since i'm already home i don't have to rush back here tonight to catch the very special event that special event that is about to happen in the next hour. what is about to happen right here, right now, our friend and colleague interviewing former president barack obama. i am so looking forward to this. it starts right now. it was a political rise from the ages, from senate candidate -- >> there is not a liberal america and conservative america. there is the united states of america. >> to presidential candidate. >> yes, we can. >> to a two-term president. >> and every day i have learned from you. you made me a better president and you made me a better man. >> and now, comes the obama presidential memoir, a look back

at back at what happened and a road map for what lies ahead. >> you want you to remember what this country can be. you can't just imagine a better future. you can't just wish for it. you got to fight for it. >> and after a divisive four years, why he sees a better tomorrow? . i remain hopeful because i learned to place my faith in my fellow citizens. >> tonight, a promised land, a conversation with barack obama from the lincoln theater in washington, d.c. here now is jonathan capphart. >> good evening and welcome. we are in the hearlt of what was once known as black broadway here in washington, a place where during segregation, black culture thrived on this stage where duke ellington, pearl bailey and ella fitzgerald. this is a place where franklin

roosevelt would gather friends and family for birthday celebrations. tonight, we're here for a much different moment of presidential history. for the hour, i'm pleased to welcome president barack obama whose much anticipated new memoir, a promised land, is available to readers. presidential memoirs always take us inside the white house. tonight we want to take the lessons learned by president obama and apply them to all the work that still needs to happen to protect and defend democracy in the united states. we're also joined on stage tonight by members of my brother's keeper, the foundation he started more than six years ago to help men of color fulfill their potential. as they strive out to live out the american dream. i am looking forward to the conversation we will have with these men in a few minutes. but we meet just two weeks after a historic presidential victory.

president-elect joe biden received the most voting ever for president. 79 million votes and counting but some in the republican party, led by president trump, are refusing to accept biden's win, and then there is a victory of senator kamala harris as vice president, the first women, the first black american and the first indian american elected to the post. there is hope in these results but they also reveal the urgent work ahead. and it is in this context, i am honored to say, welcome, mr. president. >> thanks for having he. >> how are mrs. obama, malia, and sasha. i understand you have been under one roof, your daughters are remote learning. how is that working out? >> it's work out for michelle and me. we get to see them every night for dinner. and you know, we love spending time with them. now, whether they feel the same

way is debatable. but they have been wonderful. like i think a lot of families who are lucky enough to be together and not suffer from some of the stresses that a lot of people are suffering from, losing jobs or having to figure out daycare issues and so forth. you know, the first couple months, we had game nights and we do all kinds of stuff. you know, i think everybody's feeling a little worn down and cooped up and getting cabin fever. but we know that we're blessed not to have some of the strains and stresses that some folks have including our health care workers and the girls have responded magnificently. so it's been nice to have them home. >> let's talk about some news of the day, mr. president. president trump and his allies

and the states are doing everything they can it seems to overturn the will of the people. late wednesday night, wayne county filed affidavits to reverse their vote. i heard the word coup used. is it hyperbolic or gss is our democracy under a real threat here? >> look, joe biden will be the next president of the united states. kamala harris will be the vice president. i have been troubled like every american whether you are democrat or republican, should have troubled when you start having attempts to block, negate, overturn the people's vote, when there's no actual evidence that there was anything illegal or fraudulent taking place. they are just bold assertions. they have been repeatedly

rejected by the courts and i'm less surprised by donald trump doing this. he has shown only a flimsy relationship to the truth. i'm more troubled that you're seeing a lot of republican officials go along with it. not because they actually believe it but because they feel intimidated by it and the degree to which you have seen some news outlets that cater to the right and the conservative viewpoint some how try to prop up these bogus claims. >> well, given your experience with some of those capitol hill republican, are you surprised they are going along with this effort? >> look, at each juncture, you're a little more disappointed that basic fairness and norms and habits that

republicans and democrats traditionally observe are not observed. talk about certifying a vote. this a routine process. democratic officials certify when republicans win. it's not as if this election was any closer than the election that originally brought donald trump to office. and he won some votes in places where you had democratic officials who had to certify that donald trump had won. but the basis of the democracy is there is a fair process. because other wise, elections don't mean anything. and look, at the end of the day, i don't think any of it will be successful. i think you have enough republicans with integrity,

