in the african-american community. more crossover power, and we have the ability to make things happen. these events are coming together. i do not think it is directly effect of the president. the president is a direct effect of these larger policies of affirmative action. >> you are speaking of clarence thomas, the only african- american. if justice thomas was here he would say the opposite. african-americans have been stigmatized by affirmative action and your argument is it opened up the door to this goodness and enrichment we are being exposed to. >> absolutely. where would clarence thomas b without affirmative action? he would never have gotten into yale. i would not have gotten into yale. the class of 1966 that yale had six like men. then 1996.

was there a genetic blip in rac e? to have a quota on roman catholics as well as by people and i am sure they had one on jewish people as well. those of us who benefited from at theone that stands gates and let more people in, the gates can keep other people out and unfortunately justice thomas i believe falls into that latter category. the value iswhat of our being exposed to all of these various films and documentaries, specifically on "the african americans: many rivers to cross." >> every time there is a racist incident, politicians call for a on race. they mean a feel-good session or a town meeting, you accuse and

apologize and sing, "we shall overcome" at the end and everyone goes home feeling better and there is another murder of a black boy. what -- where do real conversations about citizenship occur? think about what you learn in first grade. i pledge allegiance to the flag. your teacher was shaping you to be a citizen but she never said i'm going to teach you how to be it iszen or today citizenship lessons. they did it by demonstration. that is where we have to put the conversation about race and the reason that i wanted to do this series, the first comprehensive treatment of the whole sweep of african-american history is though cosby -- since bill cosby did his in 1968 was to provide the tools through which a teacher could incorporate african-american history into

the story, the grand narrative of the founding of america, its settlement, its people in, and it's great prosperity over the last several centuries. tavis: your statement that professor gates assumes that people want that history to be taught, this is not the kind of stuff they want in the curriculum. >> we do not have to be anecdotal. the southern poverty law center published a story examining how the civil rights movement is taught. you would think with mlk day, how many times do you hear "i have a dream" in january and february ? only three states get an eight. only three states get a b. 35 states get an f including the great state of california. that is reprehensible. the first thing we have to do is provide the tools so we have a dvd with six hours of impeccably researched history. we have a great companion book.

and now we have to lobby the school district, state legislatures, to put african- american history where it alongside in the classroom. and not only is a separate course because most legislatures will not do that. i am talking about integrating the stories so that, let's say not only do we learn about george washington, we learn about the slave kerry washington. he ran away from mount vernon and fought for the british and then when the british lost, went to nova scotia with the free black community, the former black patriots and then when nova scotia did not work out, they went to sierra leone and settled there. that tells a former story of american history and george washington than simply george washington chop on the terror -- the cherrywnee and did not

tree and did not tell a lie. tavis: this is six weeks, every time and a different episode of "the african americans: many rivers to cross," brought to us by professor gates. back to your wine earlier of the data brought to us by the southern poverty law center about what is not being taught in schools, help me understand why you feel this will be or can be? the first thing you have to do is provide a well researched product. something that conforms to the highest scholarly standards and the highest standards of production. we have done that. all i can do is provide them because my first hat is i am a teacher but i am an activist. influential activists like you and the black congressional caucus, all those legislatures and organizations like the naacp and that national urban league to join with me and help to demand, to lobby for the

integration of black content into the curriculum. i cannot do that alone. i can make a documentary series. the second has to be a team effort and we have to recognize that as politically important as raising the percentage of black people in the middle-class or reducing the number of black men in prison or reducing the poverty level. it is of crucial importance because the only way you can combat racism systematically i think is through the classroom. effortlessly, and visibly. not only teaching about race and racism in black history month, we are teaching about it every day. we are teaching about the reflectingamerica as a black presence every day effortlessly. we have to do that with the new curriculum. tavis: this oak is published by

-- book is published by smiley books. a beautiful book. it is beautifully done by a wonderful team. this was the companion to what you are seeing on pbs. real piece of work create i want to talk specifically about the six part series and without going through much faster too much detail. what are we going to see tomorrow night? in 1513 wheretart no other series has started. when we took african-american history we always start in 1690. jamestown, the first african americans landed at a place called port comfort. we now know thanks to the work of historians like john thornton

and linda haywood, they are from angola. everyone starts the story there but they were not the first africans to come to what is now the united states. the first african came in 1513. he was a free black man, not a slave and his name was juan garrito and he came with pots leon,on, -- ponce de looking for the fountain of youth like a white guy. he goes with cortez all the way to baja, california, mexico, looking for the mythical black amazons and he comes back to mexico city and files a petition in 1538 to the king of spain asking for pension and he claims, this is how you know he is a brother. he claims to have invented the growing of wheat. because -- your majesty, i also invented wheat.

