utte is a good candidate. he has a lot ofv experience as prime minister. he is a close friend and colleague and i strongly believe , therefore, that very soon the ce will have decided on my successor and that will beoo ofd also for me. [laughter] >> thank you. sec-gen. stoltenberg: thank you. ♪ announcer: c-span is your unfiltered view of government, n companies and more, including cox,. >> when coecti ils ■most, [cloce ing affordable internet to families in need, the tech to boys and growth, and support to veterans. whenever

announcer: cox supports c-span as a public service, along with ese other television providers, giving you a fron "washingt j host: beckwith "washington journal" and joined wi tis smily audio media come and author. welcome to the program. guest: you will lead a panel discussion tomorrow on climate justice and the effects of climate change on black s. we will be covering that here on c-span starting at 7:00 p.m. live tomorrow night. tell me what you mean by climate it is clear to me and i think most americans of conscience that this is the urgency of justice, climate eq, in these conversatie every day, and i have been listening to your program this

morning, their ways in which structural and institutional racism are deeply embedded in this climate con■>vereality is f people in this country who are by these climate catastrophes, these to be people of color and the poor -- these climate maladies, happened to be people of color and the poor. look at the conversations taking place or do you think of flint, michigan, and the water, and mississippi, and reports in california, ground zero and many ways for so many climatebut in t climate justice, equity, and resicebeing impacted by this han left out. so with all due respect to my white brothers and sisters across the country, certainly here in l.a., this conversation environmental liberal caring

community about thelii am glad e most impacted have been silenced in this conversation, and this is the silent killer for many of us. ultimately, what we are attempting to knight, we are attempting to be unapologetically, but respectfully, include the voices have been left out of this conversation. so tomorrow night on c-span at 7:00 eastern, 6:00 central, you will see a stage full of people of on national television talking aboutof color and in poor communities■] and on an election year nothing can be more important. host:drew your interest in this topic? guest: great question. as you know, with humility, i have tried during my career to love and serve my peoe.i believa

leader, i do not routinely regard myself as that, but you should be engaged in loving people, this notion of loving people and serving people. t means to me to be a leader. what ishe depth of your love for the people, and what is the quality of your service to them? for me, you should think about loving and serving people, and i have tried to do that throughout my career. for years and really, i moderated and& curated one of te most watched programs year, thef the black union symposium, every year in would watch all day long on c-spaning panels and afternoon ■snels, aband there were african-american thought leaders, opinion makers, ainue during black history month talking about the issues that mattered most to black america. number onelist and detailed the issues most

important to black americans. y named barack obama who showed up, to lay the, enthusiasm,8r and interest in giving us the nation's first african-american president. i have always been engaged in issues that matter to our people. i said a moment ago, there are many issues on the docket, and the 20th anniversary of the book but in 20 years since the book, in some way other ways, there is still a great deal of work to do. but i have assigned myself to do the work that really matters. right now, this conversation about climate justice, climate equityan resilience, we got together and my station inçh l.a. to talk about the iss, and we are engaged inion plus 1n

around this issue of climate justice.the conversation tomorrt on c-span is one t iue our docs campaign. host: let's talkfics. what does climate justice look like? what are theadvocating for? guest: great question. why i am moderating and i'm not the expert is because i do not have the answers to all those the panel we have assembd is■q on the stage tomorrow night to answer those questions from the policy perspective. what i do everyday is what you do so well, to ask the restions. i am good at asking questions, but i'm not thi am learning as e is learning during this 12 month campaign that we■ are in th■dbur of environmental justice for 60 years, writingit is a name you , but in the environmental

community, people know the name robert bullard. he has been at this for six decades. 85 years■1 now, still doing his work base down in houston, on our panel tomorrowhouston, night. dan jones, w $100 million to to support the work the committvan jones on th. on the panel, peggy shepard, cochair of the white house environmental advisory council, on the stage tomorrow night. jelos of the sierra perhaps the foremost organization working on these issues. all know sierra club, and they happen to have right now and african-american leader, and he is on the stage tomorrow night. is powerful, and i will tomorrow night to the experts

policy-wise, what are we talking abit will ben sation. host: there is an article here from last year, little more than a year ago, with this headline, advocates are saying that reparations are the answer for sea level threat innia. where do you stand oe issue at reparations? is that something you might be advocating for when it comes ttw night, at reparations will come up tomorrow night in our conversation. ée challenge with the dialogue around reparations because it hasi discussed itll n my nationally syndicated program in l.a. but we also have this conversation aboarik reparation. i am based in californi and the nation is watching us. i often say what happens in cast a long shadow or a long sunbeam across

the nation. @tti hope we will get this reparations issue right, will cast a long sunbeam and not a shadow across the country. after couple years, the reparations task force made tions a month ago, and now it is working its way through legislation about but reparations actually means. is watching us. tomorrow night i will put this reparations%yidpanel and ask spt is the link between this and climate justice? we will that question tomorrow night, as well. host: tavis smiley is a syndicated talkshow host and author. he will be joining us until the end of the program. you can call in, makek a questi. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also text us at (202)