including officials in places like georgia that have said we're just going to count and call it the way we see it. and that's what they're supposed to do. that is what we should expect any public official to do. there are things that transcend partisanship. when you take an oath of office, you take an oath to uphold the constitution and the rules and laws and that transcends whatever party you belong to, who would prepare winning or losing. i didn't enjoy having to call donald trump and congratulate for him won the night of his election four years ago, but i

did it because that is part of my job. the same way that george bush called me and invited me and facilitated my transition. that is part of the continuity of our democracy that allows us to have arguments, have differences but at the end of the day, still be confident that this is a government of, by and for the people. >> let's talk about the next president of the united states, president-elect joe biden. in 2016, you preasured joe biden not to run for president. in 2019, you reportedly told your number two you don't have to do it, joe. you really don't. today, vice president biden is president-elect joe biden. are you surprised, proud, or both? >> well, i'm proud. i'm thrilled, and those reportedlys are not accurate. >> that didn't happen? >> that didn't happen. my view has always been that joe biden has the character, the experience, the connection to the american people that would allow him to potentially be successful.

i think in 2016, he had gone through for the second time the worst tragedy any of us can go through, which is losing a child, to a brutal and debilitating disease. and that happened right before he made his decision and he made his own decision. and i was a friend and sounding board to him in that process. and he made that decision and the same is true this time out. my assessment was that he had a good chance because you had an open democratic field. i think during the primaries, you know, there were some bumps early on. he came into his own in the general election, ran a magnificent campaign and deserved to win. i think his choice of kamala harris as a partner is going to benefit all of us because not only is she obviously breaking a glass ceiling but she is just a

really capable, smart, tough and inciteful elected official who is going to put the american people first. >> and on the subject of vice president-elect harris, you have known her for years. what is your advise to her as another person of color about how to contend with the new level of scrutiny and conspiracy theories she has to deal with on this stage. >> look, she is going through a two-for. the one thing we learned over the last several years is that the challenges that women face as women are profound just as race is a profound issue in our society, and women of color, you have to deal with both. the good news is that camera is accustom to it. she's been a first before.

she's been on the national stage. and my advice to her is actually really similar to my advice to joe. surround yourself with great people. stay open to ideas wherever they come from. reach out to the other side but understand that you may not always get the cooperation you want. but you keep on trying just to make sure you can -- when you go to bed at night, be confident you are going everything you can to unify the country and then follow your instincts and follow your values. if they do that, i think they're going to be fine. they're going to be great. >> let me ask you this. one question about something that jumped out at me at the book. an interesting revelation in your book. you are recalling your

inauguration to george w. bush in the limousine and you take a turn and you see protesters with the signs. incite bush and war criminal. i felt quietly angry to protest a man in the final hour of his presidency seemed graceless. i was troubled by what the protests said about the divisions that were churning across the country and the weakening of whatever boundaries of decorum had once regulated politics. and i can't help, will you be angry on president trump's behalf to those who protest him? and what will those demonstrations say about what we are as a country? >> i think that 2008 is very different than 2020. the way donald trump's behaving in transition is different than

the way george bush was in his final months of office. and because we're in the middle of the pandemic, we don't know what inauguration is going to look like. but i think joe biden is right to say that we should all make an effort to do our best to lower the temperature and listen to the other side. but i think when you have a current president whose entire style is to fan division, that is hard when he's on the stage. in some ways, i think it will be useful for us to just get back to the normal arguments between democrats and republicans, and

not the existential ones. to talk about policy more and talk about sort of the warfare between parties less. but that's going to require all of us to operate, including the media, which is a hard thing to do, because let's face it, other the last four years, the news of the clash envisions between progressives and the right, between democrats and republicans has, you know, continually amped up in ways that we have gotten almost numb to. and it would be good if we can dial it down a little bit. >> we have a lot talk about. coming up, the obama initiative still changing the lives of young black men across the country. we will talk to some of those impacted by my brother's keeper. stay with us. much more ahead. at fisher investments, we do things differently and other money managers don't understand why. because our way works great for us!

