mexicans in mexico. what story in book? the story of mexicans, who we were, why we are are, and that doesn't work with what the country has become and why we have to change. >> what kind of change? >> basically, it's a national character change. what i try to do here in the book is to take four or five very well detected traits of the mexican national character as described by classic authors like the poet and anthropologist in the middle of the century. say okay the character traits which were great for mexico both as a colony and independent country to form a nation today are totally dysfunctional to what the country has become. a middle class society, a representative democracy, an open economy, globalized economy, and a country that is absolutely desperate for the establishment of the rule of law. the character traits and these features don't work anymore. they are at odds. and so since we can't change material reality, we jolt to change people's heads. >> let's start with the mexican middle class. w

. >> poor mexican -- i want to start with the subtitle, mexico and the mexicans. where were you going? >> basically what i am trying to do is tell a story of mexico and its people for an american reader, although i'm also publishing the book simultaneously in spanish and the united states for spanish-speaking readers in mexico. is being published simultaneously in mexico in spanish and another version with a different edition which has come out this very week. in mexico. the purpose is to tell the story to mexicans in the united states and mexicans in mexico. the story of two mexicans are, who we were, who we are now, and why we are. it doesn't really work anymore. >> what kind of change? >> the national character change. very well detected traits of the mexican national character as described by classic others. anthropologist's, americans and others and say, okay, these character traits which were great for mexico over the last 500 years, both as a colony and an independent, bleeped compartmentation are totally dysfunctional. representative democracy. open democr

no more mexicans. who did not have a problem being objective with a mexican. [inaudible]. i should try to do something about this he thought this is not good. may be i should try, may be i should make an effort. may be i should drive to the mission and spend quality time with my own people. i'm sure it would be simple. he doesn't have to be so hard. i am sure anyone who looks at me and talks to me will believe i'm another south of the border specimen and never figure out i happen to be a self hating mexican. the self hating something made him think of the self hating jew. he thought of george constanza and woody allen. he thought of philip and alexander's father yelling and screaming telling his son he was the son of the family shames. you don't be deserved to be called a view. you, alexander are being embarrassed by the surface of the mirror. you don't deserve to be a mexican. nor the fact that mexicans are the hardest working people and came here to work and give their children a better future. there is no mexican who tried to justify with arguments like a fantasy to cel

the story of who mexicans are. we were, who we are now, and why what we are doesn't really work anymore with what the country has become. and why we have to change. >> what kind of change? >> basically it's a national character change. what i tried to hear in this book is to take four or five very well detected traits of the mexican national character, as described by classic authors like anthropologist from the middle of this century, americans for example, like oscar lewis and others. and say okay, these character traits which are great for mexico over the last 500 years both as a colony, as an independent country, to form a nation today are totally dysfunctional. to what the country has become. a middle-class society, a representative democracy, and open economy, globalized economy and the country that is absolutely desperate for the establishment of the rule of law. the character traits and these features don't work anymore. they are at odds. and so since we can't change material reality, we've got to change pe

mexican gangs american guns. [laughter] to use according to our plan. [laughter] how exactly did we convince the mexican government to cooperate in this, let's call it "a plan." >> they weren't cooperating partly because they didn't know about it. they were never informed that this operation was taking place. [laughter] [laughter] >> jon: if mexico isn't cooperating, even if there was violence where the guns was left behind, how would we find... you know what, never mind. if this is the plan that they went with, what plan did we reject? [laughter] hey, i got it, let's put a tiny microphone in every bullet. [laughter] and we hope that when the bad guys, the criminals, you know, when thrier shooting people, they say their name, like nobody [bleeped] with alonzo gutierrez. you know what i mean? i'm going to assume this was some little-brain, giant-balls idea coming out of the a.t.f. office. the a.t.f.'s responsible adults like their acting director ken melson, he didn't know. >> memos released last week show that me

you, yourself, mexican.'t see race? >> an cinco de mayo. >> stephen: only one day a year. >> yes. >> stephen: are you an african-american? >> yes, i am. >> stephen: why would you write billion mexican concerns because, i mean, just -- think of it this way, if cops are pulling over mexicans at least they are leaving black people alone for a little while. which side is your bread buttered on there? >> the arizona law and what mexicans and people of color, the problem with the arizona law is that it bases it on your look and your appearance and profiling. that's something that us in the african-american community can definitely relate to. i had to do a snow arizona. me being a socially conscious artist i could not good to arizona and not address the issue especially with artists like socially conscious artist who's boycotted arizona because of this policy. >> stephen: do you think that rap is going to continue to grow from where it is right now? because it's exploded in the last 30 years. do you think it will m

he just finished an extraordinary mull, the mexican supreme court. these are five or six kids who are migrants. they are about ready to leave for the united states. if you look down at the bottom right hand corner, the license plate on the truck says mig, migrants 666. he's a hyperrealist painter. these are six or seven kids with extraordinary faces about to leave for the united states. i think they tell the story of the mystery of mexicans as the subtitle of the book in spanish indicates. >> this is c-span's booktv. we've been talking with jorge castaneda, author of "manana forever." >> thank you. >> what are you reading this summer? booktv wants to know.

