then, and announcement from arizona senator jeff flake on his decision to not run for reelection next year. after that, a floor debate from the u.s. house on the budget resolution. and later, remarks from president trump on the national good epidemic. susan: joining us from los angeles is the new president of the naacp, derrick johnson. the 49-year-old lawyer was just selected unanimously by the board to lead the 108-year-old civil rights organization. he is the 19th president. he is just in his first week getting active and involved. we are going to talk about that with our two reporters asking the questions. jesse holland of the associated press. he covers race and ethnicity for the news organization. and eugene scott, political reporter for the "washington post." thanks to both of you. jesse holland, you are up first. jesse: first of all, congratulations on being selected as a president of the naacp. you came out strong in this first week. one of the things that happened this week was that the naacp

issued a travel advisory for american airlines. how has that been received by the naacp members and by the business community at large? derrick: first of all, thank you for having me on the show. i have been involved in the naacp since my college years. much of what i do has been in response to the members that we represent. as a result of the missouri ban that we issued during my tenure as interim president, we recognize that as a powerful tool to inform our members and constituents of concerns that we have identified as an organization. the travel advisory for american airlines, the simple goal was to make sure the members and the african-american community at large will be notified that there is a pattern that we have identified. we want to make sure that when they utilize their dollars to plan their trips for families or business trips, that this is

something that has risen to a level that we are concerned about the organization. the business community and supporters have uploaded --appla uded our approach in this matter. our goal is to be measured, focused, and effective. that will be something i will continue to do in my tenure as naacp president. susan: eugene? eugene: what type of response have you received from american airlines, and specifically the airline industry after the travel advisory? derrick: we have only heard from american airlines. they reached out yesterday. our general counsel spoke to one of their vice presidents. the president of the company has since reached out, and we plan to get on the phone and talk. our goal in this scenario is to make sure that our members are aware of what we have identified as a pattern, we want to work with the company to ensure that

the necessary sensitivities around diversity, particularly african americans, is on the forefront of the employees' mind. we also recognize that when these types of incidents take place, it could be a result of the lack of diversity in the decision-making positions of the company, it could be a lack of diversity among the employees, or the level of sensitivities on how a company makes certain decisions and the customer care they take with our communities. jesse: one of the things you mentioned is the naacp issued a travel advisory when you were interim president for missouri, a state. now you have gone and issued a travel advisory for american airlines, a corporation. are you looking at any other areas that show concern about discrimination or any type of actions against african-americans and other minorities? i know there was talk earlier

this year about the nfl. are you looking at any other areas that possibly the naacp needs to issue an advisory for? derrick: if you look at the current political landscape, as a result of last november's election, we have seen a heightened lack of sensitivity toward race, diversity, and particularly the african-american community. that has brought concern to us as an organization. our goal is to equip our members and the community at large with the information necessary so they can exercise what we are calling dollar discipline. we should practice with our resources in a way in which we can enforce a value system that respects our existence. we are not telling people what not to do or to do, but we want to make sure they have the necessary education to be informed around how they

leverage their dollars in exchange for the respect of our existence as a community, as a race, and to ensure equal protection under application of laws and equal protection in terms of application of a -- of customer relationships. jesse: dollar discipline sounds like another way to say boycott. derrick: we are not suggesting to anyone not to patronize a company or not to visit a particular area. we are saying that as you make your decisions, here is some information or here are a set of factors that have raised some concerns that we want to inform you about. eugene: you mentioned earlier in your previous answer some concerns about the current political climate following the election of president donald trump last november. have you had any conversations -- i know you are just getting into this position, with the white house in terms of future

meetings to discuss many of the issues that naacp members find concerning? derrick: we have not. our goal is to make sure our local units across the country are heard. we want to make sure we understand what are the needs and interests of our local units across the country. how can we be more supportive as a national office, and what are the issues they seek us to respond to as a national organization? that is our primary focus. we are a membership based advocacy organization. we are only strong as our members are informed and our advocacy will be informed by our members input and our goal is to make sure we have input from members as we strengthen our local units across the country. eugene: i know you're still in the process of this listening to tour, but can you share