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that's what my brother's keeper is all about. helping more and more young people stay on track. providing the support to think broadly about their future. building on what works, when it works in those critical life changing moments and all the time recognizing that my neighbor's child is my child. that each of us has an obligation to give every child the same change in this country. >> president obama launched my brother's keeper in an effort to bridge the persistent opportunity gaps for young men of color. more than six years later, it's

still going strong, proving to be a lasting legacy of the obama administration. and joining me now is people who have benefited from and participated in president obama's program. jerron hawkins and a howard university graduate and law student, makes him a double bison, i'm told. christian r. johnson, a member of the class of 2024 at howard university and dr. edwin quezada, head of yonkers public school in new york. welcome, all. christian, i want to start with you, and ask a simple question, what does my brother's keeper mean to you? >> it simply means just having that brotherhood, the family aspect really. my high school was a part of your initiative, and we were all brothers in that community.

like, the teachers in my school were my play aunts and my play uncles. and we didn't think of them as teachers. we thought of them as family. so my brother's keeper create advilage outside of my village of my home. i love that. >> jerron, you have the same experience? >> absolutely. and just what christian said. and what mr. obama said, my neighbor's child is my child. your brother is my brother. your sister is my sister. and you know, just looking after one another, what i have, you have. and just sharing the resources. you don't have -- mentorship doesn't have to be lateral. it can be horizontal. >> and has it affected the student body in yonkers? what has it meant to the students there? >> thank you. my brother's keeper is a movement. it's an opportunity to truly affect the life experiences of the students that have been left behind. and i have often said that's on behalf of the students that have

been intentionally left behind in america. president obama has set the conditions for us to create the initiatives on behalf of the young people to support them, to scare for them and to give them a place our society. >> president obama, have they met the expectations you set out for my brother's keeper? >> oh, they exceeded them. these two young guys, when i met them, they were not all fancy and looking sharp. but they're an example of the incredible talent that's out there. you know, in this first volume of a promised land, i don't write about trayvon martin. that comes later in the presidency. that will be in volume two. but he had continually seen not

just the tragedy of young black men being impacted by racial bias in the criminal justice system or in the case of trayvon martin, a vigilante who decided that trayvon was suspicious, but what it unveiled was the degree to which attitudes towards black boys, hispanic boys, boys of color, boys on native american reservations, the fear of them, the stereotyping, the dismissal of them, the pipelining of them not in the college, but so often in the prison was having an adverse effect and we had to go beyond government to deal with it. and so what we did, marshall partnerships in a place like

yonkers with school districts, with businesses, with community organizations and groups, trying to find mentorship programs, violence intervention programs, some cases, reentry programs for those who have gone through the criminal justice system. processes to encourage young people to set their sights higher, and you now have, as the superintendent said, a movement where it's fallen short just the need always exceeds the number of programs that we have. there's still hundreds of thousands of young men and boys that would benefit from a mentor, who would benefit from the kind of helping hand that i think all of us need somewhere along the way in order for us to

rise, and i'm an example of that. as somebody who grew up in a relatively tranquil place, hawaii, but still had all kinds of issues when i was young. >> and i want to get into this. because if i remember correctly, all of us on this stage, with the exception of christian, we grew up with single moms. and one of your favorite words in a promise land, i notice, is foolishness. and so i'm wondering if any of your moms put up with any foolishness from y'all growing up. here is what president obama writes about his teen years. as for the world beyond my family, well, what they would see for most of my teenage years is not a budding leader but a lackadaisical student, a passionate basketball player of limited talent and an incessant, dedicated parties, no eagle scouts or interning at the local congressman's office. through high school, my friends

and i didn't discuss much behind sports, girls, music and plans for getting loaded. president obama, i want to know what did getting loaded look like exactly? and what moved to you be a little more forthcoming? a little more blunt about your misspent youth? >> i actually go in detail about -- i wasn't president then but it is the truth, and part of the reason is -- i talked about this in conversations i had with jerron and christian and others as part of my brother's keeper, and one of the goals of my book in tracing my path early on to end up being in the presidency is, you know, we don't start off -- at least a lot of us don't start off thinking about the world around us. we kind of take for granted what cards are dealt to us.

