days and pro forma sessions during their holiday recess. senators return for legislative work on monday, june 1 and will resume votes on judicial nominations as well as the inspector general for pandemic recovery. watch live coverage for the house on c-span and for the senate on c-span2. host: joining us from south carolina, bakari sellers, a familiar face to those who watch book,nd author of this "my vanishing country: a memoir." "my vanishingt country," why is that? guest: thank you for having me. thank you to everyone who woke up to be with us. rural america that used to be the epicenter of upward mobility

used to have small businesses that flourished. due to the politics of the times, due to the economy that has passed us by an elected officials that is not pay us attention, any culture that does not hear our voices, these communities have all but tried up and vanished. that is on the micro level. on macrolevel -- on the macrolevel, this country that is supposed to afford us so many benefits and promises of freedom and hope, not just life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, put all of these promises that are supposed to be afforded to us are not afforded to those of us of color, the low income, the immigrants. the dream this country is supposed to provide to us is vanishing before our eyes as well.

host: what failed? what worked when you were growing up and what is not working now? guest: i think it is a combination. i think we are not preparing our children for the 21st century global economy. we punish kids because of visit code they are born into now. when you grow up in a place like mine where we have a food access tou don't have quality care because the hospitals and doctors offices have closed down. the failed is a complicated answer because we have all failed our rural communities. we have all failed individuals. in this era of the pandemic, you ripped theid-19 has band-aid off of systemic racism in this country.

hopefully, we can adjust many of the issues are you dress in "my vanishing country." host: we want to invite you to join in the conversation. phone lines are on your screen. start dialing in so we can get to those questions and comments. you write that my dad's generation was focused on equal access. they wanted to empower their communities economically, politically, socially, but they also wanted to drink from the same water fountains, go to the same schools. i want this country i love to atone for slavery, jim crow, for the prison industrial complex, and for the attitude of invisible lives -- of ambivalence towards violence against unarmed black men. guest: i talk about being a child of the movement and growing up with marion barry and

.earning the lessons now, our journey continues. our struggle continues. father's generation, you had in itself -- emmett till. today, we have ahmaud arbery. the challenges we have about race are evolving as well. while we do not want to focus on the issue of integration, that battle, we just celebrated the remembrance of brown versus it board of education. we still have battles and issues of race before us today. many of those have transformed. i will give you the perfect example. i am not concerned with the ignorant rhetoric people use in

this country. i am not concerned if someone ignorant calls me the i"n" word. stokely carmichael says if you want to lynch me, that is your problem. but if you have the power to lynch me, that is my problem. i concerned with the systems of oppression in this country. in clinton, they still did not have clean water. there are hundreds of cities where black and brown individuals have a water condition worse than flint, michigan. in south carolina, kids go to schools where the infrastructures falling apart. we have to address that. one of the things i talk about my book is when my wife gave , by 10:00 mytwins wife was near death. she lost seven units of blood.

i had to be her chief advocate. the first 36 hours of my children's life, their mother, my wife, was in i.c.u. you say, what does that have to do with anything? african american female mortality is an issue we have to discuss because black women are four times more likely to die than whited pardbirth counterparts. i stand on the shoulders of those who sat down at the woolworth's counter. i am saying our challenges have grown and evolved. the systemic injustices today are different from those my father faced. host: tell us more about your father and mother and how they shape to. -- shaped you. guest: my father is my hero.

being able to grow up with your hero in your kitchen is an awesome blessing. the blood of my family literally runs through the soil of this free nation. no one can tell me i am not american and do not belong. my father literally shed blood for justice, truth, and peace. my father was shot in 1968 when others were killed. in whats were wounded is called the orangeburg massacre. state, we do kent not know much about south carolina state. my father was put on death row while his bond was denied. all of the officers that fired into the group of students were found not guilty. they convicted my father of writing -- rioting.

