reporter pierre-antoine louis review some of the issues affecting that community. as always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on this book and twitter as well. "washington journal"washington . ♪ host: good morning. two hours ago other white house press secretary sarah sanders confirming that president trump and kim jong-un have traded for -- letters in recent weeks, leading to speculation that there may be a third summit in the works between the leaders. weekend, the president pulling back from his threat to deport illegal immigrants after nancy pelosi urged the president to back down. the planned massive round up of illegal immigrants by ice is being delayed for two weeks. democratickend of

presidential politics in south carolina as the candidates try to sway a key constituency, the african-american vote in that pivotal primary state is our starting point this morning. thanks for being with us. we want to hear from black voters only in the first 30 five minutes as to whether it's a donald trump, another whoblican, or a democrat, is choice in 202020? our phone lines are open. (202) 748-8000 if you live in the eastern or central towns of astime zones, (202) 748-8001 you live in mountain and pacific. black voters only. you can wit -- weigh in on social media or facebook. morning, thanks for being with us, a lot to talk about, we will reflect on the 50th anniversary of the stonewall riots coming up at 8:30. but we want to begin with --sidential cup politics

presidential politics in south carolina. we were live friday evening with andjuke clyburn fish fry the planned parenthood conference. we will have highlights from the party convention. this is the headline from the state newspaper in columbia, south carolina, "spectacle or scripted, how some democrats try ." stay -- stand out "no candidate was willing to go after anyone else perhaps to keep the peace over the weekend before the debates next week and they are forced to beckon with each other us politics and policies -- we will begin with senator kamala harris. [video clip] wejust last week commemorated the four-year emmanuelry of the

nine, recognizing the heroes and the sacrifice and the fact that there is still so much to fight for in our country. we look at the great heroes and the leaders who have come out of south carolina. the friendship nine. we look at the orangeburg protesters and we know that they believed in a nation of equality where everyone counted. they were of deep faith and understood what could be unburdened by what has been and it is upon their shoulders that we now stand, charged with the ofy and the responsibility understanding what can be an fighting to get there. that is our responsibility. you know, i was raised in a family of civil rights fighters. raised in a community where we were taught don't you hear know when they say it. know where we are and know and see the vision and the deep of faith in knowing that you can can't see,ybe others

but you can help them get there. you can help the air. but it will take a lot of work. it will a lot of work. -before you as candidate president of the united states to help the nation see what can be and see the vision of the our past.specting i know that in this white house hehave a president who says wants to make america great again. what does that mean? does that mean he wants to take us back to before schools were integrated? to back before the voting rights act was enacted? back to before when the civil rights act was enacted? does he want to take us back before roe v. wade was enacted? because we are not going back. host: that from senator kamala harris in columbia, south carolina. this tweet --

"it is what elevates mr. biden host: let's get to your phone

calls on all of this. audrey is joining us from macon, georgia, this sunday morning. go ahead, please. yes, good morning. you know, my first choice would be joe biden. second choice would be pete buttigieg. i would vote for a dog before i vote for trump. host: thank you. let's go to willie, dayton, ohio. good morning, willy. caller: how you doing this morning? host: fine, thank you. caller: my choice right now would be kamala harris. that would be it for me. we will go to william in houston, texas, your first choice for 2020? realistically, with all of foreign-policy experience and a multicultural vote, that would

be joe biden. not justy this to african-americans, but anyone, especially the younger students, do not stay at home this time. ok? without a full democratic congress, senate, and presidency , nothing else can be done, you know? without a coalition of the three. realistically we are looking to find someone who can fight for classor, for the middle it is dwindling every day and can bring out a multicultural vote. the lack of experience on the world stage of the other voters, it's just not going to happen. host: do you have a second choice if not joe biden? caller: absolutely not. host: thank you very much for

the call. glenn, lakeland, florida. caller: how you doing? host: who is your choice for 2020, glenn? caller: so far i'm undecided. host: anyone you are keeping a close eye on or favoring at the moment? i listen everybody, right now is too early. we have a lot of time left and i haven't heard many specifics from anybody. you hear a lot of general things about student debt, doing this and that, but i need specifics. anybody is better than donald trump, i would never vote for him, but i need specifics. people out here, black people are asking for more specifics and we are not getting that yet. it's good to get a speech, but i can start tos so i determine what separates people from the pack. joe biden, because he was the vice president under obama has an advantage and that's why he

has an advantage, but we don't know exactly what he will do. he's older, he has more but the republicans, that's cut off. moderates, people in the middle? there's no guarantee he could make that happen. when the former vice president talks about civility and working across the aisle, does that, do you like that or do you think the two parties need to be more partisan? the civility part can work. the problem is, when was the last time it actually happened? it didn't happen under obama. the republicans dedicated themselves on day one to work against him. they didn't work at him. the days of the moderate middle republicans deciding to get things done, those days are over.

host: a story from politico that has been reverberating this week, "what mayor pete could not ,ix about the south bend cops stepping into the middle of the tenses to moment of the nearly eight-year career as mayor, protesters anchored by a police shooting, pressing a list of 10 demands into his hands it on the list what he supported, an independent investigation by the justice department host: here is more with mayor

pete buttigieg, who talked more about the instant -- incident in columbia, south carolina. [video clip] be with you.l to it's been a challenging week act home. i've been helping my community moved to a tragic shooting of a resident of our community by a police officer. it is as if one member of our family died at the hands of another. and even as an outside process works to determine what happened , we already know why such deep wounds are surfacing. hurts. whole community but i also wanted to tell you that my community is full of people who believe in safety and justice. we will heal and we will become stronger in the broken places. when a city is challenged, just as when a nation is challenged,

the most important thing you can fall back on is your values and i'm here to talk about the values that make us democrats because i am sick of the word of values being talked about like it only belongs on one side of the aisle. [applause] security,e freedom, and democracy are not conservative values, they are american values. host: columbia, south carolina, the mayor of south bend indiana, pete buttigieg, and candidates appearing on the debate stage for the first time wednesday and thursday with debates airing on nbc and msnbc. the president, by the way, traveling to japan for the g20 summit. we much a hear from black voters in 2020.r choice pocatello, idaho, good morning. they are all good in

them that we have a lot of choices. if i voted right now i would vote for joe biden and hopefully that o'rourke is on the ticket -- beto o'rourke is on the ticket. host: thank you for the call. from deep rooted -- gloria is joining us from windsor bill, maryland, good morning. caller: hi, good morning. i watched the debates yesterday and i also watched the c-span version of some of the candidates from planned parenthood just to get there different takes on different issues that are affecting our whole community. right now i am undecided, i think i'm leaning towards kamala harris or elizabeth warren. i want to see a woman in office. i think hillary clinton got very

close last election cycle and, unfortunately, you know, some outside forces were able to infiltrate our system. i would like to see someone kind of stand up to the president now with his bullying. i just don't want us to get you know, his viral tactics, calling people names and bullying and things like that. i really hope that next week's debate will focus on the issues like the plight of black america, black lives matter, abortion rights, choosing , thes, the police force justice system, the criminal justice system, i want to focus on things that will help the black community without getting down in the dirt with donald trump in saying that we have issues that really concern america as a whole. i just don't want us to get into these candidates running

all have good things to say, you know? bernie sanders, better or rourke, pete buttigieg, joe biden, i like them all. i hope that we can stay above the fray and not get down and dirty in the weeds with donald trump. host: thank you for the call. post,"om "the washington "black voters cutting biden slack for now." a photograph of jim clyburn at his as they say world-famous fish fry in columbia, south carolina. we carry it live on c-span television. we did intend to carry the south carolina democratic party convention but were restricted, so carried by the planned parenthood event and today we are in south carolina again, town hall for a

meeting with senator bernie sanders the gets underway here at 3:00 eastern time and is also available on the free c-span radio app. because the african-american vote is so pivotal in south carolina, we are dedicating our calls to the black vote or two as we choice is for 2020. martin is joining us out west in bellingham, washington. good morning. caller: good morning to you. i am firmly behind bernie sanders. he has got the most comprehensive platform. i have been watching some of the before,hat happened during, and after the great depression of the 30's on the computer, streaming. all of those things connect with what bernie sanders has to say. big fan of his before hillary stole it from in less time and i'm a big fan of his now. host: do you have a second

choice? guest: -- caller: yes, kamala harris. from the state party convention yesterday in columbia, south carolina, and senator sanders. [video clip] >> 100 and 54 years after juneteenth we have a racial gap that leaves the average black family with 10 times less wealth than the average white family. we have seen the infant mortality rate in black communities more than double that for white communities. we see young people, african-americans graduating more -- with more debt. we see black women making 61% of what what men make. -- white men make. you know what? we are going to end that

absurdities. [applause] we have a criminal justice system plagued by rick -- plagued by racism and we have seen an increase in hate crimes, including the horrific massacre at the emmanuel ame church in charleston. this is unacceptable and, as president, i will make it my priority not only to eliminate national economic disparities, but racial disparities once and for all. the state party convention in columbia, south carolina, senator sanders. we welcome our listeners here in the greater d.c. area and also coast to coast on serious xm -- .erious xm joe, jasper, florida, good morning. caller: good morning.

host: you are on the air, go ahead. caller: thank you. i am voting for donald john trump in 2020, i believe in his policies, i like his leadership style. however, i don't like his personality sometimes. but donald trump gets my vote. thank you. host: thank you for the call. this is a tweet from jen -- for the the kickoff trump-pence ticket, president trump had this to say about the economy in the african-american vote. [video clip] >> the same far left politicians crushed the dreams of african-american middle-class. the same people who threw open our borders and allowed drugs, gangs, and even legal labor to devastate our poorest american communities. you know that.

[booing] our political opponents look down with hatred on our values and with utter disdain for the people whose lives they want to run. that's the way they've been doing it. and if you take a look at the african-american community, how much progress has been made, the lowest unemployment numbers in the history of our country. orlando, florida, that was president trump on the campaign trail. estimated 20,000 people inside of the amway center. record, -- "for the him host: gladys is on the phone for orange, new jersey, good morning. caller: good morning. host: you are on the air. go ahead. caller: i'm going to vote for joe biden. host: why? knows: he has experience,

how to run the country, can be trusted. we have trump and he doesn't know how to run the country. biden is the best person for this country. i will again mention his experience and the fact that he can work with everyone. you for the call. lc, georgia, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? fine, thank you. who is your choice for 2020? caller: vice president joe biden. host: because? caller: because he shows leadership skills for everyone. number ofe are a african-american candidates, including cory booker and kamala harris. your view on either of them? caller: they are ok, but joe biden would be my pick. he gets my vote. host: thank you. but set a johnny in beaumont, texas. caller: all right, how you doing question mark host: fine, how are you? caller: doing good.

down here, down here in texas we .icked beto o'rourke when people get a chance to hear the sky, they would like him. it's too early to be choosing biden. we need to be hearing other people speak. down here in texas we like better or roark. -- beto o'rourke. host: texas, good morning. how you-- host: pronounce that name? caller: it's phyllis e. host: good morning. women, i'm for woman -- ok? i'm a woman and we need women as president. we have this time, it's our time. definitely, kamala. and maybe the caller that called in ahead of me, you have got to meet beto.