i have seen mexican children digging through garbage for food to eat. there ands leave it go back to the topic at hand. where do we go from here? guest: you will see a lot of information coming out. there are hearings going on, including whistle-blowers who have raised concerns about the operation. according to the information we have, they were told it had been approved from up high and a return to make a big case. you will see the family of brian terry show of for testimony. that will probably be very emotional. host: wsj is the website. thank you for your time. there are stories in the papers about yemen. there are concerns about the politics and the concerns about credit -- presence of al qaeda. my next guest will talk to us about what is going on in yemen. we will have that discussion when we come right back. >> this weekend, more than 20 years after the end of the cold war, a new your historical panel reflects on ronald reagan and mikhail gorbachev. then the civil rights movement and the promise of suburbia. then, restoring civil war photographs f

>> it is a mexican land grant that we agreed to respect when we still california from the mexicans. we agreed to respect the land grants that existed, and there was a commission set up. regretfully, none of the land grants were legally bested, so most of them were taken away from the mexicans. the other portion were pureblo lands, which would be considered entitled to four square leaks -- leagues. so 30 square miles with the possession of the pueblo of san francisco for public use, and that is how we got golden gate. when they acquired it as publicly, part of the treaty said you had to all mexican law, which set a certain amount of outside plants must be used for schools, playgrounds, open space. the original chaldea san francisco -- the original county of san francisco came from san mateo county. they decided it was too large a county, said the card off another county. at the time, the largest population in the state was in san francisco. l.a. barely made a presidio. they had, like, 50 or 60 people. 90% of the population was in san francisco, and everyone down the peninsula is sayi

, northern mexican smugglers. there is a big issue of racism in mexico that no one talks about too much but i -- sinaloa looks upon i think most of the oaxacan as martians. not even the same country and my understanding is in talking with law enforcement in arizona that the greatest amount of torture is perpetrated by northern mexicans who are the smugglers. they are the guys holding the safe houses in phoenix and whatnot. folks from oaxacan and guatemala in places like there. >> this gentleman has been waiting for a wild, standing up. >> first, i have a comment. for margaret. he has done this multiple times, where he has intervened in the life to better the recipients on the other side. >> he wrote a wonderful column one time. he was in africa and he said i am taking 50 of my best sources out to dinner and it was a village in africa and he provided some kind of a feast. and journalism it is perfectly fine to take a congressman out to dinner but it is not supposed to be okay to give a desperate migrant $20 which i

without the knowledge of the mexican government. this effort failed. over strong objections of the a.t.f. field agents, the program continued and approximately 2,000 ak-47's and drivetifics and some .50 caliber sniper rifles and others and 10,000 or more rounds of live ammunitions went into the arsenals of the mexican drug lords. despite these strong objections by field agents, operation fast and furious continued. and not only did it continue, but those at the highest level of a.t.f. showed great interest in the program. a document displayed on the screen now shows that two of the most senior leaders in a.t.f., acting director kenneth melson and acting deputy director billy hoover, were being briefed weekly on fast and furious. the documents show that both melson and hoover were keenly interested in the case and updates. a second document shows deputy assistant director for field operations, william mcmahonen, was so excited about fast and furious that he received special briefing on the program in phoenix scheduled a mere 45 minut

/mexican border.ere not taliban insurgents or al qaeda fighters, but a small group of mexican drug cartel bandits heavily armed with ak-47 assault rifles. the rifles and the ammunition that they carried in those weapons were designed to do one thing and that was to kill. brian was an amazing man. and i say that not just because he was family. many people thought he was almost superhuman. after his death, we visited his former duty stations in arizona. each time we've met one of his fellow agents, they spoke of how impressed they were with him. he was what we expect in our brothers and sons. strong, competitive, handsome, courageous, funny, and incredibly patriotic american. some of his co-workers even had bestowed him with a nickname of superman. brian was very proud to serve as a federal agent. he had joined the united states marine corps right after high school. he went on to college and earned a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice. he then became a local police officer in the communities

