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cochair of the group no labels. and he early in his career watched his career with dark -- dr. mu -- dr. martin luther king. welcome to the washington journal. guest: thank you good morning and happy mlk day to you. host: tell us about the focus of your organization. guest: thank you. no labels has been around washington for about 12 years. we believe that democrats republicans and independents all work together. and one thing that capitalizes in washington today is the political divide. people think they can get something done by being on the extreme far right or extreme on the far left. actually, nothing gets done. one of the things i learned from dr. martin luther king jr. was his effort to bring diverse

people who sometimes did not agree that he brought them together so he could make progress. that is why i joined no labels as national co-chair with former senators joseph lieberman and the three of us serve as the cochairs of no labels . host: do you think the political divide in the country has made that racial divide worse in the last few years? guest: absolutely. i think it feeds the divides. there are so many divides in our nations -- nation bill. but one of the things that dr. martin luther king jr. preached was the love for our community. where we start having love and mutual respect for one another. host: i mentioned you began your career in 1960 theory as dr. kings statewide youth coordinator for the leadership

conference. how old were you when you started that position? guest: in 1963 i was 14 and i was learning how to drive. i was driving a car at 14. and 1963 is the year that dr. king gave his famous i gave a dream speech in august of 1963. the important thing about what we learn from the bill, when your later in 1964 we got the civil rights act passed. but it only passed congress because of bipartisanship. it was recovered because republicans and democrats were working together. that is what we want to see in 2023 and 2020 four we want to see not all people working together in washington but all the state legislatures that defined this racial divide. and as we celebrate dr. martin luther king jr. birthday today. across the country the federal

holiday. let us not only celebrate the memory of the past but let's apply the lessons from the past. justice works. all of these things that polarize people. the racism does not work, antisemitism does not work. hatred does not work. what works is when all americans are working together. host: our lines are open for your questions and comments for dr. benjamin chavis. democrats (202) 748-8000 , republicans (202) 748-8001 , independents (202) 748-8002 host: it will mark 60 years for the i have a dream speech where do you think the statement for the have a dream speech is in america today? guest: we have made great progress is america but if dr. king could speak, and address

his speech from 60 years ago, he would say we are still not there yet. have we made progress in 60 years? yes. but have we made enough progress? no. we need to keep writing for racial justice, environmental justice, climate justice. we need to work on bipartisanship. that is why i am so excited about no labels and the caucus in congress. we have bills because of bipartisanship. we got the chair because of bipartisanship. i believe that we will do something with the debt limit coming up that we have debate. hopefully will would be able to solve that in a bipartisan way. we would have to fix social security and medicare. we have to do that in a bipartisan way. i am hopeful, but to answer your question, have we made progress? yes. but have we overcome that?

no. we have everybody in america truly acting without discrimination of race and religion, socioeconomic in some sense we have a ways to go. host: some of your optimism is reflected in a recent piece of yours at the hill.com. what dr. king can teach us today about healing the riffs in america -- rifts in america. what you think he wrote about and talked about that helped heal those rifts? guest: i think we have to learn from history, not replete -- pete history. we have to learn about what happened in the civil war and the post-reconstruction days, learn from jim crow, the civil rights movement, and we have to learn from most recently look at what happened on january 6 for the capital was stormed by the people for the first time ever.

the federal flag was waived inside of the united states -- and i think what dr. king would say and why i am optimistic this morning is that because we had made great progress we should push for further progress. we should not relax, relent, retreat, but move forward together. host: let's go to our callers and we hear from joyce in portland, oregon. caller: hello? host: you are on the air, go ahead. caller: my question was that mlk day is a wonderful day to have, but every time we do this, you have all these people quoting from dr. martin luther king i have a dream. and there are many callers coming in and they always say it

is not the color of the skin, but the content of the character. that really bothers me because i do not think they truly believe that. this man was trying to bring about code and change -- hope and change to this country. to make sure that everybody was included. all of us are immigrants and all of us need to work together. he was putting his life on the lines of that all of us and have the right to vote. that all of us would have the respect and care for each other. just a through these words out just because it is your birthday, which was on the 15th but they put it on the 16th, but just to do this is an insult to this man and what he stood for. he wanted to use -- unite the whole country. he wanted all of us to have a better life and a better situation. he fought for everyone. it was not just for black

