02/10/21 02/10/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> this cannot be the future of america. we cannot have presidents inciting mob violence against our institutions because they refused to accept the will of the people. amy: the u.s. senate has voted to move forward with the impeachment trial of donald trump for inciting the deadly insurrection on the u.s. capitol.

we will air highlights from the first day of the trial, including the dramatic video montage of what happened on january 6. pres. trump: we fight like hell. and if you don't fight like hell, you won't have a country anymore. amy: plus, we will speak to the scholars ibram x. kendi and keisha blaine about the impeachment trial, the racial disparities of the covid-19 pandemic, and their new book "four hundred souls: a community history of african america 1619-2019." >> knowledge commiee ongoing challenge of covid-19 specifically how it was and continues to state black and brown communities, and also the

uprising over the spring and summer of last year. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the senate has voted 56 to 44 to proceed with the impeachment trial of donald trump for inciting the deadly insuection at the u.s. capitol on january 6. six republicans joined docrats rejecting arguments from trump's defense team that it is unconstitutional for a former president to face an impeachment trial. the democratic house impeachment managers opened the day with a dramatic 13-minute video montage from january 6 featuring trump's remarks and graphic scenes of rioters attacking police officers and breaking into the capitol where lawmakers were preparg to count electoral college votes. this is house impeachment manager jamie raskin.

>> you ask what a high crime and misdemeanor is under our constitution, that is a high crime and misdemeanor. if that is not an impeachable offense, than there is no such thing. amy: we will have more on the impeachment trial, including what took place onhat day, after headlines. around o in every 10 u.s. residents has now gotten at least their first covid-19 vaccine dose, with close to 10 million fully vaccinated. new daily cases continue to trend downwards, though the number of variant cases in the u.s. has surged by nearly 75% over the past week and public health experts warn the u.s. could still see fresh surges if the spread of new variants outpaces the rate of vaccinations and people ea up

on other protective measures. the u.s. government said tuesday it will start sending covid-19 vaccines to community health centers, which preminantly serve lower income communities and communities of color. the fo and druadministtion has authized eliilly's coination tibody dg for ergency e. the trtment cahelp prent high-rk covid- patients from deloping sere formof the diseasand is expted to b -- expected toetter be ae to combat neworonavir mutatis. world healthrganizatn team confirm the virus likely originated in a yet-to-be-identified animal before infecting humans, and was not leaked from a laboratory. >> the possible pass from whatever original animal species all the way to the market could have taken a very long and

convoluted path volving also movements across borders and travels, etc., before arriving in the markets. amy: in ghana, parliament was forced to shut down for several weeks after a covid-19 outbreak infected at least 17 lawmakers and over 150 staffers. in burma, protesters continue to take to the streets against the military coup which overthrew aung san suu kyi last week. massive crowds have defied a ban on demonstrations and escalating attacks from the police who fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannons, as well as rounds of live ammunition at protesters. one woman was left in critical condition tuesday. in news from india, journalists and press freedom groups around the world are condemning the crackdown by the government of prime minister narendra modi on progressive news site newsclick

after authorities raided their new delhi offices tuesday. the homes of newsclick's directors and editors were also raided. the news site has been closely coveringhe historic farmworkers uprising, which has brought modi's neoliberal policies under international scrutiny. the state department said tuesday the u.s. will continue to push for the extradition of wikileaks founder julian assange from britain. last month, a u.k. judge blocked assange's extradition, citing serious mental health concerns. assange was indicted for violations of the u.s. espionage act related to the publication of classified documents exposing u.s. war crimes. he faces up to 175 years in prison if brought to the u.s. on monday, a coalition of prominent international rights groups called on the biden administration to drop charges against assange. "we are deeply concerned about the way that a precedent created