you asked about my mom. my mom, as i am writing this book, i realized my mom is probably stronger than us all. her oldestto carry child well my father was in prison. meanster's middle name "born while father was away." the burden she had to carry and witha she had to live with a political prisoner and whose name evokes fear from some, having to carry the likelihood of a family, having to carry the burdens of that emotionally, my mother is extremely strong. in the book, i talk about mental health and some issues we had to cut overcome -- overcome as a family and the trauma we lived through. my mother was always the one who

taught us to have an insatiable desire to learn as much as possible. titled "why are the strongest women the world dying?" to black women and my mother and the strength she displayed, as well as my father, helped me grow up to understand i only have to be three things in this world. i have to be a good husband, a good father, and a quality change agent. those three things are the values my mother and father instilled in me. host: our first phone call for bakari sellers comes from anne in tennessee. good morning. caller: and this memorial day weekend, i have a grandson who just got his golden wings in pensacola because he is willing to give his life to support this country. i just listened to three hours

on msnbc of the hate and rhetoric about this country. now, i turn to c-span and all we hear is criticism of america. when i was told about this murderer that went to pensacola and shot and killed three of our american history -- heroes, i did not dare go on facebook. it is all day all the time criticism of america. i am sick of this! host: mr. sellers, are you criticizing america? guest: no, i hope my book gets people to have a conversation. i hope ann is still listening. we come from different perspectives. i hear the trauma in your voice. i wrote this book and am on "washington journal" because i want you to know my trauma may not be the same as your trauma, but we can persevere and get through this together. i do not hate americans.

i love this country. this country has given me so much. this country has also taken so much. this country took years away from my father. this country took the lives of many young men of color, including henry smith. what i attempt to do because i love this country so much is challenge it. i do not think there is anything wrong with asking this country to be a more perfect union. i feel your pain and emotion. as someone who does not serve fromnjoys the freedoms your family member, i want to say thank you. as a black democrat who may not necessarily be your facebook friend, i am on cnn and i have friends on msnbc. we may be unlikely compatriots, but i want you to know we are in this struggle together. i want us to have some empathy and compassion. i want you to have some understanding in knowing our

paths crossed this morning for a reason. i am here to say i love you and i love this country. i want this country to continue to be the greatest country on the face of the earth. host: k.j. in northport, florida. caller: i have two questions. my first question is, how did integration play into "my disappearing country"? you talk about how there are businesses and so on and so forth. prior to integration, black people could not go to different hospitals and schools so they had their own teachers and their own communities. they could represent themselves. they were more in charge. , i noticed inon history things kind of broke down.

if you could speak to that in reference to your experience and what you are talking about in "my vanishing country" and how that plays. my second question, when it comes to the term "people of color," i think it is disingenuous because everybody knows you are talking about black people. when you say people of color, it includes brazilians, asians, indians. plaguedkinds of things by people is completely different from other people of color. when we are talking about certain issues, i think it would be more honest to just go ahead and say black people and african americans because i do not see disparities when it comes to the treatment of asians in medical health and interacting with the courts.

host: bakari sellers? guest: those were very good and poignant questions. the first question i will answer about integration. many issues we have seen in this country in terms of a vanishing country are not necessarily traced to integration. i think you asked a nuanced and powerful question. although african americans had their own teachers and businesses, the question was about resources. you would look at the schools, the environment, all of these things that were separate but not equal by any stretch. integration allowed the sharing of resources and the pouring in of resources. we have never truly fulfill that promise and provided the necessary resources. you begin to see many of these .usinesses leave

agreements inrade the early 1990's. that is when you're seeing a lot of the factories in the south dwindle. other than that, it has been a when thestruggle infrastructure is not invested in. you see these communities begin to dwindle. being people of , i do think black folks are different in some instances and the same in others. when you are looking at the pandemic and see black folk the facta high rate, is people of color in this country do have some shared sacrifices and struggles. whether or not you are an immigrant, hispanic, black, or

brown in this country, many times you are still fighting for your humanity in this country. it is understandingly have that shared struggle. i write in the book that you cannot be selfish in your struggle. i am not entertaining words. i use them quite -- i am not entertaining words -- entertaining -- interchanging words. thank you for making me tighten up my language this morning. both of those questions were profound. host: battle creek, michigan, good morning. yes, i have to say the country,lem in this i'm serving in the midwest. we are segregated in this city. i had to talk to this woman very upset about msnbc. trump is elected

and the constant misstatements, , false tweets, fact-checking, i thought seriously about going to canada. let me address the woman who called. you can tell donald trump that barack obama was born in hawaii. there are like two birth certificates. tos is such a waste of time have to talk about racial stuff and false allegations. andck obama, for the woman president donald trump, he was born in life. i don't if you want to comment on any of that. [laughter] is that to me? host: yes, that is to you. guest: i think we are having a

