08/13/19 08/13/19 [captioning made possible by democry now!] recognizestiracist that the racial groups, all of the racial groups, are equal, so that is not just saying black people but they are equal to white people, that is also saying the black poor are equal to white elites. the reason why black poor have less is becau of both racist and capitalist policies that are

impacting them. so that means as an antiracist challenging all of the policies that are leading to inequities between racial groups. amy: how to be an antiracist. that is the name of a new book by scholarbram x. kendi, the founding director of the antiracist research and policy center. we will speak to o him about antiracism, the ririse of white supremacist violence fro charlottesville to el paso, president trump's racist rhetoric, and more. 2000 19, being antiracist is a question of black or death. that literally being antiracist is life, promoting life. in being racist is promoting death. i think we are beginning to see that. many americans are finally beginning to see that through umps lal policies and mass shooters who both have assault rifles and the assault rifles of racist ideas. for theam x. kendi

hour. all of that and more, coming up. welcomome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the trump administration announced a new rule monday that would make it harder for documented, low-income immigrants to stay in the country. the so-called public charge rule would penalize immigrants seeking benefits includi medicaid, food stamps, and housing vouchers by allowing officials to deny green cards and visa applications to those individuals. in addition, immigrants who o he loweincomes or less formal education could be denied permanent status if deemed more likely to need public assistance in the future. experts say the new rule could -- would severely impact families from latin america and africa and goodly to more deportations of immigrants with temporary or provisional immigration status that are already settled in the u.s. but do not meet the new

requirements. critics also say immigrants could disenroll from essential programs that protect children and families. acting director of citizenship and immigration services, kenneth cuccinelli, annoced the rule at the white house. >> or the public charge rule, president trump's administration is reinforcing the ideals of self-sufficiency and personal responsibility. ensuring that imgrants are able to support themselves and become successful here in america. r rule generally prevents aliens who are generally likely to become a public charge fr coming to the united states or remaining here and getting a green card. amy: stevchoi, executive director of the new york immigration coalition responded to the announcement saying -- "this rule essentially says that for anyone who isn't white, isn't wealthy, that you must forego food, you must forego shelter and basic dical care." the national immigration law center, as well as attorneys

general in california and other states, have announc they will challenge the rule, ich for now is set to go io effect in october. the trump administration finalized changes rolling back the endangered species act monday. regulators will now be allowed to factor in economic considerations when granting "eangered" status, species classified as "threatened" will see their protections weakened and scientists will be limited in setting climate-change related protections. critics say the changes were made to clear the way for mining, drilling, and development projects in areas populated by protected species. interior secretary david bernhardt is a former lobbyist for the oil and agribusiness industries. he is currently under investigation for possible ethics violations. the 46-year-old landmark endangered species act has saved over 99% of classified animals, plants, and insects since its inception. it's credited with protecting

the grizzly bear, the humpback whale, and the bald eagle from extinction, among many others. environmental groups, democratic lawmakers, and attorne general have vowed to fight the changes. the sierra club called the move "the trump extinction plan." the international fund for animal welfare said in a statement -- "the most comprehensive assessment of biodiversity ever completed was released earlier this year and shows that more th a million species are at sk of extinction. these species are inextricably linked to our own welleing, livelihos, economies, food security, and overall survival. gutting key protections of the endangered species act is precisely the wrong action for the u.s. to be takin" in hong kong, authorities suspended flights for a second day today as demonstrators continue to occupy the by international airport. one e of the busiest in the wor. llowinviolent clashes over the weekend, which saw riot

police firintear gas inside a subway station and beating protesters with batons, the u.n. is warning law enforcement must protect the right to peacefully demonstrate and urging dialogue. china, meanwle, habeen ramping up its rhetoric against the pro-democracy movement, likening the protes to terrorism monday. legal experts wa it could be laying the groundwork to deploy repressive anti-terror laws against government critics. in india, massive floods and landslides have killed an estimated 200 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more as days of torrential monsoon downpours hit veral southern and western states. in kerala, a mudslide killed at least 50 people sunday. this is a kerala resident who was rescued. >> it has been at least five days six days. everybody is stu in the