people, but he fought for everybody. host: all right joyce,. . guest: thank you for calling in dr. king didn't believe in justice and inclusiveness. he did not believe in the critical environment going on that is why i am part of no labels that is bipartisan. but i also am saying it is ok for people to quote him, but we have to do more than quote him. we have to strive to improve quality of life for all of god's people without respect to race or skin color or socioeconomic circumstance. and i think that we made progress [indiscernible] but we still have a long ways to go. what i am optimistic about is how young people today, our intergenerational movement, the majority of americans want to see a better inclusive

democracy. i just want to -- i think that people from far extremes wind up . we need to let dr. kings values of respect and loving one another rather than hating each other to be guides that guides our action, public policy, ways that we improve quality of life for all people, not only in america, but throughout the world. you live in an interdependent and intergenerational and multicultural -- world and we have to have respect for everyone. host: next up is jeff from california. jeff on the democrat line. caller: hi, yes.

thank you for taking michael. i think that dr. martin luther king he really had a beautiful dream. to bring all americans together. and we had civil rights leaders who were helping him on that journey. that includes all -- a lot of white america that joined in in that beautiful dream. we had victories in the civil rights movement. but we also have -- we are still against civil-rights. my question is, that, how can we come together if people that storm the capital just do not

want people to have equal rights and equal votes? guest: thank you very much. well, the people who storm the capital do not represent the majority of americans. they represent the extreme. that is why i am working well -- working now with no labels to carry on dr. king's dream in 2023 and 2024. there is a lot that arises us across the country and what happened on january 6, it is terrible, but it is symptomatic of a deeper problem. we have to raise the racial divide. we have to bridge the economic divide. -- we have to erase the racial divide. we have to ridge the economic divide. we have to erase the things that make us hate one another. and another thing i think we have learned over the last 60 years since dr. king made his famous i have a dream speech is that the dream has to be worked

on. the dream has to be fulfilled, not just repeated in terms of how to articulate what dr. king said, but how we live what dr. king forecast. how we live, the vision of people coming together. that is why i cited in the article i wrote for the hill is that we got bipartisanship. we got the voting rights act of 1965 because of bipartisanship. and we got the fair housing act of 1968 because of bipartisanship. we just passed the infrastructure bill because of bipartisanship. and the question now facing new congress, divided congress, democrats, publicans, and independents will have to work together to make more progress. host: do you think the passing of the civil rights bill, the voting rights act, do you think the partisanship was as fierce back then as it is today? guest: i think -- no, i think

the partisanship was more civil. today, we lack stability. we lack true respect. and that is what we want to restore it. i believe that working with senator lieberman and governor hogan and many others fantastic executive director of no labels nancy jacobson. i think all of us working together can help provide incentives for members of congress to work together. as well as state legislatures working together. keep in mind, america is not just in washington it is also at state legislatures. we all have to work together to move the quality of life for everyone and leave no one out. leave no one behind. but how to all of us together. and so -- how to uplift all of us together. and so i am an optimist because i believe dr. king junior dream

is still alive. i believe that most people want to see our nation and world a better place for all. host: let's hear from dee calling from florida. republican line. caller: yes, good morning. i am afraid you may not like what i have to say here about martin luther king. i am 87 about to be 88 years old. i lived in those times and i remember way back win-win martin luther king was there. we were all -- way back when, when martin luther king was there. and we were behind him. we supported him. we worked around black people and they worked with us in pennsylvania. and we had all the connection with the black people and we were all friends. one black couple, and my son was born later in the year and they

called him lucky boy because he had both black and white friends that would play with him. but martin luther king made a mistake when he went out there and he had a speech with all the black sinkers. even today they are still out there today on c-span you guys have been back in the oldies. all the black singers that come on. we white girls and teenagers we go to dance and these guys -- the only thing that was holding the black. host: i'm sorry we drop the line. we go onto carrot in wellington, florida. go ahead. on the independent line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i am jamaican. i have lived in the states for about 13 years. and my wife and i have made progress. we live in a community where there are a lot of white

