it was a political rise for the ages. from senate candidate -- >> there is not a liberal 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 a better man. >> and now comes the obama presidential memoir. a look back at what happened and a road map for the work that lies ahead. >> i want you to remember what this country can be. but you can't just imagine a better future, you can't just wish for it.

you have to fight for it. >> and after a divisive four years, why he sees a brighter tomorrow. >> if i remain hopeful, this is because i've 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 capehart. >> good evening and welcome. we are in the heart of what was once known as black broadway here in washington. a place where during segregation, black culture thrived on this stage where none other than duke ellington, pearl bailey andella 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 ever presidential history. for the hour, i'm pleased to welcome president barack obama,

whose much anticipated new memoir "a promised land" is finally available. memoirs take us inside of the critical moments in the white house. tonight we want to take those lessons learned by president obama and apply them to all of the work that still needs to happen to protect and defend democracy in the united states. we're all joined on stage tonight by members of my brothers keeper, the foundation he started more than six years ago to help young men of color fulfill their potential as they strive to live out the american dream. i'm looking forward to the conversation president obama and i will be having with these men in just a few minutes. but we meet just two weeks after historic presidential victory. president-elect joe biden received the most votes 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 in some cases, trying to

overturn the will of the people. and then there is the victory of senator kamala harris's vice president. the first woman, 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 that i'm honored to say, welcome, mr. president. >> it is great to see you, john and thank you for having me. >> thank you so much for being here. how are malia and sasha and -- i understand you're under one roof and your daughters are remote learning. >> it is working out great for michelle and me because we get to see them every night for dinner. and we love spending time with them. now whether they feel the same way is debatable. but they've 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, losing jobs or having to figure out day care issues and so forth, the first couple of months we had game nights and we'd do all kinds of stuff. you know, i think everybody is 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 is been nice to have them home. >> let's talk about some news of the day, mr. president. president trump and his allies in the states are doing everything they could it seems to overturn the will of the people. for instance late wednesday night wayne county republicans filed affidavits to reverse the votes to certify their votes in michigan, the most populous

county. and i've heard the word coup used to describe these type of efforts. is that hyperbolic or is our democracy under a realistic threat, here? >> look, joe biden is going to be the next president of the united states. kamala harris will be the next vice president. i have been troubled like i think every american whether you're a republican or a democrat or independent, should be troubled, when you start having attempts to block, negate, overturn the people's vote which which theen there is actual evidence that there was anything illegal or fraudulent taking place. these are just bald assertions and repeatedly rejected by the courts. and think i'm more -- 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've seen some news outlets that cater to the right and the conservative view point, somehow try to prop up these, you know, bogus claims. >> well, given your experience with some of the capital hill republicans, are you surprised that they are going along with this effort? >> yeah, look, at each juncture, you're a little more disappointed that basic fairness and norms and habits that republicans and democrats traditionally observed aren't being observed. so you take the example of certifying a vote. you know, this is a routine

process. democratic officials certify when republicans win. it is not as if this election was any closer than the election that original brought donald trump to office. and he won some votes in places where you had democratic officials who will to certify that donald trump had won. but, the basis of our democracy is that there is a fair, impartial referee process -- >> right. >> -- because other wise elections don't mean anything. and look at the end of the day, i don't think any of this will be successful. i think that 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 is 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 that govern our democracy and that transcends whatever party you belong to, who you would prefer winning or losing. i didn't enjoy having to call donald trump and congratulate him for having won the night of his election four years ago. but but i did it because that is part of my job. and 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. >> well let's talk about the next president of the united states, president-elect joe biden. in 2016 you reportedly pressured then vice president joe biden not to run for president, in 2019 you reportedly told your former number two who was seriously thinking of making a go of it. you don't have to do this. and today it is president-elect joe biden, are you surprised, proud, or both? >> well i'm proud. i'm thrilled. and those reportedlies were not accurate. >> so 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 potentially to be successful. i think in 2016 he gone through for the second time the worst tragedy any of us could go through which is losing a child. to a brutal and debilitating

disease. and that happened right before he had to make a decision about running and he made his own decision. and i was a friend and sounding board and counselor to him during that process. but he made the ultimate 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, there were some bumps early on. he came into his own during the general election, ran a mig n-- magnificent campaign and deserved to win. i think his choice as 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 insightful elected official

who is going to put the american people first. >> and on the subject of vice president-elect harris. you've known her for years and what is your advice to her as another person of color of how to contend with the new level of scrutiny and conspiracy theories and other neg think things she'll have to deal with on this stage. >> look, she's going through a two-fer. one of the things that we've 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 have to deal with both. the good news is that kamala is accustoms to it and she's been a first before. she's been on the national stage. and my advice to her is really similar to my advice to joe, which is 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 that you can -- when you go to bed at night, be confident that do everything you can to unify the country. and then follow your instincts and follow your values. and if they do that, i think they're going to be fine. they're going to do 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're recalling riding to your inauguration with president george w. bush in the limousine and you take this turn and see the protesters with their signs, indict bush and war criminal. you write in the book, i felt quietly angry on his behalf, to

protest a man in the final hour of his presidency seemed great graceless and unnecessary. more generally i was troubled by what these last minute protests said about the divisions that were churning across the country and the weakening of what boundaries of decorum had once regulated politics. and i couldn't help but wondering, will you be angry on president trump's behalf at those who show up to protest him and would those -- what would those demonstrations say about where we are at a country right now. >> well, look, i think that 2008 is very different than 2020. the way donald trump is behaving in transition is different than the way george bush behaved on his final months of -- when he was in office. and because we're in the middle of a pandemic, we don't know what inauguration is going to look like. but think joe biden is right to

say that we should ail mall mak 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 be the existential ones. to talk about policy more and talk about sort of the warfare between parties less. but that is going to require all of us to cooperate. including the media. which is a hard thing to do because, let's face it, over the

last four years, the news of the clash envisions between progressives and the right, between democrats and republicans, has been continually amped up in ways that we've gotten almost numb to. and it would be good if we could dial it down a little bit. >> well, mr. president, we have a lot to talk about. coming up, the obama initiative still changing the lives of young black men across the country. we'll talk to some of those impacted by my brothers keeper, stay with us. much more ahead. ♪ on the third day of croodsmas my neighbor gave to me ♪

♪ three.♪. dun, dun, duns. ♪ 2 shrieking girls ♪ and a... whoa, peanut toe. ♪ in a pack of croodaceous families ♪ go to watchcroods.com. that is what my brother's keeper is all about. helping more young people stay on track, providing support to think more broadly about their future, building on what works, when it works in those critical life changing moments and all of the time recognizing that my neighbors' child is my child. that each of us has an

obligation to give every child the same chance this country gave so many of us. >> president obama launched my brother's keeper to bridge the opportunity gaps for young men of color. it is still going strong proving to be a lasting legacy of the obama administration. and now joining the conversation are people who have benefited from and participated in president obama's seminole program. jer own hopkins and howard university law student and howard university undergrad, so that makes him a double bison. and christopher johnson, a member of the class of 2024 at howard university and dr. edwin casata from yonkers public schools in new york. he launched mbk yonkers in 2016. welcome all. christian, i want to start with you. and just ask a simple question, what does my brother's keeper

mean to you? >> it simply means just having that brotherhood, that family aspect, really. my high school was a part of your initiative -- >> right. >> -- and we're all bothers in the community. the teachers in my school were my play aunts and play uncles and we didn't think of them as teachers. we thought of them as family. so my brother's keeper initiative created a village outside of my village of my home and i loved that. >> you had the same experience. >> absolutely. just piggy backing off of what christian said, that my neighbor's child is my child and your brother is my brother and your sister is my sister. and looking after one another and what i have you have. sharing mentor resources. it could be horizontal. >> and how has mbk affected the student body in yonkers. what has it meant to the

students there. >> thank you, jonathan. my brothers' keeper is a movement. it is an opportunity to truly affect the life experiences of the students that have been left behind. and i have often said that it is on behalf of the students that have been intentionally left behind in america. president obama has set the conditions for us to create initiatives on behalf of this young people to support them, to care for them, and to give them a place in our society. >> president obama, have they met the expectations that you set out for my brothers' keeper. >> they've exceeded them. these two young guys, when i met them, they weren't all fancy and looking sharp and -- but they're an example of the incredible talent that is out there. you know, in this first volume

of the a promised land, i don't write about trayvon martin. that comes later in the presidency. so that will be in volume two. but we 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 that the degree to which attitudes toward black boys, hispanic boys, boys of color, boys on native american reservations, the fear of them, the stereo typing, the dismissal of them,