flflooded villages. animals and others, all are stuck lost of people are facing a lot ofroblems. water has come from all rections. it has enteredll the houses. amy: meanwhile, in burma, at least 60 people have been killed and over 100,000 displaced due to monsoon floodin homes were buried by mud as 30 inches of rain fell on a coastal district over two days. environmentalists say that industry-driven deforestation has compounded the effects of mass flooding, as we as the droughts experienced during other parts of the year. medical professionals say that ebola is no longer an inrable disease after two experimental drugs beining used to treat infected patients in the democratic republic of the congo have shown a 90% survival rate. the treatments are most effective if administered shortly after ebola is contracted. since the latest outbreak began a year ago, the world health organization says at least 2700 people have been infected with

ebola, with more than 1800 deaths. local outlets are reporting the director of a migrant shelter in nuevo laredo, mexico, was kidnapped while defending asylum-seers at his shelter. members of an organized crime group reportedly intended to kidnap cuban migrants in exchange for ransom when the shelter director aaron mendez was taken after trying to protect the migrants in his care. little information is known about mendez's whereabouts since the kidnapping isaid to have taken place ov a week ago. doctors witht borders warned last month that the border city of nuevo laredo was not safe for migrants waiting for possible asylum in the u.s. in a statement critical of trump's "remain in mexico" policy, which sends asylum seekers back to mexico while their cases make their way through u.s. immigration courts, the non-profit said -- "this policy is putting vulnerable people in areas controlled by criminal organizations, which see migrants as a commodity and a source of income."

matthew bowe an arizona border patrol agent, has pleaded guilty to intentionally running over a guatemalan migrant with a pickup truck in 2017. he now faces up to a year in prison and a possible fine of $100,000. he will also resign from the border patrol. the man he hit, antolin rolando lopez-aguilar, survived. court filings show bowen had sent a slew of racist messages on his phone referring to immigrants as "subhuman" and "beaners," among other insults. a friend of the daytonon, ohio,, gunm whoilled ninine people, includining his sibling, in a shooting ramampage outside a bar last weekend told federal investigators he bought and stored body armor, ammunition, and part of the firearm used in the deadly attack. it's unknown whether the friend, ethan kollie, was aware of gunman connor betts' plan to commit a mass murder.

kollie was charged monday with lying about his drug use on a firearms form for an unrelated purchase. the executive editor of "the washington post" is accusing vermont senator bernie sanders ofupporting a conspiracy theory after the 2020 hopeful claimed during a new hampshire campaign speech that "the washington post" writes negative stories about him because of his criticisms of amazon. amazon ceo jeff bezos ownsns the newspaper. >> anybody here know how much amazon paid in t taxes last yea? i talk about it all the time and then i wonder why "the washington post" which is owned by jeff bezos who owns amazon, doesn't write a good article about me. i don't know why. amy: "washington post" editor marty baron told cnn -- enatoranders is a member of a large club of politicians -- of every ideology -- who complain about their coverage. contrary to the conspiracy theory the senator seems to favor, jeff bezos allows our newsroom to operate with full inpendence, as our reporters

and editors can attest." a four-star general in charge of -- has ordered a review of the culture special operation units within the u.s. military. it comes after several recent cases involving members of seal engaging in a in some cases criminal acts. an entire seal platoon was recently sent home from iraq after facing accusations of sexual assault and alcohol consumption. last year an internal investigation found members of another seal team abused caine and other illegal drugs in in a case that received nationwide attention from u.s. navy seals special operations chief edward gallagher was acquitted of murder last month. gallagher was accused of multiple war crimes, including shooting two iraqi civilians and fatally stabbing a captive teenager in thneck. general were jerk like has ordered the ethics review be completed by november. in newark, new jersey, recent tests of the city's unfiltered

water show that it is still unsafe to drink some eight months after officials begun distributing water filters to residents to cut levels of lead in the water. the environmental protection agency told newark officials the filters may not be sufficiently effective and they should instead hand out bottled water to residents asoon as possible. studies show newark has some of the highest levels of lead contamination in the country. the national research defense counsel is suing york for violating safe water laws. the estate of layleen polanco, a transgender woman who was found dead in a jail cell at rikers island in june, is suing the city of new york over her death. the city's medical examiner ruled last month that the 27-year-old afro-latinx died of complications om epilepsy. polanco's mother says that officials knew of her medical condition but still put her in solitary confinement without proper supervision. the suit alleges this violated the 14th amendment as well as the americans with disabilities

