passed and only. the plastic. over the place to do its job did you know the price is the only industry specifically mention in the constitution which says that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy which recall books. will. never go on i'm sorry and on this show we reveal the picture of what's actually going on and we go beyond identifying the truth rational debate and a real discussion critical issues facing america ready to join the movement then welcome the thirty.

nine t. conversations with great minds i'm joined by one of the strongest progressive voices on capitol hill keith ellison is a u.s. representative from minnesota's fifth congressional district as the first muslim ever elected to congress he's also the first african-american ever elected to congress from minnesota an outspoken advocate for peace abroad and equality at home congressman ellison is the co-chair of the congressional progressive caucus and is a leader comes to issues of civil rights and religious freedom his new memoir my country tis of thee my faith my family our future is a fascinating look at the values and experiences that have shaped disbeliefs congressman ellison joins us now in the studio congressman ellison welcome back good to see you great to see you again too for i love i know i love this book i have not read the entire thing but i've read a chokes yeah well in large chunks of it your father just pops up throughout the book you know the stuff about adam clayton powell. father. anyway but let's start

out with you what got you into pop what got you interested in politics you know i was interested in politics written large from actually a early age. late in high school i read a lot my dad like to talk politics but when i got to campus at wayne state university i got involved in the. struggle trying to get my college wayne state to divest from apartheid south africa really learn how to you know go to folks and ask them to sign a petition that's where i learned how to do that kind of stuff and knocking on doors and being part of that whole kind of thing but honestly i really didn't have a lot of confidence in the torah politics intil you know i was born thirty one thirty two years old i had gone to college to go on law school and was working as a public defender and actually poverty lawyer when i met paul

wellstone who really kind of offered him the example of somebody who could do electoral politics in a way harmonize with his values in an authentic way and he actually got to change my mind on the possibility of part electoral politics delivering good outcomes for regular people i think he changed a lot of people's was good and and i think one of the yeah and i think you're following that tradition i mean you're welcome only now i can tell you the number of people who i've encountered in my life and what we're both short. he's. also like i've never met him i. could like. you're a member of the congressional progressive caucus you know what is what does that

mean to you well you know you can't do anything in politics by yourself just can't and if you play along the best you could do in politics alone is sort of play a kind of a paul revere figure you can sort of cry out loud about injustice. there's something going on but if you actually want to move a policy agenda you have to have help so you know part of the democratic caucus and but i ran for progressive caucus co-chair because i knew i had to get some allies if we want any any any chance to move a progressive agenda so for example. the progressive caucus dove in deep with this effort to try to get the president to issue an executive order to raise the pay of workers who are professional contractors working on this thing back in the spring time standing striking standing with striking workers at the ronald reagan building at the union station at the smithsonian air and space museum and we were

standing there as they were striking demanding better pay as they were receiving eight dollars an hour stuff like that poverty wages and so we wrote we got fifty members of the progressive caucus on a letter to the president fifteen senators we banded with bernie sanders and folks in the senate we handed letters to the president every time we saw him we gave another one asked for more meetings and i think the collective force of our of our of our of our work together plus the program plus the striking workers and people with change to win and progressive leaders in the community that's kind of what i think persuaded the president to. that's just an example of what i mean you can't do anything by itself so i got involved the progressive caucus because i don't want to just have a debate society about how you know gee whiz wouldn't be great if we had progressive legislation i want to actually move so that's why. you're doing it.

one of my best friends of the people in fact i dedicated my last book to him is tim carpenter oh i love that we both know quite well and. for him yeah yeah and we'll pass it out on the air temp started costarred a progressive democrats are. p.d. america or which does this kind of inside outside strategy be they don't actually have any affiliation democratic party at all but their whole purpose in life is to push the democratic party a more progressive direction what even we're just talking about you know coalition building and all the stuff inside congress what about outside that's what it's all about so the progressive caucus basically we have three things we're trying to do one is to be more cohesive internally i already mentioned that but the second thing we have to do and it's not second in terms of importance is just you know the second thing is to build durable partnerships with progressive leaders across america and even beyond what does that mean that means progressive labor leaders progressive environmental leaders progressive civil and human rights leaders

progressive people who are you know who are doing any number of things to enhance human dignity so because we know that like for example if you go back to the affordable care act which i voted for and support now but if we had a durable partnership with progressive legislators and progressive activists we maybe could have forced the conversation on single payer we maybe we could at least at least the public option we could have made the conversation start at single payer and maybe could have maybe we would have settled on a public option because we started that public option and because we wanted not tight coalition unable to deploy a large numbers of progressive activists on the mall in offices letters to the president because we weren't able to deliver that massive street. we basically did the best we could but we ended up with where we were which is of

course way better than then than the prior regime you know what people were you know going bankrupt because they got sick but you know it became clear to me then you know what were the possibilities of being united being able to not only. push progressive legislation but to get a sea of americans pushing it from the outside to get a c. to get progressive intellectuals writing great you know and helping us with great ideas getting progressive broadcasters you know saying hey look folks this is what's going on out here be aware you know you put all this together in what you end up with is an america where you know anybody can go to the doctor where we do put people before profit where we do you know think about our our place in an environment in not just look at the environment is one more commodity to buy i mean you know so that's what we're aiming for you know that's where we'd like to go and

again we're working with progressive businesspeople who who know and understand that if you pay people right well they might end up more loyal to your business might be more productive might actually help improve your bottom line and so that's kind of the the concept you know the progressive community really is where the action is we see the progressive caucus as a part of the progressive community where we have a role to play to introduce and vote on legislation but that's just our job other people have other jobs you know so that's how we see it some folks not doors some folks vote in introduce legislation we all are moving america to progressive right now on the conservative side if somebody has say seventy billion dollars and they they want to go in. and they want to increase their net worth yet or they want to make sure that you know the top capital gains rate never goes about twenty percent even even though somebody who's a brain surgeon is going to pay thirty nine percent that is a working person right. and they invest

a couple hundred million dollars in the political process they're going to make back hundreds of millions maybe billions of dollars in reduced taxes oh yeah on the progressive side. you know george soros puts money. into the progressive politics he's going to see his taxes go up so the only investment i i was in a meeting that he was in once and he made a comment to the effect of that. and it was kind of a paraphrase of something that's heard a german businessman once say that he didn't want to be a rich man in a poor country and so you know the quality of life of the entire country is improved you know and but that's not quite as tangible as hey i put in one hundred million i get back seven hundred million how do we deal with money and politics i mean it's thirty eight years ago last week yes the buckley case you know a leg over for buckley versus folio four years ago last week was the week before it was citizens united. when we got legislator named john sarbanes who's doing

a good job moving forward on a bill that would get in would create publicly financed campaigns and so you know if you so we can put the person who still maybe fifty or one hundred dollars on the thing footing is somebody who might donate more but it would be public subsidy we're trying to this is the move we're doing right now but i just want to go back to illustrate the nature of the problem that you pointed out a moment ago one point is that. some folks may think well income inequality is just a matter of one group of people have a small group of people have a whole lot of money and a whole lot of people not having that much it's much worse than that because when that small group of people get a whole lot of money at some point they can't buy anymore yachts and houses what do they do next they start buying political influence to what enrich themselves even more so the imbalance in economic power then gets parlayed into an imbalance in

political power so that's the point you were making i just thought i'd nail that in the ground and also just like to mention too that you're right there are very wealthy people who believe in a better a greener a fairer america just like there are people who go there struggling in a very difficult economic situation and are blinded by the fact that somebody has a different color or a different sexual orientation or a different religion or you know i mean there there are economically challenged people who operate opposite their own interests and there are wealthy people who operate in the public interest i don't want to just stereotype people based on where they sit in the political strain and i'm glad you made that point because they're allies to be found everywhere and there are people to be won over everywhere so those are points i think that you're right about but we're driving now publicly funded campaigns we want to publicly fund campaigns we want to make it

so that. so that somebody can drop you know you know ten twenty thirty million two million dollars on a campaign and never forget when sheldon adelson put ten million dollars into a campaign to benefit newt gingrich. i mean sudden he's a star. i mean there is something very wrong with that and it's amazing to me that the supreme court in in the most recent case citizens united sort of acted like. that doesn't happen you know it's the most naive or cynical. legal argument i've ever heard that that money doesn't buy political influence in the various way and that the first amount for tax money right in the fourteenth amount to protect corporations and i thought we fought the civil war to free the slaves well any of that was about the large rich parties conversations with great minds of minnesota congressman keith ellison at this point.

is the media lead us so we need to. either see bush and see to the other your party physical. issues that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all on politics only on our t.v. . i've got a quote for you. that's pretty tough. stay with substory. let's get this guy like you would smear about john stead of working for the people both issues the mainstream media are working for each other bridegrooms vision. of a good run it won't. work

. i think. we're going to go digital the price is the only industry specifically mention in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy correct albus. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our craft cynical we've been hijacked lying handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers one school class i'm talking mark and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world if we go beyond identifying the problem to

try to fix rational debate and a real discussion critical issues facing up to five different go ready to join the movement then welcome to the big picture. and welcome back to conversations with great minds i'm speaking with keith ellison representative from minnesota's fifth congressional district in. author of the new book my country tis of thee my faith my family our future i want to go back to you if i can just because there's such a rich my and this book is so i mean there's so much of. your father came back from world war two and on the g.i. bill became a physician you know he taught you all kinds of things and you and your worldviews were in some ways kind of different you know i'd like i'd like you to talk

a little bit about that and what that how that has informed your your politics and of your personal. take on life well you know my dad. was a republican identified himself as that and might even today well not might if i if you asked him what party are you any price i'm republican but he hasn't voted republican in a long time. but he he killed he says you know look you've got to work hard you got to save your money he got to study hard life isn't going to hand you anything you've got to go get it and my dad. i believe those values are good values that's why you know. i believe there's rational small c. conservatism there's a conversation to be had because me and my dad have but you know what my dad has also seen is that wait a minute you know when you start saying that the government's always wrong what do you say and you say we shouldn't have

a bill we shouldn't have the interstate highway system my dad would make that case you know and when you look at quotes from people like bob dole and even even you know others you wonder whether they could fit in this crowd in the republican party today you know. more of an eisenhower republican yeah he probably he wasn't eisenhower republican my but my dad came from he was born in twenty eight so he grew up in the in the depression. yeah and he and he had to leave. high school early was in the army before he was legally old enough to be there and serve their. you know and then went to wayne state and raised me and my four brothers with a certain degree of you know high expectations and tough love you know but i love him he's great he's still with us you don't think that he's he's you know in

advance years now he had a stroke and he doesn't walk anymore and he doesn't doesn't work but i talked to him on a regular basis you know and he's always got some interesting thing to think about you know he's he's a he's a major character in the bush here and it's just you know it's like he's here to really get a sense of you through him or. always we're different you know meaning we actually many ways you know you point that out you know it's right down to you know taste in cars oh yeah you know my bed came from a era when to be african-american meant that you were in poverty you had to live in a certain place you had to do a certain kind of thing and so in many ways in this crass material world we live in today it's. hard to understand it for many years i didn't understand my dad very well until i began to understand that for him to get a cadillac was not just crass commercialism it was the act of independence it was

him saying i am a man and he was declaring himself to be free and equal to other people. you know so that's my dad you know he wasn't going to let any door stay shut to him you know use a bowl daring guy and he still is. it's it's remarkable you're you're african-american you represent a district that is ten percent african-american yet my recollection the statistics right you at around the age of twenty converted to islam in a district that is one percent muslim if that if that is what's that like well you know it's easier than you think you know because first of all you know this is the district. that hubert h. humphrey was the mayor in right this is the district that was the heart and soul of paul well stone's stomping ground this is where. walter mondale you know was this is his home territory and it just. passed

away today. and may god rest her soul and prayers to her family and to vice president mondale good people. but my district is that kind of a place right this is where eugene mccarthy it's a war congressman you know you know this is where he would hold sway so the people who elected me are the kind of people who are are tough on their politicians but who are but are tough for the right reasons they're going to say what are you doing are you helping us get some jobs are you helping us have a favor a better cleaner society and by the way your religion that's your business and by the way you know your race you know that you're you know everybody's a race you know and so you know my district you know doesn't get sensitive when i start talking about racial justice because i do and they expect me

to write a lot of america to live up to that you know liberty and justice for all things right that pledge we take every morning they kind of believe it you know so you know that's the kind of district that i represent and you know the kind of you know the district i represented to you when i got in trouble with them if me. when i was running i was appalled by the iraq war many people in my district were as well and i told them i said look i'm not voting for any supplemental at all so about three four months into being in congress a supplemental which has definite time where if the certain things are not fulfilled we would we would leave. and i thought about it and i thought about it and i became convinced that what i really want us to get us out of iraq. voting against the supplemental was a vehicle to get us out of iraq but this supplemental if it actually became law would be a route out of iraq so i was already to vote no to keep

a campaign pledge but then i talked to constituents talked to him a lot and right up to the very last minute i came convinced that the fastest way out is to vote for this and it was because a lot of close friends were wanted me to do the other thing that were kind of mad at me and so right after that vote i came back to minneapolis we had a huge meeting in the gym and they. and they gave me an earful and but they appreciated that i came back i was straight i didn't try to lie told them i was genuinely convinced that this is the way out. as history has it you know bush vetoed that anyway didn't go anywhere. but i realized that you know the district i have is is tough on its politicians. you have to do what the people want but you can be whatever color whatever gender whatever sexual orientation whatever religion

but you got to serve and you got to serve right and you clearly are doing it is law you grew up catholic you know i did and around twenty you decided to convert to islam and this was the and this is not the nation of islam no this is this is this has nothing to do with us in this race or ethnicity you know to tell me well in fact what attracted me to to islam was was the multiethnic nature of it you know you know in this in the islamic world you have bosnians who are of white skin and you have nigerians who are. arabs who are somewhere in the middle unpacking you know so it's a religion that affirmatively rejects. racial hierarchy and that's not to say there are races muslims of course if they're human. subject to anything any other human is subject to but that's something that attracted me when i first went there you know i tell you this i wish i knew more about

catholicism when i could birth it may not have changed my my opinion or my decision but i've been able to learn more about catholic social teaching love the work of joe and chittister richard rohr these catholic leaders who really exemplifies that that love compassion and progressive value system but at that time i didn't know anything about them and i saw the faith that i grew up in it's mostly rules and and so i was attracted to this message of inclusion of. stand in for justice. and you know in the end it served me well since you know i mean i definitely believe that it offers a personal discipline because there's prayer there's fasting and and then also there's there's there's this is universal value and it's interesting to be a muslim post nine eleven because what i'm saying right now might find some people

might find it surprising but it's really it's there the reality of islam is that it's it's a faith practiced by human beings and you've got to be very you got osama bin ladin you know human beings do bad things and only if they would live by the values that they proclaim you know. you you talk about in your book the last stages of races. joe madison talks about jim crow has gone he just he's now known as james escrow you. were seen you know this push across the country for example to have these voter suppression of voter i.d. all this kind of stuff i mean. in your mind will i tell you this you know. you we often talk about the undone work of the civil rights movement we focus on it we emphasize that we talk about what's not done the still the existing problems that a beer but i like to just say yes you're right but can we take five minutes to look at how far we've come. i mean we are in washington d.c.

they used to sell human beings on the capitol mall this city was built the city was built by slaves the cathedral of democracy was built by slave labor the white house was built by slave labor look this country in a few hundred years. ended human bondage. passed any constitutional resolution prohibiting it except for people in prison. gave those same people the franchise to vote which has been fought every since that day the fifteenth amendment or the fourteenth amendment was passed. citizens made citizens of these people my people. and yet we went through this all some civil rights movement where we had to fight that fight all over again but not as bad as slavery right so my thing is yes bull connor was bad but we had martin luther king

yes. senator eastland were bad but we also had john f. kennedy i believe that we've got to be optimistic about the opportunity for racial justice in america now i'm appalled by massive incarceration of him paul by disparities of all kinds but i believe that based on what we've done we can we have every chance of having real racial solidarity in america. congressman ellison it's an honor pleasure thank you. join me. in part and. carry contribute.

only on going bust and. we welcome. to. work. it's going to give you a different perspective. never i'll give you the information you make. on the mind ideas and consciousness. would be described as angry i think in a strong. and your single. friends are for. sure the finish line of the marathon.

looks. like here in. the suburbs are a cultural touchstone for life the setting for novels movies super bowl halftime ads and even t.v. shows like the wonder years and for good reason to suburbia is literally everywhere proximately one hundred fifty eight million people more than half the country live in areas generally recognized as sub urban but all is not well placed bill clinton the changing lifestyles of a tougher economy have many americans rethinking the value of suburban life just as people fled the cane cities in the one nine hundred sixty s. and seventy's many people enough lean the suburbs my guest for tonight's conversations of the great minds leigh gallagher assistant managing editor of fortune mag.