we have his portrait. we have a picture of him. the first slave whose name we know came in 1528, his name was esther von -- estaban. peopleon a ship with 600 that was shipwrecked. he turns out to be of really linguist and becomes a translator. he wondered all the way to arizona, new mexico, and back and goes back again, 15,000 miles. this brother some more of the continental united states than any other non-native american before lewis and clark. we start with this contrast between a free black man and a black man who was a slave to show that the black experience, the story of black america was always multivalent, multilayered. it was always complex. it was not always about slaves or free people or whatever. we move from there to tell the story of anthony johnson. in jamestown. -- 1525 and25

gained his freedom in some way. even he was -- it or at an indentured servant. 250 acres and has white indentured servants working for him and a black man. we know that because in 1654 the black man either took him to court or he took the black man to court because the black man said i should be treated as an indentured servant like the white servants and get my freedom after seven years. anthony johnson says you are my slave for life and anthony johnson wins and that codifies slavery as a race-based thing in virginia thereafter. it is cap located. -- complicated. that we havehow been in this country for half a millennium and that we have had lots of ups and downs.

it is a story of travail and suffering but also of great triumph. even ending with the second inauguration of president obama is in extending. you would think it is a note of triumph on one hand. a black man is elected and reelected at the same time we have 75% of live births out of wedlock, we have the highest male prison rate for african- americans in our history. the percentage of black children living at her been a poverty line is in the mid-30%. you know what it was on dr. king died, just slightly higher. we did this to deconstruct this idea that we are somehow in a post-racial society because president obama was elected and reelected.

questionwas asked a and i gave the answer to the question i was asked. some people tried to label that as me smashing the president. >> someone accused you of doing that, why would they do that? i was asked a question and i answered the question. offafrican-americans better five years into the obama presidency and the answer as you and i both know is no. you just lay that out. if you look at the data. substantively, we are not. all hell breaks loose about tavis smiley smashing the president and that is not what it was. the data is going to indicate on myhad austin goolsby radio show last week. he concurs with this point. the data is going to indicate that obama is out of office

after eight years, black people lost ground in every single leading economic indicator, category. something magical would have to happen for that not to be the case. >> i do not know the state of the let's presume it was true. -- the data but let's presume it is true. after 500 years of history, we know that this is not obama's fault but i am getting to a question which is this. 50 orll the historians, 100 or 200 years from now when historians look back, how will they juxtapose that in the era of the first black president after being 500 years, we lost ground in all these categories? those indicesme are true and a lot can happen in the next three years and let's

hope that it does. given the recalcitrance of the tea party. the silent second term motivating the tea party is the word race. i think the people in the tea party are -- some are clearly disturbed ideologically by a government but subconsciously at least they are totally obsessed with having a black man in the white house. many of these guys would rather see the country go bankrupt then for a black man to succeed. i would say that it would show the limited effect of an individual to transform large systemic forces that have a long history. ofrting with three centuries slavery, for centuries of slavery and a century of jim crow. you cannot wave a wand and change all that magically. you just cannot which is why i think that americans need to understand the deleterious historical impact, the lasting impact of where -- the way our

ancestors were treated. even one man is brilliant and charismatic as barack obama cannot come in and erase centuries of systematic institutional dissemination against our people. we started by talking about affirmative action. class isk upper-middle- quadrupled so people like you and i having this conversation, it is -- it was impossible to do this for decades ago. and you will see my book -- publishing my book, you are a one-person media empire. at the same time it is almost as if the system lettuce and and shut the door -- let us in and shut the door on everyone else. so how we can begin to address the problems facing black america economically and that is the single failure of the civil rights group. very few of the leaders in the history of civil rights had an economic analysis because we thought it was a matter of xenophobia. here are the black man. fear of the black face, the

black bodied but blackness coded for deeper economic analysis and i know cornell west agrees. the printable effect of the civil rights movement is the creation of a new black upper class and maybe he was right. i think that we need more theomic-based solutions to problems afflicting the black community and that is a way to redefine affirmative action. i grew up before why people -- white people in west virginia and there is a culture of poverty. i have seen why people perform exactly the same pathological forms of behavior as black people do when they are systematically deprived, whether it is getting pregnant, doing drugs, dropping out of school, whatever we are talking about. we should have affirmative action for poor white people, too. tavis: what is the message for

black people who are watching the series, all americans will watch it on pbs but specifically for african-americans. we know that we are still dealing with the impact and the reverberation of this history. what is the message to us because history is written backwards and our lives are lived forwards. >> i will quote you on that root.com. is true on -- of the episodes, we made our ancestors made our way. they had no reason to believe in the future. no reason to believe in the future yet they believed in the future and deferred gratification. they valued education as a lives generations' depended on it even though they saw no end to slavery. very few black people embraced back to africa it movements.