act. layleen polanco was arrested in april on misdemeanor charges and jailed for two months after she was unable to post $500 bail. ana grouof whole foods employees of the latest to protest amazon's involvement with immigration authorities and the software and data company palantir. whole foods is owned by amazon. a group of current and former employees own aswhole worker" wrote in a letter published monday -- "undocumend people must be welcomed with compassion and treated like the political and economic asylum seekers they are. many, it must be added, are fleeing from conditions created by destructive u.s. policies, making it the responsibility of the u.s. to wcome them. it also must be said that palantir, in 2011,as involved in a plan to spy on labor unions and activists." this comes following a major day of action agait amazon. on sunday, over 40 people were arrested in new york city as jewish protesters took over an amazon bookstore to demand they

stop collaborating with ice. >> theeparation, the deportation -- none of this good happen without what amazon provides ice in the server providers it relies on such as palantir. amy: among those arrested were new york city council member brad lander and artist molly crabapple. meanwhile, jewish activists in baltimore blocked the entrance to howard county detention center sunday to demand city officials close immigrant camps. howard county executive's office said following the action they "will properly review and evaluate our ctract with ice." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welce to all of our listeners

and viewers from around the country and around the world. this week marks o years since white supremacists and neo-nazis descended on charlottesville, virginia. on the night of august 11, 2017, hundreds of white men bearing torches marched on the univerty of virginia campus chanting, "jews will not replace us" and "whiteives matter." on the following day, a neo-nazi drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters killing heather heyer, a 32-year-old activist. days later, president trump claimed there were "very fine people on both sides." since charlottesville, white supremacists have committed at least 73 murders according to the anti-defamation league. just last week, a white premacist in el paso, texas, opened fire in a crowded walmart killing 22 people, mostly latinos. it's been described as the deadest attack to target latinos in modern american histor

amy: the el so gunman wrote a manifesto that contained language similar to the racist rhetoric of president trump and prominent right-wing figes including rush limbaugh and tucker carlson. this comes as trump is facing increasing criticism for his racist remarks. last month, the democratic-controlled house voted to condemn trump's racist attack on four freshmen congresswomen of color -- congressmembers ayanna pressley, alexandria ocasio-cortez, rashida tlaib, and ilhan omar. trump had told them to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." three of the four congresswomen were born in thenited states. but trump has dismissed any claims that hes is stoking racial tension. pres. trump: the ract person there is anywhere in the world -- i had to deal with them, unfortunately in new york, but i got along with them, out sharpton. he is a racist. amy: well, we're joined now for the hour by ibram x. kendi,

the founding director of the antiracist research and policy center at american university. his nebook iout today, "how to be antiracist." it is his follow-up to "stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in america," which won the 2016 national book award for nonfiction. kendi was just 34 years old at the time. the youngest winner of the national book award for nonfiction. his latest piece for the atlantic is headlined " "a lynch mob of one." ibram x. kendi, welcome to democracy now! congratulations on the release of your book and happy birthday. >> thank you. begin on a less happier note, which is what took place in el paso, what is considered o of the largest lano slaughters in this

country in its history. you have written is very interesting piece for the aantic program a lynch mob of one." explain. race riots,e worst as they were called, in 1919, 100 years ago, during what was known as the red summer because there was a series of race riots, the worst potentially happen in chicago. the last day of that race riot in chicago was august 3. a century later, we have what happened in el paso. a century ago,s they needed to have large ordinad numbers of people in order to essentially slaughter large numbers of people of color. but today, the lynch mob only needs an assault rifle. and we saw that in el paso, texas. amy: so what needs to be done about it?