by prosecuting assange could be leveraged -- perhaps by a future administration -- against publishers and journalists of all stripes," they wrote. a new report finds fossil fuel pollution was responsible for 8.7 million or one in five global deaths in 2018 -- far higher than previously thought. the study conducted by harvard and other universities found regions with the highest concentrations of particulate matter from fossil fuels had the worst mortality rates and include china d india well as eastern north america and europe. inelated news, a report releaseduesday by e natural reurce govnance institute says state-owned fossil fuel companies plan to invest $1.9 trillion over the next decade in projects that would make it impossible to meet the paris climate agreement goals. cas are mounting for president biden to shut down the dakota

access pipeline after a federal appeals court last month upheld a lower court's ruling that the pipeline is operating illegally. indigenous youth braved sub-zero temperatures tuesday to run a 93-mile relay to the site of the 2016 no dapl protests to draw attention to the issue and call on biden to shut down the pipeline. indigenous activists chase iron eyes and phyllis young with the lakota peoples law project addressed president biden in a new video. >> the cou has decidedt evy lev that it is illegal and e truthas prevled. ware fiting forur spirit iour liveshat the human-caused climate catasophe thatens no only eryone wh is ave at th very moment, but all of our children.

amy: last week, five democratic lawmakers called on biden in a letter to shut down dapl, writing -- "by shutting down this illegal pipeline, you can continue to show your administration values the environment and the rights of indigenous communities more than the profits of outdated fossil fuel industries." meanwhile, over 200 prominent activists, indigenous leaders, and celebrities urged the biden administration to shut down dapl in a letter published monday. a court hearing to determine whether the pipeline must be shut down during its environmental review was canceled today. in labor and education news, chicago teachers have voted to approve a plan to return to in-person teaching. some teacherand students are expected to return as soon as this week, with a staggered reentry for pre-k through eighth grade. no date has been set for reopening high schools yet. the agreement between the

chicago teachers union and the school district also calls for an increased allotment of vaccines for teachers, improved ventilation in schools, and better contact tracing protocols. in related news, the white house said tuesday the administration is aiming to have over half of schools have at least one day a week of in-person teaching per week within its first 100 days rather than the much more ambitious goal president biden announced in december of reopening a majority of schools within his first 100 days. in louisiana, four police officers have been arrested for their involvement in cases of police brutality. in 2019, ronald greene, a black man, died in state police custody after he was choked, beaten, and jolted repeatedly with a stun gun by state troopers. federal authorities have also launched their own investigation into greene's killing. other charges stem from a may 2020 car chase and arrest, where officers reportedly deactivated their body cameras and falsified

use of force and arrest reports. and in media news, two prominent journalists at "the new yo times" have left the newspaper after recent revelations of improper behavior. veteran reporter donald mcneil, jr. was recently called out for using the "n" word and making racist and sexist comments on a work-related trip with high school students. meanwhile, andy mills, co-creator and co-host of the podcast "caliphate" resigned after allegationof inappropriate behavior towards fema colleagues when he previously worked at wnyc. "the caliphate," a hit podcast about life inside the islamic state, came under fire recently after "the new york times" admitted it contained major inaccuracies, causing the pulitzer prize board to rescind its stat as a 2019 prize finalist. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman.

the senate voted 56 to 44 to proceed with the impeachment trial of donald trump for inciting the deadly insurrection at the u.s. capitol on january 6. six republicans joined democrats rejecting arguments from trump's defense team that it is unconstitutional for a former president to face an impeament trial. trump is the first president to ever be impeached twice and the first to be tried after leaving office. the democratic house impeachment managers opened the day with a traumatic teen-minute video highlighting the words of donald trump on january 6 and scenes of rioters attacking police officers and breaking into the capitol where lawmakers were preparing to count electoral college votes. the riot came after trump spent weeks falsely claiming the november election had been stolen. this is an edited excerpt from the video.

it contains graphic, violent scenes. we have also bleeped the expletives that were aired and broadcast live across the nation. pres. trump: we will stop the steal. today i will lay out just some of the evidence proving we won this election and we wonit this was not a close ection. after this, we will walk down -- and i will be there with you. we are going to walk down to the capitol. >> take the capital1 >> we are going to the capitol! [bleep]

pres. trump: when you catch somebody in fraud, you are allowed to go by very different roles. so i hope he has the courage to do what yesterday. we fight like hel. if you don't fight like hell, you're not going have a country anymore. we're going to the capital and we're going to try and give our republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don't need any help, we're going to try to give them the kind of pride and boldness they need to take back our country. [bleep] . >> president trump claims election was stolen. constitutional arguments to sweeping conspiracy theories.

