the boy. today on r t it's the case that's been pasted on every major news network in the us death of a seventeen year old african-american has stirred up all new class trips over racism in the u.s. whether it's still alive today and who feels that the most we'll show you the changing face of intolerance. plus it's no secret that u.s. relations with pakistan aren't exactly stellar but american military officials are sucking up to the country's spy chief all to protect the secret drone program well concessions work a little program that in the air will explore politicians you know that if they

attempt to speak. they're going to be not just vilified they're going to be defeated. this isn't your average pro israel conference this is gay street where the jewish community rallied to talk about diplomatic solutions to the palestinian conflict and while it's not a star studded as the annual apac conference make sure how to make an impression we'll take you inside. it's tuesday march twenty seventh for me i'm here in washington d.c. i'm melissa long here watching artsy. well two tragedies have ignited a debate in the nation over racism and racial profiling thousands have taken to the streets demanding justice for trayvon martin and in our black teenager shot dead by a neighborhood watchman outrage also growing over the death of an iraqi woman in

california she was being sadat and a reportedly left beside her that said quote go back to your own country and while many are appalled over the seemingly racially driven incidences there are those that defend the alleged killers so as racial profiling alive and well and america talk about this is tricia rose america's studies professor at brown university. welcome tricia so in the wake of these two tragedies what does it have to say about racial profiling in the u.s. how widespread is the problem i also want to talk about the fact that while both of these stories are tragic only one case is getting is dominating media attention what is behind all of this. well to start at the end of your question i think it's very early in the iraqi woman's murder i mean no one really knows what's happened yet there isn't an actual suspect that hasn't been arrested and so there are a lot of questions i think there and i'm hoping that will continue to pay attention

because if that note turns out to be true then it's extremely important that we really address the very clear racial ethnic and religious components to that crime but in terms of trayvon martin i mean there is no question that racial profiling is a significant aspect of black life and brown life in america in particular and it's not just at the criminal justice system level where african-americans have longer sentences they have there were arrested more regularly for crimes that other groups of people are not arrested for and who sent sent home so we have a system that systematically targets black boys and that's the context of this outrage you know many people don't want to confront that systemic reality and as a result they're trying to individual eyes this were sort of what's george zimmerman what's his personal take on who was trayvon martin the real issue is that thousands and thousands a whole generation of black children and young men in particular are being cordoned

off in their second class citizens in this society and that's what this is really drawing our attention to visibly now many are outraged that the shooter in florida he remains free police seem to accept the fact that he acted in self-defense what i ask you though if the tables were turned and it was a black man that pulled the trigger what that would look like. well a black man pulling the trigger on trayvon martin in a black neighborhood is treated wholly differently this is the funny contradiction on the one hand black people are over policed but they're under protected so it's as if somehow if it's black on black crime which is a strange term in and of itself then it's not really worthy of the same concern and outrage not just not so much only by african-americans but by the system itself but in a situation like this it triggers something quite different this isn't a street squabble among two groups of warring you know young people who have issues

with violence this is the kind of situation where a person of color in this case a black man walking in a perfectly reasonable way is subjected to a set of ideas about his criminality see that's what's important he's walking down the street whether he's wearing a hoodie or not his body evokes a level of fear concern anxiety and that's the fundamental logic of racial profiling it's not just the police it's what people do when they cross the street when a black man of any class and age comes by when the law moves to the side in an elevator with women clutch their purses or where just the level of anxiety is raised this is the truth of race in america that doesn't mean people are explicitly hateful to black people but that the culture of racial profiling and fear about black men has to be confronted if we're going to create a just system and we're just not very comfortable confronting it and that's largely why this is sparking outrage because we're so silent on this this real experience

every day now we are seeing a lot of media coverage of this and i want to talk to you a little bit more about that you see right when channels like fox as geraldo saying something like the hoodie is as responsible as the shooter and i thought today that another conservative website published trayvon streets before he was killed not really putting him in a good light but you have to say about the media kind of taking sides taking a stance on this issue. well it's very it's very disturbing really on both sides because look trayvon martin didn't have to be an innocent. child in order to be unworthy of being shot to death ok so especially by an untrained non police officer who clearly had what at least forty nine calls to the police suggest in the last year suggesting he had some issues with this subject so trayvon is not worthy of this treatment no matter what but the idea that he had to be extra innocent in