i think we need to first and foremost recognize how an assault rifle, onene gun, one ty are 47, 1 ar-15, could literally lead to many people dying with this combination oracist ideas. this shooter in el paso had both. he hadhe assault rifle and an assault rifle with racist ideas. we need to figure oua way to control if not banned by e them. juan: and that shooter, his manifesto had aregoes of many of the words of president trump these days about an invasion occurring of the united states. you just heard that clip we played a president trump saying he's the least racist person anywhere in the world. your reaction when you hear not only that, but the number of people who still support him and his views and pepectives in the country? is probablyaye the least antiracist person anywhere in the world. racism isnial of his

esntial to racism itself. even the el paso shooter, at the end of his manifesto, he denied his own racism. can you imagine writing this manifesto, demonizing latinx people over and over again, telling the nation that they were invading and you are protecting the nation, then saying at the end, well,l, the'e just going to call me a racist even though i am really not. at heart.elf is in contrast, an antiracist is seeking to acknowledge anand admit, which is certrtainly something trump is never done. amy: we're going to go to b brek will stop when we come back, we're going to talk about the difference between a non-racist and an antiracist, and that is really fundamental to your new "how to beed today an antiracis" ibram x. kendi, founded director

he antiracist research and policy center at american university. stay wh us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "buy back the block" by pj morton. this is democracy now!, democrynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. our guest for the hour is ibram x. kendi on the day of the release of his new book "how to be an antiracist." he has won the nional book award, the youngest person ever to win the national book award for nonfiction for his previous book. fox news tv personality tucker carlson is under fire for insisting that white supremacy is a hoax another real problem in america. carlson made the remarks on his program last week. >> the whole thing is a lie. list, were to assemble a howard kunik concerns, problems this country faces, where would white supremacy be on the list? right up there with russia, probly. it is not a problem in america. juan: we're continuing our

scussi with ibram x. kendi. your reaction to tucr carlson? >> these are some of the same types of people that say the holocaust was a hoax, this a racism is a hoax, say that blacky was good for people. thiss the ideology because when they can't deny the obvious evidence that shows domestic white supremacist terrorism is on the rise, that it is the principle form of domestic terror that is affecting american livesthey just deny its existence completely. that is certainly what he is doing. books youour previous look at the history of racist ideas in the united states. one of the isss thatou focused on was the development of intelligence tests in the history of intelligence tests in terms of being racially motivated from the very beginning. in themany young people

african-american and latino commodities are basically oppressed d classified and cast aside as a result of their performance vario intelligence tests. >> currently in most intelligence tes, latinos and black people receive lower scores than whites and asians. the question is, what is the problem? is there a problem with the test takers or the tests? for 100 years, americans have made the case that black people and latino people are not achieving intellectually as much as other people, as much as white people. i would argue, no, the problem is not with the test takers, it is with the tests themselves. these were created -- when you look at the person who created the sat test, when you look at the person who first popularized the iq test, in the u.s., these were genesis.

amy: go into that more fully. this is an aststounding histstoy you write about. >> the man who wrote a century ago this book called in which he sought to promote this new iq test that he had brought over from europe, in that book he talked about theseests will prove that black people are intellectually inferior. thahe putesis forward in a book that promoted the original iq test century ago. curl bring them, essentially established the sat test a decadeater in the 1920's was a eugenicist from princeton. they created these tests not latinos ande that black people were inferior to white people, but alsoo prove that women were genetically intellectually inferior to men, that poor people were genetically intellectually and barrier to weahy people and soutrners -- i'm in, everyon,

non-anglo-saxons were intellectually inferior to anglo-saxons. these tests became the evence they have been looking for, really, for hundreds of yes to prove that people of color and poor people and women were intellectually inferior. amy: so explain what the college board has recentlynnounced, that they are adding in environmenental context dashboad for all students taking the sat's. what does this mean? >> i'm try to figure that out. one thing i think many college board -- some of these institutions that have been under fire by not only antiracist, but even parents who don't want their children being in these high-stakes testing environments. i ththk they're figuring out new ways to essentially maintain the existence of t these tests. certainly, this is a way to

respond to those who are fundamentally pointing to the environmt as the problem and not necessarily the test taking. mayor de blasio has been attempting to eliminate the standardized tests because the number of african-americans and latinos admitted into the highly speciazed high school has been opping them increasing -- but he is met enormous resistance at the state level and not been able to get that tough. your sense of this battle has been going on not only in new york city, but across e country come over tests? >> what i specifically have been following are those parents who come to town halls and argue f the maintenance of tests. many of these parents have said things like, my kids a scoring on the test because they work hard. those other black and latinx kids are not working hard. what they're not talking about, though, is the test prep

