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r.t. dot com coming up next award winning also calvin ramsey is the guest on sophie and co talking about america's history of racial segregation and joy that. sophie shevardnadze the oscar winning drama green book racism in america back in the spotlight this is a problem with being of the past or is it still an issue of very much alive i ask alexander ramsey an award winning author and playwright who traveled across the united states collecting memories of the jim crow. of a century after the crime is on the. controversial presidency we'll see. blue

bloods groups find a way to mount fresh campaigns against racial a twit in america have dropped it in the bell connex is where it's been forgotten and can racism of the truly be rooted out from the united states. calvin alexander ramsey award winning writer and playwright welcome to the show it's really great to have you with us today mr ramsey now 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 jame crown 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 and then you had the black codes after that and then you had. jim crow did you had reconstruction and so it's you know it's a lot it's a lot you know and but i will say that it has gotten better during my lifetime. i've seen changes but they came about because people worked to bring those changes black people white people people of the same mind so it wasn't easy the strides that have been made they were hard fought. it i've heard that there are special projects and local director is like new orleans black or black friendly flat project that comprised black businesses making it easier for black customers

to get certain services as this 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 could spend money with the 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 that was just a big 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 great 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 post or federal employees so his network of federal workers throughout the country would ask people on their routes what they would be 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 willis it is always mrs brown or mrs. smith or mrs so and so and knows 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. meet 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. by and why were born after one thousand nine hundred sixty four. feel as though the rows 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 dr king. another's but most of the mostly dark became. you know they're good more shoe was writing in the chords and one played a role but i think dark and king by putting people in the street in the streets i think to 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 for more let me ask you 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 say i think there's 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 were taking 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 they're you know always focus 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 white backwash back question is people feeling is joe they were losing their country that the blacks the brown and the yellow the gays are. the food though that fighting for their lives they're fighting for their children and their grandchildren so i think they see that the turf battle. you know lately you were saying the movie industry tackling racism a lot was pictures like black klansman or obviously the bring book the green book that won the oscar. 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 few reus and they're saying like it's one big cliche and the end of the day it's about a white savior that made ism or is it just doubling down to whatever brings money

well 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 darn surely. was not the lead 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 roots in the bronx and italian people were also maligned and still are they have stirred types about being you know

in various illegal activities and they smeared with that 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 talk about this relationship between these two guys and 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 this 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 you think it's watered down because they're playing to the whole country the plans of the whole world know the minority community so is is a who who makes the movie who writes the history who tells

a story. you know 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 producer and a director there restyle maybe to shirley's family in general i think they missed the mark more than they hit the mark and i think that's a little didn't concern 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 impressions. and i don't know if it's these guys could have ever gotten it right not this particular creative team mr and so we're going to take a shot break right now when we're back we'll continue talking with award winning author and playwright calvin alexander ramsey talking about racial tensions in the united states stay with us.

failure in the knowing what are the lessons to be learned also the stalemate in venezuela and how breaks it up the much much more on this edition of crossfire. you know world big. lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to get the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smart we need to stop slamming the door. and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely watching the hawks.

and we're back with calvin alexander ramsey award winning author and playwright who traveled across the united states collecting memories of james crowe a poke so mr ramsey i feel like this is something we have to bring up for fairness sake the case of just a small ad he may have a staged a 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 it has happened before. you know what has happened was. a war i'd say and there 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 as 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 and you know we can bounce back if that's what he actually did so he's still saying that he was attacked so for. him and his family and his 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 and 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 who 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 the more you know you know violence toward women so it is seen as. oh this current. administration has. whether knowingly or unknowingly has as given people in their estimation permission. to go there goes elements within themselves that are. based on fear and reason 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 is a sick comment no commentary over on what i still think you know that there are more good folks out there who are not doing the say as they're doing these things the other group is more vocal 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 seen this. before my parents grandparents seen worse so you know. there's got to keep organizing and writing and educating and. listening to each other. and to 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 syl 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 touring the black month history do you see that reaction is justified i mean distil us media have to be seen as racist and discriminatory every time we depict 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 are 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 because they 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 it just earlier this month stay italian luxury brand gucci was forced to remove

a black wool. jumper 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 that group that has been criticized and made fun of it who merely ate it in and beaten down you know for for centuries then you are sensitive so that. if you are not part of that. good and price or good design team are young people. and you have to carlie's 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. would have to be a grown up somewhere in a room to say this could go another way i think you have to just be somewhat sensitive and proud i also had a situation with de gucci and kathy perry and every others is going to be others. 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. 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 both to resign what's your take on this should they go i think they should go. 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 it just pushes it out like it is my job says 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. if you get caught up in this on a daily basis weekly basis monthly basis you can do your work you have to wonder whether that is just done deliberately. to keep your balance. from doing to

important thing you know why which is your own work so. i don't get to been out of shape but these days i hear it and i keep moving because i have to so let me ask you something this 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 us 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.

is you know the same enemies that he had during his time with dark. 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 for the social good for everyone you have people are 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 today losing. thank you so much for the thank you. alexandra ramsey award winning author and playwright traveled around the united states to study the history and legacy of. that is it.

if you look at the chart it's shocking to look at almost every other country. on one side of the chart. is the united states. having junk food culture politics and. it's all fake. and. it's clear. that the coca-cola company. every day. litterbugs. industry should be for all the company has to reuse the plastic.

what politicians do you suppose. they put themselves on the line. they did accept the reject. so if you want to express. some want to that's. what you going to be this is what the fuck are you. interested in the. greetings and sal you take a shit is. there there is

a dark dirty secret looming on the horizon here in the united states of america my ark watchers it's one you can only see if you have the right set of eyes that can read between the headlines and catch the flashes of lightning in the distance as february came to a close blood blood was in the economic water here in the retail states of america as four major brands announce the closing of more than four thousand shows stores nationwide in a forty eight hour apocalypse now in retail but but but but wait tyrrell the economy is doing great it will all say to me all our talking heads on t.v. our republican and democratic elected leaders and officials and wall street bootlickers are all telling us that it's jobs jobs jobs go or that the economy is booming. much like author of the capitalist comeback and their wrote in the washington post he said quote the latest numbers confirm what americans can see all

around them the trump economic surge.