>> usa! amy: capitol officer eugene diverts them up away from senators and the vice president. he is african-american. >> not about the good people of arizona -- >> stand in recess until the call of the chair. >> thank you. amy: president trump sends a tweet criticizing vice president

pence. >> traitor pence. >> stop the steal. amy: members not able to g out until moments later. >> break it down! amy: the mob is crushing the police officer at the door. he is screaming. amy: over two hours later, president trump tweets video. pres. trump: at a time like this

were such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us, from me and you and our country. this was a fraudulent election but we can't play into the hands of these people. we have to have peace. so go home. we love you. you are very special. >> usa! >> [bleep] and video montage from the capital insurrection. the 13 minute version was shown on tuesday but democratic house impeachment managers on the opening day of the historic senate impeachment trial of donald trump. when we come back, we will hear a moving address from the lead impeachment manager maryland

democratic commerce member raskin. -- congress member raskin. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "we shall overcome" after we hear the next beach, we will be talking to the historians keisha blain and ibram x. kendi about their new book "400 souls." this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. we continue to look at the opening day of the historic senate impeachment trial of donald trump, and we go to maryland democratic congressman jamie raskin, the lead house impeachment manager. he gave the democrats closing statement on tuesday. >> distinguished members of the senate, my youngest daughter, the was there with me on wednesday, january 6. it was the day after we buried her brother, our son, tommy.

the saddest day of our lives. also there was my son-in-law, hank, who's married to our oldest daughter, hannah. i consider him a son, too, even though he eloped with my daughter and didn't tell us what they were going to do. [laughter] but it was in the middle of covid-19. but the reason they came with me that wednesday, january 6, was because they wanted to be together with me in the middle of a devastating week for our family. and i told them i had to go back to work because we were counting electoral votes that day on january 6. it was our constitutional duty. and i invited them instead to come with me to witnesthis historic event, the peaceful transfer of power in america.

they said they heard that president trump was calling on his followers to come to washington to protest. and they asked me directly, "would it be safe? would it be safe?" and i told them, "of course it should be safe. this is the capitol." steny hoyer, our majority leader had kindly offered me the use of his office on the house floor because i was one of the managers that day and we were going through our grief. so tabitha and hank were with me in steny's office as colleagues dropped by to console us about the loss of our middle child, tommy, our beloved tommy. mr. neguse and mr. cicilline actually came to see me that day. dozens of members, lots of republicans, lots democrats came to see me, and i felt a sense of being lifted up from the agony.

and i won't forget their tenderness. and through the tears, i was working on a speech for the floor when we would all be together in joint session. and i wanted to focus on unity when we met in the house. i quoted abraham lincoln's famous 1838 lyceum speech, where he said that "if division and destruction ever come to america, it won't come from abroad. it will come from within," said lincoln. and in that same speech, lincoln passionately deplored mob violence. this was right after the murder of elijah lovejoy, the abolitionist newsper editor. lincoln deplored mob violence and he deplored mob rule.