companiess, the test prep tutor, the test prep industry is concentrated in new york city in white and asian neighborhoods, so it makes sense that those who get the best test prep and he the most access to resources to pay for the test prep are going to do the best on the tests. amy: interestingly, the new york schools, the public schools are the most sregatein the country in new york. we're not talking about the south. we're talking about new york. >> that is an incredibly important point because even we lk about antiracism, most people think of who needs to be an antiracist, the think of southerners, people who voted for trump. they don't think of people advoting for the maintenance of these testssm which are denying access to some of the best schools in new york city to black and latino kids. amy: this brings us to the presidenal race. is coming under fir

after he recently contrasted "poor ki" with "white kids" at an event hosted by the iowa asian and latino coalition >> we have this notion that somehow if you are poor, you cannot do it. poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids. wealthy kids. black ds. asian kids. amy: biden later said he misspoke while delivering his remarks. >> if he misspoke, there's a reason why he misspoke to begin with. i think this idea, connecting poor kids to black kids, is quite widespread. just like ere is an idea that connects rich kids with white -- with aich not only first, and not oy sort of recognizeshat acally the majority of black people in this country are not poor, but in the case of connecting ri kids with white ks, you are

ignoring all of these poor white kids who are classified by white racists as white trash. that is a racialized term that imagines that there's something wrong with poor white people and they have less because they are less. juan: i want to ask you about in your new book, you talk about the whole issue of class and race and the relationship of capitalism into race. in one section you write, the anti-capitalism cannot eliminate class racism witut antiracism. case in point, you mention the persistencehe racismm afro-cuban's received after the revolution in 1959. how us a better sense of you see this whole interrationship between the fight against raci and also against capitalism. >> i thinkt is ierrelated.

i classify racism and capitalism as these conjoined twi, from the same body but different personalities, different faces. the reason idea that is -- i track, partiticularly in n my ls ok, the origins of racism cannot be separated from the origins of capitalism. the ogin of capitalism cannot be separated from the origin of racism. the life of racism cannot be separated from the life of capitalism and vice versa. when you think about t slave trade which was critical in the accumulation of wealth in europe, that was fundamentally a set of racist policies. when you think of coloniali or even slavery, these are fundamentally a relationship between racisism d capitalism, which was essential to its emgence. i think in order to t truly be antiracist, you have to truly be anti-capitalist. truly beto anti-capitalist, yet to be antiracist because their interrelated.

amy: talk more about this and the founding of this country and th issue of slavery, the number of presidents who had sles and the president who had the most slaves of all, thomas jefferson, something like 600 slaves. lay that all out. >> when you look at the founding of this country, you're really talking about the power -- amican power, largely being held in the has of slave holders. you're talking about slaveholders who largely shaped economic policy. economic policy that they ensured did not eliminate or harm racial policy, which was key to, of course, they're slavehding. you're also talking about a group of peoplple, slaveholders, who by 1860, became the richest grououp of people in the world. and slaves and the crops they

we producing in the land there were producing those crops on were essentially the wealth of america. when you talk about how america became rich, you can't separate america's richest from slavery. anthe reason why america was able to become rh through slavery, which wasn econic system, was because of racism. that is why you can't really separate the two. i know many people want to, but we have to stare truth in the face. vein,continuing in that for the first time i think in a presidential race, the issue of reparations has been addressed by several of the democratic candidates, whereas previously it had largely been an issue among actists in the african american and lino community. i'm wondering your perspective of how this is finally surfacing and the resistance against it? >> i thinkt is obviously servicing because of the voices and the activism. i would say to my felw

americans who oppose repations , i typically debi would ask the question, currently, first would make the statement that currently the white median wealthn this country is 10 times higher than black median wealth. and then fecasters are estimating that by 2050, black median weah will be as zero dollars. and they're forecasting that two decades later, that latino dian wlth will be as zero dollars. what we're seeing now is a growing racial wealth gap. how do you -- how do we stop this growing racial wealth gap, turn it around, even close it, without reparations? because the reasons for that racial wealth gap is because of past and present racist policy. so reparations is not only a way

