laws and encourages divergent of sentence programs, catches our young people early, and tries to put them on a better path, and helps ex-offenders after they've done their time get on the right track.

it's the right thing to do for americans. and although in these discussions, a lot of my focus has been on african-american men and the work we are doing with my brother's keeper, we can't forget the impact this has on women as well. incarceration rates for black women are twice as high as the race for white women. -- the rates for white women. many women in prison have been victims of homelessness and domestic violence and in some cases, human trafficking. we've got high rates of mental illness and substance abuse. many have been sexually assaulted both before they got to prison and after they go to prison. we don't often talk about how society treats black women and girls before they end up in prison. thanuspended higher rates white boys and all other girls. -- a lot of girls are

facing a more sinister sexual abuse to prison like line. victims of early sexual abuse are more likely to fail in school, which can lead to sexual exploitation, which can lead to prison. we're focusing on boys, but we're also investing in girls, to make sure they are loved and valued, to give them a chance. that's why we have to make a collective effort to address violence and abuse against women in all of our communities, in every community, on every campus. we've got to be very clear. women who've been victims of helpor domestic abuse need and should know they can count on society and law enforcement to treat them with love and care and sensitivity, and not skepticism. repeat, because

somehow this never shows up on fox news. i want to repeat, because i've said it a lot, unwaveringly, all the time, our law enforcement officers do outstanding work in an incredibly difficult and dangerous job. they put the lives on the line for our safety. we appreciate them and we love them. that's why my task force on 21st century policing made a set of recommendations that i want to o improvemented t their safety as well as make sure our criminal justice system is being applied fairly. bravery show uncommon in our communities every single day. they deserve our respect. that includes women in law enforcement. we need more of you, by the way. we've got an outstanding chief law enforcement officer in our

attorney general, loretta lynch. we want all our young ladies to see what a great role model she is. i just want to repeat, because somehow this never gets on the contradiction between us caring about our law enforcement officers and also making sure that our laws are applied fairly. do not make this as an either/or proposition. we want to protect our police officers. we will do a better job doing it in our community can feel confident that they are being treated fairly. i hope i'm making that clear. [applause] president obama: we need to make sure the laws are applied evenly. this is not a new problem. it's just that in recent months, recent years, suddenly, folks

have videos and body cameras and social media. so it's opened our eyes to these incidents. many of these incidents are subject to ongoing investigation. so i can't comment on every specific one. but we can avoid these tough conversations altogether. that's not going to help our police officers, the vast majority who do the right thing every day, by just pretending these things aren't happening. that's not going to help build trust between them and the communities in which they serve. these are hard issues, but i'm confident we're going to move forward together for a system that is fair and just. we've got good people on both sides of the aisle that are working with law enforcement and local communities to find a better way forward. and as always, change will not happen overnight. it will not be easy.

if our history has taught us anything, it's taught us that when we come together, when we're working with a sense of purpose, when we're listening to one another, when we assume the best rather than the worst, then change happens. helpevery parent, i can't but see the world increasingly through my daughters' eyes. on that day, when we're celebrating that incredible march in selma, i had ms. amelia's hand in one of my hands, and michelle had sasha's hand, and my mother-in-law had malisa's hand, and it was a chan across generations. i thought about all those women who came before us, who risked everything for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. so often without notice, without fanfare. their names never made the history books. all those women who cleaned

somebody else's house, looked after somebody else's children, did somebody else's laundry, got home, did it again, went to church, cooked, then they were marching. and because of them, michelle could cross that bridge. sashae of them, melia and could cross that bridge. and that tells me that if we follow their example, we're going to cross more bridges in the future. if we keep moving forward, hand in hand, god willing, my daughters' children will be able to cross that bridge in an america that's more free, more just, and more prosperous than the one we inherited. your children will too. thank you, cbc. god bless you. god bless this country we love. thank you. [applause] >> tonight on c-span, q and a

with washington post reporter robert costa. later, a discussion on pope francis and his views on capitalism and poverty. >> this week on q and a, "washington post" political national reporter robert costa. he talked about the 2016 presidential campaign any similarities between donald trump and 1992 candidate, businessman ross perot. brian: robert costa of the "washington post." you are quoted as saying my political hero is robert caro, not a politician. robert: exactly right. brian: why? robert: he studies power.