discussion this morning that is very emotional. i think that is important. when i wrote this book, people would ask me, why do you want to talk about issues of race? america, most people when they look at issues of race, most white folk with a look at issues of race, look at it through the context of their lifetime. what i asked them to do is talk about the history and give some historical context to many of the struggles we have present day to expand the worldview. i think it is important so we can have new laws in our in ourions -- nuance discussions and also have compassion and understanding. read "myhen people vanishing country," they will get a sense of pride. others who do not have the same shared experiences i think we'll

get a sense of understanding. hopefully, after it is in circulation a little while, maybe we can have difficult but meaningful and necessary conversations. as we are seeing in our first 20 minutes, these conversations are emotional and difficult but necessary. i will delve into something i told myself i would not this morning which is politics briefly. one of the unique things about a trump presidency that would not have happened with a hillary clinton presidency is we are dealing with the issues of race, for better or worse. we are dealing with issues of race because they are at the forefront due to the person inhabiting the white house. you write that former president barack obama was too cautious about race.

the thorniest issue for barack obama was the black lives matter movement. great deal of white frustration stems from the rise of black lives matter and obama's tepid defense. to go andou are going come and go all in because you are going to get blamed for it anyway. what did you mean by that? guest: it was pretty clear. i think barack obama got caught outside of what was a zone, a comfort zone around issues of race. i think because of the pain, the death we were seeing with our eyes, the bloodshed in back to thelet's go death of mike brown. people always talk about michael brown and say he did not have his hands up or this or that.

robbing a robbery or convenience store, the penalty for that is not a death penalty. enragednd, what really a whole generation is watching asphalt inlie on the ferguson, missouri, in the sweltering heat while you hear his mother bellowing and crying in the background. they left his body there for hours and hours. it just showed that even in death he did not get the benefit of his humanity. whoe were many of us rightfully wanted the president of the united states to step in in a more articulate form i'm sure you could do,

"stop killing us." i think he wanted to and was compelled to find some fine line to walk when there was no line to walk on this issue. was anwback and tenor untenable position for the president of the united states. although he attempted to give life to many of the protesters and give a voice to them, he was extremely tepid in that. and he still got blamed. my only point was in politics on issues such as this, you have to go all the way in. it is something he refused to do. and fan of proponent 44. i sent him a copy of this book. i am sure you will send notes -- he will send notes back of his thoughts. he has never been one to shy

away. and father of black children, i wish you would have done more on this issue. i do understand the difficulty and pushback he had. host: south carolina, rose, you are next. caller: good morning. her 70's.y in i am so frightened of how the majority of people are dying from the coronavirus, especially the blacks. i am worried about america becoming a third world country. i want you to express your belief on what kind of leadership we need for the 21st century. .uest: ms. rose, thank you being from sumter, south carolina, you are not far from me and where i work. just thank you for everything

you have done in your 70 years of life and everything you will do in the future. coronavirus has ripped the band-aid off of the issues of race in this country. whether people want to see them or not, they do not have a choice but to see that. in places like detroit, new orleans, atlanta, charlotte, we see thehicago, faces of those dying at extremely high rates even though they are low percentages of the population as people of color. we have to ask the reason why. i do not want anybody calling into "washington journal" stating if black folks just drink and smoke less, they will survive the virus. that is intellectually dishonest and actually untrue. untrue.ally

i think it is insensitive to those who passed and lost loved ones. we have to have honest conversations about the recent we have systemic inequities in this country. , andther would always say he called it before this virus, he said this is going to be bad because we all know when america gets a cold, black folks get the flu. in this situation when america got the coronavirus, black folk died. ask yourself why. it has to do with what i laid out earlier. when you cannot get a healthy food alternative, you are more likely to get a bag of sugar and kool-aid and stretch it throughout the week and are more likely to have diabetes because of that. when you're southern legislatures do not expand medicaid and your hospitals and you do not have access to care within 30 miles, you are more likely to have comorbidities.