to challenge and eliminate those policies, but also to essentially repair the effects of those policies -- which is the racial wealth gap. to 2020's turn democratic presidential candidate senator cory booker. this is booker speaking on abc's "this week." >> this evident simplicity of who is and who is under racist is not the question. if we have racism in our country and we all are in this tother and we believe in justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, what are you doing about that in justice? it is not enough to say i'm not a racistn america. you need to be antiracist. amy: let's go to this issue, the core of your book, ibram x. kendi, "how to be an antiracist." to be a non-racist and an antiracist are very different. >> they are. when we acknowledge the term "not racist," we're really thinking about a time that ces

from the larger sentence "i am notacist." can we think of who and when our people are saying "i'm not racist, there are two degrees saying that when they're being charged with being racisfor something they said or did. people first and most ominously would say they're not weret work eugenicists, ists.row segregation i do sexmatter what i press, they are not racist. they can say that latinx people are invading this country, that this like neighbor is dish neighborhood is an infestation an american say, i'm the least racist person in the world. and what that means to me is the term not racist, that when we say "i'm not racist," that that is fundamentally a term of

denial. that is all it really has ever been. it has ner reay had any neighborhood other than a way for want to deny being racist when charged with being racist. in contrast, being antiracist, there is a cleasense of what that is. if a racist says that certain racial groups are superior or inferior or better or worse than others, and antiracist says there's nothing wrong or even write with any racial groups. we are equals. if a racist supports policies and inactionction a senator booker stated, then they are being a racist because they are allowing for the reproduction of racial inequity. if someone is supporting policies with their actions that create racial equity, then there being an antiracist. juan: you delve in your new book theow racism hahas affected african american and latino communities. the issue of skin color, letter

d darker, i wonder if you can talk about that as well as your own personal journey through that maelstrom of trying to understand how racism works in the country? >> "how to be an antiracist" was difficult for me to write because i have some new personal stories. one of the personal stories -- and i don't to say this but i have to say it because it is in the book of people are going to read it -- when i was in college, i thought that my eyes were too dark. so i decided to get colored contacts. they were these honey contacts. my friends would joke on me that i had orange eyes. but i thought with these honey contacts, i was more beautiful, that i was more attractive. and this was a representation of what i sort of addresess in the book known as colorism. this idea that the lighter this again, the betr. theghter the eyes,

better. the straighter the hair, the better. and with communities of color, there are radiations of skin color, eye color, hair texture. and so what i did -- juan: and it often changes from generation to generation. >> precisely. at i did in that chapter called "color," we talk about what i call light people and dark people. this is particularly within community's of color. we have been led to believe in a primarily taught by weight people that since white people are closer to us, there were superior to those dark people internalize those ideas. there's also a set of policies that actually favor lighter people over darker people. i talk about all of the disparities between white people and dark people and in antiracist, they do not view light people or darker people as better or worse than each other. amy: which is the perfect time to bring in one of the great writers of the 20th century,

toni morrison, who we just lost last week. last week on democracy now! we did two hours, one on the show severaloff with guests, playing the clips of ni morrison. we want to go back to one of those moments, as you describe, wanting lighter eyes. let's go toto 2010, a conveation between toni morrison and angela davis at the new york public library. >> when i wrote the first book i wrote, "the bluest eye," i wanted to know why that girl felt so bad, the real light girl who said she wanted blue eyes. we were talking about whether god existed. i, of course, was persuaded that he did. and she was persuaded that he did not stop her proof was that she had prayed for blue eyes for two years. two years.

so she did not get them, obvious the, he was not up there. but when i looked at her and thought about how awful she would look -- [laughter] them, then i thoht -- the second thing was come how betiful she was at that moment. but i did not en know whether she was beautiful or not until i thought about what she might think. there's a third thing, of course, why does she want that? what makes her think that that is an improvement? ,nd that can of self-loathing which is real, when you don't have support, made me think of that as a real subject for a book. but how it victim, really works. amy: tt is toni morrison. there is so much to follow up on

here, from when did you finally take off the contacts to the effective toni mrison in your life? >> i took them off i believe around the time i locked my here when owes a junior in college. i remember a few years later reading "the bluest eye" for the first time. many ways, i could not read about the little girl without thinking about mysel without thinking about that first time i put on these honey contacts, that i thought it was an improvement, that i thought i was handsome. and how long it took me to realize that i was asked a more handsome without the orang eyes, as my friends would joke on m me. , likesly, toni morrison any sort of black writer has living, has german's impact on my life, i might personal life, let alone my literary life, and i think one of the ways which