and he said it would lead to tyranny and despotism in america. that was the speech i gave that day after the house very graciously and warmly welcomed me back. tabitha and hank came with me to the floor and they watched it from the gallery. when it was over, they went back to that office, steny's office off of the house floor. they didn't know that the house had been breached yet and that an insurrection or riot or a coup had come to congress. by the time we learned about it, about what was going on, it was too late. i couldn't get out there to be with them in that office. all around me, people were calling their wives and their husbands, their loved ones to say goodbye. members of congress, in the house anyway, were removing

their congressional pins so they wouldn't be identified by the mob as they tried to escape the violence. our new chaplain got up and said a prayer for us. and we were told to put our gas masks on. and then there was a sound i will never forget. the sound of pounding on the door like a battering ram. it's the most haunting sound i ever heard and i will never forget it. my chief of staff julie tagen was with tabitha and hank locked and barricaded in that office. the kids hiding under the desk, placing what they thought were their final texts and whispered phone calls to say their goodbyes. they thought they were going to die. my son-in-law had never even been to the capitol before.

when they were finally rescued, over an hour later by capitol officers and we were together, i hugged them and i apologized. and i told my daughter tabitha who is 24 and a brilliant algebra teacher in teach for america. now, i told her how sorry i was. and i promised her tt it would not be like this again the next time she came back to the capitol with me. and you know what she said? she said, "dad, i don't want to come back to the capitol." of all the terrible, brutal things i saw and i heard on that day and since then, that one hit me the hardest. that and watching someone use an

american flag pole, the flag still on it, to spear and pummel one of our police officers ruthlessly, mercilessly, tortured by a pole with a flag on it that he was defending with his very life. people died that day. officers ended up with head damage and brain damage. people's eyes were gouged. an officer had a heart attack. an officer lost three fingers that day. two officers have taken their own lives. senators, this cannot be our future. this cannot be the future of america. we cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing mob violence against our government

and our institutions because they refuse to accept the will of the people under the constitution of the united states. much less can we create a new january exception in our precious beloved constitution that prior generations have died for and fought for so that corrupt presidents have several weeks to get away with whatever it is they want to do. history does not support a january exception in any way. so why would we invent one for the future? amy: lead impeachment manager congressmember jamie raskin making the closing argument tuesday in the senate chamber in the impeachment trial of former president donald trump. he spoke after house managers earlier played a dramatic video of the capitol assault, with images of confederate flags flying, the sounds of people

chanting "fight for trump" and with trump himself claiming the 2020 election was fraudulent and telling his supporters that day as the images came out and he watched from the white house, "we love you, you're special." thiss democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. i'm joined by my cohost juan gonzalez in new brunswick, new jersey. juan: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: donald trump is the only president in u.s. history to impede -- to be impeached twice. now the question is if you will be convicted in his senate trial. if he is, will the preventive from running again for federal office. to talk more about this historic moment, we are joined by two historians who have just edited a book that puts the white supremacists who rallied around trump into the longer arc of

u.s. history. the book is titled "four hundred souls: a community history of african america, 1619-2019," and it brings together prominent black writers to collaborate on what they call a choral history of black american like. kendi is coeditor of the new book along with keisha blain. we welcome you both to democracy now! professorkendi, as you listen to and watch the video that we have seen a number of times in the past since january 6, though there was new video that we have not seen and as the days go by we will see more video, of what took place of the confederate

flag, the horror. can you put this into the context of the history of looked at comes american history in the last 400 years? >> first, amy, thank you so much for having us on the show. for me, as someone who has lived and sat in african-american histor in manyays those images, that video, what happened on january 6, was also familiar to me. was also familiar to black folks because indeed when we have had exercised our right to vote, when we have exercised our right to take office, when we have exercised our rights to be free, we have consistently over the course of 400 years faced white supremacist mob violence over

and over and over again. and then those who incited the violence typically over and over again for not held accountable. juan: ibram x. kendi, i would ask you specifically about mob violence. so many people in the united states are treating this as an unprecedented event. as you mentioned, there many examples throughout american history of mob violence by white mobs. i think of the charleston -- burning of the charleston post office in 1834 by a mob that was trying to seize abolitionist literature that was going to the south, the riots during the civil war of whites attacking the black community over the drafting of folks to fight in the union army. even in 1962, the riots at the university of mississippi, hundreds of whites armed, having