breathing in polluted air because you are living in cheap housing next to a manufacturing plant, you are more likely to have asthma. when you are drinking dirty water with high lead concentrations or chemicals that should not be used for clean water, you are more likely to have toxins in your body that cause various types of cancer. when you take all of this into usount, it is no surprise to who have been yelling this for years, that black folk have these preventable diseases and comorbidities, and now we have a pandemic. we have a pandemic killing us at higher rates because no one has cared or heard these voices. no one has paid attention to these systemic injustices and disparities we have. she asked an even better question about leadership for the 21st century. i tell people having a good public health strategy is a good

strategy for the economy as well. we need a leader who is a visionary. we need a leader who believes in science. we need a leader who believes in facts. has a senseader who of empathy and compassion for their fellow man. those values are something we have to get back to because those are the true values of what i think leadership in this country is, something we are void of right now. ike from florida, welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you for taking my call. bakari, thank you for writing this book. i look forward to reading it. i know our country has made so much progress through history. we voted in a black president. we have multiple people from different races and backgrounds serving congress, our senators

and professionals. the question i have is your thoughts on the left behind americans and puerto rico. they had been american citizens for 100 years and died and fought in every major war and still do not have the ability to have a senator or congressman represent them or be able to vote for their president that sends them to war. i wanted your opinion on that and where it should go in the future. thank you so much. guest: the first part of your question is correct. i am someone who says we have made a lot of progress in the country. a therelso put a comm and say we have a ways to go. i understand the progress but we still have a long way to go. as for puerto rico, i'm tired of treating citizens like citizen

unless second-class citizens. puerto rico and washington, d.c., deserve representation. they deserve representation in congress, voting representation. if you send somebody to war, they need to vote for their commander-in-chief. one of the things i am most proud of about the puerto rican community is the puerto rican community is realizing its grassroots power and pushing the envelope and still raising their voices and it is becoming more activated in the process. i am a very appreciative of that and very appreciative of your question. host: we go next to tom in

texas. caller: thank you for taking my call. incited people to attack the 16-year-old and he served mr. sellers. i was calling to find out the status of the lawsuit. is there a trial date set? are you still encouraging people to assault that 16-year-old kid? for thatank you question. to clarify, no one ever encouraged anyone to assault anyone. he did not sue me. even more importantly than that, i do wish mr. sandman and everyone well. providesis country access to the american dream and ability to do all the things they want to do in their future careers.

on a different note, i can say i say or write anything that says i am perfect. one thing we have to acknowledge about political leaders and those of us trying to do well is that we have made mistakes. ourt of things i talk about aspirational because i'm still working on myself as a father, husband, and throughout the christian journey. mistakes we have made in our lifetime, i think whether it is joe biden or any that we arecial judging or looking at, we have to evaluate the totality of their lifetimes. i write about some of my traumas and some of the and successes i have had as

well. i write about it all because i want people to acknowledge or have an understanding of myself as i attempt to become a better man. host: you are 35 years old? guest: 35 years old and i have already retired from politics momentarily. host: why write a memoir at 35? guest: good question. i will share this. write at want to memoir. i was trying to write a political book. many of my colleagues on cable tv, i wanted to write this book about living in the country of the trump presidency from my perspective being a young black democrat who no one wanted to buy that book. wrote sample chapters, proposals. for all of those individuals watching who have projects they

want to complete, for everyone who wants to become a writer, i got turned down between 20 and 30 times for "my vanishing country" or a book. tracy who i owe so much to. [dog barking] that is my yorkie in the background. ofcy was the editor-in-chief "amistad." she gave me the opportunity to talk about my story. that is how "my vanishing country: came about. stay with it and give yourself a chance. host: springfield, ohio, angela? caller: thank you for c-span. i cannot wait to get your foot.

i wonder if you think former sresident obama' [indiscernible] is due to the fact he did not have a slave as an ancestor? guest: interesting question. there were some issues different for the president. about is i dolk historical what colleges and universities did as well as they could have. i think it has to do with a lack of relationships with those institutions. it was cultural. he did not grow up on those campuses like i did. he did not grow up with an orerstanding of their value import. i think valuing them and understanding their necessity was not necessarily displayed. that was culturally. i am not going to question

barack obama's life. i do not go down a path of who is black or not and whether you are the ancestor of a slave or not. barack obama is a black man. about have any question whether he is a black man, you can see how he was treated some of his colleagues and voices pushing against him. not only that, but he is an example for black people and people of color and especially young people of color throughout this country which brings me to talking about barack obama in a way that i want people to understand his impact beyond the oflm of politics, regardless whether or not he had an ancestor who was a slave. there was a picture of barack obama with jacob philadelphia. he was casket sharp with a white