she had an influence on me even writing this book, even writing colorism chapter, her constant instrtions black writers to not write with the cric on our shoulders, to not righwith the white gays in our minds because one of the things that we have been -- it is difficult for us to write about is internalized racism. here is going toav happen is what races are going to take that and say, see, we've been telling you you're the problem all along and now you're finally admitting it. i was like, let me get the white critic off my shoulder and right. people ofality that color, particularly black people, are facing in a wanted to speak t amy: we're going to go to break and come back to our discussion with ibram x. kendi,, professor of history and internatial relations and founding director of the antiracist research and policy center at american university. he is the national book

award-winning author of "stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in america." and just before we go to break, you were not a well-known professor, an a assistant professor at the university of flora. can you describe the moment the national bk award -- this is one of these like dinners where none knows who gets it until you ar actually -- until your name is called. did you have your speech prepared? >> oh, no. remember my wife and i had a hotel room near the venue. we were about to walk out and people were like, have you written your? speech? where is your speech? unlike, i'm not going to win. wh is the purpose of writing a speech. she insistedhat i jot down those notes. i jotted down some notes and when i heard my name called, as the video shows the hohouse completely shocked. i was completely shocked.

i literally had to gather myself even before i spoke. amy: ibram x. kendi is the ungest winner of the national book award for nonfiction. today his next book is out, "how to be an antiracist." we continue with him in a moment ♪ [music break]

amy: ben harper performing, "i'll rise" from the poem "still i rise" by the late mayaya angelou. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman wi juan gonzalez. our guest for the hour, ibr x. kendi, professor of history and international relations and founding director of the antiracist research and policy national book award-winning author of "stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in amera." his book out today on his birth day, "how to be an antiracist." on to thented to go whole issue of your journey. you wanted to be a sports reporter? anyone to temple university.

talk about that. you say you livedn a neighborhood i know well, i live in the same neighborhood. awayabout that journey from sports writing and a historn. >> i grew up playing basketball. i was a huge you are nick's fan. i wanted to join the nba. ultitely, i realized i probably was notood enough to make the nba so i decided to pursue sports writing. i went to school in tallahassee. i was a freshman in 2000. we a know what happened in 2000 with the election. i was told constantly -- and i talk about this constantly in my book -- after the election of 2000 and 70 people -- and so many black people's votes werere

suppressed and thrown out, i heard some of you posters for samples to be really sort of provided my first major lesson on racism. i witnessedmore lessons, the more a realized i wanted to become a reporter, sharing those lessons with the world. i decided to go to temple to pursue my masters. then again, pardon of me was also thinking about pursuing my doctorate to become a professor because on some level, i recognized professors had more autonomy, more freedom to really write and research. but when i got there, once i arrived at temple university, once i saw the life of a professor through the life of my way ination advisor, the which they were engaged in worldwide intellectual struggle against white supremacy, agnst racism, i was sort of hooked. i wanted to be like them and be

a professor. amy: you of the question, what if we treated racism in the way we treat cancer? >> while i was writing this book, i had stage four: cancer. cancer,ars before i had myife and mother had cancer. a decade ago my father had cancer. in a way i lived with ca for quite some time. more important, i have seenow cancer is treated, how doctors treat cancer. how they save people like me who have metastatic cancer. and the way they tend to do it is they first -- they do a local treatment in which they go in and surgically remove the tumors. which is essentially like us going into surgicay removed racist policicies in this count. within a don't stop there. they also flood the body with chemotherapy to ensure that there is no more cancer cells

left, to ensure the cancer will come back or try to make sure or try help the cancer from coming back, which is equivalent to us flooding the body of america with antiracist policies. but they don't stop there. once they have removed the tumors, once they flooded the body with antiracist policies, then they watched the body very closely to make sure that nothing comes back. and then if something does come back, what do they d they treat and treat very aggressively and quickly. i wanted to speak to that and -- in "how to be an antiracist." amy: so lay it out for us. what would that look like? >> first and foremost, us saving america. and i think we can't just talk about racism as an original sin. we have to talk about racism as

the original cancer, as this original disease that has been killing america. it almost prevented americans from coming together and forming a union at its founding. it almost killed amamerica in te vil wawar where -- what i mean by sort of antiracist policies is its polics, for instance, medicare for all, high-quality health care for all, that reduced racial inequities. policies like legalizing marijuana. policies that aggressively go after climate change, which is specifically harming communies of color. what policies doe have currently that literally have a chance to radically reduce racial inequities? those are the types of policies we should ood the american body weight. juan: in your book, y have talked your's on -- chapts on

queer racism and gender racism. you explain? >> will we think of racism and we think of racial inequity, even when we think of the races, we should cognize that princeton's black people are not a monolith, just like latino people are not a monolith, white people are not a monolith. black people are collection of -- racialized groups. like many black women are racialized groups foinstance. in each of the groups, they've been targeted and denigrated with racist ideas. as a black male, had to come to grips with the ct thai had consumed and internalized antiracist ideas about black women, that i was saying some of the same ideas that right men and others were saying about black women. was saying also so of thsame ideas that white people or white heterosexuals were saying about

the black queer community. because black we'res -- black distinct from black heterosexuals. it is a racist ide amy: just at the beginning of the show, i was presesenting headadlines, one of them was the estate of layleen polanco, transgender woman who was found dead in a jail cell at rikers isnd has sued the city of new york over her death. the medical examiner saying the . fromr-old afro latinx convocations of epilepsy. -- died from compcations of epilepsy. it violated the 14th amendment as well as the americans with disability act.

she was jailed for two months after she was unable to post $500 bail. a picture at every level of racism in america and queer racism, etc. she was the centeof that. u talk about mass incarceration and one of the ways that if you're going to deal with anti-racism in this country. >> black queer communities are more likely to be poor and black heterosexuals -- than black heterosexuals. some of them are subjected to this type of violence from the state. it most obvioly, black transgender women are literally experiencing a genocide. i don't ow of any way to talk theirthe fact that average life expectancy the 30's.is in

this is 2019 and we have a group of americans whose life expectancy is in the mid 30's. and part of the reason why is because people of color, black people, white people, americans do not value their lives. viewhem in a way in which -- and we view them the way trump and we don't criticize ourselves. all of these peopl their lives matter a we need to recognize the ways in which they are being subjected as a result of their gender, as a result of their sexual orientation, as a result of their transgender stas, their race, class, how that all is intersecting to lead to the genocide. amy: ibrim, yet a chi? >> yes. amy: what is her name? "faith", which means

in swahili. she is three years old. amy: how do you raise her as an antiracist human being i in this country? >> first and foremost, i think when we think abouraising children, we should not be raising children to not be something. cannot be cist. we should be raising children to be something, to be antiracist. what we're seeking to do is get her to see difference and appreciate it. to appreciate difference no matter that difference is cultural, racial, gender -- to see difference and appreciate it. we are also getting her to ask why. 'sw she is asking too many why about everything, but that is a central question. why does this exist? we are trying to sort of clarifying for her why

inequities exi. so then she can realize that inequities do not exist because some racial group, there's something wrong with some racial group. they exist because of these larger policies and powers. and so that is what we are seeking too. i think it is a tremendous job as a parent. you literally have the opportunity traise a racist or antiracist. we're cmitted to raising an antiracist. you, youanted ask grew up as a child ithe sa neighborhood, roughly come the same number as the president of the united stas, queens, new york, but obviously, different upbringings and different perspectives. you mentioned that in your book. talk about growing up in ques. >> i grew up in jamaica queens. i was fortunatthat my parents sort ocame of age in the black power movement. heologycally the black

moment, specifically this movement tt said jesus is black, reflection of our image, he wears a fro jt like we do. and the church needs to be an engi of liration post of jesus was a revolutionary. to be a revolutionary. in many ways, they never lef that type of liberation theoly behind and raid me to imagine myself as someone who is essentially trying to eliminate racism and really create equal opportunity for all. amy: and what message you ever prident trump? >> he probably should read my book. [laughter] i don't know whether obviously more important, i wod urge his voters to read my book wil. so they can realize actually that his policies are harmg them and the only reason why

they'reonnected to him is because of the racist ideas h manipulates them with. amy: ibram x. kendi, author of the new book " "how to be an antiracist." he is speaking

♪ in december 2018 an award ceremony was held in the chinese cal