order to get the same level of appreciation and extension of courtesy right teenagers do crazy things anyone who's out a teenager knows that they tend to be excessive they tend to be flamboyant and the new mass media market really puts them in jeopardy but of course it's his blackness and his masculinity that shape the very perception of him in new ways and i tell my college kids this that around all the time if police came here to profile looking for marijuana like big do and poor minority communities most of the people in my classes would probably be going to jail or they probably certainly have a criminal record but no one's doing that on college campuses and no one's doing that in suburban upper middle class neighborhoods where just as much if not more poured into the studies drug consumption takes place so this is about how reshapes the whole conversation and of course just to your question it's a hoodie today you know another day it was sagging pants for which there are many ordinances around the country for which you can get a summons or a ticket or

a misdemeanor and so the idea that the style that black youth invented is somehow toxic as an excuse to displace our conversation from the fact that we're afraid of young black men and black girls and that's really where the energy should be it's either a hoodie or it's or it's sagging pants or whatever other fashion that's not really the question when i were a hoodie it's not the same effect you know that's the point and you know a lot of people would like to hope our big. the u.s. doesn't have a race problem they point to the fact that we have a black president in office president obama is there but at the same time we report recently came out those shows that hate groups in the u.s. are at an all time high so what is behind that. yeah well the first part is that listen there's no question the u.s. has come a terribly long way from forced mandatory enslavement of people of african descent

to another hundred years of legalized subordination segregation and jim crow we've only had forty to fifty years after that and many of the gains that were made in the first twenty years of that period have been systematically stripped back people do not take kindly to unexpressed privileges being challenged and that's really what this is about same thing's true for many other hate group activities who are anti-gay or anti woman or anti muslim and that there's a fear that an expanded democracy for all groups of people means that we creating a level playing field we might in fact not provide the kind of hidden privileges that class and race provide some people obama is no doubt a sign of tremendous progress i'm thrilled by this progress but i think we cannot of course eat one man in this office with systemic equality and that he can become a fabulous exception and this is many of those who study power for

a living especially sociologists speak very carefully about this problem where you create visible public exceptions but you allow a system of inequality to exist so if hillary clinton had won the white house we would still have women earning a substantial or less amount we might in fact still have all these attacks on reproductive rights we might still have a mass media that entertains people by using women as objects all of that can go on with a woman in the white house so what we have to remember is that one person does not change a systemic expectation they become an exception of and obama has been hamstrung not really being able to speak about the power in systemic inequality and many whites who understand fully racial inequality are being pressed into silence because there's so much hostility do you address that who feel the era it does seem like we have a very long way to go here in america thank you so much interesting perspective that was tricia rose american studies professor at ground university.

well president obama set to meet with pakistan's prime minister today as tension flies high between the two countries pakistan growing frustrated over the u.s. using drones in the country the cia's drone program aims to target al qaeda within pakistan but in many cases and it up in civilian deaths in hopes of continuing its drone program the u.s. has tried to negotiate with pakistan offering to give it bans notice before strikes and limit where they will target but pakistan flat out rejected the proposal to talk about what this means for u.s. pakistani ty scott horton contributing editor for harper's magazine joins us now welcome to the show so do you expect any progress to come out of this meeting today . well we're never going to know from the public remarks and in fact i'm not even sure that they are of a particularly accurate characterization of what's going on in the background and

we're dealing here with one of the most complex love hate relationship in the world today and another big problems is frankly the prime minister and his government and president zardari their control over the actual apparatus of government in pakistan is relatively weak you have the you have the military general staff and you have pakistani intelligence the i.s.i. as the interstate running things and there's a rather difficult complex relationship between them and we also have had a long history of the pakistani government the pakistani military saying no to the public with respect to drones but in fact secretly wink nod approving u.s. drone raids so i think one of the questions right now is how much is that situation changed and all the available evidence would suggest it's changed quite a bit has changed in that the pakistani position has hardened against u.s.

military presence and cia presence on its territory and they get the use of drones and i think that's that's the reason you see this priority that's been placed on the talks and i think there is a sense amongst all involved that the counterterrorism our relationship here is critical to all parties and they have to try and salvage something from the relationship but it's not clear that they're going to be able to do that and you know pakistan obviously feels like they're getting sacked because drone operations can ron can you talk a little bit more about how the drone program has in fact and u.s. relations with pakistan. well i mean it's been up and down i think you have to you have to you have to note that. the pakistanis of the pakistani public reaction when one of the leaders of the pakistani taliban was it was actually positive but by and large it's been negative and by and large the public in pakistan has viewed

this as evidence of weakness of the country the fact that its own sovereignty is weak when the american government can run this program they can be can target and strike on these citizens without their government being able to control it and right now we're seeing the lead into a new parliamentary election in pakistan and anti-u.s. and anti grown rhetoric is out up heat and i'd say the new emerging potential political stars on the pakistani stage are united in their anti-american rhetoric anti drone rhetoric and this is definitely having an impact on the way the government and the military interact with the united states it's much more cool much more distance that we have the you know the gross mistakes that the united states made in the last year the raymond davis incident the raid on the pakistani border post that killed twenty four for which the u.s.