some of the things you're hearing that are major concerns from the members? derrick: being more responsive. they would like the national office to be more responsive and more timely and how we respond to critical issues. we are hearing that our local units want to be equipped with the tools necessary for the forces to be lifted up our members are telling us they want to be heard. they want to inform the direction and strategy in which we take to provide the necessary support of a national coordination body. that is what we are seeking to the missouri travel advisory was informed by the state of missouri naacp. it was a strong message we received from our members. they are concerned that with the landscape of that state. in response to that, we are supporting their reality. the american airline advisory -- we have had several members impacted by decisions of employees at american airlines

in response to being thrown off the plane. some may recall that in april of last year, our state conference president in north carolina was removed from a plane as a result of another customer creating an atmosphere for him that was not tolerated. they threw him off the plane, not the customer who was calling him names. our goal is to be more responsive to our units and to make sure that we are a strong , coordinated body so that the needs and interests of our communities are addressed. susan: mr. johnson, one of the other things you announced was a desire to change the tax status of your organization, nonprofit still, but a 501(c)(4), which would allow the organization to get more involved at the national level and political advocacy. how do you intend to use that new tax status? derrick: first of all, we will always be a 501(c)(3) organization. our announcement is we would like to have a 501(c)(4) coordinating national presence but our local units are

currently 501(c)(4). they have the ability to do grassroots lobbying and to really raise questions and take positions on policy issues. the national office is limited in our voice. we have a 501(c) charitable status. the announcement in terms of our next step is to make sure we have a 501(c)(4) voice that can coordinate and collaborate much more effectively with our local units so when national policy issues come up, we don't have a cap. we can have the ability to say these things are wrong, and we want our members to vote to ask their representatives to vote the right way, or we have the latitude without any concerns of limitations to leverage our resources in ways in which we can truly impact the formation of public policy at a federal level. jesse: do you have any particular policy already that you know you want the naacp to

step in on? for example, i know the naacp has already sued the administration over daca. are there any other issues you see coming on the horizon that you know the naacp needs to get involved in? derrick: we have the issue around the voting rights act restoration or expanding protections to ensure individuals can cast a ballot free of intimidation or without any voter suppression. we are pleased what took place with the affordable care act. we are concerned with the tax budget policies that we see coming down the pike. we want to make sure individuals who work hard every day who make this country work, they are not fewtaxed so off you -- so a individuals receive tax breaks. there are so many issues that naacp is concerned with.

in a democracy, in order for a two run effectively, african americans along with all americans should have a clear, clean place in the formation of public policy and not allow the capitalist class or 1% class to control the public policy so they can alleviate their tax burden and exploit people for cheap labor, and create a scenario where they control the tax dollars for their economic benefit. eugene: you mentioned voter rights earlier. as we move to the 2018 midterm elections, what is the national organization doing to ensure that its members who are primarily black and therefore do not turn out as high during midterms as they may during general elections or at least compared to white americans, what is the organization doing to increase turnout and encourage its members to participate in this upcoming election? derrick: our goal is to identify what we call infrequent voters. these are african american voters who vote in presidential elections, but the drop off in the midterm election is substantial.

it is incumbent upon the naacp to work with local units and partners in local communities to identify and begin to communicate with those infrequent voters to ensure they turn out to vote in november. it is imperative because november is not only about congressional races or senate races, it is about state legislative races. state legislative races will determine the outcome of the redistricting process. for us, we must have a clear voice on who turns out so that our voices can be heard in the outcome of those elections. it is not that we will pick candidates, but we will work very hard to make sure there is an increase in turnout of infrequent voters in targeted areas. jesse: when you became the interim president, the naacp launched a reimagining, a re-envisioning of what the organization will do in the

future and will be in the future. part of that is because a lot of millennials are not as involved in the naacp now as it would've been in the past. what are you seeing and what are you hearing from millennials as you go around the country on your listening to her bang -- the naacp supporting them on the issues they care about? derrick: let me correct you. the reason why we decided to do a reimagining campaign is to ensure that our local units have a firmer say and how we function -- in how we function as an organization. the strength of any state conference of naacp is based on our local units across the landscape. over time, we became an organization that was more focused on the centralized parent body and less concerned with our units on the ground. our reimagining is how do we breathe life into our strength?

