tv Sophie Co RT August 19, 2019 5:30am-6:01am EDT
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and can racism and of the truth 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 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 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
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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 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 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 director is like new orleans black book or black friendly flat project that comprised black businesses making it easier for black customers to get certain services as this kind of a same thing as the green book. man misinterpreting it well the grain.
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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 had because you could not belong to aaa equal not belong to any car clubs or hotel clubs that was just a bit not just in the south but throughout the whole country so the green book was a not a luxury it was a necessity and it was really started by just 2 people a letter carrier vicki who go green and his wife going after 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
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a mailman he was able to get other male men through his union the national association opposed to a federal employees so his network of federal workers throughout the country would ask people on their routes what they would they not my being listed in this guide and really it was a 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 that's real estate is always mrs brown a 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
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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 part to key is as young as the 2nd grade to the 5th grade and. and they are exploring you know the history. and they are. learning things dead they had no idea existed could this is way after you know their way before their time but sometime before the paris time that this was an issue in traveling a lot of people. but i and why we were born after 1964. bill is 0 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 mostly mostly dark became.
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you know they're going to mars who was writing in the courts and one played a role but i think darkly 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 where 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
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a bomb was when it was one offs that there's no lasting impact right now for the african-americans in america i think it was a positive thing 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 had 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 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 way backwash back way is
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people feeling is joe they were losing their country that the blacks and brown and yellow 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 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 makes a black man's life better in your opinion does hollywood really understand racism
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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
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maligned and still are they have stirred types about them 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 2 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 it with 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 to play into the whole
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world i mean hollywood is you know it's a worldwide you know it business you know so it's not just you know the minority community so 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 reste down maybe to shirley's 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 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
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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 2 countries watching the same film and coming away with 2 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 show break right now when we're back we'll continue talking what award winning author and playwright calvin alexander ramsey talking about rational tensions in the united states stay with us.
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so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy one from day shouldn't let it be an arms race is on off and spearing dramatic to follow can only closely i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk. interest rates spike and gapping in the spread is widening and what i call the interest rate apartheid if you're in the wrong side of the friends of jeffrey epstein you end up in m. bantustan of extortion ery credit card rates if you're
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a friend of jeffrey epstein then you get the insider rate of negative and you get paid to lend money or to borrow money excuse me from from the bank. joining me every thursday on the alex i'm unsure when i'll be speaking to get us out of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. when i almost seemed wrong. but old rules just don't hold. any old belief yet to shape our disdain to come out ahead and in games from an equal betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground.
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good job to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. wanted. you to go on. with what before 3 of the more people get. into studios in the water. 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 polk so mr amzi i feel like this is something we have to bring up for fairness
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sake the case of justice milat the black actor who staged a fake racial attack on themself 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 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
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stays is i think that was a. you know all you can say is he's young and 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 3 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's similar to is
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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. 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 those elements within themselves that are. based on fear and reason and that 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 is is is is
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a sick comment you know a 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 and more visible they definitely doing it i think it's scary a lot of people. but i'm of a certain age where i grew up you know in the jim crow south and i've seen this. before my parents grandparents seen worse so you know. it'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 that esquire magazine has put
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a white teenager on its march cover it with a headline the american boy now this sparked a huge controversy as to cover appeared touring the black month history do you see that reaction is justified i mean distill 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 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
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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 state italian luxury brand gucci was forced to remove a black wool. per from its collection or accusations of racism kathy perry the singer has also faced fierce criticism over
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a shoe designer assembling blackface i mean this is just clothes 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 aided in and beaten down you know for for centuries then you are sensitive so that. if you are not part of that. then you don't have that sensitivity so i guess a 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
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a 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 de gucci and cathy 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 40 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
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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 you keep you from doing your work. and if you get caught up in this on a daily basis weekly basis monthly basis you can do your work you have to wonder
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whether that is just done deliberately. to keep your balance. from doing porton thing you know why which is your own work and so i don't get too been out of shape but these days i hear 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 supremacists 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 before and he says something. once that i agree
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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 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
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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. but all they have to hole on is the color of their skin that's all they have for themselves it's 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 crowley iran america that is it for this edition of so if you.
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can ask our linda is doris alfonzo along. their situation page served or. his 1st words were at long last year a challenging post you've got to use to me as. i have no doubt that what happened was scriven. let's concentrate market is a $1000000000.00 industry these companies how to huge financial motivations to solve these problems there are numerous stocks showing that doctors were keen to chest x. ray concentrates for insights of its own that patients want gives them doctors the raunch to quite. why they would keep me from secure those years.
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i'm prepared to die i don't know which question we're still alive aren't being allowed to live where so many have. he put themselves on the line they did accept the reject. so when you want to be president and you. want. to go on the press this is what before 3 in the morning can't be good. i'm interested always in the waters in the. question. interest rates spike and gapping and the spread is widening and what i call the interest rate apartheid if you're in the wrong side of the friends of jeffrey
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epstein you end up in a band to stand of extortion ery credit card rights if you're a friend of jeffrey abstain then you get the insider rate of negative and you get paid to lend money or to borrow money excuse me from from the bank. in this community there are people who believe that it's ok. it's really hard there are no jobs and you see that i've got kids that ask and as a parent. i can come up with lots of arguments and there's a lot of conflict within the game and between the teams most of the conflicts i would say are overblown. and most of them is made. close one only to those he knows each other is good business the state of california alone makes $6000000000.00 a year of prison complexes you get some 20
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a life where. you don't care anymore nobody cares about you so you don't care about anything. presents money mccraw to virginia prosecutor for talks but later today the french leaders mediterranean residents with syria and iran all on the agenda. elsewhere enabled propaganda machine don't trump which is a plus for an attack from the new york times has leaked or dio suggested his editors are looking for new ways of covering the president after 2 years of previously fixating on russia. is germany's green party enjoys a surge in popular support coming up we'll take a look at one of the most ambitious very controversial new environmental policy.
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