shootouts with federal marshals protecting james meredith's effort to desegregate the university of mississippi. what you think has touched so much a large part of america in terms of this particular example of mob violence? >> i think the unfortunate fact is that those other cases of mob violence, the victims of that violence or black folks, were indigenous folks, were latinx folks, were not the citadel of america. so white americans oftentimes did not see themselves as the victims of those mobs, even of the victims of those mobs were americans and they should have seen themselves. if we can collectively see ourselves as victims of these mobs, we would have a better

country. but the way which we are able to do that is we gain a better understanding of african-american history -- which is what was so crucial for keisha blain not put together the "400 souls." juan: a lot of people are suggesting mere impeachment is not enough for what donald trump did, that he should be charged with incitement of criminal acts, possibly even sedition. your response to that? >> well, i think, quite frankly, we have to do everything possible to ma sure he does not run for office again, but so to ensure we send a clear message that no future presidents can do a donald trump did. so certainly, the impeachment is important and i do think it is important that trump's charge because we really cannot approach this lightly.

we cannot hold back and play games here because, ultimately, whatever decision we make in this moment will determine the future of this nation. amy: can you talk, blain, whether we're talking about the crowd, boogaloo bois, qanon, this moment in history, and then go back in time for us because obviously, as you are both just explaining, this is not new, as you so diffidently layout in your book "four hundred souls." >> even as i movement in the united states, it s very deep roots. you can see that quite frankly since the founding of the nation. ihink what is clear in this

particular moment is that whites pharmacy continues to shape american lives, the culture, and the uprising which took place in january is just a recent manifestation of that. we have been drawing connections certainly as the kkk, which most people knowbut as you point out, there'so many differt gros that we can identify, so many individuals. i think for me, even the other groups, i am particularly certain about white supremacy as a theology that has seeped into everyday american lives and the y ordinary american people accept views and ultimately live out theirives donstrating they have no respect for black people. i think that is the danger of white supremacy, the ideology, and how it takes a hold of people. amy: ibram x. kendi, i'm looking at a tweet "osama bin laden did

not fly planes and any u.s. buildings. he just asked inspired people to do it, drew money and resources of the effort, set the timing and launched the execution from afar. in what way was donald trump's role on 1/6 any different?" if you could respond to this and then talk about the use of terms as you both have described -- this certainly is not the first time for mob violence, especially when it comes to african-americans. but when it hit the sanctuary of power in the united states come the sanctuary of democracy, it took on a very different -- it had a very different effect when all saw it around the world. >>w if you are donald trump and the only success that you have achieved during your presidency

was to cut taxes for the super rich, for people like you, in meanwhile, your own voters, particularly working-class white man, are continuing to suffer -- even before the cover 19 pandemic -- and as they suffer, you're telling them that the source of their suffering is not your do nothing attitude, not you continuing to pass policies that support corporate elites against their own livelihood, but that the source of the problem are those latinx invaders, the source of those problems are the black anarchists, the source of their problems are antifa, and then you cause them to believe that you have so much support that, certainly, did not lose an election, it was stolen from you and that this election was stolen from you just like your livelihood is being stolen from

you by those black voters in philadelphia and atlanta and detroit. you know, what do you think these folks are going to believe? what do you think they're going to do? then he tells them to go out and fight. it is striking because as keisha said, the ideology of white supremacy mass manipulates people into engaging in violence against folks who actually are seeking to better their livelihood. without question, donald trump has incited the vionce on1/6 but he is really incited so much more historically and currently in this country. juan: i would ask you about another pivotal story in our time, the pandemic. i knew her book, you dedicated to the black lives lost to covid-19. why the decision to do that? can you put the content of the

book in the context of what has been happening, the disparate impact of this pandemic on the african-american community? >> as we were writing the book, certainly, we had to do with covid-19. i think in the last year of pulling the pieces together, in lives were devastated as really everyone's lives were devastated because of covid-19. it was important to acknowledge the challenge, but also to draw the connections for the reader. ultimately, black and brown communities are suffering at disproportionate rates when it comes to covid-19 in terms of contracting the virus and also dying from the virus. when you look at the history, of course this is not som mystery, it comes out of decades of medical racism -- certainly, we