shirt and slacks. he had his shoes polished. he went in and got the opportunity to ask the president one question. he asked the president, does your hair feel like mine? barack obama reached down and he touched his head. it is the most powerful image to come out of the white house. that and the situation room when they killed osama bin laden. this image meant so much. it was so powerful. it was an example. for all of the temerity you may have shown around issues of race and my criticism constructively of wishing he would have done more, barack obama is truly an example for all americans but in particular black americans. he is a true example for those individuals that come from communities that are forgotten, he was a true example of what we can be. is always off and my

heart is always open for the 44th president of the united states. host: we are talking with bakari sellers about his memoir, "my vanishing country: a memoir." we go now to kentucky. caller: i have seen you on cnn. i don't understand good you have let them ruin your credibility. you have set back race relations in this country. it is unbelievable. i have never seen anything like it. i will take my comment off there. host: tell us why. caller: he gets on, they holler, " lack lives matter." don't all lives matter? i'm we all god's children? -- aren't we all god's children? that is what i'm talking about. guest: that is a good question. questioningu about

the impetus behind black lives matter. there is not a question about thisalue of white life in country prepares a question about black lives. of do not see the images white kids, young people unarmed, being gunned down by law enforcement. images of tamir rice who was playing with a toy gun in a park. you see alton sterling who was selling loose loosieettes -- cigarettes. ahmaud arbery was looking through homes that were empty, did not even take anything. breonna taylor was a nurse who

got served a no knock warrant at the wrong house and got murdered. till andogle emmett look at his face. he was brutalized and thrown in the mississippi. think about jimmy lee jackson. think about medgar evers. think about the four little girls who were bombed in the 16th street baptist church. also think about the charleston massacre with dylann roof. walked into a church and killed nine people because of the color of their skin. and so -- [no audio]

[sobbing] there is a question. there is a question about the value of black lives. host: bakari sellers, you go through the history, what has happened today, but also the history. i am wondering, is that what drove you to be involved in politics? how did that impact you? guest: growing up in this family, and i'm sorry, i get emotional. i get emotional. i think it is a unique burden that black folk in this country have to carry. we have to carry the burden of racism.

why are you talking about issues of race? implying it is on our shoulders to rid our country of the scourge of racism. it is not. yeah, i went into politics to be a change agent. to be part politics of something larger than myself. the neat part is my father and mother gave so much. i grew up in this environment where you had this culture where you had a level of high expectation. was trying to change the system from within. we still have a lot of work to do. don't get me wrong. but all of those names i named, the pain you feel when you name those names, when i write about it, i left for them. -- i live for them.

i went into politics to be an example for them. host: you ran into thousand six at 22 years old for a state into seat -- you ran thousand six at 22 years old for a state house seat. the day you decide to tell your parents, you walk into your home. your mom's cooking, your dad's reading the newspaper. tell the rest of the story. guest: my mom's cooking dinner. my dad is reading the newspaper at the end of the day like old people do. i tell them, i have always confidence built up, i tell them i'm going to run for the state house of representatives. my mom does not miss a beat and says i will vote for you. my dad says i will think about it. people myalways tell mom was always on board and i had to work for my dad's vote. at a timeeople i ran

when barack obama was a united states senator who gave a speech at the d.n.c.. the person we looked up to was deval patrick. i wanted to be just like deval reaching the mountaintop of being a black governor was all we knew it the time. i was excited about charging that territory. it rained cats and dogs that day. they all said i will vote for you but i do not think you will win, i do not think you will win but i voted for you anyway. i ended up getting 65% of the vote and became the youngest elected public official in the country. how ironic is that? host: steve in greenwich, new

jersey? caller: good morning. i am terribly frustrated with the constant racial is a she -- acializaationn -- r and looking back because it interferes with what we need to get done now. nothing you are talking about this morning will save one black life in the future under the current pandemic. however, we should all be what account to improve our immune system's and health. that is a body of research is growing that indicates vitamin d is a very important prophylactic in preventing respiratory infections from going to the extreme. the estimates are that 40% of americans are vitamin d deficient.