he's a personable guy, he's a sincere guy. know,k that once, you everybody gets to know him and gets to see him and what he actually has to say, they will definitely like him, but my number one is kamala. host: do you think she can get the nomination? know, only theou future can tell us that, really, but i will definitely vote for her. host: thank you for the call. gerald, white plains, maryland. morning.ood good morning, steve, thank you for taking my call. with c-span being such an open channel. as i look at the political landscape of america, which i believe personally is 50% misogynist or 50% racist, at this point in time -- and i think that is in the dna of america -- at this time i think that joe biden has the best

chance of winning the nomination. we know that trump is a flat-out racist. what he stands for. joe biden and other white people ,o have certain racial biases but are 1000% better than trump. for me it is a zero sum game -- hello? host: we are listening, go ahead. james, from waynesboro, georgia. good morning. who is your choice in 2020? caller: that would be joe biden. he seems to have the temperament and experience, longtime senator, and it seems like most people kind of like him a little bit. feel like he's a pretty smart guy. for the call.u tony is next.

washington, d.c., good morning. caller: i'm african-american, but i don't plan to vote for any of those candidates. i'm a registered democrat but i've decided not to vote for any of those candidates, i simply don't trust them. i feel like they had their blackunity to help the communities, but inner cities like washington, d.c., baltimore, durham, a lot of these largely black cities have suffered and not benefited under their administrations. i feel like they get the black vote and they don't do anything for black people. nothing to help us in the long term. host: will anything change her mind between now and next november? caller: i can't see it. they sound like liars. they come into our community at election time, you know? they just had eight years. just had eight years.

i have always followed politics areas -- politics. i used to work in politics to a certain extent. i have a different view than a lot of regular. i believe in looking at all sides and right now i don't feel like african-americans or blacks have benefited largely from a lot of democratic politicians. host: d feel that if you don't vote you can't complain? on moving my vote independent, possibly. but i certainly -- i just don't want to give my vote away this time to democrats who i feel the help our community. host: thank you for the call. going back to "the new york times," split preferences in south carolina, "a divided vote among black democrats who represent 60% of the primary electorate in the state could tofoundly draw out and lead a brutal fight for the nomination that could go past well past super tuesday --

host: that story is available on their website. andrew is next from alexandria, virginia, good morning. caller: good morning. i will be voting for the libertarian candidate and hopefully that is don matheson. i strongly believe in the libertarian platform of free-market market capitalism, civil rights, and personal freedom. i hope other news outlets like c-span, like you all do, and pbs sometimes, that you all -- like that other news outlets will put more choice, more -- i guess what's called third-party candidates -- they will publicize them more so that people will have more choice. host: thank you for the call. joseph, you are next. good morning from worcester, massachusetts. caller: calling from great barrington. host: i'm good, joe, how are

you? caller: i'm all right. i'm a donald trump supporter and i will tell you why. top three -- the illegal immigrants, you've got 11.3 illegal immigrants in america, undercutting the jobs. i worked construction for a long time in georgia, texas. of the african-americans don't get elected or hired because of the illegals. number two, prison system reform, 800,000 black men are locked in jail. more than the country of brazil or nigeria. and we have 40 million black people here. i saw for the crack epidemic did to my neighborhood. hispanic people are hard-working immigrants but they are pushing the drugs like from the dominican republic. for those that care about right or wrong, look at what's going on with the attorney general now.

he's doing a good job. they bring in these kilos of is get and all they do deported. the african-americans that sell it on the street corner are given the maximum minimum sentence, three strikes and you are out and they have to do 25 years in jail. host: marquez this tweet -- ust: next is rita, joining from south carolina. caller: i would go for kamala harris or elizabeth warren. or cory booker, i like him as well. thank you for the call.

our weekend coverage of the conventions, you can look up any of the coverage we have had, 16 months before the november elections and a lot happening on the campaign trail. we are tracking much of it for the c-span networks, including this speech from yesterday with former vicerom president joe biden in columbia, south carolina. [video clip] >> criminal justice reform, too many people in prison, too many black men and black women in prison. look, in our administration we started to address the problem, reforms reducing federal prison with 38,000 people coming out and we passed of the support of school discipline initiatives to break the school to prison pipeline, but we need to pass bobby scott from virginia's sais justice -- safe justice act. no more mandatory minimums.

putting an end to private prisons, which we did in our bill. drug courts, about $1 billion per year. no one should be going to jail because they are addicted, they should be going to rehabilitation, not to jail. well reform. just because you don't have the money should mean that you can languish in jail. ladies and gentlemen, no juvenile or adult prisons. mandatory, mandatory, mandatory peoplent in jail for that suffer from addiction. ladies and gentlemen, decriminalize marijuana and automatically expunge the records for those convicted. by the way, is that of teaching people how to be better criminals and present, we should be educating people in prison, it's in our interest to do so. rightsic restoration of when your sentences served. you can vote and you'll qualify for every program to go out and get your education.

it makes no sense. that from former vice president joe biden in south carolina. in the headlines again, iran. -- "the prospect of conflict persists as the iranian conflict escalates, the president tweeting over the weekend -- from jamie is joining us maryland. good morning. your choice in 2020, who is it? caller: it would be beto o'rourke at the moment. i really like him. i think his intellect and his ability to be able to get other folks to understand, you know? i mean certain issues that would normally be considered. gets -- i think his ability to reason, i really like

that guy. in not onlyterested who will be the presidential candidates, but who will be on the ticket. o'rourke joea beto biden kind of ticket. i say that because of the experience of beto o'rourke, i think he could lend him a real good hand. host: you would put him at the top of the ticket? caller: man, i would love to have beto o'rourke at the top of the ticket. i'm not sure he would be pleased with it, but i would like to see joe biden as his right-hand man. , i'm not totally opposed to her, but i'm telling you, i have reservations to her because i don't particularly care for -- i don't care for her record as a prosecutor at all and the things that she did in california. and what i mean about that is

the folks that were working under her, they brought several cases to her about you know certain cases that they didn't think that the defendant really got a fair trial, she was dismissive towards that. so a lot of people suffered in jail. there was a federal judge that actually overturned a lot of decisions that kamala harris had made and a lot of those folks were found to be, you know, not guilty. and so that really, really has me feeling as though she may not the as authentic as she is now trying to portray. but at the same time, you know, i don't what to beat up on her, want to give her a fair chance and i will research it deeper into her actual record, you know? host: jamie from maryland, thank you for the call. "cq weekly, the war of the web, cyber attacks and the u.s. is .ot well prepared inside of president trump's plan

to keep the white house." from "the new york times sunday magazine," "elizabeth warren has an answer for everything, is that enough"? going to the moon in "parade magazine." a reminder that in about an hour we are live with our look back riots, what happened and why it was significant for the gay, lesbian, and transgender community. isaac, from san bernardino, california. good morning, your choice in 2020? good morning, sir, i'm an african-american republican in southern california and i will be voting for trump. seen't see color, i just

the republican party as a broad tent of people with different ideas and what have you but we all rally around the best for our country. 4.2 million people here in california voted for trump in 2016 and i believe we need to get behind him and he's doing a great job for a country. to campaigning and volunteering for the campaign in san bernardino. you for the call. from yesterday's state party convention, cory booker. [video clip] all rightto tell you now, when martin luther king was slain i was taught i that woman in the projects that hope is the active conviction that despair will never have the last word. when martin luther king was slain, they decided not to write a tribute to him. they decided to write a challenge to us. when he was slain there were words there that were joseph's words, joseph's brothers words

that they uttered before they grabbed him and threw him into a ditch. when a king is slain, the "behold, to us is that here comes the dreamer and slay him and see what becomes of the dream. this is a referendum on the train. we now in our generation have to stand up and dream again. bold and defiant dreams. dreams of love. dreams that our ancestors fought and died for. south carolina, will you stand and ream with me again? will you dream america again? will we dream this country a new? bold dreams? affiant dreams? together,m and work love together, we won't just to beat donald trump, but we will make it to the mountaintop and we will get to the promised land. senator cory booker

yesterday in south carolina. a couple of tweets. this from steve -- cleveland, tennessee, you're next, steve, good morning. this situation is humbling to me, but as i listen to these conversations about illegal immigration, understand it's hard on me now, because i

have been like that -- it's really controversial in a way where i see a lot of people come here now in cleveland, tennessee and i -- it's hard, it's really, really hard, but i do understand donald trump, honestly, on spending. people saying well, that's wrong to not love your neighbor's and stuff like that. but the laws of the world are the world's laws and even as a christian we must abide by the laws of the world. spiritual laws and worldly laws are to bring different things. it's sad, it's sad to see those people come through here in the situations where they do come, but it is an influx that should be controlled. it's got to be controlled. because of not, the world's laws are broken. host: thank you for the call. a look at the african-american vote in 2016 based on network

exit polls, 89% going to hillary clinton, a percent for donald trump. this story getting a lot of attention over the past week, the headline from "politico," vice president's bidens opponents condemning his comments about working with segregationists. next caller, good morning. caller: as far as i'm concerned the democrats always take the black vote for granted. they give these speeches and they do nothing. what was telling to me was when spoke almost for eight hours on the behalf of legal immigrants and she never has stood up for black, no issues for black people. never stood that long for any issue import to us. therefore, that's out.

trumpam going to vote for again. not that i think that republicans are any better for theylacks, but because hope they wind up destroying each other. my personal belief, i don't think either the republican or democratic party or any good for any people, poor people, black or white, the lower class, the middle class, i don't think either one of them serve the purpose, i want to see them all destroyed. host: the you for the call. a new poll showing that black voters are highly motivated to push our country back. a recent poll conducted by -- surveying african-american voters across the country showing that the priorities are eagerly courting. the issue of reparations was front and center on capitol hill

this reaction from mitch mcconnell on whether or not revelations would be appropriate. >> -- [video clip] don't think that reparations are a good idea. we tried to deal with the original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war and passing landmark civil rights legislation. we elected an african-american president. we are always a work in progress in this country. alive was currently responsible for that. i don't think we should be trying to figure out how to compensate for it. first of all, it would be hard to figure out who to compensate. we have had waves of immigrants coming to the country who have experienced dramatic discrimination of one kind or

another. i don't think reparations are a good idea. host: that from the senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell. democrats looking to cut into the lead of joe biden with black voters. james, who is your choice? my choice, i'm going with republicans. democrats had it for eight years and try to do nothing with it. , obamadn't do nothing got up there and he made a mess of it with this gay thing. lose.nothing there to they can go through blacks this and that the democrats, but democrats are not doing the job. democrats had it for eight years and still ain't good nothing. what they need to do is look at the prison system and make the overhaul. make the overhaul on the. it's a lot of people locked up for nothing. a lot of people locked up with very little over a lot of years.

needey really, they really helping the economy, i'm going with republican, not going for a democrat, i'm going to be all away for trump or whoever run as a republican. for the call.u this from axioms, "democrats falling behind with black voters , look at whether they are himortable, uncomfortable, or dues -- or enthusiastic. numbers,ee here the donald trump getting 9%. the story is available at actio's.com. james, good morning. good morning, thanks for taking my call. listen, i'm really concerned about the state of the country, politics and communications, economics.