and for a lot of black and brown boys and girls, you know, often times, the cards are a little bit stacked against us. and part of what i wanted to show is that the issue is not where you start. it's what you overcome and where you end up. and i was lucky not only because i was living in a place where despite my bad attitude sometimes, it wasn't dangerous, the way it can be if you're growing up in d.c. or philly or chicago or l.a. but also what i wanted to portray was the process whereby you had adults who saw potential in me even if i didn't see it in myself and were willing to question what i was doing. and get me thinking about how i could tie my wagon -- hitch my

wagon to something bigger than myself, and it's through that process of mentoring, questioning, believing in that a lot of young people start to say, okay, maybe there is something in me that i can contribute, and maybe i should take on more responsibility and change in ways that are not always easy but are possible, and i wanted young people who maybe right now looking at the world and seeing pandemic and george floyd's killing and so much that seems out of whack, and maybe are feeling discouraged. i want them to see in themselves the possibility that they can bring about change. they can be agents of making things better in the same way that i did in fits and starts,

it took me a long time to learn what i was capable of. but that is part of the process. >> i know, jerron and christian, you know president obama. you know his story. but i'm just wondering if it surprised to you read in the book that he didn't get his act together until the tenth grade. i mean, we look -- >> probably later than that. i started thinking about getting my act together in the tenth grade. >> but i mean, a lot of people, you look at president obama and he is on top of the world. to know and realize that he didn't pull it together -- start thinking about pulling it together until tenth grade, did that demystify the man for you? >> it absolutely did. you know, mr. president, you're mr. president. a lot of people are like, that's the president. and being a part of the personal mentorship program, you met

us how we were. a lot of people talk at them. i'm a firm believer that the people that have the most power to solve the problem and absolutely to your point, it demystified it and humanized him. like, i want to listen to him. and i see that you have a lot of was come. >> and christian, it demystifies the president, but did it make his accomplishments seem attainable for you? >> definitely did. i mean, just to hear that he didn't get his act together and the tenth grade. it helped my out because coming in to ninth grade, i wasn't as perfect as i thought i was. i was a know it all. all this other stuff and just getting my act together over the course of four years i was there really did help me. so knowing he didn't get his act together until his high school years really did help with mine. >> and, dr. quezada, with the students there in yonkers, do

you see in the student body in yonkers little barack obamas, kids who aren't quite there yet but could be if they have the right motivation? >> thank you, and i see them from kinder all the way through grade 12. many president obamas, i see in yonkers, and what the president is speaking about, we have given language to yonkers, the mayor, we lead the movement and the idea is to create real social capital for the people. let's not write them off in the tenth grade. if they're not on the right path. let's instead align them to individuals, to businesses, to friends that are willing to provide for them to be successful. >> you know, i have one more question before we have to take this break. the president has written and talked about his struggles with racial identity and through

the people you worked with, it turned out there was no single way to be black. just trying to be a good man was enough. we don't have a lot of time so i will go to you on this, jerron. have you gone through this same journey, coming to terms with what it means to be a black man in america? >> i absolutely have. and being a second year law school student, it's never more important in my life. and graduating law school, i'm still a black man. and i made it through under grad, like, it's, you're black. and in law school, when i don't have a howard law shirt on it, it's like, you're a black man. and i can feel that. and i mentioned before, it's not like i can cut the skin off my body. it's something i have to live with for the rest of my life. >> we are going to get into this conversation about identity when we come back. coming up, one of the most controversial moments of

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recently professor was arrested in his home in cambridge. what does it say to you and what does it say about race relations in america? >> i don't know, not having been there, not having all the facts, what role race played in that. but i think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry. number two, that the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was proof when they were in their own home. >> president obama's reaction to the 2009 arrest of henry lewis gates in his own home sparked a heated national debate on race and policing. the president invited the arresting officer and gates to his office for the summit, and

the president writes about the lingering lessons from that incident in his memoir. here is what you write. it reminded all of us, black and white alike, that the basis of our nation's social order had never been simply about consent. because of this, black families for generations have had the talk, with their children, how to behave in public, especially with law enforcement. mr. president, since your mom and grandparents were both white, i'm curious when did you have the talk? >> the truth s again, growing up in hawaii, you did not have that day to day set of tensions. but what i saw and i have written about this in my first book, the -- you start noticing that when you're crossing the street, suddenly, door locks go

down or folks clutch their purses a little tighter when you get on the elevator. that kind of experience tells you that you are seen differently, and i don't think anybody, any african-american male hasn't gone through that at some point. but, you know, what the episode with skip gates revealed was just how sensitive we are in even talking about these issues. one of the reasons i was encouraged this year during a year where obviously there was a lot of discouraging stuff is the reaction to the george floyd killing, and the fact that unlike some of the previous incidents involving the black community and the hispanic community and the police, this was one where you saw outrage,

