key issues among iraqis or afghans. influence is considerable. heads of state or government, very anxious to meet with you. >> sunday night on "q&a," former ambassador to iraq and afghanistan, discusses his memoir, the envoy from kabul to the white house. >> we saw the extremists exploited, although we corrected it towards the end of the period i was there by the surge, by reaching out to the sunnis and building up iraqi forces and establishing a unity government to bring about security, violence was way down, but unfortunately when we left and the vacuum was filled by rival regional powers, pulling iraq part and now we have isis.

>> sunday night on c-span at 8:00 earn. >> michelle obama was the commencement speaker for jackson state university. in her speech, she discussed the school's segregated past and encouraged the students their right to vote. his is 30 minutes. mrs. obama: let me thank the dock for for that wonderful introduction and leadership of this fine university. and i thank the representatives and all the elected officials and members of congress who are here with us today as well as mr. perry, all of the trustees, dr. blaine, reverend rodes and all of the faculty and staff here at jackson state.

let's take a moment to give it up to the people who helped get you here. thank you for your incredible hospitality. i may be a little jet lagged, but i'm here right now to celebrate all of you, so i'm grateful. i have to thank the band and both of the choirs today for the beautiful music. you all are amazing. and of course, before we go way in, we have to give it up to all the folks in the stands who helped you all get here, the moms and dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents, cousins, friends, neighbors. all you all must give it up! give it up! [cheers and applause] mrs. obama: and finally, most of all, i wanted to join in congratulating,', what a

good-looking group, the men and women of jackson state university class of 2016! whoa! you all deserve all of that and more because i know how hard you worked studying late into the night, writing and rewriting those papers, taking all those exams. all my lord. but i heard you like to have some fun over these past years as well, hanging out at gibbs green plaza and turning up on hot spot fridays at the shores shoe. don't get too excited. mom and dads are in the stands. rocking the house with one of the best bands in the country, the sonic boom of the south. [applause] mrs. obama: together, you all are the superb 16 as i hear you

call your seves. and you are about to join a storied legacy from this university, a school that began as a tiny baptist see himary, just 20 students strong, just 20 students, but the legacy that reaches across the country and the state and right here into this very stadium. and that's where i would like to start my remarks today with this storied stadium and its place in our nation's history. back in 1950 when this stadium was built, it was one of the finest stadiums in the country, quickly became the pride of mississippi. but the story of the beautiful complex has a darker side. for years, it stood as a steel and concrete tribute to segregation because similar crow

because only white people were allowed through these gates. ack in 1962 during an ole miss football game, the stadium was a pro--jim crow rally and singing called "no, never." by half time they convinced the governor to even speak. he said there are three sentences, he said i love mississippi, i love her people and our customs and i love and respect our heritage and the crowd went wild because they knew what he meant. that game was just one small moment in a struggle of civil rights that inflamed this entire country, but often burned hottest right here in mississippi, the state where a 14-year-old boy was beaten and

murdered where medgar evers was assassinated and freedom riders overflowed the jails and gunshots would ring out on your campus, killing young people and bullet holes still seen today. it was against that backdrop that one day in october of 1967, something truly extraordinary happened in this stadium. for years, legal and political pressures had been mounting for the state to be segregated. and that fall, the state finally announced that for the first time, two black teens would get to play in this stadium. those teens were gram bling state and of course your own jack son state tigers. [applause] mrs. obama: just think for a moment, you can only imagine the pressure those teens and their fans were feeling, for so long

this field had been the pride of white and white-only mississippi and now black fans would fill these stands. comblack coaches would patrol these sidelines, black players would sweat and bleed on this field. how would the world respond? with those forces of segregation rise up in protest or worst? as one of the players at the time said, this is a quote, he said, there was potential for it to become a very ugly situation. so the jackson state coach at the time thought hard about hard about how to prepare his team and he told his players to stay focused on two goals. team. st, beat the other the second, he said, rise above the frayed and set a good example. he said because of the whole