talked about inequality in health care access. sohe history that we tell helps exain how got to this partular moment. it was important for us to acknowledge it was certainly in dedicating the book to those who lost their liv, and then to draw the connections toughout the narrative for readers to see that this has been in the making for decades even though this is a new virus and new moment in which we are talking about covid-19 it connects the larger history of racial inequality and we wanted to make sure that was clear. amy: before i go to break and delve more deeply into both of your book "four hundred souls," we want to ask about black and latinx people in this country continued to die from the coronavirus at higher rates, far higher. now do dishes -- now few data showing they're getting

vaccinated at much lower rates than white people. the cdc reports more than 60% of those vaccinated so far are white, just 11.5% latinx, 6% asian, just over 5% black, as many black and latinx people face a disproportionate risk of exposure to covid and their jobs as essential workers and are more likely to have pre-existing conditions. i put that question to you, professor kendi, as you in our past shows have talked about your own battle with cancer, also married to a doctor and what it means to survive and to face devastating illness? >> i think what is striking is the question has always been, why? why is it that black and brown and indigenous people have been infected and killed at higher rates from covid-19 than white

folks? when we first realized and saw these racial disparities last april, and americans immediately turned this idea that it must be because there's something wrong with those black and latinx and indigenous people. they are not socially distancing, taking the coronavirus seriously, they have these pre-existing conditions because they're so lazy and don't want to eat right. and all the while, as professor blain stated, it was the result of this history and racist policy that causes black and brown and indigenous people to live in neighborhoods that are more likely to be polluted, to be less likely to work from home, to have less access to health insurance, and to be more likely to live in trauma deserts where people don't have access to high-quality life-saving care. then what happens? the same story emerged your later or almost a year later

when vaccines started coming out and we started seeing disparities in which black and brown people were less likely to receive the vaccine. dinner became, well, these folks don't what -- then it became, well, these folks don't want the vaccine, they're hesitant to vaccines. it is opposed to a question of access and outreach. consistently black folks are blamed just as latinx and indigenous folks, are blamed and one reason is because americans don't know their history. amy: we're going to talk about some of that history in a moment with ibram x. kendi and keisha blain, both professors and historians and coeditors of the new book "four hundred souls: a community history of african america, 1619-2019." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: one of the groups founding members, mary wilson, died on monday at the age of 76. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we are speaking with two of this country's leading historians. they have just edited a book that puts the white supremacists who rallied around president trump in the uprising against uprising -- police brutality and racism we saw lester to the longer arctic u.s. history. the book is titled "four hundred souls: a community history of african america, 1619-2019." it brings together prominent black writers to collaborate on what they call a choral history of black american life in 80 short essays by people like the renowned scholar and activist angela, pulitzer prize-winning journalist nicole hanna john to

rights in the opening chapter "this is our story. we must not flinch. keisha blain's associate professor of history at the university of pittsburgh and author of "set the world on fire: black nationalist women and the global struggle for freedom." congratulations on the contract to write a new book. ibram x. kendi is the andrew w. mellon professor in the humanities at boston university, and author of "stamped from the beginning: the definitace history of racist ideas in america," which won the national book award for nonfiction. professor kendi is also the author of "how to be an antiracist" and most recently, the children's book "antiracist baby." professori, lay out the thesis of this book and then we went to go back and forth between both of you to talk about some of the stories and the chronology that you lay out about what we should know about our own country.