concern, distress and activism across the board, including in a large section of the white community and in towns where there are barely any black people. but they understood, okay, you know what, this is an ongoing problem we have to do something about it, and that signals the possibility for change as long as we translate it in changes in institutional practices and changes in laws and policy. >> you know, christian, you told this, when we talked before this, you had the talk with your father. and it was so intense, tell everyone what you haven't done since you had the talk with your father? >> i still haven't gotten my license. i refuse to drive as of right now. it's frightening for me. so i just never went out to do it. >> frightening -- i mean, your father, putting the fear of god

into you. but how -- how specific, how real did the talk get? >> i mean, you can tell he was scared for me. and that is a different type of fear that puts -- just gets into you, hearing your father. the man, the strong guy in the house, just hearing him and hearing fear for your life is -- it shakes you. >> you know, jerron, both of you, jerron and christian, and also dr. quezada, you all participated in black lives demonstrations the president was talking about, and jarron, you participated in a demonstration in los angeles. >> yes, sir. >> the protest itself was fine. what happened after you left? >> just a little back story. i don't want to paint the picture that me and my friends were in the right. but one of my friends, she put a piece of black tape over her

license plate. kbaus a lot of people were recording. so immediately following the protest, we get pulled over by two squad cars, three officers in total, and about nine officers show up and it's five black children sitting on the sidewalk, with six squad cars and 12 police officers and what was really concerning, there was a crowd gathering in the street. to make a long story short, after all the police officers ended up leaving, the people were running up to us, hey, we don't need anymore hashtags. and that struck me to my core. i was five seconds away from being another hashtag. >> how are the students in yonkers dealing with this? >> well, this is what my brother's keeper is all about. you know, during the demonstration, many of my students led demonstration in the city of yonkers. and every elected official and

the superintendent were part of those demonstrations. because we wanted to show our young people we were in this together. i think is what the president tried to do with his book, actually what he did with his book, which is telling us all that my brother's keeper is an opportunity to ensure that our young people realize they do have a place our society, whether it's a demonstration or getting an education. >> the other thing about the skip gates incident is that it highlighted what black people, especially black professionals, have to go through in terms of navigating their way through the dual existence that we're in. >> the key is not to overhype or be ultra sensitive about every single miscommunication. that is taking place between the

races. the key is to be open, to listen, to recognize that all of us have bias. you know, and it's by the way not unique to white folks. white folks make assumptions too about others, and we have to always guard against that. you know, one of the great things about being president, you know, i travel and go to very rural communities and there are no black people involved. and when i was running for the u.s. senate, driving down in southern illinois, and, you know, these were stereotypically white conservative rural communities. i'm walking in, black civil rights lawyer from chicago named barack obama, and you'd go in a store or you'd go to a county fair and people couldn't have been nicer and people are asking you about your family and you could find things in common if

you are not making assumptions. so it goes both ways, and i think one of the dangers in the current climate is making a lot of assumptions about people just based on the surface and not taking the time to listen to people's stories. but at the end of the day though, when it comes to the criminal justice system, all the understanding in the world is not going to solve the problem if when a police officer does something wrong, he is not held accountable. it's not going to solve the problem if you have a situation where the police union rules had set things up such that the -- if it's a controversy, the benefit of the doubt is always going to go to the police officer even when there is film showing something happened.

so we're still going to have to change laws, change rules and often times when you set up smart rules and smart laws and you enforce them, then behavior changes as well. >> we will keep this conversation going. coming up, much more from president obama and more from my brother's keeper. in this family, everyone does their own laundry,

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we're back with president obama and members of my brother's keeper. so mr. president, this is the hope. you write, if i remain hopeful, it's because i've learned to place my faith in any fellow citizens, especially those in the next generation whose conviction in the equal worth of all people seems to come as a

second nature and who insist on making it real those principles that their parents and teachers told them were true and perhaps never fully believed themselves. jarron and yin, christian, i will start with you. and in that statement and even through my brother's keeper is putting a lot on your shoulders. this a long term preposition. you ready for it? >> yeah, i mean, just focusing on my friends and school and always helping them, and always having their back is more important and just keeping faith in my people, my family, keeping faith in my friends. >> and jerron, do you think, well, one, i know you're ready for the long term proposition. what about your friends who might not be on the journey with you? what do you say to them? >> you know, for one, it's never too late to start a journey. even though you may not be on the journey now, you can always join me whenever you want to, and also me being a