/mexican border. his killers were not taliban insurgents or al qaeda fighters, but a small group of mexican drug cartel bandits heavily armed with ak-47 assault rifles. the rifles and the ammunition that they carried in those weapons were designed to do one thing and that was to kill. brian was an amazing man. and i say that not just because he was family. many people thought he was almost superhuman. after his death, we visited his former duty stations in arizona. each time we've met one of his fellow agents, they spoke of how impressed they were with him. he was what we expect in our brothers and sons. strong, competitive, handsome, courageous, funny, and incredibly patriotic american. some of his co-workers even had bestowed him with a nickname of superman. brian was very proud to serve as a federal agent. he had joined the united states marine corps right after high school. he went on to college and earned a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice. he then became a local police officer in t

/mexican border. his killers were not taliban insurgents or al qaeda fighters, but a small group of mexican drug cartel bandits heavily armed with ak-47 assault rifles. the rifles and the ammunition that they carried in those weapons were designed to do one thing anthat was to kill. ian was an amazing man. and i say that not just because he was family. many people thought he was almost superhuman. after his death, we visited his former duty stations in arizona. each time we've met one of his fellow agents, they spoke of how impressed they were with him. he was what we expect in our brothers and sons. strong, competitive, handsome, courageous, funny, and incredibly patriotic american. some of his co-workers even had bestowed him with a nickname of superman. brian was very proud to serve as a federal agent. he had joinedhe united states marine corps right after high school. he went on to collegend earned a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice. he then becme a local police officer in the commun

i went with a mexican citizen, and we asked, "how many can you give us?" we went to three different places, and all of them told us, "we can give you as many as you want." the cartels cooked the extra 100 tons of pseudoephedrine into meth, then smuggled it like other drugs across the border into the u.s. as a result, the meth on american streets was suddenly as pure as it had ever been. >> that is what we're seeing coming from mexico-- really good crystal. >> that amount of meth that we just got, if we had got that two or three years ago, we would've just about fainted. nowadays, there's so much dope out here that, that's commonplace. we get that amount off of one or two people every week. >> narrator: for the mexican drug cartels, making meth in mexico had an added bonus: they could use their traditional smuggling routes to bring meth to a huge new market, the eastern united states. the first to be affected were small towns throughout the southeast, which suddenly found themselves in the midst of a meth crime wave. >> huge volumes of methamphetamine are b

the us which conveniently sustained drug cartels and crime that have seen more than forty thousand mexicans killed in the last five years and a recent report by the global commission on drug policy denounced the recalcitrant violence calling the global war on drugs a failure stop the war on drugs and let's be more constructive in reducing consumption if you look. at the production but not this so profitable that all time to be someone we should be able to risk his life to africa and indeed profit margins related to the drug industry are huge and is the main factor that sustains it and many argue that if some drugs were legalized it would help put a cap on their price and the stop to the incessant violence all the while purging the economy of the black market making drugs more available as this report suggests will make it harder to keep our communities healthy and safe the fact that each dollar that an american spends on drugs goes to fuel a juggernaut of corruption and violence is no revelation and neither is the fact that the u.s. war on drugs has not managed to keep that while in said ba

police officers soldiers and civilians mexican officials have long been trying to draw attention to the torrent of illegal weapons flowing in from the us which conveniently sustained drug cartels and crime that have seen more than forty thousand mexicans killed in the last five years and a recent report by the global commission on drug policy demelza the recalcitrant violence calling the global war on drugs a failure stop the war on drugs let's be more constructive in trying to reduce consumption and if you look. back to the market it's a profitable good all time to be someone we should be able to risk his life. to be traffic and indeed profit margins related to the drug industry are huge and is the main factor that sustains it and many argue that if some drugs were legalized it would help put a cap on their price and a stop to the incessant violence all the while purging the economy of the black market making drugs more available as this report suggests will make it harder to keep our communities healthy and safe the fact that each dollar that an american spends on drugs goes to fuel a

you want mexican support, arroz con frijoles, ares, ar>> jon: w. from time to time, we here on the show like to check in with the gay community in a segment we for some reason decided to call "we're here, we're clear, get newsed to it. same-sex marriage in california continues its long path through the court system. new york seems poised to become the most populated area yet to codify marriage equality. >> governor andrew cuomo announces his marriage equality bill, which would allow gay couples to tie the falmouth. >> one vote in the state senate is all that's needed to make same-sex marriage the law in new york. >> jon: one vote. one, do you hear that, california? eat our dust. [laughter] we were a gay mecca way before you came along, let me tell you that. in new york city, walt whitman was banging dudes in brooklyn when you folks were still squatting in a river biting gold nuggets, huh. if anyone's getting marriage equality, it's going to be new york. capisce, california? enjoy your court cases. we're just going to push this through the legislatu