if you go to african americans and hispanics, it is somewhere between 60% and 80%. that is not a racist thing. that is not structural racism. that is because vitamin d often is absorbed from sunlight. if you really wanted to help people immediately today, and my fear is that information is getting slow walked because it does not fit the racist american narrative. host: ok. bakari sellers? guest: i have to put it back and say it is the height of intellectual dishonesty to say black people need more sun and we will not die from covid. i hear you. i take my vitamin d every day. tyler perry is a good friend of mine. he made sure people took their vitamin d. i am all for making sure you get your vitamins. but it is intellectually dishonest. it does not do anything to help our country. i do not know why we have this

fear around talking about issues of race. if you are black in this country, the chances of you having the lack of access to care is high. country, black in this the idea you will have preventable diseases and comorbidities is extremely high because of the communities you live in. you can can turn to turned a blind eye to that. i will not. i can tell my colleagues to take vitamin d and talk about systemic injustices we have. this fear we have around talking me,t issues of race is, for is very difficult to comprehend. people only want to look at race throughout their lifetime and say we have a black president when they do not want to acknowledge the trauma people of color go through in this country throughout time. pop a vitamin d. if you want me to be more of an let met that you choose,

utilize my platform on national tv to say please, black folk, take your vitamin d. but that does not solve the problem. be tollenge to you would open your eyes to the systemic injustices we have in this country. i think i can use my platform to do both. host: paducah, kentucky, sherry, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. whyer: i just want to know, does everything they go on within our country have to be about black people? the coronavirus. i mean, black lives do matter. i just feel it, why does everything have to stem from color? why does it have to be about race? guest: well, everything does not have to do with race or have to be about color. but we are in a time where the

overwhelming majority of people dying are black people. so we have to ask the question, why are they dying? we have to ask the question, why are black folks dying at the hands of law enforcement at a higher rate? i really wish we have is talking about was untrue or not necessary. i am not making everything about race. i'm not trying to play a race card. i am black. but this is one of the most difficult conversations we have. neversay bakari sellers talks about race in his life. get better overnight? let's not talk about these issues at all, it will all get better. i do not think anybody can say that to be true. at least, honestly. that is why we are talking about these issues. host: anthony in las vegas. caller: good morning, mr. sellers. i am an african american just like you and i agree with you

something needs to be done about black people dying of the disease more than whites. i think i know the answer. cnn and i found out amy klobuchar's husband was saved from the coronavirus because he took hydroxychloroquine. i know they are not going to play that back. then i find out chris cuomo was saved by using a version of hydroxychloroquine. you do have a large black and all thecnn pundits are telling people not to look at that care\/ure. it outrages me as a black man to watch a network with a high black viewership telling them not to take the cure that has

been proven. only on your network can you see that and msnbc. as a black man, that infuriates me. host: we believe that there. bakari sellers, do you have any thoughts? guest: please do not take hydroxychloroquine unless you or unless your doctor prescribes it for you for a condition. do not pop hydroxychloroquine ctacs thinking ti it will prevent the coronavirus. we agree on some things. we will disagree on this. i think in this instance we need to follow the science and individuals who know. i do know many people who are taking -- have taken it and suffered from fatal heart conditions. i want to be extremely clear. hydroxychloroquine

thinking it will prevent the coronavirus. and withhing with care a prescription from your doctor. host: jerry hanel -- carrie anne? caller: another caller asked why everything is about race. america is about many races and always will be. until we openly worked to acknowledge this and make changes, the elephant will remain. we have to start with us and what we can do as individuals, regardless of race, to make changes in this country. thank you for having the guest and thank you for taking my call. guest: i agree with her. i think it is an issue we have to deal with. it is a conversation we had to have. hopefully, people read "my vanishing country" and get some understanding so we can have those conversations. host: bakari sellers, what about

parts of the country, the flyover country as it was phrased after the 2016 election, not just withated poor black people but white people, hispanic, etc., what is your political advice to the former vice president to reach those people before november? guest: one of the biggest political cons we have had in the history of this country was someone living in a golden tower convincing people he spoke for the common man. i think joe biden has a unique skill set and unique ability to communicate. i'm glad for the way you framed the question about flyover communities, rural america, because a lot of people only consider that to be white

america. you are right. it is the whole swath. the midwest and flyover country is comprised of us all. of the difficult things joe biden is going to have to do is he is going to have to meet people where they are. it is difficult because of the pandemic now. i think he is uniquely qualified to talk to many of the concerns of individuals who believe the government has passed them by. i believe he has to have a vice president who can help excite the base. i'm excited by the promise because joe biden built his career on being someone who can speak to the common man. pick as hisould he vice president? people used to call me lot and i never got baracki until 2008.