the pipelining of them, not into 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 was marshall partnerships in a place like yonkers with school districts and with businesses, with community organizations and groups trying to find mentorship programs, violence intervention programs, and in some cases re-entry 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 is fallen short is just that the need always exceeds the number of programs that we have that are still hundreds of thousands of young men and boys

who 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 promised land", i notice is foolishness. so i'm wondering if any of your moms put up with any foolishness from y'all growing up. because 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 was not a budding leader but a

laxa dais cal student and a passionate basketball player and ain sessent partner. no interning at the local congressman's office, through high school my friends and i didn't discuss much beyond sports, girls, music and plans for getting loaded. president obama, i really want to know, what did getting loaded look like exactly. and what moved you to be a little more forthcoming, a little more blunt about your misspent youth. >> in my first book go into more detail -- >> but you president then. >> i wasn't president then. but it is the truth. and part of the reason is, and i've talked about this in conversations i've had with jerron and christian and others as part of my brothers' 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, often times those 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 is 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, you know, tie my wagon -- hitch my wagon to something bigger than myself. and it is through that process of mentoring, questioning, believing in, that a lot of young people start saying well maybe there is something in me that i could contribution and maybe i should take on more responsibility and change in ways that aren't always easy but are possible. and i wanted young people who maybe right now with r looking at the world and seeing pandemic and george floyd's killing, and so much that seems out of whack

and maybe feeling discouraged. i want them to see in themselves the possibility that they could bring about change. they could 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 wondering if it surprised you to read in the book that he didn't get his act together until the 10th grade. >> probably later than that. i started thinking about getting my act together -- >> i think for a lot of people, you look at president obama and he's on top of the world. but to know and realize that he didn't pull it together -- start thinking about pulling it together until 10th grade. did that de-mystify the man for you. >> it absolutely did.

so, you know, mr. president, you're mr. president, so a lot of people are like, wow, that is the president. but being a part of your personal white house mentorship program, you met us where we were. and a lot of people talk at young people. i'm a firm believer that the people closest to the problems have the most power to solve the problem and he met us where we were and to your point it de-mystified him and humanized him and i want to listen to you and i see that you have a lot of wisdom that you could confer to h us. >> and it de-mystified, but it d it seem like accomplishments were detainable for you. >> just to hear that he didn't get his act together until after the 10th grade, it helped me out. because coming into ninth grade at brown i wasn't as perfect as i thought i was. i was a know it all and all of this other stuff. and just getting my act together over the course of the four

years that i was there really good help me. so knowing that he didn't get his act together until his high school years did help. >> and doctor, 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? >> well, thank you and i see them from kinder all the way to grade 12. many president obama i see in yonkers. and what the president is speaking about, we have giving language into yonkers, the mayor, mayor span yo, dr. bostick, we lead the mbk movement and the idea is to create real social capital for these young people. let's not write them off in the 10th grade if they are not on the right path. let's instead align them to individuals, to businesses, to

friends that are willing to provide the needed social capital for them to be successful. >> i have one more question before we have to take this break. the president has written and talked about struggles with racial identity and you write that through the people you met and worked with in chicago, you say i resolved the lingering questions of my racial identity. for it turned out there was no single way to be black, just trying to be a good man was enough. and we don't have a lot of time so i'm going to go to you on this, jerron. have you gone through this same journey coming to terms with what ist means to be a black me in america. >> i absolutely have. and being a second year law school student it has never been more affirmed in my life. graduated from high school, post graduation i'm still a black man. i made it through undergrad howard university and we don't care and you're still black and now when i'm in law school and when you don't have a law shirt

on, you're not in law school, you're a black man. and it is not like i could cut the skin off my body, it is something i have to live with for the rest of my life. >> and we'll get into more of this about identity when we come back. coming up, one of the most controversial moments of president obama's first term and what it tells us about race in america then and now. my conversation with our 44th president continues after this break.

recently professor harry jr. was arrested at hi home in cambridge. what does that incident say to you and what does it say about race relations there america. >> i don't know having been there and seeing all of the facts what role race played in that. but i think it is 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 already proof that they were in their own home. >> president obama's reaction to the 2009 arrested of harvard professor henry lewis gates in

his own home sparked a heated national debate on race and policing. the president eventually invited at resting officer and professor gates to the white house for the now famous beer summit. and the president writes about the lingering lessons from that incident into his memoir. mr. president, here is what you write. it seemed to tap into some of the deepest undercurrents of our nation's psyche touching on the rawest of nerves perhaps because 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 grand parents were both white, i'm curious, when did you have the talk? >> well, look, the truth is, again, growing up in hawaii, you did not have that day-to-day set

of tensions. but what i saw and i've written about this in my first book, you start noticing that when your crossing the street suddenly door locks go down. or folks clutching their purses a little tighter when you get on the elevator. that kind of experience tells that you you're being 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, was the reaction to the george floyd killing and the fact that unlike

some of these 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 house community and in town where's there are barely any black people. but they understood, okay, you know what, this is an ongoing problem that we have to do something about it and that signals the possibility for change as long as we translate it then into changes in institutional practices and changes in laws and policies. >> 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 is frightening for me. so i just never went out to do it. >> frightening. your father putting the fear of god into you. but was he -- how specific, how real did the talk get? >> i mean, you could tell he was scared for me. and that is a different type of fear that puts -- that gets into you. just hearing your father, the man that is the strong guy in the house, just hearing him and hearing his fear for your life is -- it shakes you. >> jerron, you both of you, jerron and christian and doctor, you all participated in black lives demonstrations that the president was talking about. and jerron, you participated in a demonstration in los angeles.

>> yes, sir. >> the protest itself was fine. >> mm-hmm. >> what happened after you left? >> so just a little bit of back story because i don't want to paint the picture that me and my friends were completely in the right. but one of my friends put a piece of black tape over her license plate because people were recording and immediately followle the protest we get pulled over by two squad cars, i think three officers in total and they're calling for back-up and then another four squad cars and about nine more officers pulled up and there is five black children sitting on the sidewalk with six squad cars, 12 police officers and what really concerned me was that there was a crowd gathering in the street about 30 people. to make a long story short, after all of the police officers ended up leaving, the people were running up to us, saying, we just had our alley today and don't need any more hashtags and that struck me to my core. i was five seconds away from possibly being another hashtag. >> how are the students in yonkers dealing with this,

doctor? >> well, this is what my brother's keeper is all about. during the demonstration, many of my students led demonstration in the city of yonkers. and every elected official and the superintendent were part of the demonstration because we wanted to show our young people that we were in this together. and i think this is what the president tries to do with his book, actually what he does with his book which is telling us all that my brothers' keeper is an opportunity to ensure that our young people realize that they do have a place in our society. whether it is demonstration or getting an education. >> president obama, the other thing about this skip gates incident is that it highlighted what black people, especially for black professionals, have to go through in terms of navigating their way through this sort of dual existence that

we're in. >> the is not to over-hype or be ultra sensitive about every single miscommunication that is taken place between the races. the key is to be, a., open, to listen. to recognize that all of us have bias. and it is by the way not unique to white folks. black folks make assumptions too about others. and we have to always guard against that. one of the great things about being president, i would travel and coy go to these very rural communities and there are no black people involved. and when i was running for the u.s. senate, driving down into southern illinois. and these were stereo typically white conservative rural communities. i'm walking in, black civil rights lawyer from chicago named

barack obama, and you would go into a store or you would 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're not making assumptions. so if goes both ways, right. and i think one of the dangers in our current climate is making a lot of the 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 of the understanding in the world is not going to solve the problem if, when a police officer does something wrong he's not held accountable. it is not going to solve the problem if you have a situation where the police union rules have set things up such that if

it is a controversy, the benefit of the doubt is always going to go to the police officer even when there is film showing something happened. you know, so we're still going to have to change laws, change rules. and oftentimes when you set up smart rules and smart laws and you enforce them, then behavior changes as well. >> we're going to keep this conversation going. coming up, much more with president obama and members of my brothers' keeper. see yourself. welcome back to the mirror. and know you're not alone because this is not just a mirror. it's an unstoppable community. come on jessie one more. it's a race across time zones. come on you two, lets go. a gift for the whole family. so

join in now and see your best self in the mirror. good morning, mr. sun. good morning, blair. [ chuckles ]

whoo. i'm gonna grow big and strong. yes, you are. i'm gonna get this place all clean. i'll give you a hand. and i'm gonna put lisa on crutches! wait, what? said she's gonna need crutches. she fell pretty hard. you might want to clean that up, girl. excuse us. when owning a small business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. -and i'm gonna -- -eh, eh, eh. -donny, no. -oh.

we're back with president obama and members of my brothersee keeper. so mr. president, this is the hope block and you write if i remain hopeful it is because i've learned to place my faith in fellow citizens especially those of the next generation that seems to come as second nature and who insist on making real those principles that their parents and teachers told them were true but perhaps never

fully believed themselves. and jerron and christian, i'll start with you, the president in that statement and even through my brothers' keeper is putting a lot on your shoulders. this is a long term proposition. are you ready for it? >> yeah. i mean, just focusing on my friends and school and always helping them and always having their back, i think it 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. but what about your friends who might benot be on the journey wh you. what do you say to them? >> you know, for one, it is never too late to start a journey. even though you're not on a journey now, you could join me whenever you want to. and me being i guess a repository of information, i have a duty of sharing that

information. so whatever i'm getting in, receiving, it is up to me as my brothers keeper to make sure my brother is well. >> there was something said when we talked earlier about the fact that what was terrific, i think it was you, doctor, what is beautiful about my brothers keeper one of the students told you is that so many programs are geared toward the gifted students, the hyper smart students and my brothers keeper was geared to everyone. talk more about that and also about the leadership demands of my brothers keeper. >> so, jonathan, here is what we know. young men of color are more likely to be suspended, less likely to graduate. okay. it is that type of data that we have 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 us the umbrella, the vehicle to change mindset. because ultimately if we want to change america, we have to change the mindset of individuals. and ensure that everyone knows that this young man is important, that they count and they have a and that ultimately, we have to ensure that they are in charge. >> you've been superintendent of the i don't thinkeyonkers schoo years? >> give or take. >> so, pre-mbk and post-mbk, my brother's keeper, have you noticed a change in the student body, in those young men of color in yonkers post-my brother's keeper? >> oh, absolutely. i mean, when i became superintendent, the graduation rate was about 76%. the graduation rate in the yonkers public schools is close to 90% right now. and you know why that's happening? because our young men are also graduating on time. so, this is what my brother's keeper is about. let's move them into a place of success, and let's do it together. >> so, we have 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 say 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 that she's making. >> jerron, what gives you hope? >> from a spiritual lens, i definitely am a man of faith, so good, first and foremost. but i can echo christian's sentiments, my mom. you know, she was a single mom of two, living in a shelter. she got pregnant with me when she was 17, dropped out of high school. she could have aborted me, but she took the shelter situation, and now my younger brother is currently serving with d.c. national guard and i'm a second-year law student so that in itself is -- you know, even before this interview, i had her pray and i was like, thank you. because 22, 23 years ago, i could not be here, you could have made a different decision. >> i saw in your instagram feed, your mom is very, very proud, 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? >> well, that's not a tough question, because that's exactly, actually, what i have had to do every year, including -- because we used to have our family into the white house for thanksgiving and with all michelle's brothers and cousins and uncles, there was always a pretty big crowd and i would say grace. and i would express thanks not just, obviously, for the food and the shelter and all the

blessings that we have received, but i'd give thanks for my children and all the children that were part of it who are now growing up and have become amazing young people like jerron and christian. you know, when i say that 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 talked about when he was talking about his younger sister, and part of the reason in my book i try to be honest about the mistakes i made. we all make mistakes. the question is, do we set up 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

you know, when we do that, our children will succeed, and i have said this before. this upcoming generation, it's smarter. it is more sophisticated. it is more open to differences and has absorbed, you know, the food and the culture and the music of each other in ways that are 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 have 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 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 also thank you to jerron hawkins, christian r. johnson and dr. edwin m. quezada and thanks to our hosts at

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fine jewelry for occasions. we say: forget occasions. (snap) fine jewelry for every day, minus the traditional markups. ♪ welcome to "the beat," i'm ari. we have a special show for you tonight. from impeachments and protests to pandemics and elections, we want to go through some of the big moments this year, including on "the beat" from the guests to the dad jokes to, of course, the lyrics and even some awkward moments. we're going to have on the comics who have made sense of all this and helped us laugh through some tough times, plus their cultural insights on what was for many a tragicomedy throughout the year. we have a special fallback never been aired before with michael phelps and we begin with the story dominating even the final month of 2020, and it previews