youtube stars are a thing, but c-span's big idea is more relevant today than ever. no government money supports c-span. it's nonpartisan coverage of washington is funded by your cable or satellite provider. online, c-spannd is your unfiltered view of government. so you can make up your own mind. orning is kristen clarke, the president herexecutive director of organization. you testified earlier this month on the rise of hate crimes and white supremacy. what do you attribute to that rise? caller: -- guest: it's an interesting moment in the country the latest fbi data shows a 17% increase in hate crimes, this is a significant spike, bigger than any jump we've seen in recent times. that a lot of the

climate in the country, much that is shaping the climate in the country now, is being informed by what's happening at a policy level. ,o policies like the muslim ban taking away the rights of transgender children, the attacks we are seeing on affirmative action at our nations colleges and universities, have really created a climate in which people of color find themselves with a target on their backs. i'm glad that congress decided to bring attention to this important issue. i think it's critical that lawmakers and our federal government think about what we can do to confront the crisis that we are up against. host: what about the presidents rhetoric? rhetorice president's absolute make the difference. words matter. we are seen the impact down to what's happening inside of public schools. there's a 25% in increase in hate incidents and bullying

inside public schools, no doubt the leader of the free world, and the word that he speaks, matters. this is being done -- host: is this being done by white children against black children? guest: yes. african-american students are the most frequently targeted by hate. we also see hate perpetrated on the basis of religion, muslims and jews have been victimized, and a significant uptake in people who are targeted based on their immigrant status, immigration status or perceived immigration status. host: how was all of this tract? how do we know this? guest: there is data collected by the fbi, the most robust data that we have to work with. it's an interesting question, part of the problem is data collection. we know that a lot of law enforcement agencies fall down

on the job and failed to track and report hate incidents. charlottesville, virginia, for example. that incident is not captured in hate data. that jurisdiction failed to report the horrendous tragedy that unfolded there. the hate crime. and it certainly was. thats the country we know law enforcement agencies failed to report, and that a lot of the victimsoff -- a lot of are reluctant to call 91 to report hate, sometimes because of distrust, or fear that the incidents will not be taken seriously. host: when you testified you were joined on the panel by turning point usa's candace owens. here is what she told lawmakers about white nationalism. [video clip] >> they change the data set point by widening the definition of hate crime and upping the number of reporting agencies that are able to report on them.

they are manipulating statistics. ,he goal here is to scare black hispanic, gays, and muslims, to helping them censor dissenting opinion and helping them regain control of our countries narrative, which they feel that they have lost. they feel that president trump should not have beat hillary. if they were rashly concerned about white nationalism they would be holding hearings on antifa, a far left violent white gang who determined that i, a black woman, was not fit to sit in a restaurant. they chased me out and yelled race traitor to a group of black and hispanic police officer who formed a line of protection. they through water at me, they threw eggs at me, the left media remained silent. they were -- if they were series about the rise of hate crimes, they would have to be examining themselves and the haste they have drummed up in this country. bottom line, white supremacy, racism, why nationalism, words

that once held real meaning have now become election strategies. every four years the black immunity is offered handouts and fear. handouts and fear. reparations and white nationalism, this is the democrats preview. clarke?ofessor guest: her statements were unfortunate don't comport with reality. there has been a 17% increase in reported hate crimes, these are thousands of individuals who have been targeted for violence. one of those victims includes a student at american university who we represented at the lawyers committee for civil rights and we filed suit on behalf of an african-american woman who was elected student president at american and targeted by a group called the daily stormer and their followers. they hung nooses on campus. --ana peels with her rented horrendous messages, acquitting

her to a gorilla. they published her personal information online and instructed people to go out and harass her in the did. and she suffered because of it. we filed a suit to stand up for her, and there are thousands of victims like her across the country. thisunfortunate that witness, candace owens, discounts the reality of victims and survivors in our country. this is not a partisan issue. it impacts everyone. these are crimes whose impacts are felt beyond the individual, these have impacts on entire communities. it's an issue we should be taking seriously. host: we should note that candace owens was scheduled to be a guest on the washington journal on the sunday after that hearing. she declined. we are hoping to reschedule her in the future. john, in tampa, and independent. at the first call, go ahead. caller: the problems your guest

has observed, they are serious, they are bad. one person hating another person based on, y, or z. are exacerbated or increased because of a growing massive transfer of wealth from the middle class and the poor into the hands of a small percentage of individuals, this country is becoming a corrupt kleptocracy. you have campaign contributions on both parties and that started with buckley versus aleo and 76 which equated the graft of big money and political money to freedom of speech. then you had the 82 reagan no strings attached tax cuts for the wealthy. 70% to 30% basically have a situation where your typical representative, the publican or democrat, has to spend 75% of their time drumming up campaign

donors and 25% of their time doing their job. your john, we have heard point. what do you think about economic disparity adding to the tensions between races? guest: i think it's an interesting observation. no doubt in the 1990's the economic recession and downturn u.s. sovereignty was being threatened by growing foreign power. increases in the number of .mmigrants entering the country all it led to a spike in extremism in our country, and culminated in the tragic events that unfolded in oklahoma city when timothy mcveigh, who is an blewle of the very worst up a building leading to the deaths of many people. there are many timothy mcveigh's before thejust

election of president obama, the first african-american president, we saw an uptick of hate and extremism in our country. if you fast-forward to where we are now, we are no doubt seeing a spike that is directly traceable to a president who uses words and launches policies that no doubt put vulnerable communities in our country in a bad place. president trump, on the heels of charlottesville described many of the white supremacists and violence extremists -- violent extremists who gathered as very fine people. and that brought out a moment where we saw white supremacists emboldened, because of what's happening in the country, because we have a president who seems to at minimum tolerate hate. host: jim is next, on the

independent line. caller: good morning. i want to make a comment, i was watching that congressional meeting that you had the clip-on. candace owens is a national treasure. i think she is spot on and everything that she talks about. what was absolutely disgraceful is the left side of the conversation, she was attacked, she was called names, it's unbelievable. especial the congressional leader in his remarks and taking her remarks out of contest -- context. she did ask wayne herself that she your guest -- that your guest mentioned this morning. there are many reports of the president's words and who he was directing his comments to. and people seek out the full version and not just take these clips, which are guest is doing this morning, and turning things

around. and truthfully, you will see that truth and with the president's statement was. end of the left keeps pumping hate into that -- and if the left keeps pumping hate into the ourem, we can't view congressional leaders as unbiased, which we can't anymore, as made clear in that congressional meeting, where can we go with the issue? host: a couple things there. first, candace owens testimony, your reaction to that. and second, this is something that has been brought up. the president said there is very fine people on both sides, people also point to him condemning hate. racism, islamophobia, anti-semitism, bias against l people. lgtbq these are real. there are thousands of people

who are victimized and targeted. this last caller talked about one person, candace owens, and it's hard for me to sit here and talk about her, knowing that there are people and communities out there who are suffering. it's unfortunate that that hearing, which was focused on an incredibly important topic, got wayiled and hijacked in a that so much of the discussion has become about her. the reality is that there are thousands of people who are victimized by hate. communities that are feeling the impact and reeling from the aftermath of hate incidents. that's what i want to focus on this morning. host: olivia, from birmingham, alabama, on the democrat line. caller: please allow me to finish my points as the young man did from massachusetts. clarke, you're are being very real this morning

. i want to say this. some white people, i will judge everyone, some white people, until you wake up, until you wake up and recognize racism, nothing will happen. you have to judge your heart. that man from massachusetts, please take a seat and sit down. let me say this. donald trump is promoting hate and white supremacy in america. i'm scared. i'm afraid. i leave in birmingham, alabama, where dr. king made the statement. if we can capture racism in alabama, we can capture it anywhere. people going he -- some white people are going around white now, calling the police on black people without a reason. wake up america. donald trump is promoting hate.

nobody wants to face that. get on your knees and ask god what is going on. some white people in america need to wake up, we are sick and tired of being sick and tired. host: what about birmingham clarke?miss is this largely in the south are happening all over the country? guest: there is no community .hat is immune there are three african-american churches, three black churches that were just targeted next-door to the caller in louisiana. we see hate all over, in cities, rural america, we are seeing this in majority white areas where minorities are far outnumbered. this is a conversation that we need to be having on a national level. the caller makes clear that emotions are running very high. i think this is a moment for the country to reflect on our

history of racism, and the legacy of slavery. there were more than 4700 african-americans who were lynched in this country. 2019 weortunate that in are still living in a nation that continues to bear witness to her renda's crimes -- horrendous crimes based on a persons color of their skin, lgth, immigration status, tbq status. we need to talk about hate if we are confronting this crisis. host: we are talking with kristen clarke this morning, famously the chief of the civil rights era for the office of the youyork attorney general, are a trial attorney for the civil rights division at the u.s. department -- you were a trial attorney for the u.s.

civil rights division and the u.s.. let's go to south carolina, russell, a democrat. caller: hello? host: we are listening. state, iiving in a red find that the intensity of racism around here in south carolina has risen since 2016. the incidentt where a gun was wrestled away from a man at a waffle house, and the next day the president was at an nra meeting, he did not mention that man is a hero. and if you look at the kentucky shooting, where the man was trying to shoot up a church, he could not get into the church. went and shot two people in cold blood going into a kroger's. when he was caught by a good guy oh, and thehe said

coast guard guy who had all of those arms up to attack obama supporters and hillary supporters, he was a white nationalist. in the president said the other day that he was a nationalist. he didn't use the word white but he didn't have to. it seems to me that the president -- there seems to be a war against black people, not just here, look at yemen. look how they shoot palestinians when they open up the and the sea inns -- in -- the embassy in jerusalem. this happened during the opening of an embassy. it seems to me that there's a war. against alla war people of color. host: your reaction?

i'm glad that he lifted up other hate incidents that happened that have involved victims of color. and he brings up president trump, and the silence from national elected officials is deafening. earningre are churches in louisiana and we don't hear the attorney general coming out to condemn this, we don't hear condemnation from the president. it emboldens a white supremacist group that -- the white supremacist groups that we know are out there, and proliferating by the day. another important issue that we should talk about is how do we strengthen the capacity of local law enforcement to investigate these incidents when they do arise. it's a significant piece of the problem. we forged a partnership with the international association of chief of police where we have identified best practices to

help law enforcement confront hate in their community. of thea critical piece problem that needs to be addressed. role ofat about the social media and the responsibility of companies like facebook and twitter? what role do they have? what role is it playing in what response ability do they have? guest: the threat of hate online is one of the biggest aspects of this crisis. it was the case in the past that people masked themselves behind hoods. today we see a lot of white nationalist anza premises who are behind computer screens, -- and nationalists behind computer dangerousho promote messages, fund raise, who organize rallies and target victims and more. ofve been doing a great deal work with facebook to get them to do more.

ago, has a few weeks abandoned the policy after advocacy from our organization. their former policy was one in which they deemed white supremacist conduct prohibited but carved out an exception for white nationalist and separatist activities. we had to make clear that this is a distinction without a difference. this is all dangerous and violent ideology. they have now abandoned that practice and we are monitoring and watching closely to see how .hat is implemented but no doubt we must not ignore the way in which violent white supremacists are it -- are using these platforms to add to their movement. host: i wonder what your reaction to new zealand's law is after the mosque shootings there. in new zealand, you are prohibited from spreading

violent videos online. when the killer used facebook live, and people spread that video allowed -- around, they committed crime under new zealand law. guest: in many respects new zealand is a model response to what you want to see a nation do in the wake of such her renda's and painful tragedy -- horrendous and painful tragedy. we saw real laws prone the books to confront hate in a bipartisan fashion. rejection of the status quo. we saw people standing up in unity, wearing a his job -- think we can learn something from new zealand. i think we need more courage on the part of lawmakers here, and a recognition that our current approach is not can in turn the tide -- is not going to turn the

tide. host: what did they put on the books? guest: confronting online hate was a big part of this. many will recall the tragic incident was broadcast live on facebook. it exposes the vulnerabilities that we have in the u.s.. we don't have real laws on the book that give us a two way to halt online plant -- to hold online forms accountable for allowing hate to proliferate and spread. as a federal law called the communications decency act which carves out an exception for online companies. it does not deem them liable for content posted by third parties. we are in a world where we rely on companies like facebook to self police. that's not enough. one of the things that we are doing is working with groups and to put anngress

online civil rights bill on the books to give us a real tool in our arsenal to hold online platforms accountable. richard, on the independent line, from north carolina. handling think you are yourself very well and very intelligently, your calm and i'm proud of you. i want to ask you this question. it's my belief that there are some government agencies that are powerful, with lots of resources, that are manufacturing this thing we call race war. careful, if we are not this government agency with a lot of power and resources manufacturing this race war, do so to control it. i would like to ask you this question, what do you think of regional autonomy for the marginalized community?

in the south we have a lot of assets and a lot of power, it's the only place in this country were one can say we own land, and awe have hbcus large population. i think when we join up with the working class, the farmers, the , weso well-off white people can weaken the power of those in the ruling class who are attempting to promote this race for. thank you. -- race war. thank you. host: there is a lot there and i want to parse through that. we should talk about the fbi's black identitys extremist designation. we uncovered evidence about this a few years ago, these reports were deeply troubling because

they harken back to dark days from the civil rights era, when we saw the fbi targeting civil rights leaders and advocates like dr. martin luther king while the fbi was under the leadership of j edgar hoover. they conducted surveillance activities, and they really abused the power of the agency to chill the working efforts of those who were fighting for civil rights and equal justice. right now we are using the freedom of information act to try to shine a light on what the fbi is doing. there is no such thing as black identity extremism, and frankly this is a diversion away from the real threat we face in this country, which is the rise of white supremacists and these organized white nationalist movements. that is one issue. in terms of speaking about political power and propaganda, i want to briefly bring up the

mullah report. -- the mueller report. notof the issues that was focused on is the fact that russian no doubt had influenced our elections, that threat is real, ongoing, and continuous. we know part of their strategy is sowing discord, racial discord. we know they created false pages on online platforms that were designed to polarize black and white communities and cause more inial tension and anxiety communities. so understanding what our government is doing to confront the very lies spread from the russian government is an important question for us to ask . i am heartened to hear the caller's description about his community. he seems to be someone who is

empowered. we sadly know that there are many communities that live in fear, because they live under the shadow of real ongoing white supremacy. millersville, maryland, david is a republican. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm curious as to how donald -- islamislam a phobic aphobic? he banned the arrival of trees -- from 3com from three countries when there are many islamic nations. and i would like to know the thereition of the crowd, are a lot of journalists there, and a lot of them were asking

that were protesting to be taken down. i'm not a fan of confederate statues, they lost the war and i think we should put dr. martin luther king up there instead of them. goodmething that shows the that comes out of our country. but that should be a local issue. at 40 years old, race didn't ,ecome such a forefront issue really in the obama administration i saw big shift when he said the professor at the university who said that he acted stupidly, and he realized that he didn't have the whole story. and trayvon martin, he said that he had a son that was like trayvon -- he said that he could have been trayvon martin. i don't even know what that means. a huge brush fire started.

i'm not sure why we keep this rhetoric going when this could be the least racist time in america, considering my parents during their school years were drinking from separate fountains. host: were going to move on because were running out of time. ms. clarke? yesterday i spent time by a gentleman who was next to heather heyer's when she was killed. the caller brings up the complexity of hate, there are black victims and there are white victims, there are jewish victims and their are muslim victims. hate has an impact on all of us. that's why it's an issue the entire nation should be concerned about. let me echo support for the caller's suggestion that we resurrect more monuments and statues lifting up the legacy of dr. martin luther king. no doubt these confederate monuments were what attracted those white supremacists in white nationalists who converged

in charlottesville that day. we cannot rewrite history, there was not a mix of different people who converged in charlottesville. charlottesville happened because there were white supremacists who organize from places like storm front, dangerous website that we have worked to shut down for some. -- some period of time. they came from different states and converged in that city to wreak havoc and send a message .f fear to african-americans that is why charlottesville aspened, and charlottesville a reminder that everyone at the end of the day can fall victim to hate. host: if you want to learn more about ms. is