state, the whole country would be watching. so the players made sure their shoes were shined, their laces tied. they took special pains not to accidentally break anything in the locker room or walk out with a towel, and one of the players said we wanted to be representative of our families, our hometowns, our communities. we wanted to take care of that stadium as much as we could so it would be there for the next black teen. and then they went out and played their hearts out. and jackson state won that game giving bram bling its only loss of the season. but most importantly, the world saw what would happen when black folks came into this stadium, what did they see? they saw people enjoying a football game. they saw the same kind of skill

and sportsmanship and strategy and strategy this game hosted before. so by simply showing and displaying sportsmanship, the players, coaches and fans joined the long line of heroes who made history in our school houses, department stores and lunch counters, all of them using the same approach that has always moved this country forward. they didn't stoop to the level of those who sought to oppress them. just the opposite. they rose up. they combated small-mindedness with dignity, integrity and excellence. that is the well worn past to dr. king's mountaintop that so many men and women before us have taken.

famous civil rights and ordinary folks who faced down batons and with hope and steadfast determination, dr. king said darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. hate cannot drive that out. only love can do that. and graduates, i'm here today to tell you that that approach to life isn't just something you should read about in the history books. it's a road map for how to live your lives every single day. and how do i know? because i have seen the power of that approach up close and personal. see, when i hear words like dignity and excellence, i think about my husband. cheers and applause] mrs. obama: see, i know i'm biased and i do think he's cute,

too. [cheers and applause] mrs. obama: as i have walked this journey with barack, i have a good look to look at what it means to rise above the fray and what it means to set your lives on the horizon and make things better for those who will come after you. i have seen how no matter what kind of ugliness is going on, barack always stays the course. i have watched him stay up night after night, writing, reading and wrestling with the impossible decisions that a president is forced to make. i have been inspired by his tireless efforts to engage people of all backgrounds, respectfully listening to folks who disagree with him, bringing folks together to solve our common problems and week after week, i see him read the letters he gets from people across this

country and he wrice back because he knows that they are who he serves. i see him dedicating himself folks who are on the emergencyins. that is the work of his life from his days as a community organizer in chicago tore time in the white house today. and we all know that empathy, that preparation, that moral compass, that work ethic has led to so much progress over the past seven years. we have gone from the brink of another great depression to our businesses creating more than 14 million new jobs. our unemployment rate has been cut in half. our ziferts are down by 2/3. our high school graduation rates are the highest rate on records. 20 million more people have health insurance and people in this country are finally free to

marry the person they love. and on the global stage, the vast majority of our troops are home today and we aren't putting our heads in the sand on climate change. we are leading the way to stop it. i could go on and on, but that's the progress we have seen under this president. that's the kind of change we hope was possible eight years ago. yet, too often, instead of acknowledging or celebrating this change, we have a tendency to focus on conflict and controversy. we pay attention to those who are blocking judges, blocking immigration, just blocking. we are consumed with the anger the that is bubbling with folks shouting at each other, using hateful and divisive language and when that language gets personal and is directed at my

husband. charges that he doesn't love our country, the time he was called a liar in front of a joint session of congress, the nonstop questions about his birth certificate and his belief in god. now i know that politics you has always been a rough sport. i know that well-meaning folks can get heated in the midst of contentious debate and in light of 24 hours news cycle and our facebook fees are limited and our tvs and radios are exclusively tuned into hotel us only what we want to hear, it's not surprising that our disagreements have become more personal, more intense. it's not surprising that we demean or dismiss opinions that are different than our own.