ofould like to address all the people, not just black people. as black americans we are not always just a conscious of the country but are looked as -- looked upon as the conscience of the world by many. a lot of what is taking place is designed to divide us and we need to remember what martin they doing said -- what to one, they do to all. if they are doing something that is injustice to the immigrants, it's only a matter of time before they do it to black americans and white americans. the real issue when you look at it is the direction the country wouldng in and for that i like to see a social democrat get elected. or -- ithat be bernie can't think of the woman's name right now from massachusetts. host: elizabeth warren. caller: she probably has a better chance because her campaign is linked to the issues. this affects all of us. we take they, if

candidate by the issues that just affect one group like ourselves, we are not being real americans. someone has to take the position of what the founders call in difference. host: that will have to be the last word. think of for the call. headline from "the washington post," confirmation from sarah sanders that letters have been traded between kim jong-un and president trump, calling it an excellent letter from trump, the white house can that that took place and confirming beliefs that there might be a third summit. the first one taking place in singapore, the second taking asce in hanoi, cut short both sides failed to reach an agreement on the nuclear issue between north korea and the united states. coming up in a moment you will continue the conversation. anding us is kevin jackson involved in helping to shape the

reelection strategy from arizona . later in the program, the stonewall riots of 1969 were considered to be a turning point in the modern gay rights movement. we will be joined live outside from outside of the stonewall steyn, editor of the new book "the stonewall riots." first, our newsmakers program with ike rogers. among the issues talked about, congress and the war powers act. >> some members of congress say that the president should come requestedgress and authorization for military use of force. you sound like you are opposed to that. you believe the president has the authority to launch military attacks against iran? >> correct, i think he does. he did take the time to consult with congress yesterday.

he had the leaders of oath chambers over, as well as leading members of the armed services committee, the foreign affairs committee, and a couple of others, to talk with him about what he should do. he did consult congress as he tried to decide the action to take. have a country like iran shooting down a drone in international airspace, we touldn't need three months make the decision, that's why we have him as commander-in-chief. i felt the same way about barack obama when he was president. we are going to get into a long-term war. and he needs to take action, i think, in a quick manner, whether it is sanctions or a kinetic attack, he has to make a call or there has to be response, otherwise you will see countries like north korea,

china, russia, becoming much more provocative in their actions. congressman mike rogers is our guest, ranking member of the house homeland security committee. "newsmakers" is at 10 a.m. eastern time, 70 and for those of you on the west coast and is available anytime for free on the c-span radio app. phoenix, kevin jackson, thank you very much for being with us. guest: my pleasure. host: let me begin with some news this morning, this is the headline from fox news as the president delays planned ice rates. "the president announcing yesterday that the planned mass illegal immigrants by the immigration and has been delayed for two weeks in the hopes that he can reach a

bipartisan solution but democrats, coming at the request of nancy pelosi friday, who asked him to hold off. what is next? guest: it's an interesting turn of events and i think it is part of the trump negotiation strategy with the democrats. frankly i think a lot of people were looking for this. remember when he did the rates to get rid of the gang members and democrats complained about that? i believe that this particular set of raids was people to the visa overstays or didn't come back to court for their hearing and i think that again donald trump is targeting people that most of america would look at and say -- you know what? these are the folks that need to be sent back home and possibly taken a look at for deportation. i think it is a strategic political move for donald trump to do it he's doing. as far as what's next, i think you will follow through with it. i think the democrats continue

to stonewall the issue that everyone agreed on at one point in the past to take a look at in terms of border security and illegal immigration. donald trump saying that we are no longer going to kick the can. it's a very strategic political movement in terms of what he has done. is it realistic that democrats and republicans with an impasse on the issue can reach a consensus in the neck two weeks? [no audio] just looking at it from the standpoint of what's happened in the past. democrats don't really want to solve the issue of immigration because had they wanted to do that, they had eight years to take advantage of it.

will happen in these two weeks? i think a lot of americans are anxious to see if donald trump can bring the democrats a debate, but it will be a difficult task to do that. host: the other headline this morning from "the washington possible cyber attack against iranian targets, plus the president sitting down with "meettodd, moderator of the press," who asked about what happened on thursday. [video clip] >> did you greenlight something? what was the order? host: nothing is bring that into the end. is green lit until the change. but we had something to go until my approval. they said we were about ready to go and i said i wanted a better -- >> with airplanes in the air?

no, but things would have happened to a point where you could turn back. they came and they said sir we are ready to go and we want your decision and i said i want to know something -- how many people will be killed? iranians? -- sir, i'd like to get back to you on that. great people, these generals, approximatelyir, 150 and i thought about it for a second and i said -- you know what? they shut down an unmanned sharon plain, whatever you want to call it. here we are sitting with 100 and , that probably would have taken place within half an hour of me saying go ahead. that's from "meet the press," one of the c-span radio shows that we air every sunday. getting your reaction to what

the president said in this editorial from "the wall street ," "the commander-in-chief are called them because he had not asked in advance with the damage and casualties might be and while the planes were in the air he asked -- by the way, this is hard to take at face value, more likely he changed his mind because he had second thoughts about the military and political consequences of engaging in a conflict that he promised as a candidate to avoid. he may have saved those lives now but his indecision and professed fear of casualties may be risking more american lives later. your reaction to what "the wall street journal" is writing this weekend? guest: i think they completely missed the boat, i think you made the best political decision of his career and he explained it. he's not going to trade a piece of metal and electronics for the lives of 150 people.

i believe that that was probably the most politically astute things he has done in a while. i think this was a setup. i don't know about how the background developed about the idea of the donald trump would kill 100 and 50 people over that -- and yes, it was a serious incident if it were shot down over international waters, but there are better ways to handle that. donald trump, and i have said this for a while, he is going to deal with most of the world's issues through the economic angle and he's going to use america's great economy to deal with this. let's face it, iran is in shambles. in the later part of 2017, the riots began over $300 carton of for 20 eggs and it slowly metastasized into a riot over the government. they started out by saying stop supporting syria. then it was down with hezbollah. eventually they went after the mullahs. this is become a political issue

-- i call it a passive aggressive attack on japan with the economy. let's face it, many of the middle eastern countries, a lot of the g7 will not deal with iran now and that's because of pressure from donald trump. at one point the rial was so volatile because of the rise going from a shot tacoma shot and escalating the truckers and the water rights with the lake. lot totrump has done a destabilize iran and they were trying to trigger donald trump to shoot down a drone and call him a warmonger. and suddenly the democrats said that he was. that leads to a lot of the back channel communications between john kerry and many others that we should maybe taking a look at from the hatch act perspective. going back to another

point from "the wall street journal," "after president obama enforce his redline, adversaries took advantage, the hist advantage of trump is volatility, calling kim jong-un crazy, calling him a swell guest: again, more editorial nonsense. donald trump is going to negotiate in a haphazard way, but i think a lot of americans , the agree with me on this donald trump foreign policy has or -- success.

goes, they cannot take any credit or feel that they can take a victory dance overshooting down a drone when you look at the sort of -- i would call it the triage that's happening in their economy at this point and will continue. i think it was more of an active to gettion for them trump's attention. well, they got his attention but they may well find out that having his attention is that where you want to be. when you compare his foreign policy, and i'm not trying to play pundit, i'm just looking at this in terms of success versus questionthere is no that his foreign policy as he double with china and korea, with his take on dealing with iran and using the american economy to do such, using the american economy to deal with with a host of

other things around the world, no question that he has been a much more successful president than barack obama. you carry a number of different hats. you are a current fellow at the dole institute in kansas. what's the black sphere? guest: a brand started by me years ago, more of an engineering term of taking the best thought and putting it in a sphere, which holds the most of volume and space. so, it was a brand built around that. what it was really centered was more pragmatic thinking. that's essentially what i challenge people to do. people call me republican or conservative, but i wear a hat that says i will think my way

logically into or out of an issue in that is why i keep pointing out that the opinions i'm expressing have no political view whatsoever, they are just pragmatic. on your website, joe biden will not be the democrats nominate. -- nominee. why? guest: there is a trend line. when joe biden started the race, he was 40%. he had many things going for him in terms of name recognition. he was running on the sales of barack obama. biden has a host of problems that will prevent him from becoming president. i don't think he will be the democrat's nominee. biden is trending in the low 30's. you looks on the polls at. he is now under attack for racially insensitive remarks,

thinks he should have been under attack for and never selected as barack obama's vice president. i heard many of your callers while i was waiting to come on, blacks that understand the racial history of the democratic party and how they relate to biden and his support of james .astland and george wallace even looking at those things and saying they are from the past, there are many things biden has said presently that make you understand he does not understand the level of racial sensitivity in america, and he has gotten a pass because he is a democrat. if donald trump were friends and actually professed to be friendly with the gentleman i mentioned, john stennis, eastland, george wallace, he would rightfully be labeled a racist. these are people that were considered to be the voice of the south. they signed the southern

manifesto. they were rabid segregationists, racists. biden actually gives them accolades. george wallace and his stance on certain things. these are things donald trump could not get away with, nor should he get away with. i think as people take a more circumspect look at joe biden, he is not the person they are going to bring forward. i think biden has contradictions with respect to the meeting movement. many women within the democratic party are looking at joe biden and saying he has probably done far worse with women than donald trump. show one poll with biden, and i think that is a telling graphic. those people that are not supporting biden are the people that i think will support donald trump. i think the black vote will support donald trump in numbers

that will rival his numbers in 2016. host: you are also on the web, kj radio. how often is your program appearing? guest: every day for two hours today. we talk about issues from a pragmatic and the reverend point of view. the show is humor based. if there is one issue that i want to cover, it is seeking educational excellence. we want to get young minorities looking at the science, technology, engineering, and math curriculum versus the social justice that is being taught in colleges. we are exporting the worst in america by talking about social justice issues versus educating our children. when we look at these types of issues, and i will use the minimum wage as an example. the left doesn't hold any

african countries or middle eastern countries to a minimum wage standard or fair wage or livable wage. there are people in this country that are talking about having a birthright wage. not talked about in any country in africa or the middle east. all the things they talk about for america are things that leftist would never ask to be limited in things like africa. when we look at social justice, we look at the diversity in america. look at the homogeneity of african countries or middle eastern countries or central american countries. talk to me about my diverse the u.s. needs to be. the u.s. is not ruled by whites. it is very much a heterogeneous society. you look at countries in africa or thee 95% african, native people, and democrats never complain about diversity there. it is a double standard america

should not have to deal with. when you look at college and education, we are teaching kids the wrong things. instead of teaching them things that will give them careers, we teach them something that contribute nothing to the fabric of the country that has embraced every culture, race, creed. that is the passion of our organization. seeking educational excellence. kjradio.com.site, our guest, kevin jackson, speaking to us from phoenix. republicans.1 for (202) 748-8000 for democrats. we welcome our viewers and listeners on the bbc parliament channel, which carries this program every sunday afternoon. for independents (202) 748-8002. our friend robert barnes on the

71st birthday for justice clarence thomas, the supreme court's longest-serving member. let's go to gina in kentucky. good morning. caller: hello? host: thank you for waiting. good morning. caller: hello, kevin. how are you this morning? guest: i am fine. thank you. caller: great. i have followed you for a while now. i must say i agree with you 100%. as a black female, i tell you i think it is best for us to be pragmatic in our thinking, not to be monolithic. i tell you when i look around and hear the things that are going on today, especially with the liberals going there is no way i would support that. i think we are in a situation, a lot of us are as black conservatives, where we cannot

even speak out because we are being ridiculed. it is refreshing, and it is good to see someone like you to be a voice and come forth. i want to tell you i support you , and i just support black conservatism. i know there will probably be some calls behind me that will ridiculed you. i know you are used to that. host: thank you for the call. you can respond to what she was saying, but some recent polling, and only a snapshot, so much can change in presidential politics. looking at democrats against president trump. at the moment, former vice president joe biden defeating him across the country by 10 points. senator sanders up 9. senator warren up 2. senator harris up 1. this was from a fox news poll released in june.