apologized but there was also decided just this week that it was not going to take any disciplinary measures against those who were responsible for that raid and you know as you can imagine that did not go over well in pakistan and pakistan has played a big roles for teacher claim for the u.s. militarily taking out an attack in afghanistan neighboring howlett that's a fact the u.s. military operates in the region now that pakistan they don't want to cooperate. well in fact i would say right now for the united states and their nato our eyes this is the biggest single question hanging over the withdrawal plans because the decision has been a drawdown and a sensually disengage militarily from afghanistan and twenty fourteen and the big question is what this pakistan do when we reach that date and this is mission has been the pakistani intelligence which clearly has

a very tight connections to these insurgents groups that have cannae network for instance but not just them also various taliban groups this is sufficient has been that they'll use that opportunity to step up their efforts and try and reassert themselves inside of afghanistan and that would that would be a disaster from the perspective of the united states and nato. thank you very much for coming on the show that was a whore and contributing editor for harper's magazine great to be with you. and from the covert drone war in pakistan to right here at home the pentagon is resurrecting a project former secretary of defense robert gates had taken off the table long ago the u.s. congress and the pentagon have come up with a plan to build a newer versions of the b. one bomber the plane used to fly and the libyan air strikes take a look at this these are artists depictions of what the top secret long range

strike bomber will look like the estimated price tag for these leaner meaner machines five hundred fifty million dollars apiece the air force has said that the plane may or may not be given a nuclear mission in the future and it may or may not need a islet cell and layman's terms a drone carrying a nuclear war happening. now it's like a terrible defense leon panetta went as far as to call the idea for a newer fleet quote critical to our national security and this while he delivered a leaked budget testimony on capitol hill just last month however critic wonder why such planes are needed at all when our fleet of bombers are currently undergoing multi-billion with a b billion dollar upgrades i want to put up a quick graph for you that demonstrates just how much money how much money we have already spent on the bombers the b. fifty two used in the cold war the vietnam war and the gulf war cost about thirty

million per aircraft the b. one bombers used most recently in libya cost two hundred million each and the b. two bomber cost a lot being the really billion each it's this pattern of rising cost that made former secretary of defense gates scrapped the program back in two thousand and nine and has many worries today now the other question on the minds of pentagon pundits is who the intended target is for such claims the answer just might be china but considering that the u.s. has spent more money on its military than all other countries combined many believe that this is a huge waste of money. well switching gears now to in the past few weeks to jewish lobbying groups held their annual conferences here in washington d.c. each with a vastly different priority atack has been around for decades j. street just a few years now both call themselves pro israel but one in particular called for

a peaceful resolution to the israeli pakistani conflict yet as you'll see it looks like money the terms of which groups voice rings louder and american politics. the streets a young lobbying group is focused is to end the israeli palestinian conflict diplomatically not militarily free use the settlements. and you'll be infrastructural a palestinian state democracy and human rights and justice across the middle east we cannot be saying that unless we're doing everything we can to bring democracy and human rights and justice to the palace in just a few weeks ago more than thirteen thousand people gathered here at the washington convention center for apac just a fraction of that number in attendance here for gays three now both groups say they are pro israel but gays for he says they're more focused on pro peace

advocating a two state solution to the israeli palestinian conflict. organizers estimated turnout of about twenty five hundred street a low key event compared to rival jewish lobbying group apac some say that's because j. street is only a few years old j. street is only four years old so having almost three thousand people but many points apacs enormous influence on u.s. politics apac affiliated groups pump exorbitant amounts of money and so political campaigns politicians know that if they attempt to speak up on this issue they're going to be not just vilified they're going to be defeated and it's become an annual tradition for presidents to speak at apac it was no different this year the united states will always have israel's back or comes to israel some for how the senate in a third of the house made an appearance at apac republican presidential candidates ron paul being the exception all took turns making their pro israel speeches before