but we would be kidding ourselves if we didn't acknowledge that those age-old issues that have always roiled our country, the problems that folks would brush under the rug, those challenges are still with us today. we can't deny it. however, graduates, even in these volatile times, it would be unfair for us to ignore the chages we have seen in a generation. no longer can we be barred from a university or forced to use a separate bathroom or fountain because of the color of our skin. no one is going to poll test us by demanding that we cite the constitution or correctly guess the number of jelly beans in a jar before we are allowed to vote. so yes, we continue to make progress here in america. but we also know that the

shadows of the past have not completely disappeared. despite all the progress we have made, i know that so many of you still see these shadows every single day. maybe it's when you are driving somewhere and you stop for no particular reason, maybe it's e store, folks keep an extra close eye and folks cross the street when they see you coming or when the early voting location in your neighborhood happens to be closed or laws are passed about what you need to cast your vote and the laws are very much separate or unequal or the criminal justice system that doesn't provide truly equal justice for far too many or those neighborhoods that tr struggling still to overcome the painful legacy of the past. i wish i could say otherwise,

graduates, but the question isn't whether you are going to come face to face with these issues, the question is how you are going to respond when you do. are you going to throw up your hands and say that progress will never come? are you going to get angry and lash out? are you going to turn inwards and just give in to despair and frustration? or are you going to take a deep breath, straighten your shoulder, lift up your head and do what barack obama has always done as he says, when they go low, i go high. [cheers and applause] mrs. obama: that's the choice, barack and i have made. that's what has kept us sane over the years. simply do not allow fate in our hearts, minds and souls for

darkness. instead, we choose faith, faith in ourgses and faith in our god who is overwhelming love sustains us every single day. that's what we choose. we choose love, our love for our children, our commitment to leaving them a better world, our love for our country, which has given us so many blessings and advantages, a love for our fellow citizens, parents, working hard to support their kids, men and women in uniform who risk everything to keep us safe. young people from the toughest backgrounds who never stopped believing in their dreams, young people like so many of you. that's what we choose. and we choose excellence. we choose to tune out all the noise and strive for excellence in everything we do, no cutting

corners, no taking shortcuts, no whining, we give 120% every time because excellence, excellence is the most powerful answer you can give to the doubters and the haters. . [cheers and applause] mrs. obama: it's also the most powerful thing you can do for yourself, because the process of striving and struggling and pushing yourself to new heights, see that's how you develop your god-given talents. that's how you make yourself stronger and smarter and more able to make a difference to others. those are the choices that barack and i have made, because in the end, we know our history and we know that there will always be challenges and obstacles. but we also know that we are dealing -- what we are dealing with today is nothing, nothing

compared to the violence, discrimation and hatred that folks faced decades ago. and while this may feel like a volatile time and we might be horrified by the divisive rhetoric we are hearing in our public conversation, while we may be broken hearted that we are steel dealing with poverty, mass incarceration and gun violence, it is remarkable progress that these issues are seeing the light of day at all. it is remarkable progress that the vast majority of americans in all corners of the country veemently disagree with this hateful language. it is remarkable progress that we are having these conversations on a national level and not in just black communities but all communities. so graduates, make no mistake about it, tch moment presents a

historic opportunity for change and your generation, more than any generation in our history truly has the tools and opportunities you need to seize this moment. i want you to think about the statistics. today more african-americans are graduating from college, succeeding in our workplaces, taking on positions of leadership and reporting greater optimism about the future and optimism by the way, that i very much share. so the question is are you ready to step up and use your power and your privilege to make change? will you honor the legacy of those who came before you who fought so hard and sacrificed so much being in this stadium wearing those beautiful caps and gowns today. and if you have any questions as to what that legacy is, let me

just share with you a quick story. several months ago, i was meeting with a group of teenaged girls from washington d.c. and one of them asked me what do you think dr. king would say about what is going on today? and i told her none of this can answer that question but i said dr. king would answer with a simple question and that is, did you vote? did you vote? i told the young woman, i said dr. king would be concerned that folks like med engineer evers that today and almost every election, more half of young african-americans have disenfranchised themselves. african-american youth have turned out with less than 20%. fewer than one in five of our young people have voted and here in mississippi it was lower.