in order for us to do that, we have to reimagine how we function. when it comes to millennials, it is a great opportunity to see so many young people stand up today. i have always said that the young activists of today are the leaders of tomorrow. it is important for the naacp to create a space for young people to have a voice. we have our youth in college division, and we just created a next gen pipeline program so that people have a voice. in addition to that, if young people decide to use other vehicles to raise their voice up, it is incumbent upon us to support that opportunity because social justice is not a competition, it is an opportunity to make the mark of -- to make democracy work for everyone. eugene: when you look at millennial activists and address the many issues that the naacp considers important that are members of the naacp, what are

some of the things the organization has learned or found valuable for next generation of leaders trying to address the same issues that your organization has historically? derrick: the use of social media has truly democratized how we communicate and learn about trends and movements. the millennials understand that far better than any other legacy organization. that is the number one lesson we have learned and seen over time. i think that trayvon martin was one of the tipping point and ferguson was the accelerator. for the naacp and other organizations, we need to learn and understand how we better leverage social media so we can control the narrative of what we do and control the narrative of what outcomes we seek him and we can control the narrative of the successes that are taken place across the landscape. jesse: for years, the naacp boycott of the state of south carolina until the state took down the confederate flag from

the statehouse grounds. the naacp is boycotting north carolina because of some of the policies that the conservative legislature has put forward. when you deal with boycotts and now the travel advisories, how do you determine success? how do you know whether these travel advisories in missouri and against american airlines and the boycott against north carolina -- how do you know they are working? how do you know you are being successful? derrick: in south carolina, all the data suggested that it was successful. it was protracted. it was over 15 years. if you look at the economic data, there were several entities that stopped going to south carolina. success was when the flag came down. unfortunately, it took the massacre of nine people in a church to get the attention of individuals that it was time to change the image that represent the state. unfortunately, we still have the state of mississippi that continues to bear an emblem in that state flag that represents racial hatred and oppression and

segregation and slavery. it needs to come down. and south carolina, it was not a complete boycott that we called for. we did say that we would not, as an organization, meet in north hb2 is addressed. we did not say boycott the state of north carolina. as a result of the governor's election and modifications to the public policy in north hb2, we aree to revisiting whether or not we should now lift us as an organization from holding meetings in the state of north carolina. susan: we have seven minutes left. i wanted to ask you in a general sense, when you look at the u.s. department of justice under the leadership of attorney general jeff sessions, what do you see on the issues of most interest to the naacp? derrick: well, the problem is that there is a key factor to ensure equal protection under laws for our citizens be we are

citizens. -- for our citizens. we are concerned with how this administration views access to voting. the commission is very concerning heard it was not only vote suppression method in terms of collapsing the lists and provide to an outside source, and it also fans the flames of some type of voter fraud that doesn't exist. we are concerned with criminal justice and how the doj has begun to rescind orders to ensure that police departments are protecting and serving and not over policing in certain communities. the problem of justice has far-reaching applications. even in jeff sessions' home state of alabama, we just watch who sated an individual in pretrial detention for 10 years, and when the trial finally came up, he was convicted and it is questionable whether or not the conviction should stand. we need the justice department to step in those scenarios to make sure the application of law

when the state is potentially in violation of the constitution is held accountable. the department of justice did not step in for that scenario in alabama. it is very concerning to have an administration who does not respect equal protection of law for all its and seeks to -- it's citizens and seeks to suppress access to democracy through voting. eugene: during the 2016 campaign, president trump spoke very frequently about his commitment to address issues related to crime in inner cities and phenomenally black -- predominately black communities, telling black voters they had nothing to lose and voting for him. you have expressed significant concern about this justice department and how it has responded to criminal justice issues. have you had any follow-up from the trump administration regarding your concerns about these issues? derrick: it has always been said that elections have consequences. we are seeing the consequences