guest: fox is completely wrong in this poll. i do not know who they polled. a lot of conservatives are no longer paying as much attention to fox as they were in the past. that is completely wrong. the trump campaign has nothing to worry about outside of voter fraud and electioneering and cheating. donald trump has a track record of success that is impacting black, quite frankly all americans. the democratic base, blacks and latinos, are not being impacted, and these poll numbers are completely skewed. i would challenge democrats. continue to believe those numbers if you want them but you likehave a very sad day you did on november 9, 2016. the caller that just called in

and complimented me, i appreciate that. she is symptomatic of a lot of blacks that are out there. many of them have hidden in the shadows. there are people like myself who are very vocal about not supporting the democratic party, not even based on historical issues, but based on what they are doing to people today. you look at the policies like reparations. they have been talking about reparations for decades. every year, somebody trots out reparations like it is martin luther king's birthday. they are certainly doing it right now in the time of donald trump because they cannot point to anything that donald trump has done negatively to impact blacks. donald trump has done so much positive for blacks, including lowest unemployment in history, but one of the biggest issues blacks have wanted address, and i know

this is not a holistic thing for blacks, but many people understand this, criminal justice reform. donald trump started the first step act, which essentially allows lacks coming out of prison to begin to rebuild their lives again. that he did the second chance part of that, which is going to reunite black men with their families and allow them to get back into the mainstream. i don't think people understand how bad the criminal justice system has impacted black people in this country and destroyed families. donald trump has been more pro-black than barack obama. complimentedn donald trump. this is not going unnoticed in the black community. many callers are starting to echo my sentiment. it has nothing to do with politics, republican or democrat. it has to do with actual concrete successes that are

happening in the black community under donald trump. you can have that polling. i have seen msnbc on morning joe, they were ridiculing donald trump with those numbers. have your fun now. i am telling you, in 2020, in light of what happens with the mueller situation, which i believe is america's biggest con job, many folks will go with donald trump. host: herbert is next from virginia. thank you for waiting. caller: good morning. mr. kevin johnson, i was trying to let him know -- i am retired. i was born in liberty city. i want to see that 12 quote wall that 12 quote wall that separated -- 12-foot wall that

separated blacks from whites in the city. thing, mr. jackson, whatever you all have done for the blacks in the republican party, you don't even have elected officials. you have one black senator. you can't even bring the votes. if you can't bring the votes. you can't be a factor. all black republicans ever did. that is why he gets more response to him than you would. get more black officials locally, federally, and state in your party, and then you can show me the difference. you have to do better than the 87% what americans you all have got. host: thank you for the call. guest: in response, i would say first of all he's probably go back and look at the history of the republican party, who has

put more blacks in office during reconstruction than democrats would even think to put in. democrats put token blacks in office. the congressional black caucus, which supposedly represents blacks, is anti-black. if you want to think about it as black conservatives versus black liberals, black liberals had barack obama in office and eight years of bliss, and nothing got accomplished for blacks. there's nothing you can point debt to say that blacks improved in any way, shape, or form. he wants the point fingers at donald trump in the republican party. described was a problem brought on by democrats. thejim crow laws, all problems keeping blacks from voting, from having businesses were done by democrats.

look at any major city in america today. i would ask herbert to test me on this. call back in. look at any major city, they are run by democrats. there is not a republican insight. these cities concentrate blacks in disproportionate numbers. most cities are 60% or higher. baltimore, cleveland, cincinnati, atlanta. every problem that is faced in the black community, whether you look at the crime rate, the poverty rate, all of them are brought on by democrats. show me a white face, a republican in any one of these cities where these problems exist where there is a wall between black and whites, and i will defer. the very wall that was built in the early days where democrats separated blacks, there is an invisible wall in every city. joe biden talked about it.

in the black parts of my town is . joe biden talked about. joe biden talked about the black part of this town is if you have to get a visa to go to africa in the black part of his town. that is the level of ridiculousness. democrats have cornered blacks into thinking we have to live in certain parts of town. there is a good side of town and a black part of town. there is not a republican to be seeing whenever that rhetoric is being used. if you want to play in a republican that is what we have been doing. it has gotten us nowhere. if you want to solve the problem, look at donald trump. he brought three black men back from china, the barack obama probably could not have gotten back. he freed a black woman, incarcerated, due to kim

kardashian's efforts. all things i just pointed out to herbert, and he ignored. he has given blacks the lowest unemployment, the highest housing ownership, business starts. i just talked about that. he is addressing the drug issue and opioid prices. he is reuniting families in american. not the border families democrats worry about, but bringing black men out of prison so they can rebuild their lives. herbert is asking me what else needs to be done? it is ridiculous. our guest is kevin jackson, a syndicated radio talk show host. you made reference to democrats electing token blacks as you put it. would you consider senators kamala harris and cory booker, jim clyburn as token blacks? guest: i do. i consider the blacks being put

into place, they are not representative of what blacks really think. they are people that are put in place to marginalize the black community. they have stolen the initiative. they have stolen the joy from black lives and pretending they care about the black community. ocasio any place, where cortez talked about concentration trends, look at any black community and tell me you don't see concentration camps. do you see any major businesses going into the black parts of joe biden's town? do you see opportunities being offered to the black parts of town's? when we talk about police and justice, who is over all of this? the mayors are not only democrats, they are black democrats. black democrats are creating their own problems, and people

like herbert say let's blame donald trump. donald trump is nowhere in the mix. neither was george bush or ronald reagan or any other republican. these cities have been run by the same people for decades. the democrats don't want to take the blame for it. i say this will be the biggest fdr.since 1936 under it will not be that dramatic. you will not see the shift of 95% of blacks who formerly floated republican going to 75% democrat, but you will see a very big shift. the blacks finally understand it is not about party. it is about results. host: should president trump apologize to the central park five? in 1989, just 10 days after the incident, before the trial, he said those involved should face the death penalty. he said he hated them. they have since been exonerated, the president will not apologize

for what he said. guest: i have not been to speak on something like that. i don't know enough about the case to say anything personally. if these gentlemen were not guilty, i think he probably should. i would. in terms of his thought process that is his own personal opinion. i don't care to comment. host: let's go to james in pittsburgh with kevin jackson in arizona. caller: god bless you. thank you for loving me speak. my name is tim. don't cut me off. you have some uneducated people that speak. i'm a white yankee, and jim crow has destroyed me. i threw up in juvenile detention center. i'm on welfare. i'm 53 years old. i turned 21 in prison. the confederates stole my lane. they stole my dignity. i am white. i am tired of hearing about human beings being black, being

white. they are human beings. i know about reconstruction. i will be anybody in an iq test, including joe biden, donald trump. i am independent. if we don't get a third-party, we're going to get a third war. i will challenge anyone to an iq test on democracy. go ahead. ask me a question. host: i will let your comment stand. i will get a reaction from kevin. guest: james seems to have a very high view of himself. congratulations. america is not a democracy. america is a constitutional republic. i think i just won that iq test. host: marshall in north carolina. caller: good morning. donald trump made a fortune, and he lied and put a lot of people

out of business because of his dishonesty. apartments and stuff, and he was caught and convicted for not writing to blacks -- renting to blacks. why don't you mention that? you are praising him. you are doing the wrong thing. all blacks know he is prejudiced against blacks. he was convicted and fined in court for not writing to blacks. he was convicted. he is prejudiced. that.ow i don't appreciate your comments. host: thank you, marshall. guest: i certainly got the uncle tom reference. the book marshall read on uncle tom.

he will find he was a good guy. thank you for this night,. i suggest you do a little more research. there were a lot of people sued in that case against donald trump. up that case,ing but they won't talk about al sharpton in jesse jackson giving for all the awards things he did for the black community in new york. that flip this and say marshall did no research on hillary clinton and her racism, her support of planned parenthood, calling margaret sanger an idol, a woman who called black people human week. i bet marshall is going to vote for whoever the democrats nominate, who has no idea of the history of the democrats racism. he is not looking at the results. he wants to play tit-for-tat. you're going to lose, marshall.

if you want to believe donald trump was a racist, and you want to talk about the idea of him being a successful person, the young black kid growing up poor, i emulated people like donald trump. before he became president, so did most of the rappers. he is probably one of the most mentioned white people in rap music. donald trump got a $1 million loan from his father. how much money have you loaned your son to start his business. i can tell you how much my father loaned me. he was in san quentin prison. when he got out that he asked me for $250 that i never got back. son is anoading his investment. his son took that investment and made himself into a billion air, giving many people jobs, including thousands of black

people. you seem to ignore that because you've got talking points. all you've got our talking points. that is the sad part about this than. -- think. most of the black leftists are not listening to it nonpolitically. there are listening to a three john disappears. they are listening to the pundits. i can give them 50 reasons the democratic party is racist, and they will ignore them. other people are listening. it is starting to get through. that is what i am most proud of host: james -- most proud of. host: james on the phone. caller: i am listening to you, and i respect your views. i respect any black republican, independent, or democrat. what is listening to you earlier, you were saying something like democrats is offering immigration problem.

i think it is both, democrats independents and republicans at fault for immigration. you were saying something about the democrats. you and i know the democratic party goes back to history. you try to equate the past to the present. it is not the same democratic party it was in the past. it is hard to conflate those two issues together. i understand what you are saying about as far as black republicans trying to do the best they can. we are not monolithic in our way of thinking. we are just trying to pick the best person for the job. that is it. i'm not going to try to personalize the current president with the former president. with barack obama, u.s. saying he did nothing for blacks. before barack obama left office, he gave pardons to a whole lot of blacks that came out of prison. it is hard to say democrats did

this, democrats did that. i think both parties are at blame for the black situation or the white situation. i respect her views. --your views. listening. host: thank you for the call. guest: thank you for the compliments. thank you for the call. with respect to barack obama freeing blacks on his departure, that is wonderful for those individuals. the problem is what did he do for blacks as a whole? we are almost 50% of the prison population and 13% of the population of america. barack obama should have made no justice reform one of his big issues, but he did not. it took donald trump to come in to start working on this problem with the four step program and the second chance program. that is not something a racist does. to marshall, that is not what they do.

i agree with james that this problem with immigration has been a republican and democratic problem because nobody wanted to address it. paul ryan is as feckless as any of the democrats in addressing the issue. donald trump addressing the immigration problem the way it needs to be something which is deporting the people who are solved, which is deporting the people who are here illegally, donald trump is trying to address it, and the democrats are fighting him at every turn. that is a fact. that is just the truth. when i look at the problems in the black community, if i want to address the final point about who is to blame, i look at the number of black babies killed in the black community as ia direct result of democratic policy. it is a result of planned parenthood.