americans around. and what i am finding is that we live in such a divided society that lots of white people do not relate to the issues that black people are speaking about. right? they do not understand these issues. so, when we talk about the challenges that black people are facing, a lot of white people, it is not that they necessarily hate black people, it is that they just do not understand. earlier we had a speaker on the program and he was saying that most of the problems related to the black family and black people has to do with the families. and yes it is an important issue we need to make sure kids go to school and so on, but they will not acknowledge that racism was not created by black people. white people created this system of race to divide [indiscernible]

so that they remain in control. and to ignore the fact that this is been in place for 100 -- hundreds of years. white people are in a position where black people acquired power. and they acquired property, even as that happened throughout history, do you honestly believe it has nothing to do with the realities we are facing today? have two education systems and we will never have an education system in america that addresses the issues of all americans if we are not offering poor people, black people who live in many of the dead zones or communities where they do not have access to quality education, if we do not exist in a place where these people have an opportunity to grow and develop, [indiscernible] in europe and the ghettos they lived in them explain to you how costly it was for them to get out of those ghettos. host: thank you.

we will go to our guest. guest: thank you very much. both of our calls were from florida. i am sorry the call dropped because i really wanted to address what she was talking about area but this guy from jamaica i love his accident. let me just say -- his ac cent. we just say, listen, we can point incurs or we can try to blame, but the truth of the matter is we are all part of one human family. if dr. king were alive today, in 2023, he would not just repeat his i am a dream speech. he would apply the speech to the racial divide, and political divide, the opportunity divide, that his current in our nation -- that is current in our nation. one of the reasons why racial

strife exists and racism exists is out of ignorance. we need a better education system not just for black people, white people, not just for latinos, not just immigrants, nativeborn's, we need a better education system for all will. we need to become -- all people. we need to become more aware. it is not about having racial tolerance it is about embracing one another. dr. crane -- dr. king believed in a lab community. we do not hate each other, stereotype one another, or sawed down to you because you look different, speak different, dress different, no we celebrate. we have so much in common. we have more in common than what divides us. and that is what we need to be talking about with martin luther king. what brings us together. not just what divides us, but what brings us together. to me, what i do now

[indiscernible] what i do working everyday of my life, i have learned a lot over the last 60 years since 1963. since the i have a dream to apply what dr. king said to our reality and try to change our reality. i am not pessimistic. i do believe that we have made agresta. and i believe we will make our progress to the extent -- we have made progress. and i believe we will make our progress. host: we have another calling -- from washington dc. democrat line. good morning were on air. caller: i wanted to speak to you about the plight of young black men because of the america that we need to improve upon. i'm an educator in washington dc. and i am standing by the fact that we are not doing enough to seek -- steer these young minds to a great place.

what they tell me about gun and violence in southeast d.c. is that at 4:00 in the morning someone in the community and the objects will find a bag of guns and someone who finds them will sell them so what we call the hood. and it creates an era of violence that would not exist otherwise. the secrets need to be told. we need to have programs for young blacks gain skills in technology and these do not exist right now. we are losing a generation of not only black young man but white as well. please speak on that. host: thank you and the fact you continue to be an educator, do not give on our young people. i know that you are not. as you raise the question, fall -- first of all, how so many guns in southeast d.c. and south

chicago, the hood in houston, central los angeles, i am speaking to you today from l.a. here in santa monica. but i want to say something that the devastation of the self-destruction that goes on in some of our communities, particularly poor communities, that is something we have to work to turn around. i think our young people today are among the most talented and most gifted and most aspirational generation we have been blessed with. however, they need encouragement. they need to be embraced. and a lot of times we just need more law enforcement in these communities. it is not a law enforcement issue. we need to work on restoring mutual respect.

love, dr. king talked about a beloved community, he was not talking about everyone being happy-go-lucky, no, it was about everyone having not just compassion, but having ways and means we help people improve themselves. our young people in the projects, in the to get a great education, get a good situation where they can generate income legally, not illegally. and they need some hope some upward push. over my years of working, since i believe the civil rights movement is needed today more than we needed it in 1963 and 2023. we need to work together. i'm looking forward to doing it. i'm going back to washington dc to the southeast where they have a lot of nonviolent and a lot of self-destruction. we need to stop it. but we need to speak about it in a way that does not put our community down. speak about it in a way that love's us -- that uplifts us,

that encourages to strive to be our brother and see -- sister's keepers. i am optimistic because dr. king taught us a long time ago that we cannot afford to throw our hands up and say that situations happen. every situation can change but we have to work together to change it. and i believe that we -- everything we are facing with the new congress, i think working together we can make more change for the better for all of gods people in this nation and around the world. host: bench avis -- benjamin chavis got his degree at union theological seminary in new york city. he was not particularly martin luther king's example of entering the ministry of a political bend that caused you to follow the career you did. guest: yes. my undergraduate was chemistry and i went back to school because of the influent that dr.