the lobbying group. and its language like this street attendees say that hurts israel i don't. really supporting real peace on the ground now but rather pushing towards the peace that the israeli government has a mind that is not really concrete on the ground it's a concept something realistic but with election year under way some say catering to the rich and powerful group is the only way to stay in the game that would be my guess that he just needs to be making sure that he does get the votes he needs. this year despite the pomp and circumstance of apac j. street attendees say they represent the voice of the jewish mainstream and their voice will only grow louder and stronger because dying daily means what i think it feeds on an older generation that is going to be replaced a generational shift they hope will push the middle east peace process forward and

washington liz wahl r.t. . how to talk more about this versus apac i'm joined now by jenny schachter filmmaker and blogger for the ice actor nat welcome danny so what do you think separates these two groups. well you know first first of all it's important to realize that a pac is is an organization of organizations there's an organization of the presidents of the jewish organizations many of them unelected not representative of any particular constituency except financed by a relative handful of people who claim to speak on behalf of the whole jewish community in america yet when jews are actually polled and surveyed you find the majority want peace in the middle east want are willing to trade land for peace are willing to a reach an accommodation with palestinians so this is not

a very representative force but it's a very powerful force because of the money that it has and the momentum that it has after being in office and being around the congress for so many years and also is affiliated you know kind of not publicly perhaps within the evangelical christian community that is also supportive of the more extreme voices in israel now i have i went about a pack and a street and just by attending book it's a write up about how much more support there is for a pac and how much more money it was a much bigger that and also a pac is attended by several members of congress president obama spoke at apac for every single g.o.p. candidate except for ron paul he had a speech at apac but not a single one took the time to speak at j. street right not apparently it's not worth their time. well it's not that it's

because they really are not interested necessarily in promoting a peace agenda what they represent interested in doing is basically being seen by and appealing to certain constituencies and those constituencies as i've indicated are not really necessarily representative of the jewish community or the hopes for peace in the middle east that have been expressed by so many people over so many years and this is sort of standing in the way of a breakthrough here it's called the lobby and the lobby the israeli lobby is very powerful and it's also very belligerent and hostile the people who challenge it including politicians fear that if they question the lobby or challenge it the lobby will finance or the lobbies friends will finance a primary campaign against them and the like so it's a tool of bullying it's a tool of intimidation often and that's what makes it so dangerous because it's not really a democratic movement now but groups do say that they are pro israel against free

does try to highlight the fact that they are pro peeve apac does say that they are pro peace but are backing. everybody's crow peace but what they usually mean is there's a piece of that they don't want to give away a piece of of israel as a consequence they're really balanced to a very hard line a government that government by the way is not representative it's a collection a coalition of forces with parties you know with with almost a very tiny you know percentage of the votes having one or two votes in the knesset and therefore being able in a sense that dominate politics in a very non-representative way so you have the problem here is that israel itself is run wealth and by the war cabinet which are the generals it says much in a way as a organization you know rather of a country dominated by a narrow elite now you know when i asked them this attendee that three the same

question about why it is so much more why i get so much more attention by political candidates a lot of them attributed to the fact that a street as a young organization but would you say that j. street that they represent the jewish mainstream. i don't think there's been any election or any poll that says that i don't think they can claim that i think they can claim that they certainly represent the aspirations of many jewish communities for peace and a resolution of this issue and in that respect i think their growth is significant the fact that they are being treated seriously that they have ideas that they're representing and you know this is a complex set of issues i mean there are many in the middle east who wouldn't support a tax approach macross some of the palestinian organizations there's a big debate about is

a two state solution even possible anymore or should there be a one state solution but the point is that j. street is attempting to create a forum for a debate apac is trying to silence any debate that's the difference so would you say that they are successful in at least changing the dialogue in the discourse over israel who i think they're successful in trying to do that you know they are a young organization they do have to gain their sea legs so to speak there has to be some you know more guts seek members of congress who will speak out and support the need for this type of a debate because as long as israel is controlled by this narrow elite and as long as israel is committed to a policy of no change really effectively we're not going to see any progress and we need some people to step up to the plate and be willing to question this whole kind of deadlock that's been going on for sixty years danny that all the time we have

for today thank you so much for weighing in that was danny schechter filmmaker and blogger for news that in fact they're not now. and that's going to do it for now for more on the story and coverage you can go to youtube dot com slash r.t. america will be right back here in a half hour. on .

monday. morning's today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada after the . giant corporations are on the day.