black women have 300% more abortions per capita than any other group. there is a reason for that. it has to do with the eugenics movement and the extermination of blacks. we were 19.2% of the population at the turn of the 19th century. we are now below 13%. it is a direct result of planned parenthood. you look at the problems plaguing the black community. housing substandard have a democrat anywhere in high where these -- crime, substandard housing, you show me a democrat anywhere inside where these problems exist. is ittop worrying about republicans or democrats. in this case, you will find more blacks and people in general who is a person who will

get the job done. he is not doing it based on black or white. he is lifting the ocean so all the boats rise. he is doing that around the world. trump does not see the economy as an anend sum game. of korea, the economy they have a gdp of hundreds of billions of dollars. countries in africa can have gdp's of hundreds of billions of dollars, not just the paltry amounts they currently have. donald trump is a pragmatist in every way. take the republican often visiting. he only wants to do what is right for everybody while respecting each nation's laws. host: kevin jackson, for those that want to follow you on social media, how can they do so? guest: kjradio.com. host: thank you for spending time with us on c-span.

we hope you will come back again. guest: my pleasure. host: we want to share with you a photograph from the late 1960's at the stonewall inn. for the next 90 minutes, we will revisit the stonewall riots of 1969, considered to be a turning point for the modern gay and lesbian movement. we will be joined by san francisco state university , the authorrk steyn of a new book, stonewall history. later, pierre-antoine louis will be discussing some of the key issues facing the gay community. together a year later in 1970 and in-store and an historic-- in film documentary. [video clip] >> having to live is the saddest

part of being a homosexual. when you have your first battle of its grant, and you cannot go -- bad love experience, and you cannot go to your brother or sister and say i am hurting. >> at first i was very guilty. then i realized all the things are taught to you by society and psychiatrists are just to fit you into a mold. when i rejected the mold, i was happier. [inaudible] >> this is a unified effort on the part of 20 or 30 organizations on the east coast. to emphasizes tend

relative confrontation tactics. others emphasize more of an education approach, going out into areas where people don't know much about homosexuality. some are emphasizing services for people in need. the major effort today is to institutions. host: a portion of a film documentary. this is what the stonewall in looks like today.

a look at the demonstrations that took place in july 1969. joining us from greenwich village, new york, mark stein, the editor of the stonewall riots, a documentary history. thank you for joining us on c-span. guest: thank you very much for having me. host: take us back 50 years ago this week. what happened? eriod: the police in that p routinely raided gay bars. there was a raid on the stonewall inn a night earlier. began a7, the police raid. some of the patrons were allowed to exit the bar and some were detained. it was very common for police to detain bar owners, are managers,

bartenders, dachshund bar bar managers, bartenders, people of color, people who fought back or talked back. some people were detained inside the bar. by this time, it was the early morning hours of june 28. patrons began gathering on the streets outside. as the police tried to bring those they detained into police wagons, the crowd began to erupt. over the next three nights there were demonstrations. at one point police were trapped inside the bar until reinforcements arrived, the righriot control police were called. the rioting proceeded over

several days. host: why this location? this set of circumstances? guest: it is a complicated question. the stonewall inn was mafia owned and managed. there was a system of payoffs whereby the bar managers paid off the police to limit although never completely restrict police raids on the bars. the barse would raid even if there were these payoff systems in place. the payoffs system might have broken down. there was a mayoral election that was going on. that was often a time when police would raid bars as part of a crackdown on vice. the city administration would

appear to be promoting law and order. there were allegations of violations of the great licensing laws, disorderly conduct, lack mailing, other allegations about the stonewall in. wall inn.- stone 1969?ne in global terms, 1968 was a witnessed that rebellions and revolutions around the world as well as police reaction, state reaction, and violent state repression. in some way we can see the stonewall riots of 1969 as an outgrowth of worldwide riots. there were local issues as well. the mayoral election. mayorbefore the riots,

john lindsay had lost the republican primary. lindsay was known to be a friend to the gay community. he ended up winning the election in 1969, but he did so on a third-party ticket. in late june, nobody knew he would end up winning. 1969, there were a number of police killings of gay people around the country. that contributed to the rage and anger that lgbt people felt that night and the days and weeks surrounding the stonewall riots. mark stien.est is he is the author of the stonewall riots, a documentary history. we have aligned set aside for the lgbtq community.

that line is (202) 748-8002. for just a moment, described physically where you are situated. guest: directly behind me is the new stonewall national monument, which was created during the obama administration. it is a small part, triangular park. behind the park is the stonewall inn. it is a two-story building. this is greenwich village in new york city. host: what do the money misrepresent? -- the monuments represent? when obama mentioned stonewall alongside seneca falls in his address, it signifies that lgbt activism is part of

the broader aspirational struggles for social justice in the u.s. statement onmbolic the part of obama as president of the u.s., as the first african-american president. herelishing this monument is another way of signaling the overthat has been traveled not just the last 50 years but even longer to achieve lgbt a quality, still unfinished -- equality, still unfinished process. this is an action on part of the federal government, which for many decades was quite regressive to lgbt people. paradox that of a the federal government is

recognizing this space and yet continues to adopt policies currently. the best example might be the ban on transgender military members. there are ongoing struggles and problems. host: you mentioned the speech by president obama, his second --not your old speech inaugural speech. here is what he said. [video clip] >> we the people declared today that the most evident of truths that all of us are graded equal is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forebears through seneca falls, summa, and stonewall. to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone. to hear a ki earth.

president was former barack obama in 2014. elf is aewall in itsle rather cozy bar. it's not very big is it? guest: it is not very big. it was known in 1969 as one of the larger gay bars in new york city. it featured dancing. it featured go-go boys. compared to some real holes in the wall, it was known to be relatively spacious. host: why were these locations so important at that time to the gay and lesbian community? same-sex sex was basically a legal in 49 out of 50 american states.

there were federal, state, and local laws that regulated lgbt speech, that regulated lgbt participation in many aspects of public life. it was difficult to get government jobs in 1969. bars were a congregation place where lgbt people could come together, socialize together, enjoy time together, and in that sense some people argue that the bar was for the lgbt community what the church was for the african-american community or what the factory was for the labor movement, the central space for gathering, becoming active, developing ideas about social justice. host: in order to get a sense of how the media covered the gay and lesbian community in the 1960's, i want to share with you a portion of a now controversial

cbs news document it, one which -- documentary, one which dan rather has apologized for. the title was the homosexuals. [video clip] most americans are repelled by the mere idea of homosexuality. two out of three americans look it up on essentials with disgust, discomfort, or fear. one out of 10 says hatred. the vast majority says homosexuality is an illness. only 10% say it is a crime. here is the paradox. the majority of americans favor legal punishment even for acts performed in private between consenting adults. the homosexual response by going underground. they frequent their own clubs and bars and coffee houses where they can act out in the fashion they want to, where they can participate. host: i know you are familiar

with this program. your reaction? the media was changing in the second half of the 1960's, as was the lgbt movement. i think that program was quite soundly criticized by the pre-stonewall movement. there were other media organizations that were more accepting. the new york times magazine published in major story called civil rights and the homosexual in 1967. the wall street journal published a major feature story on the gay-rights movement. the lgbt movement had success in the second half of the 1960's. that was certainly true new york city. under the lindsay administration, there was a decline of sexual entrapment practices by police. there was some success in court

decisions that allowed gay bars more freedom to exist and thrive. things were changing in the second half of the 1960's. when we turn to the civil rights themselves, the media reports were interesting, conflicting, and ever-changing. in that first week, the new york times, new york post, new york daily news all covered the stonewall riots. news. buried the village voice did major coverage. they have reporters on the scene and even trapped inside the bar during the riots. it was really the alternative press and lgbt press that covered the riots more sympathetically, more comprehensively. those are the stories that historians rely on along with oral histories, police reports, and photographs for rounding out

the picture of what happened that week. host: one of those is the documentary of the leave and cents. our guest is mark stein. he is the author of rethinking the gay and lesbian movement. as we talk about stonewall, the turning0 years ago, a point for the lgbt community. tom is on the phone. caller: good morning to both of you gentlemen and to all of the viewers. this will be pretty brief. just a little context. navya navy veteran, gay veteran. grew up in a very much catholic household. this issue is portrayed many different ways by many different folks and corners of society. what it really is, it is about love.

much.not about sex so it is about love. good luck to anybody who is determined to fight love because you are really fighting quite a force right there. coming from a religious background, the last thing i issues aren is lgbtq often by the religious right mentioned in the same breath as abortion and the culture of death. things of this nature. there is so much in the bible that is taken way out of context. it here to selectively. -- adhered to selectively. it is about love. host: have you personally felt discrimination as an openly gay

american? caller: i am glad you asked that. because i value other viewer's time as well as you two gentlemen, i served 20 years in the navy, retired. it, sorry,ut 50% of my voice is kind of croaky this morning. about 50% of it was under so-called don't ask don't tell. yearsher 50%, my first 10 in the military was under the republican preferred do ask. we'll ask, and do tell. that was particularly repressive and accounting. -- draconian. that could land you out on the street extremely easily. i think bill clinton takes a lot

of grief for don't ask don't tell. in fact it was a huge step forward from what was in place before that. steve, the last half of my sentence here will be repression growing up in a particularly religious household, you better believe it. thank you for asking. host: thank you. what are you hearing his story? interestingnk it is to see the movement as focused on issues of love. is pre-stonewall movement typically called the homophile movement. it referenced love rather than sex. the gay liberation movement that developed after stonewall, into some extent began in the months before the riots, please people

placedis -- equal emphasis on love and sex. they wanted their sexual identities to be affirmed and validated. issuesew years, sexual were quite central to the movement. host: here is a look at some of the highlights for the gay, lesbian, and transgender communities in it and 73. the american psychiatric association declarant homosexuality a longer a mental illness. in 1982, in the first two years of the reagan administration, the cdc using the term aids for the first time. in 1996, president clinton signing the defense of marriage act. president obama revoking don't ask don't tell. the ban onn ends

transgender people serving openly in the military. 2019, president trump rescinding that ban. caller: good morning. n activist, and i am transgender. i am kind of high up in the lgbt community here. i came out in new york in 1986. i met marshall johnson down by the village in the piers. i know the gay community did not like the drag queens because they were trying to mirror the straight community back then. marshall johnson was a black trans person that was at the stonewall riots. i know most of the photos and videos we have seen -- and my

talking? host: yes. you are on the air. caller: thanks. host: did you have another question or comment? caller: yeah. i wonder why he doesn't mention the black drag queens that were out in front of the bar fighting that night like marshall johnson. host: thank you for the call. mark stein. guest: the caller is absolutely right. as far as we can determine, some of the leading roles in the riots were played by african-americans, puerto ricans, drag queens. it is uncertain whether they represented a majority of the people that participated in the riots, but there are many people that place them playing a key role, displaying real courage. some individuals that are often

credited with instigating the riots, sylvia rivera, marshall stilln, there are conflicting accounts about on when they were there. marcia johnson explains she was not there when the riots started, but she got there sometime later. if we take her at her word, she thatd an important role night, and certainly other people color did, but she may not have been there when the riots started. host: let's go to dave. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i was 20 years old. grew up on long island. i was a college student upstate. i would hitch down and go to the bars. julius was the other bar. all mafia run. strange to me being a macho college student, weightlifter,

young, but boy the stonewall was an amazing place. i would go in early in the evening before we went down christopher street way down towards the river towards danny's. i went in at about 10:00 in the evening to the stonewall. i would just walk through. it seemed all right.this seems normal early in the evening. then i would walk down to danny's. when i came back, maybe two hours later, and i have not heard this in a movie or commentary on c-span, last night wonderful program, people that were there, the village voice reporter. i would say the queens with the bravest. they were lighting garbage. i saw this.

they were lighting garbage pails on fire from the outside and throwing them in through the big window at the police. who else, i don't know. i remember standing on the cabs that were right there. this was the first night. i think i was back for the second night. it was hard to get back in. that is what i will never forget. the police were sort of trapped inside at the point i got there. they were lighting garbage cans and throwing them in the window. that is really true. you got a little better after that, a bit, but took years really, i guess to get where we are. years and years, decades and decades. i am 70 now. host: thank you for weighing in

and share your own regulations from 50 -- recollections from 50 years ago. mark stein. guest: my book reprints the media reports and other counts of the stonewall riots from 1969. the first accounts provided by the new york times, daily news, and new york post refer to the homosexuals or young homosexuals. within a week, they were referring to the leading roles of what the times would refer to as transvestites or drag queens. the most extensive coverage of that was in the local gay newsletter of a local gay-rights organization. interestingly, the trans peri odicals of the day, the ericsson educational foundation is letter didews

riots.hasize the we also have the issue of translation 50 years later. they we tend to police boundaries between gay and trans. in 1969, many people like marshall johnson and sylvia rivera were comfortable as refer to themselves as both gave an transvestite. they did not see those as mutually exclusive. are looking back 50 years ago at the stonewall riots. our guest is mark stein. he is the author of a new book that looks back at what happened 50 years ago. police commissioner james o'neill on twitter with this apology for the way officers 50 years ago handled the situation.