repository of information, i have a duty to share that information. whatever i'm getting and receiving, it's up to me as my brother's keeper to make sure that my brother is as well. >> there was something we said when we talked earlier about the fact that what was terrific, i think it was you, dr. quezada, what is beautiful about my brother's keeper, one of the students told you, there are programs geared to the gifted students, and my brother's keeper is geared to everyone. talk a little bit about that, and also about the leadership demands of my brother's keeper. >> so jonathan, here is what we know. young men of color are more likely to be suspended in school. less likely to graduate, okay? that is that type of data we need to change. we need to address the needs of every young man, every student in our schools and in yonkers, the president's program, the former president's program has

served as the umbrella, the vehicle to change the mind set. because ultimately, if we want to change america, we have to change the mind set of individuals and they have know they have important, they count, they have a place in our society. and ultimately we have to ensure they're in charge. >> you've been superintendent of the yonkers school for six years. >> give or take. >> have you noticed a change in the student body, in those young men of color in yonkers post my brothers keeper? >> absolutely. when i became superintendent the graduation rate was 76%. the graduation rate in yonkers public schools is close to 90% right now. this is what my brother's keeper is all about.

let's move them to a place of success and do it together. >> so we've been through a lot particularly in 2020, economic calamity, the pandemic, even education during the pandemic, but humans always find -- they always find hope in the heartache. are the students in yonkers hopeful? >> i firmly believe they are. our students understand that a promised land is possible. and it's only about the adults realizing that we need to set the conditions for them to be successful. if we do that, then guaranteed success will occur. >> christian, what gives you hope? >> what gives me hope? wow. i would honestly stay just my family and my mother most of all. and just knowing that i want to create a better place for my little sister so that she can live without having to worry

about, like, politics. and she can live without just the fear of making mistakes and not being forgiven for these mistakes she's making. >> jerron, what gives you hope? >> from a spiritual end, i definitely am a man of faith. andry echo sentiments of my mom. she was a single mom of two living in a shelter. she got pregnant with me when she was 17, dropped out of school. she could have aborted me. but she took the shelter situation and now my younger brother is serving with the d.c. national guard and i'm a second year law student. that in itself -- even before the interview i had her pray and i was like thank you. because 22, 23 odd years ago i could not be here, she could have made a different decision. >> i saw your instagram feed. your mom and very, very proud of you. and you are very, very proud of her. it is very, very clear.

mr. president, i want to end with you. and i'm going to put this question a little differently to you. we are at the virtual thanksgiving table, turkey's carved, the yams are hot, the tin can cranberry still has its shape, and you are asked to give the blessing. you are asked to say grace. what do you say? >> that's not a tough question because that's exactly actually what i've had to do every year including because we used to have our family to the white house for thanksgiving. and with all michelle's brothers and cousins, uncles, it was a pretty big crowd. and i would say grace. and i'd express thanks not just obviously for the food and the shelter and all the blessings

that we've received, but i'd give thanks for my children and all the children that were part of that who are now growing up and have become amazing young people like jerron and christian. you know, when i say i have faith in the coming generation, it's not because they don't make mistakes. it's not because they're perfect. i really like what christian was talking about when he talked about his younger sister. and part of the reason in my book i tried to be honest about the mistakes i made is we all make mistakes. the question is do we setup a society in which young people through those mistakes can grow, can learn, can have faith and confidence that the adults around them care about them?

and when we do that, our children will succeed. and i've said this before. this upcoming generation, it's smarter, it is more sophisticated. it is more open to differences and has absorbed the food and culture and the music and each other in ways that's uniquely american. america is exceptional not because of, you know, our military or our economy. more than anything it's exceptional because we have people from all these different walks of life that have gone through all these different experiences. and if we can come together as one, if we can get past some of these vestiges of our history, then that gives hope not just to

future generations of america but to the world. and i've seen that in the younger generation. and the question is now do we have a politics that looks backwards and tries to, you know, tamp down this blossoming of amazing, you know, but different young people? or do we look forward and give them an opportunity to create the kind of america i think we can have? and i'm banking on the future, and i'm banking on young men like this. and that's what will deliver us to the promised land that i write about in the book. >> president barack obama. president obama, thank you so much for your time. >> it's been great. and thank you for having these great young people with us. >> right. and thank you. jerron hopkins, christian johnson, and dr. quezada.

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