and mexican governments. "nightline" got unprecedented access to u.s. efforts to interdict, store and destroy the massive amounts of marijuana being pushed northward by mexican crime lords. at the border, drug-sniffing dogs. mobile x-ray machines. special cameras to slide down gas tanks. all used to hunt for contraband. >> we find sometimes narcotics inside dashes, air condition compressors, in the rims of the tires. in the side panels, in the roof. >> reporter: what does the government do with the tons of confiscated drugs? we went to one secret facility, one of the most restricted rooms in government. we had to sign paperwork to simply go from room to room and no employee working there could be identified. stored at this vault, $59 million worth of marijuana and every other drug you can think of, captured coming in from mexico. this is about 31 pounds of black tar heroin. estimated street value? about $1 million. the drugs go north. the cash and guns flow south to mexico in bulk. the drug lords use every tactic. submarines, tunnels, ultra light planes

it's mexican. >> have you been to a mexican factory? >> yes. >> they have brutal work conditions, long hours, low pay. [inaudible] the water supply comes from the effluent from the factory. >> nothing wrong with that. >> which one were you at? >> the one in my head. and the problem is our american-run american factories like this one can't compete with our swedish-run mexican factories. these guys seem like complete wastes. the customers should be assembling it themselves. >> we haven't figured out how to do that. >> it's called an allen wrench. >> well, there's your first problem. it's comfortable. >> they coddled their employee at every turn. >> when does this guy get his bathroom break? >> bathroom break? >> yeah. >> whenever he has to go to the bathroom. >> oh, well, that's just stupid. >> well, i guess we just... >> if factories like this hope to survive, they'll have to modernize. >> it's classic. you'll have it for a lifetime. it's great style. i think the antique finish... >> whoa, whoa, $1,700, no thank you. ikea gives me that

mexicans want immigration reform so they can stay in the country.cans want immigration reform to keep the mexicans out. >> jon: so there are interheritage rivalries? >> yes. i mean, in the past you could get away with treating latinos as one group. just throw a campaign ad up on telemundo and you're in. now you show up at a rally in the wrong color guay abara, total [bleeped]. >> jon: the puerto rican vote is important. >> sure, i guess. [laughter] let me show you a map. all right. by going to puerto rico, the president has secured america's puerto rican vote. [laughter] but there appears to be a somewhat larger block of latino voters that are feeling a little left out. >> jon: wow. that's an enormous differential. how does he go after those voters? >> well, it's not going to be able to stand in front of them and use the phrase "arroz con gandules." he's going to have to talk about what goes into other latinos' rice. [laughter] >> jon: really? that really works? it really is about what goes into the rice? >> we take that pretty seriously. you want m

mexican authorities as you said had no idea the guns were even there. so the only way you're going to find these guns in essence is to pull them off of dead bodies at crime scenes. and that is what has the senate, congress, just shaking their heads. >> and we have an american border patrol agent dead with one of these weapons. in hearings this week, lawmakers have directed most of their anger at the justice department. do we know i mean who approve this? do we know what level at the justice department was involved in all this? >> the frustration on capitol hill this week centers around the department of justice because the senators, the congressmen, believe the department of justice is stone walling. five months now and the department of justice can't tell you who authorized this program. a program this size, this quote unquote groundbreaking, it should take five minutes, anderson. keep in mind this was what they call a t 3 investigation, size and scope would require approval from headquarters. and congressman darrel isa released e-mails, republican fro

by and large, japanese mexicans were forced to move themselves. they went largely to guadalajara or to mexico city, where there was already a japanese community. in fact quite a notable one. and the -- so they escaped mass confinement. on the other hand, they were impoverished and their belongings were taken from them exempt for those who has mexican wifes to take care of their property and were forced to rely on the good will of the japanese community in mexico city. >> i'd like folks to come to the microphone and ask the question. >> go ahead, sir. i'll answer your question to you. [inaudible question] >> can you summarize very quickly the karamotsu case. >> you're speaking of the japanese american who challenged executive order 9066. this is as opposed to the duncan case in hawaii. the case of fred koromotsu was one of a small number of cases of americans of japanese ancestry who challenged executive order 9066 and mass removal, in the courts. this case he refused to leave the west coast, and he got caught. he had a nonjapanese girlfriend that