king had all my life. it was the greatest decision to answer god's call to ministry. in a choose my alma mater. and the religious community we were, but i also want to mention because i think christians, jews, muslims, those of other faith we all need to work together. the beloved community is inclusive of all. there are a lot of things going on in america that we need to work on. but we need to work on them together. if black people only work on black people issues, if white people only work on white people issues, if latinos only work on latino issues, we will not make progress. we need to work together on all these issues. why? because there is only one important family. because i believe in the oneness of a family. host: in new york, on the republican line. caller: good morning. guest: good morning.

caller: what is disappointing to me is that people forget when dr. king spoke against racism, he was speaking against racism of any kind to be tolerated. and president obama, while even though [indiscernible] he exemplified this in an incident that happened in hampton virginia college, i think at the time it was run by winston harvey, the incident was that a young woman have won the beauty contest for the college, but she was not black, she was italian. and evidently, somehow, the resident got wind of this and he was so moved by it that he came to hampton college and gave the commencement address to

prove that racism of any kind is not to be tolerated. and i just set president obama -- i'm sorry. guest: you're right it is hampton user diversity -- university. and the incident that you cited exactly is right. listen, president obama, you know president clinton, president bush, you know, president carter, even president reagan during the 1980's, eventually, when he first got the martin luther king bill through our congress through holiday this is a bipartisan effort. we had to work together. when you say you are opposed to racism have to be opposed to all racism. if you are opposed to antisemitism you have to be opposed to all of it. you cannot be selective. equality is equality.

justice is justice. fairness is fairness. love is love. there is no room in love for hatred. so, one of the things that i hope we spend this federal holiday, we figure out ways how to help one another and work together. how to exhibit in our lives going forward without the increase of about 60 years ago. about the american dream a dream where everybody would be treated fairly and nobody would be discriminated against because of skin color, religion, sexual orientation, we have so many ways now that people can be discriminated against. you need to work to eliminate all forms of discrimination and hatred. i am optimistic because i believe in a problem solver congress and bipartisanship as a greater chance today than it ever has before. host: we have paul, from

maryland. go ahead. caller: yes, i am following on your [indiscernible] i was born [indiscernible] and i live 44 years of my life in washington dc [indiscernible] i would like to make a quick analogy between [indiscernible] and dr. king. in the sense that many centuries between the two. cyrus abolished a blurry -- slavery [indiscernible] host: you know we will let you go there you are breaking up a little bit it is hard to hear on the cell signal. we apologize about that we will go to anderson in indiana

commenting on the democrat line . caller: hi, to both of you. i want to large -- lodge a disagreement on mr. chavis when he said the political divide is driven on racism. and i think racism drives the political divide. because only five members of the republican earlier black. cody 3% of the congress is white -- 33% of the congress is white. 33% represents most of americans demographic. the gerrymandering that is done is carved out -- carving out rich, white districts so that republicans can be reelected. also, we have seen on tv the long line of college students

and blacks having to wait to vote. where republican areas have messed with the bowling and -- the polling and the drop-offs and all kinds of things to respect -- restrict voting. and we have the reluctance of the laws to prosecute, to lift up immunity on police officers because of the violent against blacks. forbade officers. republicans will not vote against that, for that unity to be lifted. in addition, maxi is him which is on the rise, is driven by racism, so i am kind of in opposition to your first statement about political positions. host: all right, benjamin chavis let's give a response. guest: thank you i want to thank

the caller. but i think that there is a misunderstanding. i did not say that the political divide is the only contributor to racism in america, if anything, it is the opposite. i think we need to be careful of how we cast views where we say one group is right and one is all wrong. i think that is the problem with the absence of bipartisanship. we will not fix americans problems only with democrats, we will not fix america's problems only on republicans act. or independents acting on the law. or blacks acting alone, whites acting along, asian americans acting along, this divide is what holds us back. we need to bridge this. i think if you listen to what