>> i think the underlying desis of this -- thesis of this book is if you're writing history of community, it is best to have a community to write that history. i think that really springs from this text. we were able to bring together 80 black writers, each of whom wrote pieces on five years of african-american history. very short pieces. we also brought together i should say 10 poets who each wrote poems on 40 years of african-american history. in many ways, we wanted to bring together so many different voices from so many different backgrounds within the black community to really shared history of this incredibly diverse and complex community. we are excited we were able to put it together. juan: the book starts with

nicole hannah jones, this piece of "the new york times goes for 60 not to project, she writes "while every american child is about the mayflower, virtually no american child is about the white lines. why was it so important to start with that, professor blain? >> it helps us understand, to history is political even in the way we write history, the way we tell the history because what nikole is pointing out is, ultimately, from the very beginning, we tell the history of the united states. by not focusing on white lion, what we do is automatically erase the presence of black people in the united states and by focusing on the mayflower, the narrative is ultimately moved forward telling a story of america through a perspective of

a paicular group of people. and in so doing, marginalizing and ignoring and erasing other voices. it was important to point out to people, listen, you may have received an education certainly, but this is a moment where you have to go through a reeducation. i think r book "fouhundred souls" provides an important tool for that for educators to help students understand the history of far more complex, far richer and more diverse, which is the point here. juan: kendi professor kendi, you chose an old correlate of mine pam newkirk, journalist now journalism professor to write about freedom journal come the first black newspaper in the world, running the lead editorial that we wish to plead our own cause." the importance of the press by people of color which a counter narrative throughout history?

>> i'm so happy that pamela kirk was able to write that essay, an incredible journalist herself. in the 19th century, it was newspapers that held up the banner of anti-slavery, of antiracism. especially at a moment where people were imagining that like people should be enslaved, that nati people should not be here -- especially at a time when people were imagining that white people were superior. and that was the consistent message from the main and leading periodicals. indeed, "freedoms journal" was the first at least black this paper to offer that counter narrative. amy: i want to ask professor

keisha blain, for people who don't know what the white lion is -- we learn about the mayflower but not the white lion -- if you could explain. they talked about mariah stewart and why it is important to know her story. >> the first thing that we emphasized, and we make this clear in the book, is that certnly black people were present on what becomes the united states long before 1619. we make this clear and of course even a group of africans who were present around 15 20's, but theyltimately fled. the reason we focus on 1619 is that it is a symbolic first date of black america but also because this is when the first group of captive africans rived in jamestown, virginia, via the white lion.

this is why we start where we do in the book. if you fast-forward to the 1830's this is where you meet mariah stewart and the city of boston. whats so important about mariah stewart is an abolitionist, black feminist, someone who spoke boldly about black rising freedom at a moment where millions of black people were still enslaved, paicularly ithe u.s. south her story helps us see the prominence of black women leadership and certainly black widow dust women's activism in the u.s. and we could draw the link from arrest stewart to the black lives matter movement as a courageous black woman who founded the movement. i think all of these narratives together help us not only understanding street, but they help us contextualize this present moment. juan: i've a question about the mechanics this book. the writers are notoriously

difficult and meeting deadlines. how the heck did you get 80 people to agree to work together on a project and deliver their essays in time to be anywhere near the 400th anniversary of the black presence in the united states? >> well, it was difficult. [laughter] >> please. >> it was very difficult. andibram lit has come and required a lot of organization and prodding. what is important is to emphasize l of the writs were excited abo this project. they shared our enthusiasm. they rognize the significance as a work of history, being history in and of itself. so that was helpful because it meant even as people were miing deadlines or struggling to keep up, especially wh the challenges they were dealing with in their individual lives

as well as the nation, they were mindful of the importance of the project and ultimatelyelivered and wonderfully came together to produce this dutiful book. amy: ibram x. kendi, as we look at the insurrection and the people raiding the statuary hall with her confederate flags and t-shirts that said "cap off with" i cannot help but think of statuary hall and what they were raiding. was it so inappropriate for them to be holding a confederate fl ag newhall that has commemorated racist? was wondering your thoughts about that and if you could bring in the story of one of the people you write about that is in the book that you talked about last night at the schomburg center and then put it in the context, put him in the context of black history month and who like history month is

for. >> denmark d.c. helped organize and spearheaded in the late