i like it. people who are in the know would say his choices are probably amy klobuchar or kamala harris. probably to say it is a more valuable pick that will help you win the white house if you pick kamala harris. that would be my two cents. host: spanish fork, utah? edrick.my name is i cannot wait to read your book. you make me be a better man and i wish you would be our next president. guest: i will thank you for that and ask you to keep us in your prayers, my family in your prayers. am trying to be a better

man every day. that is what this country is about. it is about coming together, understanding other people's hardships,es, successes, and failures, having a sense of compassion and empathy and moving forward. thank you for those well wishes and thank you for picking up "my vanishing country." host: do you have any presidential aspirations? guest: president of what? [laughter] i do have aspirations of running for congress soon. focus on raising these amazing 16-month-old twins we had to put upstairs with their to putter that we had upstairs he would not hear them during this interview. host: he said you are thinking about running soon. when? guest: the seat is currently held by jim clyburn. we will make those decisions in

the near future of what we choose to do. we will make those decisions after this election is had. host: linda, michigan? caller: hello, mr. sellers. i feel like i already almost no you because i watch you so much on cnn and i see you on msnbc. i say, "bakari for president." i am pretty upset with a lot of the callers that have called in. i think they have been angry, racist, and very unfair to you. know i am 71 years old. i am a white woman. and i have a lot of respect for you. and you did not deserve the ignorant remarks some of these people have called in. just ignore them because a lot of us love you. like i said, "bakari for president." good luck. bye-bye. it is no good to just

talk to the individuals in your particular style. being able to talk to the individuals that called in this morning is healthy. hopefully, they listened to my response because i listened to their questions. i hope we can all be better for it. we have to begin to have those conversations. i will sit in the hot seat. since when did "washington journal" become the hot seat? i will sit on the hot seat and take all of the questions. i will answer them and be honest and show you my truth and emotions and my love for this country because i think that is necessary if we are going to move forward. host: bakari sellers, we appreciate you doing that. i want to and with this last question from florida. what is the message to the youth? guest: the message to the youth is we can persevere and overcome. every ounce of change we have had in this country has been led by young people. it has been led by -- the civil

rights movement, the women's rights movement, the gay-rights movement-they've all been led by young people. two years ago, we were worried about this new generation and now they are the generation leading the gun law change in this country. my father was part of the generation that forced the country to deal with issues of race, housing, civil rights, voting rights, etc., and changed the world for the better. i firmly believe this generation will do so as well. we have to become part of something larger than ourselves and never be selfish in our struggle. host: the book is "my vanishing country." coming up saturday morning,

the american psychological association joins us to talk about the latest america survey, that includes an in-depth look at the pandemic. heather taylor, director of strategic campaigns for strength for the world, talks about food of security during covid-19. watch c-span's washington journal live eastern saturday -- live at 7:00 a.m. eastern saturday morning. join the discussion. saturday, at 3:25 pm eastern, james patterson talks about his efforts to assist bookstores impacted by the coronavirus,

plus his latest book "-- latest book, "the house of kennedy." and, nick adams on his book, "trump and churchill: defender of the west civilization." book,"pelosi," which looks at house speaker, nancy pelosi. on monday, at 8:30 p.m. eastern, talkser writer david b. about his books on "in-depth." watch book tv this memorial day weekend on c-span2. the house returns on wednesday and thursday for legislative is this and a vote on the pfizer reauthorization

bill. it extends pfizer surveillance authorities through december roof 2023. it's been amended by the senate and will require your house actions. , beginning on wednesday, can vote for other members who were not present during floor votes. watch live house coverage on ,-span, on demand at c-span.org or listen on the go with the free c-span radio app. announcer: earlier today, president trump honored veterans event at theing an white house. he talked about suicide rates $3.1 trillion in spending for the cause. pres. trump: thank you very much. you havey friends, been supporting me from the beginning. i appreciate you are here. we are here for you. when you want to come back with