reverend dr. martin luther king said not only 60 years ago, but listen how his words apply to 22 a3. -- two 2023. o 2023. i think we can transcend some of the racial divides and work together. and in the cases cited, we got the voting rights bill, fair housing act, recent infrastructure bill, all because of bipartisanship. that is what i am calling for. for more bipartisanship. more working together. democrats should not demonize republicans, and republicans should not demonize democrats. and we should not leave independents out, we all need to work together that is what dr. martin luther junior would say today. host: we have caroling --

carolyn calling from georgia, republican line. go ahead. caller: good morning i want to say something about dr. king he was a learned person he was able to think and reason very well. he leaved in doing things very well. and one of his speeches he said, if you're going to be a street sweeper do it so well that -- until you will be recognized. and also, i believe that it is all about reasoning and thinking that is the reason we cannot get along. and i think that is the divide. the divide is among thinking and reasoning. i hear jose i believe -- i hear people say, i believe, i think, and that is a percentage of right. but you never say i read this, i studied this, and came up with this inclusion. so i think the divide right now is more with thinking and reasoning. it ought to be more emphasized

in schools. i do not think it is emphasized enough. it is hard for a person to get along when they do not think alike, some people, you know, some people will be quiet but the thinking and reasoning need to be together. but we need good social skills so people can think and reason and discuss things. i think that would help. but there is no need to do it if they cannot think and reason well. host: all right thank you, your broader point may be the education system in this country. tell us about your thoughts in terms of the racial inequities in the public schools in particular in this country. guest: we need a strong public school system. education is one of the keys to moving our country forward. i think every child, student, and adults. the color -- caller mentioned

thinking and trying to demonize a person. you may disagree with. and i am glad we live in a country where we can disagree without disagreeing with each other and hating each other. democracy means we do not have to agree on everything but there are some things we should agree on improving the quality of life, having a great education system for everyone, so people can learn how to participate in economic system fairly and equitably. all of these things we can work on. but we have to have the intentionality area what i am calling for is -- intentionality. what i am calling for is more partisanship. more working together across the lines that have divided us area i am calling us to win were victories for all -- more victories for god's people. that is why i'm here to

celebrate dr. martin luther king jr. birthday as a holiday as a time for us to reflect and apply earnings. i think we should learn from the past. i keep saying that. if you learn anything over the last 60 years, in the points where we work together where republicans, democrats, independents work together we will be able to make great progress. host: granola is on the independent line for -- cornell at his on the independent line from washington. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call and letting me share my thoughts on the subject. i am so grateful for mlk because he made a lot of contributions to this nation. many of it is not being honored. so we are honoring a man that

has done so many great things. one of the things was the unification of our nation. and it so important that we stay unified. because the word of god tells as i am a pastor, the word of god talks about the divide and divided we fall united we stand. 12 years as a united states army medic. i think it is important that we stay united and we unified because that will be the death of the nation. we will die from the inside, not from the outside. we talk about the enemies of china and russia we are our own worst in emmys because we cannot come together. -- one of our own -- one of our worst enemies because we cannot come together. one areas the native american indians would -- which i am a descendant. i want to say divided, we have to come together. i am so grateful for the no

labels concept. i am grateful that we do not put stick this as stigmas and labels on people. i had a car crash in 2019 and when i -- one of his speeches said he had been to the mountaintop and he said where he been -- we had all been unified together black, china, indian. we were all unified. host: we will let you go we will hear from dr. chavis. guest: thank you. i first want to thank her for her service to the nation. my father was in world war i and i have a special place in my heart for people who had third -- served america. but to what she was saying the celebration of dr. martin luther king jr. is for all, not just some people. i think he would be pleased that we have made congress since he

articulated the i have a dream speech. but he would also be encouraging us to do more today. not to be satisfied with where we are and certainly to not let us start falling backwards. we need to go forward area and i think that our educational system needs to be improved. we need to have more opportunity for people to get themselves out of poverty. we need to work together to create some of the political divide in washington in the state capitals. host: thank you for being with us this morning. guest: