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the oscar winning green book past racism in america back in the spotlight this is a problem with think of the past or is it still an issue very much alive i asked alexander ramsey an award winning author and playwright who traveled across the united states collecting memories of the. century of the victories of the civil rights movement. will civil rights groups. against racial hatred in america. racism or the truth. from the united states. calway now xander ramsey award winning writer and playwright welcome to the show it's really great to have you with us today mr ramsey. you know you have been digging into the green book for

a long time the travel guide for african americans during the jim crow laws that help them avoid painful discriminations and segregated south jim crowd may be a thing of the past but for instance film director spike lee believes racism is ingrained in the d.n.a. of the united states days think it will ever be overcome completely. well it's going to take a long time because you know with the development of the i guess the you know the country with the native americans and with the you know the the many many years of bondage by africans who were brought here you know then you had the black codes after that and then you had. jim crow did you had reconstruction and so is you know it's a lie it's

a lie you know and what i will say that is has gotten better during my lifetime. i've seen changes but they came about because people who worked to bring those changes black people white people and people of the same mind so it wasn't easy the strides that have been made they were hard fought. it off heard that there are special projects and local directors like new orleans black book or black friendly flecked project that comprised black businesses making it easier for black customers to get certain services as it's kind of the same thing as the green book . and man misinterpreting it well the green. well is similar and a mile away is i guess spending dollars with people of your same race and maybe mindset but the green book was totally different green book was

a it wasn't a luxury where you could just decide who you can spend money with where you want to sleep or a stay green book was really all you head because you could not belong to aaa you cannot belong to any car club or hotel clubs that was just a business not just in the south with throughout the whole country so the green book was a not a luxury it was a necessity and it was really started by just two people a letter carrier vicki who go green and his wife green african-american people living in our room and working together they didn't have any children so this was like their baby and by victor greene being a mailman he was able to get other mail men through his union the national association of pro sort of federal employees bass people on their routes what they would they not my being listed in this guide and really it was the black home maker

has backed in a lot of black women work in their home they don't work outside like today so when you look at the green book the listings in the green book is never a mr so and so's home as lists it is always mrs brown or mrs. smith or mrs so and so and those how the listings appeared and there were no phone numbers you would just show up but i know you're working on a documentary about the green book do you feel like movies. movies like that could actually help diffuse the current racial tension in the united states. well every little bit helps every little bit helps you know you. me people all the time you know i have a children's book ruth and the green book i do a lot of school visits not start to key is as young as the second grade to the fifth grade and. and they are exploring you know the history.

and they are. learning things dead they had no idea existed this is way after you know their way before their time but sometime before that paris time that this was the issue in traveling a lot of people. and why we were born after one thousand nine hundred sixty four. feel as though the roads were always open they could always stay wherever they wanted to stay where they wanted to eat and they just take it for granted but it was a hard fought dark to king. and others but mostly mostly dark and one played a role but i think dark and king by putting people in the street in the streets i think that put pressure. really think that made a big difference and i think his movement was

a personal movement for him was also it was a spiritual move it for him you know i think the movement the day before black was matter is you know is this generation's turn. to to push forward to something with the yeah let me ask you something a president obama's presidency was a landmark moment for the african-american community but we now see the pendulum sort of swing in bag and all the racism troubles are still here and maybe getting worse do you seeing a bomb was when it was a one off that there's no lasting impact right now for the african-americans in america. i think it was a positive thing i think this some pushback. there was some backlash because of that i think some people were afraid that it was a. major changing tide and i think some people became very

frightened. and i think there were others who have taken advantage of that fear. and that it has expanded people reacting the way they're reacting. but but from my travels and my experience. i think there are you know always hope is that people who are that there are more good people around than people who may be misguided or confuse or frightened i think some of the way backwash back way is people feeling is joe they were losing their country that the blacks in the brown and the yellow at the gays are taking over and there's no place for them so i think somewhere inside the food though that fighting for their lives they're fighting for their children and their grandchildren so i think they see the turf

battle. you know lately were saying the movie industry tackling racism a lot was pictures like. not everyone was happy and about the latter however i was very surprised because i loved the film but most of my african-american friends from new york there were fewer eous and they're saying like it's one big cliche and the end of the day it's about a white savior that makes a black man's life better in your opinion does hollywood really understand racism or is it just doubling down to whatever brings money. well i i you know i haven't seen the film you know. yet i plan to see it. is seen like the the major problem from what i hear from people who do not like the film is the fact that the black actor who's betraying dark the don shirley.

was not believe the character or the lead actor in the film but the telling character in the play i mean the movie. his son wrote the screenplay wrote the book did the research it's his ahmad's to his father so he's coming from a different point of view and he's a tell you. what what roots in the bronx and italian people were also maligned and still are they have stirred types about them being you know in various illegal activities and they do smear but they had so but i think he can speak for him but i think his overall intentions was on his father. and i think and also in his own way to to to to talk about this relationship between these two guys that he thinks he is what

they are but you feel like in general in our general hollywood doesn't really understand racism maybe not particularly what this film because you haven't seen it it's hard to say and i mean i like the film but like in general because you know the issue from inside you feel like it misinterprets racism and really goes for what makes them money. well you know they have to you know yeah i think it's watered down because they're playing to the whole country to plan for the whole world i mean hollywood is there you know it's a worldwide you know it business you know so it's not just you know the minority community so is it is a who who makes the movie who writes the history who tells a story. you know i i think. it's hard for someone else to tell someone else a story it really is is you can do you bez but you're going to fall short but i

think he would have done better the screenwriter the family but in general i think they missed the mark more than they hit the mark and i think that's a little didn't concern but most people af i've talked to a lot of people as well who like to film the black and white so so it's. but it seemed like the ones who disliked the film were more vocal so seems like it's a. mort not liking the film they're liking the film but the film has done well and one pretty much every major award that's out there so it's almost like there is to it or get to this two countries watching the same film and coming away with two different you know guys could have ever gotten right now at this particular creative team winning author and playwright calvin alexander ramzan talking about rational tensions in the united states stay with us

. my seven years doing drugs my nephews was still in drugs my sister just with doing drugs it was like an epidemic of drug abuse america's public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse he started going after the users in the prison populations who are we started treating sick people people who are addicted to these drugs like criminals while i was on the hill. then the war on drugs.

there are countless numbers of people who are in prison for. sins for minor minor offenders in the drug trade it's a lot watching your children grow up and miss you in wave and say by day as you're walking out of a business it's just it doesn't get easier. join me every thursday on the alex simon chill and i'll be speaking to us on the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see if. this is is a stick from the water bottle phone in the stomach of a fish the brand is part of the coca-cola company which sells millions of bottles of soda every day the idea was that let's tell consumers they're the bad ones they're the litter bugs are throwing us away industry should be blamed for all this

waste the company has long promised to reuse the plastic. and may let. their plastic. tank on your phones at a special projects funded. on the i knew that that is the end of it for the team but for now the mountains of waste. and we're back with calvin alexander ramsey award winning author and playwright who traveled across the united states collecting memories of a poke so mature like this is something we have to bring out for fairness sake the

case of. a black actor who staged a fake racial attack on himself and the police are saying that he may have a stage to attack to get more media attention to himself to further his career is this normal that someone expects to profit off of being a victim of a hate crime. well you know if it has happened before. you know what has happened was. a war i'd say you do were attacked by blacks there was a famous case in south carolina where a woman killed her children and she drove it into a lake and she said you know a black man kidnapped her and made her do it and found out that that wasn't the case at all i think she's still serving time for that so so unfortunately that it happens. he was. never seen that show him prior but i send a very popular and people like him and they like his character if it's true that he

stays is i think that was a. you know all you can say is he's young then you'll be can bounce back if that's what he actually did so he's still saying that he was attacked so so i don't know it was the the way around this is just a real sad situation for. him and his family and supporters in the meantime the number of actual hate crimes are on the rise in the united states for three years in a row now and that's according to f.b.i. and race is still a main drag in factor but we see america becoming poller as between left and right and white people are just as happy to shout at each other about trump as they are to shout at people our way surely motivate hate crime is just a part of a larger culture of war that america is waging upon itself. well it seems like you is always been right under the boiling point is also

a lot more crimes against the jewish community than ever before. there's more hate crimes against the gay community. things are being reported fairly accurate more so now than ever and i wouldn't be surprised that the more you know you know violence toward women so is seem as though this current. administration has. whether knowingly or unknowingly has given people in their estimation permission. to go that goes elements within themselves that are. based on fear and resentment and not liking anyone this different. these same people i wouldn't be surprised if you go to their home will see that their home life is not very good either so it's

a sad comment you know a commentary i think over on but i still think you know that there are more good folks out there who are not doing the say instead of doing these things the other group is more vocal and more visible they definitely doing it i think is scary a lot of people. but i'm of a certain age where i grew up you know in the jim crow south and and i've seen this . before my parents and grandparents seen worse so you know and it's got to keep organizing and fighting and educating and. and listening to each other and. just see where it's going to go because it is. very disturbing. to most people and it looks like it's. it's on a daily. uptick so let me ask you something the esquire magazine has put

a white teenager on its march cover it with a headline the american boy now this sparked a huge controversy as a cover appeared during the black month history do you see that reaction is justified i mean does the u.s. media have to be seen as racist and discriminatory every time it depicts white people as average americans well you know we have to be realistic this this this is you know. the people who are making the rules. and running the show are mostly white people and if you go to a country where a different group was running the show you were seeing different images so i'm not surprised that in this live in a country where the majority of the population was was was dark or

black or brown and. if you if you have the numbers you you call the shots so i don't think people are shocked that these types of things happening to the happening so frequently so either that these people who are running these organizations and these are young people sometimes. doing this it isn't like is their grandfathers and grandmothers these are. people in the twenty's and thirty's making these. does it might seem like a blunder to them they just their consciousness is just not there. so just earlier this month italian luxury brand gucci was forced to remove a black wool. per from its collection over accusations of racism. kathy perry the singer has also faced fierce criticism over a shoe designer assembling blackface i mean this is just close don't we read too

much into things when it comes to the race issue. well it depends on who you are if you are. from the group that has criticized and made fun of humiliated and beaten down you know or for centuries then you assess it so that. if you are not part of that. you don't have this is a t.v. so there is a good and price or design team. our young people. and you have to call these things out sometimes people just make mistakes. you know i agree with that they just not thinking you know black people make mistakes everyone makes mistakes. but. it has to be

a grown up somewhere in the room to say this could go another way i think you have to just be somewhat sensitive. and when you called out. you should grow from that they proud i also had a situation with gucci and kathy perry and every other is going to be others. is same as oh no one is learning about how the other person feel. if i say something or write something that's derogatory toward women. you know i would be called out and i should be called out. i think the sensitivity and the awareness is just not there so another black face incident just tilt at the state of virginia where the governor and that attorney general both democrats have been accused of putting it on some forty years ago. there is now pressure on bus to resign what's your take on this should they go i think they should go not that saying that people

can make mistakes and can grow from things that they you know did in the past when i was in college or were doing they were all done things that we would be embarrassed about today this guy apologized he i think he said it wasn't even him so i don't know where that stands today but what if you get caught up in this every day you don't get any work done. and i thing on some level. with this stuff happening and how the media just pushes it out it is. something that i think is very very true. for artists you know sometimes people who are putting stuff out there constantly keep you from doing your work and if you get caught up in this on a daily basis weekly basis monthly basis you can't do your work you have to wonder whether that is just done deliberately. to keep your balance and keep from doing to

important thing you know i which is your own work and so i don't get too been out of shape but these days i hear them and i keep moving because i have to so let me ask you something of the far right and white supremacist groups today what they're saying is that they are a reaction to movements like black lives matter to the new theory and somewhat radical civil rights activists are they be allowed to be blamed for the rise of the far right and white supremacist in the u.s. well you know i think it was always there in the current i think these groups have been around forever you know. with different names john birch society. citizen action committee. her belafonte said something. once that i agree

with he said you know. as you know the same enemies that he had during his time with dr king are the same enemies that are out there today. you know it could be the grandchildren of the ills of those people but what is the same people you know just like you have people who have d.n.a. running through them or the social good for everyone you have people out there who d.n.a. is is is to to to be the way they are. and most of these people really believe what they're doing they're not faking it they believe this they believe they're being attacked if they are being replaced and and their fear. you know i think we will get much further along down the road when we start talking to one another and listen one another because when i see images and hear things what they're doing. i see people who are afraid and i see these young men and some

women in these white supremacist groups and i see that i see really scared people scared to be losing. all they have to hold on is the color of their skin that's all they have going for themselves is their white skin. thank you so much for this interview on thank you for your inside it was great talking to you who are talking to calvin alexander ramsey award winning author and playwright who traveled around the united states to study the history and legacy of james crow era america that is it for this edition of sophia.

failure in her knowing what are the lessons to be learned also stalemate in venezuela and how breaks it up to be and much much more on this edition of crossfire. with more make this manufactured consent instinctive public will. when the ruling classes project themselves. in the frame and. listen we don't want. to ignore middle the roots to. dilute the real news is really.

played. to. the british prime minister visits the city of seoul on the first anniversary of the poisoning of a former russian double agent and his daughter moscow claims london is withholding the full truth of what happens twelve months ago. but as well the self-proclaimed

interim president is back on home soil but risks to rest for defying a travel ban although washington's back to the significant response if anything happens to one boy. and offshoots of the al qaeda terror group stages a deadly surprise attack in syria as the u.s. offers their million dollar reward for information on the sama bin ladin son.