of this past election. when you look at daca and when you look at the administration's reversing orders to ensure police departments are held accountable and are monitored as a result of bad policing in particular jurisdictions. when you look at this administration's view of access to voting to ensure that all citizens are able to cast their vote free of any vote suppression tactics, any number of measures. when you look at tax policy, which is the key to any society and the uneven distribution of tax burdens that this administration is advocating for. elections have consequences. when the president says what do african-americans have to lose, they have everything to lose but we are seeing the result of the laws over the last 11 months. jesse: with the naacp coming up with a 501(c)(4) voice in the future, do you see that voice

endorsing specific candidates or issues in the midterm elections or the next presidential election? derrick: the naacp internally does not endorse candidates or political parties. i don't foresee that changing. we will, however, have a stronger voice in endorsing and promoting issues. does for us, we understand that we have members who are members of all parties, republican, democrat, green party, and that is the strength of the association. the african-american community is not a monolith. we cannot function as a monolith. we do have particular interest s and concerns and needs that we are advocating for, and that is where we will have a stronger voice in advocating for those issues. jesse: can you give us an example of one of those issues that you think the naacp might get in on in the future elections? derrick: some of the issues may be state-by-state, where they are about initiatives. some of the issues may be

national. for example, we just went through the question around the affordable care act. we would have had a stronger voice in advocating for an affordable care act that was more amendable to the quality of life that we would like to see all citizens have. we want to have a stronger voice around the implementation of the voting rights act. more important, how do we expand? how do we look at something like the voting in the nature of australia and other countries? how do we look at a national amendment around the right to vote to ensure that states are unable to implement voter suppression measures? those are the types of issues we would like to take on and have a stronger policy voice around. susan: a final question from you? eugene: is there anything that you think people who are not as familiar with the naacp need to know about the organization and

its focuses? derrick: we are the national association for the advancement of colored people. we are not just for african-americans. many of the things we have done over the century that we have been in existence has benefited the greater society. when we advocate for quality education for all children, that is not just african-american children, that is all children. when we advocate for a strong democracy and access to voting. that is not just for african-american. -- african-americans, that is for all communities. if you look at what our membership makes up, we are not an exclusive african-american organization. we have individuals who are members of all races. we have officers and local presidents who are latino and who are white and male and female, young and old. we are as diverse as the african-american and broader communities in this countries -- country reflects. susan: mr. johnson, new president of the naacp, thank you very much for being our guest on "newsmakers."

as your tenure continues, i hope you will come back. derrick: thank you. susan: gentlemen, i want to start with inside baseball with the naacp. its strength may also be some of its challenges. it is 108 years old 2200 chapters, which means bureaucracy. when you look at polling numbers of african americans and you ask who identifies for their issues, more often you are seeing groups like black lives matter above the naacp. what are the challenges that derrick johnson has in taking on this job? eugene: visibility is one of them. to his points about black lives matter, one of the challenges that the naacp does have is that black lives matter has been incredibly effective in getting their message out because of social media and because there are so many young voices in black lives matter that have their own followings and reach an are just influential in different spaces. so figuring out who can have the same impact within this organization or reach will be a bit of a challenge.

jesse: one of the advantages that the naacp has is that it has been around for so long, and it also has a financial structure that a lot of the smaller groups don't have. they need to find a way to almost co-op the message of these in younger groups and bring them into the full so they -- into the fold -- into so thy can revitalize the organization that has been there and probably will be there 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. susan: as we were talking before we started taping, money is also the big factor in this. the naacp has the brand name and the reputation that goes along with it. does that also translate to where the dollars are going? jesse: that is one of the things the naacp really needs to be careful about. as these in the groups come up, they are going to start fundraising for their issues as well. there is only a finite amount of money out there for groups like the naacp. they have to be a little