748-8803. --748-8003. you can also post to facebook and on our x feed. we talked about water quality, -- is there actual data around that that would show actual impact to those communities? guest: notata, it is incontrovertible. k tomorrow night the country will be alarmed when they realize the impact that these climate maladies are having on our country, specifically on african americans and people of color. i said long agote america gets a cold, black folk and colored pneumonia. that is still the make the case for why this issue

board but certainly as it relates to african-amicwe're also talking e can potentially mitigate the impacts of climate change and health disparities and beyond. it is not just sunnyside, i do not think all the damage is irreparable, so that is why we are having the conversation. if i thought there was nothing we could do, i would not be wasting c-span's and the nation's time. i think we can mitate the move . but the data is incontrovertiblg specifically communities of color. p1i could go down south, and they're were all kinds of now. it is not a new issue, for decades now, people of color have been getting cancer be■;ca of their proximity to these environmental hazards.

in harlem, one out of every three black kids has asthma. it is not happenstance, there is a that, it is their proximity to these toxic dumps. ■■jkin california, certainly los angeles, we see the impactswhy? and poor people. because of the freeway system. in l.a., let's be clear, freeways do not run through beverlyls or through beverly the city of los angeles, but the freeways run through areas of right through neighborhoods populated by poor people. always putting all kinds of emissions into the ether. could breathing that air? it is the poor and people of lor that are impacted by all the emissions we are putting in the air. in just a few weeks, part of this 12 month campaign is

ga events, not just this5) we're doing spirited conversations -- nobody as many climate conversations with experts as we are having ■b kbla and you will see pages of tions of these posts and experts on everything out of the climate umbrella. nobody is doing it like we are with various climate geniuses. there are conversations and also community events. heat starts to rise this summer -- this week, we'retart california, and these communitieádhavelready experienced exceptional heat this year already. it$us in california and beyond. so we're giving away cooling

health disparities we will lay out tomorrow night. the on who is most impacted by these issues, and is part of the conversation tomorrow night. host: i want to ask you about e ñç2024 presidential election. i am sure you havepolls showingt biden is losing support among black v black men. why do you think that is happening? guest: no question president's numbers are strong and black america. i saw week at the white house for the juneteenth celebration. question that his numbers are at best soft and he has experienced someyet, i w not believe the posters have it right. i do not believe it is a size 25% of black men voting for donald trump. i think that will be the reality on election day. voters for granted, and that is part

wrong may they be, there's something there. black voters are ten for granted by the democratic party and flat out ignored by the republican party. i am glad to see that this time around, black voters are in play. ■dblack voters matter. joe biden says it all the he would not be president if it were not for black voters, particularly black women in south carolina who came to his rescue four yearsgo. rest, as they say, is history. he understands the importance of black voters. donald trumpalth agenda is antithetical to the best interest of like people, he is courting blackhe spoke at a r the weekend. he is appealing to black voters, as well. so it is a go thing that black voters are being taken seriously.

this and it cannot get meaninul legislation passed -- the senate could not get meaningful vinggho see that black voters are not being taken for granted. to black voters, quote jesse ckson, we lose too many question -- electioy absence at the polls. we lose too many elections by the sibyl margin of our absence at the polls -- by the simple margin of our absence at the polls. if you are leading the american empire, i have a critique if you. accountable for the things you said when youo ran. and it is in the best interest joe biden shoulbe hel ble. donald trump should be held accountable. host:70■v'i you mentioned a spey

former president trump in detroiti want to play a portionf those remarks. [video clip] fmr. pres. trump: millions of illegal aliens are pouring in and taking their jobs. e black community is being hurt more by the illegal aliens, 16 million, 17 million, they are taking their jobs, you're down 6%, just three years ago with me. and it is going much slower because millions and millions of people are coming into your communities. a border state, you have heard that, but they are4 your community and taking your jobs, affecting the african-americans. hispanic american spirit more than any other group. and they are also affecting unions, because unions are starting to lose. their grip we are being inundated. host: you said you are not a fan of his comments, but what do you think of what he says about illegal the jobs of black people? guest: as is always the case

trump,ead of reality, number o two, as ise case, you have to check his data, the data is wrong. in this regard, even a broken clock is right twice a day, so in this regard mr. trump is right, there is increasingly, in places like new york and chigo, competition for jobs. but it iafrican-americans, nor . it is the fault of greedy nethey are the first to pick the against these african-american fellow citizens -- to pit these immigrants against these african-american fellow citizens. they want to pitroups against each other. as long as these businesses can

that. so mr. trump isundocumented imme being hired more swiftly and quickly than african-americans. the citizens should have first dibs. trump is right about that, the competition is decreasing. but let's thlongs. it is not at the feet of democrats and republicans have not been engaged as they should, engaging in meaningful immigration reform. ack meaningful immigration reform, this is what you you get republican governors playing this> ge,hi morally and that game of putting folk on buses and sending t unknown, thy don't know where they are what they're supposed to do when ty get there, just dropped off. that is lobar politics. and i do not like