[video clip] >> i think it would be responsible of me as we go through world pride month to talk about the events at the stonewall inn in june of 1969. i am not going to pretend to be expert on what happened at stonewall. i know what happened should not have happened. the actions taken by the nypd were wrong, plain and simple. the actions and the laws were discriminatory and depressive, and for that i apologize -- and that iive, and for apologize. [applause] community, this would never happen in ny 2019. host: a reaction to that apology from the new york city police commissioner? guest: in general terms, i think the apology is a good first step.

it is just that. it is a first step. i would like to see similar apologies by the police the many cities where lgbtq people were killed in 1969. that would include los angeles, oakland. addition, are we seeing leadership from city leaders, state governors, all the way to the state government. we only have a few states were lgbt history is mandatory in the public schools. we still have policies at the local, state, and federal level with respect to transferable that could be addressed. where is the funding for lgbt history education, lgbt history museums? there is an effort underway right now in new york city. there is a long-standing lgbt history museum in san francisco.

we could see more of those projects funded by state and local government. more research into the history of lgbt abuse and harassment, including harassment by official government authorities. those would build on what is really just a symbolic apology at this point. host: from new jersey, richard, good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to discuss the beginning of my, um, coming out and going into new york. i used to go to the gay pride night, but only went at because i did not want to go near tv cameras, and my very best friend, who was a schoolteacher, said that he could not go to the gay pride parades until the evening time, because he was afraid that he would definitely lose his job as a schoolteacher. he was a spanish and italian teacher in new jersey and

absolutely loved his job as a foreign language teacher. enjoyingremember halloween on christopher street. changen i think a big was during the gay men's health crisis. i was with a friend, tony, in a storefront when they first started the gay men's health crisis, and they were setting up the telephone line and things like that, and the men that were much older than me -- i probably was 21, 20 2 -- tony said, because everybody was putting their name down on the piece of paper, and tony leaned over to them and said you know, he is extremely young. he has specified that his name will be on it. so in that storefront with the game and health crisis, i did not put my name on that piece of paper, because the first thing i thought was the nazis and the

gay concentration camps and that i would be put in a camp and possibly killed for being gay. host: thank you. we should point out that christopher street is right behind you, marc stein, and that has become an iconic space for gays in lesbians, and it is also where the stonewall inn is situated. guest: i think one of the things is to look back at the early private marches and protests and pride marches and protests and parade. there had been annual demonstrations in philadelphia in front of the hall on july 4. those began in 1965 and were held for five consecutive years, but the decision was made by activists in the fall of 1969 to switch the annual recognition of the lgbt struggle from philadelphia and independence hall to stonewall and new york

city, and that became what we now know today as the game pride parades. and eventually that spread around the united states and around the world. but those early gay pride marches, pride parades in 1971, 1973, it was quite brave to participate, and it was uncertain whether there would be violence from harassers who might come and confront the participants. it was unclear whether the police would grant permits, it'd thought, and los angeles, in 1970, was only shortly before what was called christopher street west that the parade organizers received official police permits to conduct the march, and they only did so under a judge's order, so the first recognitions and commemorations of the stonewall required a lot of

courage on the part of the organizers and the participants. but many of us believe that is where the stonewall riots acquired the significance that they have today. there had been other lgbt protests and demonstrations before stonewall, but stonewall became central to the way that history, really because of the annual commemorations every summer that have now gone on for 49 years. host: i want to quote one point in perspective. walter jenkins, who, at the time, was one of the closest aides to president lyndon johnson, worked with him for 25 years when he was in the senate, vice president, and then president. he was married, the father of six children, and this is a ofto of him, was forced out the white house after he had a sexual liaison with a man at the ymca in washington, d.c. he was charged with a crime on morals charges. and i mention that, in 1964 with where we are today, pete

buttigieg, the south bend, indiana mayor, who is openly gay. now running for president. what does that tell you? guest: i think openly lgbt candidates began running for office in the united states before stonewal were not generally successful, but they began to be successful in the early 1970's. the first were in ann arbor, michigan. came out as members gays and lesbians and then ran and won election. election,a state elaine noble and harvey milk winning for the board of supervisors in san francisco. shortly thereafter, a few still have been a kind of limit to that kind of

success in electoral and appointed office, so we have yet to have an openly lgbt cabinet member. we have yet to have an openly lgbt vice president or president. host: to you think the country would've liked an openly gay man as president in 2020? -- what elect an openly gay man as president in 2020? guest: it is possible. is selling the country it is possible, but i would remind everyone we have yet to have a woman president of the there aretes, so many groups and the american society that have yet to be represented at the highest levels of government, and i think it is certainly possible and maybe even likely that in an lifetimes there will be openly lgbt member of the supreme court, vice president, or president. >host: and according to "the advocate," there are 10 openly

gay or less be in senate members or in the house. inwill hear from dan ontario, california. good morning. caller: good morning. sorry, it is ontario, canada. i was wondering, here in canada, it has basically become a nonissue, and i noticed in the united states, there is a lot of attention paid to even the terminology that is used, like lgbtq, and it is just unfamiliar here, and i am sort of wondering if i could just get your opinion howhe difference between would is dealt with and then the language that is used and how that has evolved as well. host: thank you, dan. guest: welcome i actually live in canada, and toronto, for 16 years, so i know something about what you talked about with respect to canada. stonewallack to the

moment, it was actually at that moment that a number of countries began to partially decriminalize same-sex sex acts. case, but right before the stonewall riots, for canada, new england, germany, and wales. there is a controversy that has been going on in canada recently about the formal federal government apology or the criminalization of lgbt people and the unfinished nature of those reforms that occurred in the late 1960's and early 1970's, but i understand that there have been action, even this month, removing from the canadian criminal code some of the other criminal statutes that have been used to target lgbt people. so it is important it was not just saw to me that was -- sodomy that was criminalized, were harassed and

criminalized for disorderly conduct, and canada, a body of house legislation and a variety of other criminal statutes. host: you are doing a great job. i know the trust behind you sometimes can drown out the noise, but we appreciate it. we should point out you are at the park, now part of the national park service on christopher street, directly across from the stonewall inn. it is of course open to the public. our guess is marc stein, earned his daughter from the university of pennsylvania. thomas on the phone from washington, new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning to everybody as c-span, and good morning to professor stein. i have a quick,. i'm an avid supporter of c-span. i want to say a little quick story. i know about stonewall and how much of a remarkable movement is started, a catalyst for the lgbtq movement, and i was

walking alone by myself one day in manhattan, having my mind on a million different things, and i happened to come across a pure accident, i came across the memorial park. it is a very good feeling knowing that i was standing, inadvertently, in the middle of a catalyst for such a remarkable social justice movement, and i was really taken back, so again, in brief, i want to thank professort c-span and stein for sharing such a positive and transformative light on the subject and how remarkable this movement has been. thank you all, again, for your time. i appreciate it. host: tom, thank you for the call. marc stein, let me take his point and move it one step further. as an educator, how'd you teach stonewall? house educators teaches -- how should educators teach this, its

significant, and what happened years later? guest: well, i think many of us are trying to improve lgbt education in colleges, universities, and high schools for some years. it is really important, i think, for it to be integrated into part of our general narrative for american history. it is one thing for there to be horses on lgbt history and colleges and universities, but it is another thing entirely went the lgbt history and the history of the stonewall riots gets incorporated into the general american history courses. so a number of us are working very hard on that right now. i think many of us try to teach that stonewall followed 20 years of political organizing by lgbt people, so there was a pre-stonewall movement. muchof us try to teach the broader history of sexual and gender difference and variety in american history, stretching back centuries. and then of course it is important to follow the stories

after the stonewall riots, how did the gay liberation movement developed in the 1970's, the less be in feminist movement, the transgender movement, the economists movement, and particularly strong in the late 1970's? how do that all change in the late 1980's with the aids crisis, and then what were the changes in more recent decades with legalization but also the complications of what it means to be recognized by local, state, and federal government and the possibilities that liberation might be limited, might be compromised, might be unfinished, in a variety of ways. i think that is what a lot of us try to teach when we emphasize lgbt history. host: and of course you have spent probably more time than most historians looking back at stonewall. what has surprised you the most?

this: uh, well, i think, 50 year commemoration, i think many of us anticipated that there would be an explosion of public interest, but i think even as i was working on my new book, i think maybe i underestimated the extent of the public interest. so that is gratifying. it is an opportunity for us to teach about stonewall specifically but also teach andt broader lgbt history broader history of social justice movements and to connect the past to the present, so i think that has been an important aspect. i guess it is also frustrating -- we still do see many of the myths that circulate about civilall, claims that the rights start of the lgbt movement, when we know there was a previous movement. there are things on the internet

that claimed to be from the stonewall riot that are not from the stonewall riots. we have photographic images and only one image published in the new york daily news that published the confrontation between the police and the rioters. it creates opportunities but also a problem of once problematic representation is presented on the internet and that it can go viral and spread and then we end up with lots of misinformation and misinterpretation. host: our next caller is from ithaca, new york. aster, welcome back to the conversation. good morning. good morning. are you with us? caller: yes, yes i am. can you hear me? host: we can now. go ahead with your question or comments. caller: yes, thank you, first of all, for everyone behind the seats who put us all on every day.