concerned about the rise of these smaller groups and taking away from the base that they have fund raised for years. they need to find a way to reinvent themselves and bring in some of these smaller groups so the pot of money does not diminish for them. eugene: what is really important about that is that you often hear the idea of the warring of the saints and people competing for the same dollars. i think many activists i speak to want to communicate that there is room for everyone at the table, and that they do not need to focus on infighting within the community, but focus on uniting and addressing the issues that they all have a the table, and that they do not problem with. i think finding lanes and just initiatives that various groups can focus on and perhaps own could help make that a little easier. jesse: i don't want us to make more of this than what it is right now. in the past, the naacp coexisted with core, the nclc. problem with. it's not like they don't know how to do it. but over the last few years, we have seen such a rise and groups

groups like black lives matter through their use of social media and through their use of a protests, which used to be the naacp's calling card. black lives matter and others took that model and revitalized it and used it to such success over the last years, the naacp has to be taking notice and as we can see from president johnson's actions as interim chair and now president, he is moving toward getting the naacp back on the front lines. eugene: along those lines what has been interesting is watching the black lives matter movement become more vocal and partnering with social justice movements that aren't necessarily focused on race. blm has been vocal related to lgbt issues and immigration issues and women's issues. that brings in so many different voices and ideas and resources that may not exist within spaces that primarily focus on race-based discrimination.

susan: on the other hand, naacp is involved in daca, which may be in the house very soon and also they have been involved in charter school movement, which they are not fans of. i wanted to ask you, especially , because your focus is on politics, how significant is this move to a 501(c)(4) enabling them to get involved in issues with dollars? eugene: that is really going to matter, particularly in the midterm election, if they are trying to figure out ways to increase turnout if they can communicate very specifically to voters about issues. i think a lot of voters, especially young voters, are incredibly disillusioned and are not excited about getting behind individuals and personalities, despite what we saw in 2016, which i would argue was a very personality driven election. if you can say this issue, charter school issue, immigration issue, health-care issue is something you should be concerned about and you need to get behind ideas that support this lane, i think that could be

very effective. susan: last question, turning to the local chapters. when you look through news clips, some of them seem to be very assertive in the local community. how much power do some of these larger local chapters of naacp have? jesse: they have lots of power. i find it interesting that the new president of the naacp used to be the president of a strong local chapter in mississippi. i think this is a little bit of a return for the naacp back to its power base, which has always been the local chapters. we see william barber in north carolina. we see the actions taken by the missouri state naacp on the travel advisory. i think this is a return for the naacp back to its roots where what was going on in the ground was most important and not what was going on at headquarters in baltimore. i think that is the move where they are trying to go. only time will tell whether it is effective or not.

eugene: i feel that is a microcosm that is happening nationally. in the democratic and republican party, there are so many people trying to go more grassroots and figure out what the people are doing as opposed to people at headquarters. susan: we have gotten him in his very first week in office. it will be very interesting to see how he shapes the organization in the months ahead. thanks to both of you for your questions. eugene: thank you for having me. jesse: thank you. >> >> still to come, and announced by jennifer stood -- senator jeff flake. plus, the house on the budget resolution. after that, remarks from president trump on the national opioid epidemic. then, a look at the federal government's preparedness for hurricane season. q&a.is week on

>> their target was charles murray. i was behind him. it intends a five and look like he was going to fall to the ground. he is a 74-year-old man. i did what any decent human being would do when you see a 74-year-old man find to the ground, i grabbed his arm to make sure he didn't fall. fearful of being separated from them and being left behind. whenk his arm, and that is it all turned on me. somebody pulled my hair and body slammed me. >> allison stinger discusses a violent protest. professorsure -- allison stinger tonight on c-span's q&a. on monday, testimony from

secretary james mattis and secretary of state wrecks tillerson on military authorization powers. they will be speaking before the senate foreign relations committee starting live at 5:00 eastern on c-span. you can also watch live online at c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. tuesday, fema administrator testifies on the federal government's response to the 2017 hurricane season. following major hurricanes like harvey, maria. on starts live on c-span tuesday. this week, sen. jeff flake announces he will not seek reelection next year. the arizona republican is currently in his first term as senator. he came to the floor to discuss his decision. this is 20 minutes.