but what dr. king understood was that one of the shurest paths to progress here in america runs straight to the voting booth. that's been the key to every single stride we have ever taken in this country from fighting discrimation to passing health care. it all starts with the ballot. so graduates, as you seek to develop your own strategy to address the problems that still plague our communities, i just ask you to remember that the power of voting is real and lasting. so you can hashtag but the social media movements will disappear faster than a snapshot if you are also not registered to vote, if you are also not sending in your absentee ballots. if we fail to exercise our fundamental rights to vote, then i guarantee that so much of the

progress we fought for will be under threat. congress will still be gridlocked. state houses will roll back voting rights. we see it right here in mississippi, just two weeks ago how swiftly progress can hurdle progress, and single out a small group and marginalize them because of who they love and who they love. straight gay, by sexual, muslim, ju, christian, hindu, native american because the march for civil rights isn't just about african-americans but about all americans and making things more just, more equal, more free for all our kids and grandkids. that's the story you all have the opportunity to right. that's what this historic university has prepared you to do. and graduates, when you

encounter small slites or small people, i hope and i pray that you stand tall and respond with dignity and grace because no one , no one ever succeeds in this world by playing small. and finally, graduates, i just want you to remember that decades from now, someone will be standing here where i'm standing today and they will be telling that new class of graduates about all of you. so we're counting on you to live lives worthy of retelling, lives that will inspire our next generation to keep walking that path to righteousness and doing the work to fulfill that dream, because here's the thing. i know you can do that and so much more. that's why i'm here. i'm so proud of you all for making it to this day for pushing and fighting, because i

know that if you hold tight to the example of the folks who led us this far, if you choose faith and love, if you strive always for dignity and excellence, then there is absolutely nothing you can't achieve. i say that from the bottom of my heart because i'm not here because i'm special, i'm with you. and if i can be here, you can do it, too. and if you ever doubt the impact you can have, i just want you to think back to the story of this school, this great school that you are now a part of, that tiny little see himary and now a distinguished university, one of the most largest in the country, pushing our alma mater science, arts and technology, you all, that's your legacy and

jackson state football coach that helped desegregate this stadium, his full name is rod paige and he was our first african-american secretary of education. and as for that rally for segregation in these stands singing "never, no, never." and we elected an african-american president for a second term saying yes, we can. graduates, that's what is possible in this country of ours. that is the direction history can take when passionate, courageous young people like all of you step up and lead the way. i know you got it in you. i can feel it right from here. and as you say here in jackson state, the world better get ready because here you all come.

i love you all so much. i hope you have a phenomenal day. i will pray for you every step of the way. god bless you all. good luck in the road ahead. [cheers and applause] proud of you all. proud of you guys. do it. get it done. it's your day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by ational captioning institute]

>> it isn't something that is an abstract anymore but something that across this country means something because this is a big city that was attacked. this could happen anywhere. >> we'll talk to a san bernandino councilman about

establishing a permanent memorial. >> it provides a sense of remembrance. it highlights their lives and what they contributed to our local community and always will be near and dear place for us for us to provide a place for ser enti. a ser enti garden, chapel in and around this area. >> on book tv, we'll learn about wyatt erp. his book tooks about his not right. >> the connection they have to san bernandino county dates back of wyatthen the father erp who is the most well named nicholas erp. he was -- left his family temporarily. they were living in illinois. he heard about the gold rush up

in northern california. he went back to the midwest and ventured down to southern california and he vowed that one day he would come back to san bernandino. >> american history tv, we will visit the railroad museum and talk about the importance of the railroad with the historical society vice president located n the 1918 santa fe depot. 100 yards of east that burnt here in 1860. why it was built a lot larger. they decided to house the division headquarters at that time. >> watch the city's tour throughout the day om book tv d sunday afternoon ol c-span

3. the c-span cities tour and visiting cities across the country. >> a conversation with former secretary of state henry kissinger, followed by president obama and the teacher of the year at a white house ceremony earlier this week. and representative john lewis is horpped by the holocaust museum. >> policy makers veterans and activists. he talked about his role during the war and the events that led to the u.s. withdrawal more than 40 years ago. this was held in austin, texas. an hour and 15 minutes.