crea, andhael vincent my ministry is ecological, a deleterious, one world life systems. stonewall means not to just be tohistorical site, it needs be an insight into our history, and i think mr. stein would concur that not only the .ommemoration of these events and i did not come out until i left the seminary in 1983, and into the peace corps, and i went to a conference of case went i was fired, and one of the things they did was they fired me for being gay, in senegal. ihad my masters divinity, passed my own human rights ministry, but my last paper at catholic university was same- gendered marriages, and

what we do not realize is that what we need is a vehicle of veracity with a capacity to uphold those self-evident truths. and so what we would like, i would think we need, with all the talk and everything is good about the reparations, about voting rights, about eight trinity i got fired by church standing up for a south african transgendered woman to use the women's bathroom, that we need human rights course. host: i will stop you there are thank you for sharing your story. marc stein? guest: one of the things the religiond the size was and the potentially liberating role played by religion. before the stonewall riots, religious leaders were important allies of the lgbtq movement,

along with the american civil liberties union, an important ally for the pre-stonewall movement. there was a council on religion and humans actual, which ministers number of who allied with activists of that day and made important, efforts, andg those continued after stonewall. so i would not think of the religious community as hostile islgbt aspirations, but it divided, and we have for several decades have religious denominations fighting for lgbt rice and others who are at the forefront of opposing lgbt liberation. and even within some of those denominations that have been hostile, there are divisions within and so efforts within even the catholic church or the lgbtn church to promote

rights.'s and lb g lgbt so it is an important struggle along with others that we think of in the popular media, school. rainbowat does the rebel flag, which is behind you, represent a you as a historian? guest: well, the rainbow flag emerge as one of the symbols and icons of the lgbt movement, and the many colors were meant to celebrate the diversity of the lgbt movement and community, so to emphasize that it is not an all-white community, it is not an all middle-class community, but ratherll men, encompasses people from all backgrounds, also groups, and american society and in the

global community, and there have been calls to expand the colors tothe rainbow flag eve even further and besides the lgbt movement community's activism. host: tony in denver, good morning. welcome to the program. caller: thank you. mr. stein, a brilliant presentation on stonewall. i only had a cursory understanding before the show today, and i find this highly informative. two questions for you. one, how large is the lgbt community? how large is the demographic? i am sure the statistic is probably hard to get at, because, you know, closeted people, but i would like to know that. second, as a historian -- are you concerned that i am concerned as a white male about injustice for anybody who is not white over the last couple of

years, and i'm wondering, as a historian, if you have a view -- are we going backward as a lgbtq, butt just for just in general for the social justice movement? answers to those questions would be helpful. thank you. host: thanks for the call. mr. stein? guest: on the first question, quantitation is very difficult. we have lots of surveys stretching back to the kinsey study in the 1940's and 1950's. if the question is as merrily, we could get 1% to 3% to 10% of the population, but the question is asked broadly, we start to have much larger numbers and when you think of "queer," that term has been invoked to represent a much broader array of people, and it represents people who have ever had a moment of same-sex desire, everyone who has ever

transgressed gender and every aspect of their life, we start to get much larger percentages. we might even say 100% of the population is potentially where, although of course, not everybody lives that, not everyone he that identity, so it really depends on how we asked the question, how do we define to both letters of the alphabet. with respect to the current moment and whether we're making progress, taking a step back, you know, in many respects, these things tend to happen in cycles. there were important reforms during the obama administration, head as we see in many areas of social justice, retrenchment during the trump administration. there have of course been limits to that because we have three branches of the federal government should we have state and local governments, some of which are continuing to make important strides, so it is a complicated. sometimes we have two steps forward, one step back.

sometimes we have one step forward, two steps back. and really depends on the question we are asking. so certain aspects of law, there has been progress. but in other aspects, there has been a retrenchment. and to go back to your first question, the notion that we each have to claim strict identities and avoid dealing gendere complexities of and sexual fluidity, maybe we are not at such a great moment right now, because i have seen more and more assistance that people claim strict identities and don't embrace possible transformations, possible fluidity of gender and sexuality, across their own life courses. host: this headline from the "new york daily news," and it reads as follows. raided.st mad."bees are stinging

marc stein, what do you think of that headline? guest: [laughs] well, it is characteristic of press coverage of the stonewall riots. because michael covers some of the accounts from that summer, we get to compare how mainstream newspapers and magazines covered the riots to alternative papers, new "the village voice" in york, and then "west coast" periodicals, and then we get to see lgbt press covers, so you would not have seen a headline like that in lgbt newspapers and magazines and newsletters of the day, but, you know, this was a way for mainstream is famous to get readers, to get interest, and it can be then complicated to use those as sources, but they are important sources, and they help us understand how it is that people learn about stonewall.

the national magazines of the did "time" and "newsweek," not cover similar to the fall, until october, so it took several months for at least the magazines of the united states to see stone wall something significant and worthy of coverage. host: and you spoke earlier about the importance of the bars and taverns for the gay and lesbian community. nancy younger is a professor from santa clarita university, and from the c-span video library, looking back at the role they play for the lgbtq community. [video clip] younger: gays and lesbians of the 1960's thing over and over again about how the rest their reputation, their r families,thei their livelihood by going to the the gay barsause save their lives. they kept them from despairing

that they were the only one, kept them from believing that society was right, that they were sick and criminal and would be better off dead. in the bars and nightclubs, they found hookups and one night stands. found partners and lovers and friends and people who accepted them as they were. they did not have to carry out of exhausting work pretending to be straight. they could be themselves, and he entered yourself is very precious and is worth a lot of risk. lesbians during this period suffered double discrimination. gay men saw women as inferior. in the days before widespread feminism, a lesbian bar was the true place where women were not to cater to mentor and a lesbian in the 1940's said "we can throw up our girdles, our dresses, our ideals," was was a

uniform virtually required of women. lesbian can wear pants and be free from straight men' on one ineffectual attentions. host: that is from nancy unger, clarita, fromanta the c-span video library. you, marc stein, what happened next after the stonewall riots demonstration? initially, the madison society try to harness the energies unleashed by the riots, and there were follow-up and demonstrations in greenwich village and actually in queens, new york, where a public highe part had been the e o harassment by vigilantes of lgbtq people. eventually come it became clear that the older home will file movement organizations were not going to be the main vehicles for the future, so there emerged

a new organizations, the first in new york city was the gay liberation front. there was also the queens liberation front. lesbian forms representing lesbian politics, another color,nting people of and then the gay activists alliance in new york, which was a little less radical than the initial gay liberation front appeared the gay liberation front and other organizations that i mentioned were very committed to alliances with the black panthers, with the antiwar movement, with women's liberation. marches andpated in other groups and they really were calling for a radical restructuring of american society, a social restructuring, and political restructuring. the gay activists alliance, in

contrast, decided to focus more supposedly on gay rights, and then that really set the trend for what followed for the next several years. powerful,ential, very very active organization in new york city and similar organizations around the country. guest: host: let me ask you about two more recent moments, edie winter and her role in challenging doma, benefits of marriage at. why was her case so significant? well, over time, the issues and priorities of the abtq movement change them as one of the lgbtq movement began prioritizing inclusion in the military, inclusion in marriage, inclusio in family life, inclusion and religion, and that was contested within the lgbt movement. a lot of people thought of the radical revolutionaries of the gay liberation movement were antiwar. they did not want inclusion in

the military. tension.is that nevertheless, the goal for many people of the lgbt movement was brought acceptance in all aspects of american life, and edie windsor really was an aspect of that part of the lgbt roleent, so her role, the of others, were absolutely ortral in establishing achieving this major long-standing goal of the lgbt movement, which was for those people who want to marry, for those lgbt people who want to marry, that they have the right to do so. host: and in 2016, during one of , rangers,ide marches those from the national park service, joining in the gay pride movement. so what does that tell you about where police and authorities were in 1969 and where we are

today? host: guest: well, again, i think today there are conflicting feelings about the dissipation of the police, the military, elected officials, representatives of local, state, and federal governments. on the one hand, it represents inclusion, and it is a far cry from the situation 50 years ago. hand, those levels of government, local, state, and federal fully understanding the harassment of violence committed in the name of local, state, and federal, our they fully addressing today's cutting-edge issues, right? and so there is that double-edged aspect of participation of local, state, officials, including representatives of the national park service. are they doing everything that

they could be to make up for past wrongs and to address ongoing struggles? host: in a half a minute, the cover of your book represents what in your mind? why did you select it? guest: well, it is a photograph from the week of the stonewall actually ait is staged photograph. as i mentioned earlier, we only have one image of the confrontation between protesters and police, and we do not even have the original, so most of the will see it is a grainy image of a newspaper photograph, but the fred photographs were staged, mostly taken on the evening of june 28, so the second night of rioting. these were a groups of dissidents who he gathered -- participants who maderra people whond we see

at least look to us to be african-american, puerto rican, we see trans people, you will energy of the participants. we see camping, we see same-sex intimacy in the arrah photographs. so we see some of what was going on during the week of the rioting. author and professor at san francisco university, marc stein, who is joining us from christopher street in greenwich village, new york, thank you so much for joining us. guest: thank you so much for having me. next, the documentary historian who chronicled the gay-rights movement that'took place following the stonewall riots in 1969, that is coming up next on c-span3's american history tv. for those of you here on c-span, the "washington journal" will

continue with your calls and comments and questions as we look back at the 50th anniversary of the stonewall riots. louis-antoine we wil will be joining us, but we want to show a moment, pete buttigieg, who is openly gay, speaking about the struggles she has staged, both with public officials and with his family is. . that is "washington journal." we know the struggle is not over just because marriage equality has come to the land. states, including my own home state of indiana, does not have a crime legislation. is not over when people have the right to fire anybody, because of who they love. that is why we need to sign the federal equality act right away. [applause]

mayor buttigieg: the struggle is not over when transgender troops, ready with their lives on the line, at their careers threatened with one tweet at a time by a commander-in-chief who himself presented to be disabled in order to get out of serving when it was his turn. the struggle is not over for our community by a long shot, and it is part of a struggle by freedom and fairness and a better life that goes far beyond the lgbtq experience. every american struggles in some way to experience true freedom, and i contemplated a presidential campaign and speak out about the issues across the country, the thing i am most hoping to change is the way that our party talks about our values. it is no secret that democrats are policy people. we are new ones people. we are quick with the 14-point

plan and the powerpoint to act. sometimes we are a bit slower to explain those values that motivate our policy. so it is time for us to get back into the business of talking about values, especially freedom. conservativeswed that monopolize the idea of freedom, so they have freedom from tax, so they can forget about the other thing is, besides government, that can make you unfree. freedom is not just about freedom from, it is about freedom to. not just about freedom from regulation, but the freedom to live your life as you choose, and the lgbtq experience as a prime exactly why that matters. because you are just not free if a county clerk's to tell you who you are to marry because of their interpretation of their religion. [applause] those remarks by mayor advocacy at an lgbtq

group in washington, d.c., and we are back live at the national and memorial, commemorating the stonewall riots. it is on christopher street. joining us there is pierre-antoine louis, a reporter for the "new york times ." as you look at 50 years ago to where we are today, what remains the biggest challenge for the gay and lesbian community? guest: i think the biggest challenge now -- thank you for having me -- is inclusion. long ago, have a lo when you think of post-stonewall, in the 1970's, when people thought lesbian and gay relationships would still be illegal, in the mid-1990's, only 30% of people felt like gay marriage should be legal. so we have come a long way, but

there is still so much. host: we have been talking with marc stein about some of these lesbians,cing days, and transgenders, and one of the things that stood out as it was viewed as a mental illness, as a condition that could be treated. can you touch on that? guest: um, uyeyes. for a long time, it was looked at as a mental illness, and of course having that kind of statement did not help the lgbtq in any capacity. i think it is getting a lot better now. i think we are finding people not judging it that way. the media i think is helping as well, so much. host: how so? guest guest: well, i think just , andng lgbtq in the light having certain people in media as well, and even television

shows are helping. it is a whole lot. host: this is the headline from your newspaper, "colorado sought governor, electing a rich, gay, jewish governor is either progress with a shrug or both." how significant is it that governors and senators who are now openly gay and lesbian? guest: i think it is good but we still have a long way to go. seeing people in congress representing the lgbtq community. here,our guest is pierre-antoine louis, and our phone line is open. we have a phone line set aside for lesbian, gay, and transgenders, (202) 748-8002 .otherwise, our phone lines are divided