a tiny movement -- number went back to africa. they said we are going to make america live up to the ideas of the constitution and they produced one of the world's great cultures and individuals who were just as brilliant and made contributions to the world civilization. they produced a world civilization, a world-class civilization in music, dance, oratory, religion, writing. the great miracles in human civilization. i think it means that each individual has the responsibility to get out of bed and learn the abcs and learn your math tables and not use race and racism as an excuse. sex, youwants to have do not have to have a baby when you're 16. you do not have to do drugs. our churches should be turned into black history schools and computer schools like hebrew schools for jewish people.

chinese or korean on the weekend. we have to stop making excuses. one of the things i am careful to show is that her and this affects of institutional instructions and -- institutional instructional racism. you cannot wait for a black man or white hand -- a white man to ride in on a horse and save you. with what you said about saving ourselves. do you get these -- how do you get these black people to care about a future they will never see? ancestors our slave do it, what made them believe that one day if they kept on keeping on that there would be a tavis smiley and there would be a skip gates? i do not know. it was america. one of the most astonishing developments and mysterious development in human history that the slaves believed, kept the faith so we could be here today. tavis: "the african americans:

many rivers to cross the book is called "the african americans: many rivers to cross -- the book is called "the african americans: many rivers to cross ." it everye seeing tuesday night brought to us by dr. henry louis "skip" gates, jr. pbs.ing tomorrow night on thanks for some wonderful work and it is a blessing to have you on this program. >> thank you and keep doing what you're doing. tavis: thanks for watching and keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with -- about poverty in america, why it persists, and what we could you to eradicate it. that is next time. we will see you then. time.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.

where we're here on the jersey shore. norm: today's the big day -- you're going to lift this 1890 house up 4 feet. man: yes, we are. lots of activity. you excited for today's lift? i was a little more excited this morning. it doesn't look like it's going up today. kevin: so yet one more setback for you and your family. richard: here in manasquan, we have to start by taking this house down. uggh! norm: look at this! it's overwhelming. richard: the power of the water is just amazing. kevin: what is this community's future? it will be our house, just 10 feet off the ground. norm: look at that. we don't want to go through this ever again. i'm going to rebuild my entire house. kevin: you sound optimistic, but this is not going to be easy. any color. no, really.

any color. and then... let's make it happen. the home depot is proud to support "this old house" and doers everywhere. [ wind howling, bird squawks ] [ thunder crashes, car alarm blares ] when the unexpected happens, state farm is there to help you get your old house to a better state. proud sponsor of "this old house." man! what we need is some elbow grease. [ laughs ] yeah, you can -- are you kidding me? gmc -- lending "this old house" a helping hand since 2002. retailer of hardwood flooring. their wide selection includes bellawood prefinished, bamboo, laminate, and vinyl plank flooring. lumber liquidators is proud to sponsor "this old house."

welcome back to "this old house" on the jersey shore. when superstorm sandy hit, the biggest enemy was right there -- the atlantic ocean. 30-foot waves and a high tide caused extensive flooding and damage to homes all around this area. now, the homeowners on the beach front here in bay head think they did a little bit better because of these stones or boulders called a revetment. many of them didn't even know it was here because it was covered with sand. but the storm eroded that away. the wall ends right about here, so today, a group of homeowners, all on their own, decided to continue this project down the line. well, thacher, you have quite a project going on here. we sure do, norm. this is a rock revetment which we built to build or rebuild our dunes,

basically building the dunes back to what they were prior to sandy. so you and your neighbors are privately funding this whole project. well, we're all paying for the wall in front of our own homes. we need to get this done quickly. it's been now six months since the hurricane. the project will take about two and a half months. so it looks like the first thing you did is dig a big trench in the beach. they do, they dig a very deep trench about ten feet down, from beach level all the way down to sea level. they then put a layer of fabric and put the rock on top of that up to about ten feet high, and then you're at beach level. then they build the revetment over that. wow, so this thing's going to go up quite a distance. well, it'll go up 18 feet from the very bottom to the top, an then there's two feet of sand all the way around it. so where do you get all these rocks? they come from a quarry near princeton, new jersey, middle of new jersey. they're trucked in on very large flatbed trucks, maybe five rocks to a truck. some of them are as big as volkswagens.

they're very large rocks. a lot of transportation costs there with the rocks, but you don't have to worry about getting sand. [ laughs ] no, there's plenty of sand right offshore. well, this is no easy task. i mean, the machine operators have to be very careful. it seems like they're placing the rocks very specifically. this is like building a refined stone wall. well, you're right. it's a highly engineered... revetment. as you can see, they place the pieces together like a puzzle. they have to make sure the slope going back is right, they want to get the height right. it's a difficult job. so the slope is very shallow, so how does that work? how does that help you? well, in theory, as the waves come in during a storm event, they'll roll up this dune, and the dune will dissipate the energy, the wave will roll back down. unlike a sea wall, which would just try to stop it and eventually the wall would fail. well, the wall would fail or the sand would be scoured out from underneath it, yes. well, once these bulldozer tracks go away, you'll have a nice, new beach.