regionally, eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000. for mountain of pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. hasyou, as someone who studied the issue and live the issue, would have been the turning point, in your lifetime, for gay, lesbian, and transgender? guest: i think just being more open. i myself being younger and the parade and no wanting to hide and not wanting to be seen. i think feeling more comfortable f and everyoneel be a comfortable being themselves, while the around and seeing the flags, this is ok, being who i am is all right. host: how did you reach that point? guest: it took a long time. i think family helps as well. i think support helps also. i think support is extremely, extremely important. one of the issues we are having as well is suicide among lgbtq

youth. a few months ago, i wrote a piece on a teenage boy from alabama named shelby who died of suicide because he was being bullied at school. home, you starts, at know, and also educating the kids, let them know they are ok. host: in the case of nigel shelby, which is, by the way, available online at nytimes.com, what happened? fort: he was being bullied a few years, and he was out to his family and friends in the school, and he was being bullied nonstop. even only has the support of family, and his mother specifically, going to school was hard for him, and he unfortunately took his life. host: for you bullied growing up? bulliedh, yes, i was

growing up, mostly in junior high. the difference for me is my family did not know, so it was something i was holding on inside for a very long time. was not until i was 17 years old that i decided to seek help. lesbian, gay, bisexual center right went in at 17 years old, walked in, and said " hi i am gay,, i need help." it was then my life changed. host: bill is joining us from palm springs, california. welcome to the program. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i was born and raised in philadelphia. my father's father was a noted psychics, for example inler -- frank temple miller philadelphia. he was gay. he had to give with his wife, who passed away, but he would put on drag parties in his

house, this was in the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, and my father film, so i have record of this. i deal with a lot of young people who are homeless or semi-homeless, and i deal with the food bank here, and there is a lot of hurt and pain. and i certainly feel like some of the man who was on about an hour ago, the radio host, all i can say is self-service, that is all i can call those people, people who have covered gay people in general, it is rough out there for a kid, and just seeing the gay pride flags, and trump has set us back 100 years. it is really a terrible thing that is going on. ran, i am democrat, but i as a republican in the state of indiana. i live in gary, indiana.

i worked in the steel industry for 32 years. but i ran a state representative, and i had a deal with the cilicia athlete group -- phyllis schlafly group, the liberty forum, and the first question i was asked is how i feel about homosexuals getting married, and here i am a gay guy , not really an answer politically, and i thought these guys turn the wheels to get gay marriage going, and they do not even realize it. i have a pickup truck now, but i used to drive from philadelphia to new york, and i was a hit in the pickup truck, i tell you. but happy gay pride. host: gary, thank you. mr. louis, your reaction. guest: and makes me think about when you're growing up, that you think you will never be able to live your true self, your gay self, and being able to finally live that is incredible. host: let me just share with our

audience one resource from the human rights campaign. rg, and you cano get a lot of information about gays and lesbians, including state maps, blogs, policies. think the issue, andemployment, most states have the or least restrictive laws for gay and lesbian employees. again, the website is hrc.org. rachel's next. caller: hi, my name is rachel. i am very concerned. i know we have choices for we should vote for as black voters, but i think we need to be very strategic at this point, and we need to come to a consensus of who will bea trump, and i think we need to have a thing tak -- think tank. i like kamala harris. i think we need to develop that into a marketing image kind of plan and really develop that within the joe biden, you know,

strategy on how to develop him to be able to appeal to all black voters. it is about beating trump right now. it is not about having free choice. that is very good, all well and good, but right now, it is trump, and beat we need to focus. host: rachel, thank you for the call. let me take that point and ask you about former vice president joe biden in his role inequalities for gays and lesbians, really announcing it even before president obama did. he get so on "meet the press." guest: i think he came to stumble, didn't he, about a week or so ago? host: he did. how significant is see to the gay lesbian community? i think what is important is for all the candidates to try their best to talk about these issues, especially when it comes community during

one thing i'm thinking about is transgendered women, especially women of color who were murdered ins year or reported dead 2019, the list is at least 10, and five of those were this month, and pride month. i remember a week or so ago elizabeth warren being the only candidate to bring that to light and saying that we need to say their names, and we need to do better. host: next is cleo in new jersey. good morning, cleo. caller: hi, how are ya? host: we are glad to hear from you. caller: yes. i would like to know from your i am a for guests is -- single black lesbian, and i used to go and party and places like hadgallery, the loft, and i

advances from gay, black men, which i delighted in. now my problem is i am in my 60's, single, and there are no places. there used to be a place called bonnie and clyde where lots of people would go to meet and meet i have seen match.com and these different websites. where is the opportunity for older, still vibrant, black, lovely women like myself, where we can meet other older women and form -- friendships as well as perhaps lovers? have justl lost, so i been staying home and playing with my cello, but it would be nice to play with others. host: thank you for the call. guest: yeah, it is funny, i worked on a project called new york pride walking tour, where i visited about 11 different historical lgbt places in the

city, and that was actually one of the complaints that people were saying, that there were not many lesbian bars left. henrietta, not far from here, and there is also the cubbyhole. i think maybe going to those bars and locations and walking around, seeing what they say. [inaudible] we have another -- host: we have another 10 minutes left. our number is (202) 748-8000 for those in the eastern half of the country and (202) 748-8001 if you're in the mountain or pacific time zones. or if you want to join in on the gay, lesbian, and transgender phoneline, that is (202) 748-8002. i want to share with you from "the atlantic" magazine this amazing 96 inn that account of the stonewall uprising, and then there is this. despite the progress, the as thetances that began

contemporary gay-rights movement have not changed as much as we might think. " your response. i agree. i like said before, we still have a long way to go. friends women are still losing their lives, and they gay trans panic defense right now where someone can actually justify of using, even killing a gay or transgendered person mainly because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity. so absolutely there is still a long road to go. that the the gains community has had over the last couple of years, or they secure, or are they in jeopardy? guest: a little of both. there's absolutely gains, but i think there is also room for so much more. i think we just need to pay

attention and not remain blind to any issues and to certain members of the lgbtq community, mainly the t or the q. guest: so who is blind to that, in your mind? , just people in general, not just one, necessarily, group. congress, just kind of listening. and people from the community as well. host: we will watch a portion of ily, for from lowly th one thing we have learned there items fromw the uprising. why do you think that is the case? guest: i do not think they work as well as they should have, was at the time,

and two, i do not think there was enough importance of it at that time. it was not until the uprising started, ross was thrown, and it directed, it became, i guess, newsworthy. i think that is the reason why. host: the film's title "gay and it marks the uprisings at the stonewall and on christopher street. let's watch a portion. [video clip] >> we are homosexual human beings and homosexual american citizens. people will conveniently overlook the second and third beings andn american citizens. group, minority or any

and a classification, i do not care if they are foreigners or what have you, they cannot just come together in one group, you have to take them individually. recognition,king equality, human dignity, our acceptance as the homosexual that we are. >> who is denying you this human dignity? theeep in mind that if homosexual has the same issue that the negro does -- >> say that again. >> if the homosexual at the visibility that it negro does, there would be 15 million unemployed. >> get the cards and settle. out,u do not bring things

like everyone else, your life is leading, gathering momentum, a movement such as this takes time , and unless it started somewhere and now they are going forward. >> my homosexuality, i have on 20 ce eight months nts' worth -- this is when people in my profession were in higher demand that any time in human history, and i've seen careers ruined, life is short, for no other reason than people in corporate society is prejudiced against them and would not allow them to seek equality of opportunity. ♪

filmmaker and lily vanry sounds. the american psychiatric association announcing homosexuality is no longer a mental illness, and following that in 1982, the cdc using the term a.i.d.s. for the first time. in 1996, the president signing the defense of marriage at. reversed obama don't ask, don't tell.

ruling reversing the ban on same-sex marriage. back to your phone calls. robin is joining of the north hills, california. good morning. caller: good morning. i was at the stonewall uprising the second night, and that is not what i wanted to -- i was there. i was from canada, so i could not participate in the demonstration, because to integrate into the united states, you had to sign a letter saying that you were not a prostitute, a dope addict, or a homosexual. threei went on to produce of the marches on washington, the main stages, so that was the last time i was passive at any demonstration. there are several things i want to say. one is, no, we do not have equality today. we still do not have the right to work in 28 states.

transgendered people are being killed. in,time a politician comes who says it is about religious freedom, we have to worry about them reversing any of the gains we have made, for instance, transgender and the military. one of the things that president clinton did do is that he -- eisenhower wrote a thing that you could not work for the federal government. frank was the grandfather of the act, but it was not until president kennedy -- president clinton decades and decades later signed a directive saying you could not work in the federal government, meanwhile, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of lgbtq people were thrown out of federal work. so you have to look and say -- are we safe today? no, we are not safe today. we depend on whoever is in office.

that is why it is so important to make sure that we either vote for lgbt people or lgbt-friendly people. joe biden has definitely been a friend. kamala harris is for marriage equality. elizabeth warren is pro-gay. so we now have politicians that are pro- us, but it is very important that we concentrate on the senate and the house, otherwise it can be rewritten. but i do not want you to think there are equal rights in the united states. if we can be fired -- and my late wife and i were the original ones to sue in california for marriage equality. if we can be married one day in a red state and then the next day the kicked out of our apartment and fired from our job, it does not mean that we have equality in the united states. the equality bill, now the house has passed it, but the senate will not even introduce it. i remember the 1979 march in washington, the democratic --

there was a group of us that want to put forward something and the equality bill, democratic party told us no, no, don't separate it, get the right to work and the right to this, and if you separate it we can get everything, through, and it took 50 years just to have the right to get married or the right to serve in the military, people need to be right now this is the most important election coming up, because they can take away what rights they or begin to fight for totally arrives in the civil rights bill so that we have rights all over. and there has just been a tremendous backlash, and especially towards trans people and murder toward trans people of covelor. you, robin, i will stop thank you for sharing your story, your expertise, and your involvement in the issue. i want to give our guest a chance to respond. guest: she is absolutely right. the biggest fear is to have these gains taken away, marriage

equality. i think allies are extremely important. we have to make sure that both lgbtq people are in office and running for office and that we have allies in there as well. the caller is absolutely right. the biggest fear is going backwards. we already have so much more that we need to do, so going forward is the only way to go. and that is absolutely by voting. host: our guest is pierre-antoine louis, a reporter for the "new york times." and in our final moment or two, as someone who grew up in new york city, familiar with christopher street, give us a sense of how the city will commemorate this 50th anniversary this week. guest: oh, i am sure there will be partying. i know i will be. morning, you see people out already celebrating and happy. it is going to be amazing. it is going to be people with

their families and celebrating and just being one huge family together. i will be there. host: we thank you for being part of the conversation. guest: thank you so much, and happy pride to everyone. host: a reminder, we are back tomorrow morning with a "washington journal" and the congress back in session this leavinge president is for osaka, japan for the g20 summit. a law to take on there, including his meeting with president xi jinping. natalie andrews, who covers congress for the "wall street journal," and john bennett who covers the senate for "roll call." the 9/11 victim compensation fund, something jon stewart has been up in arms with -- senate republican a reminder, "newsmakers" is next.